Routines

Now that Todd has started work and the kids have started school, our lives have begun to find a bit more of a steady rhythm. Todd usually gets up a little after 5 AM to shave, shower, fix his hair... :) This is also when we spend some quiet time with the Lord. Kyle usually wakes up around 6:30. By then Todd is finishing breakfast, fixing his lunch and taking care of the last minute details before he walks out the door to catch the "car pool" with Mark Williams and Will White (both neighbors and fellow MAFers). If they leave for the airport after 6:45, traffic is awful.
I wake Megan up, and the kids are ready for school by 7:30. We walk down to the King's house so that the kids can ride to school with them (most mornings). Most afternoons, I pick Megan and Hannah King up around noon. The morning is my time to clean, organize, email... Mondays and Fridays Crismen, a neighbor lady who has worked in this house for about 10 years or so, comes and helps me with sweeping/mopping the floors, dusting, bathrooms... On Wednesdays she has been cooking Haitian food for us. That has been a special treat. Today she is going to make plantain soup. I have never thought of mixing meat with plantains, but I am sure it will be good. Crismen has been such a helpful resource since she knows what other people have done with different things in the house...
Kyle comes home at 3 PM. Then we do homework, have dinner and go to bed. Usually there is a little time to play tucked in there somewhere. :) The kids love riding their scooters or playing with the neighbor kids. Recently Kyle has really enjoyed jumping rope. This Friday their school kicks off their Read a Thon where kids are challenged to read as much as possible with contests and prizes.
I am attaching a couple pics of the kids in their uniforms. Megan's kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Ackerman, and Kyle's second grade teacher is Ms. de Pooter.