Wasn't Gonna

But I will.

It's late. The house is a semi-wreck, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get organized.

In the last Bearenstein Bears book I read, Mama Bear got fed up with Brother and Sister Bears' room so she got a big box and dumped everything in it to get rid of. That's what I wanna do. But not just with the kids' toys. I wanna put the dirty dishes in it, the laundry, the bags that pile up in my car, the christmas decorations, the books on the book shelf, and more. But I won't.

Maybe I should do what Mama Bear ends up doing: She gets boxes to organize then they live happily ever after. If only it were so easy.

And... as I sat in the bed, trying to get the kidlings to sleep, after a long evening, I thought, and thought, and thought, about how it's my fault. It's my own fault that my kids don't just magically fall asleep at 7 when I put them to bed. It's cuz I've never done the right thing. The thing that all parents should do. The thing that leads to peace. Do you know what that is? Well... it's something. Not just one thing. And it includes:

Organization
Schedules
Consistancy
Routine

None of which I can seem to get right. But tomorrow's a new day right?

I can't say that I don't have those things. Cuz I do... but just a little.

There IS the routine - every night - of

Making the wish on the wishy star. (and tonight, Celia wished for Santa to come back soon, for Effie to have a good day, for Effie to play with her in the morning, for me to have a good night's rest)

Brushing teeth - telling Effie to NOT brush - just so she WILL brush.

Going to the bathroom.

Getting a drink of water - even if we do so about 16 times. (and yes, I do keep the water by the bed, but I end up having to get up for refills. I need to get a 7-11 sized cup)

Getting the gummy bear vitamins. (Red for Effie - 2 each)

Reading an outrageous number of books. (Remind me to NOT check out any more "Ameilia Bedilia"... too long.)

So - we do have routine - but it takes too long.

Every day I say to myself "this will be the day. We'll stay on track. I'll put em to bed early so I don't have to blog or wash dishes at 2am"

But that didn't happen today. No no no.

We got home at 5 after driving my sisters badical radical Super Beetle home.

I decided to make food for the kids. Macaroni and cheese. Sliced avacados. They ate a skimpy amount.

We had humpty dumpty and his girlfriend drawing contest. I won.

We then had to PLAY humpty dumpty goes to the circus. Alex was the circus. I was the audience. Effie was the "Acrobats" as Celia insisted, and she - of course was humpty's wife.

Then we HAD to play peter pan. Which meant Celia needed her Tinker Bell costume. The pony tail. The wand. The wings.

Then we HAD to bake cookies. (I'm not that cool. They were the scoop and bake kind- not from scratch tonight)

Then we had to play tap dance. That meant we all had to learn Celia's new choreography. The "Celia tap dance". "Shake your hips from side-to-side- tap your feet, shake your head". Then the "sara tap dance". (I'll spare the details - cuz I didn't make it up) Then the girls had to tap dance on the bed.

Then I gave the kids the bright idea of writing with marker on the mirror. They each had wipeys to wipe it off, but Effie decided to write on the bed sheets I just washed, my "Chairy" doll, (not to worry - it came out), her diapers, the floor, Celia's underwear. And she appropriately tried to wipe everything she wrote on.

And surpisingly it was only around 7 by the time all this had happened, and I said to myself "It's still early, but I should really put them to bed now".

Well.... to make this already LONG ass story a little longer, they did the jumping on the bed thing, the change into Jasmine thing, the put on pajama thing, then the rest of the routine thing (see above) and the lights barely went out at around 9pm.

But wait! Lights out, but Celia needed to "Fix some toys in her room". That took forever. She was curled up on her bed waiting for me to come get her cuz her legs were tired.

Then in the dark Effie tossed and turned and like every night said "food. food. food." (I usually get away by ignoring her but I had to take her to the kitchen. I tried shoving cookies and pasta in her mouth, but turns out she just wanted more water)

An hour had passed since I turned out the lights. Effie needed her Minnie doll. Then she needed her Minnie Ears. Celia was knocked out after the covers were exactly as cozy as they needed to be. Effie wanted to get up. I got her up and said to myself "If I get her up, she'll wanna get up everynight from now and forever", either way, I kicked some stupid books out of the way and was a bit aggravated at this point, and to my surprise the kid was asleep before I even sat in the rocking chair. God help me. God bless me. Cuz my kids are freaking amazing.

Ok enough. Don't forget to think 3 times before having children. And remember. Tomorrow's a new day.