Mommy of Many®

Now that school’s back in and I’m back to work, my crock pot is back in the swing of things.

Yesterday I put 4 frozen chicken breasts into the crock, added 1/2 a jar of pesto from Costco, a few sun dried tomatoes and turned it on. I cooked pasta and served the chicken over it. Veggies were served on the side and there you have it! A super easy crock pot meal!

(never mind that when my 11 yr old looked into the crock pot, he asked why we were having pesto chicken with prunes!)

Doing the Dance of the Children With a Few Tricks Up My Sleeve~

It’s the night filled with jitters. Remember? The night before you went back to school. You were always wondering which of your friends (or enemies) was going to end up in your class. Your new shoes, backpack, lunch box and school supplies were neatly packed and you could hardly get to sleep.

That’s what we’re going through here. All the kid’s uniforms are put together in their rooms and there was much excitement (and dread) before bedtime. I know Gabi’s going to do great! She’s so excited about starting kindergarten. She’s on the older end of the age curve (she’ll be 6 in October), so I think she’s more “ready” than some of my kids were who started younger. Max is already grumbling and griping and Tristan’s excited to see his friends and be on the other side of the school (5th-8th is on the backside of the school and going to 5th grade makes you a “big kid”). Lex asked to sleep in my bed and went right to sleep. I think he can take it or leave it, but will enjoy being back in a structured environment.

I have things laid out on the kitchen counter and a list of what I need to do when I wake up. My clothes are also laid out and I think I’m ready. Until we get into the groove of the routine, I’m going to need to get things laid out each night.

I started my last day of summer with a great workout at the 6am Kraze Boot Camps class. I honestly think this helped me from getting too stressed out about all that needed to happen today. One of the things I’ve seen CLEARLY about myself, since beginning to workout, is that my stress level stays much lower if I get a good workout in. And since my life is pretty stress-filled, I am going to have to stay organized and make sure I get my workouts in. Life will be much easier for me and everyone around me if I make it a priority!

Now, to take my vitamin, drink some water, walk through the house turning off lights and get to bed.

Good night Summer. You were much too short. Tomorrow I begin Doing the Dance of the Children with the added Dance steps of school and work. Music please~

2 weeks ago my second session of Kraze Boot Camps ended. In that time, my 3 high school age girls started back to school and my morning schedule no longer allowed for me to make it to the classes. The days have been filled with running back and forth to the school, entertaining the 4 younger kiddos, (who are still on summer break) getting all the school shopping done for those 4 and trying to get this house in order in preparation for me to start back to work on Tuesday. This means I’ve worked out exactly twice in those 2 weeks. Ugh! Have I ever felt the difference! My energy is down and my fuse is short.

Being able to see the drastic difference in how I feel has made me commit to getting to the gym, each day when I get off work and before I have to pick all the kiddos up from school. I’m honestly shocked at the difference those daily work outs were making in my attitude and my energy. But tomorrow I don’t have to go to the gym and put any sort of work out together for myself because Boot Camp is not taking the day off and no school means I can get myself over to the 6 am class and start the day and week off right!

I’m ridiculously excited!

Let’s see how taking 2 weeks off actually feels once I’m there. Yikes!

Here’s to starting Monday off right!

Two nights ago I got up around 2am and wrote a 20-item list of things that MUST GET DONE. I had to get it out of my head and onto paper so I could get some sleep.  Since then I’ve been chipping away at the list, crossing off items to try to feel accomplished. But I still feel like I’m spinning my wheels and could really use a clone of myself! I know it can’t all get done in the next couple of days, but I’m working at it.

So, the rooms are being cleaned and organized so that I don’t have to hear, “I can’t find my shoes” or “I don’t have any underwear”. The things that are too small or too worn out are being bagged up and sent away so I don’t have to hear myself saying, “go back to your room and change those…” (fill in the blank), every morning. It’s best to just eliminate as many potential issues as possible.

~sigh~

But I’m worn out!

So it’s off to bed for M.O.M. I’ll tackle a few more items tomorrow in the hope that I’ll start the new school year off, feeling “ready”.

You can wish me luck on that~

I don’t know who fed my kiddos naughty pills but the 3 youngest have been on fire the last few days. I guess it means that summer is over and they’re ready for the structure of school, but I’m not sure they’ll make it to next Tuesday at this rate. By 9am they had each stood in the corner and by 2pm I was so done that I put the 7yr old, 5yr old and 4yr old down for naps, closed and locked my bedroom door and told my 11yr old that I was NOT TO BE DISTURBED until I came out. I tell ya, I was ready to hunt scalps!

Whew!

If this keeps up I just may disappear for the long weekend and leave them in the care of their father. That’ll teach ‘em!

But now the house is quiet. The older girls are doing their “big kid” stuff for the evening and the lils are all in bed. I’ve had a glass o’ vino and am ready to get some of my own things done. I think I’ll make it till tomorrow. But watch out all you naughty lil kiddos! M.O.M’s patience is wearing thin!

Doing the Dance of the Children and I’m on the look out for the Naughty Ones~