The Second Best Thing I've Ever Done

I've mentioned a couple of times before that there are two things that I've done lately that I highly recommend. The first was letting the cleaning lady go ("Just Do It!") and the second...not sending my kids to pre-school! I thought the holidays would be a great time to post this because I'm still suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from last year's holiday duties at preschool. So while the rest of y'all are running around buying and wrapping teacher's gifts, making snacks for your preschoolers parties, and swinging by Chick-Fil-A to grab a nugget platter at 9:30 a.m., I'm sitting on my sofa reading a good book to the kids. (Or maybe I'm reading a good book to myself and they are watching PBS).

So what led to this drastic decision, you ask? (or maybe you don't even care because there's no way on h- e- double hockey sticks that you're not going to send them to pre-school!) After 5 years of waking up stressed and trying to get everyone out the door looking cute in their smocked outfits with matching hair bows, velcro Keds, and eyelet socks...I saw the light! This past summer, I worked hard at not having ANYTHING on our schedules. We didn't even participate in VBS. We simply enjoying "doing nothing" and having no schedule. It was the best summer of my entire life!!! We slept late. We stayed in our pajamas if we felt like it. Or we went to the pool if we felt like it. Or we played in Burger King if we felt like it. Or we drove to Birmingham to see Mimi and Papa. Or we played dress-up. I even put my wedding gown on and married my four year old daughter! The kids played "Fear Factor" in the kitchen. You get the idea. We did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. As the summer was winding down and the school year was fast-approaching, I woke up one morning and decided that I was going to continue this ALL YEAR LONG! It has been incredible and I can't emphasize it enough. Granted, I have two children, same sex, who are only 15 months apart. So they have each other to play with all day long. Next year, Kit Kat will go to kindergarten and Sunshine will return to pre-school. So I guess I'm only recommending it to those who have two same-sexed children who are very close in age.

The money I have saved....not just in tuition, but also in clothes. My entire attitude has changed. It has been LIBERATING!! The girls dress themselves and they MIGHT brush their hair. I take them with me to the gym (childcare provided) and everywhere else I go. The ladies at the Loft know them by name. My girls know how to order my coffee from Starbucks. They know where I like to park when I go to Wal-Mart and Target. They know all of AAA's and Li'l Man's friends in their classes because we visit their classes at least once a week. The principal, secretaries, custodians all know their names. But back to the money I'm saving - I quit doing clothes shows because, where are they going to wear these over-priced outfits? to the gym? To Target? Around the house? No way! I had a hard enough time getting them to wear these clothes when they were in pre-school, but now...no worries. They dress themselves comfortably (and they think they look soooo good!) and I just go with the flow. I never thought I would, but I did, and I do. Next thing you know, I'll be making my own granola, nursing my four year old, and growing all of my own vegetables in the back yard while I'm homeschooling all of the kids in the family school room. (Kidding ...just making sure you know).

And since I don't have a cleaning lady anymore, either...Kit Kat and Sunshine have learned to clean!! They can make their own beds BETTER than my 6 year old and 8 year old. They know how to use a coat hanger (I'm still trying to teach this foreign concept to my 8 year old!). They can load a dishwasher like nobody's business!

Last thing, I promise, then I'll get off my soap box. Two years ago, I had three (3) kids in pre-school and one at the Early Ed. I had a complete meltdown/breakdown - whatever you want to call it, I don't care! I was the room mom at the Early Ed (should have been a paid position - heed warning now if your kids are young - I know you've waited your whole life to be a room mom - trust me, I've been there - but RUN the other way!) and had three kids at Pre-school. During Thanksgiving, I realized that I was cooking more for my own kids classes than I was at home. In fact, I just wanted to go to Picadilly for Thanksgiving. I was so tired of cooking for the Thanksgiving Feast, standing in line with 300 other pre-school parents and grandparents, and sitting on the gym floor pretending to enjoy my lunch while kids raced around me hyped up on brownies and juice! I lost it! Enough!! Why am I waking up so early, driving to AEEC to drop- off my kindergartner, running back home, shoving food down the other three, dressing them cutely as fast as possible ( no wonder I forgot the panties! - see earlier post!), jumping right back in the car, dropping them off at pre-school, running to Winn-Dixie to grab snacks because it was my turn for Snack Basket (with three, it was always somebody's turn) , running back to the pre-school with the goods, coming back home to take a shower ('cause Lord knows I wasn't able to squeeze one in before school unless I wanted to wake up at 4:30) , running by REX to see if there were any refrigerator boxes for AAA's class, then back to pre-school. And that was a good day. There were many days that I went to Out in the Garden with my kid's preschool class, so I didn't get a break at all. But the real kicker was the Thanksgiving that the one year old class had to cook a casserole, the two year old class had to bake a dessert, and the three year old class had to bring a fruit platter. I'm breaking into a sweat over here just thinking about it. Can't I just send them to pre-school then run to the gym and Wal-Mart? NO! Pre-school was too time-consuming. I was paying them to drive me insane!

I'm O.kay. Really, I'll be fine.

Let me just get the kids to clean the house,run the vacuum, and bring me breakfast in bed, and I'll be fine. I'm telling y'all, this is the life!

Have a GREAT day!! Good luck this next week. Enjoy your time away from pre-school! Tell everyone I said "Hello!"

(Emmy, I love you!! You're an awesome pre-school director!!)