Weekend Fun

Weekends are generally packed full of family togetherness. Last weekend we had Katie's soccer game and a special lunch out. A birthday party and a very realxing picnic at the park. This weekend we ended up doing the same thing! Except had our picnic at the County Fair at Chester Frost Park. It is so nice to be able to spend some time together since Joe works so much during the week. The weekend is kind of like our wind down time, getting us ready for another jam packed busy week.
Mondays for the kids and I consist of: 6:30am getting 5 people up, ready and out of the house before 8am. Taking the katie to school. Going to the gym for an hour or so. Mom and Tots play date. picnic lunch. Naptime. Pick Katie up from school. Art/Craft or TV time. Play time. Dinner time. Bath time. Bed time.
Then...to start all over again with few variations each day.
Tuesdays I take an aerobics class.
Wednesdays Ally and I go to Lapsit at the Library. And Katie has cubbies that evening while I attend a moms book club.
Thursdays and Fridays I work.
Hence, why the weekends are so nice to one, have joe there and two have the help joe brings. It is so exhausting to have all three babies. But nothing I would ever take for granted!
Looking forward to this fall weather! We love to go to parks and the nice weather will make that so much more enjoyable!

A great Mama?!

I am fighting a battle, a battle that I feel I have lost too many times during the short time I have been a mother.

Tha Battle?
What makes a great Mama?

Is it the smell of something yummy baking as you enter their home? Is it a clean home or chores that are always complete? Is it a manicured yard or even just the yard trimmed? An upkept mother and ironed clothes for every family member? Is it a homemade dinner on the table every night? Each child participating in everyextracirricuuler activity? A solid routine for which the children follow strictly day in and day out?

Is it the sound of happy children at any hour of the day? Is it a little bit of chaos while an art or craft is being so happily completed by little hands even though the dishes need to be done? Is it playing in the floor with your little ones even though laundry is undone. Is it playing Candy Land one more time instead of vacuuming? Is it cuddling as you read a book for the millionth time instead of mopping?

I feel it is letting the laundry sit while I play with my little ones. Not worrying about the dishes in the sink while I cuddle on the cough with my babies. Forgetting about the mess while I read them a story or paint with them.

Time flies by, the laundry will be there later, the dishes can wait and the vacuuming can be done another time. My little ones will only be a little for a short amount of time. They will not be 4yrs 4 months and 2 weeks old, 2 yrs, 3 months and 1 day old, and 8 months 2 weeks and 2 days old tomorrow.
And as much as I struggle with the battle of what makes a great mama....deep down I know that my children come first. I should be proud of the 'art work' all over the house, the mess in the girls room, the stains on the rugs and the sticky spots on the kitchen floor and chaos that is my life and home.
For Today is a gift, tomorrow a mystery and yesterday a memory to be cherished forever.
Make every moment count and a memory that you can rely on to get you through the tough times.
It is so hard for me to let the dishes go, the cleaning slide and the laundry pile up. I feel I need to 'impress' others. But what I need to remember is my kids are little treasures that need me more then the house needs cleaning. That need to be held before the things are straightened up. As long as the house is livable and lived in.....nothing else should matter over my babies.
I know this....now that battle of making sure I do this.