Normalness abounds!

I can tell that all is back to normal around Nannyland.  All signs point to this fact.  I bet you are wondering, "What signs?"  Well, other than the giant banner posted across the front door that read "All is Normal Here!" there are a few tell tale signs that life has indeed returned to normal after the craziness of the holidays.  (I was kidding about the sign, by the way...)  For instance; everyone is back to school.  Most of the kids started back yesterday, but Warren and Colette went back today (just a side note, those two had the longest va-ca of all of us!  They've been out of school since the 17th of December!!!!!)  Another way I can tell it's back to the same old, same old is that I wasn't greeted by a barrage of stories of what they have been doing, or seeing, or a laundry list of gifts they opened since the last time I saw them.  

One of the biggest signs I can see is that I'm back to dragging Celine out of bed again every morning.  She is NOT an early riser!   Either is Brian, though.  But it takes a team of wild horses to drag that little princess out of bed!   So,  YEAH!  I get to look forward to this morning ritual again!  During the break we'd just let her sleep until she woke up, whenever that may have been.  Oh!  Then there is the daily herding of munchkins up the stairs to the school room to begin the day.  This is usually accompanied by the score of multiple voices bemoaning and whining as they ascend to their awaiting doom.  Meghan and I have beautiful "bemoaning" voices, by the way!  What?!  You seemed shocked that it's the two of us joining in the protests!  There are times when we dread school just as much as they do.  I'm more of the whiner, Meg is an amazing bemoaner, though! (Just kidding, Meg!)   Accompanying the moans and groans against starting school, we have also had to listen to the frequent protests against certain subjects.  Math always gets booed, as does anything that requires sitting still and listening to me or Meg read.  (That would be EVERY subject, at some point!)  English would be found at the bottom of the list near Math!  I guess they would all prefer to be illiterate fools who "don't talks no good English"!  Seriously!  Where can one find a job when one can not complete simple math skills and speak proper English?  Nowhares, thare's whare!  So when addition flash cards are met with harrumphs and sighs and flailing of limbs, I just want to scream, "FINE!  Would you rather spend your life digging ditches and then covering them back up?  Because that's the only thing you'll be able to do for a living if you don't learn this stuff!!!"   ARRRHGGHHH!    Here's a picture of the attitude I was gifted with when I informed Brian that he needed to review his addition facts:

I did make him do the flash cards.  He pouted the entire time, BUT when he did the drill he not only got all 100 problems correct, but he did it for the first time within the time alloted!!  I was very proud, and so was he!  

So we have indeed returned to the normalcy of daily life, at last!  Don't be fooled though!  Normal around here is certainly NOT calm.  It may be back the usual routine, but it's still crazy, and that's because it's normally crazy!!