Single Motherhood: Week 2

My brain is a little fuzzy and my patience is a bit fried, but I have survived two weeks of single-motherhood. When Kevin is gone I tend to overschedule a little, I guess in an attempt to make us so busy having so much fun that we forget he is gone. What actually ends up happening is that we are just really busy, and Kevin is gone (and I am not really having so much fun).

You would think I could win some sort of supermom award for all I managed to pack into this last week. But I think you are disqualified from any supermom status when you lose your patience after several hours (okay minutes) of herding two small children (who seem to be making it their mission to completely ignore all of your efforts to plan all this FUN for them) outside, into the car, with their shoes on, and the diaper bag and the snacks packed all sometime before the next meal or bedtime (and please Dear God let bedtime come quickly).

Oh, and pretending like they aren't crying so that you can run back inside and get something you forgot so you can all go have FUN instead of trying to calm and reassure them because you have no more patience and you have about given up on having any FUN and you feel like screaming "start having FUN RIGHT NOW!"--that also disqualifies you from supermom status.

So I may not be supermom, but my children are still alive and we were all able to greet Kevin with much enthusiasm and relief (that was me) on Friday.

And really, who needs to be supermom when Daddy is back anyway?

Below are some pictures of a trip to a great park with my sister and her kids and another friend, and a trip to a water park with my parents (which turned out to be a great idea in theory, but a rather freezing reality)--all this we managed to squeeze in in between some shopping, dinner with a friend, Cambel's preschool orientation, freezing a bucket full of tomatoes from the garden, babysitting a friend's little boy and our neighbor Lilli, and 7 nights of dinner and baths and bedtime routines, all made possible by an almost-but-not-quite supermom.

Three (hot and sweaty) boys--Grant, Cambel, and Isaiah

(Notice my mad photography skills. I framed this picture "just so" so you get not only 3 cute boys, but also minivans and a huge trashcan. )

It is Ada's goal to find mulch wherever we go. Mission accomplished.

The cake lady and Micah, who has no fear of climbing equipment that other 1 year olds would be terrified of. His only problem is getting down.

The boys carried out all kinds of "missions" around the playground. I love Cambel's cautious walk across the bridge. One can never be too careful on playground equipment.

One last time down the slide.

This was the kid part of the water park. I am not sure why I have a picture of this girl, but I think she is freezing. Cambel is way up there getting ready to go down the slide, and also freezing.

The lazy river. Note that if not for a lack of patience, this ride alone could have earned me supermom status because this water was FREEZING.

Ada didn't seem to mind the temperature of the water--but she also didn't have to float in it.

My Dad took Cambel on another lazy river ride while I selflessly gave up the opportunity to go again.

Tell me this isn't a girl who had some FUN