Finally, the weather that you brag about to your midwestern friends is here!
But so is all the stress of the impending holiday season. While that means a ton of opportunities, it can also mean spending a boatload of cash.
Not to fear. Here are some of my favorite family holiday events in Phoenix for 2018.
I stared at the complicated chore chart that my dad placed on our refrigerator.
42 cents for washing dishes. 20 cents for picking up my room.
When he first pitched this idea to my 10-year-old self, I wanted to do all the chores immediately.
This was my chance to earn $5 a week. Yes, I could do this!
So, I did the dishes. It took me 20 minutes and I didn’t even get enough money to buy a can of soda. Wouldn’t it be simpler to pull that red can of Coke out of our fridge?
That week, I completed a few boxes of chores from that monster list, collected my $1.15 and then ignored the list the next week.
Soon, the chore chart disappeared.
It was 6:30 AM on the first day back to school last year. I put my hand on my daughter’s fluffy floral comforter and shook her.
Gently, of course.
OK… OK… it was harder this time. Because this was the fifth time I walked into her room that morning to pull her from bed. This morning was close to becoming a chaotic mess.
Often, I feel guilty about taking a girl’s night because of time away from my kids.
I’m afraid I’ll miss something important or even worse, my husband will resent me for taking this time for myself.
They’re baseless fears.
Taking time alone is essential to being a happy mom.
Can we talk bath time for a second?
How difficult is it to convince your kids to bathe? Hard?
With this bath bomb recipe, you’ll feel like super mom because you’re kids will countdown the minutes till they can get in the tub.
We all worry about whether we spend enough time with our kids.
On the phone with my mom one night, she said to me:
“You’re such a good mom. You spend so much time with your kids. I never did with that you.”
My mom worked as an administrative assistant at the hospital 4 miles down the road. Every night, she came home around 5:30pm, cooked dinner and then we all relaxed while watching Murphy Brown or Friends.
Truth is: I thought she spent enough time with me.
I felt pretty happy and content.
And frankly, I feel like a failure with this whole mom business.
My son stomps into my office upstairs. I’m staring at the computer trying to figure out what to write next.
His face is full pout.
“MOM! I told them I need a break!”
Uh oh. Usually when this happens, he’s prepping me for something – trying to convince me that he’s on the right side.
It’s a fight. I can feel it.
Do you have an unbelievably hard time throwing out your children’s work from school?
Remember when it was a miracle when they could first write their name and now they’re producing work like crazy?
You have papers stacked on the kitchen counter.
Papers flowing out of the office.
Artwork made of macaroni thumbtacked on the walls.
What to do with it all?
“No, sweetie, that hurts.”
My five-year-old son puts down the flashlight. His latest game involves shining the flashlight on opposite walls of our living room and having our very crazy pup chase it.
However, she gets a little too excited and ends up jumping on me – all sixty pounds of her.
At five, my son improves everyday at realizing that his actions have consequences.
He learned this by constantly making mistakes and getting corrected.
Stories are also a fantastic way to teach those skills.
“Mom, can I invite a friend over today?”
I hesitate. I want her to be able to invite friends over, but today is simply jam packed.
Nope. Not today.
Five minutes later. “Mom, can I have a playdate?”
What the…? Didn’t I just answer this same question five minutes earlier?