This is how unorganized grandparents do the morning routine

We weren't prepared. Simple as that. Lots of things going in our life 
that week. Plus we are grandparents. Still, I have renewed respect 
for parents who go through this every morning. 

The setting: We were asked to just have the twins for dinner and 
keep them overnight, and take them to school the next day, while 
Amy was out of town and Logan was working. 


When I suddenly woke up late that morning, I looked at the clock and it said 7:30!  In panic I
announced to sound-asleep-Dennis that "we have exactly 30 minutes to get the twins to school."

He popped his eyes open, and without even sitting up in bed, lunged towards the door and down the
hall to wake up the twins. I swear that man is a selfless saint even in his sleep.

I staggered to the kitchen (literally….not use to waking up that quickly) and made them banana
shakes, and frozen waffles. Jonas insisted he wanted Grandpa’s syrup on his waffle and not my syrup,
(the real stuff.)

No time to discuss or have Jonas upset, so I grabbed Den’s syrup from the cupboard and read the
label. I saw it was made with sorbitol. “Sorry Jonas the bonus, it has sorbitol in it and may hurt 
your tummy….you’ll have to have my syrup.” I put a little on his plate to the side of his waffle.
"No, no", he said and added he wanted it ON his waffle instead. Since I’d already made the
mistake I explained, “It’s better on the side, so now your waffle won’t get cold.” 

Téa’s hair was extra tangly and no one knew where her brush was and I don’t know how to fix little
girls hair anyway, so I suggested I just comb the top part and put the rest in a pony. She said, “But 
that will look messy.” “No, it will look great, you’ll see. (although there was NO time to look in 
the mirror)

Had nothing to put in their lunches so Den flew to Savemart to get some “white bread with brown 
around the edges” as Téa explained. While he was doing that I told the twins to hurry and get their
lunch bags and bring them to the kitchen. Only Téa had hers and Jonas had no idea where his was.
That’s when Téa excitedly announced, “Yay!…then we get to have hot lunch today!” I didn’t
even know that was an option!

Called Den…."turn around and come home, they’re having hot lunch.” I heard Jonas cheer!

Den got home and asked if they needed lunch money. I said, I’m not sure but I don’t think schools
take cash anymore. He turned to Jonas, “Do you need money for lunch?” Jonas said no. So then
Den asks him, “Then how do you get your lunch?” Jonas says, “We just walk into this place and 
they give us some food.” “But don’t you need to pay for it?”  “No, they just give it to us.”

I texted Amy in Florida where she was visiting her mother, and asked if they had money in some
account at school so they could get hot lunch today. She said they did and added her smiley face as
always, so I could tell she was fine with it. It’s now just 25 minutes later and it's 7:55.

“Doesn’t school start at 8?” I ask Den.
He turns to Téa, “What time does school start?” 
“7,” she says. (gotta love Téa!)
Den: “It must be 8 or 8:15. Why can’t we remember from last time?” 
“I think it’s 8:05, but I’m not sure. But it's not like we can move any faster.” 

“Grab your back packs. Time to go. Did you get your homework put in your backpack?” 
“We don’t have any homework.”
I turned to Den, “That’s what every kid says.”
“Let’s go!” he announces.

The kids had their coats on with the back packs put in place while we walked them out to the car.
Then they had to remove their backpacks to fit in their booster seats. Parenting is so complicated
these days. Got them strapped in and I kissed Jonas goodbye. Then I stretched over him to kiss Téa
and fell on Jonas. I blew kisses at her instead. At least they left knowing we love them. A lot.

About 20 minutes later Den got back home and announced, “You aren’t going to believe this 
but they weren't late to school!! When I got there they were still all doing the pledge of 
Allegiance on the blacktop so I just walked the twins to their room to line up.”

Wow, was I surprised!

He said he told one of the random moms standing around at school, “I can’t believe we made it on 
time!” She was probably thinking, 'What's the big deal, I do this every morning!'

And just in case you are wondering how we had time to take a picture of the twins (above) before
they were out of bed…..that was actually taken the following Monday when we repeated the routine.
Monday went much better. We even remembered to pray together before they left. Amazing what a
little prep the night before can do.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't done that in.... hmmm..... about 25 years. I hope I never have to! So far, the grand kids living in our town are going to be homeschooled. So I think I'm safe! Good job, Grandma Honey! You and Den are troopers! My cap goes off to you.
darlene

Lisa said...

LOL I'm out of breath after reading that post! I was waiting for the part that there was "no" school....

Richard said...

Dear Grand Mahoney,
Those kids are old enough to get themselves up and off to school alone...there are two of them after all.

Peggy said...

Oh my goodness, the memories that post brought back! I am so glad to not have that morning routine anymore(it lasted 26 years) but it does remind me to be a little more patient with my students arriving late to school, with no breakfast, no backpack or no homework.

Scrapally said...

What a breath taking morning! Wonderful that it all turned out so well! you and Dennis make a great team! Amy and Logan are so blessed to have you! It is a lot harder to do the mornings with the grandkids than the mornings I remember doing with my own kids. Thank you for sharing your delightful story! It really made me smile picturing it all.

McKenna Heasley said...

I laughed all the way through this post! I loved it. McKay and I still have mornings like this with Grant every once in a while and it's going to be even crazier when Scarlett starts preschool in the fall!

Anonymous said...

This is one of the best!! Reading it at 4:30 in the morning gave a great start to my day. So very funny. In fact, it was so funny that I woke up Tom with my laughter. It's right up there with the "going to the movies/texting and eating sandwiches in the theater/a quick trip home for meds" melee.
Next time you are on grandparent/school duty, let me know. With our 3 hour time difference, I can offer you early wake-up calls!!
pjc in mi

Susan Anderson said...

You two are quite a team! And the twins are so grown up…and just adorable.

=)

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