This week Isabella had mid-winter break—she was off from last Thursday until this coming Monday.

What’s that, you ask, didn’t she just have two weeks off in December for winter break? Why yes she did! And what’s that, you ask, doesn’t she get another two weeks off in two months for Pesach? Right again, she does!

So, what is this mid-winter break? I have no idea!

But, since I have a job I don’t want to lose, and since I just took off for winter break and and since I’ll be taking off when we go to Virginia for Pesach, and since my older two children had school all week, this week meant a wee bit of juggling for me, since she’s 10 — she can’t be left home alone yet.

The ultimate goal was to find things for Isabella to do on her own while I was on long work conference calls and while I edited photos and spoke to clients and updated our social media channels. And while I’m not against television-as-babysitter — in fact, I’m very pro this, but I also believe in balance — I wanted her to spend her time doing productive and good-for-her-brain things in between episodes of Bunk’d (Kikiwaka, Kikiwaka!) and Girl Meets World.

While I worked, Isabella played in the snow, she performed surgery on her dolls, she created a work of art with pastels, she did Mathletics, she made a no-sew owl pillow, and she decorated a Smurf cake, all by herself.

Yes. She did. She researched, drew up sketches and plans, made a shopping list, and decorated the entire thing herself, from fondant to figurines.

There’s a special kind of Mommy Guilt for moms who have to work while their children have many, many days of vacation.

But there’s also a special kind of Mommy Pride for moms whose children are artsy and creative and can take on big solo projects and have now learned to do long division and how to make both waffles and pasta and how to do laundry oh my god you guys Isabella did a load of laundry all by herself I feel faint.

And now we just have to figure out what to do tomorrow.

{As part of my partnership with Mathletics, I was compensated for this post. But all opinions, thoughts, words, and attempts at humor are my own, as always. This post wraps up my three post sponsorship with Mathletics. First I told you about learning math from Edward James Olmos. And then I told you about Isabella’s struggles with math. And this may be my final post, but I can honestly tell you that we are fans for life. Isabella finally knows all of her multiplication tables, and she can divide — long division, yo! — and do all sorts of important mathematical things.}