The Night Before The First Day of School

At the end of each school year I think to myself, next fall I'm going to do better. Next year when school starts I'm going to have a plan instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I plan that when my kids head off to school that first morning not only will their bellies be full, their supplies all sorted and ready to go but their minds will be fresh off a summer of fun learning. I plan that we will start "school" bedtimes at least one week before the big day, all laundry will be done and clothes neatly put away so that everyone can find their favorite outfit. And so I start looking for recipes for things to stock my freezer with for healthy quick breakfasts. I search the internet (ok I scan Pinterest) for ideas on fun learning activities to get the whole family involved. I print off school supply lists on the first of June with the intent of being sure every item is purchased by the beginning of the year. I pile the lunch boxes and back-packs in the laundry room to scrub until they look and smell new. But it never fails. I am never prepared for the first day of school. I have the date on the calendar, I get constant e-mail reminders about things that need to be done, and as the day draws near I run it friends who are asking me "are you ready?". But the answer is always NO. I'm never ready. I barely made it to the grocery store today to pick up the food for the kids' lunches only to come home and realize that all our little plastic containers had become homes to various crickets, roly-polys, and other bugs, guess the they'll only take what can go in a plastic baggie. And I think I forgot to buy bread. Then one of the children asked what did you get for breakfasts, Uggh! Never quite got around to making all those good for you and great for freezing breakfast items.  Just have to see what I can whip up from what's in the house tomorrow morning. Last night I finally got the kids to bed before 11PM, well at least some of them. I went through the kids' school supplies (about 15 min before open house) to find that those items that I was tired of looking for the day we had gone shopping were still missing from their bags. And the back-pack I had sworn did not need to be replaced because it was just a little dirty, that with a good cleaning would be as good as new, now sits still a little wet from finally being washed only to look not so new or so clean. I've got physicals that need to be turned in, fees that need to be paid, boxes of kleenx that haven't been bought, and stacks of ideas for first day teacher gifts that will never be made. All those fun learning ideas we were going to do this summer are still marked on my Pinterest board just waiting to be read and actually completed. As I sit hear tonight listening to the dryer run with the load of laundry that someone suddenly remembered needed to be done because their favorite shirt wasn't clean, I wonder how will we make it through another year? But we will and when this year comes to an end I'll think - Next year I'll do better!