I see the excitement of my friends as they exclaim !March Break! around this time every year, presumably over the joy that comes in not packing school lunches and not yelling at anyone who is putting on their snowsuit a little too slowly, for a few days, anyway.

Me, I feel a sense of dread every time there’s a school vacation. I don’t have enough vacation to ever cover their days off properly. We have childcare in the form of a nanny, but somehow the thought of leaving her with all three full-time for five days makes me think she might just quit. I’d have to give her danger pay. Besides, if I leave it up to the kids, they’ll spend most of the day in front of the screen and there’s not as much going on locally in March as there is in the summer. Oh, and the weather is totally unpredictable.

On top of that. I’ve known that the husband was going to be away this whole week for a while. So I did what any reasonable person would do – I’ve sent the two older kids to Camp Grandma and Granddad.

I’m obviously very lucky to be able to do this. My mother retired last year, but has spent the bulk of her time supporting my grandparents since they moved close to her last summer after my uncle died. I’m hoping that the kids won’t completely exhaust her and they might have some fun together for a few days.

And so at home, it’s just me and the baby, after he hangs out with the nanny during the day. We’re going to have a bit of a break this week. I think we all deserve it. (Except my mother. My poor, poor  mother. I hope she isn’t broken by Thursday.)

What are your plans? Make me envious. I’m going to do some crazy stuff like clean out my cupboards after the baby goes to sleep. And enjoy a grocery bill that came in at 50% less than usual.

Related posts:

1. A break in March
2. What break?
3. The winter that wasn’t
4. 2011 in review
5. This woman’s work