TGIF??

For most folks Friday's are great, the week-end is coming, you get to hang out with your friends, family, drink wine, relax.  And I'm not saying my Friday's are bad, they're absolutely not, HOWEVER, after having my oldest son in pre-school every Wednesday and Thursday and being a Mother of one (which, let's be honest, is soooo much easier than two - not to take anything away from first time Mommy's whatsoever because, regardless, it's all hard work, but just see for yourself...go on....have another)  for two days....Fridays can be...a bit jarring.  Especially when you have a 3 year old who has the energy of a Jack Russell Terrier on speed.  Please, don't get me wrong, I love him more than life itself, he amazes me everyday and I think he's the most beautiful thing ever but, well, that's the honest to goodness truth.

Our morning starts off like every other, except a bit earlier than I would like - o-dark thirty - but because I had a great night's sleep (miracles DO happen) I flung the sheets open ready to start the day.

Down the stairs we go to have some "waffles with syryop" (no, that's not a spelling error, that is how he pronounces syrup - see-ree-op)  A minute later my sleepy husband appears.  "Go back to bed honey, you were up early yesterday".  Awww.  What a nice guy.

A bit of hesitation from me....the  "martyr mommy" side of me starts to poke her annoying little voice out and I hear myself say "No, no, I'm up.  It's okay"  And then the "logical mommy" side starts in on her and says "Seriously??!!  Your husband is going to be away 95% of February - TAKE IT WHILE YOU CAN!"  So I quickly say to husband, "Actually, I will go back to bed".

But to sleep I did not go!  I tried and tried.  Tossed and turned, squeezing my eyes shut to no avail.

So, I flipped through my newest In Style magazine for a half hour, then decided it was time for a shower.   I actually had an uninterrupted shower and hold it.....

....hold iiitt...

I.  Put.  Make-up. On.  Oh yes, I did.  So thank you, sweet husband of mine.  It was a good Friday morning.....so far.....

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It was just after 8 am, we were hanging out in the family room playing and watching some cartoons when I gave my "Okay guys, 5 more minutes of cartoons and then we're going upstairs to play".  Adrian says to me "I want to go outside!"

I pause.

Outside.  Where it's cold.

And snowy.

Very cold.

Very, very snowy.

I clap my hands together to muster up some enthusiasm "Okay! Let's get dressed and go outside!"

After getting both of them dressed in their snowsuits....which is a lot like herding a hundred cats....and after which I'm sweating like a pig but have yet to put on my own snow attire, we head outside.

Where it's cold.

And snowy.

Very cold.

Very, very snowy.

What do I do now - I have one child that wants to run and another that can walk but not particularly well in a bulky snow suit.

I grab the toboggan thinking it would be a great idea to take them for a ride around the block.  Exercise for me.  Fun for them.  Win, win.  Always good.  I pile them onto the sled and off we go!

For about 1.5 seconds.

Until I look back and both of them are on their sides, flopped onto the snow.  Whoops.  Well, looks like I need a toboggan that actually has sides to hold them in.

As I lean down to swoop Finley up and dust the snow off of him I say "Adrian, why don't you grab your yellow shovel and shovel the driveway for Daddy?"  Off he goes, grabs the shovel and plays with it for about 2.5 minutes.  He then starts to grab chunks of snow and throw them at the tree in our front yard.

Whatever works.

That lasted for about 2 more minutes.

"Look, honey!  Cole and Luke are outside!"  At this point, I'm carrying around my not so little, little one, because every time his boot clad foot hits the snow he starts to whimper.  Off Adrian goes to his older buddies 2 doors down.  He laughs as they draw naked men on the tree with snow (laughing only because they were laughing.  He had no clue what was going on - and drawing a naked man on a tree with snow really doesn't look like anything other than, well, snow on a tree).

Their mom who is entirely clueless about her now pornographic tree, makes her third trip out to the van, buckles them in and off they go to school.

Alright. What now?

We go back to our front yard and Adrian starts cleaning off the car with his mitten clad hands.  My back is starting to kill from carrying around my 25 lb "baby".

Oh look!  There's another neighbor!  We chat and she invites Adrian over to play at her house later on in the day. Then, off she goes to work.

I look around and think, what next???!!!!

Hockey!  We all love hockey! (we are Canadian after all)

Okay, we have a hockey stick for Adrian and me.  I just needed a mini stick for Fin and a ball.  Nowhere in the garage could I find a ball...out comes the trusted crackberry.

Yes, I texted my husband, who was working from home (in the basement) to bring out a ball.  But he couldn't.  He was on a conference call.

I hate when his work interferes with my day.

I hear Adrian's voice, all excited "Mommy!  My Hallowe'en candy!!"

Uh oh.  Oh no.  Here we go.

"I want some candy, can I pleeease have some candy Mumma?"  We had hidden his bag of Hallowe'en candy in John's tool chest shortly after Hallowe'en..."hidden" being the key word here.  Obviously not hidden enough.

"No, sweetie. You know we don't eat candy in the morning."  He hauls off and hits me in the leg.  Well! That makes the next decision easy.  Off we go, full on tantrum and all.  Inside and up the stairs for his (too short) 3 minute time out.

The time out is over, an apology is given and accepted.  I proceed to put away about 10 loads of laundry while trying to keep Finley from climbing everything and Adrian from jumping off of everything.

Done.

I look at the clock.

An hour has passed.

It's 10 am.