But Dad!!

"But Dad!" my 5 year old said.

"If I had a nickel for every time I've heard you say 'but, Dad!'. . .", my husband replied.

Later that day. . .

"But Dad, but Dad, but Dad, but Dad!!!" my five year old wailed in the anguish that is quite unique to him.

"See buddy? That's like twenty cents right there!!" my husband said, smiling.

My son became very serious and said, "Do I have to pay you that money?"

Unplug it!

The weather in our neck of the woods has been beautiful lately. Warm temps, sunny days and vibrant trees. A reminder of why one never puts the children's summer clothes away at the first cool temps of September.

In light of the gorgeousness outside, my husband and I decided to declare it an unplugged weekend.

As in no screens whatsoever (for the children, that is - I am obviously staring at a screen right now!).

The children took it amazingly well, even the screen-obsessed ones. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how little balking there was. While we always have limitations on how much they can watch TV, play the Wii and play DS, we have never taken everything away for 2 days unless they have committed heinous household crimes (which does happen from time to time!!).

So today was day one. My husband had to work the entire day, so I was on my own to navigate these waters. Though it wasn't perfect, it went rather well. We played with shrinky dinks. . . the Lionel electric train made an appearance on my dining room table (where it still remains). . . my oldest daughter initiated a game of house that took off well even with some of the boys. . .they all read books and magazines that had been languishing on our end tables. . .we made apple crisp. . .we rode bikes/scooters/roller skates. . .

All in all it was a good day. Tomorrow Daddy is home and we have some plans for enjoying this weather as a family, so the lack of screens won't be so obvious.

But, for a very plugged in family, this being unplugged is working quite well. So far, so good!

A match made in the Halloween aisle

While shopping today at Walgreens, my dear daughter (age 2), pointed to some creepy Halloween decor.

"Mommy!" she cried, looking upward at a ghastly woman with a pointed chin, warts and wild hair.

As I was picking up the pieces of my shattered self image, she pointed next to a man with similar good looks.

"Daddy!" she said, with a smile.

I guess my husband and I make quite a pair.

All in a day's work

I have only one child home during the day now that school has started.

One child.

Why, then, am I so busy? It seems my hair is on fire allthetime. Between shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, MOPS-organizing, meetings, and the all-important-but-too-easily-missed playtime with my daughter, it seems I never have a second to breathe. I'm not complaining exactly, since I would much prefer to be busy than bored, but perhaps a little less would be nice. I'm not optimistic, though. I know as my children get older, it will only get hairier. And while part of me relishes these crazy days (and the ones to come) another part of me just wants to take a nap.

After school is no less restful. We've got soccer, after school programs and EATING. Yes, eating. The children are going to die of starvation the moment they walk in the door. They need to eat, and eat now. No time for small talk - just bring on the food and bring it fast. They eat entire meals at 3:15 and are somehow still hungry for dinner (if dinner is not deemed disgusting, which it usually is). I wish I could eat that much and not need Weight Watchers.