I think I needed a reminder that I can't do it all

So tomorrow the kids have their Valentine's Day Party at school and have to bring in cards to pass out.

Well I could have just gone and found some cute little cards for them to pass out for a couple of bucks and called it a happy day.

But that's just not my style.

I had visions of these amazing cards that I was going to create for them.

They were going to be amazing.

But then today was a bit stressful at work. Just a bit...

So I ran into Hobby Lobby after work and found some stamps and was so excited to get home and get started.

Then I get home and poor Kevan has been dealing with kids by himself for hours and has lost his mind. And I sit down with my lofty intentions of making those amazing cards.

My plan was to stamp a message, an image and then stamp out each child's name on the front, then another stamp image on the reverse with my child's name. Then since it was white cardstock, my kids could color and make them pretty!!!Well, do you know how exciting stamps are to 3 and a half year old boys? And do you know how uninterested a 21 month old little girl was in coloring tonight?

Nothing was working. I have lost my mind.

I think that the root of the problem is that I'm a working mom. So that means I have to make sacrifices. One of those sacrifices is that I just can't put together 28 amazing valentines cards when I get home at 7pm after having a crazy day at the office. It's just not humanly possible. But there I go putting insanely high expectations on myself. Again.

So I sat there, and kept Colton out of the ink but don't you know that sweet little boy was ruining each and every one of those sweet Valentines as soon as I'd finish with them? And then I would get mad at him and then even more mad at myself. Because all he wanted to do was help. And all I wanted to do was make something amazing. Sometimes it's just not possible. I tried looking at the cards that he "worked" on as precious pieces of art from my adorable child. But it failed.

I finally gave up and decided that either I could cry or I could just let Colton absolutely destroy those cards. Well, I wasn't going to let this day get the best of me. So I let him go to town. It's a good thing that I bought the 100 pack of cardstock ;)

Once Colton went to bed, I started all over again determined to make those damned cards.

I have learned my lesson. Next year I'm buying those prepackaged cards and just accepting that I just don't have the time or energy or ability to do everything! And that's okay! I don't have to do everything. I'll drive myself crazy that way. So I'm going to work on just being happy with what I can do and be proud of the things that I accomplish.

I worked through the pain and finished the cards, but am tempted to have Kevan buy some cards tomorrow and drop them off. He says they look great. But I know better. I can't even convince myself to take a picture of them.

So my lesson of the day. Accept what I can do and get over what I can't.

Or drink more coffee...