Prioritizing my weekend

I'm just a mess thinking about this weekend and all that is going to happen. Long weekends always throw me off; I always make all these grand and glorious plans, between wanting family time and attempting to get some house projects completed, I'm always over planning and rarely satisfied.

Paigey is off tomorrow through Monday, and that always throws the balance off with the boys. I remember sibling rivalry when I was little, and I always thought that the fights between my brother and I were the battle between life and death. Now as a parent, I just shake my head and think to myself 'Really? Is it REALLY that important?' The boys will play really well together. Paige and Nate play fairly well together. Paige and Ryan play really well together. But put all three of them together? That's a different story. Activities to keep them all stimulated, but not to overstimulate or get them really tired is going to be a must for the weekend!

Pete is off Saturday through Monday, but is actually leaving around 5:30 am tomorrow and returning around 11 pm on Sunday. He's chaperoning his high school's senior trip to NYC this weekend. I'm struggling with it, partly because he gets to go do fun things (like see 'Phantom of the Opera'!) while I stay here with all three kids by myself, but because this will be the longest we'll have been apart from each other since we've gotten married. Trust me, I understand that 3 days and 2 nights is not a big deal, that some people have to spend months away from their spouse, or some parents may not even have someone to help them when kids get crazy. I don't envy them, and my thoughts, prayers, and support go out to them. Be praying for me this weekend while Pete's away; I'm not feeling well (silly allergies), and lift Pete up in prayer too for a safe trip.

Here's what needs to happen:

• Tomorrow I'm babysitting all day, so it has to be an at home project kind of day
• Call my Dad! We always have a weekly phone call on his day off <3
• Saturday morning I'm supposed to go to my aunt's house, weather permitting, to dig up some concrete pavers that she no longer wants and bring them back here to go around some of my garden beds
• Saturday afternoon/evening we have a birthday party to attend for one of my friends from church
• Sunday morning is church and Sunday school
• Monday morning the kids and I are marching in the Paige's school Memorial day parade

And here's what I'd like to get done:

•  Make the tree for our summer Sunday school class; we're doing the fruit of the spirit, and it's going to display the all the lessons on it
• We have rocks lining one side of our driveway, and they are in dire need of weeding. The plan is to actually take the rocks out, dig up the weeds, lay down plastic, then put the rocks back. It's going to be a lot of work to do that, but it's easier then trying to weed them weekly, and I've tried spraying the weeds before, but it's costly to go that route. I'd like to even just get a section of it done, and may attempt that tomorrow if baby L takes a good morning nap while it's still cool.
• A good cleaning of the house. It's picked up, but it's Dirty. 
• Try to work in the basement a little. Between babysitting so much and home schooling Nate, things were getting pulled out and not getting put back away. We're going to be attempting to move our old couch into the finished side and start turning the play room into a family room, but we can't move the couch off the deck until I clear space for us to bring it in. We just picked up our foosball/air hockey/ping pong table from our neighbor's last night, so things are progressing!
• Work on my never ending list of projects: favicon for RV, drawing for Sarah, finish my handmade item for Nicky, work on VBS decoration plans, work on baby shower things for my sister-in-law's shower that I'm hosting in a couple weeks, start planning my second organizational seminar for church
• Sleep! Or maybe that should be on the need list? Hmmm...
• Take the kids to the park for at least one picnic
• Stay up late with the kids watching a movie in a blanket fort while eating our fill of ice cream
• Do a photo shoot of the kids as a Father's day gift for Pete; what better time to do it than when he's not here?

What am I really going to do? As hard as it may be for me, I'm going to go with the flow and not stress about things. I need to spend as much time with my kids as I can; I'm realizing these moments aren't lasting forever, and I need to make the most of them now rather then look back in regret later. The weeds will be there later, the mess can stay messy for now. Someday (which is coming sooner than I'd like), the kids aren't going to want to build a fort with mom, much less acknowledge that I'm their mom. Who knows when I may get my last chance to hold one of my kids as they fall asleep in my arms, or visit the local park and watch them play. I see a fort, ice cream, and the park in our very near future. And a camera, because I want to document these moments as much as possible.

So this weekend, I'm encouraging you all to relax a little and have fun with your kids. If you don't have children, take a few moments to enjoy the little things in life, whether it be the sound of a rain shower, the smell of a rose, or savoring a good cup of coffee. You will never get these moments back, so cherish them; I promise you, you won't be sorry :)