18 Days Off and It's Snowing Outside...No Problem

So, what do you do with your two boys when you are facing down the long end of 18 days off of school and it's snowing outside? Why, you hold Boot Camp, of course.

This weekend Steve and I just about had it with the whining, complaining, fighting, sighing, wrestling and general grumpiness around the house. We went to the mall for Build-A-Bears on Saturday morning. Each kid got an amazingly cute animal but 10 minutes after we got home, the cuteness wore off. Grumpiness ensued and we listened to them argue until we left later that afternoon for our annual Christmas pictures.

Taking Christmas pictures is never a fun process but this time it turned out to be even worse. After arriving 20 minutes after our previously scheduled time (at least they were nice enough to call and let us know they were running behind), we still had to wait an hour. I did not think to bring the boys' DSi's since I thought we were going to walk right in because they had bumped us by 20 minutes. Bad move on my part. So after 2 hours we were finally done.

Again, insert complaining and arguing boys here. Since neither Steve nor I felt like cooking, we decided on pizza for dinner. Since neither Steve nor I felt like entertaining the boys for the next 3 hours, we invited our fabulous neighbors over. Best. Idea. Ever. The kids all had a great time and so did we.

Sunday rolled around and our boys complained about going to church. We persevered and made it through. (It seems horrible to talk that way about church but Cam complained the entire time that his throat hurt and Colin sat there like a sack of wet noodles.) Amazingly, when we got home Cam was better and at the mention of going bowling later that day, was very happy and fully recovered. With 5 hours to wait for bowling, the whining, wrestling and complaining continued.

I knew when I woke up this morning that it was probably going to be a long day at home. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to spend time with my kids. However, I have some things that I need to do around the house, I slept later than I expected and I want to get some exercise in since the Christmas cookies are the bane of my existence.

I cleaned a bit and ran 4 miles. By 11:00am the boys had already unwrapped two Christmas presents (with permission but for lack of anything better to do), played wii bowling, Boom Blox and ate lunch. Colin was in his room pouting in his bed and Cam was following me around like a lost puppy.

This afternoon I plan on taking the kids to see Chipwrecked with the fabulous neighbors in the picture above. Being stuck in the house all day AND sitting through a movie leads me to predict that the boys will be up well past their bedtime and complaining through most of the day. Insert boot camp here....

Both boys ran a mile on the treadmill. Colin finished in 16:38 and Cam at a slower 20:05 pace. While one boy was on the treadmill, I stretched and lifted weights with the other boy. We did lunges, sit ups, push ups, planks, curls and tricep dips. I must say, I am very proud of myself for thinking outside of the box on this one. Ordinarily, this would not be my cup of tea. Both boys seemed to enjoy the exercises and now I feel better about letting them sit around the house and do nothing all day. Mommy guilt be gone!