Life in the cliche

In my groove...
Hitting my stride...
Carpe Diem...
Finally took her chill pill...

I'm going to whisper this all to you, Universe, so as not to jinx the momentum that has been going on here.  Every so often, I am a dang good mom.  And my view of myself being it is entirely relately to 1) how well I keep my cool and 2) letting go.

I don't know how it happened, but (very whispering) I have found a happy balance right now...shhhhh say it too loud and it might all blow away... But I won't let it.  Still don't always know what the heck I'm going to make for dinner.  Cause even if the house doesn't get vacummned for a few days or we have a few crap dinners, I just want us to have a great home life.

My kids ages are great (despite the wreckage that 2 year old brings or the bossy 4 year old, cough cough).  I have no new borns (love you new borns, but you are hard).  Only a moderate amount of poop issues and sickness.  I'm not pregnant (although the scale would argue differently ....mental note: break scale).  I think the big trick is that Jason is not home very much and I don't mind it so much.  At least not tonite. 

But I think it started when Luke and I started playing catch again.  Ya know how every once in a while you restart what you used to like doing together?  Like chasing the kids in the yard, or holding them up on your feet and hoping it counts as a workout?  We love those. 

Well ours is playing catch.  We have played a whole lot of catch at the McCoy house.  We don't care what kind of ball or if you are boy or a girl.  Everyone has to be able to throw and catch a ball.  House rules.

Right now its a football.   Luke started asking me to play catch, so I put down my stuff and was thinking in my head, how much longer is he going to want to play catch with his mom I better take advantage.  And in one day afternoon we played 3 different times...for about 20 minutes each.   Pass to Luke. Catch.  Pass to Paisley.  Catch.  Pass to Baylie.  Pass to Darby.  Darby pass to Luke.  Luke pass to me.  Baylie pass to Luke.  Thats a lot of catch.

Next morning, hand and arm sore (arthritis remember?) and I'm thinking well surely that won't happen again.  Next day, mom lets play catch.  Me (this doesn't last forever take him up on it if he wants to).  Okay, dude my throwing arm was out of shape.

Week goes by.  then a few more days.  Wow, this is nice.  So nice to be outside and the weather is cooling off and its so nice.  Sticking to it and the girls have gotten gooooood.  Got quite a spiral on them. 

My favorite one was when we yelled out book characters when we got the ball.  By series.  Fablehaven, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson (any series).  Or his football heros.  He yells "Touchdown!" when I catch a tricky one. Flattery will get your everywhere :)  Or we will call out football legends with each catch.

So excuse the mess when you come over, much more important things happening here.  I've relaxed on my homework, chore, piano structure immediately when they get home from school.  They still have to do it, but after they have unwound a bit.  and its less about hurrying up and doing it.  I always go back and forth on this one, but right now this is working.  They have been warned if they give me a hard time about it then we have to go back to doing it right after school. 

And not surprising, when I need that floor vacumned, bribes are my best friend.  I have learned I'd much rather pay a kid a dollar or dangle 20 minutes of the ipad (since plants vs zombies 2 came out) then to vacumn the playdough encrusted carpet myself.  Or empty the garbage.  Or wipe off the playdough smooshed table.  One day all carpet will be abolished from my house, at least under the dang kitchen table ...probably around the same time as play dough decides to exit...which I think we have probably another five years.  

Just can't let the good go away, even if it means I'm eating more cookies to be happy or letting bedtime be later.  Also I've been noticing the places I can handle being disorderly (like the living rooms and kitchen) and the ones that make me really crazy (like the girls bedroom and mine).  As long as one tiny spot in the house seems okay then I feel like the rest I can handle.


P.S.  Jason really likes his job.  Super busy but happy.  That fact alone probably contributes to much of the peace as well.