No TV week

Last week I declared it a "no TV week."  I think it was good for all of us, but the biggest reason I did it was for Bryce.  I got so sick of him asking to watch a movie, so I would, and then afterwords he'd mope around and follow from room to room around the house and I'd get to the end of the day and wonder, "What did Bryce do all day?  Did he even play with a single toy?"  What can I say, we got in to bad habits after I had the baby...who is now FIVE months old, so enough is enough.  I don't think it's necessary to go throw away all our TVs and live life totally un-plugged.  I think there is a time and a season for everything and I have no problems throwing on a movie and the end of a long pregnancy, or if I need to take a nap when a newborn has been up all night, but with the phase our family is in right now, I see us doing this no tv thing once a month or so. I tell my kids, "Sure, TV is fine, but there are other more praiseworthy things to do with our time."  But then I wasn't facilitating that enough.

Brynn totally gets that and keeps herself pretty busy, so it wasn't a big deal at all for her, I don't think she really even noticed a difference.  I was prepared for plenty of whining and tantrums from Bryce, which surprisingly never happened.  Things like this work well for him, I guess, because he's kind of an all or nothing kid.  When I told them about "no TV week" on Sunday night, Marty had to bail me out because I was laughing SO hard at their reactions.  Angel Brynn gave me a total courtesy smile which stayed plastered to her face while slowly turning into an "ugh" expression.  Bryce stared daggers into my skull the whole time, but the sweety-boy agreed when I told him about all the better things we could do this week.

So, we kept busy with play dates, baking cookies for some of their favorite ward members (and was so fun to listen to one elderly man tell us about riding horses in parades is his youth, because Brynn is all about parades), picking peaches at Schnepf Farms, cleaning and working, soccer and swim lessons, running through the sprinklers (which is what we do the first day AZ hits 100 - even though I don't think it really was the first day, but I haven't kept the best track), hide-and-go-seek, calling family members, library trips (and then subsequently taking the books up the the clubhouse), picnics (which we had to move back inside on account of the heat), and lots of other stuff.

I was still able to be productive, Bryce remembered how cool his toys are, Brynn...well, was un-phased, here was the hard part: fighting.  Which I've mentioned before.  Wednesday I think they had just spent too much time together (it was also Brynn's first week out of preschool, too).  They were positively at each other's throats.  By 7:30 in the morning I was already DONE.  This had been carrying on from the night before so in an act of desperation I pulled out he egg timer.  They lost their play-mate privileges and every half hour the timer would sound and they would have to switch floors - one kid got the upper floor and one kid got the lower floor and they were not to interact.  I did this until LUNCHTIME.  That's how desperate I was.  My house was so very peaceful.  I know this is like taking something to relieve the symptoms rather than cure the problem, but hey, I regained my sanity.


I realized a lot of the problem was probably just me being frazzled in the moment.  Sometimes I have a sudden realization that my life has swung slightly out of balance, which is easy to do considering that mothering is the most eternal thing I'll do, so I invest every ounce of everything into that.  But Wednesday afternoon and evening I took some time regaining Emily and I felt so much better.  I taught piano, which seriously energizes me, I love it so much.  While I was teaching it rained so I became extra giddy (you'll only understand that after living in AZ).  So after my last student my rock star husband continued playing the mom role and finishing dinner with the kids and all that while I rode my bike in the deliciously cool, rainy air.  The kids went down shortly after that and I was able to spend some much-needed couple time with my busy Marty and then I re-read "The Wednesday Wars," which is one of the most wonderful books ever written.  It makes me want to name a son Holling. :)

I can sit here and write this much because today is Mother's day and after hearing all the nice talks in church and kind words from my family, I can reflect back on last Wednesday as more sentimental than mental!


Some pictures from the week:

Peach-pickin' time!  It's a farm right next to our house with delicious organic peaches.  Whoopsie Bryce, that one is still totally green!

"Take one of me smelling the flowers!"

 I thought that taking the kids alone could be a fiasco, but it wasn't at all.  Gabe slept the whole time in the baby sling and the kids did the picking and carrying, and I was shocked to realize at one point that my hands were totally empty!  That never happens when we go somewhere!

This picture is SOOO typical!  Brynn dramatically dancing in the water and Bryce tearing strait through it at top speed!  It is so fun having a girl and a boy.

Our winter grass is dying off and the summer grass is sort of taking it's place, but we've never had really good summer grass.  We'll have to plant some.