A week to remember...

I'm off this week. The family I sit for is on vacation and thus, I am as well.

I sometimes feel like one of those moms who ends up saying no more often that I ought (or want) to. Sometimes it's because whatever is being asked of me is too difficult to fathom with four kids running around and sometimes it's because whatever is being asked of me requires more effort than I am willing to put forth at that exact moment, or because it contains more pieces that any game should. Sometimes it's just not something a mom should say yes to.

I read an advertisement for DisneyWorld the other day that gave a bunch of things the mom was saying yes to just because they were on vacation. Like ice cream for breakfast. And staying up late. And another swim in the pool.

I'm trying to make it a yes week for my kids as well. Yes, we can play in your water table for the third time today. Yes, we can walk to McDonald's, get some ice cream. Yes, we can have dessert after lunch. Yes, we are going swimming.... yes, I do smell like burnt up brownies, but that's beside the point.

For those of you who are guys and would prefer not to read the details of the inner workings of a female, go on ahead and skip down to Tuesday's plans. Today is a little bit of a bust. It's supposed to be Kailin's second to last swim lesson tonight. Steve is working late (dog training) and there's no one to take her but me. Problem is that I'm having a rather nasty visit from my least favorite aunt. It's been one of those days where you find that you'd really just sit on the toilet the whole day and get it over with. Needless to say, I'm not real confident about leaping into the pool this evening. I think if there were any sharks afoot I'd be attracting them for certain and in the absence of sharks in the pool, I think that there is a better than favorable chance that I'll be making the rest of the adult population (including myself) of the pool quite uncomfortable. So I'm a horrible mom and I'm making her skip it. I am going to set up the water table as soon as they wake up from nap and I am going to let them have a popsicle and I am not going to feel any little bit better about making Kailin skip swim when she has actually been quite well behaved today.

Tomorrow we are having a family day. We're going to have our first family portrait (since Colby came home) taken in the morning and then we're taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and some fun.

Wednesday, my mom is coming up and we're hoping to take the kids to the beach before Kailin's final swim lesson (which will be with either my mom or Steve, I think - unless conditions improve drastically).

Thursday is open - although I'm trying to dream up something fun (and free).

Friday I'm heading to my mom's with the kids and after we find something fun to do, I'm leaving Kailin there for the night.

All in all, I hope that today is a minor blip on the fun-o-meter and that the rest of the week can be as wonderful for my kids as I hope it will be. I know that I'm probably making the week out to be far more rosy than it will be. I know that there will be fights and tantrums, and bad naps and early wake-ups. But overall, I hope that this week will be one I'll look back on and smile.