Rainy Easter "Monday"

Today is "Easter Monday."  Not a holiday, not a "real" Easter related day.  Just a day where there's no school but there is work - for a lot people at least.  For us there's no daycare either (she takes it as a day for herself, to which I say "good for you!") so I took the day off.

And guess what?  It's raining.  Boo.  Yesterday was almost 20 degrees and sunny.  We had a fabulous time being at hubby's sisters eating and sitting around outside.  The girls got bubble guns and had a blast with them.  It was a great day.

Today I thought maybe we could get the bikes out.  Or at least the kids could go outside to play.  Looks like maybe that's not going to happen after all.  We do have plans to go visit some school friends this afternoon, but that's 5 hours from now.  That's a lot of time to fill.

On a different note, I'm actually happy to see the rain.  Hopefully it will wash away any remnants of snow and help my tulips grow.  They've been peeking through the soil for a week or more but it's just not their time yet.  I'm dying to get out into the gardens - it's only March though, not time yet!

Maybe I can get the girls to help me tidy away the Easter stuff (we have about 25 bunnies that only come out for Easter play) and return our living space to a room with, well, space.  But I think that will involve bribes with their own Easter treats.

What do you do with your school-aged kids when you're stuck inside on a rainy day?  My girls are 4 (almost 5 if you ask her) and 7.  They get tired of colouring but we did get some painting crafts from aunties yesterday - maybe we'll give that a try.

For now I need to find myself some breakfast and deal with some laundry so they're going to get tv time until I'm ready to find them an activity.  Enjoy your day readers!

~Jess

March Break Misnomer

Okay parents, I'm sure some of you are with me on this one.

Today is the Sunday following March Break.  I know that March Break is supposed to be a break for the kids.  Really, I think it's a break for the poor teachers who tirelessly deal with our kids every day!  But what it definitely is not is a break for the parents.  Well unless you're the family who takes time off work and travels to do something fun (and often expensive) over March Break.  We're not that family.

We have a swell daycare that takes our kids for March Break and Christmas holidays, plus PA days and all that.  She's great, the kids love her, and life is good there.  But there's something about these non-school days that makes me feel like we, the parents, should be trying to spend time with our kids when they're not at school.

This year we had sick kids over March Break.  Isn't it disappointing how often that happens?  So the Friday before the break one kiddo came home sick, then the other kid came down with it the Thursday of the break.  Luckily the second bout didn't include the vomiting that the first one did.

Since I have Wednesdays off, and there was no dance class for myself or my kids this week, I picked them up early from daycare and took them to see Little Ray's Reptile show here at the mall.  They love all the critters there.  I don't love the other kids in the way of my photos, or running around screaming through the mall.

My hubby's birthday often falls during March Break (and it did so again this year.)  He has an aversion to working on his birthday - and he usually has vacation days to use up this time of year - so he "stayed home" the Thursday and Friday of March Break.  He kept the girls home on Thursday - his actual birthday.  Well, "kept them home" isn't really what happened.  Despite Emma not feeling well, they went and did a build at Home Depot.  I think now he's stuck taking them to the builds there whenever they happen.  The girls loved it!

But despite the fun days, life is crazy busy all the time and that doesn't stop for March Break.  Sometimes trying to fit in fun around work schedules is so much more exhausting than the status quo of all the other weeks of the year.  Throw in some days when the kids are under-the-weather and life just doesn't really flow well at all.

I, for one, will be happy to get back to the busy "normal" weeks I'm used to.  Well, until next week when we have to start getting ready for Emma's next Fashion Show!

How was your March Break?  Go anywhere fun?  See anything cool?  Share with me in the comments!

~Jess

Moms and Migraines

This morning I woke up feeling like someone was scooping out my frontal lobe with an ice cream scoop. Not a nice image - and not really a nice feeling either. Despite the pain, I chose to get up and start my morning. Looking back, I think maybe that was a mistake.

I put my coffee on, eldest daughter came downstairs without prodding from me - always a bonus - and I got her started on breakfast. I also pulled out the fruit I thought younger daughter would eat, and I had a few pieces. I also had a big glass of water - sometimes the headaches are a dehydration symptom. I don't think the food was such a good idea either.

At this point every movement was sending shooting pains from my forehead through my skull and out the back of my head. I chose to go back upstairs and poke younger daughter. Luckily she was mostly awake, so I went and laid down. I knew that what little food I ate was not going to stay where I put it, but I also knew it wasn't imminently going to dislodge itself. Oh, and I had taken some ibuprofen as well.

Little miss number two came into my room on her way downstairs, and I suggested she grab a muffin when she gets down there. I was pretty sure getting back up was going to be a bad idea. I'm lucky I have a spouse who can take over morning duties on those (thankfully very few) days where I just can't do it.

The rest of the morning is a bit of a blur. I did have to throw up in the garbage can when hubby was in the bathroom and I was in the kitchen helping kiddos get organized to go out the door. I had actually gotten up to look for my Tryptans (migraine pills). So I think the ibuprofens went out that way, but I did feel better for a bit and so I took the migraine pill and then went back to bed after the kids went off to the bus.

After such a fun experience I came up with a few words of wisdom for other moms (or dads!) who also find themselves occasionally afflicted with such lovely things as migraines:

• Ask for help! - Get your spouse (if applicable) to do more.  Or call your parents/friends/anyone you know who'd help you out.  The more you try to do, the worse you can feel.  It's okay to ask for help.
• Take drugs! - If you have a prescription for your migraines, take it!  My parents and hubby are good at reminding me to do this.  Or take some ibuprofen or acetaminophen.  And take it with lots of water - see my dehydration comment above.
• Caffeine can help - if you're addicted to your morning coffee or tea (or other beverage), try to have some.  I made my coffee this morning but I didn't drink it until 2 hours later, minutes after the pot turned off it's burner.
• Go back to bed - after you take something to help move your headache along, try for some more rest.  It worked for me this morning, but it doesn't always work.
• Try to do very little, even it you're feeling better - I fall into this trap all the time.  I stay home from work with a brutal headache but then I lay in bed and think about all the things I could be doing if only I felt a little better.  Those things can wait.  You can't look after everything and everyone else if you don't look after yourself!
• Get some fresh air - Say you're feeling a bit better (like the ice pick has been removed and every step is not causing excruciating stabs through your brain).  Take a short walk outside.  If it's sunny and the light is hurting your eyes, you're likely not "better" enough to leave the house yet, but if you think you can handle it, stroll around the block.  This perked me up today too, although that's also because it was 10 degrees outside!

Keep in mind these are all suggestions and I am not a doctor - I just speak from experience.  If you suffer the same affliction and have other tips, please share with me in the comments!

By 2pm the headache was gone, and so was the foggy brain feeling.  I could have gone to work for a few hours, by at this point in the day it's really not worth it.  Lets hope this fun doesn't occur again tomorrow...

~Jess

Sunday Bath Success (For Me!)

Today I relaxed in the bath.  This, in itself, is not really news.  The kicker today is my entire family was home at the time!

My baths usually happen when I'm home alone.  Solely because I can't really relax when the kids are fighting, hubby is bored and wanting to talk to me (or go out), or there's just an extremely high level of noise in the house.

Today, somehow, the girls were entertaining themselves (and making a big mess after just cleaning up a big mess), hubby was concentrating on something for work, and I was between regular weekend tasks.  I had just cleaned up from breakfast, actually washed out the sinks, and had laundry in various stages of completion, when I decided spur-of-the-moment to relax in the bath.

I didn't tell a soul my plans, for fear someone would kibosh my idea and suddenly need me to do something that couldn't possibly wait half an hour.  Also, miraculously, no one heard me running water, getting a towel from the squeaky door linen closer, or even walking around upstairs.  Is it possible my family is becoming less mom-centric?  Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Vanilla bubble bath, nice warm water, and a book.  It seemed like a luxurious idea.  And it turned out better than I had expected.  My book was a bit hard to get into, Rose had to use the toilet (so I had to hide behind the shower curtain, at her request), and hubby was looking for me - but only once - so  my 15 minute bath was hardly interrupted.  Much better than previous attempts.

Now I almost feel relaxed, I've got 3 loads of laundry to fold and put away, and I'm trying to get some blog stuff done.  I'm thinking this will have been a productive day.  And all I needed to get out of my own head was a bath.  A mostly un-interrupted bath.  Oh, and it helps that hubby took the girls out to "some stores" so I could have a few minutes to myself (and my blog.)

Do you other parents get uninterrupted time to do what you want to do to relax on the weekends?  Or any time for that matter?  Share your stories with me in the comments.  When I get back from switching the laundry I'd like to see something posted down there!

~Jess

March Means Spring, Right?

I can't wait for the snow to move along.  It's March now, time for winter to make way for spring!  I can't wait to get outside, go for walks (without 3 layers of clothing on!), and get into the gardens.

Last summer I created a post about enjoying the outdoors and being in the garden.  You can read that here: http://modern-moms-life.blogspot.ca/2015/06/nature-loving-mom.html *warning - I talk about spiders in that post!*

This temperatures this coming week are all above 0 (after today, of course) and I'm imagining the kids going outside to play with less fights (and also less layers on), and sitting on the deck with my wine and whatever book I'm reading.  In reality it'll be wet and icky for at least a week and no one will go outside at all.  Hmm, on that note, where are the kids splash pants?  With any luck we'll need them soon.

We have another busy month going on: birthday party invitation for Rose to attend, first confession and mall fashion show audition (and rehearsal if they like her!) for Emma.  There are school field trips and March Break upcoming as well.  Throw in Dad's birthday and there's a full month!  Every month and season has it's busy moments.

The kids have mixed feeling about winter being over.  I don't blame them - we barely had "winter" as I remember it as a kid.  The snow didn't really come until well into January, and even then it melted between each snowfall.  We had some ice days and not many good days for playing in the snow.  At least they don't know what they're missing - in their short lives we haven't had a "good" winter for snow and sledding and all that.

I'll be glad if the snow disappears this week, with little slush-making and wet, cold days.  Maybe by March Break the outdoors will be calling to the kids, and the smushy wet ground will be dried out enough for the kids to go to the park.  I can dream, right?

What are you looking forward to this month, or this spring?  Is there still snow in your neck of the woods?  Are your kids sad to see winter go?  Share with me in the comments please!

Well that's enough musing for now - time to get ready for Rose's ballet class.  Maybe next week we'll be able to go in shoes instead of boots.  Bring on the spring!

~Jess

How Many Mittens Have Your Kids Lost This Winter?

It's March!  Winter should be shuffling off sometime this month.  I can't wait.

The thing I'm most looking forward to leaving behind (for maybe 6 months) is all the extra "outdoor clothes."  And all the "where's my _____??" that we do every morning.  Today we actually discovered Emma must have left her snowpants at her after-school care.  Lucky both girls have 2 pair!  (I will take some of the blame, as I do try to collect everything at the door, but some days the kids are so antsy to get outside that I just can't gather everything - time to learn to take your own stuff, kids!)

Today I want to gripe about mittens.  Do your kids lose mittens like crazy?  I can't say my kids "lose" them, more misplace and/or forget them.  We have to have about 3 pair of mittens or gloves (and I mean the cold/snow playing/nylon winter mitts) per kid, otherwise we'd be doomed to freezing hands.  And it was a struggle to buy a new pair each in early January (we're deep into winter so, of course, no stores have mittens) when we got holes in the ones from last year.  The new ones have holes now too, but that's another story.

I know my kids have cubbies and backpacks and their own spaces to keep things at daycare and at school.  So where do the mittens go?  Rose told me one day she left hers outside at recess.  Pretty sure it was cold out that day - why did you even take them off, kid?  (The answer to that was they were wet - ok, I'll give you that, but weren't your hands cold??)

Emma is a great helper for Rose to find things she's lost at school.  I'm not sure how many times Emma has gone through the school lost and found and retrieved items that belonged to Rose.  I tried at the beginning of the year to put our name stickers in every piece of clothing, but somehow that doesn't help them get found.  And then we had to buy 2 rounds of mittens over the winter and wear them right away, so I don't think they got labelled.

And then there's the storing of winter clothes inside my house - I have no room for hanging winter pants (2 pair each) and coats and then also store hats, mitts, scarves etc.  We have a tiny entryway - just big enough for the door to open - and then there's a set of stairs.  At the top of the stairs is almost immediately a set of stairs to go downstairs.

We use this little landing as our shoe and coat area.  It's not enough space for 2 kids in full winter gear to stand together and get boots on.  I've tried to organise with pigeon hole shelves and baskets, different types of shoe racks, and hooks behind doors and down the basement staircase.  We're as good as we're going to get there.  But all the mittens have a basket in my shelf unit that no one seems to know is there.  Hats and scarves go in another.  Grown-up winter gear has it's own slot also.  I know the system, I don't think anyone else here does.

This winter I've tried to get the girls to put their mittens on the heat vent.  You know the little cone shaped thingy that goes over the vent that you put your mittens on to dry out?  That's my landing space for any mittens worn outside. It's been working ok - until the morning that someone didn't do that (after I nagged 5 times the night before) and mittens are wet.  Cue the tears.  This is one of the many reasons we have extra (sometimes with tears in them) mittens around the house.

Anyway, the forecast for next week has plus 5 and 7 degree weather in it.  Let's hope we can downgrade to our fun knit mittens once the snow starts to fade away.  We have a ton of awesome knit "not for super cold weather" mittens that don't get much wear over the winter.  Guess they're our transition time mittens - although they don't work well in the wet weather of spring either.  Hmm...

Please share with me your family's winter solutions:  How do you keep mittens from getting lost or forgotten?  How you store all your abundance of extra winter outdoor wear?  How often do your kids forget snowpants or something at school?  I'd love to commiserate and share winter woes!

~Jess

Snow Day or My Day As A Stay Home Parent

This winter was slow getting started, but February seems to be making up for it.  We've had two snow days in two weeks.  One of those days I was lucky enough to get to be home with the girls all day.

Let's be frank here - I love going to work and being away from the kids.  I'm almost never home alone with them for 8+ hours (unless you count overnight, which doesn't actually count.)  Now that they're older, and play together pretty well, it's not quite the stress-zone it used to be when they were completely dependant on constant adult supervision and interaction.

I'm happy to say my "mom anxiety" has actually settled down a bit.  I feel as though the girls are learning how to be independent, and slightly more responsible (post about that here), and sometimes they even can get their own food - as long as it's cereal or granola bars.

I took some pictures during our "snow day" so I could share with you all the joys of being home with the kids all day long.  I chose to empty the dishwasher in the morning and when I returned to the living room they had emptied the toy box completely, and every stuffy they own (except for the 100 they each have in their rooms) was on the floor.

People wonder why I don't sit down and watch a movie with the girls.  This was a perfect example.  They put on a movie (after cleaning up 10,000 stuffies) and sat and watched it until it was about 3/4 of the way through.  Then they turned it off and went upstairs to play.  Like what?  Who watches 3/4 of a movie?  I mean it's not like they hadn't seen it before (it was Toy Story 2), but man.  Luckily I was trying to sit and read so it didn't really impact my life much.  And they did return to it maybe an hour later and watch the end.  I'm still amazed how quickly kids can be distracted, or get bored, by what they're doing.  Odd ducks, kids.

Lunch was fine - random stuff, you know.  Carrot sticks, cheese and crackers, bagels and cream cheese, eat what you feel like and then go play.

Afternoon play included craft time.  Which, for my kids, is just another excuse to make a huge mess.  And this was the time I decided to take a few minutes outside to check the build up of snow/ice/water that was falling from the sky.  I got soaked, they created chaos.  But then they cleaned up - without a fight.  I did hope Rose would practice her cutting skills - so she came upstairs while I was showering (after getting soaked outside) to tell me she made one cut in one piece of paper!  That's great Rose, but that won't improve your scissor skills.  Emma is the great crafter in our household.  Rose would rather just look at everything, make a huge mess, and then go find something else to do.  In this case it was have a freezie.

While I was in the shower (for 10 minutes, at the most) Rose came upstairs to talk to me.  "Look at what I have Mommy!" she says.  How does she know I'm right in the middle of washing my hair, with shampoo about to run into my eyes?  And she's not the most patient.  "LOOK MOM!"  So I peek out around the shower curtain.  Now I have to point out that I wear glasses.  I can barely see clearly past the end of my nose.  So I look out, see that a small figure is standing there holding something.  I say "Cool!  What'cha got there?" and she tells me "Emma got me a thing from the freezer!"  Huh?  "Oh, have you got a freezie?" I ask.  "No, there was none, so Emma said 'You can have a frozen yogurt tube, or you can have nothing.'"  That sounds like Emma.  So she was eating a frozen yogurt tube.  I have never had success getting her to try one.  She gobbled it down like it was candy (but not before managing to dribble some onto the couch - where they are not supposed to sit with food...)  Sisters, eh?

After crafts they asked for a 3D movie.  My first thought was that I didn't know what I needed to do to play a 3D movie.  We have the tv and the blu-ray player for it, but I was worried I'd need to actually do something.  Well worry not, the dohickeys all work together and it automatically works in 3D.  Yay!  The hardest part was finding where the 3D glasses were...

Of course the movie they picked for afternoon viewing was Toy Story 3.  This is my 'guaranteed to cry like crazy at the end' movie.  So didn't they wait until almost the end to ask me to sit with them and watch.  And since I spent a decent part of the day reading my book (in the same room as them but not really engaged) I had to do it.  And so I watched, and the tears came, and it was sweet like it always is.  Then I had to make dinner.

Despite the crazy weather Emma's dance class was still on.  Hubby got home at a good time, we ate dinner and off they went to dance class.  I was actually quite impressed with our day.  Almost all messes were cleaned up without much fuss, and no major meltdowns occurred.  I got some reading done, and a book review created.  Makes me feel like I could do this full-time parenting thing, once in a while.  The only thing the day was missing was a nap - for me!

My Disrupted 'Me Day'

Wednesdays are my day for me.  I'm (usually) home, husband and kid free, for most of the day.  I use this time to do laundry, sometimes tackle an organizing project or area of the house, do some other random cleaning (or baking!), and on a good day also throw in some exercise time.  Oh, and I have at least one show I watch recorded from earlier in the week that I catch up on on a Wednesday.

This has been my schedule for a while now.  When I'm home alone I feel like I can be so much more productive.  And now I schedule in blog stuff on Wednesdays as well.  I aim to create one post and do 2 hours of reading of books I've been asked to review.  Oh, and I try to sift through Twitter and FB feeds of other people (and blogs) I enjoy, as well as visiting my influencer-style websites I've joined.  My days are pretty full up now, I guess, after I see it all written out!

Anyway, this past Wednesday started out just fine.  I shovelled out the end of the driveway (with hubbys help) and then I came in and had ice cream for breakfast - with bananas so it wasn't a total fail! - while I watched my show.  After that I spent a few minutes online, browsing through Twitter and other blog-related pages, and half-assed watching another show on tv.  And then hubby came home.

It's not especially abnormal for him to come home occasionally during the day.  Sometimes he needs lunch, or he forgot something, or he just had a half hour to spare between jobs.  But this week he was HOME.  As in not going anywhere.  And it wasn't even lunch time!  I hadn't done anything (besides the hefty load of shovelling) but put some laundry in and watch some tv.  I thought I might go for a walk with the camera and see what snow-related beauty I could find. (Did I mention we'd had almost 50cms of snow the day before?)

So that disrupted my whole day.  I didn't know what to do.  Do I make him lunch, or go ahead and have that entire freezer pizza I'd planned to eat myself?  Should I pretend to look more busy than I was?  I don't think he knows how much stuff I do checking up on all my blog related sites and pages and influencer stuff.  It just looks like I'm wasting time on the net (which I'm sometimes doing too.)

And then he wants to talk to me.  I'm trying to be wife-y and sit near him while I'm reading my book and he's "working" on his computer - which I'll say looks to me like what I'm sure I look like to him when I'm trying to catch up on other people's blogs and stuff - but then he wants to talk.  Not saying I don't like talking to him, but I'm reading here!  And for reviews even, so can I just sit and read?

Then we get the call that Rose is not feeling well at school.  So we collect her and bring her home, but at least she then goes to bed and sleeps for an hour or more.  But now I feel my day is shot.  It's 2pm, I've only got one load of laundry through, we might as well meet Emma at the bus so we don't have to schlep over to daycare later to collect her, and I'm thinking about what time I should start dinner so it's ready to eat before we have to take miss Emma to dance class.

My saving grace was actually being the chauffeur parent, and taking Emma to her Wednesday night dance classes (for 2 hours!)  I managed to sit quietly with some other Moms also doing work and finish reading my book and create my review.  I even got a chapter into my next book!  My dance teacher and some of the ladies from the Monday night adult ballet class thought I should join them for the Wednesday adult ballet (which is a level above what I do on Mondays) but I'm not ready.  I do love to watch them though!

Moral of the story?  Don't put too much stock into alone time - it doesn't always work out like you hoped it would!  At least not when you're a parent.  I survived my day, and did feel accomplished at the end of it.  And it gave me fodder for a blog post - so win win!

Leave me a comment about your botched "me time" plans (or lack of plans), or just say hi so I know you read this to the end!  Thanks loyal readers.

~Jess

Cold Days, Cabin Fever and Reading, Reading, Reading

It's February.  It's cold (at least this weekend).  I'm suffering from Cabin Fever.

Yes, my birthday is in February, but that was 11 days ago - ancient history.  Yes, Valentine's Day is tomorrow but we "celebrated" yesterday (dinner and movie) - almost ancient history also.  Yes, there's a holiday this Monday - seems too far away to think about.

Today the "high" temp didn't even reach -20C.  The kids asked to go outside to play and I had to say no.  "Maybe tomorrow or Monday" I told them.  I hope that's the truth.

This time of year I start to yearn for the garden, for the kids to just "go outside" without 15 minutes of preparation, and for the days of hanging out the laundry - although I did this last week during the unseasonably warm spell.

I'm creating my own "isolation" by saying yes to reading all these books for review.  And also by trying to stay warm, indoors.  Hubby took the girls to a movie this afternoon and I spent 2 hours reading.  Finished one book and created a review (yet to be published) and got 1/3 of the way through the next book.

Sadly I'm having trouble with these few books.  The editing is sub-par and they have a lot of grammar mistakes.  It's almost impossible for me to read "over" grammar mistakes.  I desperately want to correct them.  I have to practically turn off that side of my mind, but then reading is not as fun.

Anyway, the family is home, Rose is clamouring to be in my lap, and the laundry is in various stages of being done.  Oh, and dinner time is approaching.  I guess I'll make something delicious and healthy that no one will eat - that seems to be the norm these days too!

Enough Mom-griping.  I think the Groundhogs didn't see their shadows this year so spring must be on the way, right?  Until then I'd like some ideas of stuff to do, inside, to ward off these cabin fever feelings I'm hating having right now.  So share with me in the comments, would ya?

~Jess

Primary Parenting or How Jobs Fall In Our House

My husband thinks, in our household, there's no such thing as a "primary parent."  I see what he's thinking but I'm convinced that's a natural thing, and no matter how you try there is always a primary parent.  I do think that the primary parent can change at any point - daily, seasonally, or even from morning to evening.

Of course I consider myself the "primary parent" most of the time.  Honestly this is just because I am at home the most.  I feel that parenting also encompasses household tasks.  We have pretty defined "pink" and "blue" jobs (please don't be offended, someone explained them to me this way I thought it was so fitting, if a little stereotypical) in our home.

My "pink" jobs are the laundry, the tidying up (after the kids mostly), and more than half of the meal prep.  His "blue" jobs are putting out the garbage, looking after the cars and the house, and mowing the lawn.  We both can, and do, perform all these tasks, but typically this is how they fall.

In my opinion my jobs are a bit more kid-centric while his are less so.  Doesn't make me a better parent then him - just makes me the one the kids ask for: food items, clothing locating, and any other "where is my..." question.  I'm happy to do those jobs, and sometimes be able to answer those questions.

His jobs allow the kids to "help" him - clean up the yard, tidy the basement (tools and stuff), and carry the recycling bins.  Still equally able to spend time with the kids doing these things, but less likely the kids will ask to take out the garbage, you know?

Dad, though, is also the one who takes them "shopping" the most.  I don't go "shopping" unless I have to.  Groceries are enough for me.  Hubby likes going out and happily lets the girls follow him through Canadian Tire or Home Depot looking at whatever they want.  And apparently he enjoys it and doesn't feel like it's "work" trying to keep track of the kids in a big store when they just stop without saying anything, or wander down aisles when you're busily trying to find either what you're looking for, or someone to help you find what you're looking for.  That's not fun for me.  The kids like to hide, and not listen to me.  This does not help me get my jobs done quickly and efficiently.

And in my home, when it comes to bedtimes I'm still the first choice.  That helps me feel like I'm the primary parent.  Occasionally Rose will ask for Daddy to put her to bed, and I love that!  But mostly the story reading is all me.  I'm secretly sad when I don't get to put them to bed.  But also elated that someone else (Dad or babysitter) can get the job done well in my absence.

I mostly like feeling like the primary parent, but sometimes I just need to hand over the reigns, you know?  I don't want to do it all (and I don't.)  When the kids are constantly asking for "MOM!" I almost lose it.  This is why I started taking ballet class once a week - gives me a break from bedtimes and other "primary parent" duties, and allows hubby a different connection with the girls.

How do the jobs fall in your house?  Do you feel you suffer from "primary parent" syndrome in your house as well?  I'm always interested to hear other's stories, so leave me a comment!

~Jess

Work, Family, and Covering Vacations

This week (Tues til next Tues) my co-hort and fellow pharmacy technician is off for a vacation.  I'm very excited - and jealous - that she's getting away and taking time off and all that, but I'm not looking forward to the extra work that means for me.

If anyone out there reads me faithfully you know I take Wednesdays off - a hold over from when I used to work every other Saturday.  I liked the day off in the week so much that once I got away from working Saturdays I just kept the Wednesdays off as well.  It's been working so far.

Tomorrow, being Wednesday, would be my "catch up" and sometimes "me time" day.  This week, not so much.  As I said at work today: "It's no skin off my nose to work extra once in a while."  I stand by this statement but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it fully.

We actually have a great work environment at the store - my co-hort and I have the more "tedious" tasks divided up fairly equally and we alternate "jobs" pretty well so it works for us.  Before she left we did a bit more intense work so there wouldn't be so much for me to try to stay on top of while she was away.

It's going to run very smoothly, of this I have no doubt.  Today was a bit hectic as there was a very time-consuming task that took one of the pharmacists away from the regular work for more than an hour.  That got us behind a bit, but we persevered.  I definitely felt the strain though.  When I'm leaving at 5 I want the people who have to stay that last hour to not have to catch up my tasks I didn't get to, you know?  Usually one of us is there until close so it's not an issue.

In a normal week I can get the kids to the bus 3 mornings without feeling rushed because I either don't go to work (Wednesdays) or I don't start until 9:30.  That's not in the cards until next Wednesday.  I can already feel the morning strain - especially if I want to sneak in a shower before work!

The girls get on the bus about 7:45 and I have to leave at 8 for the "early" shift.  But there is no way I can get them up earlier so I can, say, start their breakfast sooner so I can jump in that shower for 15 mins while they're eating.  They're not ready yet to get seconds or get another glass of milk themselves.  The kids are pretty time consuming.  Even when I'm not on "primary morning parent" duty they still can't get through 15 minutes without asking me for something while I'm in the shower.

I'm going to miss my quiet Wednesday tomorrow.  But the day will fly by, and luckily it's off week for dance (me and the girls) so there's one less stress - Emma doesn't have to be ready to leave for dance class at 5:30, which is the time I get home from work.

I've got a bet with myself as to which night I crack into a bottle of wine the minute I get in the door.  I'm thinking I can hold out til Friday (that's normal wine drinking day, isn't it?) but I almost uncorked a bottle tonight.  It might also depend upon how much fighting goes on with the kids over the week as well.  Tonight was all right - dinner was in the oven when I got home!  That was a splendid surprise, although the part where the furnace wasn't working quite right detracted a little from the excitement of not having to prepare dinner.

For the next week I have to remember to stop and take a breath.  If I don't get every little thing done it's not the end of the world - in fact it'll be there for me to do tomorrow.

Any tips or tricks for staying relaxed at work?  Share, please, in the comments.  Or just comment so I know you stopped by.  And thanks for reading!

~Jess

Some Weeks Are Busier Than Others

For some reason this week has been over-busy.  This weekend we're going to a hotel for an overnight and a swim.  I can't wait - even though it means we all go to bed at about 8pm in the same room...

So last weekend I somehow had 2 days of me and the girls without another parent for at least half of each day.  A normal weekend is us with the girls on Saturday (dance class, then groceries or other errands, and if we're lucky home by lunch then they play in the afternoon), and then Sunday they go off with their Nanny for church and day with her.

This week hubby had to work both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  Not a big deal as I thought I'd get a day (or at least an afternoon) all to myself - lots of time for laundry and other housework and then I thought I'd throw in an hour of reading or some other quiet time activity.  It didn't happen.  Sadly, hubby's grandma passed away Sunday morning (not totally unexpected) so Nanny, whose Mom it was, was naturally occupied enough without taking the girls for the day!

Again, not a big deal, but then I had to fill a second afternoon with something interesting for the girls to do.  Luckily our friends across the street were home, so the girls had their friend over for most of the day while we were home.  I was able to get some laundry done and I baked some cookies that the girls loved!

Monday night we needed a babysitter to "get" the girls after daycare - was going to be Nanny, but situation as it was we had to get out regular babysitter to bring them home.  The girls had a great night, and I got to go to dance (which I volunteered to skip so I could be home sooner) while hubby was at his board meeting.  So I didn't see the girls that night.

Tuesday we had to go to the visitation for Great Grandma after dinner.  That was nice, but again busy - the girls stayed up too late and then Rose and I had a rough night for sleep.  And I'm not going to talk about our terrible drive home in the snow squalls!

Wednesday we collected the kids early from school (right after lunch) and then drove to the funeral.  Again a really busy day, and full of questions from the 4 year old.  Nice seeing everyone and having a visit, but I was wiped by the time we got home.  Then Emma had to go to dance class for 2 hours!  Luckily I got to stay home with Rose and relax for a bit.

Then yesterday (Thursday) we needed a babysitter yet again - hubby had to work and I work til 6 (daycare "ends" at 5:30) - so our regular gal brought them home again.  Since she was fine to do that I had made a salon appointment to get my hair cut.  I really enjoyed that.  My stylist is awesome and it's really nice to do something just for me, you know?  So a good night, but still busy and tired by the end of the day,

Tonight I got to chill with the girls and without hubby yet again as he's working again (same stuff as last night).  We had to be sure to get a bath in tonight before our weekend away.  It can be rough washing them both up without a second person as Rose gets impatient, and then she's freezing when you take her out.  I had to leave Emma to try to rinse out her own hair while I got Rose in her pjs and warmed up.  She can be pretty demanding.

Everyone's asleep now, and I'm thinking about heading in that direction myself.  I decided I'd whip up this post first.  Then I'll spend a good 45 minutes sharing it around on my social media, but I do enjoy this blogging stuff.  And I'm watching MuchMusic so all is well with the world.  If I can be in bed by 9:30 today will be a success.

Tomorrow it's off to dance class for Rose (and art for Emma and myself) and then we're off to the big city for a (relaxing?) hotel evening.  I've even got the bags mostly packed.  If I'm lucky I'll find some inspiration for another post I can create early next week.  Stay tuned to find out!

Do you have unexpected busy weeks sometimes?  Looking at the family calendar there is nothing written down on next week, but this week had something every day.  Why does that happen?  Leave me a comment about your busy life - or what you think of my busy week.

'Til next post!
~Jess

New Years Musings From A Modern Mom

When I was younger (and not yet a Mom) my New Years Resolutions were pretty simple, or so I thought.  I'd consider "try to lose weight/be more active"; "read more books" and "keep my home neat and tidy" to be good, attainable ideas.  They were - or should have been.

For the first 2 weeks I could keep track of calories, and set aside time to read and clean.  Soon after that I lost interest.  As I feel everyone (or mostly everyone) does as the new year crawls forward.

Now that I'm a mom, and I've succeeded (very slowly) in losing some weight and increasing my activity level on a daily basis, my ideas for resolutions have changed.


This year I'd like to resolve to be a more involved parent.  I want to be active with my kids, not just for myself.  I want to eat healthier, and cook more, for all of my family to reap the benefits.  I can still try to "read more books," but now that has to include time with the girlies sitting with me and reading together.  And quite frankly "keep my home neat and tidy" has never worked for me, so it's not about to start now.  But this year I can resolve to teach the girls how to be more tidy and clean up when they're done.  They do that sometimes now, but not consistently.

I know the new year is an excellent time to start new things, or to renew those things that got lost over the year or in the holiday hubbub.  I think this past year has been a very successful one for me.  I started doing a few more things for myself that I had let go by the wayside after I had kids.  Being able to get out one night a week, I think, is making a big difference in my mindset - and my activity level, since it's a dance class!  I truthfully don't feel there is anything I need to add or change in my lifestyle right now.  I'm maintaining my weight loss, the girls are happy and healthy, and besides trivial things like "try to eat less take-out" or "magically find a ton of money on the sidewalk" I think we're doing pretty well here.

I want to wish all my readers (and "fans" if I have any of those!) a happy and prosperous new year.  Thank you for your interest in my blog over the past months - I hope to keep to posting fun and interesting things for you all to read.  I am always open to subject ideas as well - just comment any ideas or topics and I'll do my best to craft up something interesting!

What resolutions did you (or will you) make this year?  Have your resolution ideas changed over the years, or after having kids?  Share with me in the comments.

Adventures in Baking - Marble Cake

My sister's birthday is in early November.  We are a family who tries to get together for everyone's birthdays and just have a nice family dinner.  Since my mom reads my blog (Hi Mom!) she knows I've been getting my bake on more often.  So when I asked her what I should bring to dinner, she told me (okay, asked me) to bake a cake.

Not only did I rise to the challenge, but I also made the non-decision to make a marble cake.  Does Alison like chocolate or vanilla cake better?  Who cares, let's make one that's both!

So I Googled cake recipes for an entire night.  I never know how to know if this recipe works, tastes good, or any of that.  I will read an entire page of comments and still not really form an opinion because for every person that struggled with it, 2 more loved it, and then 3 people made it, but with substitutions, or add ons.  If there are enough positive reviews I'll make the assumption that it must usually work out okay.

The recipe I used was at realsimple.com. (That's the link directly to the recipe, not just the Real Simple website.)  It tasted good but as you can see it turned out more like a chocolate cake on top of a white cake.

I found the original batter quite thick and almost tough to work with.  I scooped the 2 cups out and into the cocoa/water/sugar mix and that batter was much more workable.  Were I to make it again I would add a little more milk to the original vanilla batter before I poured it into the pan so I could "swirl" the flavours together better.

My second struggle was actually baking the cake.  I have a nice glass 9x13 dish that has a lid.  I thought "Great! I can travel with it!"  What I didn't realize was baking in glass is different than in metal pans.  Of course the recipe didn't specify pan material, but I put it in at the temperature suggested for the smallest allotment of time suggested and it was nowhere near done.  The toothpick came out coated in chocolate batter.

Logically I thought this was due to the runnier consistency of the chocolate batter, and the fact that I put the timer on for the shortest time.  I put it back in for 2 more minutes.  Then 2 more, and then another minute and thirty seconds.  I think in total I cooked it for almost 10 extra minutes.  At that point there was one spot where the toothpick still came out fairly coated, but I wanted to be able to eat at least some of the cake so I decided it was done enough!

 If you look closely at the photo you can see a small spot in the middle where the cake sank a bit.  I was quite worried that it would still be runny in that section!  Of course it turned out fine, and once I'd iced and decorated it you couldn't tell it had a sunken spot at all.

I made some icing from scratch using this recipe, but I really had to read all the comments as there was a confusing part about the icing sugar.  At any rate it tasted really good and I didn't thin it out too much so it spread on the cake beautifully.  After the white icing I used the various decorating stuff I had from doing the cookies for Emma's Halloween party.  Who doesn't love black and pink decorations on their cake?? (I think my artistic handwriting needs some work, but no one complained about my block letters!)

I then put the lid on thinking there was lots of space, but it did squish the letters a bit.  To make up for that we took our girlie coloured sprinkles (pink, blue, yellow and purple) with us to dust the cake with right before the candles went on.  The girls love putting sprinkles on stuff.

Here's the last photo - the cake all ready to go!

We had a nice birthday visit with Alison and the parentals.  My kids didn't eat the cake (I didn't think they would) but everyone else said it was good.  I tend to agree.

Do you have any baking catastrophes (or successes!) that made a good story?  Share in the comments, and thanks for reading!

Making Time To Blog Is Hard - I Need Help!

When do you blog?  I was going great gangbusters when I started this blog (in the spring and early summer) but now that we're back to school and other life is happening I don't feel like I have time!

Currently I've spent a lot of time increasing my Twitter followers (and following) and trying to share my FB page with more folks.  I've been checking my affiliate sites, reading other blogs, and also trying to have a home life.  All that seems to have eaten into my blogging time.

Also we just had Thanksgiving, so that ate up an entire (long) weekend.  Don't get me wrong, it was a delicious, beautiful, family-type weekend, but it didn't leave me much quiet time.

I know scheduling is key when trying to build up a blog.  The problem I'm having is one part writers block and one part hoping to have time to me - and just to me, not blogging, gardening, cooking, laundry doing, working etc.  Those moments are hard to find.

My schedule currently involves working 4 eight-hour days, with one day off for me to get stuff done.  This week I have appointments on my day off, and I need to get stuff together for my daughter's Halloween party next weekend, as well as my foray into a live Rocky Horror Picture Show performance - think costumes, hair, props, the works!  And I'd like to get groceries and do laundry - regular mom stuff.

So then there's evenings after work.  I get home (at 5:30 or 6:30 depending on the shift) and either make, or just eat, dinner.  Try to get Emma to do homework before Rose has to go to bed (at 7:00) and then get Emma to bed by 8.  All that is often accomplished by 8:30 and then it's "my time."  So I clean up dinner, do dishwasher stuff, start or switch laundry, and sweep the dinner mess off the floor, if I didn't get that done before bedtime starts.  Some nights I also clean up toys and then, if I'm lucky, I sit down.  Hubby will have the tv on but I'm only good for maybe an hour before I fall asleep on the couch.

I try, often, to blog while the tv is on.  Some nights it works, some nights it really does not.  Depends on what's on, or how tired I am.  I'm one of those people that needs 8 hours of sleep almost every night to be functional the next day.  Yes, the newborn and baby years were hell-on-earth for me.  Luckily my sleeps are much less disturbed these days, so I can pull a few later nights if I have to.  But when I'm tired I can't form coherent thoughts, let alone interesting blog posts!

Tonight I've been crafting this post while the girls eat dinner - I've had an upset tummy all day, so no loss to me if I'm not eating with them - and now they're watching some tv and looking through the costume bin and Halloween decorations.  By the time I'm done here I figure I will have been "writing" for 45 minutes.  And really, what have I written about?  Mostly nothing.  No deep thoughts or well-researched articles.  Just fluff about how I don't have time to post anything!

So share with me your schedules, or routines.  How do you blog (and promote!), as well as do affiliate stuff and keep up with other blogs - and be moms or dads, husbands or wives, or any other functioning members of society?  Maybe with the cooler weather creeping in I may have less desire to be outside, or be doing anything else, frankly.

Really I'm just desperately curious to hear how fellow bloggers manage it all.  I really thought I'd just be writing stuff, I did not realize so much came with blogging (if you want people to actually read your stuff!)

Labour Day Weekend Party - Fun and Frivolity - Then Back To School!

We had a party.  A family friendly, everyone we knew was invited, party on the Sunday of the long weekend.  We didn't inspire many more people to show up than the usual suspects, but we had a great weekend.  So much so that I hosted a party Part 2 on the holiday Monday.  I mean I had a ton of wine and foodstuffs left over (even after I sent people home with stuff!) so a second gathering seemed like a great idea!

I guess at peak population there were 25 people.  My boss came, as well as a prior co-worker (with her 2 little ones).  Hubby's business partner came with his little guy and a family friend with his 10 year old.  Of course our neighbour friend Abby was by - she even showed up early!  Plus some of my family members, and Hubby's mom.  Our daycare lady, and her daughter - our babysitter - arrived right on time.  It was a great afternoon.  Some people I thought may appear did not, but that didn't dampen our spirits any.  Food and drink was plentiful and I think most folks had a nice time.

I was genuinely surprised at my kids.  They sat at the kid's table with the other kids (both big and small) and really didn't mingle with the adults at all.  No lap sitting, no begging to be pushed on the swing (they all pushed each other), and not much fighting.  I forget how old my kids are now, and how easy it is for them to amuse themselves with each other!

So summer is over for the kiddos now.  It's back to school tomorrow, although technically summer doesn't end until the middle-end of September.  Hopefully the weekends stay nice and "free" so the kids can hang out and do their own things before the weather starts to turn cold.  I hope to have a few more nice weekends for barbeques and outdoor time.  It was nice to squeeze in the extra visits this afternoon with some friends.

I love hosting parties since it gives us a serious reason to tidy the house.  We have reorganized so much stuff even I feel like I have no idea where stuff is.  The kids rooms easily turn into disaster zones now that we've put all their stuff upstairs.  Life is always a work-in-progress, but when I can't find my stuff it definitely feels more like "work" than "progress"!

I hope everyone else's summer ended on a high note.  We've had a great season and I hope to continue it into the fall.  Once this humidity breaks I'll be one happy mama!  Fall weather is my favourite for sure.

Happy Back-To-School to everyone out there - enjoy the season!  Toodles!

7 Things I'm Appreciating This Summer

This summer is going along swimmingly.  The kids are 4 and 6 (almost 7) so we're well clear of "baby baggage."  Meaning if we want to go somewhere, we just grab some snacks (and pjs if we'll be out late) and go.  We don't need diaper bags, and planned itineraries, with foreknowledge of all stops between A and B usable for nursing, changing, or just strollering around a baby who's been fussing for ages. I guess this is the first thing I'm grateful for!

• Living where I live - meaning both in Kingston, and in my neighbourhood.  There are tons of events in town during the summer.  Most of the stuff we check out is free, but there are so many interesting things going on we really have to pick and choose what we want to do!  Also we live about 10 minutes from downtown.  This means I get to work quickly and easily, and we can decide whether to do Movies in the Square with only a little lead time and we still get a good seat.
• My clothesline - I know it's corny but I love hanging our clothes outside.  We put up a new section of fence earlier this summer and now I have a nice long clothesline that helps my clothes dry and feel fresh.  Also the kids like to help by handing clothespins and such and soon they'll be able to reach and hang stuff themselves!
• My kids senses of adventure - We took an unplanned hike (quite rugged terrain) and the girls loved it!  They want to do more.  And they want to go to Wonderland and try the rides.  And they like seeing things in the theatre - live plays and stuff (as well as any movie).  I wouldn't say they're thrill seekers, but definitely up for new experiences.
• The weather - Also a corny thought, I love that the weather is always changing.  I love the hot days that I can justify sitting around reading my book, and I love the rainy days that water my gardens.  Watching storm clouds roll up and being outside watching the lightning before the rain.  The other day we had an amazing deluge and then a fantastic double rainbow.  It was beautiful.
• My family - If it wasn't for them (immediate and extended) I wouldn't be able to do as many cool and interesting (to me!) things in my life.  I love that my kids get lots of time with grandparents and aunts and uncles - it gives them different experiences they would not necessarily get with us, and teaches them to be flexible and to learn to obey other's rules.  If any of you are reading this - I appreciate you more than you know!
• All our friends - separately, and together, you have made our live easier and more fun.  Thank you to our neighbours who do look our for our kids and property; my co-workers (who I consider friends) for listening to me, and sometimes joining me, at local events, concerts and attractions and I am so amped up to visit; my mom friends, who I don't see as much as I'd like, but I know you're there if and when I need you; and our random backyard barbecue/cottage/after-event friends who are always up for a good time, kids included.

I know there are more things I'm appreciating this summer, but that's a long enough post for now.  What are you enjoying more this summer?  Anything I miss?  Post it in the comments, and stay tuned for more random mom posts! ;)

Toodles!

Ages and Stages - My Girls Keep Growing!

Last night after work I took the girls outside.  We grabbed a blanket and my Yoga book and we had a stretching session.  I'm amazed at the flexibility of my daughters.  I was also amazed that Rose was interested in trying this out.  Of course we had to eat Cheerios while we were yoga-ing, but they both took an interest and did some of the moves along with me.

My girls are quickly leaving the really little kid stuff behind.  They will happily tell me some shows are too "baby" for them (Emma more than Rose) and they both understand the philosophy of passing on your too small clothes, so they can graduate into more new (to them) clothes.  I don't really know when I noticed this stuff starting to happen, but it's in full flow now.

My favourite thing that is happening now is their ability to reason.  There are many less "tantrums" as they've started flexing their reasoning muscles.  We can (usually) calmly discuss sharing and taking turns, as well as if we watch movie A now we can watch movie B next time.  This doesn't always end well, but we're getting there.

Along with reasoning is the knowledge that 'it is time to sleep when I'm tired.'  Emma took a very long time to learn this skill.  Rose is further along at a younger age, and actually goes and lays down for a nap if she's tired in the afternoon.  We've gotten away from naps with her, but sometimes she'll just take one and not even tell anyone!

Last week my parents had the girls for 4 days at their place.  Usually getting them there entails tears and fits and all that (even though they always have a good time), but not this time.  Genuine excitement and full knowledge they were going to be there for a few days in a row.  My mom told me that before they were brought back home they both - separately - went to her and told her they would miss her and asked for snuggles.  How sweet, right?  Then they were super affectionate with me when they got back, which I totally missed while they were away.

The real excitement for me was also last night.  Emma watched her Murdoch Mysteries while I read Rose a story upstairs.  When it ended she went up to brush her teeth and I looked for another Murdoch.  The only one I found was the one she had just watched, so I put on Jeopardy! until she returned and gave me input on what she wanted to watch.  Well guess what?  She wanted to watch Jeopardy with me!!  I don't think I've really watched it since Emma was born.  And I could see her looking at (reading?) the words.  She thought it was great!  Let's hope she keeps her interest in it, so I can test my knowledge on any and all things another night soon.

Stay tuned for more random thoughts from me.  Toodles!

Is It A Vacation, or a "Family Vacation"?

The family went to a cottage for a week's vacation.  Vacation happened, we relaxed by the water, did some swimming and camp-fire-ing, visiting with nature and all that.  However the royal "we" also:

• Packed up shop at home for about 3 days (which includes numerous loads of laundry, and trips to the grocery store etc.) then jammed it all into the back of the truck
• Made the beds, swept the floor, stocked the fridge, organized the luggage, and so on AT the cottage when we arrived
• Cooked, cleaned, washed the dishes (by hand!), made the beds (some days), swept our messes up, and washed some clothes by hand in the sink
• Had an eye on the kids at all times - are they on the dock?  do they have lifejackets on? did they have breakfast? is it bedtime? is the fire going? are they close to it? and so on...

I was happy to go back to work after returning home and washing yet more loads of laundry and trying to put the house back together after we took all the important stuff away with us.  That trip was definitely a "family vacation."

Later this week hubby and I are taking some time for ourselves and going to Toronto for a few days.  My parents are having the girls stay with them for those same few days (plus an extra 2 overnights, before and after).  So far for this trip I have:

• Packed luggage for the girls, as well as accessory bags with toys and food they'll actually eat
• Done yet more laundry for everyone to have clean clothes while away
• and tried to not buy much groceries for the time between these two trips so I don't have to throw out food when we get back!

I can't wait to stay in a hotel for a few nights, and eat some meals out and about that I don't even have to think about until I get where I'm eating (and that I don't have to clean up after!!).  I also can't wait to not have to put the kids to bed for a few nights, and to stay up late(r) without knowing someone will be up at 6:20 to get me up.  Sadly I know I will be awake before 7am most days anyway, as I'm now biologically programmed that way.

We have a few things planned (a baseball game, visits with friends, and a trip to Canada's Wonderland) but overall we're just going to be with each other and do what strikes our fancy.  What I do know is this is a much better chance for me to relax, than when we're at a waterfront with two young kids and no maid service! ;)

Toodles!

Culture Shock After Barely A Week At The Cottage?

We had a fabulous family week at a cottage in Sharbot Lake.  Our close friends and family came to visit.  I had a great time, but I do feel like I have more "work" to do there than at home.  Well maybe not more, but different work to do, for sure:

• I had to hand-wash the dishes.  Not a big deal, but a time eater.
• I hand washed clothes a few days and hung them outside.  Another time eater, as well as an arm workout from all the manual agitating of the stuff in the sink.
• Being always on alert for the kids outside - I mean we were 5 big steps away from the water at all times there.
• Making sure the kids had 3 meals plus snacks - as a working mom I only have to worry about this at most 2 days a week.

We arrived home late this morning and we lunched and sent the kids to a birthday party (otherwise we'd still be at the cottage tonight...)  We unpacked the truck, put the food away and I immediately started in on laundry and clean up.  I even indulged in a bath.

It's so nice to be home and have every comfort available.  But sometimes I wonder - if we can live at a cottage for a week with nothing to do, and I can stay off my phone for entire days at a time, why do I have to exist here, in this house full of stuff we don't really ever use, and constantly crave being online although I know nothing is going on there either?  It's such a strange life we live.  We have everything, but need so very little.

I think this is what's driving me crazy.  I long (already) to go back to the days where we eat, clean up, go outside and enjoy the day, eat, clean up, enjoy the day some more, eat again, clean up and then put the kids to bed.

Enjoying the day consisted of:

• Lake play - swimming, paddleboating, fishing
• Reading or sitting quietly (while always "watching" the kids)
• Feeding the wildlife
• Reading
• Sitting quietly (wait, did I say these already?)

Yes, there was tv, and yes, we let the kids watch a movie, or spend a little time with our phones, but we were mostly unplugged and just with each other, and with nature.  It was awesome.  No one even asked to go home (this has happened in the past.)

I'm trying to relax back into home life (we had Kraft Dinner for supper today) and not let it not get me down that the kids have no interest in going outside tonight, and that's all I want to do - pour a glass of wine and go sit outside.  After all that's what I've been doing for the last week!