Yes, that's right, it's Friday April 1st and we are in the midst of getting around 9 inches of snow. Where the hell is spring?? Yes, it's going to be 50 degrees this weekend and this will probably all melt (leaving us with a giant mud pit for a lawn) but still, this is just not right.

The more subtle joke of April Fools' Day this year (more subtle than the almost foot of white stuff still falling outside) is that April Fools' Day falls on a Friday. You see, it is a cruel truth of stay-at-home motherhood that, just like how when you are retired every day is Saturday, when you are a stay-at-home mom every day is Monday. So while so many people are updating their facebook status with "TGIF!" I am dragging my butt through yet another Monday, with snow (did I mention the snow?)

Yeah, yeah I know my husband is home on the weekend (usually) to lend a hand, but in reality my day changes very little between what Fraser likes to call "Home Days" and "Work Days." Hammie will still get up by 6:00 and I will still have to make breakfast (lunch and dinner) for everyone and clean up all the dishes, feed and clean up after all the pets, clean up the house, and do my other assorted chores which can all be basically categorized under the same heading of "Thing I do to keep our house and family from descending into the seventh level of hell." Sure, on Sunday Andy makes pancakes and usually cleans up the breakfast dishes, and sure I might get a "break" if you consider only having to watch one kid instead of three kids "relaxing" but that is about the only thing that separates my work week and weekend.

Do I sound bitter? Well, that's because I am. For example, last weekend my parents came to help out since Andy was in Maine. Do you want to know what I did with my "free" time? Well, I washed toothpaste off the dog. Yes, I had to give Jackson yet another bath because Hammie decided to groom him my squeezing toothpaste onto his side and then using the dog brush to really work it into his fur. So for two days, until my parents came and I could get a "break," I had a dog that was very crusty on one side and smelled like spearmint.

Don't get me wrong, having my parents here is a HUGE help, especially at bedtime. Bedtime is officially the very worst, most excruciating part of my day (note that this is true regardless of whether it is a week day or the weekend). This is, in fact, my facebook status update from last night, after I put the kids to bed by myself (Andy did make it home to read Eleanor her last story and tuck her in, so technically he helped) ..."Do other parents dread bedtime as much as I do? It's like preparing to go into battle here... I do appreciate the silence that comes (once they are finally asleep) but at what price? Tonight I had to herd them upstairs like feral cats, then at the top (when I am still only half way up behind Eleanor) Hammie shoves Fraser so hard that Fraser starts to fall headfirst down the stairs. I stop him with one hand. Then begins the "please put your pajamas on" period during while I repeat that 40 times while I put Eleanor's pjs on and Fraser and Hammie chase the cats. Then we brush teeth. Brushing the teeth of a 1, 3, and 4 year old at the same time, by yourself, should be an Olympic sport. Then I get to repeat "Please go pick out your stories" 40 times while they chase cats, throw books and try to remove their pajamas. Then we read stories while the boys try to shove each other to get "in front" and Eleanor listens to the first few pages before she decides it is time to try to eat the book. Then we go to bed right after everyone has to have one more sip of water and 2 kisses and 2 hugs. Okay, don't mind that last part really, but the rest is just insane."

Is it any wonder I feel like I deserve a break at some point? The trouble is that the big "breaks" like our date night on Tuesday when Andy took me out to dinner and to see A Conversation with Steve Martin, are fun at the time, but since we didn't get to bed Tuesday night until midnight, and my usual bedtime is closer to 8:30 or 9:00, I am STILL recovering. Yes it is true, I am officially too old to stay up late on a school night, or any night for that matter.

So, since the big breaks tend to backfire in one way or another, I tend to favor the little breaks that I can squish into the day when the kids are occupied, like when Eleanor is napping or the boys are outside shoveling snow in April. So, I update this blog, I check facebook, and I surf the pet rescue sites. I know, those of you who know me well (or least my parents and husband) I can hear your collective groan though cyberspace. I love animals and they are probably my main weakness in life. Currently we have 1 dog and 4 cats, which I think along with our three children actually qualifies us as a zoo for tax purposes. Still, the only reason we don't currently have more pets is that Andy is much more practical than I am concerning strain that animals put on your time, space and wallet.

So when I was playing on facebook recently I ran across the Pet Pardons applications which lists pets in shelters across the country that are scheduled to be euthanized, and I found the Lucky Dog Rescue blog by a woman who runs her own animal rescue. When I very excitedly told Andy about both these sites on our way to our date night dinner he didn't groan out loud, but there was some definite eye rolling. "You know I am going to do something like that one day right?" I asked him over dinner, "Yes, I know that" he responded "Believe me, I know that, but not right now. We have enough going on right now!" I won't say he was pleading, but I won't say he wasn't.

Look, like I said, my life is nuts right now. Every day is Manic Monday and lots of days even the regular chores don't get done (though I do manage to feed everyone every day, in case you were worried) so I'm not about to set up my own animal rescue this week. Still, there are parts of us even after we become mothers that just can't be put on the back burner forever. And now that I think about it, wouldn't it be a funny April Fools joke if I got all my friends to drop their dogs at my house for a few hours this evening, then when Andy got home I could proudly announce "Look at all these dogs I agreed to foster for the animal rescue I was telling you about!" Well, it would be a hell of a lot funnier than all this snow that is still coming down. Plus it might take some of the sting out of the revelation that I did offer to adopt a rottweiler from Tennessee through that Pet Pardons website....