Beautiful Chaos

After receiving a letter from the school over concern with our daughter's number of tardies 

(for the first grade)! ...

I was inspired to offer them a teeny tiny  peek into our world

to help them get an understanding for what it really takes

to get her there even at all!

Some mornings are  s
                                        m
                                             o
                                                 o
                                                       t
                                                             h
sailing.

SCORE!

And...some days are complete

 chaos!

Only ONE parent is home.

That unfortunate duck is 

solo...
            alone...
                          with no help.

After breakfast is finally on the table...

Someone spills milk all over the floor 

and then thinks it's funny to 

splash in it. 

You clean the mess,

clean the child,

and clean the cat...

who was sitting under the table 

at the time of the spill.

After you've cleaned all children (and felines) ...

 You attempt to dress them.

 The little one kicks you in the face 

7 times 

before it's over.

The fashionista changes outfits 

4 times 

before she's satisfied. 

After their bodies are clothed and your body is bruised...

 The two year old refuses to brush his teeth.

We're talking iron jaw here.

You chase him around the house with a toothbrush 

 until he trips and hits his head 

on the coffee table.

You both sit in a puddle of tears 

for as long as it takes.

After you've both stopped crying...

 You actually make an attempt to get yourself clothed.

Are you insane? 

Yes, you are...

So you make the attempt.

Before the second calf makes it through a pant leg,

you hear screaming from the other room.

You trip over the pants,

stub your toe

and literally crawl down the rest of the hallway

to find out who is bleeding.

After you've discovered the reason behind the screams is not blood...

but instead it's one of your children

 smearing jelly 

onto the head of your other child. 

Hey...it's better than blood. Great!

Though some days are not quite that extreme.

 Sometimes, the shrieks are simply from excitement   

as the little guy tries to use 

the kitten 

as a race car.

 After tackling all obstacles and you're doing a happy dance on the way to the car...

the tiny tot decides its time to soil his diaper.

It's not number one...and it's not pretty.

You go back inside

 to suffer more blows 

from foot to face,

as you fight to clean and change him

yet again

for the third time

and it's not even 10:00 A.M.

 It is chaos, yes....but it is ours. 

It is our very own beautiful chaos. 

I closed the letter promising to do everything I can to take some time before I drift into

sweet, sweet slumber...

to prepare the things my family needs for the morning time

in an effort to make things more efficient for their departure to school

on time.

This should help some.

But as for the milk spilling, jelly smearing, kitten driving kind of mornings....

Well... now there is just really not much that can be done about those days.