This morning I said to my 5 year old while brushing her hair, “you have your big field trip today, are you excited?” She said “Oh mommy my teacher said to wear layers like a shirt and sweater and coat with extra socks. Plus it might be cold so I need a hat and mitts.” It’s early October and 9 degrees outside; of course she needs those things. The email the teacher sent out a week ago saying these exact same things? I totally read that, and immediately put it in the ‘things to deal with later’ category.

10 minutes until the bus comes, and I’m running around like an idiot finding socks and warmer clothes; searching for mitts and a hat that maybe missed the not really accessible place I store winter things during the summer, while calling to the girls to finish brushing their own hair in the meantime. The kid leaves the house with acceptable clothing, and two mismatched mitts. And her lunchbox gets left on the kitchen counter… Sigh. On the plus side, my oldest actually managed, with a reminder, to pack her library books to return.

When finally everyone is gone to school and the lunchbox makes it there too, I go about digging out all the winter stuff with my 1 year old in tow. My garage is packed with stuff I have to climb on and over and crawl through to get to the boxes but I do eventually manage to find at least enough of it for the short term. My baby finds my antics hilarious. Until she is hungry and needs a nap, and I’m up to my eyeballs in boxing up summer stuff and outgrown donations. Oh, and did I mention the cat peed on my five year olds shoes, and she peed on the backup pair in an accident, so she went to school in slightly too big rubber boots?

For those of you still reading, I did pick up all the stuff off my living room floor yesterday, just as promised. Today, I’m going to turn off my technology except for audiobooks or music. And I’m going to wash my kids shoes.