the gift of an ordinary moment

in my head, i'm quite the domestic goddess around the house, an organized martha stewart, if you will, and a healthy version of paula deen in the kitchen.  like i said, in my head.  my head doesn't always play out in real life.  life is messy.  i've mentioned that a time or twenty.

truthfully, i try.  but i tire of spinning so many plates.  a few of them, self-inflicted, i'm sure.  so much to do, so little of me to go around.  that's where i stand in this season of motherhood.  chances are, you know where i'm coming from.

a friend of mine asked my soon-to-be-thirteen-year-old (excuse me whilst i have an i'm-not-ready-for-my-girls-to-grow-up-tantrum) what we did over spring break.  my sweet girl told my friend that we cleaned.  and did schoolwork.

nice.

laughing, i walked up and reminded her that we only had theater and schoolwork this past week.  evenings were completely free for playtime since all dance classes & piano/voice was cancelled.

maybe we could take more breaks if we were not involved in theater, dance lessons, competition, piano/voice lessons, music guild, etc.  but the girls really don't want to give up any of their passions; therefore, some schoolwork must be seized during hours our public school friends might be on break.

i'm so glad mama is here to remind them how much fun they get to have each week. ;)

oh, i kid.  when asked, the girls will tell you that they love us.
and we have fun. 

sometimes, when distracted with my many spinning plates, i need a gentle nudge...
to just breath
and take in the moment.
i'm sharing one of those tissue-inducing nudges with you here...

after wiping my teary eyes, mama closed up shop.  reading could wait till the afternoon on this particular day.  

making a spontaneously-fun moment would come first.  they grow up so quickly.

getting our studies in is certainly important.
absolutely.
but not more important than appreciating life with those we love. 

to prove how dedicated i was, i even left the nikon at home.
this was truly about quality time, not quality of pix.
sometimes, the iphone captures the best moments.

(we called this our tree in the trail. ;)

may you and your family collect more fun-filled memories,
and guilt-free-parenting-plate-spinning.
because... well... life happens.
yo.