Today was another busy Saturday. Daddy went to work and got out of helping me to take down the Christmas tree. The children were very excited and wanted to do it as quickly as possible.  After leaving them alone for a few minutes, when I returned they were sat laughing with the tree on its side. I was not amused and went to get myself a drink and then found the tree like this.

I am not sure why they plugged the lights in before lifting the tree on to the settee, or why they had put it this position but the stress started here.

Taking the tree down with my children was as much fun as putting it up, not fun at all.  Why does such an easy task have to be so such a mission?  We now have more baubles and decorations smashed.  I am glad that we are now dechristmassed.  That’s not a word but I like it.  Though I have just noticed a card on the bookcase.

So after taking down the decorations, I had planned on cuddling up and watching a film. My daughter wanted to watch the animated version of the BFG. They both love the other version.  My 7 year old refused to watch it insisting that he just wanted to watch Paw Patrol.  I put on the film as I was curious to watch it and my daughter was happy to see it.

We started to watch the film, both children were still playing, not helped by my son’s reluctance to sit down quietly.  This ended with me watching the film alone and the kids upstairs playing with the train set. As it finished they returned carrying train track saying they needed a larger area to play. Consequently, we have a train track downstairs tonight.

I have learnt over the last few days that I now need to be adding Alt tags to my photos and working on my SEO.  I am now slowly getting my head around Yoast SEO.  However, it is now taking me hours to go back through about 100 posts to add meta descriptions, SLUGs, keyphrases and alt tags.  If you are a new blogger like me, have a look at Yoast as the sooner you work on SEO or Search Engine Optimisation the better. I feel I am wasting hours going back over my blog.  I am just hoping that the hard work pays off.

A day that could have been relaxing and nice quality time was stressful and full of me telling the kids off.  From refusing to watch the film to bringing down the train set, to demanding toast and drink and me trying to sort out my blog.  The jumping on the furniture and the frequent changes of clothes.

I might have made the last two days harder for myself by banning the iPod and Ipad, but I wanted some quality time with them. At least the train set is getting played with. All the toys get forgotten when they are playing Minecraft and Roblox.

So tomorrow is the last day before going back to school.  The uniforms are all ironed but I need to clean both their shoes and check their reading books. It could be a busy day, as well as trying to update the SEO on more posts. Both of them seem to be happy about going back to school on Monday.  They both like their teachers but are not always happy with things the other children do and say.

Our 7 year old has just come downstairs crying about how he has had a bad dream. Daddy took him back upstairs and calmed him down.

Anyway, I am now going to go, we are watching ‘Man of Steel’.  I am now going to get some rest ready for a busy day tomorrow and the stress and hard work of being mum.

For more, see, Saturday like mourning and the elves, https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/2018/12/22/two-elves-still-watching-children/

Friday today and a day at home with the children.  The day started in the same way as it always does. I snoozed Alexa as I really did not want to get out of bed. I left it a little late to get up and then helped the kids to get dressed. We left the house on time and then left daddy at work.

Arriving at Aldi we sat in the car park waiting for the shop to open.  My aim was to buy as little as possible and run down the food in the cupboards.  Taking the children with me did not help me achieve this.  My 7 year old added baked beans to the trolley as apparently we really needed them, along with a few other things. Once we got to the checkout we had three bags full.

Do your children behave when out shopping? mine rarely do.  Life is never dull when they are around.  After making me stressed in Aldi my 7 year old was then very chatty with the sales assistant.  There are times that he does make me proud despite the naughtiness.  As the shopping was being scanned he started to ask the man if he had had a good new year, then my 5 year told him that she got a lot of presents.  They are difficult children but they can be very friendly.

Morrisons was next, I again had the children pushing the basket around the floor. See Friday stress after Christmas.  When we got to the self-checkout they both climbed on the conveyor belt. My son then had the idea of walking off with the trolley full of baskets.  He walked them to the front of the shop where the rest are stored.  I watched him as I scanned the shopping willing him to empty out the baskets and bring the trolley back.  Needless to say that after I had paid for the shopping I then showed him how to unload the baskets and then watched him take the empty trolley back to the self-checkout.  The sales assistant waved in appreciation.

We then loaded up the car and drove home.  My plan for the day was to tidy the kid’s bedrooms, help them with their thankyou letters and then cuddle up and watch a film.  My day did not follow this plan. How rare is it for a child to do what you want them to do? My son tidied his room and vacuumed it.  My daughter refused, she then brought some of her teddy bears into his room as it was being tidied.

I discovered today that they have a dangerous game, one which someday is going to get somebody hurt. They are piling up cuddly toys under the windowsill in my son’s bedroom and then jumping off the sill into the toys. Sounds ingenious until you realise that if they jump a bit too far they will go crashing into the wood on his bed. Telling and then ordering my 5 year old to stop did not stop her jumping.  I guess at the ages of 5 and 7 you do not see the dangers, all you see is the fun.  I’m really hoping that nobody gets hurt or they stop doing it.

The children then proceeded to be difficult, today was not the calm day that I had hoped it would be. I hate being a shouty mum but today I was.  Telling the kids that they can not eat in the front room is ignored. I get fed up finding toast on the carpet and on the chairs.  My son asked me for some milk, I let him have some and made him drink it in the kitchen. My daughter then decided that she wanted some. She then helped herself and ignored me when I told her to drink it in the kitchen.

This lead to milk all over a cushion that does not have a removable cover and the beaker being sat in the armchair.  I stood annoyed about the cushion, not noticing the milk sat there. She then picked up her beaker and dropped it all over a throw and the carpet.  It was an accident but I sent her to her room.  I now had to shampoo the carpet which due to being a  bit broken means I have to put my fist in the hole in the dirty water box otherwise it does not suck the dirty water out of the carpet.  See Tuesday a Care bear and a broken Vax.

Shampooing the carpets will be harder until I buy a new dirty water box.  Someday I will replace it, at least it will be clean.

So our day did not go according to plan, both children got sent to their rooms and were made to sit on the stairs during the course of the day. I felt like a rotten mum but how else can you teach them that their actions are wrong and they need to do as they are told? To not hang off the back of the chair or stand on the piano.  Not jump on the settee and knock the picture down or ask Alexa to play music very loudly or fight with the light sabre in the front room near the television.  Yes, I am exhausted and all I really wanted to do today was cuddle up with a film.

Tomorrow Daddy is at work and we still have the Christmas tree to take down.  I am hoping that the children can help me with it.  I am imagining chaos and tears as I get more and more stressed with them playing with tinsel, baubles and lights.

Anyway, I am now going to get some rest, ready for the stress of tomorrow and the hard work and the joy of my job of being mum.