Steve left the windows open last night, so the cold damp morning air filled the house. The kids whimpered as I turned the lights on in their room and shouted "wake up." They eventually came down for a bowl of Triple Berry O's with their arms tucked inside their t-shirts. I had set up the breakfast table in the correct order to appease OCD boy, who likes things just so. A cup of juice, the breakfast box sitting in front of the bowl of cereal, a purple vitamin, and a bowl of melon.
For our family, fall means soccer games, and the soccer season is going full force. Jonah had two soccer games, and Ian went grudgingly to his special needs soccer practice. I used to hate the fact that our weekends were consumed by soccer games. They keep us too close to home and interfere with adventures in Manhattan. I used to bring armfuls of reading material and prepare for class on the sideline. Now, we've come to love the Saturday afternoon on the sidelines with the wide open sky over the field.
We keep folding chairs in the trunk of the car and cases of water and gaterade in the cabinet. Jonah straps himself up with shin guards and baggy shorts, ready for battle. Last year, we moved to our new town too late to get him onto the local teams, so this is his first season in the new town. We're meeting new people on the sidelines and struggling to remember everybody's name. Ian runs off with the little girls to the playground near the field.
This is my first full week of school. With the kids gone, I will have my first full week of work in ages. I try to keep my parenting/housework/extended family caregiving responsibilites to a minimum during the day to maximize my time in front of the computer. I have one project that needs to be completed by Friday and I want to resume normal blogging, so I need to be super organized. I have my color coordinated calendar and my checklist of chores. One of my responsibilities for the day is to help my sister organize her paperwork. To have a life outside the home, household management needs to be professionalized. The label maker is a tool of the trade.
Lazy August is gone, and I'm not sad. After a month of randomness, it's time to return back to schedules and order.
Apt. 11d 
Soccer is not our big thing, but I too have been swept up into the value of hanging out at the sidelines. Soccer is nice, ’cause you do it outside (well, at least when it’s not raining/hailing/snowing while you play).
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“They eventually came down for a bowl of Triple Berry O’s with their arms tucked inside their t-shirts.”
Our grocery store cereal aisle stocks a breakfast cereal based on a store brand knock-off of Big Red soda. Much more promisingly, they also stock a churros breakfast cereal.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/09/cereal-eats-mini-cinnamon-churros-where-have.html
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