My Airbrushed Life

I admit, I have an unhealthy addiction. I read a few parenting blogs. The ones that make you feel completely inadequate. Smiling, engaged kids, thrifty, inventive moms looking like they may spontaneously combust with happiness and creativity. The internet is full of parent/child teams knitting cozies for their toothbrushes, sending pets to outerspace, raising money for worthy causes while donning quirky outfits and a JCrew smile. I love to hate them. Some days I like to pretend I live this airbrushed life. Today we invited two families over to help build a rocket ship and space station in our garage. Paint, egg cartons, bubble wrap, tubing and large cardboard boxes served as our building materials. We can pretend that the kids didn't end up painting the garage floor and that Vivian spent most of the morning hissing at our guests (I realized she does not people in our home). I can pretend that I wasn't running down the aisles at Trader Joe this morning trying to appear like a thoughtful host with exotic juices and quiche. I can pretend the damn banana coconut muffins weren't burnt because I was dealing with a client's crisis and didn't hear the timer go off. I can pretend I wasn't completely exhausted at the end of it. Doesn't the rulebook mandate somewhere that playdates last no more than two hours? Who's with me? We can also pretend that I didn't have to wrestle these kids down to get their picture taken. "Smile!"....said with a snarl. But despite the craze, I want to document the mornings when your mom can be present. I want to remember the fact that your father hulled up in the garage after-hours the night before working magic with a box cutter and duct tape. I want to remember that although it's not perfect, and amidst all the faxes and emails, voicemails and meetings, we try to have fun. Above is Laura and Lauren (Ella's Concordia pals) showing off their "rocket boosters", Viv in Lanie's dance recital costume??? and the gang hard at work (including Nathaniel and Jack)