It is 7:49PM. My laptop is plugged in and I sit here at the kitchen counter typing away. I have been scouring the internet for Sharing Plugins and just asked Dave, who is sitting behind me, to install the one I like best. He did. See, whenever I go to Design Mom’s website, I always have Share Plugin Envy. Of course her widgets look cool, appropriately sized and well placed fore she is Design Mom! Now let’s see if I can do my part. Yes, my part means that I have to copy and paste code into the sidebar. Wish me luck. Seriously, I don’t even know if it is the sidebar. Maybe I have to copy and paste code somewhere else. Never fear, I will figure it out.

My glasses are smudged and I hear Kyle banging around in his room. I have told him that he must work on his Room-Diasater-Organization Project until 8:00PM when at that time he may join Eli in the basement and watch the end of the movie Holes. They have seen the movie a million times. Homework is completed. Eli’s crazy Math Class Survey has been given. No. He could not find anyone who likes to eat liver. He also found that everyone he surveyed is over a meter tall.

It is now 8:04 PM and I call up to Kyle (thinking he may have escaped to the basement).

“Kyle?” I say.

“Yes?” He answers and I know he is still upstairs.

“Where are you?”

“I’m getting my pajamas on.”

Monday nights, or better, school nights often go like this. A little homework, a little reading out loud, a little of Kyle saying things like, “Five minutes. Five minutes over,” that he immediately follows with an, “I love you, Mom.” And because we are a little tired we also indulge an inane discussion about whether he quit cleaning at 8:04 or 8:05 PM. Really? Yes, really! He is off to the basement and before it gets colder than it already is, I am going to hit the hill with Big Daddy. Don’t get any crazy ideas. Hit the hill literally means I am going to put my walking shoes on, grab a coat and a hat and we are going to walk to the top of the hill, which is at the end of our street.

Today it was so cold outside. I want it to be sunny and warm. March/April is always hard. I wanted to quit. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to eat the entire house. I wanted to stop. I wanted to look back. I must admit that I did sleep a little and I did stop and watch the end of a really stupid movie, 2011’s Dilemma starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James while eating an overly-frosted piece of cake — YUM!

And then Eli and I went to lunch with our friends. I sat in the sunny spot of the restaurant. I watched in delight as my friend’s son devoured one large churro and some chips. As she packed her son up and was ready to stroll away she reminded me, because she gets it too, “I plant my feet forward. I don’t look back, or at least I try not too.”

We are human. I roll up and down through my day and I must tell you my very favorite part, the part I do not want to skip or sleep away, is when I am sitting here at the kitchen counter listening to Dave’s fingers click away on the keys and hear my boys laugh, fight, give crazy Math-class-required surveys and sing while they clean their rooms. I would not trade it and I will take March and April if I can be a part of these nights I spend with my boys.