Shifting Gears

After what seems like WEEKS of rain, we enjoyed a pleasant evening on the porch yesterday, feasting on watermelon. The kids and I consumed half a melon on our own. The pure, pink taste of August.

In two weeks from yesterday, the students will walk in the door of my classroom. Our New Life will be in full swing. We worked out a schedule last week, working backwards from when we need to be at work and how many hours of sleep our kids need, and figured in order for everything to work out there isn't much time for morning cuddles and cups of tea. It looks like this: 5:45, parents get up and dress; 6:00, kids get up and papa dresses them, mama makes lunches; 6:30, papa serves breakfast while mama gets dinner in the various slow cooking appliances; 7:00, mama leaves and papa gets kids ready to go; 7:30, everyone at day care and work; 3:30, mama or papa picks up kids from day care, the alternate parent works late; Fun time until 5 pm; 5:00, late-working parent returns and plays, pick-up parent assembles supper at home, especially if the various appliances did not do their jobs; 6:00, family supper; 6:30, late-working parent has family wrestling and pick-up parent does kitchen clean up; 6:45, tidy toys and downstairs; 7:00, sibling bath; 7:30, books and songs; 8:00 lights out for kids. Then we have two hours to take care of business and hopefully have a conversation before I need to be asleep in order to get enough rest so that I have maximum patience for the kids, my own and the ones in my tiny classroom all day. When I start to feel that this is an unmanageable schedule, I just think of what life must be like for the Obamas and I feel better. I don't have a stylist making sure I am photo ready every morning, but I can handle it.

I feel like this blog is drying up like my milk. Every day there is just a little bit less there. And maybe you all are weening as Josie is. From here on out, what is there to tell you? "Today the kids went to daycare. When I picked them up they were in one piece and relatively content." As for interesting details... I suspect I will be too exhausted to note them. But I will continue to post here when I have the time and awareness to do so. Peter has diligently archived the posts in a word document that we will print up, for when the WWW crashes and we return to the dark ages. There will be milestones, of course. But antics and adventures? We will have to wait for Saturdays. And snow days, of course.