Talking Points

•  I have still not adjusted to school day mornings. You would think after three weeks at it that I would have it down, but I don't. I feel like we're running crazy from the moment we wake up until drop off at school. I know that the remedy to this is just to get up earlier, but I take umbrage with that solution. You see, I like sleep. I'd love to get eight hours plus every night, but that rarely happens anymore. Also, I'm a night person. I enjoy my time after the kids are in bed when I can just lay like a sloth on the couch. The easy solution would be to go to bed earlier so I could get up earlier, but that would cut into my sloth time. So, instead, I run around like a crazy woman for an hour every morning until I can finally breathe once the kids hop out of the car.

• The car line. Ohhhhhh, the lovely car line. I spend a lot of time in the car these days since we're at two different schools that have two different drop off and pick up times. I know most normal people have to deal with this, but I got nice and used to all my kids being in the same school at the same time. Preschool drop off and pick up is old hat, but it's taking me a while to learn the nuances of elementary school car rider rules. After waiting way too much for Luke's liking the first few weeks, we have officially become "that family" that is the very last one to pick up their kids at school. We time it to get there right as the line is petering out and we have to wait all of two minutes. In the end, it means Luke and I don't have to wait half an hour in the car and we end up getting home maybe five or ten minutes later that if we had waited an eternity in the car line. WIN.

• My kids are becoming greedy little money grubbers and are asking for an allowance. We always tell them that if they want something, they can use their money to buy it. The problem is, they don't have any money to buy anything. They get some money from Christmas and birthdays, but we thought we should give them the opportunity to earn some small monetary compensation for doing jobs around the house. I've thought about all different ways to do allowance and I think we've settled on what will work best for us. We have certain everyday chores that are expected (make bed, put clothes in hamper, brush teeth, pick up room, etc). These chores are unpaid and we even reserve the right to take money from your piggy bank if you don't do them. Yeah, we're that mean. Then we are going to have a set of rotating chores that the kids will do every day (feed dog, wipe down bathroom sinks, use the shark vacuum under the table, etc.). These chores are expected as well, but they can earn a bit of money for performing them. Finally, we're going to have extra chores. These are chores that are beyond normal duties that the kids can choose to do if they want to earn extra money. Overall, we have it structured so that they can only earn up to about $1.50 a week, which they think is A FORTUNE! WOW MOM, SIX QUARTERS! We kept the amount small because they're just 5 years old and I want them to learn the skill of saving up for something. Most of the toys or items they covet are in the $15-$20 range, so they'd have to save for a couple of months to get something in that price range. If anyone else has allowance ideas/suggestions, I'm all ears. This is still definitely a work in progress for us.

• Soccer season has officially started and we are spending two nights a week at the soccer field. I determine what program we participate in based on how many nights it will require us to be out of the house. I am just not ready for four nights a week of practices and then all day Saturdays at various athletic fields. I'm holding off for a few more years. Luckily, the organization the kids are playing for this fall has both the boys playing on one night and the girls on another. PLUS, they practice and then play a game all on the same night! I still get my sanity and we still get our Saturdays (for now).

So what about everyone else? Anything on your mind this Thursday? I'm hoping I get myself in gear and in school mode before the month of September is over. If not, I have a feeling it's going to be a looooong year.