Mommy and Her Boys: August 2008

Tonight Colin was trying anything and everything to get out of staying in his bed. He had to go to the bathroom. He needed some water. He found clothes in his backpack. Then the last time was because he needed to wash his hands. I had had it by this point, so I told him very firmly he could wash his hands (because I didn't want to discourage hygiene, of course) and then back in bed and absolutely NO more getting out of bed for the rest of the night. So he starts washing his hands while I'm standing next to him, and he looks up and says, "You pretty, Mommy. You get your hair cut?" Seriously. He's 3 and already knows how to work the ladies. I went from crabby Mommy to beaming Mommy in about 2 seconds. He's just too cute not to love *sigh*

This past weekend, the boys & I, along with Amy and her son Sean, headed up to Mackinac Island to stay with our friend Rebecca and her family. It was a much needed mini-vacation for all of us, and it was so much fun!

We took a 20min boat ride over to the Island and I was nervous about how Colin would react. As soon as we got to the dock, he took off running because he was so excited to ride on the "big boat". And he loved every second of the boat ride. Jackson was pretty indifferent - he sat in the stroller eating Chee.rios the whole time, and even spared a few for Sean.

While on the Island, we managed to eat everything in sight. Exactly what you're supposed to do on vacation, right??? We took a carriage ride (although we didn't get 2 brown horses pulling the carriage like Colin wanted, which of course led to a complete meltdown, but we did get 1 brown horse at least). We shopped in all of the souvenir shops and I managed to only buy one item - a blanket since I needed it at Bec's house. We mostly just enjoyed being outside, chatting, and letting the kids play together.

Other than a crazy dinner on Saturday, the entire weekend was virtually stress-free. I know kids will be kids, but when you're a single parent of 2 little boys who are hungry and one is out past his bedtime, you're definitely in for a bit of a rough patch on the parenting front. And I'll be honest, once I tend to feel overwhelmed as a single parent, it's all downhill for me. That's pretty much what happened at dinner Saturday night. Fortunately my friends understood my kids acting up (since they have kids themselves), but it's still stressful when you feel like the whole restaurant is staring at you and wondering why you can't control your kids. I do what I can, but the truth is that there's 2 of them and only 1 of me. Ahhh, the joys of single parenthood.

So in a nutshell, the weekend was a blast and hopefully Bec and her family didn't regret inviting all of us up there ;) Enjoy the pics!

Future Mr. & Mrs.???