August is here. I am sure I probably am not in the norm, but I am ready for school to start. Maybe I should say that I am ready for the routine and schedule. I am so not disciplined, in just about every area of my life, yet I thrive with a schedule. So, after much pondering, I woke up this morning with things in place for a schedule. Not a real rigid schedule. But my week planned out before it starts. Putting breakfast menu on paper, deciding what kid activities we are doing on which days, getting back to my weekday chore chart for myself. Doing the prep work the night before to make mornings smoother. Getting the kids on a set morning routine so none of the 'hurry up' yelling when school starts. (Some thrive on the hustle and bustle but I don't and our lives are really such that I have time to stop and smell the roses, alot, if I will just get disciplined.)
I am shooting for being in bed by 10pm. Last night I crawled into bed at 9:58 with hopes of getting great sleep to get up at 5am. Well, I forced myself to stay in bed last night until 11pm. I guess I was so excited (how weird is that) to have something in place, I could not wait for the day to start. So got back up and did some work until 1am. When the alarm went off, I was up and going! Now if I can keep from napping today bedtime should be easier tonight. My biggest time waster culprit...the computer - specifically the internet. Not big chunks of time, but 20 minutes here, 10 minutes googling this, 15 minutes there. It all adds up and quickly. I think the boys will do much better too! Time will tell.

Jbird continues to love his training wheel free bike. No more crashes! I had two major victories in the kitchen this past week. My kids FINALLY tried hamburger helper. I know it is not the best, but quick and easy. They finally tried it and liked it. They had it three days in a row. My oldest has always decided, even before seeing some food, if he likes it or not. Often if he comments negatively, then this quickly persuades Jbird not to 'like' something either. Then the biggest shocker, the oldest, finally tried oatmeal and it was a hit. Yeah, a hot, cheap, somewhat healthy (minus the brown sugar), quick breakfast. (Of course mom has a mental aversion to hot cereal (maybe it was the cream of wheat growing up?) but they have yet to figure that out.) I am so excited!!!

Since this week is operation schedule, next week will be operation food. Trying to simplify foods so that when Soccer, AWANA and cub scouts starts, our evenings, complete with homework, are much smoother and my attention is on the kids and not the kitchen.

My computer time is about up. Off to make bead bracelets with the older two while JB naps!