Paperwork, Dirty Bathrooms, and Team Dinner

What do all these things have in common? They were my "to do" list today. Ever have a sense of overwhelming dread the moment you wake up because you know what's in store for your day? Well, that was me this morning. In anticipation of my busy day I attempted to get a head start last nite. That all went to pot when Audrey woke up around 12 am. I finally gave up on getting anything accomplished and took us both to bed at 2. Austin woke me at 3:30 to go to the bathroom. Audrey was in my bed before Tom left at 6:30. So goes my nite... every nite. *sigh*

Anyways, I was on major deadlines today. Austin's enrollment paperwork for kindergarten was due today. I completed it online last nite and received an email informing me that our application would not be considered complete until they received blah, blah, blah. I had to fax 20 pages of documents to Colorado and it only took me 2 trips to the school to get it all completed. I swear, only I can make kindergarten enrollment such a complicated process. No, we're not shipping him off to boarding school... yet... but the firm that processes the paperwork is based in Colorado.

In between trips to school, I took Austin across town to preschool and handed off his booster to one of my bff's Angie. Her little guy goes to preschool with Austin and they're the best of friends. She has been a complete lifesaver since track started 6 weeks ago. Austin gets out of school at 3, the same time practice starts on the opposite side of town, of course. Fortunately for me, Angie has agreed to take Austin home on preschool days to play until Tom can swing by and pick him up on his way home from work.

Back at home, I put Lexi down for nap attempt #1 and recruited Audrey to "help" me clean the bathroom. Once the floor was mopped and it was obvious that Lexi was NOT going to nap, I broke out the snacks and bought myself enough time to register my team for the track invitational we're participating in on Saturday. The deadline to enter my girls was, of course, today at 4pm. I didn't even break a sweat as I submitted my roster well before 2:51ish. Okay, time for nap attempt #2. This time it stuck.

By 3:15 my living room had been transformed into Hosmerville Spa for my track team. Today was the day before our first meet and every year I reward the girls for their practice efforts with a foot soak and scrub. Audrey had been anxiously awaiting this moment all day and with Austin away and Lexi sleeping she got the 5 star treatment. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of her patiently waiting behind the other girls in the bathroom to fill her foot tub. Too cute.

The guys team joined the girls after their practice for a team dinner. With tomorrow being our first track meet, all of the coaches thought this was a great way to officially kick off the season. I made the spaghetti (carbs) and garlic bread and the guys' coaches combined to bring the salad and desserts. This is the one instance that I am thankful for our small teams this year. I have never been single-handedly responsible for providing a meal for 25 people. Granted, it was only spaghetti and bread, but I had no idea how much was going to be enough, and let me tell you, these kids can eat!

In the end, it was a great day! I finally realized that I was so stressed from the beginning not because of what had to be done but because it meant that I wouldn't be able to focus much quality time on my kids all day. What's so amazing is that I just took things one task at a time and allowed myself little breaks with the kids in between (not usually the case, most of the time I stress out and find myself telling the kids "I can't right now, you're just going to have to wait," or "in a minute", and then that "minute" never comes). Let this be a lesson to me, when I rely on God's strength I am alot less stressed, I can still accomplish alot and I can feel like I was a pretty "good" mommy, too.

So, the sweetest part of my day came while I was busy preparing the 4th batch of garlic bread. It was so noisy in the house that I hadn't heard Tom arrive home with Austin until I heard a "hi, mommy!" I turned around to see Austin standing behind me with a beautiful stem of purple hyacinth in his hands. "I picked this for you," he said as he offered his gift. Tonite, Angie's garden has 1 less bloom; but it sure looks beautiful on my windowsill.