Daddyless weekend, Day 1: This wasn't the plan!

I was all excited yesterday to be with the kids and do fun things. We were going to play outside while baby L took her morning nap, have an indoor picnic for lunch and watch a movie, have a picnic at the park for dinner and play on the play ground, and then have ice cream sundaes for dessert when we got home.

Apparently my kids didn't get the memo that it was supposed to be a fun day.

And I told them. Many times.

Here's a brief recap:

• Pete's gone, and the kids are up. We have breakfast, then baby L goes down for her nap. I have the kids get dressed, then drag them kicking and screaming outside  and we head outside. We pull out toys, and I start playing. Paigey and Nate look at each other, and basically tell me I can't play with them, they want to play alone. Sulking, I stand and watch them for a few moments, hoping they'll let me play too, but they're just enjoying playing with Ryan. I worked on the rocks next to the driveway, and got a nice sized section done in much less time than I anticipated (yay!).

Watching a big tractor coming while playing outside!

 After an hour or so outside, I drag the kicking and screaming kids inside we head in as baby L is waking up from nap. We sit down and have a snack of yummy mango/blueberry/banana smoothies

Paigey loves her smoothie!

Moooom, leave me alone while I drink!

•  When smoothies are done, it's time to do some chores. Instead of doing their jobs as they are asked, they decide to throw toys and books at each other and scream debate about how the chores should be done properly, and as everyone has a different opinion, they don't get done quickly...meaning no picnic lunch or movie, just a plain lunch at the table...where manners are atrocious and more yelling takes place between the kids.

• Nap time couldn't come soon enough, and as Ry and Nate fell asleep right away, I got a nap too! YAY! I hoped and prayed that would help everyone's moods, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
• In the afternoon, we had a thunderstorm move through, and the kids were begging and whining for a movie. I was going to suggest a blanket fort for the movie with popcorn, but the power went off. And back on. And then back off. And back on. I suggested just making a fort to play in, but then the whining got worse. And the fighting started back up. Any activity I suggested was argued over, so I sent Paige and Nate to their rooms to play, and Ry helped me pick up the kitchen while baby L had a snack in her booster chair.

• After L left, Nate said he wanted a McDonald's house for dinner. I told him going out to eat wasn't in the budget, but I'd happily make him chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner (which is what I actually had planned). He said he just wanted the house, not the food, not going to the restaurant, but just the house. I asked him what the house was, and finally, the little light bulb went off in my head and he wanted a Happy Meal! The boxes the food comes in looks like a house, and he wanted the box for his little super heroes to live in to be protected from the bad guys :) I told him I'd find a box downstairs, and he was content with that. We did our daily Bible devotional while dinner cooked, and then picked up the living room. Because the kids picked up fairly well with minor disagreement, we had dinner in the living room and watched a Shaun the Sheep DVD. The kids who ate dinner without a fuss got ice cream sundaes, and the one who didn't went without.

Dinner and a movie :)

• Then it was bath/shower night for the kids, and then bedtime. Paige and Nate passed out right away, but Ry delayed going to bed for hours. He's known for coming back out for half an hour or so, but for 3 1/2 hours he kept coming back out!

Attempting to delay the inevitable bedtime by hiding from Mommy in the dog's crate

 Finally I got him to sleep, and then this tired Momma passed out, too.

 I'm trying to not get frustrated about it, but it's hard not to. Contrary to popular belief, I don't expect my kids to be perfect. I know they're kids, and kids are all over the place. But when almost everything they do is intentionally trying to hurt or upset someone, that makes me upset. They thrive on their routines, and a lot of things were off yesterday, from not seeing Pete in the morning or evening, to Paige being home all day and baby L being around, they were thrown off and stressed. I'm glad we got to do some fun things, and I think the things we did they enjoyed as well.

So far things seem to be going better today, especially the later we get into the day. I'm hoping today keeps going well so we can have lots of fun still. We're anxious for Pete to be home tomorrow, even though we won't get to see him!

How's your weekend going?