Doing too much...

I am having trouble that a lot of people have. I am trying to do TOO much, but I don't know another way to be. It was different when I was going to a job. I worked a lot of hours because I felt pressured to get it all done, but when I came home, I didn't have to do my "work" from the job. Now that home life and job life is the same, I find myself spending more time working. For example, it may look like I am playing on the computer, bu I am actually working. I am running the Ebay business which right now is over 150 listings. It fluctuates between 150 and 220 listings per week. People that are Ebayers know what I am talking about. Then, I am, also, running my book business that is at least 100 books a month sold (that means packing them and shipping them out). Then, who can forget the kids: From 6AM until 5:30 PM, I am watching anywhere from 2 kids to 8 kids- Monday through Sunday morning... It varies depending on the care that each parent needs. Of course, there is also the mystery shopping that we are still doing. LeCount does most of the shops now that I am so booked. You would think we would have all kinds of money, since we are working non-stop... Everyone knows that is not the case- we just have to work harder for the money than we did before the lay offs. Whew! I am so tired! I have to get to bed now. I wore myself out just talking about work :0)

Jaden starts reading!

I purchased these pre-reader books for Jaden on Amazon.com. These are great! You can find more like this at: http://www.innovativekids.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=31 For anyone that wants to get the child started in reading, I give this one 5 stars!! There are 26 books- one book for every letter of the alphabet. Well this is what amazon says: "Each book focuses on a different letter of the alphabet with activities to do at home to reinforce what your child has just learned. Comes with stickers and a parent guide." To be a little clearer, the book starts with one word about that letter, and then, it progresses adding a few words on each additional page. For example, the "a" book starts with a page showing 2 apes, and it says "Apes" underneath the picture- The next page shows that alligators are sitting behind the apes, and it says, "Apes and alligators"- Then, you see that they are sitting in an airplane, so it says, "Apes and alligators and an airplane" (you get the picture). The great thing about it is that it uses sight words plus pictures to give the child an introduction about the letter. This is for children who haven't started reading- It is working great with Jaden.

GPS device for children

I rarely watch tv (probably between 2 to 5 hours a week), and it is almost always stuff that is pre-recorded. I don't like sitting through commercials. Today I actually caught a pretty cool commercial for a child tracking device. You can find it on this link: http://www.brickhouse-childsafety.com/locator.html
Keep Track Of Your Children At All Times
Get Alerts When Your Children Wander Too Far
Easy To Set-Up And Use
Get Distance Alerts If Your Child Wanders
Easy Beep And Vibrate Directional Guidance
Tags Have 90-Day Battery Life- Track Up To 24 Tags
No Monthly Fees!
Children tend to wander in busy public places, where it can be a challenge for parents to keep an eye on them. If your children wander, don't panic, just grab The BrickHouse Child Locator and find them, fast. Simply attach a small Tag to your children's shoes, jacket, or backpack, and let the homing device lead you to their location in seconds. The BrickHouse Child Locator alerts you the instant your child leaves the safety zone. The portable tracking device will beep, vibrate, and visually lead you to the Tag quickly and easily. As an added safety precaution, your child can press the Panic Button to alert you of an emergency. With batteries powered by Duracell, you know that The BrickHouse Child Locator will always be there when you need it most, before it's too late.

Jaden gets mail

Jaden was so excited today. She got mail :0) Every day, we go out to the mail box, and she asks me if she has a letter. I always tell her "no", but today she got some mail from Aunt Janet. I let her open the envelope herself. Inside, she pulled out earrings and a necklace with what appears to be possibly her birthstone. So, tomorrow, she is going to work on a thank you card to send out to Aunt Janet. She may even get some other letters out in the mail to other people, so that she can get more mail in return.

I love Mondays!

Toys are always more fun when they are someone else's.

The past couple of weeks, I have been able to spend my Mondays with my girls and only my girls. It has been great! The other kids don't come because their parents don't need a sitter. Instead, I work on Saturdays. So, my work week is Tuesday through Saturday. Next week, it may change, but I am enjoying that time for now.

We ran a few errands, and then, we went to see Grandma Leslie and Uncle Kevin. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with them. At 3:30PM, we followed Grandma Leslie to the church, so that she could sort through some toys in the nursery. The girls loved playing with all of the toys. We had to leave at 4PM to beat rush hour traffic, and they did not want to leave!

Small town shopping turns into big event

Ok, everyone by now knows that we got a grocery store finally, but there is no way to explain to you the magnitude of the event for us. We have lived here for 3 years, and we have always had to drive 10 miles or more to get our groceries and other necessities. That might not seem like much to a lot of people, but imagine every time you have left your house to get an item that you need- you just drive around the corner and pick it up. We have been stuck out a few times. For example, when the girls have been sick, and we ran out of Tylenol/Motrin. They are burning with a fever, and we have to travel 10 miles to get what we need. Of course, we have stocked up on most things. However, there are times when we have gone to the grocery store, and we drive the 10 miles back to our home, and find out we forgot to get something.
After saying all of that, maybe you can understand why getting a grocery store is such a big deal for us. The girls get to push their own carts, and take turns putting things inside (yes, this can be dangerous, as we may end up with more in the cart than we wanted- LOL). LeCount didn't care for it too much because it takes a lot of supervising, and you are going to wind up pushing the cart yourself when they tire of the game. I liked it because I just like seeing them having fun. So, next time you are looking for something fun to do with your kids, bring them by, and we will go shopping :0)

4th of July Celebration

Well, I don't remember exactly how that saying goes about "the best laid plans", but that is what happened to us yesterday. We were planning on going to a fourth of July event in a big city (with lots of crowds)... However, a week before the 4th of July, the new Brookshires in our town donated money, so that we could have our own festival. It sounded great- booths, music, bounce houses, battle of the bands, etc. Plus, we would save $8 in gas if we didn't have to travel outside of our little town. I told the kids our plans, and they were all excited to go. We decided that we would leave at 7:30, and the fireworks show would start at 9:15 (so that would give the kids time to play). Well, at 5:00, the rain came pouring down for an hour and a half. The people running the event took EVERYTHING down. At 7:00, I drove over to the event site to see if there would be anything for them to do, and there was nothing!!!

So, with 4 kids ready to do something, and me ready to get out of the house, we decided to see what grandma, grandpa, and Kevin were going to do. They were going to another small town to shoot off their own fireworks, and there would be plenty of open land to see different cities doing their fireworks. So, that's what we did. We met up with them around 9:30, and we got home close to midnight. I am still tired, but it was fun! This was the first time the girls have gotten to see fireworks & do sparklers. Last year, we didn't go, but I did take Jaden outside in the backyard to show her the fireworks that they were doing in surrounding cities.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Uncle Kevin has been away at school in Utah, and after 6 months, we finally get to see him again!! We went to grandma and grandpa's house last night to celebrate his 20th birthday. His birthday is actually today... born on the 4th of July. We are hoping we can spend time with them again today, but since we live so far away (and the price of gas), we may not see them.

Swimming

We met up with Aunt Amy and James on Monday for a trip to the pool. This is the indoor pool where they have their swimming lessons at. They have a slide for young kids. Morgan and James both went down it a few times, and then, Jaden decided that she was brave enough to go down. She went down it a few times- They had a like/dislike experience. They weren't sure if they really enjoyed the slide or not because when you get to the bottom of the slide, you land in a big puddle of water. The babies actually went completely under. Amy and I took turns being the one to drop them down the slide & the one to catch them at the end.

It's only a car...

With all of the changes that we have had to make over the past year because of our change in income. We have taken most of the changes rather well. I really wasn't expecting this change to be so hard... We have known for over a month that we wouldn't be able to keep the SUV, so I knew that it wouldn't be long before we would have to see it go. Today we cleaned our things out of the car, and as we cleaned, memories came back of our road trips to see family out of town and everything else that we have done in that car as a family. Jaden and I were both crying... not over the car, per se, but the memories. I had to remind Jaden (and myself) of the reason why it is going. I can not stay at home with my girls and keep the car... put that way, of course, the choice is clear- I would rather be with the girls than have a car ANY day.
With the loss of the car, we lose more than one bill- we lose the car note, the insurance payment, & the upkeep (oil changes, gas, inspection, registration).
The car is a reminder of a past life- A life when LeCount and I were working so much that we rarely saw our girls... Pressures of over-time, but preferring to be with our family. Yes, we were able to buy everything that the girls needed, but things do not replace time.
Saying all of this, though, I still feel a loss of all that we were able to give them (even, though, I know in my heart that what I am giving them now is so much greater than all of that).

BFF (Best Friends Forever)!!

Sparky has a friend named Mocha. They have dug and dug their way to each other. They are, also, tearing up the fence. A couple of boards of the fence have already been replaced, but that doesn't stop them. Mocha is an indoor dog, but she comes out to play a few times during the day. Every time she is out, Sparky runs along the fence line trying to play with her. I guess I need to set up a play date for them. I don't know if that will make the situation better or worse.

Oooooooouch!!

Yesterday, I was using the free address labels that come from non-profits in order to get packages ready to ship. The address labels, also, came with labels that were just trash. To keep Morgan and Jaden from "helping" me with my packages, I kept giving them the trash stickers. They made daddy into a human sticker book!!! He was so into watcing the olympics, that he didn't even realize what they were doing until they already had about 8 stickers on his hairy arms. By that time, it was too late... The rest is too painful to talk about, but ask him about it next time you see him :0)

So tired!

I totally missed posting yesterday. I am so tired! It has been a long week! I have been watching the kids (ours, plus the other 3- Rebekah, Josh, and Nathan) until Friday. Then, Saturday, I watched baby Nathan until 6:00PM, and picked up two more kids right after that at 6:15PM. The two other kids are two kids that I watched once before- Braydon and Brynna. I took all 4 of the kids to the Wiggly Play Center where they have toys, bounce houses, and TVs playing the Wiggles. Then, Braydon and Brynna spent the night. It is 12noon on Sunday, and they are still here but down for a nap. Everyone got up nice and early this morning (except LeCount, of course). Whenever these kids get picked up, I am going down for a nap... and I will write a better post after I am back to being sane :0)

Thank Goodness!

Our DSL connection is back!!! YAY!!! And... After 3 years of living in our home, we finally get a grocery store close by. We were told that it would be up and running 3 years ago... It still isn't ready yet, but it is exciting to see that it won't be much longer. I don't care too much for Brookshire's, but hey, I'll save $4 in gas if I shop there as opposed to the next closest grocery store. For things that we need in a pinch, we will shop there, but I think the bulk of our shopping will still be done out of town.

I got this in an e-mail today. I don't know who wrote it, but I thought it came at a perfect time for me:

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Love the ones who don't just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy. He just promised it would be worth it.

Sad and hard to deal with

Well, it turned out to be a very sad day today. I don't even know how I will tell the girls. I have been taking care of 3 kids during the week, and now, 2 of them will no longer be coming (July 3rd is their last day). The kids have grown so close, and it is breaking my heart- really... Not to mention the financial burden that it now places on us (like there wasn't one before!) I really don't know what we will do. The only thing I know is just to see what comes of it... When one door closes another opens- or so they say.

They never get tired of this!

Yuck! This gives me the creeps!

Morgan and I went outside yesterday morning to give Sparky his water and food. Sparky was playing with something, so I walked over to where he was, to see what he was doing... He was trying to play with a SNAKE!!! Good grief! I took Morgan back inside, and then, I locked Sparky in his cage for a few minutes. I wanted to give the snake some time to get away, and since I wasn't sure if he was poisonous or venemous, I didn't want to take any chances with him biting Sparky. Once Sparky was in his cage, it didn't take the snake long to get away. Now, if only I knew where he would turn up next. I hate snakes!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

We made these cupcakes on Saturday night. The girls loved them! My mom used to make them with pudding in the middle, but I don't know how to do that... To make the cupcakes that we made, this is what you do:

Get the cake mix you want and flat bottomed ice cream cones (you need about 22). Prepare the cake mix as directed on the box. Put the ice cream cones in a pan standing up and leaning on each other, so that they don't tip over during baking. I put them in a bread loaf pan because it kept them standing up. Fill the cones 3/4 full with cake batter. Put them in the oven to bake. Bake according to cake mix instructions, but add 5 to 10 minutes to the time. Check to make sure they are done using a toothpick. Let them cool, and then, add frsting and sprinkles. Enjoy!