Outsourcing

Once upon a time when I had only two children and was young and full of energy, I was a very creative, crafty mom. The kind of mom that never purchased Valentines in a box, no ours were handmade. The kind of mom who would assemble themed treat bags for functions at preschool. The kind of mom who would decorate cupcakes to look like one critter on another. The kind of mom who did all the art projects in Family Fun with her kids, who set up a craft schedule for the week. The kind of mom who jumped all over any "homework" project requiring scissors, glue and creativity.

Then I had more than two kids and all that nonsense stopped.


Kathryn received her first ever "homework" project. We were to make a construction paper house with pictures of our family and decorate it however we liked. Silently I cursed the teacher. When exactly was I supposed to find the time to do this? And I wondered, when I sent home all these "fun" projects when I was a preschool teacher, if those moms were cursing me?


It wasn't for the lack of construction paper or supplies around here. No we have plenty of that. If nothing, my children are well stocked with tools for the imagination. It was the picture dilemma. Although I have thousands of pictures of us, they are all on the computer. Seems lately I download them and stop there. This is the downfall of digital. It allows you to be lazy. And what's the sense of rushing to get your photos developed when you already know what they look like? And even though my albums are organized on Shutterfly, I still haven't taken the next step for them to be printed and delivered and stored where I will never find what I am looking for.


I discovered the beauty of Walgreens online. I uploaded the four pictures she needed for her project when I realized that at some point I would have two "student of the week" posters to complete this year as well. So I went ahead and ordered duplicates of several prints I knew the girls would need. Planning for the future, so very unlike me! But the 16 images were sent off and in ten minutes I received an email from Walgreens saying my prints were ready. WOW!


Of course it took another 4 hours until I could actually get to pick them up, and even then I sent Steven to do it. We had a nonstop day of errands and waiting on warranty repairmen that never showed up. By the time Steven got home, it was craziness all around. Dinner needed to be eaten, the kitchen then cleaned, I needed to work on a list of parent readers for Emma's class, help Abby with her spelling words, finish folding the towels, etc.


And so my poor baby and her project got outsourced to a willing and able Alli. I checked on them every so often while I was consumed with all my chores. They were gluing and giggling, coloring and decorating. And I was jealous! Sure I figured I had done my time with these sort of things, that it wouldn't bother me so much to not glue more pictures on another piece of paper. Steven always tells me that I do too much and I need to get the girls to help me more. I do just that and I was sad!! But happy that they got some much needed "sister" time, and did a great job on the project. Kathryn was so happy and thrilled with her result and showed it off to EVERYONE! She couldn't put it down and wanted to sleep with her "house". She was just so proud of herself!


But next time, Alli is making the school lunches, I want to play with glitter!