Spring Break 2013...woo hoo

Remember back in college, when spring break meant some exotic locale with your girlfriends? Sitting in the sun, sipping cocktails and checking out cute boys from other schools. Not so much anymore. These days it means 10 days off of school for the kiddos and a desperate search for activities to fill the days. I've been in communication with all Jack's friends' parents. We are researching, planning and organizing every day down to the minute. Park trips, playdates, days out of town. The library, a garden, a wilderness park. How can we keep our 3-4 year olds busy and active, while maintaing our sanity? The answer is pack mentality. Surviving is always easier in a group. We not only provide lunches and snacks and clothing changes, we provide friends for our kids and for ourselves. The kids are happy to be together in a new setting and the moms are happy to have adults to spend the time with. Adjusting to a new routine is exhausting for the kids and for myself. Instead of the usual...up, breakfast, school, nap, lunch, pick up from school..etc, we are now running full throttle. We are barely stopping by the house to let the little one nap before we are back in the car headed for the next activity. Tonight the hustle and bustle of spring break was literally visible on my children. Food smeared all over the babies clothing because I fed him at the park and forgot a bib; dried, green snot on my sons sleeve which he was using as a kleenex; the crusted remnants of lunch and snacks on both faces and dirt in every conceivable orofice. They each fell asleep in the car at different points on very short drives and so I was the mom with dirty children, dragging them half asleep from activity to activity. We got home tonight after 6pm, and I threw one child, mid tantrum, into the shower and shoved more food at my youngest while running his bath. I scrubbed one and then the other, hit the tv power button and ran my dog out to pee. Came back, made dinner, put the baby to sleep, fed Jack, read to him, and put him to bed. After that came my meal, the dogs meal, laundry, cleaning the kitchen and finally 14 hours after waking up...a shower. I am exhausted and I am only 3 days into spring break. I still have an Easter meal to plan, a rental table to pick up, a baby gift to purchase and shower to attend, Easter baskets to put together, eggs to dye and in laws visiting. I use to look forward to spring break...and now I wonder whose cruel idea it was to call it a break.