Have you ever had the kind of day where everything seems to be rolling along famously, and you think, "Hmmm, I kinda rule."
It's the same type of day in which you couldn't get to sleep the night before and kept thinking about how much the morning was going to suck, but for some reason your eyes popped open exactly one minute before the alarm went off and you didn't even have to hear that godawful, dreadful sound.
Instead of wandering around in the sleep-deprived stupor you feared, you find yourself bouncing into the shower, finding an outfit that makes you feel cute, and actually having a non-afrofied hair day even though the humidity is high. Your make-up is on, coffee is made, the dog is fed, your kid's clothes are laid out, their preferred morning beverage is poured, and there isn't even any whining when you wake them up for the first time in 3 months.
For once, there is no traffic on Harborview Road. You sail through two successive green lights. And when you turn up the stereo volume, your favorite Avett Brothers song is just starting.
You make it to both Meet the Teacher events early. Get to see so many faces you've been missing all summer. And pick up a cool extra kid along the way. You convince the munchkins to go where YOU want for breakfast. You get not one, but two prime parking spots downtown. You are even complimented on your shirt three times and your shoes once.
Yep, this morning was a good one.
Too bad after breakfast I realized my fly had been open since I got dressed at 6:30 this morning. Oh, and somehow for the first time ever, I managed to forget to shave my armpits. This is great considering I posed for several pictures with my kids with my arms over my head in celebration of school starting.
Oh well, at least (I thought) I ruled for a little while. And thank goodness I was wearing cute underwear. Perhaps they distracted from the hairy armpits.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Considering this is the last week of summer for my kids and neither of them is enrolled in camp, I took it upon myself to check the forecast for the week on Monday and made my Type A plans accordingly. Although the boys were begging to see Disney's Planes from the moment their dad dropped them off, I told them we HAD to wait until Tuesday because there was no reason to waste a perfectly beautiful, sunny day on a movie.
On Tuesday, as we emerged from the movie at 2:30, my friend Jodi and I were surprised to see there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it wasn't as hot as all hell outside. I hated that I'd wasted a rainy day activity, especially since we'd already seen every other kid flick from Epic, to Turbo, to Despicable Me 2, and even Smurfs 2. But I quickly got over it and even convinced the kids to go for a run with the dog.
Wednesday, well Wednesday was hot as hell. The boys were desperate to go to the playground at James Island County Park and that place is like the surface of the sun. I begged them to take their swimsuits so they could jump in the Spray Play, but they were adamant that I should NOT bring swimsuits. Thank God, I've learned to ignore their demands.
Anyway, JICP is usually so packed that you cannot move. However, we were only 3 of the 6 people who opted to bake at 10 am.
Notice: Teague is pounding Gatorade and Crews can hardly muster the energy to spin after 8 minutes:
At JICP, there are only 2 seats in the shade (both of which were being used to dry someone's towels). The rubber below the playground equipment smelled like cooking tires. And at one point, there was a squirrel sitting next to my feet that was so hot it was panting and didn't even bother to move when Crews ran at it and screamed. In fact, when the lady sitting next to me spilled her water, squirrels came from all over and started lapping it up off the stinky rubber. Here is Crews taunting one, but I counted 7.
At this point, they were both thankful I had brought swimsuits.
At exactly 10:30, Spray Play kicked on and both of them disappeared.
The smiles and energy were back!
They played for 2 hours, had lunch, and reluctantly agreed to drive to Mt. Pleasant with me. I can always bribe them to make the trip by promising a stop at Smoothie King. It's no Jamba Juice, but they are like their mom and will take "the next best thing" fix!
As we drove around Mt. Pleasant looking for a store that sold elliptical machines, and unbeknownst to me had relocated, the bottom fell out of the sky. It rained so hard that even when I had the new address, I passed the store three times. Frustrated, filled with delicious smoothies, and all 3 of us now needing to pee, we just couldn't wait for the rain to let up. Luckily, they found their rain coats stuffed in the back of the car. Me? Not so lucky. My raincoat was missing and they had stolen the 3 umbrellas to make an "umbrella fort" in the driveway before we left.
I got soaked. They were as dry as the desert. But I did find the elliptical (an awesome birthday gift from my parents!).
By the time we finally made it back home, not only was downtown Charleston flooded but so was my driveway. The pond had risen at least 6 inches. The pool was full. And I reluctantly checked the forecast again. Rain. Rain. Rain.
We ended up having a hot tea and Harry Potter Marathon for the rest of the afternoon (My dream day!). Of course we couldn't get past The Prisoner of Azkaban because the Dementors scare the crap out of Crews, but still, LOVE. We made what they consider dinner, talked about our Duck Dynasty excitement, and Teague read to me from his chapter book (a VERY big deal since he has orthographic dyslexia).
When Crews came to wake me up this morning, I immediately noticed how dark it was. Then I heard a loud clap of thunder. I instantly knew what kind of day this would be. If it's raining when the boys get up, you cannot drag them out of the house. They refuse to leave, even for food, and end up torturing each other all day long.
I tried to set the tone for the day as soon as we got downstairs. I let them make chocolate chip pancake batter. I made Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes. I even let them squirt the whipped cream to make the face. But within an hour, the sugar had kicked in and the dog was feeding off their energy. I had to go sit on the front porch to drink my tea in peace, which only lasted about 30 seconds before the boys found me and the dog found a mud hole.
Three games of Candyland, a round of blocks, a 6 foot puzzle, a game of Minions, a sword fight, coloring, breaking of colors, snack, lunch, toy closet mayhem/destruction, one spilled Pediasure on the wooden tray of the ottoman which seeped into Crews' iPad mini, a run to the mailbox by Teague which resulted in full-on slippage in the driveway and the claim that he broke his back but 10 minutes later was beating his brother with a stuffed monkey, and finally, after telling the kids the only thing they could NOT do was get in the pool because it had dead frogs and other storm debris in it, I said, "You know what? I bet it won't kill you." And I watched as they flew out the door and jumped in the pool for the 10 minutes it did not rain.
Today is what I call epic motherhood fail. Why didn't I bust out the things I used to like to do? Why didn't I get a little more creative? Well, I'll tell you why: I didn't have a list.
My day-to-day life revolves around lists. It always has. Given, I often misplace them these days, but I still make one every single day. So tonight, after getting the angels/monsters to bed, I made a list of all the things we could have done. I didn't limit it to just rainy day activities; sometimes, you just need to do something a little different. And with boys, you just have to accept that most activities won't be tolerated for an extended period of time.
So here is what I came up with. It's not from internet research or ideas on Pinterest. It's not high-tech or anything that really involves shopping or ingredients. I just tried to think of what I liked to do as a kid, what I had around the house, and things I cannot possibly think of when I'm in the midst of mayhem. I threw it in the "Notes" section of my phone and hopefully when the next rainy/boring/OMG I'm going to run away if you kids don't STOP day rolls around, I can pull it up and proceed with ease.
Scavenger hunt (the more disgusting the better)
Invent a recipe ONLY from what we have in the pantry
Use the endless amount of train tracks to build a loop through all 4 bedrooms upstairs
Turn Teague's upper bunk into a treehouse
Race the 500 cars we have down the ramp my dad built for Teague's racecar birthday party 2 years ago
Outdoor Tic-Tac-Toe with sidewalk chalk
Under-the-table hammocks (oldie but goodie)
Play school with the 10,000 stuffed animals we have
Look for new Kindle books for iPads
Work on a photo album (their choice of pics to print)
Create a "Book about Me" with construction paper and string (I have a zillion of these from my childhood)
Make old-school homemade ice cream (salt, ice, and all!)
Put a pitcher out and measure the rain
Make a video about being your current age
Put on a play
Build a city for our hamster, Hermione
Encourage Crews to point out letters and numbers in every room of the house
Play Hide and Speak- when you're found you have to yell a word in another language or you are "it"
Take photos of your 3 favorite things and see if Mom and your brother can guess what they will be
Decorate a room like it's your favorite holiday even if it's months away
Take a bubble bath for no reason
Wear eyeliner mustaches all day
Set slideshow to random on your computer and guess who is who in baby pictures
Take turns telling a story, one line at a time
Prank call your grandparents
Move one item per room and see who notices first
And finally, snuggle, hug, and huddle together for one whole minute without drama. If you succeed, you can get into Mom's Hershey bar stash!
If you fail, well then Mommy gets a glass of wine. :)
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