Welcome Week

It is hard to go from NOT WORKING in an office for THREE MONTHS to working EVERYDAY in an office for a whole week. And!  Let's not forget that I am teaching a bonus night class at a neighboring college!  Two days this week started at 5 am when I got up to work on my online adjunct class and ended at 8:00 pm when I got home from my in-person adjunct class and contained 8 solid hours of meetings in the middle.  Meetings I was leading, not just sitting in.  I AM SO TIRED.  Is what I am trying to tell you.

Here I am waiting for my night class to start with my brand! new! not blond hair.

The rest of the week has been a blur.

I baked a lot, deciding that my advanced age means I can because I radiate mom ethos.

I volunteered to spend an extra day on campus and help with a college-wide TA training.  And I ended up having to take the kids with me and stash them in a classroom.  This also happened another day-- Ben and I overlapped, so I stuck the kids in a room for a couple of hours.  And the last day Ben and I both worked, so the kids came with me and hung out with a sitter on campus.  I thought last year that I would be able to leave them home alone-- and maybe I could have, but the end-of-summer fighting was unreal.  UNREAL.

Tuesday morning was particularly nutso.

I made the kids smoothies with peaches I peeled and froze the night before (after my night class) when I noticed they were  a little soft

 I threw some chicken and salsa and spices in the crock pot for dinner.

 I made coffee and chocolate cookies for my TAs

 I cleaned all 3 bathrooms

 And tidied 4 bedrooms.

 I dressed in semi-profesh clothes

 And headed to work by 8:48 with all of the kids!

Insanity.

Thursday night was also notable because Cooper had baseball at 6-7:30, and Harry had baseball at 6:45, and Ben had fantasy football, so the kids and I were at the ball park UNTIL 9:08 because the effing coach of the other team wanted to play the last inning.  I almost cried.  In my dress and blazer and heels at the ball park in the pitch black with 3 cold and whining children.

Dorothy and I experimented with volume

And we celebrated working together with mid-week ice cream

Academic new year is my jam-- the time when I make great dinners and start ambitious new habits, but I would be lying if I told you everything was rosy.  I am thrilled to have all of the kids in school full time and giddy with the kind of freedom that allows me, but the kindergarten transition is especially hard on me.  I have been working with a kid at home for 12 years, and I am going to miss the afternoons of PBS characters and library story times and snacks and sweet little voices.  I know I will be able to quickly fill this void and maybe even finally finish my book, but I will long for Dorothy in the after preschool hours, just like I already miss Harry, Jack, and Cooper when they were small and lispy.

The days are long, but the years are short.

Preschool days are over in this house, and I think I might miss them forever.