It’s Monday morning and my spring break has officially started: The kids went back to school today!

Go ahead and scold me for reveling in the sendoff of my babies, but I was home with my brood for more than seven days and think it’s now safe to tell you that I was a single mom during spring break. My husband’s work schedule does not always coordinate with school breaks.

I. Am. Exhausted.

Please join me in a standing ovation for all fulltime single parents, because they deserve it, although they would probably prefer a beach vacation, alone.

This year’s Spring Break Staycation Saga was a taste of what summer break will again bring in just a few weeks: late nights, early mornings (because “sleeping in” means awake at 7:30 a.m.), screaming and fighting, injuries, too much ice cream, sunshine and dirt.

I can’t wait.

My goal was to get the kids out of the house as much as possible during our weeklong staycation.

We visited the Boonshoft Museum branch at the Upper Valley Mall in Springfield, went out for ice cream, spent an afternoon at Young’s Dairy (more ice cream), went to a birthday party (ice cream and cake), saw a movie, played baseball.

No matter where we were, home, pet store, ballpark, chaos followed.

Chaos doesn’t care where you are; it clings to children like white pet hair on your only pair of black pants.

Let me elaborate. I said some things to my kids last week that I never thought would come out of my mouth. Ever. But, they needed to be said:

“Get the dog leash off of your sister!” This one is self-explanatory.

“Put the banana down now!” I don’t even remember why this needed to be said.

“And just what am I supposed to do with a turd at the ballpark?” Let’s just say this had nothing to do with our new dog.

Staycation injuries included a smashed finger (son 1), a bruised cheek (son 2), a cut forehead (the Princess) and a split lip (me; and here’s a parenting tip: Do not tip that much-needed glass of wine to your mouth when an angry, flailing toddler is near).

Despite the everpresent chaos, we did make some memories and have some down time, too. I will look back on this week fondly one day, I’m sure. Just not today.