Spending Time with Family

I love my family.

I love my job. I really do. It is always a new challenge each day.

Sometimes, being a working mom can be a challenge - trying to balance the family you love and the job you love.

Limited vacation days can make it hard to do everything you want to do with your family, but I do my best to strike a good balance.

We do more long weekend vacations than full week vacations. A few days away with the family can be a great boost. I generally return from these mini-vacations, relaxed and refreshed and ready to return to daily life.

I reserve a few days to be the chaperone on field trips or be a room mother for a class party.

I reserve a few half days to take the kids on Mommy and Me dates. We have gone bowling, we have gone to the movies, we have gone to lunch, we have gone to the baseball game, we have gone to the park. The one on one time with either my son or daughter is great. It was especially a good thing for my son when my daughter was still a baby, it gave him a day that was focused on him and she wasn't there to interrupt.

I reserve a few days so that I can be home for the holidays. Having a nice long stretch of days at home with the family is wonderful. With 4 holidays and 4 weekend days, it actually only requires 3 vacation days to be home for 11 straight days with the family. We do a lot of playing during our 11 days together.

This year, we are considering Build A Bear, Ice Skating, an Inflatables open play, a movie, bowling and games at Chuck-E-Cheese (is it just me or do they have bad pizza for a pizza place?) for our outings, but we will also spend time together at home playing games, watching movies, building a gingerbread house and more.

It should be a wonderful break from the everyday...and leave us all recharged and reconnected, ready to start the new year.

And, next year I have one more week of vacation, which I am looking forward to.