Reset Button

Adjusting to being a working mom and having older kids has been sort of hard for me this year. I have loved my jobs and the feeling of independence and helping the family. I also love seeing my kids get older and who they are becoming. But! I truly loved being a stay-at-home mom to all my little babies for the past decade. I miss it.  

I also miss the slower pace of life when they were small. I miss who we were as a family--dinner times together, slow rolling weekends, board games, dance parties in the kitchen, playing make believe in the backyard and watching movies together.

Lately I feel like I am just driving people everywhere, annoying my older kids, yelling at everyone about electronics, dancing in the kitchen alone and just being tired all the damn time. Most of that time we are split up and all over town at different events. 

We had this friend once who said when he and his wife were fighting and life was kind of crazy and not working, they would have a date night and spend real quality time together. He said it was like hitting the reset button. They remembered who they were as a couple and what they liked about each other.

This past weekend, we got to hit the reset button on our family. We had less games and activities to go to and the weather was nice and neither Tim or I had to work. So, we hung out together, we cheered each other on, we slow rolled our days, we ate on the front porch, we did yard work, we played board games, we watched movies, we played make believe in the back yard.

We remembered who we were/are as a family.

Finally warm enough for breakfast on the front porch!

We are silly and wrestle-y (whether I like it or not, lol).

We are active and sport-y.

Lucy's first year of softball is going great.
She's having a lot of fun. 

Active means getting outside and exploring as much as possible too. JT and I are really good at that.

Even though we are the family that forgets the snack for the team, we get really excited when the other families remember and we get to eat it. (The picture below is after the game after the parents told the kids where snack was. It was the fastest Wade ran that whole day.)

He was really excited about snack! Lol.

We help each other.

JT was helping Wade with his swing before his game.

We are inconsistent with chores and allowance, but when we ask, the kids usually do them with only mild eye rolls. Boosh!

We like board games. And being silly and beating each other and laughing.

Even though we forget because life gets crazy and we are all getting older, playing make believe in the backyard is pretty amazing.

I'm adjusting to this new phase in life.....well at least I'm trying. Aging and time are just weird. 

Weekends like these help. I love slowing down enough to look around at all that we have to be grateful for and remembering who we are and what we love about each other.

And hey, I didn't have to dance alone in my kitchen on Saturday night. Wade had a dance party/dance off with me!

Saturday nights were made for dance offs, in the kitchen. Duh! 🙌💃❤️🤘🏻😜😂 #dance #kitchendance #danceoff

A video posted by Angela Youngblood (@jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed) on May 21, 2016 at 6:09pm PDT