New Routines

The school year is officially 1 month in and our new routine is in place.  Well, almost.  There is nothing to prepare a Mom for the day when her alarm clock doesn't go off because she failed to set it.  That's me today, but I digress.

Before the school year started, I was in a panic about how I was going to get it all done.  Now, I'm doing okay.  I'm still working out the kinks, but so far it's been going well.

Our day usually begins around 630 (for me it's 6).  Then it's Mommy/Ren time before he heads off to school.  Next up is A and she's so independent she usually appears out of her room completely dressed and almost ready to go.  Her choice of attire isn't always what I would want, but I'm all for expressing yourself so as long as the length of a skirt/shorts is good and it's not showing improper body parts, I'm okay with it.  Even CS is waking up and, get this, going to the potty!!  You know how excited I am about the potty thing!  She's almost mastered the pee portion.  The poo however, is still a work in progress.

Chuck is getting in on the new routine too.  He's begun getting up about an hour earlier than usual and hanging out with the kids or heading to the office early.  I've begun going to the local Y three times a week and am loving the time to myself.  I don't mind a little sweat and breathlessness just as long as I get some time to clean my head!

Speaking of routines, I want to show you something I saw Friday and am doing this morning.  Our friend Cortney over at Evan has Landed posted a calendar idea and I'm in love!  How awesome is that for organizing schedules?  I can't wait to get mine finished and put it up as well.  I'm color coordinating so the kids know who has what on what day.  For example, Ren is blue, CS is purple and A is red.  Family activities will be yellow and anything Mom or Dad related is in green.

Now, I also use a program called Cozi to track things as well.  However, the kids were always asking about practice or games, etc.  I will always use my online calendar because it's easy to keep up with everything (plus the bonus of linking to Outlook and the ability for Chuck to link it to his calendar at his office so he knows what to expect each day), but I'm a hard copy kind of person too.  I like to be able to glance at something and know I have plans.  This new calendar idea fits that bill.

I will try to remember to post a picture when it's finished, but be sure to go and check out the post from Cortney.  Her pictures are great!