18 Days

As I was dropping Zeb off at nursery school on the first day after Thanksgiving break, I mentioned to his teacher how we had only just barely survived the six days at home with our darling children.

"I really can't imagine how we'll make it through two more weeks," I said, thinking ahead to the upcoming winter break.

With a sympathetic look, Zeb's teacher said gently, "There are actually three more weeks until the winter break." Not yet having any children (she's 7 months pregnant with her first), Zeben's teacher couldn't possibly grasp that I was lamenting over the length of the break itself, not the weeks of work remaining before the break. And I don't fault her at all for the misunderstanding. Before Luke and Jaz were born, I was a kindergarten teacher. School vacations, snow days, and national holidays were all much anticipated and cherished. Now that I'm a mom, I feel a little bit differently about these days "off."

It's not that I don't like my children. I actually really like them pretty well most of the time. And it's not that I don't enjoy spending a whole day with them. I truly appreciate the fact that Luke and Jaz only go to school 4.5 days a week and that we have the weekends to indulge in 24-hour days of all mothering all the time. But 18 days of unstructured home time is a lot. Even for a former kindergarten teacher like myself. I admit that I have fantasized from time to time about homeschooling. About taking the kids out of the commercialized culture and filtering every aspect of their lives. But that fantasy involves us living on a farm, growing all of our own food, and being responsible for generating all of our heat and electricity . . . in short, there would be a lot of stuff to do everyday to keep the operation running and to keep the kids busy.

Living as we do, in a 1300 square foot house that is most certainly not on a farm, with winter blustering away at full force outside, finding ways to keep the kids engaged each day (thereby keeping the peace) can make this "break" seem like the opposite of a break. Not that I blame the school system, or anything like that. I mean, after all we made these children, the least we can do is entertain them for a few weeks every now and then.

Today was day 18 of the 18-day "vacation." Tomorrow morning, everyone goes back to school. I think we've handled this time at home surprisingly well. Granted, it was in large part thanks to the dvd player, which managed to keep the kids entertained for at least an hour everyday. In recognition of its excellent service, yesterday we packed up the TV and the dvd player and stuck them in my mom's basement, lest this over-indulgence become a habit. But, to be fair, we did do more than just watch movies. Here are some of the other ways we found to fill our time:

We made shrinky dinks.

before

after

We made blueberry pancakes.

We got naked and ate frozen blueberries.
(Or at least one of us did).

We made houses
out of cut-up cardboard boxes and packing tape.

peeking at Jaz through the windows of my house

Jasper's house

If you drop a "guy" down the chimney, he falls through a hole in the attic floor
and then hits a slide which brings him to the front door.
How cool is that? I'm a cardboard house genius.

Village of cardboard houses with door-to-door train service

We painted wooden snowmen . . .

. . . and made gift wrap using cut-up paper bags,
rubber stamps and ink pads.

Lukas made sushi all by himself.

It was like watching my own private cooking show.

I did not intervene at all.

Not even when I felt positive that his attempt would fail.

And in the end, it was . . .

. . . totally edible!

We took pictures of the growing belly.
(I am so in love).

14 weeks

15.5 weeks

We made soft pretzels.

Our favorite pretzel recipe:

1 and 1/3 cups warm water
2 and 1/4 tsp. baking yeast
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3 cups flour
2 Tbs. melted butter
2 Tbs. coarse sea salt

Proof the yeast in the warm water
Add sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and flour
Knead the dough on a floured surface
Divide the dough into about 12 pieces
Shape pretzels and lay them on greased cookie sheets
Paint them with melted butter
Sprinkle them with coarse salt
Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes
Eat. Moan. Reach for more. Be happy.

We put rubber bands in our hair
and pretended to be aliens.

We took a ride on the washing machine
during the spin cycle.

We made playdough with friends.

Trust me. This is the best playdough recipe ever.

combine in a pot: 2 cups flour
2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup cream of tartar
1/8 cup oil

Stir constantly over medium-high heat
until the mixture magically turns into playdough
Knead on floured surface
Divide in half and add food coloring
(two colors are way more fun than one!
Mixing colors of dough is totally allowed)

Store in a ziploc for several months of fun

And we watched the sun set
. . . a little bit later each day.

It looked like the sky was on fire

And now, just when we're finally getting in the groove, it's time to send the kids back to school. Much to my surprise, I'm not exactly thrilled about it. I will miss them. I will miss the challenge of thinking up something fun to do everyday. I will miss being exceptionally lazy and wearing the same pajamas for 24 36 hours in a row. I will definitely miss not having to pack lunches every day. Sigh.

But I think the kids are ready to go back. And I'm surely excited for 3 hours alone with my sewing machine. I have 18 days worth of ideas stored up and ready to go. Before I know it, I'll probably be dreading the February break. And then the March break. And then the April break.

Or maybe not.