A Good Mama Day

As of 3pm, it has been a good mama day. Anyone else know those kind-of days? They are the days when staying at home seems like the best job ever, when the children are especially adorable, and when the chores do not seem like the mountain one can never completely summit.

Our day has been rather standard here at casa de phillips. Neither child changed out of their pajamas until well after 10:30am, instead enjoyed the wonders of our backyard clad in PJs and rain boots. I am currently wearing the mom-a-form of yoga pants, t-shirt, and ponytail (which, honestly, is a bit rare for me). We have baked cookies to take to friends tomorrow. The children have invented a new game called "Crash Up Dirty" which originated as ramming Matchbox cars into each other in the sandbox and has now morphed into removing all of E.'s toys from her closet and stuffing them into her playhouse. (By the way, the name also morphed. They knew ramming cars into each other was called "Crash Up Derby" but over time "derby" has become "dirty." I hope our neighbors enjoyed yells of "Crash up DIRTY!" coming from our backyard at 9am).

There has been a few tears, one or two sibling spats, a major potty accident in the kitchen (despite my best efforts of preventing said accident by having a child's potty in the kitchen...something I once swore I would never do), clean linens to sort, floors to mop, at least 15 mini-cookies consumed, disciplines handed down, and fun had. It has been just a normal, busy, relaxing, good mama day.

For that I am thankful.

My question is, what things encourage you when it is not a "good mama day"? How do you cope when the repetitive chores are maddening, when the children are sick yet again, when the squabbles continue on, when naps are not taken, when days seem filled with only frustration rather than fun? What keeps you going along in your role as Mommy?

(Besides the obvious of 15 mini chocolate chip cookies...)