Rainy With A Chance Of Cabin Fever

This afternoon was one of those yucky rainy days that seems to drag on forever.  Luckily, I was prepared (or so I thought) with an activity to occupy the kids.  First, we would make homemade granola bars... recipe soon to follow, and then we would build with marshmallows.  My cousin has an amazing blog (check it out here) and she gave me the marshmallow idea.

The cooking was a success and the bars are going to be my new playgroup staple.  The marshmallows, on the other hand, looked quite impressive but really only entertained my 3-year-old.  Jake gave it a try, but just couldn't stick with it.  Mary Catherine made a princess castle out of pink marshmallows and Jake attempted a fire station.

 With 2 hours left until Daddy got home we resorted to some good old fashioned hide-and-seek.  This, on the other hand, proved to be a total hit!  The kids raced around upstairs while I counted to 10, then as I yelled, "ready or not, here I come," I could hear loud squealing and doors slamming.  These are their faces as they were found...

    I have to admit, I got quite a kick out of it too.  As you can see things don't always go as planned, but we manage to figure it out along the way which brings me to my last story of the week.  As a result of this blog I have received lots of emails from friends wondering how I find the time.  Many of you have mentioned that the blog made you feel like you needed to do more at home and with your kids.  All of you who have emailed are WONDERFUL mothers who are selfless and hard working.  I want to make certain that you know I am NOT Martha Stewart and I am NOT Super Mom.  On most days I am just surviving and trying to put out fires while I count the hours till Daddy gets home to provide backup.

This should level the playing field...
Last week while Mary Catherine was in ballet Jake took a very large runny poop in his diaper.  I took him outside to the car to change him.  After wiping his bottom clean and rolling up the dirty diaper, I realized I was out of clean diapers.  I quickly scanned the parking lot looking for another mom I could pawn one from, but I was all alone.  In complete despair I rummaged through the car- here's where it gets good.  Laying in the back was a wet diaper that I had changed earlier from Patrick.  (You get where this is going...)  With no other options, I lined the old wet diaper in clean baby wipes (as if that makes it better) and put it on Jake.  I cannot express the guilt I felt, but what else was I to do?  At least we were heading home right after ballet!

Thank you all for the compliments and praise, but as you can see I am just like every other mom, doing the best I know with what I've got- literally.