Saturday, May 08, 2010

The New, Improved Look

I took the kids to the Children's Festival today that was put on by a group of local organizations and businesses. The festival was very well done much to the credit of the incredible efforts of all of the volunteers.

However, upon entering the mayhem of events occurring, it became apparent that keeping tabs on your own children could become an issue. That thought didn't occur to me though until I got home and realized that two creatures were in the truck with me as opposed to my sweet, beautiful children:






Sunday, May 02, 2010

Not Enough Time

Two months ago it seemed like a great idea: enroll kids into spring sports. Both my husband and I believe that being involved in sports and being part of a team is important not only for the physical aspect but that of the emotional as well. It works for our family and may not for others, which is okay. Our children are starting to get to that age where they can participate in many different sports and we are open to letting them try pretty much everything while they are young and while it is relatively affordable. By next year, at the age of six, Kaelen's sporting endeavors will likely be cut in half due to cost and because of the time that is involved. School becomes a priority and as much as we would like to support our children in all that they want to do (which Kaelen would do every sport if given a chance), there just is not enough time in a day to do so.

Beginning this week, our household feels like it has been thrown into the midst of a boot camp training session. Where physical endurance is a must but an emotional endurance is a challenge yet is absolutely essential. I should qualify though that the emotional endurance is a requirement amongst the parents. The biggest obstacle is that little thing called effective time management. As parents, we all know that our once perfected skill gets thrown out of the window and fades into a distant, fond memory upon having children. Children have that uncanny knack of doing things their way and throwing you that wicked good ol curve ball. So in order for a parent to have emotional endurance amongst active children, we must be able to adapt to any situation with a smile on our face and the drive to get it done anyways.

I find myself complaining of late: a lot. I feel the need to need explain myself because people misunderstand or just give me that nod as if I am the neurotic mom. Truth be told, I likely am but with good reason. You see, I am the golf widow, so that means I have to jump into the ranks of those super moms that do everything on their own. I work full time raising other people's children which I might add, is not the easiest job. I am with my own children 24/7 with no breaks from them. I also manage the house as in pay the bills, do all of the yard work, fix all toilets, leaky faucets, grocery shop, do the laundry, attempt to keep it clean. On the good days, I done the fun cape and play with my kids, do silly dances and just forget about the list of Needs-To-Get-Done that never seems to shrink. Over the winter, I added hockey mom to my list and now I get the privilege of doing baseball on Mondays and Wednesdays, double soccer on Tuesdays with golf lessons on Thursdays. Of course, all of these extracurricular activities are at the perfect time of 5:30 pm on weeknights, because you know, there is so much time to wrap up work, eat dinner and relax afterwards.

And because I have so much time and apparently haven't learned the word that my daughter knows all too well (yes ... that would be NO), I am likely going to coach one of these soccer times on Tuesday nights, likely help run the hockey division come winter, become part of the PAC council for Kaelen's school and yes, even attempt to go to school albeit online. And somewhere with all of my free time, I will enjoy this hectic thing called life and remember to exhale if given a moment to do so.

So. How is your life going?