A Day Full of Special Moments

I have had an abnormal busy week:

• Errands in town most of my day on Monday. In the evening PTO meeting.
• Tuesday I volunteered all day at my daughter's school. 4:30 the kids and I head down to help get things ready for MOPS night out and enjoy some special time together.
• Wednesday it's back to the school for another day of volunteering.

That may not seem like a busy week to some of you but to me that is almost an overload. Let me paint you a picture of what my house looked like as of this morning:

Five baskets of clean laundry in various rooms. Most needed folded and then put away some just needed put away. Peeking down in my laundry room I saw many piles of clothes screaming to be washed. The clothes hamper upstairs mocking me almost as it was overflowing! I cannot help but think...HOW can four people (and two of them so little) create SO much laundry?

In the kitchen I see a sink full of dirty dishes and a counter covered in pots and pans, dirty. I open the dishwasher to find it full of clean dishes to be put away. Not too bad really, but combined with the laundry?!

Ethan calls for me to help him reach the Legos in his room. I get them down only to drop them in the process (luckily we keep them in a tight box!). I bend down to pick them up and see dust bunnies on his floor.

Add to all of this: nasty leftovers in the fridge, toys in random places, a very dirty microwave, a 4 year old who wants all of your time and you get one overwhelmed mom!

I have to be honest. My day was not starting out so well.

On a normal non-busy week, I would let things go and spend extra time with Ethan. However, today I really could not stand the housework that has piled up. Because of my busy week Ethan got to spend EXTRA time with both of his Grandmothers. They give him their undivided attention all day long. After having 3 days of that, why should he expect otherwise from mommy?!

I tried to explain to him that mommy had to get things done! We worked out a schedule. I folded one basket of laudry and then played basketball with him for a bit. I cleaned the kitchen and then helped him build his train track. I folded more laundry and then helped him clean up his train track. I folded even more laundry and then we played ping pog. Things were working out pretty good until he decided that he was still not getting enough of my time or attention. I was back at the laundry and he seemed to be playing very nicely in his room when he walks out and says "Mommy, I need you for a minute." I follow him to his room and half way there he reaches out for me to take his hand. We walk in his room and he looks up at me and says "I need someone with long hair to play with me. Hmmmm (putting his little finger to his chin and scrunching his 'thinking' face)? Who has long hair that can play with me?! Who does mommy?" It was all I could do to not laugh at his seriousness. He then looks at me and says "MOMMY, YOU have long hair!!!!! YOU can play with me!" Can anyone tell me how I was suppose to resist that?!

Our bedtime routine was switched up a little tonight. For some reason neither of my kids wanted to read stories tonight. Brenna fell asleep on the couch and Ethan wanted to snuggle in my bed. I was reading as we snuggled and he grabbed another book of mine and pretended to be reading along with me. After about a minute or two he says "Mommy, how long are you going to look at that page?!" I explained. Shortly I turned the page only to see him turn his page. I quickly caught on and didn't wait long to turn my page again. He followed along. He was reading just like mommy!

So what I seem to remember as a day starting out feeling overwhelmed and torn ended as a day full of special memories created by special moments.

And you know what...I wouldn't trade it for anything...not even a spotless house!