Less Than 45 Minutes...

That's all it took. Less than 45 minutes on the first official day of summer break for me to lose it with the kids and have them BOTH break down in sobbing and tears.

I'm such a good mom, huh? This is one of those posts I feel the need to put up every now and then to RE-prove that I - and my family - have A LOT TO WORK ON!

I came home from exercising to find them both awake, playing cooperatively on my computer, and things were okay....but, I was quickly recognizing an overwhelming spirit of self-centeredness and sure enough, as soon as I asked them to do ANYTHING, I got the backlash. And, then I let loose a verbal whooping (particularly to Brayden as he was the most defensive).

Good times - made even better by Brayden's comment "This is the worst start to summer ever" in which I misinterpreted to believe him saying his life was awful - but, in reality, he meant his attitude had made it that way.

So, I sat them both down, gave them lots of love and hugs, quickly brainstormed some questions to have them fill out and sent them away from me and each other to think about them.

Summer is like this tightrope walk with things like: heightened expectations (often different), lack of routine, desire for fun, and the need to still get the "basics" done (i.e. laundry, dishes, cleaning) all pulling you off-balance. Good to know we fell off the tightrope within the first hour of the first day. Let's hope we stay in balance longer now. =)

P.S. - This is totally superficial in contrast to the "deeper post content", but I have to say that in contrast to that earlier picture - and in HUGE THANKS TO LYDIA, I think our backyard has really come around, huh? =)