I really just don't like Monday mornings. In the immortal words of the annoying coworker on Office Space, "Someone has a case of the Mondays!"

For me, oftentimes, unless I've just been Supermom on the weekends, Mondays mean catching up from all the dishes (no dishwasher in a house built in 1925), laundry, scattered toys, and miscellaneous projects that accumulated over the weekend. I try to keep on top of it, but if I allow myself to rest (Imagine that! Rest?! On a Sunday?! Remarkable!) a bit and spend some family time together, then Mondays end up me waking up with that feeling of Ugh.

On top of that, when a mom goes a while without making sure she has a break from her kids to rejuvenate (or has had a head cold for three days, whichever comes first...), she begins to fall into a rut. As in a ... 'Kids, don't hurt yourselves while I just try to focus on housework rut' which then ensues into a 'Why are you guys getting in my way and creating more messes?!' feeling.

Lately, I have caught myself feeling that more and more, and I have to mentally stop and remind myself- hey-- THEY are the reason why you are even at home. You're not a stay at home housekeeper. It's called a stay at home mom. I'm here for them.

But, as many of you may know, it gets hard filling that role meaningfully. Some days are just an attempt to survive the day and hopefully not be a grouch at the end of it.

I stumbled across this post on the Toddled Dredge (great blog, by the way!) discussing finding meaning and pursuing ambitions while being a stay at home mom. In her blog, she mentions The Lilting House's (another great blog) Rule of Six (based on Charlotte Mason principles). I was intrigued.

These are the thing she focuses on every day with her kiddos:

• meaningful work
• imaginative play
• good books
• beauty (art, music, nature)
• ideas to ponder and discuss
• prayer

What a great idea! I love these thoughts. Being a former Elementary Ed. student (and holding a degree in that), structure and goals in day-to-day stuff really appeals to me. The youngest kids I worked with, in a school setting, were three year olds, so I didn't have much to go on as far as goals for a 2 and a 1 year old... but these, these definitely fall into something we can do.

I'm not sure how we're going to go about it, but I feel like I need to build some time into my day where I am making sure I'm focusing on the kids and some activities with them... otherwise it's way to easy to get caught up in all of my Oh So Important adult goals for the day.

I'm also excited because they are helping answer a prayer of mine: to find a way to incorporate our spiritual lives naturally into the regular things we do each day. That is such a hard thing for me to do... it's so easy to compartmentalize that into "this is prayer time" and "this is bible time" or whatever.

Well, now that I've ignored my children long enough with this blog entry, ;) (they are actually participating in Imaginative Play at the moment on our screened in porch with an instrument set, a corn popper toy, and a bike), it's time for me to start the day.

Have a great one!