This is it. The final day before summer is officially over and the kids head back to school. As I hear them fighting in the other room over a waffle that one child purposely took a bite out of so her brother would be grossed out and not eat it, I have to say, I cannot wait until I pack them up and ship them off to school tomorrow morning. Granted, it’s only for half a day but I have to admit, it can be pretty exhausting trying to figure out what you can do to keep your kids busy when they’re not at camp and not at school and none of their friends are around for play dates.
Today I thought I was going to get a reprieve since my babysitter was returning from vacation but something suddenly came up and I had to figure out how I was going to juggle work and keep my kids entertained in the process. Note to parents: HBO on Demand works incredibly well in these situations. They are currently watching Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, my son is noshing on his new waffle and no one is arguing. Ah, heaven.
Unfortunately, the silence will only last about another hour before the kids come in asking me what else they can do today. Make that 10 minutes – my daughter just came in to ask me what’s on the agenda. Luckily, I do have one friend coming over for a play date which means my son is the odd man out so I’ll have to think of something to keep him happy while the girls head off to my daughter’s room to pick out her outfit for her first day of school. I’m finding that Pokemon card bribery works well in these situations.
After the outfit is selected, I’m sure the girls will hang around upstairs for at least 10 more minutes until they call out asking what else they can do. Lucky for them, my friend and I have agreed to take them to Bellizi – a restaurant nearby that features a supervised game room. That way, we can order salads and catch up on our respective summer vacations while the kids come over to our table every five minutes or so begging for more quarters.
By 3 pm, we’ll take the kids to the playground or bike riding or some activity away from a computer or television screen and then afterwards, it’ll be ice cream truck time. If I have time, I may squeeze in a haircut for my son’s unruly mop top and a mani/pedi for me and my daughter (ah, dare to dream). And before we know it, it’ll be 6 pm and their dad will walk in the door and take over so I can get back to work.
Less than 24 hours and counting before the first day of school. Yippee!
Role Mommy 3.0