Hello Monday, Hello World

Round and round the Earth spins and plops us all down at the beginning of another week. Hello Monday. Hello world. I greet you with some reluctance. It would be far nicer to wake up to Saturday morning again instead. But, with the speed at which time passes around here, I don't have long to wait for the next weekend.

In the corner of the Blogspere I travel through there is a great deal written about living mindfully and with intention. Those ideas resonate with me. That is something Smooch and I try to do together as parents as well as in our individual lives. At it's most basic; living with intention is awareness of how our words, actions, and attitudes affect one another and the children. We are constantly talking about what we are doing, how it is working, and what we can change. Change for us both comes slowly... for example pretty much daily we both remind each other that screaming at the kids in frustration is fruitless and unnecessarily exhausting.

And yet change does come. This weekend we implemented a little tweak to our routine that I think made a huge difference. We woke up together both Saturday and Sunday.

Normy has always been an extremely early riser. I mean like before 5:00 early. In the last year, Georgia has joined him. Now they both get up at the crack of dawn. And surprise! Lola now gets up that early too. It's just habit. It's as though the first child awake sets off some sort of chain-reaction and telepathically urges the rest of the siblings to rise and join the party. As long as I have the coffee pot set and ready to run the night before, I usually greet the day with minimal bitterness. Usually. 

Well, for years now our operating procedure has been to split the weekend. So, Saturday was Smoochy's day to sleep-in and Sunday was my day. We reasoned that ONE day to sleep to your heart's content was better than none. But, really it seemed to cause all sorts of anxieties. For example, keeping our children quiet in the morning takes an act of God... or a Disney movie. I don't know about your kids, but if mine start the day with TV it's all down hill from there. It's like the rest of the day they are spun-up, distracted, and simply can't play. But, if left to their own devices in the morning they create too much ruckus to sleep through. Whoever was attempting to stay in bed often emerged disgruntled and grumpy long before they wanted.

As for me, even when I knew MY TURN was just around the corner it never stopped me from being resentful on Smoochy's morning. Plus, we never ended up DOING anything on the weekends because by the time we were all finally awake and on the same page half the day was over, it was nearly time fore lunch and naps! It just wasn't working.

This past weekend we did something new and outrageous: We all got up together BOTH days. And it was wonderful. The whole weekend just flowed. No one stumbling out of bed screaming, "WHY IS THERE SO MUCH NOISE!" No morning TV. Someone to drink coffee with. We were able to work together to get the kids fed, dressed, and around. We even left the house. We went out to the paint store and for groceries. There was laughter and playing children... it felt like a real weekend. 

And the extra couple hours of sleep? I didn't miss them. It was far more refreshing to spend GOOD time as a family and feel partnership with my man.

So, what all did we do this weekend? The usual. Pained, Knit, Baked. I'm not ready to show you bathroom progress because... Well, because it isn't done. But there is progress! 

What I can share is a recipe I invented for a solid loaf of zucchini bread. My family survives on sweet bread. Part of my strategy to cope with such an early start to the day is the ability to plop a piece of sweet bread, a cutie, and a cup of milk in front of my voracious early birds. I can make sweet bread in my sleep, and can mix it up according to what I have on hand. I was particularly happy with this loaf, so if you have some lovely Mexican zucchini in your fridge waiting for just the right thing, this might be what you need.

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

1 stick of butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cups finely shredded zucchini

Mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in egg and sour cream. Slowly add dry ingredients. Mix until moistened. Fold in zucchini. Bake in a greased and floured bread pan @ 350 for an hour or so until toothpick inserted pulls out clean. (Mine baked for and hour and ten) 

And because I can't go a week without pictures of my kids napping...

This post brought to you courtesy of Nap Time!

*Clearly this is the post I started yesterday. And I have no idea why Georgia chose to nap on the floor. I guess the carpet is pretty soft.