Weekends are to be Enjoyed

I've come to the realization that weekends are to be enjoyed. I know that may sound weird, because it's one of those obvious things in life, but it was not always so obvious to me. When I was working, the weekends were hard to enjoy because those 48 hours were spent getting all the things done that I didn't have time to do during the week. They were filled with grocery shopping, house cleaning, errand running, and other nagging to-dos. Occasionally, if we let everything else fall behind, we'd make time for a family outing or a party. That left very little time (ok, no time) for relaxing and enjoying. And to be honest, I didn't enjoy the kids on the weekends because I was so consumed with all my chores. I know that sounds terrible, but it was my reality. People would tell me "The housework will be there. Just enjoy your kids." That's true - the housework was always there, and if I didn't do it, it was never going to get done. How long can you go without doing it?

Now that I don't have a (paying) job, my weekends are so different. I actually enjoy them. Because I've done all (or most) of what NEEDS to get done during the week, I get to spend my weekends doing fun stuff with my family. It's really nice actually, and it's made me realize what I really missed out on these last several years.

This weekend Bud had to work, so that kinda stunk, but me and the boys had some fun anyway. Friday was the exception - Ryan came home a little early from school with a tummyache, but that didn't last long. By that evening, he was feeling better, eating dinner, and was back to normal on Saturday. Their soccer games got cancelled due to weather, so we went down to Brooks and Case's and played for little while, then we headed to the movies with Kelli, Jason, Ashton and Timothy to watch Thor. We don't really know all the Avengers' stories, so I felt lost during about 95% of the movie, but we enjoyed it anyway.  The boys decided to stay the night with Kelli and I returned home to cook a belated birthday dinner for Bud. His favorite dinner - steak with peppercorn cream sauce, roasted potatoes and corn. Yum!! We followed dinner with a Redbox movie and it was a very nice evening with just the two of us.

Sunday morning, I picked up Brooks and headed to church where I met back up with my kiddos. After church and Sunday School, we came home for lunch and JD and I played a little game of basketball. He won, of course, 15-13. Then we headed back out - this time to the skating rink!!! The boys are learning how to skate, so we spent a couple of hours there. And let me tell you, when you're 36, it hurts a lot more to fall on that hard floor. I had one good spill while I was there (after running my skate over poor little Ryan's fingers) and felt it in my neck and back for the rest of the evening. Skating is not for old people!!! LOL!

After skating, we went back to church for Awana. Bud got off a little early and met us for dinner afterwards.

So we didn't do anything really spectacular, but it was just a really nice weekend with my family. I didn't do any house cleaning (saved all that for today), and it was fun hanging out and doing things together. It's amazing to learn how much I truly missed by spending so much time and energy working at the office. I thank God everyday for the opportunity to truly enjoy the gifts He's given me.

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....

Ryan is Officially 5!

[My blog is acting a little screwy right now for some reason. This post was supposed to have been posted on Ryan's birthday - 6/26/13, but it was posted late. It's ok though - better than never.]

Well, the toddler days have officially ended. Even though I tried to prolong them for one more year. I tried convincing Ryan to have another 4th Birthday rather than a 5th Birthday. I told him that I wanted him to turn 4 so he could enjoy being a 4 year old one more year. His response: "Mom, I can't help it. I'm 5 now."  I guess he's right :(

When he woke up the morning of his birthday, I had his favorite breakfast waiting for him - mini donuts. Then we also sang "Happy Birthday" to him and let him blow out the candles on his cake.

We celebrated his actual birthday on Wednesday last week and went out to dinner at Chili's. Then we had his birthday party on Saturday the 29th at our house. WHAT. A. PARTY! It was so much fun - even for the adults.

We had an Avenger-themed party, complete with the triple-tiered cake he wanted from Walmart. We also had the huge water slide in the front yard that all the kids have come to expect for Ryan's birthday parties. It's always so much fun for the kids, and keeps them all cool since his birthday is in the dead heat of summer. And this summer has been a hot one (as usual)!

Even the parents had fun on the water slide. Stacie and Jane got it started by going down the slide, then me and Shannon, and Bud and Steve, followed afterwards. It felt a little silly, but the water felt great and really helped to cool things down. 

Ryan is excited about being 5!

REDNECK WATER PARK!

Bud and our neighbor, Steve, cool off in the kiddie pool. Haha!

Ryan's 1st Day of Kinder (and JD's 1st day in 2nd grade)

Today was the first day of the 2013/2014 school year and it was a very exciting day in the Blair family. Ryan started Kindergarten and JD started the 2nd grade. Both boys were really looking forward to school and couldn't wait for today to get here. In the car yesterday, when Ryan realized today was the first day, he said "I CAN NOT wait for tomorrow. I CAN NOT wait for tomorrow!" He was beside himself - just couldn't wait to get started.

On Friday, we went to the school to meet their teachers. Ryan's Kinder teacher is Mrs. Smith. She's new to Potranco Elementary, came from the Lufkin school district in East Texas. She seems very sweet and I think she's going to be great. Ryan walked right into the room for "Meet the Teacher," sat down and immediately wanted a pen and paper so he could start working. It was so cute.



JD has Mrs. Garcia who was a 3rd grade teacher last year but has moved to the 2nd grade. She used to be a Catholic school teacher, seems very soft spoken and is a very strong believer in the importance of reading which is great. JD likes to read and is a pretty good reader already, so I like that she's going to focus on that with his class.

When we got to school today, I walked them both in to their classes to drop them off, snap a few pictures and give good luck kisses. We dropped off Ryan first and he did so fantastic. He walked right in, put his backpack in his cubby, picked a seat and started coloring. Not once did he get upset, cling onto me or tear up. I took a few pictures, wished him good luck, then took JD to his class. Same thing with JD - no problems at all. At one point, I thought there was something wrong because he looked worried or something. I asked if something was wrong, and he said "no, I'm just really excited." I took some pictures of him too, then headed out.

I decided to sneak one small peek at Ryan on my way out. I didn't want him to see me because I didn't want to take the chance of him getting upset, so I just took a quick look as I passed. He didn't see me - he was watching the other kids and had this little look on his face. I couldn't tell what was wrong but it looked like one of curiosity mixed with a little bit of nerves. My instinct at that moment was to go in there, swoop him up and take him home with me. I got really sad all of a sudden, and then I just needed to get out of the building before the tears started flowing. And they did. I cried the whole way home. I'm so happy that he's in school and he's so excited to be there and be like the "big kids," but a part of me really just wanted to run in and get him.

3:00 couldn't come fast enough today. As soon as I could, I left to go pick them up. When I finally got them, they said they had a good time. They didn't learn anything new today and they don't have any homework, but it was a very good, 100% successful 1st day of school.

Let's Get Those Tonsils Out!!!

Friday, May 24th, we left the house at 7:30 am, dropped JD off at school (it was his Field Day!) and headed to the surgery center off Stone Oak and 1604. We needed to be there by 9am for registration and his surgery was scheduled for 11am. Ryan wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything, and we didn't want to eat in front of him, so Bud and I didn't eat either. We were all starving!! But our nerves from the anticipation helped with that for a little while.

Dad and Ryan, on our way into the hospital to get Ryan checked in.

After we checked him in, with his "bracelet" on.

Me and Ryan, showing off our "bracelets."

Mom and Ryan

Right about 9am, they called us back to the surgery triage area, we changed Ryan into his gown, then sat and waited. We were in there for abuot 2 hours or so, waiting for his turn to go into the OR. We were so pleased with how well Ryan handled it all. He knew he was going back for surgery and he didn't see all that scared. He had questions and every once in a while, grabbed onto me and hugged tight, like he was scared or nervous, but he didn't cry once. He handled it all like such a big boy.

 

Dad is putting Ryan's gown on him.

At one point, Dr. Moe and the anesthesiologist came by to talk to us about the surgery and Ryan asked if his tonsils will ever grow back. Dr. Moe chuckled a little and told him that was a good question for a little 4 year old, but that no, they wouldn't ever grow back. Ryan was satisfied with that answer.

Then about 1/2 hour before they took him back to prep him for the surgery, the nurse came by and gave him a little cup of "happy juice" to help him relax before the operation. He took it pretty well, but said it tasted really yucky. The nurse agreed. She said they try to flavor it with grape, but it's pretty bitter.

Here we are, trying to kill some time and keep a 4 year old entertained for two hours in a 5' x 8' space.

So after two hours of waiting, it was finally Ryan's turn. The  nurses came to his bed and told him it was time to go. I fully expected him to be scared, start crying and cling to me, but in typical Ryan form, he was such a strong little guy and faced his fear. He gave me lots of kisses and hugs, then went quietly with the nurse. I, of course, was the one crying. I did everything I could hold back my tears so he wouldn't see because I knew that if he saw me cry, he'd think there was something to be worried about and he'd start crying. So, I held it together, and off he went.

Since Bud and I hadn't eaten anything and knew it would be hours before we had another chance, we took advantage of the next 30 minutes. Bud made a quick run to Wendy's and when he got back, I ate 1/2 of my burger as quickly as I could out in the car. As soon as I got back in the waiting room, I wasn't there 2 minutes before Dr. Moe came out to tell us the news. Ryan did great! He handled the surgery well, tolerated the anesthesia like a pro, was in recovery, and it would be about 15 minutes until we could go back and see him. I waited impatiently for those 15 minutes until the nurse finally came to get me. Only mom could go back at first, then dad came later.

As soon as I got back there, this is what I saw:

He was sleeping so peacefully. His arm still had the IV in it and was wrapped with medical gauze to keep him from messing with it or pulling it out.

 When he did wake up, he looked like this. So calm. I asked him how he felt and he said in a really gravelly voice: "good." He was really groggy but tried so hard to stay awake. I think he was uncomfortable being there in that bed by himself and didn't want to fall asleep in case we weren't there when he woke up. When they offered him a popsicle, he accepted and ate the entire orange-flavored popsicle. He also drank a cup of apple juice and a cup of water, and wanted more. Poor little guy was so hungry from not eating all day, and by this time, it was about 2:00pm. We were finally discharged at 3pm and the nurse warned us that he might throw up on the ride home, especially after eating so much. I was so nervous about that, but I was prepared with a bucket. As soon as we got in the car, he put his head on my shoulder and crashed out. We stopped for his medicine and had to wait almost an hour for it, then drive almost an hour to get home. So he had a two hour nap in the car and when he woke up, he was feeling much better and was ready to eat again.

When we got inside, he ate two cups of applesauce, then an entire bowl of Top Ramen soup (aka Daddy's Soup), and was still hungry. So I made him two scrambled eggs and he finished that too. He never did get sick and we could tell that the worst was behind us!

Ryan -- you took this surgery like a champ. I had my tonsils out when I was 17 and it was one of my worst experiences. I hated every minute of the recovery, starting from the moment I woke up after the surgery was over. I was so nervous for you, but you handled it so much better than I could have ever imagined. YOU ARE MY HERO!!! I LOVE YOU!!!