Rebound day.

It seems like after any day I've been truly productive, the next day I get zilch done. Today is no exception. Today I have watched Chip and Princess D build a worm home out of mud, held Si Guy, and watched the youngest three take a bath after playing in the mud. Sure I've maintained the usual dish clearing and food prep chores, but for the most part I haven't really made much forward progress. Building worm homes seemed more important.

Yesterday after we went to church, I came home fix lunch and mow the front and back yard. The back yard hadn't been mowed yet, and despite my friends suggestions of tying balloons to the smaller children or mowing it into a maze, I just stuck to the traditional full cut pattern. Why wasn't my dear husband mowing the lawn? He's allergic to it. It's okay. He cleaned the kitchen instead. I'd rather mow any day.
Once I was done mowing we decided a field trip to Lowes was in order, to get bags for leaves and such and some new anvil clippers. Taking six children into any store can be an adventure. Ones with "car carts" help in some ways, but not in others....shopping with the herd is a topic for a whole different post someday.

Once we returned home, I made breakfast for dinner for the kids, and called in to Outback for our takeout to picked up around 8ish, when hopefully the children would all be corralled in their rooms, so Daddy and I could watch the Celtics win in peace. (Okay, Daddy was rooting for Orlando, but it was Mother's Day!) Lesson learned: Outback take out is nowhere near as good as eating there. They forgot DH veggies, and didn't seem to care whether the food was hot or even fresh. My lobster tail smelled fishy from being "on level, and yes, I ate it anyway, but it tasted kind of strong too. I'm still fine today, so at least it wasn't poisoned. (Hey, I'm not going to pay an extra $8 for something and not eat it....and we both were too tired to take it back to complain.) The steaks were perfect though. I guess that's what counts.

IN the background of our romanntic dinner was our reminder of why Kid's Park is such a great place.
"Can I have the bread?"
"What's that, can I see?"
"Why can't we have some?"

"Why aren't you in your room where you're supposed to be. It's after eight."
"It's Mother's Day. We want to be with you! Now can I pleeease have a bite?"
"This is our dinner. We made you bacon and eggs and muffins."
"But I'm still hungry."
"Have a big breakfast in the morning. Good-night."
Two bites of garlic mashed potatoes and a snatched piece of buttered bread later they disappear into their rooms.

After dinner, Mr. M rubs my feet while I lay across the couch watching basketball. Life is good, and so are my kids....most of the time. But really, I think today is what mothering is all about.