Sunshine In My Soul

Being a single mom....

is not for me!

Brett left Thursday straight from work to fly up to Idaho to teach a seminar and I was left on my own to triumph over one of the busiest weekends I have ever endured. I think this weekend must've been something like running a marathon...or two. Who knows. I'll never know for sure, because I personally would rather stuff toothpicks under my fingernails than run. Oh, I've tried to like it. Running that is...not the toothpick stuffing. Mainly, I'd just like to like it so that I could have that ever fabulous "runners body". But alas, that will never be me. I'll just have to be content with my "Zumba/Yoga/Step Aerobics/Muscle Class body". Who got me off on this exercise tangent? Oh yes...my sleep deprived self.

Let's start with Thursday:

6:30 am - start homeschool

10:00 - Relief Society enrichment meeting

11:20 - run home (well, not RUN...because I don't like to do that) and stuff lunch in the kids faces

11:40 - load kids in the car...oh wait, poopy diaper

11:45 - take two of loading the kids in the car

12:00 - arrive at our "Knights of Freedom" homeschool boys group to have a book discussion on the lives of the Wright Brothers and take 13 boys to the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Museum. My favorite part, you ask? Wrestling with a grumpy 2 year old who thought he should be allowed to touch everything. I kid, I kid. No really, my favorite part was watching the boys faces as they finished touring an old B-17 and watching them all impress the tour guide as they knew all of the answers he asked about the Wright Brothers. That was cool!

Then it was run this child to choir, run this other child to piano lessons, then load that child up and get him to choir too, then stuff dinner down their faces, and get to baseball practice on time.

Whew! One day down. Time for bed. Oh wait! I don't sleep when Brett is gone. So my worn out body layed in bed and watched endless hours of "Project Runway". I dozed off a few times...

Friday {breathe}...here we go.

I was already on edge when the kids woke up. Ready to blow up at the smallest thing. Homeschooling and MUCH frustration started to fill my day. Thank goodness for a visit from my new visiting teacher...a past homeschooler...and wise, wise mother of seven. After advice from her and tears from me, we decided to stop homeschool for the day and headed to the park with lunch, blankets, books, baseball gloves and balls, and even some Mesa Frozen Yogurt...because that can pretty much cure all of lives problems. At least that's what I was hoping for. The picnic calmed me a bit, but not nearly like I was hoping. Then it was time to drop the kids off for a Primary Activity Day. Oh joy! 75 minutes ALMOST to myself...just an unhappy 2 year old attached to my leg. Oh well! A bit of freedom! Then it was baseball and more baseball and a late night visit to see some cousins in town. Bedtime for the kids 10:00. Bedtime for me? Well, you know the story...no sleep for me!

Saturday I climbed out of bed at 5:30 almost completely delirious and began our traditional Saturday house cleaning. I didn't get as much done as I'd like before we headed out the door to our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Chubs wanted NOTHING to do with a sibling picture before the hunt, so I snapped a cute picture of these adorable three.

Chubs warmed up and let me take a picture of him, by himself, in the harsh, harsh sun.

Then he agreed to ONE picture with his siblings. Whew! Glad it worked out!

Of course, then he warmed up and let me take all kinds of pictures.

I'm not sure why...but he ALWAYS wants to show me what's in his mouth, these days...

As soon as the egg hunt was over, we ran to the gym for two of my favorite classes - Zumba and Yogalates. Again, we stuffed lunch down our faces as we drove to the Brandon Mull book signing at Deseret Book. Bear LOVES the Fablehaven series and desperately wanted to get his books signed and meet this famous author. We arrived 40 minutes BEFORE the book signing began and got our number....#97. Ugh! The lady at the door promised that it would go fast. I crossed my fingers and hoped and hoped that she was right. We went back to the car and the boys changed into their baseball uniforms in the back seat. It was picture day and opening day for their games. We waited in line...again with a VERY UNHAPPY two year old....and watched and watched as Brandon signed books and took pictures with his many fans. I looked at my watch. Time to leave for pictures. Brandon was signing books for customer #38. We had been there for an hour and 25 minutes. There was just no way that the boys could meet him. So I loaded up a whole van full of sad and grumpy children and packed them off to the baseball fields, dropped them off for pictures, ran back to Deseret Book, reclaimed my place in line, stood there for another 30 minutes with a temper tantrum throwing Chubs (thank goodness for the sweet dad in front of us who won Chubs over with a box of jelly bellys AND held my stack of books for me), got our books signed, headed back to the fields and ran back and forth from one diamond to the next to cheer on the boys with...yes, you guessed it, an entirely worn out 2 year old who had absolutely HAD IT. We went to dinner, where Chubs fell asleep in the booth....

and then we headed to the drive-in movies to watch How to Train a Dragon. Unfortunately, I forgot to throw a chair in for myself. So the kids enjoyed the movie from the comfy bed I made them in the back of the van....and I endured, I mean enjoyed, the movie sitting in Chubs carseat on the dirt. At the end of the movie, our "neighbor" told me how impressed he was that I did that. I'm not saying that my hind end fit comfortably in that seat...but what else was I supposed to do? We arrived home at 10pm....exactly 13 hours after we'd left.

Today, Daddy joined us part way through the sacrament service at church. What a relief! I was standing in the back of the cultural hall with that "not-so-happy" little one of ours while trying to keep my eyes on the oldest three, hoping they wouldn't get loud or rowdy, when Brett came, and I quickly handed Chubs off. Whew! Relief!

Dear Chubs, thank you for falling asleep on my lap at the very end of sacrament meeting today. Thank you for staying asleep as I carried you with me to Relief Society. Thank you for staying asleep and for resting those adorable squishy cheeks of yours on my shoulder as you slept. Somedays, when I'm frustrated and tired, I want to trade you in. I want to be done with the tantrums and I want to rule the house again...not you. Okay, not really, but sometimes I've just lost all patience. I'm sure it's hard for you. You want to communicate, but get frustrated when we don't understand you. As I looked down at you while you slept, with your long dark lashes resting on your cheeks, you reminded me just how lucky I am to be your mother. How lucky I am to have you. You looked so handsome today in your brown and cream striped suit...like such a little man. The way you laugh lights up any room and fills me with laughter, too. I'll love you forever, sweet baby of mine!

So, I know I'm not cut out for being a single mom. My hat goes off to anyone who faces that challenge! And I'm looking forward to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep tonight. Night, night!