What a new school year brings: a quick snapshot

We're a few weeks into a new school year.  Already, the kids have a couple spelling tests and many homework papers under their belts.  They are waking up early and groggily sitting around the table for family prayer and scripture reading before Dad needs to leave for work, since we've resigned to the fact that we're not good at staying consistent with reading together at bedtime.  The three big kids also try to get piano practicing done before school, but so far, that effort has spilled over into the afternoon more than not.  From 6:50 - 7:50 am, there's a whirlwind of toast, cereal, lunch boxes, and tangled hair.  We scramble to find library books, completed homework, and the match to that shoe.  We review the after school schedule of who needs to be where and when--soccer, Cub Scouts, piano, Activity Days, Kindermusik.  The job charts hang on the kitchen wall, mostly untouched for now, but I'm hoping that somehow and soon, they will become part of our morning routine as well--each kid happily checking off that they have practiced, picked up their room and made their bed before school.  Unfortunately, I'm no better with my own room, so I can't be too hard on them.  I'm slowly getting caught up on transitioning the house from summer to fall, and it seems that my room often becomes the dumping ground.

But we're getting there.  The weekly routine will eventually settle in.  I'll keep figuring out creative ways to eat zucchini and tomatoes for dinner and store the rest for the winter.  RVC will get used to her braces. MEC will learn that we don't get food out of the fridge in the middle of the night.  TLC will stop stashing worn underwear in the corner of his room without telling me, SCC and CAC will learn to put away all the random trinkets they pull together from around the house for their latest creative playtime.  I'll manage a less hurried and more sincere "I love you!" and "Have a good day!" as I send them out the door and up the hill each morning.  And I'll make more of an effort to call it a day and go to bed with my sweet partner in this whole parenting thing, even when the day's work isn't all done.