Stay-At-Home Mom

One of the blogs that I "blog-stalk" often is Mrs. Dub. She's a friend of a friend of a friend. She posted this on her blog about summer and hanging out with the kids at the pool. Sometimes I feel guilty when Parley asks what we are doing for the day. I know it sounds like fun, and it is, but it's also sometimes scary to "be in charge" of three active kids. Sometimes I get tired of feeling like their personal cruise director, but it's almost worse to stay at home all cooped-up together all day. Hopefully were're finding a happy medium and they are appreciating their fun summer.

From Mrs. Dub:

"For My Stay-At-Home Mom's"

I've thought about this a lot, but what do you think is the greatest perk of being a stay-at-home mom, aside from the whole be-with-your-chittlins-all-day thing?After some consideration, I've decided it's spending more time outdoors. OK, in the winter this isn't really a perk - it's a punishment - but I still get a chance to see the sky a lot more than I did when I worked full-time.

In the summer, our life is spent outdoors. Last week, I put on makeup twice because we spent a huge chunk of each day at the pool or a park or another outdoor arena. Miss Dub and I are already sporting wicked tan lines. (I'm not proud of this. I'm becoming part-iguana with my nasty leather hide.)

Some days I feel guilty. When Mr. Dub heads off to work for another busy day of reports and meetings, I say things like, "Yeah, our day is going to be busy, too. We're going to swim in the morning, then have lunch with friends, then head to a park." As if he should be grateful!

It's not totally fair, but there are entire days in the winter when I don't speak a word to an adult and change 5+ diapers full of reconstituted food ... so I guess it balances out.

Plus, when I start to feel guilty that my life is largely creating fun experiences for my child - I remember that I would never forgive myself if I stayed home and focused only on myself. I'm not staying home to swim; I'm staying home to teach Miss Dub to swim. To show her the beauty of a blue sky. To teach her water etiquette. To point out the letters and shapes and sounds we see on the way to the pool. It's all part of a greater educational experience - and I'm lucky enough to be her teacher.

But it's pretty cool that we get to do it outside.

First Tooth

Today Taylor lost his first tooth! He actually pulled it out himself. We were in the car on the way home from the park and I hear his little voice from the back seat, "I just pulled my tooth out!" I didn't even think it was that loose. He's very brave and can't wait for the tooth fairy to visit tonight.

Poor Parley

Two weeks ago Parley, along with some other adults, took the 16 and 17-year-old boys from church down to Zions National Park for their summer camp. While hiking in the "narrows" there was a place where you can slide down some slick rocks into a pool of water. By the time it was Parley's turn the water was murky and he couldn't see where to land. His left foot landed first and firmly planted itself while the rest of his leg twisted. He said he heard it pop. They were about 7 miles into an 11 mile hike, so the trooper that he is, he hiked out with the help of the boys. A week later when it was still big and swolen, he decided to go to the dr. Sure enough, his ankle was broken in two places. After a visit to the orthopedic surgeon, he doesn't have to have surgery but does have to wear the big boot and be on crutches for at least a month. Poor guy. He also walked all over New York City before he knew it was actually broken. What a tough man!

p.s. This is not the same leg that he hurt three summers ago playing basketball when he snapped his achilles tendon :)

Happy Anniversary

I just wanted to say happy anniversary to Parley. At the risk of sounding too cheezy, it's been a great 13 years!! I'm so lucky to have him :)

Family Fun Day

Every year our neighborhood/church does a "Family Fun Day." The kids look forward to it for days before. Everything is free! It starts out with a cute little parade with the kids on their bikes and scooters. Then it is 4 hours of snowcones, icecream, popcorn, tacos, watermelon, bounce houses/slides and kid games and water slides. It was nice and toasty this year. We all got a little pink but a fun time was had by all!

Zoo Excursions

On Memorial Day we decided to go the zoo as a family. It was cold and rainy but we went anyway thinking the rain would eventually pass. Well, it didn't. It was still fun. Notice the winter parkas... A few days later Taylor's 1st grade class went for their field trip. They were the only grade in the whole school who didn't get rained on during their field trip. It was a fun day. Now, could someone please do a little something about getting a REAL summer here!

Feed the Hungry

I was reading a magazine and came accross this article about "Free Rice." Many of you may have already heard of it, but I thought it was pretty cool.

The concept is that the site provides you with a word and asks you to choose the definition. The more words you define correctly, the more challenging it becomes. For every word you get right, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Since they started doing this in October of 2007, they have donated nearly 30 billion grains of rice. Give it a try...

End of Preschool

Josh just finished his first year of preschool. He ended up loving it! His teacher, Miss Chris is so great and so patient with him. She said he is a really good kid. And he is :) After a great Christmas program he wasn't really having anything to do with the spring program. He pretty much just hid behind the girl next to him the whole time. They also went on a field trip to the Fire Station. I thought it would be helpful to go, but I was wrong. I think he would have done better if I hadn't been there. He just clung to me the whole time. When it was time to take the picture, he refused to get in it, so I made him. As you can see, he wasn't too happy to be doing it. We'll hope for the best next year :)