summer days recap

i rolled out of bed at 6:30 to Rodney calling me to "get hims out!", as i walked to his room i noticed sore, wobbly legs from yesterday's workout and decided to grab my pillow and blanket too. he and i plopped down onto the couch and watched transformer cartoons while i snoozed in and out of comments and questions "whads that? who's dat? are you sleeping?". the girls woke up at 7:00 on the dot and all decided that since the last time i made cracked wheat, they decidedly do not like it anymore. thank goodness the boy still does, he ate two bowlfulls.

then the whining and complaining and fighting began. over what to watch on tv, to clothes and hair do's. no one wanted to go swim or work out today. please can we stay home? two kids had to be reminded FOUR times to put their shoes on. everyone wanted to stay home. being the awesome mom that i am i bribed them with frozen yogurt from the gas station if they all "played" nice for my workout.

it didn't work. rodney was crying 4 minutes into my warm up. we had forgotten his star wars toys and he wanted to go home. phoebe and abby were fighting over the rope, and then the rowing machine and then just who knows what else. lucy won't stop talking, won't stop talking, won't stop talking.

"what am i doing wrong?" i think. we have crayons and coloring books, white board and dry erase markers, bikes, trikes, snacks and work out equipment they love to "play" on and they are all whining to go home. it hasn't even been two weeks of summer and they've cracked. we came home and the boy didn't want to nap, i still made him, but it was an extremely short hour and a half for my serenity. the girls zoned out on studio c episodes and i read my new book club book. makayla came over and entertained phoebe during the down time which was wonderful, despite my plans to have her nap as it has been almost a week since she had one and was due. i got a headache and cranky by 5. we ate dinner and then no one was listening to me. i finally got some kids thrown in a cold bathtub and rinsed off and the others brushing their teeth and in pajamas. phoebe got her first bloody nose during scripture study and the girls (again) weren't listening at bedtime.

so i'm writing about it. but yesterday! yesterday was a completely different story.

because they all miraculously slept in until 7:30 i got up and ready before the kids,  ( rodney even went to bed at 6:30 the night before). everyone happily ate their cheerios and, AND cleaned up without complaining. they all ran to get their swimsuits on and i only had to remind 2 kids to get their shoes on once! i packed the snacks, and my swim suit into my mary poppins' swim bag and we took off. ah, a fresh monday for a new week! they swam happily with the sitter (cousin ari) while i trudged away at my workout. i'm so lucky to have babysitters. we all happily swam together after i finished, visited with the messers and came home hungry and tired. the house stayed relatively clean and the kids were pleasant.

despite my preparation today (cracked wheat in the crock pot) and plans, the kids were just grumpy. yesterday they were fine. and that's just how it is, good days follow bad ones and vice versa. even when i'm prepared we have poop days and on thrown together days they are happy as little clams. sometimes there are reasons, sometimes it's a crap shoot.

yesterday i woke up refreshed and happy. today i woke up like a zombie. and then the kids' all followed my lead. i'm a work in progress if anything.

they didn't get frozen yogurt in case you were wondering.