Typical Saturday

Saturday...aaah, sleep in, relaxing breakfast, maybe a long walk...lazy Saturday...NOT A CHANCE if you have five kids.  Knocking on the bedroom door starts early with a request to "look at my reflection for reading", then a different voice requesting help with college application essays.  People are up, the kitchen is busy, and the day has officially started.  Thirty minutes later, there's a fight between my husband and daughter over attitude.  The college application process has been in full swing for a month now and the essay questions will drive us all over the edge.  Someone in the house does not want to write about the greatest challenge facing her generation or what she's intellectually curious about.  I'm desperately trying to throw out helpful ideas, but I'm really thinking...Dear College Board,  My daughter is 17 and her greatest challenge is getting up before noon. Her intellectual curiosity shuts down at 2:30 every Friday and will not be heard from until 7:30 Monday morning.  Please give her money so she can graduate with very little debt and never have to live at home again after graduating from your fine school.

Soon it's time for sports practice and my husband and I fit in a walk.  A quick run to the library and then back home for the lunch chaos.  Only ten or so complaints about the temperature of the apples, why are there stems on my grapes, and please don't make me have peanut butter.  Negotiations over who gets the last few chocolate chip cookies rival a Middle East Peace Summit. 

But wait...stop the presses, did all three of the younger kids just play a game together for two hours??  This is worth writing down.  I left them like this to run errands and when I came back they were still here!

We've reached our limit for the day on college resume building and my daughter has left to look for a homecoming dress.  I'm still recovering from the emotional trauma of picking out two prom dresses last April, so she's on her own for this one! 

My niece and nephew come over to play and they head outside with the twins.  They've had forts they call "man caves" set up in our yard for a couple weeks.  Sticks, sleds, buckets, hockey sticks, swim toys and more have all become an elaborate part of an Indian village.  It looks like someone or something is camping out in our pine trees.  Enter our yard at your own risk!

It's almost 3:30 and the "what's for dinner question" will be coming soon.  Seriously, didn't we just clean up from lunch??  Maybe the girls can cook us something over the outdoor fire pit.  It looks like they've got their guns out and are ready to shoot some something!

Saturdays are really busy.  They're emotional.  Our household can be erupting in a fight one minute and laughing the next.  There's yelling and minor injuries and tears.  There are loud sports games on TV and music playing in the other room.  Doors slam and sweaty kids run in and out grabbing popsicles.  Laundry is going and the backpacks still lay where everyone dropped them yesterday afternoon. There's an impromptu dancing celebration over completing one scholarship application. It doesn't look like the movies and isn't in any magazine.  Just wonderful, normal everyday life!

What did you do on Saturday?