A Day at Home

Today was a change from my normal schedule a little because I had the day off with Elijah and Karlena. I wanted to think of something fun to do with them - but in all reality with a 1 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old it can be tough to get anything accomplished.

My biggest problem is that things seem to happen in a matter of seconds and I can't do much but roll with it - and maybe even take a few pictures for some laughs.

So here is a look into my day with the 2 kids.

I found some blank paper for Elijah and some crayons. I thought he was sitting at the table coloring....instead he apparently thought it would be fun to color a large area of the wall in our kitchen.

So I got a Magic Eraser and put him to work cleaning it up...can you see the joy on his face?! (This was 1 of 4-5 areas that needed to be scrubbed!)

The reality was that you had to scrub pretty hard to get the crayon off so I knew I would be doing most of the work, but I let him spend a few minutes on it. And then I had him sit and watch me take care of the rest. 

Elijah is potty trained and recently has taught himself how to "go" standing up. We have this little stool and he has a few times, gone in and taken care of his business and come out. No problem.

No problem that is unless he comes out to have me help him get his pants on and leaves the bathroom door open and the toilet seat up.

Cue a wondering Karlena....  

By the time I got in there she was quite pleased with herself and it was honestly hilarious....so yes I did let her keep playing so that I could go and get my camera and capture the moment. (Shameless I know! But won't she love to see these pictures when she is a teenager?!)

But she was having so much fun....

I don't know that any of our other children have made a mess like she did this morning.

Of course she was soaked and needed a bath - so at 10am she and Elijah were in the bath once again!

She was loving the water. Normally everyone takes showers so this was extra fun today!

Elijah was pretty content to play too.

I had the opportunity to re-wash my floor after they were done - there was a lot of splashing going on!!

I knew that I needed a plan if I was going to keep them contained while I made lunch so I decided it was time for the "pen"....

We haven't really ever used this - they had one at the old daycare center we went to and they would put the babies inside to play so the older kids could play in the same space but not potentially hurt them. I bought one and then we moved and it never really came back out again.

Elijah wasn't happy though and asked to get out so I told him he had to sit on the rocker and watch his Little Einstein movie. And a few minutes later I found him like this. Sweet boy! 

While he was sleeping and Karlena was playing peacefully I went into the other room and found this....

Elijah had found my secret stash of Dove chocolates at some point in the morning, eaten them all and stashed the wrappers somewhat hidden behind a cushion on our couch. No wonder why he was so crazy hyper and then crashed before lunch....his chocolate buzz wore off!

Karlena on the other hand was really hungry at lunch time and ate more mashed potatoes than I can believe!

She likes to feed herself right now so I just put a big scoop on her tray and let her go at it.

It was a mess and there were potatoes everywhere - even in her 2nd-washed clean hair! :)

 Once she was done Elijah woke up so I put her back in the "pen" so that I could feed Elijah.

I went to check on her and found her like this....

She had climbed inside the basket of toys that was in there with her and was just playing away!

She is all about climbing right now so I wasn't that surprised to find her this way!

And before you know it we had to leave to get Gabriel from school.

Elijah cried the whole time we waited for Gabriel. It was glorious...his little chocolate-come-down nap was obviously not enough and he is resting now in his room.

The other fun thing I did today was to dye some white hankies for Gabriel to use in some of the magic tricks he does. We tried to find them online but they were pretty spendy so I found 10 white ones and thought we could dye them! He is pretty excited about it!

Now I think I am going to go to Walmart for a few things and let Isaac take the helm for a few minutes.  I don't know how SAH moms do this every day!! Just chasing after 2 little ones for a few hours and I am tired and got nothing else accomplished!

How about you - how is parenting different in reality than you imagined it might be? I'd love to hear your stories! :)