Trying to find the routine

Sunday afternoon one of the ladies in our home group brought "energy drinks" from a product line she sells, for everyone to try. It was a powder you add to water, a bunch of vitamins and minerals in it along with some dyes and flavorings, dextrose, sucralose and caffeine. It was supposed to be "healthy." It made me dizzy after a few sips--I don't generally tolerate artificial sugars well.

I made the mistake of letting my kids try just a little of it, since the other kids were having some. All of us had a hard time going to sleep even hours later. The kids were finally all asleep shortly before 11, and I dozed off somewhere between 2 and 3.

Baby E was up for the day, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 4 a.m.

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I had put in earplugs because of DH's snoring, so I didn't know it until a bleary-eyed DH woke me at 5:30 saying, "I've been up with E for an hour and a half and she's showing no signs of going back to sleep. Could you take her for a while, please?"

She finally dozed off for about 20 minutes around 7 a.m. Then she didn't even take a nap yesterday. DH let me nap for a few minutes before he left for work, while he fed the kids breakfast, but we were certainly all tired.

I had fully intended to be up early and ready to do school with the kids that morning, but I had a really hard time getting going. Morning came over in the afternoon with her dog, and we visited for a while while the kids rode bikes/trikes.

AJ has her first two-wheeler and is having a great time trying to learn how to ride it. She was so excited when she finally managed to get the pedals through half a rotation before she fell over.

I bought training wheels to put on the bike, but I'm debating a bit whether it's better to have her learn with training wheels or without. They are the type that can be moved up out of the way easily, so that makes it possible to practice both with and without them. I haven't put them on the bike yet.

I've never taught someone to ride a bike before, so I'm not sure exactly the best way to go about it. We're having fun, though.

Last night I visited with a friend who was widowed this past May. It was the first time I'd seen her since the memorial service, though I've left phone messages for her and we've talked on the phone a few times.

She seems to be doing ok. I mostly just listened while she processed and talked about what's going on in her life. It felt right. I enjoyed spending time with her, and hope to do it again soon.

Today the cleaning crew DH hired is coming for the first time. I'm going to try to do some prep work on the house (picking up, getting out clean linens for them to put on the beds, etc) between doing some school with the kids this morning. I'm excited about having them come.