Work/Life Balance....

....it's what Hartford says they believe in. So we're giving it a try. Since becoming a mom 5 1/2 years ago, I've battled with the guilt of being a working mom. Fortunately, we've been lucky enough to have Nanie (Jane) watch the boys, but it's still not the same. I wish it were me at home taking care of my boys, creating some consistency, enjoying the time together while they still like to hug and kiss on me, and before they grow up and start being embarassed of me and asking me to drop them off around the corner so they can walk the rest of the way. Haha!

But really over the last year, it's been weighing very heavily on my mind. Unfortunately, we're not in a position for me to quit my job, and honestly, I do enjoy working (most of the time). So with JD starting school in a week, Bud and I have been trying to figure out how to work everything out with dropping off and picking up each of the boys everyday. Racking our brains trying to find the right solution.

Then it came to me...try to adjust my schedule at work. So on Tuesday, I proposed to my boss a flexible work arrangement where I'd work 8-2:45 each day, then leave and go pick up JD at school, then go home and finish my work day from about 4-6pm. This would give me a chance to balance my most important personal priorities with my work priorities. It's exactly how I explained it to them too. No excuses. No lies. Just simply explained that I wanted to be available to my son after school, that it's important to me.

After 3 days, they finally gave me the initial approval to move forward. It hasn't been 100% approved yet, but I'm working on my proposal and business case. It would be so awesome if I got it approved. It would give me a chance to be more of the mom I'd like to be for my boys. I keep praying that if this is something God wants me to do, he'll give me the chance to do it.

I'm a Wreck!

I cried more yesterday than I have in a long time. I don't know why it hit me suddenly yesterday, but it did. While I was blow-drying my hair, I realized that when JD starts school on the 22nd, it will be the first time that him and Ryan have spent a lot of time apart. They are best buddies and inseparable. When JD goes to school, he won't see Ryan until the evening each day. I realized it and it just broke my heart. What is Ryan going to do all day while JD is at school? He's going to miss him so much. JD will keep so busy at school that he probably won't have much time to think about it, but Ryan will just be hanging out at Nanie's, where him and JD play everyday, so he'll notice it BIG TIME!

I just pray that the separation brings them closer. I hope that when they see each other each afternoon, they'll cling to each other and enjoy their time more than ever. And the weekends will be really special time together.

When I realized all of this yesterday, I started crying....and couldn't stop. I cried almost all day long. Now I can barely see because my eyes are so puffy! I wasn't crying because JD is starting school. I'm actually excited about that - he's so smart and loves to learn, so I think he's really going to enjoy school. I was crying because of their time apart, and how much I know Ryan is going to miss JD during the day.

What's funny is that JD realized it yesterday too. He asked if Ryan would be going to school with him too and when I said no, he started crying. Not whining and throwing a fit like he tends to do, but I mean, huge elephant tears pouring from his eyes, silent, very sad crying. Again, broke my heart. Jane was standing there too and she was bawling along with us.

I know it will just be an adjustment and everyone will be fine after a week or two, but I'm just dreading getting it all started.

Ok, I better stop now before I start crying again. I can't do that to myself again today.

Depantsed at NASA

So I said I was going to write more about our recent Summer Vacation to Galveston. Here's a pretty funny story:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it rained one day so we took the opportunity to drive up to the NASA Space Center. It had been many years since me or Bud had been (I think I went in the 2nd grade??), but we had good memories of it, so we knew the boys would have a blast - no pun intended. So when it started raining, we decided it would be the perfect day to go...and off we went.

When we got there and walked inside, you would have thought we'd walked into a candy store by the looks on JD and Ryan's faces. There was a huge indoor play yard, like a McDonald's play yard on steroids. It was awesome, I have to admit. It was like 5 levels with lots of tunnels and slides and a ball center we couldn't get the boys out of. It wasn't a ball pit (those are disgusting), but it was an area that had suction tubes that you can put the balls in. The balls would get sucked up the tubes and spit out at the other end. They loved it.

On the top floor were some NASA simulation centers the boys could play in. Needless to say, they were in love with that place....and that was only the first thing on the "NASA To Do List" out of about 10 total.

So, I mentioned there was a funny story....

While playing in the play center, JD said he had to go potty. So Bud took him over to put his shoes back on. JD was so in awe over the center that he couldn't take his eyes off of it. Bud kept telling him "JD, put your shoes on. JD, put your shoes on" but he couldn't break JD's focus. Next thing he knew, he looked down to get on JD about putting his shoes on, and JD had dropped his pants! He was so mesmerized by everything going on around him that he didn't realize where he at and pulled his pants down! Then he snapped out of it and realized what he'd done and quickly pulled them back up. Hilarious! I wish I had been standing there to see it.

Anyway, after the play center, we went around to the various stations. We rode in a shuttle simulator, watched a couple of shows that told more about the International Space Station, walked through a museum, etc. We all had a blast while we were there, then went back to the hotel and since it had stopped raining, we went swimming. JD was so excited because he had never be swimming in the dark!

Here are some pictures from our day at NASA.

JD and Ryan standing next to an astronaut suit in a mock shuttle.

Astronaut JD.

Astronaut Ryan. He did NOT want to try that helmet on.

The four of us in front of the shuttle inside the museum.

Bud always feels like he's having to hold the entire world up on his own. Now he has proof!

Scrapbook Room......The After

Ok, here's the "after."

I stayed up until after midnight on Friday trying to organize the room a little bit, focusing mostly on organizing my pictures. I have so many pictures!!! It still needs A LOT of work, but I got things cleaned up enough to be able to get in there and do a couple of pages. Yay!

Time for Clean Up

What a mess!!! I love to scrapbook but I rarely find time to do it. And right now, anytime I think about it, I take two steps into my scrapbook room, see this mess, turn around and walk out. Ugh! I can't work in that mess, but I really don't want to clean it up either. I don't know what to do with everything. I really really need to get organized. I need shelves to put stuff on to get it out of the way and still be accessible.

Well, tonight might be the night....Bud is hunting. Again. Since I have the night to myself, I think I might just take this task on. We'll see how I feel after I put the kiddos to bed. I hope I can keep my motivation and drive to do it.

So here are my "before" pictures. Maybe I'll have "after" pictures tomorrow. We. Shall. See.

106 Degrees of Summer

This has been such a hot summer. It seemed to stay cool longer than usual (into May), but since it warmed up, it's been nothing but BRUTAL! It's been between 104 and 106 for the last week or so, and there's no sign of it letting up. We also haven't had any rain in what seems like forever. It's probably been almost a year since we've had a good downpour. We even had to buy a soaker hose to put around the foundation of our house because it was starting to shift and our sidewalk and driveway are cracking.

Funny how it doesn't seem to affect the boys though. They still want to come home and play baseball until they almost drop. I got home yesterday and they were on the side of the house playing Home Run Derby....in 106 degree heat!

I tried to post some pictures I took with my iPhone, but for some reason, they keep posting upside down. Oh well...guess you'll have to use your imagination for this one. Haha!

Jonah --- Here I Come!

Yay! Last night our Ladies Bible Study group picked back up. Man I missed it. We had decided to take the month of July off since everyone is so busy with summer vacations, mission trips, VBS, kids' camp, etc. While it was nice to have a little break, I truly missed meeting every week with the girls.

Our time together every Tuesday night is so highly valued by all of us. We talked last night about what our Bible Study means to us, and we all agreed....we like learning about God's Word, diving in and understanding the message on a deeper level, sharing our personal stories, relating to each other, and just plain fellowship time. We had about 15 or 20 ladies there last night and it was like we just picked up where left off, and we enjoyed a great potluck meal too.

We are going to be studying the book of Jonah for the next 6 weeks. I'm totally thrilled about that because I know the child's version of the story, but I want to have a deeper understanding - more than just Jonah got swallowed by a whale. When I told JD that we were going to study Jonah, he said "Oh, I know that story. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh but he didn't want to so he tried to run away. He got on a ship but then the men threw him in the water and a big fish swallowed him. Then he prayed and the whale spit him back out." I got all teary-eyed because he knew the story so well. I'm looking forward to learning more about how God used Jonah, then sharing the story with my boys.

I have a feeling I'm going to learn a lot about myself over the next 6 weeks too. So Jonah --- here I come!