The important thing to remember

when you have strep throat is to take your antibiotics. I'm not always so good at the remembering.

Tonight is Charlie's first ever open house. We are excited and nervous to actually meet with his teacher in person. He is excited to give us a tour of the school.

The school district adopted a new wellness policy that prohibits any sugary treats in the classroom, even for parties. Alas, no cupcakes. I was mad about it for awhile and the other homeroom mothers are forging a rebellion. But I've thought about it and come up with some satisfactory alternatives... banana bread, pumpkin and carrot muffins, cheese the kids can cut with mini cookie cutters. It doesn't sound quite as much fun as decorating cookies but far better than the vegetable tray the school board suggested.

I remember thinking things would settle down when school started and as far as my job goes, that is certainly true. But in complete honesty, our after-school schedule is out of control and needs some serious adjustment. My husband is at the end of his rope. We have some activity every single day of the week, including Sunday, and sometimes two or three activities a day. I don't know what we can change but we've got to come up with something.

To make matters worse (for my husband at least) our dog is being a real jerk. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night and just started going to the bathroom on the door. He didn't whine to go out, he didn't try to wake us up, he just went. Justin already dislikes the dog with deep intensity - he generally thinks animals are filthy creatures - but puts up with him (kind of) for the rest of us. But this episode really really made him mad and combine that with his general state of exhaustion from running to and fro every evening, ack, he needs a vacation. The fact that I am the one who is soon getting a weekend away is only going to compound the problem.

In the meantime, I am trying to make the house be as calm as possible, run as smoothly as possible... ha! Five minues after every one comes in, chaos reigns again. Such is life at this stage in our lives.