Back to Work After the Half Term

We’ve had a fantastic half term holiday as you can see! It was great to just kick back for a few days, enjoy some walks, do a load of art and craft, play games, enjoy movies snuggled under blankets and have no deadlines to worry about.  There might have been more than one day in the last week which found us still in our PJs at tea-time and I don’t feel even a little bit guilty!

Today however is back to school, back to pre-school and back to work day. Being a clever and organised Mum *cough* I found Kieran’s PE kit hanging under heavy school coats and needing attention after 4pm yesterday. No drama one would think (thankful for the modern conveniences of the washing machine and tumble dryer) until opening the bag. It contained one plimsoll and a school fleece. No shorts, no outdoor sports trainers, no jogging bottoms, spare socks or t-shirt.

We scrambled around and gathered together a motley arrangement of replacements and Kieran has had a flea in his ear about looking after his things and has been sent off to school today to find his original kit in school lost property (much to his disgust!).

That carry-on overcome I cleared my desk, made sure that I had a fresh notepad, sharpened pencils and filled Kieran’s pencil case, made up packed lunches, laid out uniform and clothes for Taylor and made sure everything was ok before going to bed.

This morning…. Everyone was showered and changed in good time. Taylor dropped juice down his clothes and needed a complete change, I realised I’d forgotten dinner money and had to shoot off at the crack of dawn to go to the cashpoint and then…  two minutes before we were due to set off Kieran tells me he only has one school shoe.

One.

In my hallway we have a small bookcase with a basket for gloves and hats, hooks for school bags and bits and pieces and shelves for shoes and boots worn regularly. Kieran’s school shoes have been sat in their allotted space for the whole week yet this morning one is missing (I suspect 3yr old led foul play).  Running out of time we ran around looking for the missing shoe and in the end I’ve sent his nibs out wearing trainers (his good trainers which we’d stuffed into his gym bag to replace the ones that are missing).

I’m ready for another holiday already and have spent time Googling late deals from the UK to a wide range of destinations worldwide and dreaming of a restful Easter break after which we may come home rejuvenated and find everything where we left it and ready for going back to school!

I’m now at my desk, have had two caffeine laden coffees and am ready to get started on sorting out the 403 emails sat waiting for me (madness!) and organise my diary /to-do list into some sort of calm, grown-up and gym-bag free order.

I do love half term with the kids but the transition from holiday to back to work and school doesn’t always run so smoothly! Is it just me?

 

*This post was written in collaboration will the mentioned business however is true to my own thoughts, feelings and experiences

The Working Mum- My full proof plan for working during the holidays (or not)

We’ve just had two week off school for Easter.

Fortunately I had airtight plans in place that would enable me to continue to work and have both kids at home, and still do loads of exciting and education activities. We had plans for outdoor activities for exercise and fresh air and much more besides.

At the start of the holidays I was all very excited. I had reduced some of my work for the fortnight and set up an uber-organised plan for when I would be free and when it was kiddie time.

Seriously? How optimistic was that? In fairness I was asking for something to go a bit wrong. And it did.
First of all there was the weather. Wet, windy, dark, cold…. I had forgotten to factor in April showers.

Then there was illness. Kieran was ill for four days, Taylor spend a week cutting back teeth (in a very disturbingly clingy and tearful way – Kieran’s just popped through so worries, poor Taylor was past himself!) and then to add insult and injury Taylor got a rip-roaring ear infection. My poor children!

Lets just say that my uber-plan was recycled and used to make a paper airplane and everything ground to a halt. There was no way I could do any more than basic admin during the day so I ended up working stupidly long evenings and starting very early (i.e. before the cuckoo) to get everything done.
It may not have gone to plan exactly but all the work got done, the kids were well looked after and the house has even stay almost tidy. Not bad going really.

The beauty of being freelance for me is that I can pick up extra work when required, lower my workload if necessary and can work whatever hours I like so that I can be truly flexible to fit in with the needs of the family, the home, and my own schedule outside of work.

Airtight isn’t airtight when you have  kids and we may not have stuck to “The Plan” but we had fun and spent lots of quality time together. I think I’ll stop with the super organised plans for holiday times in the future and just go with the flow!

And when I really did need to do something... I could just pop the kids into storage 🙂