...my child sold your honor student the answers to the test...

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Just Call Me the Ring Master

Trying to keep 3 kids in a small house stuck together for 5 weeks straight without killing each other is like trying to catch a greased pig in a school gymnasium while you and the floor are covered in Crisco shortening. When you can figure out the statistics on that happening let me know.

It's track out time again and this time we have an extra 2 1/2 weeks added on due to the holiday season. Which means Xavier was done with school the day before Thanksgiving and will not return until January 4th. Which means I am looking at an entire month plus of trying to keep the boys entertained and happy while also juggling present purchases for both Christmas and Ashes birthday, and planning a birthday party for him next week, (which I have done nothing about except to invite some friends and buy a Transformer cake mold and the cake supplies... yes I stupidly decided that this time I will bake instead of buy).

I was smart this time around, having been through a few track outs with nothing major planned, and before vacation officially started I sat down with Xavier and we made a list of all the things he wanted to do to stay busy, then added them to our Master Calendar. This way instead of twiddling my fingers in the morning trying to figure out what to do with the kids to keep them sane I already had it done for me. This has been working out splendidly aside from the fact we are literally always on the go and I'm crashing into bed at the end of the day barely conscious.

It's only Wednesday and we have already hit a place where you can paint your own pottery so the kids could make some gifts for family members, hit a local craft store and bought a few things to do on a rainy day when we dont have something already planned, built a volcano, had an adventure at the Tire Store, lunch at IHOPS, DRs visits, 4 trips to Target (ever notice you always forget something when you leave that store?) and today we hit the Museum of History which was featuring an exhibit on Pirates (ARRRRH!) Tomorrow is our first unfilled day and I think I'm going to plop the kids down at the kitchen table with paint and their crafts and let them go to town while I quietly nurse my coffee in hopeful peace. AHAHAHAHAAHA! I can hope though.

In the meantime while we are home I am constantly being Momed to death. As I sit here typing, after diligently ensuring the kids are happy, fed, and have something to do, Ashe is constantly going "Uh, Mommy...(insert babble here.)....Uh Mommy.....Uh Mommy....." The title of Mom is a glorious thing and one to be cherished, but at the same time if I hear Mommy or MOOOOOOM one more time for something inane I just may run out the door screaming. Sometimes you just need a 10 minute break of silence in the middle of the day. I'm contemplating the idea of wearing my Ipod when we're home after I know the kids are fine and can play on their own so I can pretend I do not hear them.

I have broken up a bunch of mini fights from Xavier thinking Ashe is playing too close to him (despite the fact Xavier has plopped himself in the middle of their bedroom doorway and Ashe needs to scoot by just to get in) Ashe flipping out over Xavier "talking to him" and numerous other mundane scuffles that go along with siblings. Poor Soren is just stuck in the middle with me, wading in to separate the two combatants. I sometimes wonder what he thinks about all that goes down here.

I'm still trying to figure out how to accomplish gift shopping with the kids home. I think I might just send them to a drop in daycare center tomorrow and Soren and I shall go off and shop in peace. Or maybe I'll just head home and take a much needed nap. Oh how I fantasize about naps right now. I think for Christmas what I want is 2 days with the kids happily at someone elses house and I can sleep for one day and catch up on my fun grown up stuff without interruption for the other day. Santa, if you're reading this I think I've been good enough this year to warrant 2 days off, don't you? I'll throw in a couple of extra cookies to sweeten the deal ;)

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