Much needed time off...

It's the small things in life that make life great. And for me it was having a week off of school. It was such a needed break just to recharge my batteries and take a breather. As much as I love school it pretty much has consumed me this year and I know next year will only be that much harder with having two in different schools and one at home. But for this year it feels like I live at the school, esp since I have 2 at the same school, which means double everything, 2 carpools, 2 requirements for being the cooking mom, lots of laundry, 2 times a week I spend driving groups of kids to school and then watching them at school, multiple clothing changes in the woods and at the creek. Our preschool is an outdoor school in the mtns which is a 30 min drive from our house. I also have double the nighttime meetings, the writing assignments and 2 culimination projects looming in the back of my head. And last week I spent everyday at school just trying to get caught up with all my makeups this semester from missing school time because of Hawaii, Russia and the flu that hit us. And next week my hubby is off (he's a teacher, so they have a week off too) and we will once again be at the boys school all week trying to get ahead on makeups for our time off for our 2nd trip to Russia. We know we will be making one more trip to Russia and I have no idea how I'm going to be able to finish the year off once our daughter comes home. Don't get me wrong...I love our preschool and I'm glad for the opportunity for my boys to be outdoors and all the great friendships our family has made.. but it's a participation school and it's really tiring with 2 in school and an adoption at the sametime and then there's just the rest of everyday life and the workload that goes along with that.

These past 2 months have really taken their toll on me and I have been a roller coaster of emotions. We traveled half way around the world and back in one week and met our daughter for the first time!! I have been exhausted from all the prep required to get there and then the jet lag, adjustment to life and the make ups once back. We also lost a beloved pet and the weeks we spent prior getting her to all her appts, and special medical treatments and watching her not responding to anything we tried and losing her so much more quickly than we had planned was painful. I also spent March touring kindergartens and frustratingly fighting immigration for an important document for our adoption and finally after 6 months getting it. We found out that our son made it into the only kindergarten that I wanted him to go to. No pressure there! What a happy moment that was..boy that took off a lot of stress. He had to go to an assessment at the school and I had to attend a few meetings. The assessment was a little stressful for me as I tend to worry and I wasn't allowed to be present, so I didn't really know how he did until I went in for a meeting and found out he had been accepted. Yeah! And shortly after we came home my aunt past away fairly unexpectedly which has been very, very hard and left me raw to the bone both with her passing and the anger that seems to consume my extended family. And now we are hearing that we may be traveling once again to Russia for our daughter maybe before the end of the month. The highs and lows of these past 2 months and just being exhausted all the time trying to meet all of these various tasks...it has been so hard! And then to have all our birthdays in these two months...my daughter's, my hubby's, mine, both our sons...it's crazy!

So...selfishly I'm grateful for this week off and have done very little to get ready for anything beyond this week. Which I'm sure I will regret on Monday. But for today, I have this week. And what a beautiful week it has been. Thank goodness! Time off has been so great! A chance to break from the everyday routine and mix it up. So far this week we have gotten to have a playdate with a friend, sleep in and have a pj day where we stayed in our pjs all day and hung out at home, camped in the living room with our lanterns, made pb and banana muffins together, and worked in the garden planting our veggies and flowers, gone on bike rides and stroller rides, played in the sand and water and tomorrow we will have an early b-day party for me. The kids are looking forward to playing with their cousin and the ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. And the best part? I went to bed at 8pm everyday so far. That never would have happened in a regular week.

It has been so fun just having this time this week just to be together and really be together presently in the moment and enjoy. The boys are changing so much. My oldest has outgrown all his pants and shirts. He has been especially kind to his brother this week and has helped him in so many ways. My youngest is telling the most amazing stories. It's been so fun to hear what he comes up with. It's hard to believe that at the end of April and the beg of May they each will turn a year older...I will then have a 3 year old and a 5 year old. The boys play so well together. Their laughter has been my greatest medicine..that and sleep. I'm so happy they have each other to grow up with. And I pray that they remain close and kind to one another throughout their life. We are hoping to bring our daughter home soon and I'm excited to see the 3 together and watch them all grow up. I think each of them has so much to bring to one another and I hope that they will all be the best and closest buds that siblings can be.

And the one thing I hope to take from this week is to appreciate the small things that make life sweet..to take deeper breaths and to overall do less and just enjoy being for awhile. Now how I can incorporate that into my crazy life I still need to figure out.

Here's my beautiful boys this week....