Tuesday, July 13, 2010

holidays

We are in the middle of the holidays here and life has taken on a slightly more relaxed mood around here. One of the things I appreciate most at the moment is mornings like these:
I love our mornings of lying in bed (excuse the bad photo) where we all read our books, or if they are very lucky (which they always are) I read to them.
Recently there was a public holidays and at 9.30am there was a knock on the door. Someone that I had studied with needed some help. She was shocked to find that I hadn't got up yet and for a moment I felt guilty - especially because not only were we still in bed, but the house was trashed!!! Anyway, later I thought about it and I thought "do I want to be remembered as the mother with the very clean house who was very organised, or the mother who was happy to let it all go to play". I choose the latter :) Don't get me wrong, my house was cleaned up the very next day when they had all gone back to school, but when they are around I've decided to relax a bit.

So, what do you do after a morning in bed......
You teach the kids self sufficiency with basic cooking lessons - today it's french toast and freshly squeezed orange juice. For the record, the eggs are from our chooks and the oranges from our tree :) and yes, I love that I can say that!!

Enjoy your day
l
x

17 comments:

Mary Welsh Hubbard said...

I'm with you sister! I would rather have a trashed house and a lot of laughs with my kids than a spotless tomb for a house with miserable kids!

Kris said...

Holidays at your house look lovely!!!

Leanne said...

Oh yes those are just the things I love about the holidays too. btw we had french toast for our last lazy breakfast on sunday...except not from your girls unfortunately. Lucky you!

Sue said...

I like this post very much. My kids are grown up, 20 and 16 and I now work full time and miss the school holidays with the lack of routine that helped make them special. I always remember the embroidery someone in my stitching group was doing 17 or 18 years ago when I was feeling overwhelmed by keeping a tidy house when I really wanted to play with my daughter or sew, "Dull women have immaculate houses!"

Chookyblue...... said...

sounds like perfect fun to me........enjoy time with the kids as they will be gone in no time........then you can keep a clean house......
french toast is a favorite in our house too........

karen said...

looks like perfect school holidays:) ive been eating oranges from mum and dads tree, home grown oranges are the best!
Im sure your kids much prefer your time than a tidy house, thats for sure

Gina said...

You are my parenting heroine.

Jantine said...

You are right, that is the most important. Enjoy your holidays!

Pip said...

Having fun is more important than a clean and tidy house. Yum, french toast, that sounds like a good idea for this weekend, good for you teaching the kids cooking skills.

dineke said...

sounds like my kind of day off,I always loved lazy days with my girls.Now we still have them but we just have to travel further to get together.

Karen said...

You are an awesome Mum and you have an awesome house Levineke!!!

Love this post, it is also awesome (my word of the day ;) )

Oh and if you don't already know, I'll never be knocking on your door at 9.30am on a Sunday....mainly because I am still in bed too - haha.

Kx

Unknown said...

I so agree with you ! Go play with your kids , they grow up so quickly !

karen said...

hi, i gave you an award on my blog

Jenny said...

Sounds like bliss-what a lovely mum you are and they will have such wonderful memories:)How nice must your own chook eggs taste!!

quiltygal said...

So did you point out that she was being EXTREMELY rude by turning up unannounced & on a Public holiday!!
She could of rung first so you could of made an excuse up to not be available!!
Id rather be known as untidy or even lazy than rude LOL send her round here & I dont even have young kids...

Barbara said...

This is the first time I have come across your blog and it's a real pleasure to find someone with a lack of shame that the house comes second to the kids and fun time with them. I was always like that; the housework got done but it had to fit into our life rather than the other way round. My daughters are now 23 and 21, still bookworms, and if I ever make a comment about not having been the perfect housekeeper, they both tell me that if they have children, they want to be a mother like me. That, for me, is the highest praise. Enjoy your spring!

Barbara said...

This is the first time I have come across your blog and I got great pleasure from your staying in bed and reading. For me housework got done but always had to fit into our lives, not the other way around. My daughters are now 23 and 21 and if I make a comment about not having been a perfect housekeeper, they both say that if they have children they want to be a mother like me. The best kind of praise. We live in Germany and my daughters now live in England - I really miss those lazy holidays with them. Enjoy your Spring - Autumn has just begun for us.