Premonition

Today's going to be bad. I can feel it.

My mom's ETA is 7 p.m. With a little counting backward for travel time, Cub Scouts, dinner and school pickup, I need to have the house and laundry done by 3.

Things are a little behind schedule. Maybe it was the wash that got stopped by Ashton mid cycle last night. I didn't realize, moved it to the dryer, wondered why is wasn't drying through three cycles, and then pulled out a bunch of stiff super stinky clothes that are now being rewashed through the sanitary 2 hour cycle.

Maybe it was the garbage disposal that broke, even though there are no clogs AND the motor hums....

Maybe it was the shower war with Cade this morning. "Shower, or I will NOT take you to school." And he showered because I've made good on my threat in the past. (Yea Mom.)

But I can tell things aren't going well.

There's little signs: Wyatt throws his sippy cup over and on my seat in the millisecond of space between strapping him in and climbing into the car myself. Milk is all over my seat.

A pocketful of rocks spills out of the dryer and still need to be cleaned. A random set of screws comes out too. Do these belong to something else broken I need to fix?

The kids shower/bath is leaking and everyone's piling into mine until I can figure out why the overflow isn't functioning right.

The computer just shut down for no reason except "configuring" and it takes forever to start this thing up again. Which is exactly why I have this thing autosaving by the second. ARGH.

And the thing about it is, I have my schedule highly organized and itemized according to kids schedules (ie. when they're out of the house). Can't vacuum during nap time. Can't clean floors when everyone is home after school. But, can't clean too early or it's messy. Can't clean too late or it doesn't get done. I'm sure this would all compute into a super complicated algebraic equation -- something I could never solve myself.

Good thing it's just my mom. The one person who's opinion matters most but who doesn't mind the least.

Maybe I can post a pix of the two of us later? One more thing for the list.

Veteran's Day

The kids had Veteran's Day off from school and we headed down to Fort McHenry (of "O Say Can You See" fame) in Baltimore for some educational fun.

















We toured the fort, climbed the ramparts, inspected the cannon and then the kids got to take place in a giant flag unfurling.



When the flag was hoisted in the air the kids let out a cheer. It was an awesome sight. To imagine the size of this thing, look at Wyatt (running away from me) in the corner.























At day's end the kids were literally made junior rangers, given a badge, and with right hands up (and Ashton's left) sworn in as junior rangers and obedient kids. Big Ranger must have added in that last part for my benefit after seeing me shuffle the herd into the bathroom before heading home. Or maybe he was questioning MY parenting after Ashton asked him if they killed the prisoners who wouldn't fit into the jail cells.

Falling in Love with Fall

The leaves are falling and I count my blessings.



I'm amazed I get to live in a place where I see squirrels gather nuts from my kitchen window; where the crimson and golds of fall color my world; where the crisp chill pulls my family tighter together.



It's my favorite season of the year. My Super Tudes go back to school. New goals are set. The holiday decorations come out. Sweater season.