Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Tomorrow, Little Sprout begins her second month of Kindergarten. Two or three days a week, I get the house to myself for 7.5 hours. I thought at first that I would be a whirlwind of activity on these days. The freedom of being able to clean a room and have it stay clean for longer than a few minutes, the joy of being able to put on MY music and enjoy MY home....

It hasn't worked out that way, so far.

Hehe. Mr. Barefoot says I just need some decompression time, that I will get into the swing of things and get a cleaning groove going. He may be right. He may be wrong. We'll see how things go.

The first day of school for my youngest was, to say the least, full of laughs. After counting down for weeks to her first day of school, Little Sprout panicked when the bus actually arrived at our stop. She ran to the bus, ran back to me, then kind of spun in a circle for a few seconds. Finally, she stopped and yelled at me: "Can I get on the bus now, Mom?!"

I shooed her on the bus, and enjoyed a day to myself. This particular day I was very productive. I rearranged and deep cleaned the living room. It was back breaking work, but I loved the result! Expecting my girls to ride the same bus home (arriving home a little before 4pm), 3pm found me sitting down to a cold drink with the intention of enjoying my handiwork. Imagine my surprise when I heard the front door banging and in walked Little Sprout!

It turns out that the bus company does two "runs" of buses, and Little Sprout is on the first. So she gets home about 40 minutes before her sister. Luckily, an older girl who gets off at our stop was willing to walk my Little Sprout home. Mother of the Year award, right here folks.

Immediately upon entering the house, Little Sprout began throwing a tantrum of epic proportions. It turns out I had absolutely no right to put the furniture in different places. Who knew? I tried to distract her from her upset at the "new" living room by asking about her day, but the only thing she could remember to tell me was that the lunch lady doesn't make sandwiches with the things she likes on them. *sigh*

We took a peek at the lunch menu, and decided that she really wasn't going to like anything on it. Off to the store I went to find her a lunch cooler, and we have been doing cold lunches since. I've actually been enjoying it, as I've been trying to put together fake-Bento lunches for her. We both like the pretty little meals I have come up with. I don't do anything really authentic, I just cut everything into cute shapes and stack things in interesting ways to make pictures. Luckily, my little one loves fresh veggies and fruits, so I am stuffing her lunches with those items! Big Sprout is also doing cold lunches, but she refuses to let me "cute-ify" them. She likes to make her own, thank you very much!

We have settled into a bit of a rhythm now. Little Sprout is happy to head off to school every day, and Big Sprout is being an awesome help by getting her on the bus the mornings that I am at work. I am enjoying the quiet for those hours that I have the house to myself, and maybe.... well, we'll see if things start getting a little cleaner around here! :-)

Just about everything else at the Barefoot Cottage is bumping along the same as always. We manage to keep ourselves plenty busy, and sleep is still on the back burner for this Barefoot Gardener.

~....and that's all I have to say about that...~