Mireille Enos on Husband Alan Ruck: 'I've Had a Crush on Him Since Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

She may be the star of ABC’s newest hit The Catch, but at home, Mireille Enos relishes most in her role as wife and mom.

The actress has two children, daughter Vesper Vivianne, 5, and son Larkin Zouey, 20 months, with her husband of eight years, actor Alan Ruck.

“Sometimes it’s overwhelming,” Enos, 40, tells PEOPLE exclusively of the elusive work/life balance. “Everything is going beautifully. The kids are healthy, work is going well and my husband is amazing.”

Nonetheless, “It’s hard not to feel like I’m failing a little bit every day,” says Enos. “If I’ve got a big chunk of text in a scene and it’s not falling off my tongue because I didn’t memorize it until the kids were in bed, it’s hard not to say, ‘If I only had an extra day!’ ”

She continues, “But if I had not been with the kids, I would have been failing in another direction. It all gets sorted out in the wash.”

Having a devoted husband certainly helps. Enos admits she had a “crush” on Ruck, now 59, when he memorably starred in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as hypochondriac Cameron Frye.

“Matthew Broderick was never a thing,” she says with a laugh. “It was always Cameron, tall and skinny and singing to himself.”

When the pair met during rehearsals for a play in New York City, “Alan walked in the door and my brain said, ‘Oh, there he is,’ ” says Enos. “It was a moment of recognition of some other person who was going to change my life.”

That includes co-parenting two young children, of course. “Vesper is very bright, she understands emotional ideas beyond her years,” says Enos of her daughter. And son Larkin is “a powerhouse. He sings all the time. He’s really musical.”

Lately, Enos takes great joy in watching her kids together. “They are equals in every way,” she says.

“We put an easel in the kitchen, so while we’re cooking, they’ll stand there and draw. We listen to them talk to each other and it is so fun!”

For more from Mireille Enos, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.

— Aili Nahas