Great, It's Going to be THAT Kind of Day

This morning I woke up feeling smug about the status of Operation Get Four Kids Out the Door. The smugness should have been my first bad omen. No mom of four should ever get cocky. Lunches had been prepared the night before, clothes had been put in the dryer, and I was out of bed well before seven. I was showered, dressed, and having coffee by 7:30. Babies were loaded in the car by 8:30. Excellent. My keys were....nowhere to be found.

A frantic search ensued for the next fifteen minutes as our kids watched. The boys were strapped into the back of Dad's truck, and Scout was tucked away behind my driver's seat. They were surprisingly well behaved as we scrambled to retrace my steps from the night before. My phone was dead, so at a certain point, I had to stop, look up my work number (oh the common skills we have lost due to technology--I can't even memorize a phone number anymore), and call to let my coworkers know I had lost my keys.

Woo, I bet they were surprised to hear Molly, who is always on top of things and has it all together, couldn't find her keys. I warned my colleague I was likely going to end up riding my bike to school and kindly requested everyone refrain from poking fun at me, despite the fact that I'm just such an easy target.

At 8:59 (now nine minutes late for work), I gave up. I had sent Jason on with the boys ten minutes earlier. I changed out of my boots since biking two miles in boots is difficult and retrieved a warm coat for Scout to wear inside the bike trailer. I raised the garage door, and as I started to pull my bike out, I happened to look down and see my keys on the ground under the van. Apparently I dropped them there in the dark the night before when I hauled a sleeping Scout in from the car.

Thankful I didn't have to ride my bike to work, I took the four minute car ride to work and shamefully skulked inside right as the school day began. The students must have sensed my fragile state because they were absolute angels. I even had lunch with a great friend, was first in carpool line to pick up the boys, and scored Dolphin Tale at the Redbox kiosk. The day was looking up again.

Of course, it was capped off by Scout crapping up her back and my locking the keys in the van for the fourth time in two months, but hey, my life is the best comedic material I've got. Boredom isn't part of my vocabulary, and my own little brand of frazzled mom adventures make for one fun ride.