Heath Bars, Reese's Cups, & Oh Henry!

I'm going to be completely honest here. 

Before Christmas Break, I was swamped and exhausted. My house took a back seat to our busy life, I had very little Christmas shopping completed, and still needed to put up most of our decorations. Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to having over 2 weeks off of work to get things done.

My plan was simple. I will clean up, clean out, Christmas shop, and visit family. I wanted to spend the first part of my Christmas Break cleaning out the kids toys and all of the closets to make room for the overwhelming amount of gifts I knew they were going to receive {not from us but from our family}. After I had my Hannah Home bags dropped off I wanted to deep clean the entire house so it was all nice and ready for Christmas morning. In between this I was going to get some Christmas shopping done.

I knew the Littles would be excited to be home with Momma for such a long stretch of time and I imagined our lazy mornings, productive afternoons, and cozy nights by the fire. The dream did not become reality. Let me back up a little. When AR was younger she was so destructive. She could destroy a room in a blink of an eye. As she has gotten older she has gotten better but she still loves to pull out her babies and everything that goes with them into the living room to play house. She will completely empty her dress up basket in search of that one princess shoe and leave a trail of bangles and plastic earrings she's worn throughout the day. Thankfully, she is finally getting to a point where she can clean up after herself when told forced to do so. Westin, on the other hand, is far worse than AR ever thought about being. Westin can destroy the entire house in a blink of an eye. He loves to empty everything and bounces from room to room doing so. He pulls all of his cars, trucks, and tractors out of his toy box to make a choo choo that stretches across his bedroom floor. He will make a b-line for the bathroom to grab the plunger and toilet bowl cleaner brush to use as a stick horse. While galloping around the house, he picks up loose coins, bobby pins, and any other tiny item he can find to stick in his mouth. Of course, my favorite part is when he stands at my feet and smiles as he bites my fingers with his tiny little teeth, trying to keep me from prying whatever he has out of his strong, little mouth. Sounds cute doesn't it?

Well over Christmas Break this was not cute. I did not laugh and felt no need to be reminded of these moments. I was completely irritated, impatient, and {lets be honest here} that psycho mom. I was immediately reminded of why I was not a stay at home.

I promise we made the holidays fabulous -- but the day to day over the break was torture.

So with Spring Break coming I decided to approach my days at home differently. Of course I had a plan but my plan didn't revolve around what I needed to do. My plan revolved around what the kids would enjoy doing. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous and although I didn't get my house or the yard like I imagined I would, the break was fabulous. We spent 70% of our times playing outdoors. We got boo boos, ant bites, and skipped a couple naps and I didn't just survive it -- I enjoyed every minute of it.

One thing I need to remember as a working mom is to take advantage of the moments I actually get to spend with my Littles. On a daily basis they spend more time away from me than they do with me. Therefore, the little bit of time I do get with them needs to be for them and about them. They need my attention..... my interest..... my time. These moments create the greatest memories. It's hard to find time to mark everything off the To-Do list at this point in my life, however, my babies won't be babies for long. They won't beg for my attention, destroy my living room, and smear cheesy finger prints on my couch. What I love most about my home is who I share it with so at this point in my life I have to put the To Do list to the side and let my little family take precedence.

Weekend before last was the fabulous wedding of my brother and SIL.

Maggie waiting patiently...

They opened the mic for speeches. My little {8 years old} brother who was also the Best Man had prepared a speech that put the entire room in tears. It was so well written and spoken from the heart.
Wedding Day: March 10, 2012

I am so behind but this week I plan on getting caught up. It's Spring Break week and I am determined to get some things done! Week 10 was one of those weeks where I didn't load the dishwasher until I realized every sippy cup we own was dirty, I didn't wash a single load of laundry, I got so behind on grading papers, and I only put my Littles to bed twice in 7 days. Yes..it was that kind of week. Not because I'm lazy but because I was so busy. It definitely won the busiest week of the year so far. Week 11 we spent the entire week catching up and recovering.

So here we are, week 10 and 11 of 2012.