On an average week, I feel like I’m just barely keeping up. Plenty of balls being juggled in the air, but always at least one on the ground, rolling away.  This is a week that feels even a little crazier, more frantic, more likely to fall apart.

The big kids only have school on Monday and Tuesday, because of course the preschool teachers need a staff day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Ellie has three appointments in two days. I need to keep moving in my training program so I don’t die when attempting to run five miles on Thursday morning.  And in the meantime, I have to sufficiently de-clutter my house so that there will be room for all sixteen of us to sit down for Thanksgiving dinner.  And did I mention the brining and the roasting and the baking?  Oh, and the dog needs a bath.

This week, each day requires it’s own lengthy and time-sensitive to-do list.  When to pick up my race bib and shop for groceries. When to pick up the big kids from preschool and when to take Ellie to physical therapy. When to put the turkey in the brine and prep the green beans. When to do yoga and when to run.  It can be done, but I really need to stay on top of things.

Naturally, after we got home from dance class tonight, Rebecca started weeping and shivering and saying that it hurts when she swallows. Her 10-day course of antibiotics finished yesterday.  Tomorrow, we’ll be back at the pediatrician, and I suspect we will hear that the strep is back.

Of course it is.