Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Success is...


Two questions to which I can answer in the affirmative when I've had a successful day:
1. Did I spend quality time with my kids?
2. Was I able to complete several (if not, many!) tasks either on or off my to-do list?
I've had days where I've either done one or the other, and I've had a few days where I've pretty much done nothing worthwhile at all (though, thankfully, not many). Either way, I feel pretty crappy.
Take last Saturday, for example. Tim and I spent most of our day catching up on projects that were anxiously awaiting us after our weeklong trip to San Diego. In the accomplishment arena, we did just fine. But I don't think the kids left the house all day. We might have fed them a couple of times, maybe even played a game or two with them. Otherwise, our girls were victims of neglect. At the end of the day, I felt like a loser of a mother.
I've made up for it this week. This morning I even overlooked a mile-long grocery list so that we could visit the zoo. The kids were mesmerized by the new African plains exhibit - our dinky little zoo now has lions and giraffes! Seriously cool. And cold. We lasted about an hour in the 40-something degree weather.
Anyway, while I definitely feel that accomplishment takes a backseat to playing with my children, I need both components to feel some measure of success. And so it is. Enjoy the pictures.








3 comments:

Cherish said...

I admire your desire to be both a good mom and have a sparkling clean house. I don't know how you do it! I seem to be able to do one or the other, but can't do both. My mom used to have a sign in our house that said "Trying to clean the house while the kids are still growing is like shoveling the snow while it's still snowing"...I get it now.

Annie said...

I need to make reading your blog a morning ritual...something to get me started in the right direction!

Any tips on things to do with a 1 year old. I desperately want to spend quality time with her, but I am just not that creative. I can only read so many books in one day!

Jessica Waters said...

You should come to Colorado Springs we have an amazing zoo!! We go all the time.