Priorities

I get easily overwhelmed with my duties as a wife and mom. There are days when nothing gets accomplished and I raise my voice way too much. Days when my husband comes home to a messy house and screaming, crazy children. Those type of days happen too often around here. They bring me, our family and our household down.

I have been trying to work on different aspects of our lives the last few months. Trying to get things in order and find some way to handle it all. The last few weeks I have done a lot of thinking. The thought of constantly going to the store, kids in front of the t.v and so on is driving me insane. I want a simpler life. There is no need for me to pack up the kids and move off to some remote location. I can choose to make our lives simple exactly where we are.

We look forward to tax return every year. We have been going to the same woman for 6 years to file. The day we get our W2 hubby is in her office and in about 3-4 days we have cash in hand. Around this time we start making plans for it. Car maintenance, catch up on household things needed, pet shots and treatments, etc. A few months ago I decided that I wanted to take a huge amount of the money and go on a family vacation. Somewhere far, wonderful and let's face it...EXPENSIVE! I kept considering our options and could not decide where to throw our money. I honestly don't want to spend $1,000 or more on a trip. Then it hit me. The ideal family vacation. A place where the 5 of us will all enjoy without the expensive price tag. Sometime between spring and summer we will be spending 3 or 4 days on the beach. We will sight see, souvenir shop, explore and just relax and be. Our days will be filled with waves and sand. The best part is that we will have our wonderful getaway with a 1/3 of the price tag.

If I could replace other parts of our lives with the longing for simplicity we would be off to a great start. So that is what I want to do. This summer instead of my kids sitting in front of the t.v like little mindless puppets they will be outside in our huge garden. I am putting a little kiddie pool in the back of the garden so that when I am tending to the veggies they can run in and out and splash around. Evenings will be spent eating barbecue with the neighbors and the kids running around barefoot.

I am going to be more aware of my family's needs. I will take time to hug my kids that extra time when they just keep coming back for more. I will listen when my husband tells me his goals, feelings, etc. I will spend the extra time in the day or at night when everyone is asleep to shine that last counter top or mop the bathroom floor. I will simplify and let go of things that do not truly matter. Because let's face it....hanging out with this little guy and my other babies is a lot more fun than shopping for yet another pair of shoes.