School Bus Mania

Okay, so it's been nearly a week since I posted - so sorry! Our weekend off went pretty well; the exception being that I don't sleep well at my MIL's. Usually it's because the sun hits our room first and I up at dawn, but this weekend it was the bed. Apparently our nephew has taken to wetting the guest bed (he's 6 months - how does this happen? Ever heard of a changing pad?), so my MIL put one of the plastic covers on the matress. For his couple times a year visit from Tennessee. Oh, and as my sister-in-law suggested, to help protect the mattress for menstrual stains. ?!?!?! I married into a crazy family. But needless to say, the mattress cover when on and on top of that, satin sheets.

Can we say it feels like sleeping on a trash bag?

Needless to say, sleep did not come easy, nor was it restful. But we got to watch The Bourne trilogy, and that was awesome!

But I digress - and here's my post for the day!

Normally, Jonathan and I have a great system for getting the kiddos up and out the door on time for school every morning. They clean their rooms before they go to bed and lay their clothes out, so when wakeup comes, they just need to get dressed, make their beds, and take their dirty clothes to the laundry room. Breakfast is on the table when they get there; afterwards they brush their teeth, get their backpacks and jackets off of their labeled hook, and off they go!

Except for this morning, of course.

We were taking our house and next door's teenage girls to school today (their houseparents were going to the airport); that's fine - between us and them, they can fit in one 15 passenger van. Three of our kids take the school bus; the others went with Jonathan in the van off to school. So I'm unloading the dishwasher while my three 4-5 year-olds are waiting by the front door to watch for the bus. But I look up out the kitchen window and what do I see? The bus! The bus! It's waiting for me! (Okay, that was hokey, but hey, I'm a mommy of seven!)

At that very moment, Jayda announces that she has to poop. So I tell her she better hurry! I walk Logan out to the bus, but Jaime is sobbing because at that moment she realized she has lost her jacket. I tell her she's got 30 seconds, or she isn't bring one. Well, she was still crying as she boarded the bus, 'cause hey - they are about to leave and I am not driving 30 minutes to take them to school for her not finding her jacket in 60 degree weather. At this time Jayda gets halfway across the yard before starting to wail that she left her backpack in the bathroom! So I yell at her to go back for it. I'm sure I was a sight to Mr. Martin, the bus driving, a pregnant woman in her blue flowered PJ pants, multi-colored kimono-styled bathrobe, beach sandals, and black lambskin jacket yelling three kids onto the bus.

Some days go like this...

I need a cup of coffee.

But no caffeine for me.

:-(