Overwhelmed by Fall Events

What do people who have house cleaners do with their time? I imagine that they must sit and admire their belongings. Perhaps they go to movies or restaurants. Maybe they have friends over spontaneously. The fall is always the time when I feel like I can't keep up. The moment I walk in the door to the moment my head hits the pillow, I am trying to keep a clean household. I know, you can hear the violins, can't you?

The reason the fall is so difficult for our family is because we have something to go to every week night and at least one, but sometimes two weekend days. The kids and I leave the house around 7 am during the week. From 5:45 am to 7 am, I get myself ready for the day and do at least one household chore. I empty the dishwasher or fold a load of clothes or start a load of clothes. Once a week I make a crock pot dinner in the morning, too. Every once in a while we come home between school and our next event, in which case we have dinner at home - something quick and processed likely. I might get another chore done - garbage out, for example - and then we are off again. Most nights, though, we stay in town because there is not enough time to come all the way home between events. By the time we get home for good any weekday night, it is around 7:45 pm. We concentrate on getting homework done, preparing bags and sporting gear for the next day, and then bedtime for Robby and Katie. Whew!

Once the kids are in bed, I clean the living room and kitchen. If I still have energy, I might work on the laundry. Usually I don't have the energy. The kids do help when we get home early enough. They each have small chores that really take my load off. We are a family of tap water, so one of the kids washes our water bottles, dries them out, and refills them for the next day. The other kid rings out swimsuits from swim team and cleans out the cat box. Chores that I don't have to do. Love it.

Arnie, bless his heart. He pretty much comes home and collapses each night. On the weekend he runs around cleaning up the yard and garage. Sometimes he makes a meal for us, both during the week if he has the energy and on the weekends.

I wonder if this is the best lifestyle to model for the kids. We are so beat for several months of the fall...I know they feel it, too. Parenting is weird that way. I'm not sure we will know the effects of this until the kids are grown up. Scary.