15 minutes until go time....

15 minutes until we have to leave...that is my buffer with 3 kids...I don't have to BE to the place in 15 minutes, but rather at 15 minutes before I need everyone in the car is when I try to start getting packed up. And almost always these days I look at the clock at 15 minutes until needing to leave-look at my 3 kids-and think, "I think we can do it this time."  WHY do I think that...it is ALWAYS within seconds after I think that little thought that this happens...or a variation of this...

Nora simultaneously poops and pukes on me and her...thus needed to change her outfit completely and at least wipe my shirt of or change it if time...(this is also why a newborn adds a TON of laundry to your life they are not just puking on their tiny cute clothes but they are doing it on you, on the couch, on sheets, on blankets....), while changing #3 and dealing with the decision as to whether my shoulder and shirt are salvageable (and by that I mean will you see the poop and can you smell the puke if you got near me)...today the answer was no... Nora is clean and in her crib...10 minutes til go time..I run to grab a clean shirt...while changing #1 pops in my room (no privacy here) and says, "Mom I have go to the bathroom and it is going to take a while I think."  Oh my-great-off he goes to the bathroom...meanwhile #2 has been alone for about 7 minutes and in this time she has managed to take off her socks and shoes, pull out her hair ties, crumble up the last of her lunch crackers and put them in her Easter basket...while trying to deal with the shoe issue #1 comes out of the potty and I think we are on our way!  At that moment I have no clue where my keys are...5 minutes to go...I decide to put all of the little darlings in the the car, buckle them, so I can go and look for the keys in peace.  Off we go downstairs...forgetting things along the way...running back up stairs...yelling about who gets to open the car door...buckle, buckle, snap! They are in 1 min to go...I run upstairs to find the keys...no luck...run around some more...try to come up with a way to tell Blake he isn't going to school because I can' t find my keys...look some more...go time has past.  I head back down to the car to have said conversation to notice that #2...is rather quiet...and smiling at her Easter basket (which she brought with her in the car) and low and behold in the bottom of the grass and now cracker crumbs are my keys!  Off we go...5 minutes late...but off none-the-less...whew...

We have 5 months to figure out this for Kindergarten...I am sure we will...at least on more days than not :)  Three is quite a trip but we are enjoying the crazy!