Child Kennel

Recently I have had a few options open up for full-time teaching jobs next year. I'd rather do a part-time job, but none have become available. Plus, half-time child care is about 3/4 the cost of full-time. I already know the cost for the two boys full-time is equivalent to about half my full-time salary (and that is with Master's pay).

Last year I worked full-time during the session and we found a licensed home-care person through the state referral service. She was a CRAZY person!!! When we went to the "interview" she was so sweet and kind to us and the kids. Starting the first day of paid child care she was so grumpy and rude. She'd yell at us and the kids. I've never been treated that way by anyone, particularly someone I am paying. Suffice it to say, after many tears and my dh taking several days off work to watch the kids, my parents ended up watching them for the rest of my employment. All I have to say is that Home Away from Home must have been just euphemism, like when you say a skinny actress is crazy fat.

So, due to these job opportunities, I wanted to check out some child care options before I make a decision since my wonderful parents have said to make sure I have that worked out before I get another job. Thus, yesterday the kids and I stopped by this child care center that is near Sister's school.

I must say, the workers that I met seemed VERY nice. I just couldn't help thinking it reminded me of a kennel for children. The floors were cement. The workers were just sitting there watching the kids as they climbed bookshelves and crashed into each other. In one room (which was the size of my living room) they told me they can have fifteen kids on one side and twelve on the other. What? That is twenty-seven four through eight-year-olds in a room the size of my living room! My three kids seem like too many for my living room. The infant room was just a room full of cribs. They told me that they have an adult in there for every four infants. Seriously? Do the babies even get held very often then?

On top of all that, in almost every room there were at least two kids with snot running from their noses. I realize that kids' noses run a lot, but seriously, why wasn't anyone wiping their noses? That is just gross!

The kicker was the preschool program they were so proud to explain to me for Brother. It is a new thing for them since they didn't have any preschool program before. It basically consisted of drawing pictures of activities. What? That's it? Brother has been able to recognize and say every letter sound since last summer. He can count to twenty. Yet, none of that will be covered. They'll just draw pictures (they called them "plans") of what activity he wants to do next. How sad. Can that even be considered a preschool program?

So, that place is checked off the list. Where to next is the question. I can't trust the state licensing agency again. Their standards are so low you might as well not have any. I'm open to ideas. Let me know if you know of a good child care places. Particularly an in-home one. I just can't picture dropping the boys off at a kennel every day.

Sunny Slow Sunday

The sun actually was shining most of the day. It wasn't that warm, but we were able to enjoy it anyway. After spending some time in our backyard the last couple weeks, I broke down and cleared out my garden of weeds so we could plant sunflowers and corn again this year. I was debating just letting the grass take over the garden since I don't really enjoy the work a garden requires, but the backyard looked so blah without it. Plus, the kids are often saying they love to garden. So, after mass today we headed outside and cleared all the weeds out. Sister was actually pretty helpful and worked well for a good twenty minutes. Brother liked the idea of weeding, but only lasted about five minutes of actual work. The rest of the day they kept talking about how much fun it was to weed the garden, so I guess it was worthwhile. If I was good at growing things I'd probably enjoy it more. Oh well, at least sunflowers don't take a lot of work and are fun when they start growing.



Yesterday we had our first true experience of being baseball parents. The rain began falling right before Brother's game and continued on and off throughout. What fun! You'll notice Memere and Papa in the background with umbrellas. The lovely rocker with the umbrella on it is my chair. I, of course, was snapping photos while my dh was videotaping the game. Yes, we are those parents. The annoying ones who always have a camera on their children. It's my fault, but someday the kiddos (and we) will appreciate having their childhoods recorded. It is all zipping by so quickly! Sister is in the purple sweatshirt running off to the playground again. She came over to see Brother hit and then was off to play again. I'm actually holding Little Boy while I'm on the field. Fortunately, the little guys don't hit very far or hard, so I didn't have to worry too much about balls coming at me out in the outfield. Just a fun time at the ball park on a rainy Saturday.

GAME NIGHT

Today I had to take Little Boy into the doctor's office because his cold just kept getting worse. They diagnosed him with a bad cold and a slight ear infection. Fortunately, that was bad enough that they gave him some antibiotics. Hopefully that will help him recover soon as he's been pretty uncomfortable lately.

After dropping Sister off at school, we had an hour and a half before the doctor's appointment. I'm not fond of getting the kids all dressed and out of the house, just to return home for a short bit, then leave again. Since we'd done the grocery shopping yesterday, I decided to try a Value Village run. I began hitting VV when Sister was small. It was the first time I'd ever been home during the daytime. Staying at home made me a little claustrophobic and she loved riding in her stroller. I found when I went to regular stores I spent too much money. Plus, you can find great deals at thrift stores sometimes. Unfortunately, neither of the boys are very good about riding in the stroller and/or shopping. Why is it that only my first child enjoyed the stroller?

Anyway, I thought it'd be a good day to stop by VV. So, we did and I found out they reorganized it and have a great game section now. There were all these fun children's games that weren't missing any parts. I thought they were all $1.99/each. So Brother and I picked out four that we thought would be fun:Twister (which we actually have, but I need an extra one for Sister's friend party), Clue Jr. (Clue is one of my all time favorite games), Trivial Pursuit Jr. (which I'm normally not very good at), and (brother's favorite) Whack-a-Mole. Typically, I wouldn't be a big fan of a game that encourages you to beat an animal for fun, but recently the moles have been destroying my yard, so I gave in. When we got up to the register, I found out the games were only 99 cents each. If I hadn't needed to get moving to make Little Boy's appointment on time, I may have gone back to look for more games.

So, tonight we had a family game night. We've actually had them before, but not in a while. Brother has trouble playing games and I tend to be the one he climbs on when he gets excited, bored, or upset. Still, it was lots of fun. We first played Trivial Pursuit Jr., which I won!!! Next we played Whack-a-Mole, which no one really won since Brother just kept hitting all the moles. Finally, we played several rounds of Sesame Street dominoes since Brother's patience for a longer game like Clue Jr. was gone by then.

Every time we have a family game night, we always say, "We should do this once a week." Then, we don't. It's actually my fault that we don't since I'm often burned out in the evenings. Now that the kids are getting older, though, I really should put more effort into making sure game nights happen. The kids have fun with them and they learn from them too. Plus, we have lots of games that are fun to play with the kids and the more they play them, the better they'll get.

I also made a super supper tonight; homemade chicken pot pie Betty Crocker style. My dh and the kiddos loved it. I love finding a new recipe that is easy to do and tastes delicious. Being a picky eater, I tend to stick to things I know I love.

All in all a wonderful Thursday. Just one more day and it's the weekend. I'm still hoping the weather will hold so we can have sunshine for Brother's tee-ball game on Saturday. Wish us luck!

On a side note, I asked Sister to strip the sheets off the bunk beds last night for me while I was making dinner. She went ahead and put clean ones on them after that. How awesome! I love that I didn't have to do any of it. She's been bugging me to give her an allowance since they started talking about money during math class. So, this morning I told her I'd give her a nickel each week if she'd change the sheets on the bunk beds. She was very excited. I wonder how long it will take before she finds out that isn't even close to the going rate for allowances now-a-days. I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Monday, Monday

Normally I'm not a big fan of Mondays. First, we (especially me) are typically tired since we tend to stay up later and sleep in a bit over the weekend (a bit means 7 instead of 6:30 AM). Secondly, we're tired from all the activities we participated in over the weekend. Thirdly, we're disappointed that the weekend is over so quickly. Fourth, we don't get to nap since Sister's school gets out early on Mondays. Finally, the laundry baskets are always tipping over as I don't get much laundry done during the weekend and my family traditionally goes through more outfits on weekends. Therefore, it surprised me that today, a Monday, was a really good day.

The sunshine helped tremendously. Plus, my dh was around to help get the kiddos ready this morning since he was attending Sister's school assembly with us. We all saw her receive her "Birthday Book".

She also had her name drawn for a prize. She had to choose between a dollar jump and a nickel draw. Personally, I would have gone for the dollar jump; you stand at one end of a line of dollar bills and the distance you jump is the amount of dollars you receive. She chose the nickel draw; you grab as much change as you can in one hand and keep it all. I tried to explain to her that you'd most likely get more money by jumping, but she loves change right now. In class they are learning all about money and change is her favorite. So, the nickel draw it was. So much for Mommy's logic. Fortunately, there were dimes and quarters in the bowl as well.

Following Sister's assembly, Daddy headed off to work and I gave Big Boy a choice between Sports class and the park. He quickly chose the park with the ship. So, off to the park with the ship we went. What a beautiful day for it. Little Boy couldn't get enough swinging and loved going high. I even decided to brave the trails to the beach since it was so nice. We were able to go down there without getting muddy!

Big Boy didn't get a nap today yet wasn't an emotional mess around dinner time. Sister had a good day at school even though she fell and scrapped her elbow. Little Boy enjoyed swinging at the park. Mommy is tired, but happy that we had such wonderful weather. Daddy was glad dinner was ready when he got home. All in all...not bad for a Monday.

The Wisdom of a Four-Year-Old

So, my dh and I have discovered that Big Boy is quite the clown. It's probably good that we're finding humor in it now, as we'll have many parent-teacher conferences for him because of it in the future. It's just so hard not to laugh at the creative things that come out of his mouth.

The first night at tee-ball practice the coach had each of the players go around and say their first and last name. Most of the boys just said their first names and then their mom or dad filled in the last name. Big Boy was last. Coach asked, "What's your name?" Big Boy responded, "Chicken Pants." This was followed by uproarious laughter by all the other players on his team. What did we learn from this? Big Boy learned that saying funny things gets you a lot of positive attention. Momma learned that she will end up knowing Big Boy's teachers very well from all the calls and notes home she's going to receive about him. Daddy learned that his genes have definitely been passed to Big Boy.

Here are some other funny quotes that Big Boy has been found saying lately:

Where's my dollie? -Sister
She ran away. I tried to catch her, but she was too fast. -Big Boy (after hiding his sister's doll).

So there I'd be, in the middle of a tornado. Rain coming down on my head. Then, BAM, umbrella. -Big Boy (while trying to convince us he needs an umbrella of his own).

What is your brother's name? -Nurse
His name's Joseph, but I call him Edmund. -Big Boy

While Big Boy was cleaning up the toys that he dumped out from a bin in his bedroom he was singing, "It's a hard knock life for me, it's a hard knock life for me..." (Maybe we listen to the Annie soundtrack too often in the van).

What happened to blind, willing, instant obedience? -Daddy
She died. -Big Boy

So, we morn the loss of blind, willing, instant obedience. Enjoy your Sunday! (=

Baseball Time!

Brother's baseball games began today, tee-ball actually. It was such a beautiful day for it with sunshine and warm weather! He sure seems to enjoy it. He is a natural at hitting and throwing the ball. Some work is still needed in the catching department. It doesn't help that the only time they practice catching is when they are fielding which looks more like a football (or rugby) game since they all run in and dog pile on top of the ball every time.

Big Boy's league is non-competitive. They don't keep score, there are no outs, and there is a time limit for the games; they are only an hour. Which is wonderful since sixty minutes was long enough for the kids to get tired of waiting for their turn and standing in the field. Of course his favorite part was playing on the playground afterward.

Sister had a great time attending a classmate's birthday party at Charlie Safari during Brother's game. She loved it there! Now they've both been there and I'll never stop hearing requests to go. Oh well...who can blame them. It really is a fun place...just too expensive! (=

Little Boy found Brother's game so exciting that he slept through most of it. Fortunately, Memere and Papa were able to attend the game today, so Daddy video taped, Momma took photos, we both tried to keep Big Boy paying attention to the game, Memere held Little Boy, and Papa treated us to ice cream sundaes afterwards.

What a wonderful Saturday!!!

Here's a fun photo of Little Boy at eight-months-old.

Back to Normal

It's nice to be back to normal again. As much as I enjoyed spending time with all three kids and not being ruled by the school day schedule during spring break last week, I think our school schedule works better for long-term. By Monday, which Sister still had off from school since it was Easter Monday, I was exhausted! My two oldest children are talkers; I'm not sure where they get that from as I am just a silent doormouse. (= Seriously though, they just talk all day long. At least Big Boy takes a nap or can watch a tv show and I have a break from the constant chatter, but Sister doesn't nap and will talk even through a movie. Little Boy barely naps during the day so that is exhausting in itself, but to not have any time outs from kids all day long makes me a bit insane.

So, no homeschooling for us. (= I also don't feel like I am able to give all three kids as much individual attention when they are all home. Big Boy really needs time to have things focused on him and Sister has trouble not having attention on her. Then, there's Little Boy who is just needy. Thus, we're going to make this private school thing work. I'm checking into some possibilities for part-time work (afternoons or evenings) and we'll figure out the child care thing.

In other news, the sun finally returned. After drenching us all Sunday, it decided to grace us a bit yesterday (though we had a few quick surprise showers throughout the day). Today seems pretty dry so far. I hope that it stays dry through this weekend as we have Big Boy's first t-ball game on Saturday.

Today, while attending his sports class, I purchased the jersey they wear for their games. He loves it and insisted on wearing it immediately. So far he seems to be doing well hitting, throwing, and chasing down the ball during the practices. It has also been teaching him patience as it takes a long time to wait your turn to bat. The nice thing about his league is that they don't even keep score during games and everyone gets a chance to bat. I think that is great for his age group. He'll spend enough years in the future competing.

We've begun calling Little Boy, Vampire, since the two top teeth that came in are the canines and he has no front top teeth yet. When he smiles he looks like a little vampire. Plus, he loves to gnaw on everything. His current favorite foods are apples (in his fresh food teether) and noodles (the long tube shaped ones). Our dog also appreciates meal times as Little Boy tends to drop lots of cracker and cereal bits on the floor.
That's all for now. Here is our family photo that we took after dinner. I couldn't believe their Easter outfits were still so clean! A blessed Easter season to you all!

Alleluia!!!

It's Easter Sunday! What a blessed day, even with the rain pouring down on us. Yesterday we ended up enjoying a relaxed day at home. With Big Boy's t-ball games starting up next Saturday, it will be the last one we'll have for a while. No Easter egg hunts or coloring eggs for us. Just old fashion fort making and bike riding. It was wonderful!

We attended Easter mass this morning. The worst part was trying to get out of the parking lot afterwards. Who planned a large parking lot with only one entrance/exit? Luckily, the Easter bunny came through while we were at mass. In the past he has arrived during nap time, but Sister doesn't nap anymore and last year she almost caught him. He fooled her this year. He even left some eggs with banana cookies for Little Boy, who loved shaking them and low crawling like crazy to get each one.

While the kids were gorging on the jelly beans from the eggs, I hurriedly made some lunch, and then I set up the eggs and dye while they were eating. I considered letting Little Boy help color them even though my dh thought that he'd just try to eat the dye, but Little boy solved our debate by taking a nap the entire time. We'll let him help with the stickers that we're going to put on them after they dry.

Tonight we're going over to my parents' house for dinner. I'm excited that we're having steak. I know that isn't very "traditional" for Easter, but I'm not a big fan of ham anyway. I made my dh and the kids ham sandwiches for lunch to give props to the piggy.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter Sunday with family and friends and a blessed Easter season!

Good Friday

We had a wonderful Good Friday. Even though it was raining lightly, the path was dry so we were able to walk the outdoor Stations of the Cross with the moms. The craft went alright thanks to some quick Googling. What would we do without the Internet?

Last night, Sister choose to attend Good Friday services with me. They were held in the evening, instead of the traditional 3 PM, so we left the little guys at home again. We got there early so we wouldn't have as much trouble finding seats as we did on Holy Thursday. It also helped that I brought the Magnifikid; since I keep it in my diaper bag I didn't have it with me for Holy Thursday.

I'm not sure about so much of these past two services being in Vietnamese. On one hand, I love that it includes their culture and the dance the girls did on Holy Thursday was great. On the other hand, it makes following along (singing and listening to the readings) difficult, especially for kids. It helped that during one of the songs they sang on Good Friday they alternated verses in English and Vietnamese. Sister even figured out what some of the words meant, which was fun. So, maybe they just need to do a more to make it clearer what they are saying and singing when they do the Vietnamese parts.

Next year we may choose to find a 3 PM Good Friday service instead. It just seems more appropriate and would work better for the boys since the nighttime one goes so long past bedtime. It's one thing to take all three kids on my own on Sundays and holy days, but to take all three in the evening, past bedtime, to a two hour service is overwhelming!

Monkeying Around

Today the kids and I had a wonderful day at the zoo with several friends and their kids. We even had beautiful weather! Prayer works. Thanks ladies!!!

The downside to our day of fun is that Big Boy didn't get a nap. He was so emotional and cranky all evening. I've noticed that there is a really short period of time between "fine" and "not fine". For some reason I'm often lulled into a false sense of peace and then, BAM, we're over the line and Big Boy melts down. Once we're past that point, it is difficult to do anything. He wont nap. He wont relax and watch a movie. He just melts.

Little Boy did well in the stroller for the most part. Normally, he insists on being held. When you're holding him, he constantly rocks and jumps around trying assist in moving you forward. Unfortunately, it only makes holding him even more work. He'd really like to walk on his own. Soon little guy!

I pulled out the play pen this morning. I've been trying to avoid doing that since it takes up a lot of room, but Little Boy has gotten too fast and coordinated lately. Before you turn around he's across the room chewing on a shoe, then down the hall finding a hanger, and finally off to the office to pull on some phone cords. It's especially bad when I'm trying to take a shower and get ready in the morning.

Sister and I attended the Holy Thursday service this evening. The boys were tired and I just couldn't handle taking all three of them by myself, so it was just the two of us. It was an entertaining service, but we had a difficult time seeing anything due to the large crowds. We'll have to get there earlier next year to get better seats. By the end of the service we were really tired. It's been a long day.

It's time for bed. I'm leading Stations of the Cross for children tomorrow morning. We have twice as many kids coming as craft packets, so I'll have to see about getting some more or figuring something else out quickly. If the weather holds, we'll be able to walk the outdoor stations which works better for the kids. Wish us luck!

God bless!

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, but Didn't

So, many of you may not be aware, but I considered homeschooling for a while. I researched it, picked a curriculum to use, and even started working with Sister when she was four-years-old. It was about a week before the start of the school year in 2007 when she said to me, "Momma, I want to go to school. You're boring." So, I checked out the local elementary and was appalled by the rudeness of the secretary. Next, I went to my old public elementary and enrolled her there. So, for kindergarten, Sister went to public school.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I had already started teaching her reading and she had attended a very academic preschool which taught her writing; so kindergarten didn't teach her much of anything. I asked the teacher on numerous occasions to challenge her more. "Maybe instead of coloring the sheet, she could write a story on the back about the picture." Her teacher said no. She said, "I only have to teach the curriculum. I don't have to do anything additional. If you want her to do more, do it with her at home." When my child stated that you don't go to school to learn, just to play with your friends, I started to wonder why I was sending her to school. My largest concern came when I knew the following year she'd be in school all day. That would be a lot of "play" time and wouldn't leave much time for "learning" if it was only happening at home.

So, I again considered homeschooling, but she again begged to go to school. Thus, we decided to put her in a Catholic private school. We love it! She is academically challenged with additional assignments and loves her classmates. I also adore that her day is filled with talk of our Catholic faith and love of God. The uniforms are a HUGE plus for me as well. Being that she is tall, and that the trends of fashion are not modest for young ladies right now at all, it is lovey to not have to deal with the trial of trying to find appropriate clothes for every day of the week.

The downside is that it is expensive. Quite a budget crunch for us. It is especially tight for us as I am completely at home right now. I'm not even holding a part-time job as I have over the previous six years. Due to my dh's current position, his hours don't allow for me to teach in the evenings as I did before. I love being at home. Kids grow so quickly and I don't want to miss a moment. Still, with my dh not being Catholic, it is really my choice to do the private school thing. Therefore, it makes me feel like I'm slacking not bringing in an income.

Last winter we had a HORRIBLE child care experience. I worked full-time for the legislature during the last session. The home care place we found, which seemed lovely when we toured it, was a nightmare. Fortunately, my WONDERFUL parents stepped in and watched the kids full-time. After session ended, and we thanked them profusely, they made it clear that the next time I went back to work, we needed to make sure we chose our child care more wisely so they wouldn't have to do that again.

On top of the child care issue, my dh is not accustomed to household chores. It isn't that he doesn't help. He is a super dad and husband. It's just that things like laundry, homework, healthy dinners and such don't occur to him. While I was working full-time, my weekends were crazy with chores and we had basically no family time.

So, now I'm wondering what to do. If I go back to work, it would be full-time as there aren't part-time jobs available in my career field. If I go outside of my career field, I wouldn't get paid enough to make it worthwhile with the expensive of child care. If I work full-time, we would have very little family time as my evenings would be filled with grading and planning, and my weekends busy with chores. On the other hand, I could pull Sister out of private school and send her to the public school or try homeschooling her again.

Am I making this a bigger deal than it should be? Should I just trust in God to provide? I've never been that good at putting it all in God's hands. I like to be in control. I like to make educated decisions and trust that they were best because I checked out all the options.

In the end, I have to consider where I am most committed. If I'd really been committed to homeschooling, I wouldn't have sent Sister to preschool in the first place. If I had really been okay with public school, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of getting approval for a transfer to a different public elementary school. So, now I just need to figure out how to make this new budget to work so that our family can be comfortable with the amout we have and okay about the things we have to go without.

Still, at times like today, when I am enjoying my children all together and I'm reading all these wonderful blogs by homeschooling moms, I think about the alternatives and what I could do with that additional money. I guess we'll have to see how I feel at the end of the week. (=

Amazing!

What amazing weather we've had the last few days! We're so fortunate to have such beautiful weather during spring break. The kids and I are having a blast playing at different parks, riding bikes, and generally not being in the house as much as possible. (=

In addition to enjoying ourselves so much outdoors, I am also appreciating not having my daytime schedule ruled by a school schedule. We have been waking up about the same time as on school days, but we can lounge in our pjs for a while, eat breakfast when we're hungry rather than immediately (as I don't want them to dress until after breakfast so their clothes stay clean for the day), and then go and have fun.

Plus, and this is the best bonus, Big Boy can take an actual nap each day. We've been struggling all school year on how to get Big Boy to take a nap while still picking up Sister from school on time. He just isn't tired early enough to go down for a long enough nap to be a happy boy in the afternoons when we have to pick up Sister from school. After we get home from pick up is too late. If he falls asleep then, he wont go to bed on time. It's been so frustrating.

Now, I'm just praying that the weather remains at least decent as we are planning to visit the zoo on Thursday with some friends. Wish us luck!

Jumping in and Making a Splash!

Well, I got tired of reading everyone else's blogs and not being able to comment, so here I am on Google, blogging away. I've promised my dh to be somewhat discreet with the information that I post, as he tends to think I put way too much information out into the void we call "the Internet".

Our spring break sure started out with beautiful sunny weather. We better squeeze all the fun we can out of the sunshine today as the rain will start washing it away tomorrow.

Little Boy has a new skill now. He has learned to clap. I'm not sure who taught him or when he started doing it, but it is a constant activity for him now (except when I actually pull the video camera out to tape it; then he stops instantly and pretends like I'm a crazy woman). He even makes a cute clapping noise!

Big Boy has not slowed down at four anymore than he did at three. I'm not sure why they call the twos terrible...they were an awesome age of ability and compliance that I haven't seen since. Our house seems to be shrinking with each day as Big Boy gets bigger and even more active. Thankfully, with the sunshine comes some relief to my walls and furniture as I can send Big Boy outside.

Sister reads ferociously! She will probably have the Boxcar Children series done in a month (there are hundreds of books in this series). A couple times a week my dh takes her to the local library and she checks out 6-8 books. Within a few days, she has finished them. I think she literally devours them. It's amazing, but we've had to start taking away her book privileges as a punishment when she isn't listening. Imagine how many parents have to beg and bribe their children to read and we take the books away from our child. Wow, we're wacky parents!

Tonight we enjoyed a family bike ride. It's the first one which Little Boy actually enjoyed himself (he cried and fussed on our previous two, though the hail on the first ride made everyone a little cranky). It's also the first family ride with Big Boy's new bike. Man, he is a whole lot faster on his bigger bike. Poor kid must have been pumping his legs off before!!!

That's all for now. Time to pray and get the kids to bed. Next week is going to be a big shock to us as we have to readjust to our early school mornings. Wish me luck on this new adventure of blogging!