Play

I have been trying to spend more time playing with my kids.
This is easier said than done. In fact it's more difficult than I would have thought.

What's so difficult about spending more time playing, you ask?

It's frustrating to lay on the ground and drive cars on the carpet, or make snakes out of playdough when there are hundreds of photo's to be edited and mountains of laundry taller than I am, just waiting to be washed, dried, folded and returned to their homes in the drawers.
And endless amounts of other chores nagging to be done.

So, it's not without effort that I have been ignoring or delaying some of these household obligations to give my offspring more of my time to do whatever their little hearts desire at that moment.
We've been making paper airplanes, rolling with Madee, having more dance parties, and spending hours on the floor playing action figures and trucks.

And my house is undeniably messier.

I do not (by any means) consider myself a neat person, but it does make me anxious when there are more dirty dishes than clean ones, or I could feed a third world country with the crumbs that have accumulated on my kitchen floor.

I'm working on establishing some sort of balance. There has to be a way of keeping my house acceptable and still giving my kids more of myself (perhaps less time blogging or perusing pinterest???).

Either way, I worry that if I don't start giving my children more of my time, that they will grow up while I'm busy dusting and cleaning toilets.

And I want them to know how important they are to me. What better way to show them that, than to give them my time? Because, as we all know, time is rather important to adults.

You know who is the best example to me in this area?

The husband.

He is fantastic. He comes home from a full day of work and rolls around on the ground with the kids. He turns up the music to extreme volumes and gets the boys jumping and moving to the beat. He is a human jungle gym. He tickles and laughs and plays. He watches cartoons and makes silly faces in the mirror. As a Mom, there's nothing sweeter than watching the love of my life (cheesy cliche but accurate) play with my kids. And sometimes, I can't help myself. I have to get my camera and capture it all, so I can keep those moments forever .

It's easy to see how happy he makes these kids of ours, and I hope I can be more like him, find some balance, and make my priorities consistent with the way I spend my time.