Sometimes being a stay at home mom makes me feel like Rapunzel. If you know the new Disney movie she sings a song at the opening about all the things she does to fill her everyday as she lives a solitary life and doesn't leave her tower.
7 AM, the usual morning lineup:
Start on the chores and sweep 'til the floor's all clean
Polish and wax, do laundry, and mop and shine up
Sweep again, and by then it's like 7:15.
On those days when I'm feeling energetic and motivated with my kids the days can move so slowly. I think about all the things we have done so far and it's seriously like 10 am and I think to myself now what? But those days are always better than the lazy days that just fly by. I go to bed at night with a better conscious. Part of the reason why days more filled with activities seem to go by slower, as it seems it would be the opposite, is due to the kiddos ages right now. Projects never last long with an almost five year old and fifteen month old. I've been trying to gauge what jacky is ready for by introducing him to fingerprinting and play doh recently. We tried fingerprinting in a bag and he was mildly interested. Ben loved it on the other hand, even though I hadn't planned on him doing it also and had paper prepared. Funny kid always wants to be like baby jacky. Jackson did enjoy the play doh today although it entered his mouth twice. I thought by the look of disgust on his face the first time that there wouldn't be a second time. Well, he never ceases to amaze me that one. ; )
I also put some baking pins to use this week prompted by some very ripe bananas (the bag finger painting was another Pinterest find). Regular banana bread and a banana oatmeal muffin. It was very healthy with no butter, flour, or sugar although I may have ruined that when I topped them with mini chocolate chips. Oops.
Another fun activity we've recently added to our almost daily schedule is walking grandma's dog, Chloe. The boys love it. Ben holds the leash, running and laughing all the way. Jackson reaches for the leash from his stroller and usually gets a hold of it for a while and laughs at big brother. A couple days ago I wrote out a simple nature scavenger hunt list also found on Pinterest ( I've given up reinventing the wheel and just look to Pinterest to do my thinking for me!) Ben was so great at identifying objects to fulfill everything but it cracked me up that his second to last one remaining was "something green." I reminded him that green stuff was pretty much everywhere and then he excitedly grabbed a big handful of grass. The last remaining item was "something you think is a treasure." Before we left on our hunt he identified this item to be a coin. So all along our walk we looked for something shiny to catch our eyes. With the house just a hundred yards ahead or so I resorted to pulling a quarter out of my wallet and throwing it down on the ground where I then had to feign excitement and pointed it out to Ben. He was so excited I didn't even feel bad. Kinda like the whole Santa Claus situation. Lying for the greater good right?
Although there are days when I feel like we do several of the items listed above, and then it's 7:15 (not really that's when we wake up), I know that while the days may go by slow the weeks and months fly by. I have to remind myself often: enjoy every minute.
