Life has felt unbelievably busy on one hand, yet at the same time it's not like we are super-involved in several things at once. But staying on task with homeschool-oriented things and, to be completely honest, keeping on top of the discipline of a preschool-aged boy (and his feisty 2yr old brother) can completely consume the day, my emotions, energy, and resolve. That funny little meme that shows Frodo and Sam after the Ring has been destroyed and Middle Earth has been saved, and the caption says, The kids are finally in bed? Word.
Today offered a blessed reprieve from way-way-way-way-too-early wakeup times (lately it's been, like, 0530?) and both boys somehow - PRAISE THE LORD!! - slept in. And slept hard. And do you know what? The morning was so peaceful. They played contentedly together for a really long time. There were no fights, no biting, no scratching or sitting on faces, screams, nothing. And do you know what I did? I pushed aside my curriculum binder, listened to a sermon on the radio, and looked at a magazine while they pretended for 45 minutes that their toy box was a boat on the open sea. We went to Zeeland to drop something off to Matt, sat in a coffee shop and ate a donut, visited a toy store for about an hour, and looked at bikes at the bike shop. They happily rode their bikes on the driveway. No one hit the other in the head with a shovel (Luke does that). For one day (and probably one day only!) I did not feel like crumpling in a heap of tears at the hands of a miniature sociopath. Or two mini sociopaths. I actually felt like a mom who sort of had her junk together. Because? I got up at 5am and worked out and folded the laundry and did my Bible study and took a shower and got breakfast ready and had the preschool stations set up and the housework had been done Monday and I had worked all weekend and why do I feel like I need to qualify that moms who are at home can sometimes spend time doing foofy things without feeling guilty???
We raked leaves in the front yard...to clean them up? No. To jump in them over and over and over again. I raked them in a pile, stood back, and the boys played. Re-raked them, stood back, they played. There was absolutely no intent to clean up the yard. It was just for unbridled fun. I actually got some great pictures, which prompted me to think, Hey, I should actually update Sticky Hands! I will let the pics speak for themselves. :)
