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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

on valentines day card crafting and making it through the week

Every year I make cards with the kids. Or no, scratch that, I let them help me make cards. Kind of. Okay, fine, I make cards and they watch, and are sometimes invited to be involved at carefully orchestrated moments. HA. The truth.

This year though. Boy is five. Girl is nearly three. They can do it themselves. Right? So, I pop open the paint tubes, squirt it into a veggie tray platter, each kid gets a jar of water and a rag, with strict instructions to wash and wipe the brush off between each color (I cant let go THAT much), I cut out sheets of paper to fold in half and bend a toilet paper tube into the shape of a heart (as a stamp! Brilliant, right??) And, there they go. And they had a fabulous time. And made a million creative cute cards. And I held baby, and did some laundry, and did not stress out.

Amazing.

I am on a roll I tell you. Yesterday I took the kids to the doctors for check ups, and survived (little miss spent the entire hour in the office hopping around like a frog, yelling at the top of her lungs, just for the sheer joy of it, no shots involved, and hitting her baby sister in the gut. It was SUPER FUN.) I dread doctors visits because of that long time in that tiny room with three kids. And yet, as I was corralling them down the hall to the exit (THANK YOU GOD) the doctor calls out after me, "You are doing a great job mama! Keep it up!" And I smile.

And then, I summoned the strength to move on, and went to Target to return a few things and spend a gift card. And we HAD FUN. Aside from little miss standing up and yelling in the cart on two ocassions (because she was not allowed to leave the cart, per my instructions.) And we got all sorts of goodies. What? We need to spend ANOTHER 12.99 to equal out this return? No problem!

And as we are leaving a middle aged guy comes up behind me to ask if he can help unload my bags into the car, which he does while I strap in the kids and then he returns my cart for me. And as he did he smiles at the kids in a happy way, not in a "I pity you, you poor woman" way, clearly enjoying our chaos, and then says in a wistful way, "I remember those days!" And I smile.

Then I come home and they watch some cartoons while I make the girls pajamas out of this great vintage flannel I have had sitting around forever. And they turn out good. And little miss calls her "her boo-tiful dress" and twirls in delight. (And you KNOW I will post about this, soon.)

And here we are, the next day, a succcessful pain free craft, and cooking under my belt (a great no-guilt chocolate bar recipe and an amazing baked oatmeal recipe which I will share soon.)

And now. Now. BOTH of my girls are napping. And no, not in the sling, in actual beds.

And wow. If I could conquer every week like this, you know? Its really funny how it ebbs and flows. The good and the bad and the inbetween. And we smile and drink more coffee and floss our teeth like responsible adults and we hope that the tide lets out soon. Right?

Well, in any case, here is to a good week, because we deserve them every now and then, and they are reason to celebrate! Cheers mommies (and you dadas who read too!) Cheers to good times, sunny days, and making it!


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