Slow down and enjoy the ride

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days where I felt like a successful parent, our family enjoyed each others company, had lots of fun, and we got a lot done- all in the same day. I got up early to get J out the door to her softball clinic, and then crawled back into bed with the Mister. He didn't have to be to work until 11ish, so we spent the morning together. I do have a love/hate relationship with his schedule. Yesterday it was all love.

We got up late and ate breakfast with the kids who were playing peacefully in various rooms. The rest of the day was mostly getting crazy with color on the kids hair. Now that I think about it, Dave is the one who starts all these insane ideas like putting temporary color in the kids hair, and then he leaves (for work) the actual doing part to me. We read, played games, and watched movies most the afternoon while I did this:I relented and did the Kool Aid color on Toby's hair. He thinks it's awesome!Mr. Cooper thinks it's cool that we can play checkers on his head. He could never sit still long enough though.

Jessie has purple highlights in her hair that she likes a lot, but she thinks they should be brighter. She didn't understand at first that to get her hair as bright as the purple-haired lady on the box we would have to bleach her hair first. That is one step further than I'm willing to go and told J she would have to wait until at least high school for that one.

I don't know why this happens, but every time I try to get out the door or have someplace to be there is something at home that draws my attention which I would rather stay home to do. It's time to go to J's softball game, but I really need to deep clean my room right now. Our friends are waiting at the park to play, but I have to get all this laundry done first. That sort of thing. It's like a cruel joke I play on myself that I'm motivated to do things when I should be leaving the house.

Last night was the same feeling of being pulled to stay home when there was somewhere to be, but the kids and I were having such a great time together. We had planned to go to an Elders Quorum BBQ at the park close by. It would be a fun outing where I could visit and kids could play, plus it would kill lots of time since Dave was working a soccer game on family movie night. Since the BBQ wasn't until 6:30 PM I planned on fixing an early dinner then going to hang out. The kids can't last until 7ish to eat, so we had a quick meal of Ling-Ling pot stickers from Costco (love those!!!) and fried rice at 5. When it was time to pack up and leave, the chillies and I were playing games without any fighting and I didn't want to ruin the fun. This was a refreshing change to the constant fighting we had all week. I can't really explain it, there was just a sweet, wonderful spirit with us as we played games, had tickle wars, wrestled on the lawn, snuggled and flew the kids on my feet (one of their favorites). There was no way I was going to break up our delightful evening. I took a U-turn with our plans and the kids didn't even notice. We jammied up and watched Bedtime Stories while I ran into the kitchen every 10 minutes to put in a fresh batch of Snickerdoodles. I enjoyed every moment.

Right before bedtime, I sat on the kitchen floor blowing bubbles for the littles and thought about what made this day so much better than others. I came to the conclusion that it was MY attitude that was different. Then the saying, 'when Mom is happy, the family is happy,' popped into my head. I completely agree. Sure, there are some days where no matter what I do there is contention or problems in our home. For the most part though, I know that I can turn around a cruddy day with my actions and attitude. I let the little annoyances go, got down on my kids level and simply enjoyed their company. It may sound lame and sappy, but it made for an awesome day.