65 Degree Mom

Today I need to clean bathrooms, fold laundry and vacuum my whole house.  So, I decided to sit down and write a blog post instead.  My first of 2014!  I love Tuesdays.  All three kids are at school and I usually don't have to go into work, so it's a day all to myself.  But, it's 9:30am right now and, in the blink of an eye, it will be 3:30 and Lily will be dropped off and I'll be heading out the door to pick up Sophie and Max.  And the quiet will all be over.

Don't get me wrong.  I love my kids.  I would give my life to protect them.  But lately, I worry I might strangle them with my own bare hands.  The constant fighting, the constant messes, and the snotty attitudes are wearing on my last nerve.  This winter has turned me into a terrible mom.  Too much screen time.  Too much yelling.  Too many days trapped inside.  Lily keeps saying, "It's almost summer, Mom."  But she's wrong.  I'm losing faith that I'll ever see summer again.

I'm a better summer mom than I am a winter mom.  I don't like to do winter things.  The one and only time I've ever been downhill skiing my brother left me in a heap on the side of a mountain and it left a bad taste in my mouth.  I'm not coordinated enough for ice-skating and it just looks like a whole lot of cold anyway.  Snow-shoeing and cross country skiing sound like more work than fun with a four-year-old in tow.  I'm chilly even on a warm day; I'm just not built for these long Minnesota winters.

I like heading to the park to play Monster tag (moms are monsters, kids run and scream a lot).  I like sitting on the patio with a glass of wine while my husband grills dinner and my kids run around with the neighbor boys.  I like hiking (no cliffs!) and camping and going to the beach.  I love being outside...but only when it's above 65 degrees.
 
But somehow I always manage to survive.  If only because of hot coffee and my electric blanket.  This is the worst winter that I can remember, and I suppose I'll survive this one, too.  But maybe a shot of Bailey's in that hot coffee wouldn't hurt.