It Doesn't Have to be Complicated

This week has been crazy. My in laws were here from China but not technically 'here'. You see, we live in Texas and in Texas everything is big and far away. I have a very love/hate relationship with the size of it all but mostly I veer toward the love....until last weekend. When my in laws call and say they are in Texas it means a 6 hour drive to spend a few hours. I love them but this time I packed up my husband and two of our squirts and kissed them goodbye. Then I took the older squirts and we did a manical crazy cleaning frenzy. I had started to spring clean (read Tolkien post here) but this gave a huge jump in organization. In between we tried to have a little fun.
Frozen yogurt for dinner.
Steady streams of nerds and mini chocolate bars.
Music blaring while sweeping out the garage.
And you know what? It was fun. With every squirt home all day, every day, I often feel like the quality time gets a little reduced. We do a lot of quantity but most of it is mom hovering over their shoulders correcting math or asking them to wait one minute while I finish taking care of a little squirt's basic need. This last weekend we talked. A lot. There were no interupptions. Yes, baby was home but she was pretty mild and could be hauled around and talked over. After the weekend was over I asked if they were sad that they didn't get to go with their Dad.
No.
Well, maybe a little, but they had fun.
Some weeks I feel like I have a lot of great, unique parenting and homeschool ideas that I like to try and see come to fruitation. Then this weekend we did things that were not creative or intellectual but we made memories. I spent time with my kiddos and really, isn't that what it is all about?