Last year I had been dropping my younger children off at a babysitter and taking my two oldest boys (and the baby) to their piano lesson. (I was very politely asked by the piano teacher to make other arrangements for my littlest ones during lessons. I don't blame her, their house is tiny and my little ones can be a handful, even on their best behaviour). The baby and I sat downstairs while the boys did their lesson. This worked out okay, but all the running back and forth to the sitter made things a little hairy.
Things got a little switched up this year. For starters, another boy started lessons, meaning three of my children are there for an hour and a half. The baby, being a year older and much more mobile, would no longer be able to accompany me to the lessons. On top of all that, we had previously had our daughter in a ballet class at our community school on Thursday evenings, but it was cancelled this year which left us scrambling for a replacement. We found a school just across the ferry from us that offered lessons on our piano day, and while I was hesitant to add one more item to that day at first, it really seemed to make the most sense.
The new Wednesday schedule goes like this:
9-12:00 School
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:30-3:00 Piano Lessons (big boys)
4:15-4:45 Ballet Lessons (Kindergartener)
I was so intimidated by it at first, until my mother-in-law suggested that I could go home while the boys were at their piano lesson (their teacher is only ten minutes away). By cutting out the babysitter, it allowed me not only precious extra time to get through school and lunch without being so rushed, but also a solid hour at home with just little ones to work on supper. I planned to have supper ready to go into the oven, so that when my husband or I arrive home we can just pop it in the oven. I had been doing casserolles, but then needed a quick, easy meal for Fridays as well (when we do a co-op and are also out until supper, and for which we fast from meat) so not wanting to do casserolles two times a week, I started looking for something different. I try to bake on Tuesdays, and have been using a no-knead bread recipe for our family's bread supply (because bread goes fast around here!) and thought if I mixed up an extra loaf I could use it for pizza dough.
So far, everything has gone like clockwork. Except that I haven't needed to go out. I've had a couple of test runs, and while the jury's still out on whether or not we get on the road today (I'm hoping yes) I can still breathe a sigh of relief that supper will be a little less chaotic one way or another. Meal planning has always seemed so smart to me, but something I've never been good at. I'm still not, in fact, and only have plans for two days a week - my two busiest. But I'm seeing that chaos can be a good thing, a driver for discipline and improvement if we're open to it. I'm not going all Martha-Stewart, I will never be that Mom. But it's good to know that, when the rubber hits the road, we can handle this. A little preparedness goes a long way towards keeping things healthy and happy, especially on the craziest of days.
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| Eager bakers helping to make Wednesdays a little less wacky |
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Update - we did not get to piano after all. Snow didn't let up, hubby couldn't meet me to drive me back up our icy hill. Maybe next week :)
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