Things to Remember in a Day

As a mom of many small children, do ya ever stop to ponder all the things you must remember in a day?  Today was a very typical summer's day for us, and I can't tell you how many times I thought about all the things I needed to remember.

My perfect mental plan was for us to get out the door at 10:00 to meet some dear friends at a park just five minutes from our house- at 10:30. Those of you who are not moms of small children are scratching your heads at this point trying to figure out why we needed a half an hour. Those of you who ARE moms of small children are nodding your heads in total understanding.

And for the record, it turns out I have learned just a few things about mothering small children, because here's how the morning schedule played out:
9:55- I hopped in the shower.  Now or never, right?
10:00-Comb hair with one hand (because we all know styling is a long gone luxury and combing now constitutes styling), brush teeth with the other.
10:05- Grab a green pepper, broccoli, carrots, meat and cheese out of fridge for lunch, add some ranch dip for good measure to insure that my kids remember I am a GREAT mom!  Finish packing lunch.
10:10- Round up all buckets/shovels/etc. from sandbox in backyard to take with us, while instructing kids to get on Crocs and start strapping themselves in carseats.
10:13 Fill water bottles.  3 of them.  Ice AND water.
10:15 Get Sweetest P out of bed, into carseat.
10:18 Grab camera, phone, crackers, swim gear, diaper bag, baby, sunglasses and head out the door.
10:19 Back in the house for my forgotten water bottle still on the counter.
10:20 Get Noah off his bike, into the van and strapped in his carseat.
10:22 Pull out of driveway
10:30 Arrive at park EXACTLY on time.  Super impressed with myself.  My friend is waiting for us, kids in the stroller, sunscreening many small children, 5 minutes ahead of me and putting me to shame.

DISCLAIMER: This schedule involves not one iota of exaggeration, and now you non-moms-of-small-children might understand why I allotted myself a half an hour to get to a park five minutes from my house!

So...back to that list of things I need to remember for today.  On this very typical summer day, it went something like this:
*swimsuits on kids-check
*towel-check
*dry clothes/underwear for later-check
*picnic blanket-check
*stroller-check
*stocked diaper bag-check
*lunch-check
*Sophia's vitamins-check
*knife to cut green pepper-check
*Ranch dip for veggies, so kids think I'm a GREAT mom-check
*water bottles x3-check
*water toys-check
*Crocs for kids to wear in very rocky water-check
*camera-check
*sunscreen-check
*Money to ride the little train-check
*baby-check
*Make kids go to the bathroom before we leave.  Easier here than there-check.
*Have kids move bikes out of the way for Dad's car when we get home-check.
*Return movies to library: TBD.

We hit the road, my brain intact after all that hard work, and I'm feeling like Mom extraordinaire for remembering it all.

We get to the park, and as the day progresses, I realize the things I've forgotten:
*deodorant.  Note to self: must keep some in the car for exactly this reason.  Dear Jesus, help me not to smell.  Too much.
*To fix Sophia's hair before we left.
*To APPLY the sunscreen I ingeniously remembered.
*To GIVE Sophia the vitamins I remembered to bring along.
*When the last time my kids had a bath.  Which I discovered while fixing Sophia's hair.  At the park.  With mud on her head.  From the mud pit she played in last night.  (In my defense, there were showers at the mud pit, and I thought we had gotten it off.  Turns out I was wrong.  We missed some.)
*To make sure kids haven't REMOVED anything from the aforementioned stocked diaper bag.  Like burp rags.  For my favorite Sweetest P- who happens to be a VERY spitty baby.
*To take the chicken out of the freezer for dinner tonight.
*To CHANGE the baby's diaper with the again said diaper bag.  Now I'm feeling like a TERRIBLE mom.
*That Sophia WILL need to go to the bathroom 5 minutes after we get there, even if I did remember to make her go before we left home.  And every hour after that.  No matter what.  It's never convenient.  I may think teaching the kids to go in the river/stream we were playing in is the best idea I've had all day.  Until I realize what I've forgotten about this is that once they do so, they will announce to everyone and anyone that they have just done so.  And be so marveled at the fact that they can go in the water that they just might do so every 15 minutes just for fun.

And that, my friends, about sums it up.  Things to Remember in a Day- or alternately titled: Why My Brain Just Might Explode.  Or so I feel some days!

Chillin'.  It's what I do best.

Watching the train pass.

Playing in the river/stream.

And yes, last but not least, I leave you with the documentation that if you teach your kids to pee in the water, they may do it frequently just for fun.  For clarification and redemption, the water was flowing downstream, and there was no one behind us!