President's Day play date

When the weather was so gorgeous this weekend I just assumed it was very temporary, but I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the weather forecast this morning and saw it's supposed to be warmer than usual the whole week! The high on Friday is supposed to be 69! Wow! This morning I did an art project with the kids that used oil pastels and Bombay ink. Then after lunch I went and picked up Claire and Sophie, and they spent four hours with us. They met the guinea pigs, played on our pianos,

and jumped on the trampoline. Then we walked to the playground. I let Oliver ride in the stroller although those days are coming to an end for him. It was heavenly out! I got exercise three days in a row. Yahoo!

One thing I've noticed about parenting is that it's very easy to feel like you are failing in some way. Not that I was a perfect teacher, principal, or professor, but I never wrestled with those feelings or thoughts when I was a educator. Sometimes they crop up because of the way the kids are behaving. I realize that even if I was a perfect parent, it wouldn't guarantee my children would behave perfectly. They bear responsibility for their behavior, but I also know that at times their ill behavior is because I have not done or said something I should have as their mother. Similarly, it's easy to see what others are doing with their kids and again think - I should be doing more of xyz with my kids. I'm not a very artsy, craftsy person for one thing.

One thing I recently felt compelled to do more of is inviting kids over to our house. The kids do play outside with some neighbors from time to time, but I haven't scheduled very many "play dates" over the years. Baylee is coming over in a couple of weeks, and Sophie and Claire came over today. Next, I am planning to invite a boy from Ian's soccer team over to our house. It hit me today that when the public school has a day off, like today for President's Day, that would be a great day to invite Claire and Sophie over to our house. Claire and Nadia are both in third grade. Claire turned nine in September. Sophie is in second grade; she'll turn eight in May. Ian is in first grade. The girls knew some of our neighbors from school. The boys were shooting them with a water gun when they were on the trampoline. At one point there were I think seven kids on the trampoline, and Oliver wasn't one of them. Today we're thankful for friends, warm weather in February, blue skies, fresh air, and exercise.