Some Days, You Just Have To Embrace The Chaos

Some days you just have to embrace the chaos and roll with it. Some days no matter how much planning you do, how many preparations you make, and how organized or prepared you may think you are, chaos still rules.

Today was one of those days.

It started out with me waking up and knowing instantly that it was late. You know that feeling when you wake up and are positive you overslept? Yeah, that was me. A quick check of my clock proved I was right… not how I like to start my Mondays off.

So we got to it. It’s a school day around here and lessons needed to be taught. We always start our days with history because it’s a group course. All three kids use the same book and we read it together. After the lesson, they each have their own activity that goes with the material being taught. Today was a pretty big one too: lesson 100 of 108. The end is in sight!

After, the older kids are supposed to move on to their own items. At this point in the year, we are finishing up the tail-end of our subjects so there is an excitement that accompanies the time. The kids are always curious as to how many assignments they actually have left, how many days we think it will take, and how many assignments they can skip out on to start their summer early. I tell them all of them of course because we need to finish the year just as strongly as we started it.

The Text

Receiving text messages during the day is normal for me. And probably every other person out there! Texting is a great way to communicate with people and I use it a lot. It’s especially great for keeping up to date with hubby. His workdays are long so texting allows us to chat periodically throughout the day.

But today it wasn’t a “have a great day” or “how’s school going”… that’s a lot of what we text back and forth. Today it was a “come visit me at work, we are having a sale!”

Ugh… now don’t get me wrong, I love a good deal! I even used to dabble in couponing. I still shop with the mindset of a couponer, just without the giant binder of coupons along for the ride. But this was not a good day to pick up and leave in the middle of the morning.

So I did what any reasonable person would do. I got ready to go. (It was a really good deal, on an item we have been thinking about getting.) Kids got dressed, backpacks were packed, and off we went.

Going With The Flow

Not every day is going to go perfectly. In fact, most days will be derailed at one point or another. When we returned home from our little shopping trip we really had to crackdown. Assignments still needed to be done, and they were. The house still needed to get picked up, and it did. Dinner still had to be made, and it was.

At the end of the day, all that really matters is that we tried our best and that we learned something, whether a school lesson or a life lesson. Today we learned that I can get me and the four kids out the door in a hurry. That we can do math in the afternoon rather than in the morning. That breakfast for dinner is always a great option! (I may have forgotten to take something out, whoops!) Most importantly though, we learned to navigate the chaos and we did it as a family. We worked together on a day when everything seemed like it was going against us, and we won.

How to you handle situations that throw your plan off track? Comment below!