First day of CRAZY

School started 3 weeks ago. My life since that day has been insane. There was once a time (when I had 4 kids under the age of 5) that I wished for a little "excitement." I used to look longingly ahead at the days of being a soccer mom and having to drive everywhere and I would get excited. What was I thinking?! These days we are all over scheduled. And it's totally my fault. I let each child play a sport this fall instead of making them rotate. So between me now working 4 days a week (and all my other at home mom duties), we also have sports 6 nights a week, math tutoring, scouts, activity days, Kendrick's soccer, Kendrick's scout meetings and me in therapy (yeah, turns out I am better with babies. Give me twin newborns and a 2 year old and I can figure things out and keep my crap together. But give me 4 kids 11-6 years old all in sports and all with at least an hour of homework each night and I meltdown). I keep reminding myself that life goes in seasons and that this one will not last forever, but right now each day feels like it is 36 hours long. I fall into bed at night and I ache. Forget working out anymore-I burn all my calories running around like a mad woman and simply forgetting to eat.
But I don't say all this to complain. I LOVE this crazy life we have and I do not want to change it. I realize that this is just part of motherhood and I'm grateful that I get to experience it.

Miss Tay started 6th Grade, which for us means that she is now in middle school. This has been an adventure. Everything from buying locker decor to paying a school registration fee (I thought public school was free?) to taking timed quizzes online on Sunday nights (because we are procrastinators )and having to leave the house at 7:30 every morning is foreign to me. But so far Tay seems to love middle school! She has made some cute friends and seems to be really interested in each of her classes. She loves the location of her school too and each morning comments on how lucky she feels to be able to see the mountains from her class windows. I am impressed with her school and feel confident that we made the right decision sending her there even though all her neighborhood friends go to a different school.

Jack and Myles started 3rd grade. This is the first year they are in a different class. That too, is adding to my stress a bit. I'm not used to them having different amounts of homework, different assignments and different teachers to correspond with. They love it and seem to be doing just fine with not being in the same class. So I am just trying to take deep breaths and go with it. They couldn't stay in the same class forever after all...nice as that would be...

Easton started 1st grade. My heart still breaks every time I walk past the Kindergarten playground and realize that my baby is in all day school. He has been my hardest child to watch grow up. I can't pinpoint why. He lucked out and got the same teacher that the twins had in 1st grade and he just loves her! All day school has taken some getting used to though and for the first 2 weeks I had a very grumpy and tired 6 year old for an hour each afternoon, but he is slowly adapting. Now if he could just grasp the concept of doing more than 15 minutes of homework each night...

I started working again. I haven't worked outside the home since I was 7 months pregnant with Taylor. I forgot how fun it can be if you have a job and coworkers you actually like. I work at the kids' school as a reading interventionist. And so far I LOVE it! I love my hours, I love the girls I work with, I love being close to my boys, I love that I get out of the house, I love that I get paid to be at a place I love (even if I didn't work there, I'd still be volunteering there). I feel so lucky to have landed this gig. I am praying that I still love it in a few months once the routine and real work starts. Right now it's still training and lesson planning and prep work-but I've honestly enjoyed every minute of it.

I didn't start working until a few days into the school year so on the first day of school Kendrick took me to breakfast after we dropped off the kids. It was bittersweet to come home alone after that.