Mostly Happy Easter

I am a day late, but I hope all of you enjoyed lovely Easters with your families. We hosted two couples for Easter lunch, and we were all having such a nice time chatting that they stayed for an impromptu dinner too.

Today I am enjoying the novelty of a mostly clean house, due to the intensive cleaning which I did on Saturday while DH kept the children entertained and out of my hair. Most of the toys are put away, the shelves and cubbies are mostly organized, my laundry is mostly washed and my dishes are mostly clean. As I play catch-up today, it has occurred to me that "mostly" can describe the state of my house (you guessed it) most of the time! It's just impossible to attain a 100% clean and organized house with preschoolers, so I am learning to treasure the "mostly" moments like today that creep in quietly and exit with a sigh as the coming weeks wreak their havoc on our house.

My children are pushing my buttons now that it's the end of the day. It is certainly "the witching hour" in our house, that last part of the day when tempers are short and bodies are exhausted from a long day. They are both changing so much now though--another spurt of brain development and bodies stretching out. DS has moved up yet again in shoe size. I see echoes of the future when I'm going to be hard-pressed to keep this kid clothed. DD is trying out new behaviors on us, some received with considerable more attention than others. She is picking up the unsavory habit of talking back at school, and so we have instituted a new behavior board in her room and she can earn points, or lose points, for her behavior. If she earns enough points, she can buy rewards, ranging from candy bars to a trip to Red Robin. Heady stuff for a three year old!

I'm trying to retrain myself after falling off the wagon again with Easter decorating and clothing madness. Still doing the LBYM thing, we just didn't do so well this month on the old debt snowball. Two steps forward, etc, so I'm putting it behind me and moving on. On the plus side, we are going to be booking our trip to Ireland to visit DH's family this week, so I'm excited about that! The in-laws got tired of waiting for us to book, as we were adamant about not spending more than we've saved on airfare. So, they have chipped in basically the price difference between our budget and what flights are going for now, and we are going to be able to book! They want those dates fixed so they can enjoy their anticipation of our visit, and that's fine by me--hey, they are paying for the privilege! Now I just have to get online and find a good deal on those GoGo Babyz Travelmate things to make life easier in the airports with the carseats. One transatlantic flight without such a device has convinced us it is worthwhile to invest in two!

So that's where I'm at, head-space wise. My parents arrive on Friday for a week's visit, which will be really nice. I'd like to find money in the budget to go out to dinner with DH, but it's not there at the moment so unless my parents offer us some cash and a night out on them, it won't be happening. That's okay. I'll just be happy for a good family visit with no fighting between my brother, his wife, or my parents. And I will probably settle for a mostly good visit. And that's okay.