Friday, October 29, 2010

A little bit more

My hubbie had a late flight tonight.  By late, I mean it's past midnight, and it'll still be a few hours before he's home.  A good mother will have had her kids sound asleep for hours, a tidy house, dishwasher running, and getting some beauty sleep herself.  I'm 0 for 4.  Bad score, I know.   

Right at about dinner time I felt my energy crash.  I talked myself into taking a tiny cat nap.  With no husband to have dinner ready for tonight, I figured a twenty minute delay in our evening ritual wouldn't be a big deal. 

It wasn't twenty minutes. 

I was slightly aware of the girls coming up to me at different times with complaints about each other.  When consciousness fully hit me, it was 8:00pm.  With this afternoons' craft project still spread out on the kitchen table, a very messy playroom that had spread to the rest of the house and sink full of dirty dishes, I sighed. 

I really had no other choice.  I knew what I had to do.   

I made dinner, laid out a picnic blanket in the living room, and turned on a princess movie.  We ate several helpings of spaghetti and meat sauce, too much garlic bread, and cupcakes.  Merrylee giggled through the funny scenes of the movie, Anny questioned the meanings of the sad parts, and they both snuggled during the scary moments.  We all (even Merrylee- it was cute) cooed at the romantic lines.  My babies got to bed after 10:30.

Now it's after midnight, and I still have crafts on the kitchen table, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a messy playroom that has spread to the rest of the house.

I really had no other choice.  I knew what I had to do... and you're reading it! 

Happy blogging my friends.  Here's to cleaner houses, hours of sleep, and all the other good things we should be doing right now.  That can all can wait so I can share my thoughts with you.  I'm so glad I broke the rules.  Tonight was all about me and my girls, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. 

And the mom, with her mom-feet in flip flops of pink,
stood puzzling and puzzling, knew not what to think!
It came without planning.  It came without nags. 
It came without makeup, cellphones, or scrubbing with rags!
And she puzzled and puzzled 'till her puzzler was sore.   
Then the Mom thought of something she hadn't before.  
Good parenting, perhaps, isn't about keeping score. 
Maybe parenting, she thought,
is a little bit more.  
 

6 comments:

  1. Dishes & clean laundry don't matter. It's the sweet princesses & picnic in the living room memory that matters. Get a snapshot of the moment next time.

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  2. That sounds perfect. I love when you get a little moment like that out of the middle of a mess. If you are too worried about the mess...you miss it. I need to take a lesson from you and look more for the moments than the mess. What lucky little girls to have a mom like you! :)

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  3. What a sweet post Liz. I love it even more because it makes me feel a little better about my incredibly messy house right now! And about Bailey having a kit-kat for lunch =). Matty is in bed and I should be cleaning but it's more fun to read about you and your sweet moments with the girls.
    Thanks for sharing! Love and miss you!

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  4. I love the verse. You should probably write more poetry.

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  5. Loved it Liz. When Ben is gone, I really do get so many sweet moments with Rhone. My days are structured different and that allows me (and sometimes forces me) to stop and just enjoy the time. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. I'm having one of those days right now. It's 12:30 on a Saturday, still in my pj's because I spent the whole morning playing with Ryan, and Brenton's at the football game. Instead of cleaning up the house and getting a shower, I'm going through pictures on kodak to order, and then thinking of writing another blog post. Looking at pictures of my little baby has been worth every minute.

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