Stay at Home Mom.com

Ok, so it’s Saturday afternoon and I am thinking “a maid and a housekeeper would be really really nice right about now”. It has been a great day of spring cleaning but now I am ready to put my feet up for awhile and everyone running around the house is still about 30 minutes away from realizing that they are really hungry and it’s dinner time. The microwave is a great thing but on a nice family day it is nice to have what at least appears to be a nice home cooked meal. So, on nights like tonight I have a new secret weapon. My frozen veggies. I take out frozen chicken (usually breast pieces but sometime chicken tender pieces) a bag of mixed frozen veggies and some kind of sauce. Tonights dinner is spaghetti sauce poured over the frozen veggies and frozen chicken. Then I mix everything up - no prep work - and put it in the oven covered by foil. I set the timer for 50 minutes and check it. If the chicken is still not done I cut it into smaller pieces and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
So now, in 30 minutes when everyone starts thinking about dinner, I can focus my attention on getting their hands washed and helping them set the table and making some toast or heating up some dinner rolls, pouring glasses of milk and getting everyone gathered around the table. It is lovely.
On some nights I use a can of cream of mushroom soup as the sauce and then crumble up some tortilla chips on top at the very end. They all think I have this huge variety of recipes when actually it is just chicken some frozen veggies and whatever sauce is in the cupboard.
Bon Appetit!

Today is the last day of school before summer break. At our house we have a mix of public educated and homeschooled kids. Today is a very exciting day for all of them. They are all cleaning out their desks in preparation for the next phase of their education. My daughter is so excited because this afternoon she will technically be considered a first grader.
The strangest thing about today was that I felt like I was graduating along with them this morning. I haven’t had this feeling for a long time. This morning though I felt those same anxious and excited feelings I remember from leaving one grade behind and looking forward to another (unknown but exciting) phase of my education. This morning I am graduating from a Stay at Home Mom with small children in the house to a Stay at Home Mom with only big kids in the house.
This morning the sun was up early and so was my baby. My baby of course is no longer a baby but a big boy who is no longer in diapers and who is registered to begin kindergarten next fall and who had a coherent conversation with the school principle when we signed him up for class. Can this be possible. My darling baby…capable of life without mommy. This morning he was up early. He came in to wake me up - normally it is the other way around. So, I asked him to wake up his sister so that she could get ready for school. I got up, jumped in the shower, got dressed and went downstairs where the two of them were sitting happily at the breakfast table having a bowl of cereal.
OK so basically, this was a very uneventful morning but at the same time it was a huge event. My darling little kids who I have stayed home with all these years have become big kids.
It is graduation day for all of us.