Ring, ring…Hello, real life calling

Ah, vacation, you have ended so soon.  I will miss you.

I’m back from a week away, visiting my excellent in-laws.  We had a great time.  Sadly, we’re now back to reality.  I’m parenting on my own for the next two weeks, as my husband is out of town taking some classes.

As I type, my kids are off at dance camp.  They’re meeting some of their new instructors and (I hope) having a great time.  Over vacation, they were too busy to think about what they would be doing after we came home.  But today, they were full of talk about camp and what they might get to do there.

I have to say, it’s awfully quiet without them.  It was strange, going to the grocery store without even my daughter in tow.  Peaceful, too, actually.  Shopping with them gives me a brain cramp.  I can take them to the toy store and they won’t beg for even a single toy.  They like to window shop, plan what they might save up their money to buy, and choose gifts for their friends.  But I can’t take them to the grocery store without hearing the words, “Mom, can we buy that?” in nearly every aisle.

I don’t even get it.  I mean, they ask me for weird things.  I could understand if they were begging for candy or sugary cereals like normal children.  But no.  My kids have to ask if we can buy cans of mushrooms or packages of dish sponges.  Things they neither like nor use.  When I ask why they want something like that, my son rolls his eyes and says, “You should get it for you and Dad.”

Because we could all use more mushrooms and dish sponges, right?

Anyway, it was nice to finally make it around the store alone.  Plus, it was considerably less expensive, although I think that has more to do with only having three of us at home and planning smaller meals.  I generally don’t give in to the kids’ demands for prune juice and extra hot Italian sausages.  I managed to get to both grocery stores, drive home, and unpack everything in less than an hour.  Everyone, please be warned, this may be a sign of the apocalypse.

So now that I’ve eased into things, I should be back to blogging more regularly.  I have several hours free every day for the next three weeks while the kids are at various camps.  Should be fun.  Having homeschooled for the last several years, I don’t think I’ve had this much time without the kids since before I had them.  That means that I can give my blog posts for the rest of the week a lot more attention than I gave this one.  Stay tuned, I may say something brilliant at any moment.