Happy April,
friends!
As I write
this my children are on spring break and it is
snowing outside. Yes, the very definition
of annual irony. I would love to tell you
that I set up a full schedule of museums and
cultural trips into the city. After all,
that is what all Chicago suburb moms tell each
other we want to do. But the reality is
that we are having a week of half couch potato
and half spring cleaning.
Every day we
choose a great big chore and tackle it (after
sleeping in, of course) and then the rest of the
day is free for all. Because at 6 1/2 and
9 1/2 my kids are best friends, they are loving
this plan. And I am loving watching them
be creative. I know from all of my mom of
teen friends that these memories are precious
and need to be savored for the upcoming hormonal
years.
Some of my
favorite moments from the week? Super hero
day was fun. They both wore costumes and
set up an entire room of playsets so they could
spend the day rescuing pretty much everything in
sight. Board game day was a hoot, too.
They played all the ones they knew how to and
then moved on to a few others. I wandered
by when they were playing chess and my daughter
called out "look, Mom, I am all the horseys."
Pretty sure that their game was much more
enjoyable than the real version.
My all time
favorite was seeing the sleepover room.
Being allowed sleepovers every night for a week
was a special treat. Although both
bedrooms are set up for having a friend over,
they decided to spend a couple nights on the
couches and then move to the guest room.
If you look very carefully at the picture, you
might be able to spot two children in their
natural vacation habitat. (Hint: do not
look on the bed; that is too obvious for my
kids)
What could
this possibly have to do with scrapbooking?
I could tell you it is all about the great week
of photos I am taking, but that is not it.
I could tell you to scrap your disaster rooms
along with your pretty ones, but that is also
not my message.
What I
learned from my kids was that everyone needs a
little unscheduled creative time. This
week was the best ever for them because they had
little that they "had" to do. And the
amazing thing was that I never had to tell them
to clean up. When they were done with one
day, they gathered it up and moved on to the
next. The good habits are still there,
even when they were simply having fun.
As I look at
my to do list book--yes, I said book, with tabs
for work, volunteer, scrapping, kids, house--I
realize that I rarely give myself a
break--spring or otherwise. Sure I have
scheduled scrapping time, but that usually
includes a todo list as well since I am blessed
to work with so many wonderful scrapping
companies.
This month I
am challenging myself (and all of you) to make a
completely blank spot on the calendar for
yourself. And to do just what you feel
like doing in it. Will it be see a movie,
have a cocktail, take a nap, scrap? It
does not matter what, just that you take a
break. And no feeling guilty
afterwards--you are worth it!
With lots of
smiles and love,
