A Day in the Life

Most days I get to the end of the day and I feel like I have accomplished little, if anything. I mean I collapse on the couch with Ben to watch some Netflix or Castle on the computer and I survey my domain while the show is loading. And what do I see? Mess as far as the eye can see. So what have I done all day? I have no idea. Each day is a whirlwind.
I mean, I do have down times every now and then, those days when I actually DO accomplish NOTHING. Days when I put my foot down, or rather my behind down, and refuse to keep pace. I lounge, read, stare, and watch my kids forage for nourishment. I figure they can survive a day or two without my constant intervention. And miracle of miracles, I come to an end of one of those days and things look just as they do on days when I work: house messy, kids dirty and alive.
So today I looked at the clock at 8:24 and could not believe my eyes. I have only been out of bed for 1 hour 34 minutes and I can't believe how much I've done! I'm not superwoman today, I've just decided today to notice the effort I put in. Just like most of you peeps out there in blogland, I do a million little things each day. So here's how the day is going for me so far:

6:50 Drag myself out of bed after hearing Caleb fuss. I've already wasted 5 minutes not getting up. Gather Liddy's school clothes and drop them on the couch. (Side note: Friday is one of the rare days I don't drive the kids to school. Every other day I have to wake Caleb up for the drive. Of course the ONE DAY I don't need him to get up he's up bright and early)
6:53 Give up trying to coax Caleb out of his crib and go upstairs to wake up Ethan and Liddy. Ethan's bed is empty...? Go in Liddy's room and find them snuggled up together.
6:55 Get Caleb out of bed. He is soaked. Strip his bed, grab clean clothes, fill up his sippy. Strip him, give him a quick wetwipe bath, put on new clothes and diaper. (Sounds simple, but imagine doing this while he's screaming and writhing like you're taking off his skin with those feetie pajamas)
7:03 Try not to get frustrated that kids aren't at the counter eating. Fail. Yell at kids to get over here. Tell Caleb he cannot watch TV before the kids leave even though he is so cute singing "baby, baby" while he signs "Baby Signing Time."
7:05 Make lunches. Change poopy diaper. Chaos, chaos. Caleb's mad. Ethan and Grant are playing Beyblades. Take away Beyblades.
7:25 Announce that there are only 10 minutes left. Beg, threaten. Help Liddy clean up spilled hot chocolate. Get her another shirt. Berate Ethan for standing there pouting about his Beyblade. Fix hair. Pack up backpacks.
7:35 Get kids out the door. Start a load of laundry. Get little boys breakfast.
7:45 Unload clean dishes, load dirty ones. Clean up breakfast stuff. Label and put away apples Ben and I canned yesterday.
8:00 Practice piano while Grant interrupts every 36 seconds to herald the merits of each Beyblade.
8:20 Check my email. Find that I have two requests from PaperbackSwap. Go downstairs to grab the books. Try to decide what needs to be done today and how much time I have. Can I go to the post office today? Can my sanity handle that since I have to bring my little boys?
8:24 Look at the clock. Register shock at how much I feel like I've done already this morning. Look around at the house and realize how much still needs to be done.

Phew! Well...on with the day!