OH NO!

I'm NOT good with last minute schedule changes or surprises, and I got a BIG one this morning:

NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!

Now I have two days' worth of work to do in one day plus three extra children to keep from killing each other or making MORE work for me to do. It doesn't sound like it from what I just wrote, but I'm handling it pretty "gracefully" so far. Actually, for breakfast time, the "no school" announcement was a relief. Of all the times of the day, I like the kids' breakfast time least. Nothing I make them is ever good for all three children (I'm not counting Seth in this whole complaint because first of all, he'll eat just about anything and second of all, he doesn't usually eat breakfast until the older three are gone to school). So there's always quite a bit of whining from one or more of the children and almost CONSTANT reminders from me, "Please sit up. Please eat. No talking; just eating and drinking. Please drink your minerals. Don't forget to drink your juice. Put your glass in the sink, please. Shhhh, Seth's still sleeping." It's QUITE maddening! If it weren't for the need to drink the minerals with food in their tummies, I'd just send something with them to eat in the gym (they get to school about a half-hour before school actually starts). Maybe I should shift the mineral-drinking to dinner time. Then they could sleep until 7 a.m. and I wouldn't have the irritation of breakfast time. That's something to consider . . .

Anyway, back to the "no school" issue -- I had the day all lined up: get the kids off to school, get Seth ready, do Luke's lunch and work Joel's lunch, go play with Gavin, get Seth's hair cut, do another hour of work in the laundry room, make dinner, listen to the older kids' news from the day, eat dinner, bathe Makenzie, read a section of our book, put the kids to bed. Great schedule! All down the drain now. But Makenzie and Seth got to sleep late, there was no breakfast fighting, Makenzie and I got to read for quite a long time, Joel and Luke got to play the Wii, Joel made a nice picture that he might enter in the school's art contest, and now I'm on here since there IS NO schedule now.

Signing Time just started over -- I should at least change the dvd or get Seth out of his high chair. More to come today, I'm sure.