Single for the weekend

Clint went up to the cabin for the weekend. It's some kind of male bonding thing with his uncles and cousins. They'll probably go snowmobiling, work on snowmobiles, drink beer, talk about snowmobiles, watch snowmobile videos and drink more beer. Most of it sounds pretty boring, but I wouldn't mind snowmobiling. I happen to LOVE snowmobiling. I hope he's having fun up there while I sit home and brood about why it is that I never get a weekend away without my family, like he does. (This is the third weekend in a row that he's spent a day away...and it's not even fishing season yet!).

I thought about asking if we could come along; he might have been OK with that. Then I thought of all the work I would have to do getting the kids and I packed and ready to go. And then I thought maybe I could stay home and work on my scrapbook all weekend instead. Without Clint, we do simple dinners, so I could just let the kids loose to do whatever they wanted for the weekend, and I could get some serious scrapbooking done!

Reality check.

First we went rock climbing. After we got home, I gravitated to my scrapbook table and started working on a page while the kids went outside to play. Everything was going according to plan. To my surprise, they were done playing outside in less than an hour, and in the house looking for things to do. Rhiannon has been begging me to help her make a skirt...she wants me to teach her how to sew on a machine. So she came to "check on me" every once in a while...no pressure...she only asked if we could cut out the skirt this weekend twice, but I could feel the "I wish Mom would help me with the skirt" vibe, and it was distracting. Tamzin needed help with the cottage cheese and honey concoction she had dreamed up as a snack (I confiscated the honey). Then she wanted to "help me scrapbook". With Gillian on the computer, Shelby reading, and Rhiannon wandering around thinking about her skirt project, she had no one to play with...or keep her from inventing an activity with involving creative mayhem and destruction.

So, in the interests of maybe getting to scrapbooking later, I helped Rhiannon start on her skirt, made Gillian and Tamzin lunch (she didn't eat it) and then suggested that Tamzin help me make a snack. We made the pink heart shaped rice krispie treats we had been planning to do for Valentines' Day. The older girls got involved, so I didn't have to do much. Very fun project, and tasty too. After that the girls settled down to watch a movie. I went back to my scrapbook for about 45 minutes, and then sat down to eat a bowl of chili, and ended up watching the rest of the movie with them. I went back to my scrapbook for about an hour, then realized they needed to be fed. I told them I'd fix them Chili Dogs, but by the time I looked up from the page I was working on, they'd served themselves and were finished eating. They're such good kids. They really want me to scrapbook all day if it makes me happy.

Then it was time to read aloud. We read Little Women and Dr. Seuss. Tucked the kids in bed and kissed them goodnight. Cleaned up the kitchen fallout from a day without washing dishes. Checked my email. Now I'm blogging. Maybe I will scrapbook tomorrow.