Always torn

Tomorrow I have to go back to work.  It's always difficult.  I want to spend more time with my boys, do more activities with them, hear their laughs, see their smiles.  BUT, I must go back and I know I like going back to work.  The boys are also ready to go back to school.  Both of them love to be around their friends and all the activities in school.  I am lucky that they are social and enjoy their time with others.  It makes this day a little bit easier knowing that they will enjoy their day even if I am not with the 100%.

In my previous post I mentioned some things to do that didn't cost much.  We finally spent some money that last two days.  We live in the Kansas City metro area and if you know anything about it there is a family friendly shopping area known as Crown Center.  It is owned by Hallmark and as you may guess is all about the holidays.  The nice thing about Crown Center is that you can spend the whole afternoon there and not really spend a ton of money.  In fact we only spent money on lunch....yes, we had to go to Fritz's where the trains bring your food order.  Old fashioned greasy burgers which aren't very healthy, but we didn't go for our physical health.  The atmosphere is fun and there is constant activity as the trains are constantly bringing tables their food.  We also planned very well and were seated immediately.  As we were leaving there was an hour wait...YIKES.  After that I had to go the shop upstairs that makes fudge.  Mommy had to spend a little on some yummy chocolate.  The rest of the afternoon was window shopping in the toy, candy, cat, dog, sports, etc. stores.  We saw the mayor's Christmas tree and climebed on the playground  of wooden toys around the tree and visited Santa's Crayola workshop playground.  After that we crossed the Link to Union Station and saw the KC Rail experience.  It's a free exhibit and wonderufl for a  3 year old obsessed with trains.  It's a gargantuan model train exhibit and then the rail museum show the history of Kansas City rail travel and Union Station.

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees!  Yes, in Missouri in the winter!  So, we decided to go to the zoo.  It was a fantabulous time.  The animals were energetic and playful with the cool air.  Our season pass to the zoo was definitely well worth it this year.  I never thought I would be at the zoo in December, but with weather like this and passes sitting in my purse we couldn't pass that up.

After long naps from our zoo outing we stayed up to ring in the new year.  We didn't have a grand party, invite people over or have so much going on that we wore the kiddos out too early.  We watched some old black and white TV shows, had finger food to snack on, played some board and card games, colored some pictures and did our big count down.  We found a web show that was featuring the ball drop in NY and did our countdown at 11 CST.  I think another hour would have been a disaster and they were satisfied if they saw the ball drop.  We didn't want to push them anymore and promote a meltdown...the 3 yr old was on the verge of one.

Tonight we will have one last adventure.  We always spend New Year's Day dinner with my family.  A tradition started many years ago originally with an excuse to use our new fondue pots, but has grown each year as a reason to begin the year among family.  You'd think that we'd have enough of each other but NO we use this day as one last time to get together, laugh and share.

All in all we had a fun Christmas break and a wonderful New Year.  Now it's time to get back to our normal busy schedule...... Pin It