Slacking

At last, winter break has arrived and it could not have come too soon. I know I'm supposed to cringe at the thought of losing those precious 12 1/2 hours per week where my kids are in school and I am free to lounge around sipping coffee (or job hunt, as the case may be), but the truth is that I've been falling down on the job when it came to school these past few weeks.

They've got homework every night and yet somehow this managed to completely escape me on at least three recent occasions. Not that I should have to remember it all on my own, but well, they are only five...which, I assume, is why kindergartners never used to get homework. 

Then there's the reading log, which I realized I didn't fill out even once this week. I'm kind of hoping maybe the teacher will just assume she lost that page or something...

Do you think this will reflect poorly on their first semester report cards? Like, Aidan is an exceptional child. He reads at a 4th grade level and has an extensive knowledge of world history. Unfortunately, we don't grade those areas. His reading log was incomplete. C-

Anyway, the point at which I realized I had really checked out of this school thing was when I went to pick the kids up yesterday. So I'm sitting in my minivan playing Diner Dash (it's soooo addicting), as usual, waiting for their smiling faces to appear when I begin to see moms and children exiting two-by-two, the mothers glancing in my direction with an expression of confusion mixed with pity. 

The holiday party!, I thought. The boys mentioned that they were having a holiday party today. Was I supposed to be there?

And that is the very question I asked when the boys piled into the van with blue frosting smeared across their faces. "Were mommies supposed to come to the party?!"

Both boys considered this question. 

"Janie's mom was there." Aidan offered. 

"Thomas' grandpa was there," Owen added. 

"Some other parents were there," Aidan said, cautiously, as if he didn't want to hurt my feelings.

"I didn't know! I didn't know I was supposed to come!" I said, defensively, although they didn't seem particularly concerned. And really, I didn't know...even though I read every scrap of paper the school sends home, I didn't know I was supposed to go. Are my children scarred? No. 

It's just that since I haven't had any work for the past few weeks, you'd think I might excel in my stay-at-home mom duties...well, you'd be wrong. It seems that not having any deadlines looming over me simply means my brain turns into mush and all productivity halts. Hmmm...well, at least now we know. 

And so, for the next two weeks, I will give in to my inner sloth. No scheduled activities, lots of cookies, no homework, and probably too much Wii. Yay winter break!