Mom’s back in the routine

Well, after more than two weeks of holiday vacation time, it’s the eve of back to school. My big girl goes back to Kindergarten tomorrow and I’m ready for the routine. Today I set my alarm and got her up at 7:30 so she’d be tired enough to fall asleep tonight. Our routine has been super relaxed over the holidays (not that it’s ever rock solid or militant) but I managed to get supper made at a decent hour (mmm, spaghetti with meat sauce and sliced grilled Italian sausage!), cleaned up the kitchen quickly, got the kids into a bath for washing up and shampooing, gave them a healthy snack, and got them into bed by 8:02 pm, only two minutes past schedule. While they were eating their snack, I also quickly assembled her lunch for tomorrow (by request, an apple for snack time, a container with sliced bologna, cold cubed baked potato, cold veggies, and a few slices of leftover sausage, and a yogurt for dessert, whew!).

Tomorrow morning will dawn early at 6:30 (and likely quite dark too since it’s supposed to rain, blargh), and we’ll have to breeze through breakfast, teeth, getting dressed, hair styling (such that it is!), and getting out the door. While I don’t look forward to the early rise time, I do look forward to the routine. I never realized how much *I* need the routine. I work better, I keep the apartment from becoming post-apocalyptic, I play with my kids more, and I’m more relaxed even though it sounds like it should be the opposite.

I can’t wait to get things back on track, even though I know I’ll miss my big girl after having her at home for two weeks (and I know my little one will miss her too!).

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