Sunday is like our least restful day of the week.

Thanks to the kids, we're up at the crack of dawn, and thanks to our Halloween fun, we had to do all the boring house crap we usually do on Saturday (dust all the blinds, wash all the bedding, clean out the fridge and cabinets, plan meals, make our grocery list) in addition to all of our Sunday drudgery.

This week, we planned and shopped for 5 meals even though we are only going to be home for 2.5., which was a giant budget fail and a waste of time and freezer space.

On Sundays, we leave the house early, so that we can shop at as many freaking grocery stores as possible.

He doesn't mind-- more stores = more opportunities to whine for toys and candy= better chance that he will wear us down and score some toys and candy.


Have you ever looked at the organic produce and dairy at a regular grocery store? Around here, it is overpriced, and there's never a good variety. So we have been buying produce, wine, and this one particular kind of organic and preservative free chocolate bear-shaped graham cracker at Whole Foods (sometimes also milk and yogurt, depending on sales). Then we go to the regular grocery store for local meat, produce that's not on the dirty dozen, bagels (made by a local company and containing only 4 ingredients-- score!), and assorted other crap from the perimeter of the store. We buy all of our snacks and meal accessories at Trader Joe's, and then we round the morning out with a trip to Target for all of our, you know, Targety needs.
Add in a trip through Starbucks and a lunch out so we don't have to clean it up later, and who even has time for a shower?

Not me, clearly.

After lunch, Jack passes out, and that's when the real fun begins. Ben and I ply Harry with a snack and a movie, and he and I clean the house from top to bottom taking time to fold and put away a zillion loads of laundry (seriously, where does all of the laundry come from?)
When Jack wakes up, I clean solo, and Ben entertains the kiddos.

We realized the other morning when the sun slanted through our living room in a way it only does in the winter-- a way that makes all the dust on the floor look like glitter-- that this place will soon turn into a giant frozen tundra, so we have been playing outside with a kind of hysterical fervor.

Here's Harry armed with an empty water squirter (no! it's not a gun! we don;t even say gun, in fact!) stalking his brother

who loves to be stalked

Harry shoots

and retreats

Harry flees

Jack attacks

Harry is defeated

Jack is so tough

Is it wrong that these pictures make me wish for rain?

Ahh, filthy. His favorite way to be.


It's kind of ironic that we spend almost our whole weekend planning food and buying it and then we eat almost all of our meals out on Sunday (because no way in heck are we going to clean up the kitchen after dinner when we have been cleaning all day).

What about you? Any weekend chores you always have to do? Any tips on making them more fun?