I was telling my mom about my friend offering to keep Tyler all day on Tuesdays when I work at the school, then keep Cole after school so I could go to town and do my shopping, she told me I couldn't do my shopping in half a day and that having the kids together for a whole day isn't a good idea b/c they would get tired of each other.  When I do playdates that only leaves half a day to do my shopping, so what's the difference? One I won't have kids with me and can move faster, dont' have to stop for lunch, can make bathroom trips lost faster without having to haul the kids out of the shopping cart or into the largest stall so we all fit (I will not leave the boys outside the stall door, that freaks me out).  I swear, sometimes my mother can be so darn negative it's irritating.  I need to keep a journal so I won't tell her things, which makes her mad when I don't tell her things.  Having your parents live 1/3 of a mile away isn't always a good thing!!!  Deep breath, again and again. Let it all flow out.  Now down to business - fold laundry and I still have the 4H budget to do, it was due on the 17th of October - only a little late for me!!

I'm debating the once a week playdate thing.  Now that Cole is in school, he gets home about 3pm, my trips to town have become very rushed (which would explain why I forget things even when they are on my list!) and exhausting. Tyler and I do a MOMS Club playdate on Wednesdays in Porterville, though we don't go every week, I try for at least 2 a month if possible.  But that takes an hour to drive to P'ville, 2 hours for the playdate (10-12), then hurry through the stores to get my groceries, etc., and rush up the mountain to try and make it home before Cole gets here. I have to leave P'ville by 2pm to beat him home, so that gives me 2 hours to shop and feed Tyler.  It's always rush rush rush and I'm just not sure it's worth it after all.  My neighbor and I switch Tuesday to be the class aide for the K-1 group at school and she mentioned keeping Tyler all day on Tuesdays if I wanted to go to town after I was done at the school (we only work from 9-12), then Cole would get off the bus at her house too with her son.  She has a 4 and 2 y/o still at home, so Tyler gets to play with them every Tuesday.  But that would mean only going to town every other week, I wonder if I could make it that way or not.  It would be easier to go to town without Tyler and it would safe gas money if I only went twice a month if possible. 

Am I stressing too much over all this, are playdates important to a 3 year old?

After a hectic start to school this year things are finally getting into a routine (then Christmas break will come and throw everything off again!)  I tried several different routines for things, down to emailing my grocery list to my cell phone (bad idea when you don't get reception on the mountain to check things). Finally I resorted to my old fashioned hand written calendar & list (DH says I'm the queen of list). 

But this past week I made 2 trips to Bakersfield and still forgot stuff, my mom finished some last minute shopping for me Friday while she was in town. My little Tater Tot (Tyler) turned 3 yesterday and we had his birthday party here on Sunday. I forgot hamburger meat and buns, chips, pasta salad stuff - I'm surprised I remembered the decorations.  Talk about a headache for me that weekend.  But in my own defense I will say I had a class Monday in town from 6-10 and left the mountain later than planned (about 3 hours later - at least 2 shopping stops wasted), I've had a whole lot on my mind between personal matters, the kids, and the ever present $$$$ concerns of a family.

Every weekend from now til about Christmas time has something going on, even if it's only 1 day of the weekend - makes it very hard to get things done, plus I work every other weekend.  On Saturday the real estate office held open houses so that took up my afternoon, then I had a cake to make and decorate, dinner (cheated - we went out for dinner!), laundry and I had to work Sunday morning before the party.  At least majority of my house was cleaned on Friday, I only needed to dust and put things away Sunday morning.

Whew, I needed to express some frustations - I feel better now!!