Shabbos as a Single Mother

Ignoring the fact that I haven't posted in months, it's time to get back to the blog!! I miss writing and knowing that I have this record of our life, both the mundane and the more exciting parts. I'm not going to even pretend that I could recap the past couple of months so let's just pretend I've been posting regularly!
David has been in New York since Tuesday and I have been trying to survive as a single mother. There have been moments of chaos and tears (on the part of all 3 of us) but we are managing!! It's really fine during the week because the kids are busy and we all have our routines and the time goes by quickly. I was worried about how Shabbos would go though because it's a long time from Friday at 12:30 when the kids come home until Sunday morning at 8 when they go back to gan!
I made a plan with Tasha that we would go to the country club on Friday afternoon and I planned to go to Abby's for Shabbos and to sleep there. I knew I would want to come home before Shabbos was over so that the kids could go to bed at a normal time, so I also made a plan to meet Tali in the park at 4:30 to kill the last couple of hours of the afternoon.
It actually all worked out ok. It was our first time going to the country club for the pool (we've been just in gymboree a couple of times since we joined in March). It is amazing and I'm sure the summer will be so much fun and well worth the expense. It wasn't that hot on Friday but the kids were happy to go in the pool anyway. First they were content in the kid pool that is shallow and that there was no need for me to go in with them. But then they decided they really wanted to go to the big pool. The water was freezing and I really didn't want to go in which was ok at first because they were happy on the steps and in the shallow end, but then Simon wanted to go to the deep. Luckily Jeremy was in the pool and agreed to take Simon and then watched him for the next hour while I chased Eli all over the place going between the big pool and the little pool a million times and taking off his bathing suit and putting on his clothes and then his bathing suit again and then his clothes again also a million times. After swimming, Simon really wanted to go to the gymboree so we went for a few minutes. Last time we were there, there was another kid who was setting up different obstacle courses using all of the various equipment. Simon thought that was the coolest thing ever so that's what he wanted to do. He had such a good time and was so proud of himself when 2 girls came in and wanted to do the course with him.
We eventually made our way home and got ready for Shabbos and went to Abby's. Our plan was to give the kids dinner and put them to bed and then have a nice grown-up dinner. Eli was the only kid who cooperated and actually went to sleep!! In the end, Simon slept with me because Jake refused to sleep in his room and Simon refused to sleep in Jake's room without him. I'm not sure what time all the kids got up but they were playing nicely by themselves for a while. I only went downstairs at 8 something because Eli had gone to the bathroom and needed his tushy wiped. I stayed up then and eventually Jonny got up too and then we took the kids to the park at some point because they were getting stir crazy.
The Nussbaums came for lunch which was very nice. Simon, Eli, Maya and Orli managed to lock themselves in the bathroom and they were all freaking out and screaming and scared. Jonny was trying to explain to Simon how to unlock the door and I could hear in Simon's voice that he was trying so hard to be brave but he was so scared. It was so sad!! In the end, Maya managed to open the door and she was SO proud of herself. Apparently she is good in a crisis. As she told the story: "Eli locked the door and couldn't open it and Simon also couldn't open it and everyone was crying except for me and then I opened the door and saved the day!" Simon's addition to the story: "Maya was crying too. I heard her."
We left Abby's around 4 and went to the park and when we got there both kids were really whiny and Tali wasn't there yet and we all needed a bathroom and Simon was begging to go home. So I decided to go home and forget the park but then when we got home, I felt bad that Tali was going to walk all the way to meet us and we wouldn't be there. I wasn't sure if she would figure out that we were home and would come here or if she would think we were still at Abby's, so in the end we went back to the park despite protests from Simon. I'm glad we did because the kids had a great time. We stopped at the Moores' on the way home because I realized that we had no milk and I knew that would be a disaster at bedtime for Eli. Rachel thought giving Eli milk might make him like her, but he still hates her for some unknown reason. So much so that he didn't want to drink the milk from her house when we got home!! Eventually he gave in.
We got home around 6 and I gave the kids a quick dinner and bath and got them both in bed and asleep by 7:30 at which time I passed out on the couch!! I woke up at 8:45 and now of course have stayed up way too late.
2 more sleeps until David gets home!!!!