Day 6 - 9 The Love Dare

Not a lot of juice in these last few days, at least no real juice to write about. Mark and I are really noticing that we do most of the love dare challenges on a daily basis without even thinking about it. We've reflected on how far we've come in our marriage and how fortunate we are to have one another. I'm looking forward to the weekend when we can focus a little more time on the challenge...this first week of school has me WORE OUT. Here were the challenges for the past few days:

Day 6 - Love is not irritable
Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list below of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life

Day 7 -Love Believes the Best
For today’s dare, get two sheets of paper. On the first one, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. There is a different purpose and plan for each. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for having this characteristic.

Day 8 -Love is not jealous
Determine to become your spouse’s biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday’s list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it. Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a success he or she recently enjoyed.

Day 9 - Love makes good impressions
Think of a specific way you’d like to greet your spouse today. Do it with a smile and with enthusiasm. Then determine to change your greeting to reflect your love for them.


Moving on to Day 10, I'm fairly certain I will have a decent post for this day!

Day 5 - The Love Dare

Love is not rude.

Day 5
Ask your spouse to tell you three things that cause him or her to be uncomfortable or irritated with you. You must do so without attacking them or justifying your behavior. This is from their perspective only.

Ick. I was NOT looking forward to this one. The kids on the other hand, LOVED the thought of picking each other apart. I had to have a conversation with them about the purpose of this challenge, because on the surface, it really just appeared to be another way to start an argument. I *think* they got it. Their lists were fairly predictable, although Ashley did get a little carried away and came up with 5 instead of 3...and then tacked the paper to his wall. Lovely. Today I'm going to ask her for a redo, and for her not be so harsh in her choice of words.

Mark and I didn't get around to this challenge until late last night, and ended up staying up past midnight discussing. Last night I realized that I had built this challenge up so much in my mind that I was actually dreading having to bring it up. I guess my fears were that I was going to learn something about myself that would be hard to hear, and more specifically, hard to change. I was also not looking forward to the possibility of hurting Mark's feelings. I now realize that my fears were much larger than they needed to be. We had an extremely productive conversation, and learned a little bit about each other. Really, our issues with each other are so, so tiny when weighed with what we love about each other. And with every item on each of our lists, we discovered that in order to have what we have in our life together, these things are necessary on at least some level. They could certainly improve, but they are there only as a result of the efforts we make for our family. Behind each irritant is a good intention, and that leaves me feeling oh so thankful.

Day 4 - The Love Dare

Love is Thoughtful

Day 4 Challenge:

Contact your spouse sometime during the business of the day. Have no agenda other than asking how he or she is doing and if there is anything you could do for them.


Day 4 was an all around challenge, but not necessarily challenge specific. Between the stressors of work, the sick dog, the leaking pool (a whole other post), and children with cabin fever Mark and I were not exactly on the same page yesterday. We took Abbie to the vet together mid-day and made a trip to Pets Mart...so I decided that yesterday was not a good day for this challenge. I think it would have been more irritating than anything to get a phone call in the short span of time that we were not at home together and needing to catch up with work to see how the other's day was going. I know that sounds somewhat shallow, but really, despite my feeling as though I was at work for 12 hours yesterday, I was really only there for 3. We will take this challenge and throw it in on a random day.

Alex, my little buddy, had no problem with today's challenge. He has really surprised me these last few days. He's gone from complete challenge pessimism, to challenge king. He is always the first to ask what the next days challenge will be, and always the first to accomplish it. Yesterday, on three separate occasions, he asked each of us how our day was. I'm so impressed with how he's taken hold of this challenge and made it his own.

I'm not looking forward to the Day 5 challenge today, but I'm working on coming to terms with it.

Day 3 - The Love Dare

Day 3: Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It’s hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says, “I was thinking of you today.”

This was tougher than I anticipated. I really wanted to buy something meaningful, yet inexpensive and could not think of anything "worthy". I think I was over thinking it most of the day. I ended up buying all the ingredients for a new recipe for stuffed jalapenos (with bacon!!). Last night was poker night, so I waited until about 9:00 to give him his gift so he could share them with his friends.

Mark came home with one of my favorite bottles of wine, which I will enjoy this evening after work. Great choice, Mark!!

Alex started his gift for Ashley the night before, almost immediately after I announced the next day's challenge. He wrote her a poem and drew a colorful picture to go along with it.
Ashley drew Alex a picture...I know there's a name for it, I just can't think of it...anyway, she spelled his name and each letter was created with pictures that define Alex's favorite things. I will have to post a picture of it in lieu of trying to describe it. Very sweet!

Day 3 was another success! On to Day 4!

Oh, and on another note, yesterday's coffee surprise/sculpture from Mark was "MMMMPPA!!!" spelled with toothpicks. The dots on the exclamation points were coffee beans. He's such a sweetie.

Day 2 - The Love Dare

Day 2 - Todays challenge was to do at least one unexpected gesture of kindness. Another fairly simple task, but I have to say, just spending the day thinking of something that would make Mark smile was eye opening. It forced me to think about him and his needs most of the day, which is always a good thing. This morning when I woke up, I came downstairs to my awaiting mug for coffee. Every morning I find something silly that Mark has done with my cup. Most mornings he had a little buddha figurine hiding underneath, but there have been many mornings I come down to find a silly mug sculpture with several items stacked 2 feet high with my mug and buddha at the bottom. Or, I'll find something silly inside my mug like a bottle of vitamins. Yesterday he made a smiley face with my mug as the nose, the creamer and sugar as the eyes and toothpicks for the smile. I can't even begin to express what that simple daily gesture does to start my day. I always wake up with a smile. This morning my grin was ear to ear when I found a message formed by toothpicks that said "I love Jamie". What really got me was the realization that I didn't know if he had done this for the "challenge" or just because. I feel so loved to actually have to ponder that question.

Mark had to go in to the office today and of course he rode his new motorcycle. On the two or so occasions that he has gone in and rode his bike, I have asked him to call me, or text me so I know he made it safe, I always worry about him in traffic on that little bike. This morning he made it out the door without me asking him to let me know he was safe. About 30 minutes later I get a message from him saying he's safe and he loves me. Another kind gesture that I'm pondering as to whether or not it was part of the challenge. I took to heart a lot about my husband today. What I learned today was to open my eyes and see what is right in front of me. This challenge has not forced us to do things we don't normally already do, it has forced us to see what is already there and take it to heart.

For my kind gesture to Mark today I couldn't decide what to do until I remembered the other day discussing my messy desk with him. I was analyzing my Myers-Briggs personality test with him, which mentioned a cluttery desk. I told him how different we were in that respect, and how clean his desk always is. Apparently, he doesn't think so. He actually told me he rarely ever cleans his desk. I remembered that today and decided to clean his desk. I dusted his monitors, desk, lamp, etc., cleaned between all of the keys on his keyboards and just did a basic clean up. Yeah, I know, nothing big, but honestly, it was hard to think of something out of the ordinary and simple that he wouldn't expect. He was very happy and thankful of course.

The kiddos actually completed today's challenge as well. Ashley's friend dropped off her straightening iron in the mailbox early this morning and Alex went to get it for her (in his underwear no less). And later on in the afternoon, Ashley bought him some candy at the Rec. Center. I'm so proud of my little monkeys! They are doing such a good job with our challenges!! I can't wait to see what's next.

Day 1 - The Love Dare

Today is day 2 of The Love Dare, but I HAVE to post about Day 1 now while it's still fresh in my mind. I have to make this short and sweet since I'm already running late getting ready for work.

I prepared the kids and Mark for Day 1 the night before. Initially, Alex was completely turned off to it. He could not imagine not saying a single negative thing all day to Ash...and then the thought of 40 days of similar challenges had him up in arms. "No, I'm not doing it, that's too long" I was finally able to talk him in to it, by encouraging him to just look at each day individually. I had him only focus on tomorrows task. When he finally agreed, I was so proud of him...but really I knew an entire day of nothing negative towards his sister was an incredible task.

I'm happy, proud and elated to say that Alex and Ashley made it through the ENTIRE day without saying a single negative word. What amazed me most was hearing Alex talk about this challenge and how it made him happy to be positive, and then, he got it. He told me that he could see how this was so easy that it wouldn't be that big of a deal to just make it a habit everyday, and not just on this "challenge" day. My heart swelled. He GOT IT!!!!

Mark and I made it through the day just as easily as I suspected. We are typically positive people and always make that effort.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the challenge and what lessons we have in store.

Now, I'm off to work before it gets any later.

Organization - The Budget

So, my newest obsession these days is money management, better known as BUDGETING. The term budget has only ever been a part of my vocab when referring to things I don't do. Mark and I are in our 10th year of marriage and undeniably this is an embarrassing little tid bit to share, but once again, this is Jamie, queen of all things backwards. I don't typically do things in the correct order, in fact, I think I'd make a great poster child for Experiential Learning Cycles, (maybe not, I don't think there's a 10 stage learning cycle). Better late than never, right? Just think of all that I have learned from NOT budgeting all these years, think of all that gusto now that I've finally found the last stage of said learning cycle.

The scoop...I now have a four page budgeting spreadsheet, along with two additional 2-page spreadsheets for the kids to manage their money as well. (If they inherited their momma's backward tendencies they need to start their experiential Learning cycle a bit early, right?) We're using a little bit of Dave Ramsey's envelope budgeting method, an ounce of my friend A's method and a dash of my own method that seems to be evolving on a daily basis. Really, it's all just common sense, with a few tools that force you to see what you thought you really didn't want to...but in the process you've realized the more you see the better you feel. I could compare it to good housekeeping- Everything has a place; but instead of the "stuff" having a place, we're talking about dollars. Instead of cramming everything in a closet for the instant gratification, we're planning where it all needs to go. Imagine that!
No, this is not rocket science.
Yes, we've always know we should be doing this.
No, you cannot have any of our money when we're rich like Thurston Howell.

We are super excited about this, and have spent a LOT of time planning and adding and getting real. More than anything though, I'm excited that our kids will get to see what it's like to WANT, and then to GET once they've achieved their goals, instead of wanting and then magically getting.
For example, last night we went out to dinner, (our planned Friday night dinner) and the kids both ordered sodas with their meals (a Friday treat). Fast forward...we're on our way home and they ask to stop at Mc Donalds for an ice cream cone. I told them that we already spent our budgeted out to dinner money for the night, but maybe next time if that's what they want to do they can order water with dinner and use that money for ice cream afterwards. They didn't push the subject because how can you, once the money is gone, it's gone, there is no other option.
If we don't have the money for something, there's no reason they shouldn't know that. If it doesn't fit within our budget, they should know that. We are teaching them nothing about being responsible with money by shielding them from the fact that YES, we do have a limited amount of money. With that being said, they now have a bi-weekly paycheck, just like Mark and I, that they have to manage. They have a register where they keep track of their money, just like a check register. They also have a savings register where they deposit 10% of their "paycheck" for whatever it is that they are saving for...for Ash it's a car. Alex doesn't have anything he's saving for yet, but that's the cool part, it doesn't always have to be for something he wants now, it can be for something unplanned. The point is to get them to experience the thinking process that should go along with spending money, which up until now, has only been an action...for kids and parents alike.

The burb

In my last post...though I'm not sure if it actually qualifies as a post...I introduced our newest purchase. Two weeks later, I am IN LOVE with my new car/bus. Never did I imagine myself driving a big honkin vehicle such as this, in fact just last year I was trying to figure out a way that I could drive a compact car. HA! It's amazing how quickly things change. We were actually out and about looking for my first love, the Toyota Sequoia, when we were introduced to the burb. The sales guy really wanted us to take a look at it, while I was reluctant. I have never owned an American car, and had already made up my mind that I was getting a Sequoia or nothing....until I opened the door to my gorgeous new burb. I fell in love instantly. I had no idea how NICE this was going to be. There absolutely nothing this vehicle is lacking, and oh the comfort! The soft cushy seats all but cradle your body.

The burb was purchased to replace the van AND the truck. We needed something large enough to handle the kids, four dogs, and all of the accouterments required for said creatures. The only down side to finding our new car was the timing. We had intended to sell the car and truck prior to buying something new, but alas, here we are with a driveway full of vehicles. FOUR to be exact. Yes, I realize how ridiculous this is. Sooo, with that being said if anyone would like to buy a 2001 Nissan Quest (one owner!!) or a 2004 Ford F150 Supercrew Lariat, please CALL ME! These have been super vehicles for us, it was just time to upgrade.

Testing, One, Two

Friday's progress proved to be just enough for a little fun. Since they're still working on backfilling, we could only fill the pool to the level of the backfill....which proved to be JUST enough. Alex and his two neighbor friends had a BLAST swimming, and I had just as much fun watching. THIS is what it's all about!

Friday night: Excuse the poor quality...I was using a cheapy camera.

Saturday Morning, crack of dawn, 6:30 to be exact, my darling husband set out to purchase the remaining tools and supplies for building the fence. With the help of Joe the magnificent, we spent the next 14 hours building our fence. And believe it or not, we actually had FUN. My husband is amazing. I'm just in awe at his abilities. No problem was too complex. And every solution turned out to be a masterpiece. I'm dead, I'm sore, I'm weak, but more than anything I'm SO PROUD of us!!!

Starting Over

Yesterday was Mark's first day at Apple. He left at 7:45, and was home a little after 6. As much as I missed him, I have to say, it was such a relief for me to get my routines back. Since he's been home, we've all been a little out of whack, with no real routine to speak of. No real defined roles...we just sort of flew by the seat of our pants. That was fun. For a while.
While he was home, we both did an incredible amount of nothing. With two of us responsible for keeping the household running, there was much more down time than either of us have ever had in our own home. If you know me, you know that when I'm at home, I'm typically on my feet. I don't sit back and relax, and really, I wanted to, I just didn't know how to let it all go and allow myself that luxury. Nothing a crash course in relaxation couldn't fix.

So, here we are, back to normal, and ever so thankful for the opportunity to have it all back. I broke out the Fly Lady checklist on Sunday. God I love checklists. This is my list of chores broke down in to daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. It's fail proof. I've had these checklists for about 3 years now and I've learned that with the checklists momma's happy. Anyway, breaking out the lists was like seeing an old friend again. That checklist and I have a lot of catching up to do, and strange as it may sound, I'm anxious to rekindle that relationship we use to have. Like a slice of normal pie.


Something I thought was pretty cute: Any guesses as to what Mark can get for free all day long everyday from the cafeteria at work?

Nationals...and other juice

Ashley and I made our way to Navasota, TX last Tuesday, along with 11 other teammates and numerous parents to watch our 6th graders play in the Dribblers National Tournament. We fully expected it to be a two day trip considering the talent pool that the tournament brings in, however, two days turned in to four, and four days in to a second place finish.

It was an excited four days that I'm sure the girls will talk about for most of their lives. The opportunity to play the in the Championship game is a rare one, and for Georgetown, it was a first. It was so, so exciting to be a part of.

I took about a thousand pictures that I will post as soon as I can. I'm still working on the photos from Tiesa's wedding that Mollie and I shot last weekend. I have SO much to do. This was my first time to use my new camera and lens for Basketball, and I'm anxious to see the improvements!

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In other news...you know what they say about an Apple a day...well, for us, it will be keeping more than the doctor away, it will be keeping the bill collectors, psychiatrists and marriage counselors away. After 4 1/2 months of unemployment, Mark is on his way to becoming an Apple employee. We are all so relieved, excited, anxious and thankful that the wait is over.
They're running background checks and going through all the standard procedures right now, but barring any unforseen circumstances, he's in! I feel like I took a deep breath months ago and forgot to let it go. Finally, we can all exhale knowing that everything is going to be just fine.

Birthday, Summer and other schtuff

I'm officially in the 30 club...Now that I'm 31, I'm no longer just a newbie, I'm officially making my way to 35 err 40. I'm not sure how this happened so fast, one day you're in your 20's just getting along with all the new changes, marraige, babies, dreams coming to fruition and then BAM! Suddenly, you're the age your mom was when you remember thinking how OLD she was and how that was eons away and truly, you're invensible and that probably won't every happen to you anyway. So here I am, 31, with a soon to be first grader and a soon to be SEVENTH GRADER, going on 9 years of marraige. Wow. I remember being a kid wondering why it had to take sooo looong for that next birthday to arrive...now they just sneak up on me and before I know I'm ANOTHER year older. Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.

Well, the kids are on their first official day of summer break. Yesterday was an interesting experience. I drove Alex to his last day of Kindergarten, his last day with the most precious teacher on the face of the earth, and the last day for me to ever have a kindergartener. I was reflecting back to the first day of Kinder and remembering how uncertain I was that this was the right thing to do. It was probably the hardest day of school I had all year. I did so well, dropped him off virtually tear free...and then I hit the doors leading out of the school and BAM, the emotions took over like a storm and that was all she wrote. The floodgates opened and I felt like I'd just left my soul in that Kinder room with a bunch of complete strangers.

Ironically, the ride to school yesterday was quite similar. Emotions were in full swing, but this time it wasn't momma, it was my little pumpkin. He fought back tears the whole way to school and eventually he lost the battle and wept for his Kindergarten year coming to an end. It touched me to see how special this year has been to him, and to know that I did make the right choice by sending him to public school. He had an incredible kindergarten experience that I know has set the foundation for so much that is yet to come.

Miss Ash, well, as thankful as she is that she can temporarily shut off her alarm clock, she's as equally forlorn that she'll be missing her buddies...girls AND boys. She's changed so much this year, so much that sometimes it's hard to tell if this really is the same little girl I sent off to sixth grade some 9 months ago. I'm so proud of all she has accomplished, despite how hard it is to let go of this little girl. I went to her awards ceremony, where she received awards for all A honor roll, UIL Spelling, and UIL Math. She's an amazing growing girl and I'm still trying to figure out how to hold on to what I know I must begin to let go of. I would like to hold on to this time and refuse to let go, because I can clearly see what's on the horizon, and quite frankly, it scares me to think of what comes next. It feels like our grip is slowly releasing, and as normal as I know this is, it's much harder than I ever imagined it would be.

Since I started this post a day has passed, the kids are now in Florida with Nana ready for their Disney trip at the Animal Kingdom Resort. Mark and I have a week to ourselves. I think we've spent more time asking each other what we should do with ourselves than we have actually DOING something with ourselves. We went to Burger Tex, off Airport for lunch, the burgers were certainly not what I had anticipated, dehidrated beef is really what we ate, next time we'll go with what we know is good and just make the trip to Top Notch...but we were alone and that's what matters, right? We made a trip to Target to pick out a book, since the one I just started just wasn't working for me. I found a book on my "To Read" list, The Bell Jar, by Slyvia Plath. I've spent the last hour or so sipping a rita and reading my book out on the back porch in a lounge chair with the soothing sound of my dripping water fountain settting the mood. Mark's in the livingroom listening to Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Rait live. It's only 8:30 on our first of 7 nights alone.


That's all for now, I'll update with more of our kidless week soon.

How it's hangin

So, it's been a while. Not a lot has changed around here since my last "real" update. It's hard to update when, honestly, not a lot has changed. Mark is still job hunting, I'm still searching for that perfect part time, work from home job, and the kids are still rapidly growing and changing.

I've tried and tried to post a semi-interesting update, but really, I just don't have it in me. I'm feeling a little disconnected lately, not only from the world around me, but also from myself. I'm really counting on some positive changes over the summer with the kids and I being out of school and spending some quality time together. Things will turn around, I'm convinced....and when they do I know I'll get back in to the swing of things.

One week down, one to go

I can hardly believe it has only been ONE week without the hubster, it certainly seems like it has been much longer.
Since flying solo we've had entirely way too much going on for it to have only been one week...Four basketball games, two basketball practices, one FIRST PLACE BASKETBALL TROPHY (woohooo), two basketball meetings, one softball game, one soccer practice, one massively successful Cooper's Troopers benefit, three College Algebra classes...and the list goes on. Mark and I have joked over the phone that with all that has gone on this past week, he is fully expecting to return only to find that Alex has grown chest hair.

We miss our Marky and can't wait to see him. ONE-MORE-WEEK!

A wee little bump in the road

Had I created this post four days ago, I'm sure the tone would have been much less positive; but here we are four days calmer, four days wiser.

On Tuesday, after being with Dell for over 10 years, Mark was laid off. While the initial shock of it was a tough blow in so many ways, each day since has been better than the last. In fact, this has been one of the best weeks in a very long time. Mark is consistently happier than I've seen him in so, so long. While he is obviously concerned about what the future holds, he is coming to accept this new road before him with an open mind.

I really believe that he has been given a gift. Mark is an amazingly dedicated man, and worked hard to provide for his family despite being completely unfulfilled at the end of each day. I know that this is EXACTLY what he needed. This is the kick in the toukus he desperatley needed to seek out more...from life and from his career. What may come of it, I don't know, but I do know that this experience will be nothing but positive for our family, and I have no doubts that we will be just fine. We have ALL learned so much from his hard work and dedication, and will in turn continue learning in the weeks and months ahead.

Living La Vida Loca

La vida es muy loca! Pero, la vida es muy bien, tambien!

I have so much to update!

First of all, I haven't updated about my trip with a group of my girlfriends to Canton. We took off on a Saturday morning at 7 am and had a weekend full of relaxation and shopping. It was an all around awesome trip. There were 6 of us, and we were all such a perfect mix of friends, we had an incredible time together. We're already chomping at the bit to get back. What's Canton? Well, Canton is this teensy tinsy town of about 5,400 that holds "Trade Days" or as it was formerly known "First Monday", on the weekend before the first Monday of each month. I like to refer to it as a flea market on steroids. It's the oldest flea market in the United States and I'd have to say it's probably one of, if not THE, biggest as well. You could shop for 3 days straight and still not see it all. Here's an interesting little tidbit I pulled from Wikipedia: "In the past, due to the success of First Monday, the city of Canton had no property tax, however, as of 2006, that is no longer the case." WOW!

Right in the heart of all the shopping is a what we Texans call a "mountain". Its literal definition is probably more like: large hill, but here in central Texas, it's a mountain. The Mountain is a well known hot spot in Canton, with the cutest little shops and Bed and Breakfasts ever. When you're on the mountain, you're back in the early 1900's and occasionally you'll hear gun shots, or see a reinactment of what it was like back then. We stayed in a little Bed and Rest right in the heart of it all, called Flat Creek Mountain Bed and Rest. This place was A-Dorable!!! After we got done shopping, we all sat out on our covered deck that looked down the mountain, and right on to a little stage where they had live music and dancing at night. (And a mens wet T-shirt contest that was in full view, but I'll skip that and leave it to the imagination) The trip was a blast, and I'm so, so anxious to go back. Nana, you would LOVE this! Next time we go, I'm kidnapping you and bringing you with!

As for miss Ashley, she's doing great in school and staying busy with more homework than you can imagine, which means *I* now how more homework than you can imagine. We sit together each afternoon and do math homework together. We sit at the table with a book between us and we both do the homework together. Ashley really enjoys this one on one time, and I am REALLY enjoying that she's not up until 11 struggling to stay focussed. She actually looks forward to doing her math homework now!

Last weekend, Ashley went to her first overnight camp with her good friend Ciara. They were at Camp Penielall weekend, where they swam, rode horses, learned some archery, and they even got to ride a zip line! When Belinda and I went to pick them up on Sunday, neither were ready to go home. After hearing all about it from Ash, Mark and I decided that we're going to go do the family camp in the spring.

Mr. Alex is trucking right along in Kindergaten, loving every minute of it. His teachers adore him *almost* as much as I do, and have done an incredible job of keeping him interested, and stimulated. He's the teachers "helper", and has done a super job helping the other kids in the class to read. He has a love for reading that I truly believe has come from the encouragment from his teacher. Before Kindergarten, reading was not at the top of his priority list (understandably so), and just last week he came home from school telling me how much he loves to read. I'm so proud of him! Alex is not participating in anything exracirricular right now, which is just as well considering all the changes he's gone through with starting school. I think we'll probably just wait until spring and sign him up for baseball again. He still talks about baseball alot, and tells me he's going to be a baseball player when he grows up.

Mark is continuing to work his rear off at work. As if working 50 hours a week wasn't enough, he is also running some sort of community involvment group at work. Right now he's working on the Susan G. Komen race. Although I'm not sure what exactly his group is doing just yet. (Sorry Mark, we'll have to talk later) He's still doing Meals on Wheels once a month, which is also part of his community involvement at work. On top of all that he's joined the Dad's Club up at Alex's school. This group of dads is such an amazing group. They used their big guns to help unload and distribute the cookie dough from the fundraiser, they held a family game night where familes could come play all sorts of PE type games like kickball and basketball. And each Friday the dads open car doors for all of the kiddos being dropped off, and after they're done with that they collect all of the recylable paper from each classroom and take it to the recycle dumpster on campus. Mark is really enjoying being involved up at the school, and of course watching him open car doors with his "dads club" badge makes my heart go pitter patter.

Mark and I just finished our 2nd season of coed softball, and have just signed up for another season which starts in about 2 weeks. Most of the people on our team have kiddos, and they all look forward to Friday nights up at the field. Most nights we have to DRAG them home.

As for me, I'm doing great. I volunteer at the kids schools on a daily basis, and serve on the executive board for both PTA's. I run the student store at Ashley's school on Monday's, which is a lot of fun. Ashley has been right there with me EVERY Monday, helping me. We really enjoy that special time together. I am so, so fortunate to have a husband that works so hard for us, and a job that allows me to make my family my priority.

The job is going well. I work with an awesome group, whom I learn from everyday. I go in around 10, and get off around 2:30. Perfect hours, perfect job, who could ask for more!

Oh, and one more little thing. I'd like you to say hello to my little friend the Palm Trio 700wx. As soon as I get use to this thing, I have ZERO excuses for being forgetful. Scary thought.

The bathroom is coming along nicely. We're SO close to being done. Yesterday, the plumber installed our shower head, and we got to take our FIRST SHOWER!!!!!! All that's left to be done is texture, paint, a few light fixtures, a few plumbing fixtures, a toilet, and some small touchups.

The wood floors came in, but unfortunately, they were not the ones we ordered, so we're back to playing the waiting game again. We've been told that they will have them here Monday and will be able to begin. I'll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, we're living in a construction zone and have been for waaaay too long. We're more than ready to be done with this.

If this is a dream, please, don't wake me up

Ok, so as a family we have reached a major turning point in our lives. I am a stay at home mom who cherishes her job every single day. I love being with my kids, taking care of the house and being able to take some of the day to day stressors off of Mark's back. I love that he can come home and not have to worry about dirty laundry, yardwork, etc. He works his patootie off all day and I am so incredibly grateful to have a husband that is dedicated to his work and supporting his family. I really feel that we are some of the happiest most fortunate people in this world. So, back to the turning point. Alex starts kindergarten in just three itsy bitsy weeks. My job as a stay at home mom is nearing it's end and naturally, my role must change. It's heartwrenching enough watching the best job I've ever had, and the best years of my life slowly slip away. Add the emotions of watching my favorite little boy take his first steps away from his momma's nest, knowing that never again will we have that precious, precious time together. And you get one very distraught momma.

Mark and I have been full time working parents. Before Alex was born, that's just what we had to do to get by. There was no question, there was no other option. And that's just reality for most families. What's also reality is that it sucks. Coming home after a 30+ minute drive in traffic with an interstate full of people with lousy attitudes who are tired and just want to get home before dinner is just a small piece of the nightmare. And what are we all rushing home to do? To pick up the kiddos from the child holding tank and get home in time to throw some sort of mostly nutritcious dinner on the table. It's hurry this, hurry that, brush your teeth, oh wait there's homework, and throw in some laundry because Ashley has to wear her school shirt tomorrow, clean up the dinner mess, and there's soccer practice, and kids that want to play with thier friends, and when it's all said and done you've spent all of 2 and a half MAYBE 3 hours of chaotic time with your precious family ALL DAY.

BUT, we say...there's always the weekends, right.

Well yes, there are the weekends, but what do we REALLY do on the weekends? We bust our a$$es to get the laundry done, and we get the house, and yard picked up so that we might not go completely insane the following week from looking at all the things we WISH we could get done. And you know a messy house does nothing but create tension. But, we also would like some "me" time, because afterall, all we've done all week is take care of everyone but ourselves. Spending extra time with your spouse and children sounds ideal, but in reality you just want to do what you want to do. You end up doing one of two things: You take the small chunck of time for yourself and only partially enjoy yourself because you have this looming cloud of guilt hanging over your head for not doing what you know is right, which is spending time with your family. Or, you: Spend your small chunk of spare time with the family, with your less than par attitude because you are once again feeling like you're living your life for everyone BUT yourself. Unless of course you have a dream job in which you are completely fulfilled at and actually enjoy most of the time.

Ok, so there are some days that aren't as stressful as this, but from my own experience, having been on both the parental and the childs side, this really is the reality of it MOST of the time. And while a lot of people do this because they have no choice, what breaks my heart is that there are so many of us who think they're working to survive, but really they're working to pay their fancy SUV car payment, and to have that big "mines bigger than yours" TV that they don't get to enjoy nearly enough because there is no "spare" time. Instead it serves a new purpose, it keeps the children entertained while the parents play catch up, or have some of that much needed time to themselves. And it doesn't end there, we're also working to afford a house big enough so that everyone can have their "own space". And don't get me wrong I like nice new pretty things, and nice new fancy cars too...but where do you draw the line?

These are all the things that have been going through my mind lately and quite frankly I'd rather pull out my fingernails with needlenose pliers than go back to that. And strangely enough, I actually LIKE the work I would be doing if I went back to full time. However, I do like my sanity, and seeing my family happy far more. So, after a LOT of thinking, and planning and looking and talking Mark and I have agreed that working full time is out of the question. Yay! That's a big step in itself. So, how do you find a job where you can work part/part time, have school holidays off, do what you like, close to home and make decent money? (Well if that isn't the question of every stay at home mom I'd be surprised) You keep your connections and don't burn bridges. Ha! To be perfectly honest I didn't do either of those things, (and I'll have to save that story for another post) but somehow it has all worked out. You get really lucky, that's what you do. Ironically enough this job opportunity defies all of that...this dream is coming to fruition. And all I had to do was ask.

So, my new job is 7 minutes from home, I will work four hours a day and have all the school holidays off, better yet, I will be doing work that I enjoy. I can drop the kiddos off, pick them up, help them with homework and even have a small chunk of time each morning to either volunteer up at their schools, get in a workout, or keep up with the housework. I am so, so thankful to my employer for being so open to my demands, and to my husband for allowing me to do what I want to do...and for putting up with all of my crazy ideas. I finally feel like I can relax and not worry about what the future holds, because I know that no matter what becomes of this, everything WILL be ok, because between Mark and I we always seem to find a way to make things fall in to place.

And because I'm a total sap, and this guy is so talented...

Our camping trip

After dropping off Splash Cinnamon Stick Urben, Turkey, Prince Roker (all fish) and Sarge at Grams and Pops house, we headed out to Inks Lake State Park last Friday. By the time we arrived around 3ish, most of the campsites were already taken. This is definitely prime time for camping, but thankfully Mark made reservations over a month ago. In leiu of writing about our experience, I decided to upload a small portion of the 500+ pictures I took over the weekend.

Inks Lake Camping Trip

Frabinaster!

I was supposed to have my Mark back after midnight sometime tonight. Looks like no hubby for me until at least Friday. :(

Mister JetBlue says:

**Due to a winter weather system in the Northeast, some JetBlue flights to and from New York City (JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Newark, NJ), Boston, Washington D.C. and Upstate New York (Rochester and Buffalo) may be delayed or cancelled. Please check the status of your flight online.**

Jamie says: FRABINASTER!

Happy Valentines Day My Love!