SAHM's Back to "School"

Things are settling into place around here. And I don't think that it is all because my Internet access was down yesterday. It may not be Fall yet (believe me, I don't want to think that any more than anyone else, cause that means we'll probably have snow by Halloween!) but the School Year has definitely started, even though I'm a stay-at-home mom with 2 preschoolers. Yes, I said TWO pre-schoolers.

Signs that Summer is Over:

1)We are eating dinner before 6pm again. All summer it seemed like dinner was around 6:30 or so - which may not seem late for the rest of the world, but when Ben goes to bed around 7pm, it's making things tight.

Our earlier dinner time is mostly because I've started my chore of picking out meals for the week and then shopping all at once (although I DO need to make another trip tomorrow). Which leads me to...

2) I have a household chore schedule again. This isn't really about Fall, but it does greatly contribute to our household state of mind. I had a nice routine at our old house which kept everything in a fairly constant state of tidy. But this house is set up differently, so it took me a while to figure things out and get used to it all. Here it is:
Mon: bathrooms (If you wipe everything down weekly, it's never very bad! Here's another tip: I almost never scrub the tubs. Oops.)
Tues: laundry - plus, I may throw in baking a treat (in the schedule, not the laundry. Just realized that sounds confusing). So the cookie jar has something in it for once.
Wed: vacuum the main floor - aka aerobic exercise.
Thurs: vacuum upstairs/ dust up , alternating weeks. I HATE dusting. Which is why I must schedule it.
Fri: off / dust main, alternating weeks.

This schedule makes my Type-A personality capable of saying, "Sure! Come on over!"

3) The kids started gymnastics today. For Ben, it was his first time, and he surprised me with how well he did. There was a huge difference between his first day and Leah's, which I'll chalk up to being a boy and having a big sister. I told Leah, he basically had a gymnastics teacher at home!

He was a little cautious at first, especially with the trampoline, but by the end of the class he was bouncing without a care (including the other kids!) and also jumping into the foam pit. He did all of the coach- led stations, but ran off before they could give him the reward stamps on his hands and feet! The coach was particularly impressed with his perfect "bear walk" - of course, he's been imitating Leah at home doing that for months.

Leah watched Ben's class from the balcony, and the coach even commented on how good she was being. Her class was next, and although she was in the same level last spring, there were some new things...She was HOPPING on the balance beam! Also, she was about to take out her chin with her tuck jumps on the trampoline, and she hopscotched like a pro.

Ben sat with me during her class and mostly just ate his granola bar. Kid was pretty worn out, I think. My plan next week is to bike to gymnastics, as it's only about a mile away from our neighborhood. It's almost not worth loading the kids in the van, and I could use the exercise. I guess.

Today's gymnastics marks the beginning of our activity schedule. Every morning except Thursday will be booked, plus Wed evening. I hope it isn't overkill.
For me. The kids will be fine.