The usual

I have blogged a little before about our wild Wednesdays. We have a lot on our plates on Wednesdays. Of course, there is school for both babies. After I drop Spencer off, I usually go to church to get our classroom set up for Awana. It is quiet and I can think. And I get to have cool chats with the awesome custodians. After that, I usually have a few errands to run before time to get Spence.

Then I pick Spencer up at 11:30, it is a mad dash to get everything else done. I usually think of wonderful ideas to use for my kiddos at Awana in advance. But being the procrastinator that I am, I am always finishing things up once we get home from Spencer's school. I really do work well under pressure (even if you cannot tell that by looking at the mess that is my house after a Wednesday!).

Jessa gets home at 3:15. And then it gets nuts. See, I have to get the car loaded. Make sure everyone has a snack. Make sure no one falls asleep (we love quick after school naps, but they don't work on Wednesdays). Make Jessa get dressed for ballet and tap. Help Jessa take off said ballet leotard, tights, and skirt to potty, even though I already asked her 12 times BEFORE we put on the whole get-up. Get Jessa's Awana stuff packed up. Help Spencer find his socks. Help Spencer put on his socks. Help Spencer find his shoes. Watch him put them on the wrong feet and bite my tongue to keep from mentioning it. Get Spencer's Awana stuff packed up. Feed dogs (IF I have time since we are not home at "supper time."). Feed cat (also time permitting). Change my clothes to put on my super cool Cubbies shirt. Try to look presentable. Give up and grab a rubber band for the mane. Then out the door by 5.

We drop Jessa off at ballet and get her all situated. Then Spencer and I are off to church to get ready for Awana. See, all the last minute stuff I did was not ready at 9:00 when I was there to "set up," so there is still more to do! I then get to meet up with my awesome co-teacher for us to go over last minute plans.

Then I get to have fun and sing and run and laugh with my awesome Cubbies at Awana for an hour and fifteen minutes. After it is over, we clean up the room. I try to find my misbehaving childrens somewhere in the fellowship hall. Then I herd the kids out the door. I finally get both of them in the car, and we are on our way.

Are we headed home? Nope. Not yet. We have established a Wednesday routine. There is only one place to eat between church and home that does not require us to go out of our way. That place is Subway. Let me tell you, I love me some Subway. I was a Sandwich Artist in High School, so I feel sort of at home there. Well, talk about feeling at home, my kids think it is our second home now.

We go each week. We have made friends out of employees. I love it because when we pull into the parking lot, they start making our sandwiches. How cool! I have always wanted to be able to go into a restaurant and order "the usual." Here, we do not even have to order it and it is done! if one kid is sick, we still stop to get food to bring home. And they always ask where's the other kid? They are so sweet (and patient) with us. Sometimes Bay is with us. Sometimes David is with us. Sometimes even May is there. But the kids and I are almost always there. We are all 3 so tired that we are punchy by this point. The kids seriously think they own the place. They go to the bathrooms by themselves. They head straight to the fridge to pick out their milk. We have 414 of those cute little kids meal sacks floating around the house, the car, the backyard. And if we have a week off and miss going, the next week, the employees who are now our friends always want to know where we were and tell us we were missed.

It is so comforting to know that we are going to Subway each week. The kids sing the "Five Dollar Foot Long" song and love to say, "We are going to "Eat Fresh!" And we sit in our booth and have our supper. I did not have to cook. I will not have to clean up anything more than a few sandwich wrappers. And after the wild Wednesdays that we always have, that is the BEST.

And every week when it is time for us to head home, the kids tell everyone bye and thank you. And then our Subway buddies say, "See you next week!" And you know what, we probably will. And I love that.

Meatloaf

For the past 5+ years, I have been all about my babies. My main focus has been Jessa and Spencer. I have taken care of David, the house(s), the shopping, the laundry, the many pets, etc., but we could be almost hermits if we were so inclined. I made our schedule. We traveled when we needed or wanted to. We did not have to get out of our pj's if we did not want to. We ate out or saw movies during the week. We were the masters of our time and fate.

Yes, we did preschools, but those are even flexible and many times not every day. I mean, I did not pull them out needlessly. But for example, when we moved into our house at Ft. Stewart after David got home, I did not rush to find them a new preschool. We took January off to visit with David and go to Disney, and no one cared. But that is over now. We are officially in real school, and we have a new life, a new schedule. Quite an adjustment, to say the least.

The school thing is only part of it. As the children get older, there are more activities that they become involved in. Finally, we are at a location at the right time for Jessa to take ballet. Everywhere else, we were too late to join a class. . . So I found a great place close to our new home, and we signed her up for a beginner class.

We are also loving being involved in our new church. Jessa loves it so much that each Sunday when we go to pick her up from the Children's Church room, she begs to stay. So it seemed to make sense to sign them up for Awana. We have never had the opportunity to do it before. Around us growing up, it was always at the Baptist Churches. And of course, I said, "If y'all need any help, let me know. . ." So naturally, I am a co-leader of the Cubbies, Spencer's class.

That's not too bad, right? 2 extra activities each week. Want to know the tough part?? The only class for Jessa's age beginners is Wednesday from 5:30-6:30. Awana is each Wednesday from 6:15-7:30. Hmmm. Do you see any problem with that?

Luckily, I have an awesome family and husband who agreed to help me out with this little scheduling issue. David agreed to pick Jessa up from dance class and bring her to church late so that Spencer and I did not also have to be late. The only problem with this is that David is always gone! Bless his heart! So I also have an awesome Daddy who agreed to step in and help when David was not around. And this past week, my Momma was also here visiting and ready to help. The phrase "it takes a village" comes to mind. . .

Last Wednesday, at 5:00, I took my precious ballerina across town to the ballet/tap class. I got her situated in class, and then Spencer and I rushed off to church. I was a nervous wreck because I had no clue how to handle this whole Awana thing. I felt so unprepared. But the light at the end of the tunnel was Momma planning to fix supper for all of us when we got back from our many activities.

The kids came to Awana and I got absorbed into the evening. About 6:40, I see a handsome soldier (aka Bay) carrying a sweet ballerina into her Awana class. Whew! Then the whole evening was crazy! Chaos! It was expected to be that way because it was the first night and everyone was trying to figure out where to go and what to do. 7:30 came and all the parents picked up their kiddos. But I had to stay to clean up, etc. We had paperwork to attend to and plans to make. By this point, both children are exhausted and rather ill. Spencer needed me to "holsha" (hold) him. Kind of hard to clean up and load the car and get ready to go while toting a 40 lb attachment. Jessa decided she did not want to go home with me. She wanted Bay. She even disappeared briefly (and scared me half to death) to find him. She then asked me to please call him to come and get her. We finally got out of there at 8:00! All the way home my exhausted children who had been going strong since 7 AM were trying to sleep. Not a good idea to take a power nap at 8 when I need them to eat, bathe and got to bed in the next hour. So I fought with them all the way home. Employing "mean mommy" techniques like rolling down their windows, turning up the volume, turning on the dome lights, and even singing along to the radio. They stayed awake, if only to curse my very name. Feel free to report me for this abuse☺.

We arrived at Bay's house to a delicious meal of meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green beans, slaw, crescent rolls, and sweet tea. Jessa sat in her chair and cried and fussed until I made her go sit in the other room. Even despite her fit, I think that was the best supper I have ever eaten. I am so lucky to have such awesome parents. I could not have pulled off this marathon day without their help and support. Seriously, every time the day got too stressful, I would remember that Momma was cooking me an wonderful supper. I am glad that my parents did not think their job was over when I turned 18 or went to college or graduated from college or got married or had children of my own. . . I am so blessed. We all are!

AND, Jessa ate every bite of her supper in the car on the way home. They were bathed and passed out together in my bed by 9:15! Glad Wednesday only comes once a week - I need all week to recover. . . And this week, I will have to do it with no meatloaf.