3 Blind Mice in a Scavenger Hunt

Last weekend, Stacie, Rosanne and I participated in the City Solve Urban Race in downtown San Antonio. It's a scavenger hunt where teams of 2-4 are given a set of 10 clues they have to solve in order to find each checkpoint. At each checkpoint, we had to take a photo of the checkpoint and we all had to be in the photo as well.

Costumes are optional. And we went all out.

It was well worth it though, because we won the costume contest. The prize isn't worth bragging about (a Jammy Pack which is a fanny pack with speakers in it), but winning is. We were pretty proud of our 3 Blind Mice costume. We got tons of compliments everywhere we went, and people stopped us all day long to take our picture. Haha. It was so much fun.

They started the race by giving us a clue and based on our answer, we had to go to a certain intersection. Luckily, we could use our smart phones for this race, otherwise, it would have been a HUGE guessing game. And I'm usually really terrible at guessing.

Once at that intersection (with about 400 other people), we got our list of 10 clues. So we sat down right where we were at and worked on solving those 10 clues. The answers to our clues told us where the checkpoint was. Once we had that, we started making our rounds to each checkpoint at which we had to take a photo with the logo/signage and the 3 of us. That was the challenging part - trying to hold the phone at such an angle that we could get the sign and the 3 of us with our big ol' ears in the picture. We had lots of laughs trying to do that. At some of the checkpoints, we also had to do a challenge or activity.

At this checkpoint, one of us (lucky Stacie) had to ride a bike to the Tower of Americas to pick up a button and come back. This was our last checkpoint of the day, so Stacie was a little tired when she started and even more tired when she got back. But lucky for me and Rosanne, we got to sit down and rest for a few minutes while we waited on her. (Ever seen a mouse riding a bike? It's pretty cute actually.)

The race started and ended at the Friendly Spot Restaurant. That was such a neat little place. We ended up coming in ahead of only 5 other teams (LOL!) but that's ok because we had so much fun. And it was our first race so we were just trying to figure things out too. Next year, it's on!! Although, we've got to think about how we're going to top our costumes. We've got a reputation to uphold.

A Lesson in Money Management

So I've decided to start teaching the boys some important life lessons -- one of them being money management. Since money is such an important part of life, I feel like it's time for them to start earning some of their own and understanding some basic principles of good management.

Each morning they are responsible for a few tasks to help us get up and moving, and to school on time: get up and dressed, eat breakfast and put away dishes, feed and water the cat, and brush teeth and hair. All of it must be done without arguing (with me or each other), and JD is also responsible for completing his reading log. He prefers to do his reading before bed at night, then complete the reading log in the morning.

If they complete all of these tasks by 7:10am, they get a sticker for the day. They earn $.50 per day but if they get stickers on all 5 days, they'll earn an extra $.50 and get $3 for the week. Last week, they earned $2 each (no sticker on Friday for arguing). So this morning, I paid them their $2, and attempted to explain some basic money management principles: give the first part to God, you must save some of the money, then you can spend the rest. 

It's really hard to explain 10%, so I just told them $.25 would be about right. Then JD said "It's more important to give to God than to save or spend the money, so I want to give $1.00." A couple minutes later, he changed it to $.50. I explained that once he gives money to God, he can't take it away from God, but since it was his first time and just learning, we'd make an exception this time. Fifty cents is still really awesome --  that's 25% of his money, which is a whole lot more than what the rest of us give. Following big brother's lead, Ryan also gave $.50 to God.

  

I'm very proud of JD and Ryan, and I really hope that these lessons in time management, personal responsibility, and money management are the beginning of some great life principles for them. Too much of today's society is about greed, self-indulgence and materialism. I can't change the world, but hopefully I can influence two little people who will someday impact their small part of this big world.

Week Two - Lovely Week Two

And so I start Week Two of the rest of my new life. And I'm loving today. The kids got off to school, and I sat down with my coffee, toast, box of tissues (can't stop sneezing), Bible and Sunday School book. My desire is to spend more time with God each morning to grow our relationship, and to start my day off on the right foot. And it felt really good to do that today. I'm expanding on yesterday's Sunday School lesson about "The Pressure of Retaliation." I'm really bad about that. I think it's part of being a Libra (and also part of being human) -- the anger I feel from injustice. I always want to get even. I like the feeling of knowing "what goes around comes around." But even though that feels good at first, it doesn't feel good in the long run. And what I learned about (and I guess I already knew) is that ultimately, the only person that attitude really hurts is ME. So while I'm in the "out with the old and in with the new" stage of life, I want this to be one of those things too. Out with that negative frame of mind, and in with a new peaceful, understanding, patient, positive-thinking frame of mind. Thank you to my Sunday School teacher for talking about this yesterday and giving me something for which to really strive.

So my Week Two is off to a great start. I'm still not feeling very good (allergies/sinus) but it feels good to look at my list of "to dos" and know that I have the whole week to do them. I don't need to rush around like a crazy person everyday, trying to fit in one more thing before it becomes too late. I also want to take the pressure off myself a little bit. I am allowed to sit down during the day and focus on myself. I don't have to always be moving, working, cleaning, etc. It's ok to do a little for myself too. A good friend reminded me this weekend that I've earned it. I worked very hard for many years, and I should allow myself to enjoy this stage of my life. Thank you for that Kim.

And so here's to "enjoying" this stage. Let Week Two begin.....

Out with the OLD, and In with the NEW

Yesterday was my first official day in my new job --- Full Time Stay At Home Mom. And it was AWESOME!!! I took the boys to school, went to the gym, went to an appointment with my financial advisor (only to find out once I got there that I wasn't on the calendar), then came home and did some cleaning.

So how did we get to this point?
Let's back up a couple of weeks. On Sept 9, after a long day at work, I called Bud and told him that I really needed to talk to him....about work. And he guessed the reason -- I was ready to quit. I couldn't wait until December like we'd decided. I had been experiencing life as a single working mom for the past 2 weeks and it had just gotten too difficult. Since Bud was leaving at 5:30am and not getting home until after the boys' bedtime most nights, I wasn't getting any help during the day and I was exhausted. Add a full-time job in San Antonio to the equation and it was that much harder. So when Bud got home that night, I brought it up again, and he was 100% on board.....and it was decided. I decided to turn in my 2 week notice on Monday, Sept 16th. (I had to wait a week because I had CIC class that was already scheduled and paid for Sept 11-14.)

So on Monday the 16th, I had a conference call with my manager (not my preference, but since she was getting ready to leave town for the week, I had to do it over the phone), and broke the news. She was surprised but also happy for me as she knew this was something I've wanted for a while, and have always kind of grappled with the challenges and guilt of being a working mom. She asked me to consider staying longer and decided she'd talk with HR to see if they could work on an incentive. I waited for about a week and found out that next Monday that they weren't able to offer anything. What a relief! It made my decision so much easier. I didn't really want to stay longer, but I probably would have. Not because I loved the work, but because I loved my friends and coworkers and I would have done it to help them out. But no offer came through, so it was announced to the office on Monday, Sept 23rd, which also happened to be my 36th birthday! What a WONDERFUL birthday gift!!!

So I set out to finish my last week of work. I wanted to tie up all loose ends and not leave anything backlogged for my coworkers, especially Stephanie, who would be picking up the bulk of the responsibility in my absence. I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday and Thursday because the boys had strep throat, but I went back to work on Friday for my last day. It was a great last day of work too. My coworkers were so sweet, thoughtful and generous. We all went to lunch at Red Robin (yum!) and when we got back, we had ice cream cake, and they gave me a huge poster board card where each person wrote a personal note to me, and a $150 gift card to my favorite store -- Hobby Lobby. I even got a personal song from Sean and Spencer - the Cheers song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name." It was so sweet. I loved it.

And that brings us to today. My 2nd day as a stay at home mom. And I'm loving it. I love focusing on my home, my kids, my husband, and myself. No more rushing around to and from my job, giving 100% of myself to my work and leaving nothing in the tank for my family. Now my family gets a full tank everyday, and that is my most favorite part of all of it.

Here's a picture of me and the boys, yesterday, as I dropped them off at school -- enjoying my first day of my new job as a full-time SAHM!!!

Breakfast for Daddy

Yesterday morning I had to go into San Antonio to take a CIC exam. I had attended the class most of the week, and Saturday morning was the test. I left the house very early before anyone even woke up. When I talked to Bud after the test, he told me to stop and get eggs. I thought he had made the boys eggs for breakfast, but it turned out that they made eggs for him.

One of my proudest moments went like this:
While Bud was still sleeping, Ryan decided to make some breakfast for JD, so he made two pieces of toast with butter and served it to him on the couch. Then they both decided to make breakfast for Bud. So they cracked two eggs into a bowl, Ryan added a little milk, scrambled them up and poured them into the pan. When Bud walked into the kitchen, he found them in that exact scene, along with JD up on the counter turning on the stove (although it turned out it was the wrong burner). He helped them finish the eggs, and Ryan made some toast as well. He told me later that he wanted to make some bacon too, but he couldn't find it.

Bud was so proud and extremely impressed when he found them making him breakfast, and everything had been done correctly. Assuming JD had spearheaded the effort, he asked him "How did you know how to do all this?" JD said "I didn't know how to do it. Ryan did." Bud asked Ryan "How did you know how to do this?" And he responded "I watch mom." That just brings tears to my eyes. He loves to help me cook, and you'll usually find him sitting on the counter in the kitchen while I'm cooking. He watches and helps (and makes lots of messes), but he's taking it all in. And he proved that yesterday morning.

I'm so proud of him.
For many things.
For watching and learning, and building skills that will serve him well in life.
But having a servant's heart is what I'm proud of most.

Scrappy Weekend 2013

I know it's not news to anyone who knows me, but one of my very favorite things to do is scrapbook. And my favorite place to scrapbook is at Rockin' R Retreat Center in Temple, TX because it's just non-stop scrap booking Friday to Sunday, and other than 3 short breaks each day for meals, and very limited sleeping (about 4-5 hours a night), there are no interruptions.  I try to go at least once a year and this time it was in August. I usually go with other people (Kelli, Stacie and/or Erica), but this time I went by myself. It's not that I didn't want to go with anyone, but that I just really wanted to have some alone time. Time to do some thinking, praying, and recharging of my batteries. While doing that, I was also able to complete 53 pages, including some "fast scrap" pages, so it was a very productive weekend. I finished Ryan's 5th birthday pages, and my entire Paris and London trip from last year. Those were two big projects and I'm so happy to have them complete.

Here are some of my favorite pages from my weekend at Rockin' R:

New Job, New Chapter in Our Lives

Well it's been almost a month since Bud changed jobs. He left CPS after 12 years with the company and has gone to work in the oil industry. It wasn't an easy decision, but one we felt called to make. Anyone who really knows me knows that I've been very torn between my responsibilities at work and those I have at home. I feel guilty when I'm at work because I just want to be home with my kids. And when I'm at home, I feel like I need to be working. But if I do work at home, I feel terrible that I'm doing so and just want to give 100% to my kids instead. It's been a very difficult balance to maintain over these last few years and it has finally just become too much for me to handle. I can't be the provider and the homemaker, and be the mom my kids need me to be. It's really just way too much for me to handle. . . . at least too much for me to handle well. I've tried for years to handle it the best I could, but I've finally hit a point where it's really just too much and I can't do it anymore.

Bud and I talked about this back in July when I finally just hit rock bottom. I told him that something had to change. Our family needed it. Desperately. I was failing as a worker, as a wife, as a friend, and as a mom, and something had to change if we didn't want something else to happen. After years of talking about this, I feel like Bud finally heard me. He understood that I was at a breaking point and he felt the need to step in and make a change, even if it meant he had to sacrifice and get pushed out of his comfort zone. He agreed to consider his options and decided to look into an offer that had been made by our neighbor. Within about 3 weeks, he had been hired to work in the booming oil industry. He turned in his notice at CPS and his last day was 8/14/13. His first day at his new job was 8/15/13. No rest for the weary, right?

This new job will give him the opportunity to make more money, but it will require him to work more hours than he's used to. He won't get off at 3:45 everyday and have all afternoon and evening to spend with the boys. Instead, he'll be getting leaving at 5:30am and getting home between 7 and 9pm each night. That's a huge change for him and not an easy one. I know this job was a total sacrifice, but he is doing it and he's got a good attitude about it too. I couldn't have more respect for him for sacrificing this for us.

Ultimately, our goal is to take the pressure off of me so I can provide a better home for my family. I'm so excited about this new opportunity.

More to come on all of this later....