There was a time when people would say, "You are so lucky to work at home and spend lots of time with your kids." Hmmm... is that an oxymoron - Work/Kids? No one says that to me anymore. I stopped speaking to those people many, many years ago. Plus, I actually leave the house every few days now, so I am not always working at home. But even with my son in HS and my daughter in daycare most of the day, I get almost nothing accomplished when they are around. I am in the habit of doing all the phone calls, meetings, fix what is broken at Wingdoodle  stuff during the day. Then I try to do the laundry, dishes, groceries, fill orders at the Belfry stuff after I pick my daughter up. (I've gotten really efficient lately - I can fill TWO orders in three hours now!) I look forward to my daughter going to bed so that I can FINALLY concentrate on my online classes, writing, email, all that stuff that needs my full attention. But alas, that's when my son needs rides to and from rehearsals for band, drama and dance. Then he needs to talk (I AM grateful that he still talks to me!!) So...THEN... I start working for "real". When my brain is mush and just wants to lie on the couch and watch "Merlin" and "Glee." Yes, I go to bed around 2am. No, this schedule is not sustainable. (Remember, I run away to a hotel in Maine to write my books?)
But - on the lighter side of things, I thought I'd share with you some of the things that I do with my daughter when I am not accomplishing anything that pays my mortgage. I tried to photograph some of the things that I do with my son, but I have learned that HS kids are a bit like vampires- they don't "appear" in photos. (He was just in The Snow Queen ballet this weekend and I'll post some shots of that later, if there are any.)

The neighbor's Halloween snowman inspired us to draw...
We decided these are "tangles"
Visited by inspiration with whiskers...
Weird picture! looks like the cat is climbing my shadow-leg and standing on our box of chalk.
Lilah was inspired by the cat! Why not lie down in the warm sun? Uh-OH! A sneeeeee-EZE - Bleh!
A "pajama day" includes a walk downtown. Don't you wish you looked this great in pj's?
The perfect red leaf. And it MATCHES her outfit! Yes, polka dotted fleece nightgowns go with anything. I'm not sure about Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse. Aren't they natural enemies? or at least licensing competitors?
Another pajama day... and a tea party! The cups change color with cold water, the sugar bowl has brown sugar, and Lilo (the cat) has her own dish. The towel (king Tut!) is a necessity - we have had MANY wet tea parties.
Gingerbread time! Lilah wore her apron inside out so she wouldn't get the nice side dirty. What? Are those pajamas underneath?! Doesn't this child ever wear clothes?!
Her favorite part? Flouring... everything.
Just so you don't start thinking I am a wonderful, domesticated-mom-type, notice the roll of Pillsbury dough in the background...
We even had some Moomintroll characters!
Perfect! (And yummy.)
And we set up the Christmas Village. Any CZTs out there may notice that our "snow" is the fluff from the jewelry boxes used for ZT class kits. I also discovered that two of the houses are burnt out and only one of the two outlets in the dining room still works. Ah, holiday cheer.
And, when I came up to my studio this evening to write this blog post, I had to step over this... Unicorn Ranch Parade(?) which I am NOT supposed to move. (For a week?!)

Leave 'em dancing, right? So here is one last little gem... this is my "working" studio. I was asked by my little performer to please get my clutter off the table because she had important things to do on it...

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Kids Thoughts