I spent much of Sunday resting under a tree in the park near our house. It was a perfect January in Arizona, and I was recovering from a very long week. My kids were riding their bikes, playing “Star Wars” with the neighbors and just, well, being kids.
And though the house still needed to be put back together - remnants of Saturday’s family gathering for my daughter’s birthday rested in nearly every room - when my 6-year-old son and now 4-year-old daughter begged to go outside, I gave in.
It wasn’t that hard. My own body needed some outdoor time, some time away from the confines of home, some time when I couldn’t view the dishes that needed to go into the dishwasher and the boxes that needed to go in the trash.
I can’t remember the last time I just sat in the sun on the grass. Under that tree I remembered my own days growing up in the Valley - I climbed a lot of trees as a kid during Arizona’s “winters.” Now and then I think about living some place with more “four-season weather,” but then we have a day like Sunday.
I can brag to my sister in Minnesota about our time outdoors (which she can do in the summer, so it’s even). And I don’t have to worry about driving in the snow.

The biggest gift was the chance to listen to the kids laugh and play, even though most of my daughter’s comments were, “I’m Princess Leia. Help me. Someone save me.”

Hmmm… maybe Friday night’s viewing of “Star Wars” wasn’t such a good idea.

photospin

I don’t know how it started, but sometime in the last two weeks, a mean game of tag-in-the-kitchen started in my house after dinner.

Every night after dinner.

My 3- and 6-year-olds are loving it. And to be honest, so are my husband and I. It’s a riot as we run around our downstairs, dodging the kitchen island, the couches, the kitchen table and chairs. We’ve had a few bruises, but mostly, we’ve had lots of laughs. It’s most fun when one of the kids is “it” and makes it his or her mission to get mom or dad. The rest of us can almost sit down during that time. And, well, my husband and I don’t “let” them catch us. They have to do it on their own. Each night ends in a round of giggles.

And did I mention? We have soft, cushy balls downstairs as well, ready for a game of dodge ball. Nope, I don’t have anything breakable downstairs (well, unless you count photo frames on the wall and we’ve only broken one of those, maybe two). While I’m not sure about my husband, I do remember growing up in a household where it wasn’t uncommon for mom or dad to grab shaving cream or something from the fridge or a water gun after dinner - and let the games begin.

On Monday, I had the chance to meet the elder Nielson family of Mesa. In case you missed the story (see evtrib.com), the Nielsons’ son, Christian, 29, and his wife, Stephanie, 27, were in a serious plane crash in August and both are at the Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix. Through the efforts of the families and readers of Stephanie’s blog, many people who have never met Stephanie or Christian are reaching out to help. The young couple, parents to four little kids, are in for a lifetime of medical care.

Christian’s brother, Peter, told me how the doctors at Maricopa Medical Center describe burns as a “disease.” Unlike a broken bone that heals, this disease can cause problems for years and years.

Most of all, I thought of Stephanie as a mom and her four little ones - now in the care of her sisters in Utah. And I too, found myself drawn to Stephanie’s insights into motherhood (she planned an entire meal to celebrate her daughters’ return to school this year!)

My sister-in-law picked my kids up from school last night because my husband also had to work late. When I got to her house to collect them, they both screamed “Mommy!” I held them tightly. I took them home, tucked them into bed, crawled in next to them and counted my blessings.

Sometimes, the quiet times are the best “mommy” moments. I had one this weekend with my kids. I’m a huge fan of our nighttime routine – mainly because it means my daughter, 3, and son,  6, are cuddled next to me to read books and, lately, looking out the window at “the city” (the grocery store behind our house) and any stars we can find.

But Sunday midmorning I was really dragging. I didn’t want them on the computer, or watching movies, and quite honestly, I was exhausted. So I crawled into my daughter’s twin (she has the coolest room in the house). Shortly after, they sought me out. Before I knew it, the three of us were on the bed playing. My son’s toy dinosaur was attacking the Red Power Ranger while Tigger supplied the magic potion to cure any boo-boos. After dinosaur had suffered enough, the books came out and we read. No one actually fell asleep, but we were there for about an hour and a half just having a fun, relaxing time.

In the rush and go of most of weeks (and sometimes weekends), this was the perfect mommy moment captured in my memory.

Monday night we finished dinner and as I tried to move the children upstairs for bath my son says, “But mom, we have to watch the Olympics!”

It was very exciting for two weeks as we watched swimming and diving and track and field and gymnastics. We had watched some of the televised events leading up to the Games selecting the U.S. teams and then the Games themselves.

And yes. Like the youth I wrote about in Monday’s paper, my kids have been asking to take gymnastics and swimming now. I’m don’t know how we would have the time with soccer and football seasons around the corner for them - but for swimming, we probably should make it. Swimming lessons in Arizona are crucial. My son is a pretty good (and very natural) swimmer and my daughter is fearless (which scares mom), so I’m more than willing to to do lessons again.

But as for the Olympics, we’ll have to wait two years to watch them again. And my son was more than a bit sad when I told him it was over.

Summer vacation is over at the Reese household.

So how come it doesn’t feel like much has changed?

Forgive my absence. My family took a much-needed vacation the first week of August and then we flew back into routine. (Yes, I’m one of those moms who let my son miss the first few days of school for a family trip. It was unavoidable – not that I protested much.) The days were blessings – filled with discovery and exploring, friends, quiet time, fun time and sit down family dinners. We saw the beach, the ocean, animals galore and long-time friends.

But now we’re back, and as a two-working-parent family, our days run mostly all together – whether school is in session or not.

Get up early.

Get dressed.

Eat something (yes, cold French fries and chicken nuggets count as breakfast).

Run out the door to … (daycare, preschool, summer camp, school, work, etc., fill in the blank.)

Come home.

Eat something (yes, cold cereal counts as dinner in our house).

Down time, read a book, play a game. Cuddle. Crash in bed.

Do it all over again.

For our kids, the routine helps life at home run smoothly.

On Saturday when we got up my son was surprised when I didn’t force him to change out of PJs right away.

When I did, he said, “Are we going to school?”

I laughed. “No buddy, it’s Saturday.”

“Mom, can we go to the beach?”

Ahh… yes. It was a wonderful vacation. I’m glad we all took something from it.