Spring Break tried to kill me

I do not know how you people do this. And by "you people" I mean people who spend an entire week with their children, voluntarily. Every other spring break I have had the luxury of daycare still being in session. So, I would take a few days off, pretend I was a stay at home mom, then send them back to school.

Then came this year. Spring Break was three weeks ago and just now can I bring myself to think about it.

By Friday I could not even look at my children. When Alex left for work that morning I asked when he would be home and when he replied "normal time" (which is stupid as he does not have a normal time), I might have shrieked at him "IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG WEEK!!!". He then ran down the sidewalk to his car. I can't imagine why.

Oh the week started with the best of intentions. We went to Galveston, had a great time but were a bit sick of each other by Sunday. Please recognize that as foreshadowing.

I had signed Zach up for three half day camps Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and planned to leave James with a babysitter on Friday to spend some time with just him. I really thought I had this all under control. You know how I do.

Let me break down where it all went wrong.....

Monday - We had to go to the Rodeo. And I mean HAD to go. KK made me purchase half price carnival tickets from Uncle Chris (whom I still have not paid back, whoops) so I had 150 carnival tickets to burn. On the first day of spring break. Do you feel the anxiety in your belly too?

Well, turns out it was actually a perfect day. The weather started off bad which scared people off so no one was there. We didn't wait for any ride, spent all our tickets and came home with about five stuffed salamanders.

First stop was to get Zach a new cowboy hat. James has taken over his old one, as it was too tight for that big Wall head.

I heart this picture so much. That is the smile I am always trying to get out of him.

The boys rode the ponies.

Saw some baby chicks being born,

And rode mini-tractors and mopeds.

We came home and our baby sitter came early so Alex and I could go to dinner.

Monday = excellent.

Tuesday, Zach had his first day of gymnastics camp so we dropped him off, along with his friend Charley. Ashley, Annie, James and I headed to the Y to exercise. We got our cars washed and ate a Carraba's, then scooped up the big kids and headed home for naps.

I got a bit cocky after Tuesday, I admit it. Two days in and we were having a great time!

Wednesday ruined the entire week. Zach went back to gymnastics camp (which was awesome, PS and he loved it) and James and I hit the grocery, had lunch, then picked up Zach. As mentioned, I got cocky and thought we could, for sure, go downtown to meet Alex for lunch at 12:30, still getting James home in time to nap AND for Zach's friend to come over at 2:30. I was so, so wrong.

Alex was in a meeting, that claimed he could not get out of, so he was running late. By the time we got home it was 2:00 and I had 30 minutes to try to straighten the house, make Zach rest his body a bit and put James down.

Disaster. James could hear all the commotion when the friend came over and refused to sleep. I didn't even fight him on it. Zach's friend from school had not done anything that day so he was wound up and ready to run while my child had been running since 9am and was done. It was our worst play date by far. So many tears. We finally took them all up to a local frozen yogurt place just to see if a change of scenery would be helpful. It was, a little.

I was now terrified. I had two more days plus the weekend with these children and I clearly did not know what I was doing.

Thursday, Zach was at Art Mix until noon, so Ashley, Annie, James and I recreated Tuesday and went to the Y. We decided to pick up the big kids and take them to Toyokohana, which is like Benihana. That was a hit. James would eat rice for every meal, and Zach liked watching them cook his chicken right in front of him.

Look how beat down I look. Terrible.

We met friends at the park after nap and that night we celebrated with chocolate ice cream, Oreos and chocolate sauce.

Only one more day!!

Oh, but the last day was Friday and Ashley and I had big plans. We had a babysitter to watch the little ones so we could take Zach and Charley roller skating. There is a skating rink in West Houston that does a Toddler Skate every Friday from 10-12 for 5 and under kids. You can bring scooters and ride on toys. Zach received skates from Santa and was super excited to try them out.

You guys, this skating rink has clearly not changed since the 70's. It looked just like Spinning Wheels where I spent every Friday night of my 5th grade year.

The actual roller skating did not go over well. Though you would not know Charley had been crying and clutching at Ashley prior to turning on the smile in this photo.

Ugh, girls. No talk of poop or penises and they know how to smile.

Anyway, both kids gave skating a valiant effort, but ended up speeding around the rink on the scooters I brought with us.

He is only smiling because I whispered "poop sandwiches" in his ear and I am only smiling because my week is almost over.

We ended the week with ice cream at a local place near Ashley's house where the kids ate inside ("It is too bright!") and we stayed outside. Good luck to you ice cream shop employee.

Can you spot where I went so wrong? Was it the gazillion activities I crammed into basically four hours a day? Bingo.

I am still learning and that was a very painful lesson. I will know better next time. Don't try to do anything with me, I will not be available.