some days are better than others

I have a confession to make.

Before I had kids, when I was just an observer working in the behavior field with kids, I thought of myself as rather knowledgeable on behavior management and children.  I mean... I did it all the time at work, how would having your own kids be any different?  Similar thoughts applied to staying home with kids - how hard is it to fill their days with enriching activities while maintaining the daily upkeep of life?

Fast forward to present day me, who's currently maneuvering through the stay-at-home-mom life one day (sometimes hour) at a time.  Some days, I feel like I'm drowning, and feel the need to justify any and all accomplishments to anyone in earshot.  Other days, like this past Monday, I feel like I've actually got this thing down.

The three of us got up early and set out to Target (a 35ish minute drive away) to return some items and pick up a few CraigsList goodies.  From there, mama needed her Starbucks fix.  Afterward, we scooted over to a neighboring town for a little playground action with friends.  I'm so glad that having Knox has condition

ed me to carry around a towel in my car, because all slides in the morning seem to be soaked.  After pounding the aforementioned Starbucks, as well as endless yogurt covered pretzels from Target, we moved onto our next adventure - a corn maze, petting goats & donkeys, and tipping pumpkins.  I hadn't planned on the pumpkin tipping, but no pumpkins were harmed (thank goodness).  Since there were no real meltdowns in sight and I was starving, I decided to be extra adventurous and take the babes out for lunch.

If anyone out there has had the opportunity to meet Olive, they know first hand how wonderful of a restaurant goer she is.

With that being said, it surprisingly didn't go bad.  We did Panera (because, common, I wasn't about to try anything too involved) and sat outside (because how much longer will we be able to eat outside this year?).  O was so great, to the point where she semi restored my faith in taking her out to eat.

After our break for lunch, we met up with more loves for kid-friendly famish activities at a local farm stand grocery store.  The terror that Olive subdued at Panera came out at the grocery store, and I ended up purchasing a couple bruised apples.  I also snagged a seven layer bar and whoopie pie that I'd stashed in our candy cupboard and forgotten about until just now (#winning).  At this farm, we fed some goats, watched a lama annoy a cow, bounced back and forth between two bounce houses, sang about pumpkins on a horse drawn hayride (thanks Barney), and O almost got her face painted.

Afterward, we played at my bff's house (oh ya - best friend forever) until dinner time.  It was, to say the very least, a really good day.