Good morning to you. You live in a zoo.

Mr. M left for work at six this morning. He must have had some psychic premonition about the kids....or he just looked out the window and saw it was raining.

Wednesday mornings are always a challenge. The two older boys get home from scouts around the time they should be going to bed Tuesday nights, but still get to visit with grandparents, take showers, etc. By the time they get to their rooms, it's at least an hour after they should be asleep.
Last night, after they were in bed, as we were finishing up in the kitchen, we heard some clinking noises from upstairs.

"Honey, could you go see who that is? It might be Chip with that late nap he took?"

Nope, #3 was fast asleep. It was our oldest, still awake and trying to stay that way, at 10:30.
At that point, I knew getting him up this morning was going to be fun.

This morning getting everyone out of bed wasn't that bad. It's just baby girl, our kindie, and our oldest were ALL in fine form. To stop the screaming two year old, so my morning headache would cease, I used every parent's favorite bad parenting device. The T.V. Curious George worked wonders for her, but what I gained in noise control, I lost in focus with the older boys,

Eat breakfast at the table. Do you know where your backpack is. Yes you have to wear socks. Take your umbrella with you. I know it's not raining now, but it's supposed to rain all day. Lunch? You want a school lunch today. Where's your lunch? No, trail mix and milk is not a complete meal. Stop whining. You poured the cereal; you eat the cereal. If you don't go to school today, you don't go to practice tonight. Stop watching the t.v. and put on your shoes, find your folder, eat,etc. I'm such a witch in the morning.

Click! They're out the door. Finally. I forgot to make sure our kindie had his library books.
At least they all had backpacks, umbrellas, and wore jackets. And they're together. So hopefully, they'll stay that way.

I wish I could leave at six am every Wednesday.