1st Day of School!

I've been looking forward to the beginning of the school year for quite awhile now. Mostly anxious for life to slow down, get into a routine, and have some alone time with Elle. But what I was originally planning on being a chill day turned out to be totally crazy busy.

Below is our day documented with all the details- mostly cause I found all the details of today to be quite humorous. And I was pretty proud of everything I accomplished today (one day after my vein surgery!):
We left the house at 8am thinking 10 minutes would be sufficient time to drive down the street, park, and get to Madi's classroom. Wrong! We were the last ones there (and I hate being late). The first hour was orientation in the classroom which Spencer and I both stayed for. It was ok, but kinda boring. Being in Madi's classroom totally made me miss teaching, I couldn't help but think back to all my first days of school, back to school nights, dealing with parents, etc. After orientation we gave Madi hugs and kisses and were on our way- Spencer to work and me back to the house. I was planning on feeding Calvin and then heading out on some errands, but as I nursed him I changed my mind and decided to stay home to give him a nap in his crib. While Cal napped Elle and I played dollhouse (I felt bad that she had no one to play with and her pleas were too dang cute to turn down). Hoping to get on my computer to upload pics form the morning, I suggested we have some school time. Elle was totally down for it and she actually took it seriously (usually she acts super silly and doesn't let me work with her). I was loving her excitement and we spent a good 20 minutes working on shapes, colors, matching and counting. Then Cal woke up. He was super fussy and it took me a bit to realize that he was still hungry. I ended up feeding him some cereal and squash. Elle sat next to us and ate a piece of banana bread. Then Elle played next to Cal, who was having tummy time in front of the mirror, while I took a load of laundry out of the dryer, sorted the clothes on my bed, and then finished putting Cal's clean 9 months jammies and onesies into his closet. Since this first week of school is a shorter one, and Madi's done at 11:55am each day, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to run the errands I wanted to run before picking Madi up. So, I saved them for after school. Luckily everything went smoothly and the kids were super good (otherwise I'm sure I'd be a basket case right now and not in any mood to blog about the day). I had 3 errands in mind: bank, Costco (gas & groceries), and Trader Joe's. Totally doable. But as I was heading off to Costco Spencer called informing me that I'd need to get a smog check done at some point in order for him to take my van to the DMV in the morning (our registration expired last week). It about ruined my day. I kept to my plan and continued to Costco (enjoying the car ride- hearing all about Madi's day). After Trader Joe's I stopped by a smog check place, loaded all the kids out (again), hauled them inside only to be told they couldn't fit me in today. So we loaded back into the car and drove home. I unloaded groceries, put all the cold stuff into the fridge and freezer, then put Cal into his exersaucer so I could melt some chocolate and finish the Oreo cake pops that I'd started last night to give to Jenny (the sister I visit teach) for her birthday. In the middle of my hustling around, my neighbor stops by to chat. I bring the conversation into the kitchen so I can work on my cake pops. I get distracted and end up burning my first batch of chocolate. Ug! My neighbor sits down next to Cal in his exersaucer to play with him. Out of the blue he starts hysterically crying. I walk over to see what's the matter and knock my water bottle off the counter in the process. The lid comes off and water spills everywhere. Neighbor starts to wipe up the spill while I grab a bigger towel. Then she picks up Cal to see what's the matter. He's got a poppy diaper almost coming out the back. My neighbor leaves and I go change Cal's diaper. The girls are off in imagination land, but making a huge mess in the process. I don't worry about it, but instead feed Cal and then lay him down. He's overly exhausted and ends up screaming after I lay him down. I don't have time to deal with it though. I get started on the cake pops, get frustrated that they're not working how I thought they would, and end up with 2 girls at my side wanting to help and get in on the action. I'm frustrated, feeling rushed, and stressed with Cal's screaming. Finally he's quiet. I finish enough cake pops to give away and then get on the computer to find another place that could fit me in for a smog check. I find a place, says they can take me now and it should only be 20 minutes. I load the girls up (birthday cards they've made in hand), put some cake pops on a plate (wasn't sure how to package them), then go in to get Cal who's only been asleep for about 20 minutes. Poor guy. I swing by Jenny's first. The girls both want to get out to say happy birthday and hand deliver the cards they made. We visit at the door for a few minutes and then are on our way. It's 4:30pm when I drop my van off for a smog check. The place is blocks away from Spencer's parents' house, so I bust out the snap-n-go, and we walk over to Boppi and Grandpa Al's. Since they're out of town right now we're taking care of watering and feeding Truly. So the girls and I took care of it so Spencer wouldn't have to stop by after work. Then we head back to the car place. By now Elle's exhausted and hungry. I don't want to pass out snacks or else she won't eat dinner, but I'm needing bribes to keep her moving so I pass out a fruit snack every time we cross a street. Totally worked and stopped the crying. Our car's not ready when we get there so we wait. The girls start to go crazy. I show Madi a clock and show her how to watch the second hand go around, telling her how every time it gets to the top it's been another minute. Madi stands there and watches the second hand go around 7 times. Finally one hour after we dropped it off it's finally done (what happened to taking 20 minutes?!?!). Then we head home for dinner. I feed Cal cereal and peas while the girls get jammies on. Then he takes a bath  (kicking and splashing everywhere) while I whip Elle and Madi up a quesadilla. It's 6:30 when I take Cal back for bed. Spencer walks in the door just as I'm laying Cal down. After a quick bite to eat, I let him finish bedtime routine with Elle while Madi and I walk over to deliver some cake pops to the neighbors. Elle was in bed by 6:45 and Madi at 7pm. What a day!

Sisters!

PS. As for Madi's first day, she said it was just ok. In her words: "there was too much talking". I think she was tired of hearing about all the rules and procedures and just wanted to get to work. But as the day went on, more things came out that she liked about school. I keep telling her that each day will get better.