SAHM (only for the summer :-( )

When the girls were little, I was a stay-at-home-mom. I loved it. EVERY MINUTE. They were my life, and that is how I wanted it! I would give anything to be able to stay home again. To have dinner prepared more often than not; to have after school snacks ready; to be able to pick them up in the car rider line; to take them lunch on occasion; to not worry about who would get them where they need to go after school or to appointments; to be able to take care of wifely things that get neglected now; to be involved in community things and school groups; get my drift???

As it is now, we eat out during the school year more than we are at home for meals; the girls ride the bus or stay after school (with hopes that someone is able to bring them a snack); they eat sack lunches every day; doctor and dental appointments send me in a tizzy because I have a hard time finding someone to get them there for me when I can't get away from work (it doesn't help that I work 30 minutes out of town); the house stays a wreck except for the day after the cleaning lady comes (so one or two days every other week); I never get to stop by to visit Hubby at work or have lunch with him; PTO? What's that? I have hinted and asked, but no luck. Anywho...

So summertime is a tease for this SAHM wanna-be. I stay busy doing things with the kids and trying to get as many appointments in as possible so that I don't have to worry about them during the school year. For the month of July, we have Loo and The Boy, so that makes it extra fun. We have been trying to cook new foods, so each kiddo gets to choose a meal a week. Some of the things we have tried are...

French dip roll ups and poutine (steak fries drenched in gravy and topped with cheese)

Sweet and spicy bacon wrapped chicken with twice baked potatoes

Loaded baked potato pancakes

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad (served with burgers)

3 Cheese Chicken Penne, Green Bean Casserole, and Baked Zucchini Chips

Summertime pretend SAHM time also lets me get a lot of this done...

And it's never far from my thoughts that my time as a SAHM is just a dream and I have to get back to this...