Quality Time

On Saturday morning I turned around in the bed with a contented feeling because violin lesson was cancelled for the morning and the kids were sleeping in. "Honey, wake up!" I turned around tangled in the sheet, "What! Shhh! the kids are still sleeping!"
"Hey, we have the entire day with nothing to do."
"Cool, let's spend some quality time together."
"Okay, we will hang with the kids and just play it by ear."
So we got out of bed and headed downstairs, great dreams of a long lazy day stretching out like a contented cat right in front of us.
The kids bounced down the stairs and we started our day of unplanned quality time. At 9:45 while pouring orange juice and flipping my pancakes, the kids were finishing up their cereal while my husband spread out the newspaper on half of the table deeply concentrating on one article that sent him from page 1a to 6c and beyond.
At 10:30, we were dressed and ready to hit the gym. Kids club is a wonderful invention and so we indulged. The kids went off to their section to play with other kids while we hit the machines, pumping away and gasping for air, forcing the words to come out in little gasps. Not a very convenient way to have a conversation.Before we knew it, lunch time was upon us, so we headed back home to the smoothie machine while the kids ate chicken nuggets and chocolate milk at a less than desirable pace because we had to make it to the library for story time.
Of course, this was my alone time with them so we bundled up in the van once more and headed over to the library where the nice story lady was more than happy to take them into the cute little story room. I was happy for the break and took the time to browse new fiction aisle, picking out four new books at an unusually leisurely pace since the kids were in story time spending our quality time.
Wow! This was actually turning out great!
Goodness! Time was flying; it was time to head back home for naps and mid-afternoon snack.
Okay, 2:30 and the kids were finally down for a snooze. Now I had time to start one of my books from the library and catch up on email and laundry.
Whew! Good nap, they stretched out of bed and meandered down the stairs. Now it was time for them to relax and freestyle for the rest of the day.
With the kids in front of the TV absorbing Dora's latest lesson in Spanglish, I went online to catch up on some office work and catch the dryer on its last spin so I could hang the shirts before they wrinkle. This timing is very important; god forbid I should miss the moment and end up ironing!
Oh dear, it was 5:45, dinner time.
Finally, we were all in the same room, newspaper and email free with a nice salad and hotdogs. The conversation was flowing as we all seemed to have different variations of the day we just spent together.When asked about their favorite time of out 'quality' day, they seemed to choose the story time and the gym romping as the 'bestest time ever'.
Well, luckily for us, there was a tomorrow and another shot at spending this elusive quality time.
Shhh...the kids are sleeping!