Thursday, June 3, 2010

thursday thoughts

swim team has begun. we were too late to join the morning group, so we practice at 5 p.m. every night. it was supposed to be four nights a week, but because meets are on thursdays, we have practice on fridays. that's FIVE days a week at the pool for an hour. we're not even through the first week and the kids were asking if we could swim in our pool today. so we did. we are going to log some serious sun and swim time the next two months! it seems silly to me to pay for a pass at the school pool when we have a pool at home, but it's also silly to sit in the heat for an hour when I could be teaching and swimming with the younger two. I do a short lesson with each of them and then we play for a bit while cooper finishes up. it's a fun pool with a big slide, a diving pool and a splash playground in a shallow pool for the kids. so far they are content to swim and splash in the beach entry pool. I loaded up on sunscreen today!

with this summer schedule, I have been struggling to keep balance... that is the focus of the year and it is a goal that is always in progress. getting home at 6:15 with tired, hungry kids means I need to be on top of the dinner situation. planning and carrying out meals on a consistent basis is not my forte! we're working on it. there's a balance that must be found when a mom is also the primary caretaker of the home. keeping the house clean requires a significant amount of time and it's tricky to fit in when there are great experiences I want to be having with my kids. there are so many learning time opportunities to be had this summer mixed in with field trips and playtime, it would be nice to have a clone to take care of the laundry, cleaning and meals so I could just enjoy my kids! we've talked about hiring someone to help with the cleaning and such, but we're not sure that's the best use of our funds right now. someone came to give me an estimate today, we'll see if money falls from the sky any time soon.

another topic that is on my mind is fitness challenge. if you're tired of hearing about it already, feel free to skip this blog for the next 12 weeks! there are a few things I'm excited about: I'm excited to be doing this with great friends. some of my law school friends from new york days have jumped in and I'm stoked they are participating. it will be so great to share ideas and keep up with them during this. there are also a few south phoenix friends in the pool, ones who I used to work out with on a regular basis and will be tough competitors! I'm excited to be pushed to get into shape. I know I shouldn't need the push, but without it, getting exercise in every single day does not always top the list of priorities. now, I've got to make it fit! I'm excited to be more productive with my scripture study. One thing that will be a change of pace for me is not eating after 7:30 in the evening. I usually feed the kids and then once they are in bed and Denten is home, we eat together. This is always after 7:30. Dinner all together sounds divine, but D's work schedule doesn't permit that right now. I'll need to adjust and eat earlier with the kids and stick to ice and water after 7:30! It will be a healthy change to not eat so late, just a change-up around here.

denten's parents are coming to visit next week. it will be fun to have them here, to see our revised life and have them a part of the madness for a few days. I'm looking forward to their visit. I enjoy them both thoroughly and am excited for the kids to be able to have some time with their grandparents.

there you have it. the thursday mess in my head. if you have any magic dust on how to accomplish everything one desires in a 24 hour period, send some my way!

3 comments:

Amy said...

a cleaning lady...i've got one for you. she is great & inexpensive. i'll email you her number.

Unknown said...

don and i talked about getting someone to help at least clean the bathrooms. i posted an ad on craigslist and so many people said they could do it and pretty cheap too! but don and i said we can do it ourselves for now, but maybe by the next kid we'll do it. i told don that i'd rather work for two hours and have someone clean for two hours. just like you can do energy work instead of cleaning bathrooms!

The Silly Witch said...

Balance. It's one of my favorite words, but I have yet to achieve it. I'm hoping "the challenge" will help me be stronger so I can balance better.

Good luck with swim team. Rebecca did it last year and had a great time. It was time consuming for the family.