It Takes a Village

Today I had really no plan for keeping my kids entertained except a babysitter this afternoon for a couple of hours so I could get my haircut (don’t judge – it was really overdue, AND  hubby happened to be at the baseball game instead of work today).

This morning was a rough one (combine no morning outing, no planned activity and a late night to bed). I’ll be honest, there were a few moments before lunch that I thought about either asking for my job back or checking into the loony bin. After an unsuccessful (and not-at-all creative) lunch, I put all of them down for an early nap (secretly hoping that they would all sleep for 3 hours!) ---- no such luck (at least with the oldest gremlin).

We are so lucky to live in a very close knit community with a LOT of kids. Yesterday around 3:30, two grade-schoolers from our ‘hood’ knocked on the door to see if J and L could play (this was a first for us!). Then today, a sister of one of the girls came to play (J & L know these girls from the gym and took a quick liking them), and stayed to help entertain my children for THREE hours (baseball, dress up, hide-and-seek and books).  I was really impressed by everyone’s ability to get along (a 12 year old, a 4 year old and a 2 year old) --- it really was one for the picture books…

I also feel that I need a village to help keep me sane. Whether it’s a lunch date with an old co-worker, a housekeeper to help scrub the toilets every other week or some quality time with my hubby every once-in-awhile – I think it’s incredibly important to make sure to put momma on the priority list every now and again (you know what they say, if momma ain’t happy…..).

Lessons I learned today:

·         It takes a LOT of help to keep me from going crazy!

·         I LOVE my neighborhood (and I think I want to adopt a 6th grader to help raise my children)

·         My mother was right, there really is no such thing as a free lunch. No planned activities may SEEM like the easy way out but you will pay.