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School Holidays {the most wonderful time of the year} | Life

I've come to the conclusion that I am one of those parents that likes school holidays. Scratch that, I LOVE school holidays! No lunches to make, school uniforms to wash, we don't have to be out of the house by a certain rushed time, and most importantly? I have my Punky back, the one I don't dread picking up from school because she will inevitably be so tired & worn out from learning and being on her best behaviour all day that the afternoons & evenings till bedtime are a nightmare that Dave and I will barely survive.



Yeah, that first term was rough. Seriously, the last two weeks of school the behaviour we were copping from Punky after school was also starting to cause real stress for & between Dave, Zoe and I. It wasn't pleasant. I would look at the clock some days, particularly on a Thursday or Friday and just not want to go and pick her up because I knew what was waiting for me. Some days the meltdowns would begin before we even got out the school gate.

I knew that starting school would be a really hard transition for everyone, but I didn't realise how hard dealing with the emotional & behavioural impact it would have on Punky would be. The last few weeks of school she was like another kid, one I didn't know and, if I'm being honest, one who wasn't fun to be around.

Which is why this first week of school holidays, despite the fact that I worked every day, has been so damn good. I have my happy girl back. Sure there are still the occasional meltdowns and arguments about things, but not the screaming & aggression that had taken over towards the end of term.

It's almost enough to make me not want to send her back in a week's time. I'm going to remind myself of how good these holidays have been as we get towards the end of this next term if things get so bad again. I'm hoping that as she gets used to the routine and used to the stress of being on her best behaviour that we won't see things go as badly as they did this last term. It's a really big adjustment, and I know as she gets older and more emotionally mature it won't be so much of a problem, but man, some days it's hard to remember the old "this too shall pass" while you're going through it.

Once again it's proven that kids, they don't get easier, they just get different!

We haven't had much of a chance to go out these holidays so far, but what we have done has been fun. Last Tuesday we took the girls to the city so we could check out the MCA's school holiday workshop, Different Dimensions. I was asked to go and take some photos and write a review for the parent's website ellaslist and we had a great time. We were given free entry to the workshop and a complimentary meal at the MCA Cafe but honestly, it was all so good I would have paid for it myself anyway (and it wasn't that expensive to start with!). If you want to check out my review you can find it on the ellaslist website here.

After our visit to the MCA we then went to the City Extra Cafe and had dinner before catching the train home. I use the term "dinner" loosely, as while Dave and I actually ate proper meals, Punky's dinner consisted of a chocolate milkshake and a bowl of strawberries, and Zee's was a strawberry milkshake and a pancake! But hey, what's a day out if you can't let loose a little and have something fun to eat!

Thursday was my work's 5th birthday party and the girls came along with me and had a wonderful time checking out the studio and consuming copious quantities of party food and easter eggs. Friday we had our traditional easter egg hunt and lunch at Mum's and let me just say, Zee is an egg hunt machine! She found way more than Punky or my nephew T-Bear and she was ruthless! At one point T-Bear tipped out the eggs he had found on to the floor and Zee swooped right in to snatch them up!

The rest of the long weekend was spent in our pyjamas! Dave worked all weekend so it was just me and the girls hanging out together. We didn't have to go anywhere and it was really, really lovely. Exactly what I needed after working 7 days straight. Thankfully Dave was on night shift on Saturday/Sunday, so the girls got to spend some time with him on Sunday morning before he went to bed and we had a little Easter Egg hunt of our own thanks to the Easter Bunny (and my Mum & Sister, who kindly came to the EB's rescue with chocolate bunnies & eggs after she didn't have time to get to the shops to buy any herself!).

This week is shaping up to be another busy one, as I have a wedding and family session to get down to editing, which will take a solid few days of work to get through, but thankfully Dave is off until Friday so that will make it easier, and ease the guilt I might have otherwise felt about not being able to play with the girls so much. I also need to put the finishing touches on my new website ready to launch it on Sunday. If you'd like to sign up to the newsletter to see what I've been working on and find out about launch specials, etc, you can do so here.

So that's how our holidays have been going, hows yours? Did you go away for Easter or stay home?





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