Oh what a ___ morning

Haha. It was like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at our house this morning. Only it was Katelyn. First off, I couldn't do her hair right. She washed it last night so it was too clean; wouldn't hold in any kind of a braid, and she wanted French braids which I'm only marginally good at, anyway. After three attempts, I got frustrated and teary, unfortunately, and we had to abandon that enterprise. I know I made her feel bad but I totally didn't mean to. Sorry, Kiddo. Next, we had to give Apple the cat some eye medicine for her conjunctivitis (!). Her ears went back but she let us do it, and that was the least stressful event of the morning. Poor Kate then dumped a full glass of oj on her school uniform, and had to hurry upstairs, breakfast unfinished, to completely change her clothes while we mopped up the mess. Finally, when she was rushing to get into Shawn's car with her heavy as crap backpack, and a big jacket because it's super cold all of a sudden, somehow the door got pretty much slammed on her arm (I'm still not sure I understand how this happened) and she burst into tears.

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning. My coworker said kate definitely deserved a go-back-to-bed, do-over-tomorrow, and I agree.

I guess we survived. It feels like every day this week has been a little bit nuts. After school, mostly, although there's been some extra stuff during the workdays, too. On Tuesday for example, we had our usual basketball practice at 6 pm, then gymnastics at 7:30, with an Alex-handoff in-between, in the parking lot. This week, there was also a Tuesday Advent supper at the school so I had to remember to bring in my potluck contribution (a salad). Not a big deal and it was nice to have dinner there, instead of fast food. Of course it was raining, so getting from one building to the other was wet and cold. Then at gymnastics, Kate fell a couple of times and wasn't seriously injured, but when she got into the car she had a little meltdown, telling me, "I try to be funny when I fall, but ....it actually really hurt and it still hurts..." and I totally understood that. It's just too much, sometimes, to put on a brave face. I think it's what we do every day -- trying to wear the mask that says, "Yes, I'm handling all these commitments and homework and heavy backpacks" -- and in my case, "Yes, I'm totally capable of working full-time and volunteering at school and driving the kids around everywhere and also trying to make sure they have some fun..." -- but the mask is hiding our truth, which is: OMG, I'M TIRED.

Saturdays/Sundays are no better, usually, with basketball games and necessary shopping and groceries and church and laundry. (Thank you, Shawn, for handling laundry.)

I'm dismayed that Kate at age 9 is already feeling the pinch of trying to "do it all." Although I think without the injuries this Tuesday, she might have been fine. She's tired, though, and it's showing. Both kids have tiny little colds that I'm willing NOT to get worse or spread to the grown ups. She told me she would definitely be going to bed early tonight. I pray she'll honor that, for her own sake.

And I'm looking forward to the time off coming our way in T-minus 12 days!! Jesus, take the wheel.