La-la Land versus Reality

La-La Land:
The alarm goes off, and I bound out of bed, energized, rested, and cheerful, ready for the beautiful day ahead.  I sit for some quiet, pondering scripture time. Then cheerily calling to my children with my sing-song voice, I waken my children. They open their eyes, stretch, yawn, and smile at their beautiful and showered mom. Jumping out of bed, they quickly shower, get dressed, make their beds (a dime would bounce off their neatly made beds), and put pjs in drawers and underwear in the dirty clothes. They quietly do their morning jobs and sit down with smiles and glowing faces.  We have an uplifting prayer and wonderful conversation about out day ahead. "Thank you, Mom for these delicious muffins!"  falls freely out of their mouths. After brushing hair, teeth, and anything else, we say family prayer and file calmly out the door for an exciting, wonderful day at school. I return home ready to accomplish everything on my mile-long list. Ahhhh...life is good.


Reality:  
The alarm goes off. What!?! Already? I'll shower later--sometime--before lunch if I'm lucky. I pray and sit for scripture time. I'm ready to be miracle mom now!  I go waken my children croaking, because I've lost my voice with this cold that won't go! There isn't a response from the sleepy heads. I poke them. Then I go work on Muffin Monday (the only day that cereal and oatmeal isn't the main course).  One child can't understand why you have to actually have WET hair to shampoo hair. Another won't get out of bed, "I don't waaaaaaaannnnnnnntttttt to go to scchooooollllll!"

Muffins are done.

"So we're having just ONE kind of muffin?" (made the mistake of doing 2 kinds of muffins ONCE and now it's expected every time! BIG mistake).

Meanwhile..."I don't waaaannnntttt to wear those pannnnnts!" They have holes. The others are dirty. We'll be in 80 degree weather in a few weeks and jeans will be in the past.  "Just wear the pants. It'll be cool to have your knees showing--really." (Two years ago I would NEVER have let my kids go out in public with holes. Now I send them to school just glad there aren't two holes).

One child melts and sits on the ground crying, because he doesn't have a spoon and walking 5 steps to grab one is just too overwhelming. Another child finally makes it to the table (with some stern help from mom) to moan his fate of going to school. "Eat. Eat now!"

Then I ask the question, "O.k., so who's NOT throwing a fit today, because you, you, and you have thrown fits. What about you?" I turn to the one who hasn't audibly thrown a fit, "I'm throwing one inside!"  Oh, great. So I join in and throw a fit about everyone throwing fits. Finally the pain of breakfast is done.

Children amble off, trudge off to brush teeth.  Suspicious giggles come from the bathroom followed by a smell, an over-powering smell. One child thinks it fun to spray her perfume all over her brothers.
"I got sprayed right here next to my eye!" chortle, chortle.
"What would happen if you sprayed his eye? Would you like your eye sprayed with perfume?" reasonable mom asks.
Smirk, shrug, "Sure."  Ahhhh!  So off they went holes, perfume, fits and all.

I so often am in La-La land, thinking life will go that way. When it doesn't I get a little disappointed, surprised, and frustrated. I guess reality is a little more EXCITING than La-la land, but every once in a while I'd like to be in La-la land.