Time...

No matter how much I try to keep my schedule organized (as if that's possible with two four-year-olds!), time just seems to fly. I can't believe how fast this past month has gone. My kids started school on August 23rd...and we're already 2/3 of the way through September! I haven't blogged since the kids started school...shame on me!

I've been working hard to change my organization patterns on my computer desk at home over the course of the last week. We'll see how long those changes last, but so far I like the fact that things are a little more streamlined. I bought a new planner/calendar so I can keep track of everything, from the kids' school schedule to my work schedule (even work-from-home moms need to schedule things carefully!), to Steve's work schedule and family commitments like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. We're not the "busiest" people in the world, but I'm pretty actively involved in several volunteer/charity functions, and those include meetings galore.

I'm going to adopt a chart my friend showed me a few years ago. I laughed (on the inside) when I first saw it, but I'm interested to see if it's something I can apply to my daily life. It involves targeting specific areas in the house so that you can do a few small tasks each day and at the end of the week there's very little to be done because you've been taking care of it already. For instance, clean the guest bathroom on Monday and Thursday. Vacuum on Tuesday and Friday. Clean the fridge the day before garbage day and take five minutes to clear out products that are expired, etc. This plan may work, it might not...but it's worth a shot, because I'm overwhelmed with my current pattern!

I would really like to set aside at least 20 or 30 minutes a week to sit and blog. I keep saying I'm going to do it, but then it slips by. I read friends' blogs when I have some downtime, and I really enjoy reading them.

The kids are loving school, and I have to say I'm finally adjusting to the pattern of dropping them off/picking them up. It's not always easy (three hours FLIES even faster than you might think!), but I'm learning to lay out their clothes the night before and pack their snacks the night before to help with our time management in the morning. If I could convince them to eat breakfast a little faster than snail's pace I'd be thrilled. They like to take their time with their cereal! We had some issues at first with Jeremy not wanting to cooperate with activity transition (moving from the blocks to the classwork activity was apparently not something he was thrilled about!), but now that he's getting into a routine it's going fairly well. For anyone who had doubts, I can certainly tell you that GIRLS and BOYS have completely different personalities when it comes to school. Megan has done extremely well adapting...Jeremy has had a rocky start, but is gradually coming around.

I'll have to write a separate post sometime soon about the black eye Jeremy got two weeks ago...he was running in the house right before bedtime and fell and smashed his eye on some furniture, and it was quite the event around here, to say the least. I have pictures of his shiner, and thankfully it wasn't a really severe injury, so we can look back in hindsight and chuckle about it a little.

Til next time!!!