Off days

I feel like lately we've had more "off" days than "on" ones.  Everything takes longer, there are more tantrums, and nothing feels easy.  I find that I have to be extra organized and schedule VERY little to make our days work.  I think it has a lot to do with being on my own with the kids Mon-Thurs.  On those days Justin leaves for work before the kids get up and doesn't get home until after they go to bed.  I have to have our menu well planned, lists of all the things that need done around the house and a weekly plan for getting them done....and that's about all I seem to be able to handle besides plenty of time outside and a few crafts.

Today felt particularly "off".  I needed to bake a wedding cake and finish up another small cake, the bathrooms should have been cleaned, the house should have been vacuumed, and dinner needed to be prepped/made.  But I was tired, SO tired.  This was my second day of waking up at 5:30 to get in a run before Justin leaves for work.  I love getting up early and getting exercise, but until I start going to bed earlier, it's rough.  I'm a happier, more mellow person when I get my exercise - I guess that's the trade off for the sleepiness.  All I managed to get accomplished on my list were the cakes and dinner, no cleaning.  I knew I would never make it through dinner/bath/bed if I didn't squeeze in a short nap myself.  In order to do that, I needed to get the cakes started in the morning.  And the only way to get that done?  Sesame Street and Fireman Sam.  75 minutes straight of my one and two year old with eyes glued to the TV so that I could selfishly whip up 6 batters of cake.  Ugh.  I hate it when I resort to that.  I don't know why I get huge mama guilt over letting the TV babysit them on occasion, but I do.  I wish my children NEVER watched television, but they do and on days like today they watch way more than they should.  I'll do my best to balance it out by having no TV for the next few days, but I still don't like that they watched that much today.  And in all honesty I'll probably have to turn it on tomorrow to buy myself a few minutes for getting dinner made...maybe I can keep it to only one 12 minute episode of Fireman Sam?  Or maybe the cheerios, pots, pans, plates, spoons, and broom game they came up with to entertain themselves tonight while I made dinner will work again tomorrow?  Speaking of which, I still need to clean that up.  I guess I should go catch up on all the cleaning and remaining baking now...but I'm still tired....


On the bright side, Jackson made adorable sunflowers that are brightening up our dining room now!  I think we're going to try making a few other flowers over the next few weeks to create an indoor flower garden.  This mama LOVES flowers!

The petals are handprints with yellow paint on brown paper.  I cut them out after they dried.  The next day he glued them around a paper plate.  The centers were small squares of black tissue paper that he crumbled up and dipped in glue.  I cut the stems and leaves and he painted them green.  Easy steps he could do and it broke into stages nicely.  He's still a little young to take on a big art project like this all in one day.