Mom of the Year Award

Mom of the Year Award goes to me, but only if it's being given by Lazy Parenting magazine. It's just been one of those hard weeks that makes it all to easy to take shortcuts.

Cold cereal and yogurt for dinner? Sure!

Back-to-back viewings of Finding Nemo? Why the heck, not?

You don't want to take a bath tonight? Well, let's skip it. I'll just scrub you down with a diaper wipe really quick. Aaaaah...spring fresh!

These are the weeks I'm thankful the kids go to daycare where they get a hot meal and age appropriate stimulation.

Then, I'm reading my Parents magazine with all of these cute Halloween craft suggestions, such as spray painting plastic insects in neon paint and gluing them to a ceramic bowl for handing out candy. Are you kidding me? I will be lucky to get the candy out of the bag and into a clean bowl from the kitchen. An even more likely scenario is me handing out gum from my purse, because I never got around to buying any candy. Just pick the lint off, kids.

I also love the 20-step ideas to liven your child's lunchbox. People...I fed my daughter cold cereal for dinner (albeit at her request). Do you think I have time to cut cucumber slices into stars and make caprese kabobs on toothpicks?

I know there are moms out there somewhere with four kids and two jobs, who will create a full-blown haunted house for Halloween and have soup made with homemade chicken stock ready for post trick-or-treat dining. I freely admit my inferiority and only feel slightly bad about it. Sorry, Lainey and Nick. You will be feasting on Campbell's and wearing store-bought costumes (that I will have to priority ship, because I won't order them until 10/28).

I may not be the Martha Stewart of moms, but I love my kids. They love me. And sometimes that's good enough.