Seriously

So it snowed here in the south on Monday, and the kids were thrilled they got a snow day...  then Tuesday rolled around and the roads were iced so they called it a snow day again...double thrilled.  Then today, the ice was melting at a pretty rapid pace, but still the schools called ANOTHER snow day, and I thought they had just lost their marbles.. we had to get out we were going a bit stir crazy so we headed to one of those crazy bounce house places along with every other mama and their brood in suburbia.  So we had survived and enjoyed our super long snow break...and then I got the call from the school tonight.. they have already called school off for tomorrow...seriously now, seriously..it snowed 3 inches 3 days ago.  Insane!     But you know what it gets me to thinking,,, what do you wonderful homeschooling mamas do when you have all the kids home ALL. THE. TIME.  I love my kids, they are wonderful...but there is NO way this mama is taking 5 little kids to the grocery store.. it's not that my kids are bad, but we take up the whole aisle -the look of pity and horror and my fellow shoppers faces is enough to send me over the edge.   But this mama needs to get some things done, I had all this pent up new years resolutions type resolve to get organized,,, which is quickly zapped when you have a crew this large wanting to "help" with projects around the house.  Or try cleaning out the pantry with 6 always ravenous mongrels waiting for you to unearth the last box of brownies from the back of the cupboard.  Chaos I tell you!  The best way to describe having 6 kiddos with such a wide age range... Life is good, Life is simple, Life is fun...as long as Mama isn't trying to accomplish anything!    
Here's to another day of wearing our jammies 'till noon and not getting anything done.  
And for all the Mama's out there in my same boat.. I wanted to share something I saw on a blog the other day.. i had seen it before but I needed to see it again.. I printed it out and taped it to my bathroom mirror, and have thought of it often this week.  It really hits home when your in the "trenches" of the long days of mothering young kiddos... Here it is:
An Erma Bombeck Column:
A young mother writes: "I know you've written before about the empty-nest syndrome -- that lonely period after the children are grown and gone. Right now, I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and muddy boots. The baby is teething; the boys are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat without him, and I fell off my diet. Lay it on me again, will you?"

OK.
One of these days, you'll shout, "Why don't you kids grow up and act your age!"
And they will.


Or, "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do ... and don't slam the door!"
And they won't.


You'll straighten up the boys' bedroom neat and tidy -- bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way."
And it will.


You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you'll say, "Now, there's a meal for company."
And you'll eat it alone.


You'll say: "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" And you'll have it.


No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti.
No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms.
No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps.
No more clothespins under the sofa.
No more playpens to arrange a room around.


No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent.
No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathrooms.
No more iron-on patches, wet, knotted shoestrings, tight boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.


Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year's Eve. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.


No PTA meetings.
No car pools.
No blaring radios.
No one washing her hair at 11 o'clock at night.
Having your own roll of Scotch tape.


Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste.
No more sloppy oatmeal kisses.
No more tooth fairy.
No giggles in the dark.
No knees to heal, no responsibility.


Only a voice crying, "Why don't you grow up?"


and the silence echoing, "I did."