Hi ho, hi ho...

It's back to work he goes. My husband's return to work is tinged with sadness. It means those endless Summer days playing outside with the kids, eating copious amounts of ice cream and jumping in the car for a drop of the hat, day trip are behind us once more. Being married to a teacher is, for the most part, really great. The ten odd weeks of each term are spent rarely speaking to our house man because he's up to his neck in planning, correcting and reporting (those teachers get it so easy!?). All the while we eagerly anticipate our regular two week stint in free form, home life. It sometimes feel like we live for those two glorious weeks at the end of each term.
Conflictingly however, after what seems like an eternity in indulgence and lack of routine, I start to count the days until the two children and myself happily wave "hooroo, have a good day" as he trundles off for his first day of term. (I just re-read that last sentence and got an image of a grown man in too big school shorts and one of those hats with a back flap miserably traipsing out the door. Te, he!)
After several weeks doing whatever we please the bank account is looking miserable, I'm starting to waddle from an ongoing Christmas binge and the kids think every day is a special day and expect to be showered with treats. Yes, the time has come and we will all be better for it.
It's taken me a while, and at times I still struggle to accept my role for what it is. I stay home and run a household. I'm raising two kids to be great kids, and if I do say so myself, they are. Yes, they do leap over the furniture and fight like cat and cat (far more seriously than cat and dog) but that just shows they've got spirit, doesn't it?
So when the house man went back to work last week, so did I. It feels good to be back at it, too. I've been baking like a... well, baker. I whipped up the curtains in the picture from my daughters room (pink gingham, so cute) and rounded out the sewing session by whipping up a dress for her too. I've also relaxed into the staying home with the kids thing, letting them have that all important unstructured play. They've been splashing in and drinking lots of pool water, the sandpit is getting a workout and I'm introducing my daughter to the delicate art of sewing seeds. It's a nice contrast to her usual pulling the leaves and buds off everything.
This year has started nicely. I'm making a conscious effort to keep the organised activities to a minimum because I've finally worked out, after three and a half years, this is what it's all about. My kiddlies have never set foot in childcare, although I've pondered it. They do only one organised activity each at a time, this term it's swimming for both, and I've opted out of three year old kinder. It costs lots and I think the sight of my precious little boy swamped by a uniform at three would reduce me to tears. While everyone around me is sending their kids off to fab things like movement classes, art for littlies and dancing, I'm swimming against the tide (I tend to do that a bit). While I don't know if it's the right thing to do, I'm going to stick with it. They're only little for a tiny while, but they'll be grown up for yonks. It's a precious time, long may it last.

I also think, to be the awesome image of Susie homemaker I have in my head, it's really important to pursue things that have no relevance to parenting. Buntyandsars is that thing for me. Although, very often it is influenced by my tikes. They are my muse (one stands beside me now playing me a delightful Fisherprice tune on a plastic sax). So, in between all the cooking, cleaning and Mummying over the past week, I've managed to finally get my new colouring book to a printable stage. It's aimed at little girls (although my son lives it more than my daughter). It contains five pages of colour in hair clips and should be all printed and bound by weeks end. I'm still pondering a name, so any suggestions would be awesome.
After careful contemplation of my diary, it turns out my first confirmed market is not until March. It seems so far off, but I may well be able to fit in the development of yet another of my new colouring book ideas. Stay tuned. As I type, my son is desperate for a story so it looks like it's back to "work" for me!