Now I know....

EXACTLY what my Mother was feeling when she said, in desperation, "I am so ready for school to start!" I have even been know to repeat that phrase numerous times a day in the last few weeks. :) There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The kids, well 3 of them, will go back to school the 15th. That's just 10 short days from now! We ventured out Tuesday to get their school supplies. As you can see the backpacks were the most exciting thing. Note to Mother's: Dragging 4 young kids around in 100 degree heat all day is no fun for anyone.

The Price of Children

I'm sure we have all read this a thousand times. For me it was a huge reminder of my abundent blessings at a time when I am feeling totally overwhelmed and inadaquate as a mother and wife.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,

* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich" Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.



In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So . . one day they will like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren

Too weird

We went to a little chinese restaraunt tonight because the kids have been dying for chinese. We had a pretty nice meal. The kids behaved pretty well. Alissa was in a good mood and in no way cranky. Close to the end of our meal a man who had been setting behind us approached us. He said, "I just wanted to comment on how well behaved your kids are." I almost passed out and Jeremy actually laughed. The man said, "No, I'm serious. I didn't say they we're perfect but they we're very well behaved for such young kids." Now if that doesn't make a Momma proud I'm don't know what would. It's nice to have a little reassurance from a stranger that your doing a good job raising your kids. :) Eating out with 4 young kids is always a bit of a chore and Jeremy and I both get a little stressed thinking the kids are disturbing other people. When we go out to eat from now on I'm gonna try very hard to remember that my children are very well behaved and other people do notice that. :)

New obsession

I decided to take advantage of the Netflix free trial. I set up my account and started adding movies to my queue. Between Cassidy and myself we now have over 50 movies we are waiting to see. :) They have all the old Disney movies! Anyone remember Candleshoe? The Gnome-mobile? The Moon Spinners? We're also waiting on the first season of She-Ra: Princess of Power and Punky Bruster. I loved those shows when I was a kid. How cool is it that I can now share them with my kids? I know that the animation is not as good. I know that the Punky Bruster set doesn't look as real as sets do now but still I love those show! It's much cheaper and much more convenient then the movie rental places here. At almost $4 a movie they'll break you. Then there's the whole due date that we sometimes get so busy we forget about. Well now I can keep the movies as long as I want and expect to get a new one within about 2 days of sending one back. All that for one very low price. Us being movie people it's a heck of a deal. :)

Everyone needs a little spontaneity

I know the pictures look like a big blob and some grass but in fact it's The Big Unit! on some grass. For those of you who don't know that's Randy Johnson, one of the greatest pitchers the game of baseball has ever seen. In fact he's the greatest left handed pitcher of all time! And as for the quality of the picture, camera phones suck. We had not intended on driving 2 hours both ways to attend a baseball game Monday but we found out our, Dylan and my, favorite player, the afore mentioned Johnson, would be pitching in Arlington. So we got up bright and early Monday morning and headed that way. Not only did we get to see Randy Johnson warm up in the bullpen but we also got to see the likes of Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, all future Hall of Famers. We now have home video of the New York Yankees warming up before a game. Dylan even brought Flat Stanley along for the adventure. The kids had a great time, with the exception of the heat. It's good the take a spur of the moment trip sometime. :)

"Hurry before I die!"

This seems to be Alissa's new favorite phrase. Last night she needed to go potty and of course the light were off so I had to go with her to turn them on. Apparently I was not moving fast enough because she yelled down the hall "Hurry before I die!" With much urgency. Again today she decided she wanted to read a book. She got in my lap and once again yells, "Hurry before I die!" It was too funny. Can we say drama queen?!

The Offer

Jeremy is working for a company as a temporary employ. They had every intention of making him a full time employ but wanted to get him working sooner then they would have if they had done the whole interview, background check, ect first. So he was suspose to fly to Houston Monday for his interview on the company's tab. That was great for us because we have no money to get him there. One big problem, he can't make the flight arrangements because the company never gave him a confirmation # and he didn't learn this till after hours Friday. So, on Monday he makes the arrangements to fly to Houston at 4:00 that afternoon. He comes home at noon, we rush to get him packed and everything in order. We get him to the airport with time to spare and the kids and I come home. Then he calls...The flight was cancelled! Not a big deal if you live somewhere like Amarillo where there's a flight leaving for Houston every 30 min but here....nothing! They can't get him on another flight until 9am the next morning. The exact time of his interview. So the company rented him a car, he drove to DFW, flew from there to Houston at 5am, got another rental car and drove to his interview.

The interview it's self went off without a hitch! They liked him and he had all the right experience. They said they would call him later in the week with a salary offer.

He gets back to airport to fly home at 2pm only to find out that they have him flying back into DFW! ACK!!! What a hassle. He gets back on the phone with the company and gets everything fixed with only minutes to spare before the flight to Abilene leaves.

HE got the call first thing this morning with the offer. I personally think it's a good offer. Jeremy wasn't as happy. He's guaranteed $40,000 a year on 40 hours a week plus his time and a half and double time for his overtime pay. That works out to roughly $19.25 an hour. I think that's a great offer considering we will have medical and dental insurance for next to nothing. He will also have a retirement fund, vacation, paid holidays and he will not have to worry about being laid off. Did I mention he will get that salary for 40 hours EVERY WEEK?! Whether he works them or not?! Huge plus in my book. No more worrying about him not working enough hours to pay the bills. Although Jeremy is more worried about the fact that some of the other, less experienced guys are making the same amount as he is. I can understand being a little put off but look at all the benefits! It's a start right? They said he would get a raise in January. SO prove to them that your worth a nice one, problem solved. Sometimes it just seems like nothing is every good enough for him. :(

Money Tree?

A friend of mine was recently searching for it. Has anyone found it yet? I could certainly put a few branches to good use. Isn't funny how everything seems to snowball all at once? You plod along thinking your keeping your head above water just until those brighter days show up and WHAM!!!! I think it's a conspiracy. All the people you own money too get together and decide to hit you with the disconnects all in one week. Lucky for us the gas and water are paid. So we will have hot water but no lights, stove, ect.... No phones as both the cell phones and the home phone are set to be turned off this weekend... WOOHOO!!! Can't win for losing... Saddest part is that by taking the job in Oklahoma Jeremy actually did us more harm then good. It cost more for him to stay there them what he would have made setting on his heiny drawing unemployment. Anyone need a old gas guzzling Dodge pickup? It runs! And at this point selling it is the only way I can see to get our head back above water till we get another check. Depression has officially set in. :(

Little Miss Bossy Pants

OK, Hawk is a monster. He's practialy tripled in size since we got him 5 months ago. We finally remember to pick him up a new collar today while we were at the store. Of course I haven't gotten around to putting it on him yet. It's setting on the kitchen counter. I was cooking supper and Miss Bossy Pants walks in, initials AJL. She gets on her chair to see what I'm doing, spys the collar and says to me......."Get off your butt and go put this collar on!" WHAT?! She's got to quit listening to her Daddy and we're gonna have to start putting our foot down with Miss Boss or we're in for a world of trouble when she get older.

This is Mater

Our new little motherless kitty. Yes we're pushovers. The girls brought her home from Mom's house. I told them they had to ask their Dad if they could have her. His reply to me, "I couldn't say no because Cassidy said she loves her!" Pushover!! Of curse now Alissa absolutly loves her too. She says "she's just my size!" We named her Mater for the towtruck on Cars that we went to the drive-in to see. Such a cute movie! And Alissa can say Mater very well. :)

S'Mores Explosion!

OK, I know I probably shouldn't be encourageing my children to wear there food but sometimes you just need a good food fight to raise your spirits. I know I only have 2 kids in the pics. That would be because Cass and chey are in Oklahoma spending some time with my Mom.

Not much to talk about

For those of you who really know me I'm sure your falling in the floor from shock. For once I'm pretty well speechless. It's not that there hasn't been much going on in my world, although there really hasn't. It's more that I can't seem to string my random, off the wall thought into any form of coherency(is that even a word?). Jeremy will be going to Oklahoma to start work there tomorrow. Of course, I am less then thrilled at the thought of another stint as a single parent. But hey, you gotta go where the work is, right?

I should probably do some sappy, heartwarming Father's day post but I have a lot of animosity related to the father's that have been in and out of my life. Don't think I even have any heartwarming memories about my Dad. He was more the uninvolved, "I make the money and my responsibility stops there" type. Pretty much a total jackass in my book. :) As for my step-dad, he spent about 5 years trying to convince me that I was a lesbian and once tried to kill my mother, enough said! I guess that's why I have such a hard time just letting Jeremy be a Dad. I want him to be the best Dad. The kind that his girls actually want him to give them away at their weddings. The kind who his son considers one of his best-friends. The kind the 2 of us never had. Thing is he is a good Dad. His kids would argue with you if you told them he couldn't walk on water. For the most part he does a pretty good job. :)

So there you go, that's a good it gets today!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley had one great time with Mrs. Garrett! HE got to mow the lawn with her on the riding lawn mower, Mr. Garrett took him and Mrs. Garrett to eat at IHOP AND he got to ride with Mrs. Garrett on her Harley in the Hog Ralley! Now tell me she's not the coolest teacher ever! She put all the pictures on a computer slide show that I tried to attatch here but I can't firgure out how to do if it's even possible to. If you want to see it you could email me and I could email it to you. :)

Trouble

This is Alissa and her best friend, aka partner in crime. They are so cute together. They played putt-putt together with these big plastic golf clubs and had a blast. I didn't get any pictures of that though. If these 2 get to stay together through school I know some teacher who are in for some trouble! :)

Birthday Party

We had Cassidy's birthday party at Play Faire Park, the coolest mini-golf place ever. We only had 5 friends, the six of us and my my sister but we had a really good time. Cassidy was thrilled despite the low attendance. We had good cake, good friends, good presents and got to play both courses! Woohoo! Doesn't get much better then that. :)

My roses

So, I had to dl the pictures of my roses in order to delete them to make room for birthday party pics. I love my roses but they sure didn't live long. :(

Happy Mother's Day

OK, I know it's late but since I have concluded that there is not one single, solitary person who actually reads me blog well then so what if it is late! I hope all the Mother's I know, and the one's I don't, had a very special day! I took pictures of the roses, 2 dozen white! my favorite, my wonderful kids and hubby bought me but I have been too busy, or lazy take your pick, to download them. I didn't take pictures of the Wolfgang Puck grill/griddle that they got me because that would just be silly, right? :) I did however have a pretty good day. I also got a chance to appericiate my beautiful, loving children even more than I nornally do. I would have written some sappy, sentimental thing about how much I love my mother and appreciate her so much more now that I am a mother myself but I'm just not in the mood. I haven't quite been myself lately. So, lots of love to all the Mommy's out there!!!!!!

Get fit or die tring!

That's my new motto! Jeremy and I went and joined a gym today. We have been discussing it for awhile due to my high blood pressure and Jeremy's fat rolls. Now all I can think is, "What the hell did I get myself into!" Now that I'm paying money to workout I will actually have to make the time to do it because there are few things that irritate me more than wasting large amounts of money. I know it's a good thing and we really need to get fit in order to teach our children how to be and stay fit. I know it will make me feel better, not to mention making my clothes actually fit...lol Hopefully it will make Jeremy look like the guy we saw jogging down the street today without a shirt on. That man looked really good!! Not that I was looking or anything..hehe :) BUT I am so not looking forward to learning how to work all those intimidating, gynocological looking machines. I really expected to hear someone say, "Now slide to the edge of the bench...just a little further..." The only machines I could even identify were the bikes and treadmills. It's crazy!

The shiner

Dylan has had quite a week. First he walked into a metal pole at the store and got a huge goose egg on his forehead. Then yesterday the kids were playing on the trampoline and he hits himself in the eye with his OWN knee. Poor guy has a heck of a black eye.

It's finally here.....

No, I'm not talking about spring, or the time change, or the much anticipated day that Jeremy went back to work.... I'm talking about the very best time of year, at least in our house....BASEBALL SEASON!!!! All over America thousands of fans flocked into their favorite major league stadiums to witness the glory of opening day. In our house we flocked to the Southern Little League field to watch our all time favorite baseball player take the field. My own little man donned his little league volcanoes uniform, ball cap and cleats. He took the field with pure love for the game written all over him. MY boy, one of the youngest on the team, took his place at first base and it was all business. It's amazing how proud you can be of a 7 year old playing a game of baseball. And I was extremely proud of the fact that my boy was playing first base but I was also proud at all those games when my little boy played the outfield and never even had a ball hit his way. I'm am so in awe of the passion, drive and determination inside that little man to play the game he loves not to the best of his ability but better. I have seen so many kids who have this amazing raw talent. Not Dylan, he's small, not very quick, but what that boy lacks in talent he makes up for in heart. Dylan plays as well as he does because he's all heart and he's determined to be the best at everything he does and even better at the things he loves. And by the way, they WON!!! Just in case you were wondering. :)