An lo, spring break was upon us...

...and at first I was all "Woo-hoo! A whole week with the kids! With no work and no packing lunches and no waking up crabby little boys and no piling into the car at the last possible second and no homework!"

Then I went to this wonderful wedding in Pennsylvania. It was a wedding with a violinist and a cantor at the church, and a harpist and people walking around with white towels over their arms offering us all sorts of beautiful appetizers during the cocktail hour. The bar was open, and it was top-notch stuff, let me tell you. We had salmon and filet mignon for supper, and the whole time the bar was still open. We got to talk with people we rarely get to see, but love, and dance the night away and have zero responsibility. Then, on the flight home, we got upgraded to first class. FIRST CLASS! Both of us, together! So I sat with my blanket and pillow and free lunch and drinks and relaxed on the two and a half hour flight home.

Then, suddenly, I was home. Here, at home, were two children. Children who are great, yes, but who need. They need lots of things, most of the time. It was quite shocking, really, coming from a weekend where I was responsible soley for being arm candy and having a good time. It was fine, though. We ordered Thai food for dinner and watched The Amazing Race. We were exhausted (would you go to bed early with an open bar of top-notch stuff? No, you wouldn't.), so we put the kids to bed and hit the hay.

But then! Then this morning happened. I woke up and there was snow everywhere, and Silas was packing up a suitcase to leave for the week and there were those children again, running around downstairs, excited about spring break. About five whole days of NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO DO. Dear Lord. What are we going to do all week? No, I'm really asking. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO??

So. I tried to remain calm. I used to spend lots of time with these small people when they were babies and toddlers. Right? Well, I do work a couple of days a week (but I took this week off to spend time with my preshus snowflakes), and they did take naps then, sometimes for hours. But whatever, I can do this. But then my mind wandered back to this past weekend. Where I walked down the hallway after sleeping in on Saturday morning and piled some breakfast on my plate that someone else had cooked and sat with Si's extended family and enjoyed breakfast and coffee and conversation. Then, when I was done, someone took my plate for me! After that we explored the hotel and wasted time (OK, we went back to the rental car place because I'm an idiot and I left my bag on the shuttle from the airport but it's a long story and we ended up back at the airport but then we went back to the rental car place and there was my bag, but you should take away that not once were we pressed for time because we had NOTHING ELSE TO DO and no children to tell us they were bored/hungry/fell down.).

So, this is what we did today:
-We played outside in that beautiful, wretched snow. I shoveled, threw the ball for the dog, buried the kids. Maybe two hours down. MAYBE.
-Cleaned the living room. Involved the kids in it. They actually thought it was fun (score for me!). Half an hour down?
-Made hot chocolate, drank hot chocolate. Made lunch, ate lunch. Don't look at the clock, it'll be mocking you.
-Watched a movie. James and The Giant Peach. Alison thought it was OK, Oliver liked it, I think I fell asleep for some important parts. Two hours down.
-Credits on the movie are rolling, Oliver is already asking "Now what do you want to do?". I wrapped the kids up like burritos in a blanket on the living room floor and pretended to eat them. Kids lost their minds with fun, began acting like crazed, wild animals. I lost control. I am not comfortable with that.
-Regained control by giving them ice cream and making them sit and eat it while watching The Cosby Show. Looked at clock. Cursed.
-Told the kids I was going to pick up kitchen. Ali gets out her Easy Bake Oven and starts to make something tiny. Oliver goes through a few activities before telling me he's bored. I tell him we should probably get rid of all of those toys in his room. Later I find him on the couch grabbing at his bare feet. He tells me his "toes are fighting".
-Make dinner, eat dinner. Clean up dinner. Realize I have more time than I thought and it's not time to take Alison to gymnastics yet.
-Play catch with the frisbee. Yes, inside.
-Take Ali to gymnastics. 6:10-7:45 taken care of! Break one of my rules and allow Oliver to play on my phone almost the whole time.
-Come home. Get out of the car. Oliver announces he is hungry. Usher everyone inside (Why is it so cold and windy? WHY?) Go through the whole "Pick up your stuff, get on your jammies" litany three to four times, wonder if there is any sound coming out of my mouth.
-We all have some crackers, kids finish up getting ready for bed, we read two books, Oliver tells me he doesn't feel like going to bed.
-I ignore him. Tuck in kids. Kiss them. Turn on everyones' music. Come out to kitchen, make a G&T and contemplate the rest of the week.

So, we've got four days left. Stay tuned. It could get pretty crazy.