Where are my KEYS???!

Soo, today started off cold and slow. I woke up, the heat had not been turned on the previous evening so our home was a chilly 64 degrees with the windows wide open. I came out into the living room to see Austen dancing in his big boy pants, Moriah without a diaper, in her big girl pants and a tank top and Jayden reading about budgies and cockatoo birds. I was bombarded with " can we have a vitamin c?" " What type of bird would you like as a pet?" " Momma, I'm hungry" within 10 seconds of opening the door.

I set about getting cereal ready for them as it was going to be a light breakfast due to a fun Valentine's Party we would be attending at 10 am. Well, we slowly ate breakfast, slowly played and at around 830am I decided, " hmm, I should get ready." The kids were already dressed so that was half the battle and quietly watching a movie. So I meandered into the bathroom and slowly set about my face and make routine. Lalalalala, twiddle dee twiddle do. Oh, I think I will half curl my hair this morning, oh, wow, it's 9:15 am and I umm, have no juice and I have not started making my 2 dozen eggs and none of the 72 valentines cards that I bought LAST YEAR have been cut out, signed, stickers inserted....and oh wow, I am not going to have time to finish curling my hair, and Hannah is not up yet and I haven't dressed her or nursed her and the kids have no shoes on, and the pen is not working so I can quickly sign Austen's name and the stickers are not sticking and the eggs are slopping all over the stove because I did not put them in the larger skillet and the smoke is billowing from the burner and the noise in our house is getting LOUDER and Hannah has a dirty diaper, and it is now 9:50 am and it'll take me at least 15 minutes to get there and I forgot about buying the kids bingo game prize contributions and how am I going to quickly load up, unload 4 kids into Target and rush find the juice, find the prizes, pay, rush out and rush to the party????! And OHMIGOSH! We have got to go and my hands are not able to fold the valentines quickly enough and my hands are fumbling and valentines are dropping on the ground and WHERE ARE SOME BAGS TO PUT THE VALENTINES IN???!!!! Quick, found some gift bags...calmly stated, " Kids please get in the car" ( as none of this is their fault).....kissed and said goodbye to Ben and OHMIGOSH! I am below E on my gas gauge, I am so far below E that I am surprised my van even started....AHHHH now I have to stop at the gas station...quick, drive to the gas station, fill up a 1/2 tank of gas, pull up to the front....have the kids count to 50 with the doors locked, grabbed a gallon of water, ran out ( oh yeah, paid for it )...jumped in the car, drove umm, "quickly" down the road and there is a DETOUR! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived, 30 minutes late, with 14 eggs, not 24 eggs scrambled, excited children and a slightly frazzled mama..... I called Ben and said, " I cannot believe I do this to myself" I am no longer in the stage of life where I can just wing it and expect it all to fall together. I have so many more details and people relying on me and my planning that when I neglect it all "hades" comes loose. I felt really convicted by the Holy Spirit to start to be more meaningful with my time management. I felt awful being late for the kids' party not because of them, but me. Hannah was fed at the party and we arrived...however, next time, my goal is no stress, planning and setting about the tasks the night before so that we can get up and handle a detour with ease as I would have left 25 minutes before the party and been able to "slowly" steer the van in its circular fashion around the flashing orange lights. Wow, kids thank you for your grace.