Picture Day...

Sounds harmless enough right???

Not if you live in a house with 3 kids who have PWS and one who has "Hollister Syndrome"!

This morning started when I went into David's room to wake him up. I found him awake, dressed in one of Aric's wrinkled dress shirts with a ratty t-shirt under it, buttoned wrong, He was wearing a pair of Aric's dress pants which were not only about 6 inches too long.... I don't know how he stuffed his butt into them!!! The side pockets were bulging out and looking like the seems were ready to give way and David was frantically trying to button the shirt.
After a few minutes of arguing and me telling him I would not write a check for his pictures if he was wearing that outfit, I got him to put something appropriate on. One down.... 3 to go.

On to my child with "Hollister Syndrome" Jake. Let me explain the symptoms of " Hollister Syndrome" to you. "Hollister Syndrome" is an affliction that causes extreme anxiety and stress when the victim is not dressed head to toe in the latest fashions from Hollister. It causes extreme panic, profuse sweating, and the sudden urge to bolt across the hall to your older brothers room to rummage through his closet for an article of Hollister clothing that your friends haven't ever seen you in before! This action usually results in getting your butt kicked by your older bother for wearing his clothes... the problem is there is no known cure for "Hollister Syndrome" it can only be managed by frequent trips to the mall to visit the Hollister store!
So... that being explained... I got Jake (AKA: Jake-can-we-go-to-the-mall-Knopf) to take off the new Hollister dress shirt that belonged to Aric and put one of his on.... to which he proclaimed loudly that I was being sooooo mean.... everyone has seen him in this shirt... he has had his picture taken in this shirt before etc...
To add to the morning... it is pouring outside... so I drive Aric to the end of the driveway at 6:15, head back to the house to deal with Davids fashion issues and Jakes Hollister dilema, get them in the car at 6:45 and drive them to the bus in the pouring rain and head back to the house to get Ben and Caroline ready.
Ben was easy enough... he would wear the same dirty clothes for a week if I would let him... I found him an acceptable shirt and pointed him in the direction of the shower... had to hear the complaining... he hates to shower.
I couldn't find anything for Caroline to wear though... I don't' know where all her clothes have gone... well.. I do know... I am drowning in dirty laundry and she had nothing clean. After 10 minutes of searching I found her an outfit.

On to the next crisis of the morning... Bookfair! Ben and Caroline's classes are both scheduled to visit the bookfair at school today! They are both stuck on that and are obsessing about money for the bookfair.
I can't find where I have put the envelopes for the picture orders and spend 5 minutes looking for them! I found one and was able to make an envelope for Caroline.

With all the chaos of this morning, I had no time to make lunches for anyone... so I had to scramble for one dollar bills and make envelopes for all of them! It's a conspiracy I swear!

I figure this morning cost me $88 for pictures (4 $22 packages, one of the least expensive packages) $20 for bookfair ( $10 each for Ben and Caroline) and $29 for school lunches ( $10 each for Alex and Aric, $3 for Jake, and $2 each for David, Ben and Caroline) That is $139 this morning!!! Are you kidding me!??????!

Oh and did I mention that it is pouring outside? 3 trips to the car to drive the kids to the bus, 3 trips outside with the dog who won't go to the bathroom because it is raining... I'm done.

I have the next few hours to myself to try to put my house back together, do a batch of laundry and take a shower before I have to go pick David up at noon to take him to the orthodontist.

TGIF!!!
~Vicki