Yesterday was a no good, very bad day for me. Due to a series of unrelated events I spent a good bit of the day in tears, but that’s not the subject of this post. I woke up feeling sad today and wanted to stay in bed, but I got up and showered and dressed and decided to make today a great day. Because “when mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” – and I didn’t want to spend the day sad with cranky kids.
Juliana got herself dressed – she selected a sundress. Then we got the boys, everyone brushed teeth and we went downstairs. They decided that they wanted to color and then we played in the playroom for a while before getting dressed to go out. I put a whole chicken in some water to start cooking and we left the house.
My mom joined us and we went to a toy store that is filled with toys for kids to play with while we shopped. They played with the trains, rode bikes, pushed the baby stroller and shopping cart around the store and had a great time. They happily played while we shopped for Christmas presents – stashing them out-of-sight at the register as they were selected.
It was naptime when we got home and the boys took 3-hour naps, Juliana painted, I finished making the chicken soup, Scott and Juliana made chocolate chips cookies (our house smelled very good today) and of course we watched the Steelers game.
The boys woke up as the game ended. Scott and my dad worked on a project while the rest of us went to the front yard to enjoy the beautiful afternoon. The boys had their snack outside while watching the neighborhood boys play football in the street.
They ran around and played and dug in the dirt.
The rest of the evening was filled with the normal routine, sometimes normal is exactly what I need. We watched Wonder Pets after dinner and this is Wyatt’s typical expression while watching. I took the second one 15 minutes later…notice that he has barely moved.
Ruslan doesn’t care much for TV – he was content to play and then when he started to get tired he watched for a few minutes.
I’m glad I made an effort to make today a better day because I always want to be the best mom possible for them.
So glad that you had a good day despite your initial mood! I love the idea of shopping for presents while the kids play. Where is this magical toy store?
Learning Express Toys in Miracle Mile next to Old Navy (they have other stores around town as well). We stopped there with Juliana once and she had so much fun. I was nervous about taking the boys but they were so excited with the toys and played quietly the whole time we were there.