enough

Enough.

That is the name of a book our church encouraged us to read.  It is basically about managing your finances, realizing you have enough, and teaching the benefits of not spending what you don't have.  Even better...living simply and joyfully.

As a family of six with one parent working full-time, we'd already cut, snipped, and chopped off all unnecessary expenses.  There were some we were unwilling or couldn't cut back, and so, over time, we slowly built up a small mountain of debt.  It was manageable, but probably eating away more at our bread-winner than me.  Like a hole you could never quite make it out of.

And as the puzzle pieces of life began to fall into place, it was time for this stay-at-home-mom of twelve years to go back to work...not part-time gigs I've been used to...but full-time, forty hour work weeks, a life-changing, course-altering choice.

*small sigh for mom*  I just wasn't sure I was up to it.

(I might have felt a little like this:)

But along came the perfect job.  A daycare.  Seven minutes from home.  Carmen could come.  The pay was right.

And so, last week, I became an assistant teacher in a room full of two-year olds.

Before you gasp at how crazy a person must be to take that position, I have to tell you how amazing this job is.

First, it's interesting to know, I applied at this school many years ago when it was first opened.  We had wanted to send Isabela there for preschool, but it is crazy expensive.  So I applied to teach Spanish there, but someone else was hired.  It must not have been the right time.  And years passed.

Now I am raising four kids, and it just so happens that my family has heard me exclaim MANY times, "Two is my favorite age!"  It's true.  The twos are happy and silly and positive and never complain and everything is great to them and messes are fun to clean and peeing in the potty is the best day ever.

So when I recently applied to this school again, it was for a four-year old class.  It turned out they had already hired for that position, but "there was a three-year old class opening, so come in to meet us," I was told.  But on my interview day,  it was for a two-year old class!  My first thought was, "hmmm...that's not what I signed up for."  But I just smiled and said, "Sure, why not?"  It wasn't until I told JP later that he reminded me it's my favorite age.  How amazing.

One week into this, there is lots of irony to explore.

Why is that I could stay home with my own children, but no one would pay me and I'd feel guilty that I wasn't "contributing to society", but if I take care of other people's children, I get paid well and now have a purpose? (Plus someone else now has to take care of my children.)

Why has this job not made me tired in the least bit?  I love going to work.  I love the kids.  I come home on my break and clean up my house a bit and eat lunch at my kitchen table.  I'm not munching on snacks throughout the day.  I am paid for an HOUR while the kids sleep, which I spend either reading or drawing (a favorite activity I never gave myself time to do when I had loads of free time).

Why is there no more guilt?  If the house is dirty, it's because I'm working.  If it's clean, I'm amazing. If there's no dinner, it's because I'm working.  If I came home on my lunch break and made dinner, once again, I'm amazing.

Plus, pretty soon, our little mountain of debt will begin to shrink.  No guilty feelings when

buying groceries on credit cards any more.  What is the first thing I'll buy when I get the chance?  I think it has to be clothes.  I've lived on hand-me downs from friends and family and thrift stores for a long time.  Mama wants a new pair of shoes!

It's been a huge adjustment for the whole family.  And little Carmen probably felt the worst of it.  No more mama, no more paci, potty training, all in one day.  She held my face in her hands the first day I picked her up from her 8 hour class and said, "Don't leave, Mama, don't leave" over and over.  And I cried.

But this is why I love two year olds.  They are resilient, they hold no resentment, they are sponges.  She still tears up at drop off time, but she is making friends, learning songs, riding trikes under the willow trees on her super-cool playground, and being loved by some joyful teachers.

I never thought this life was in our cards.  Daycare and full-time working mom.  Enough pushed us to this point.  But the entire family is chipping in to make it work.  And as it turns out, there is enough time in the day, enough love to go around and enough is enough.  (Say enough long enough, and it starts not even sounding like a real word.)



I guess it's interesting to note how Obamacare has also played into this.

Our kids lost their health care coverage two months ago.  And while I called and left messages, no one ever once returned my call to tell me why they had been dropped.  It was possible we had finally met the income limit for a family of six, but we'll never really know.  The options were for me to quit my part-time job, reapply for healthcare for the kids and have even less money for our family.  Or go big, full-time, and figure out how to pay for their healthcare after that.  That option made more sense.  Right now, they still have no healthcare, while I work through my first 90 days.  Plus we haven't looked into how much it will cost at that point, but one step at a time.  For now, we pray no one gets hurt or sick.

(For the record, while I once was excited for Obamacare, thinking I would finally get healthcare for myself after many years of having no insurance, I am no longer a supporter.  Paying for this super-expensive health insurance, just for me, is one expense that we would have loved to cut.  So not worth it.)

But here we are.  Busy, but happy.  Weekends are once again for fun.  Last weekend, I took some of the kids to the zoo.

We saw the world famous cheetah and puppy best friends.

And fed some beautiful parakeets.

It's been awhile since we've done something fun.  I think there will be more of that to come.

no more party

Something had to go.  

Not that cutie-pie, who loves to stick her tongue out at the camera.... but the Halloween party.  We'd told several friends about it, but it was WAY TOO MUCH for me to add one more thing to my to do list.  This camel was about to break.

And a few days after we called it off, the fridge broke.  Leaked all over the floor.  JP finagled a fix, but I was never happier to have already cancelled something....which reminds me of my year of "no" a few years back.  I've forgotten how nice life is when you learn to say no sometimes.

But no to the party didn't mean no to decorations.

It took a bit of time to put up, but didn't cost a cent.

I love how into her bag she is.  Reminds me of me at the grocery store trying to figure out how I'm going to pay.  I know it's in here somewhere!

Kitty came by during our little photo shoot.  She still taunts Carmen by acting like she wants her to pet her, then darts away as soon as her little hand gets close.

Looking more like a great horned owl than a cat here.

 Spooky girl with a vampire effect from Picmonkey.   Love those effects! But I'm hoping she'll be an angel for Halloween.  I want to make her some huge feathery wings, but I have a feeling it will be for nothing.  And Diego's being wishy-washy on what he wants to be.  We may end up diving into the dress-up box for Halloween this year.

Ah....Found it!  Just what I was looking for.

scared you!

BOO!

I hope you weren't scared that this blog was over!

I do still love to write and love to take pictures of my kids and love to blog, but time escapes me now.  The big kids have busier schedules than the president of the United States and must be driven everywhere, the little kids need attention, the house needs cleaning, the dinner needs cooking, work needs working, and I'm even applying to college once again...trying to get that elusive teaching certificate.

But here is October and one of my favorite creative holidays is just around the corner!

I literally whipped up this paper bag mask in five minutes.  I have to admit I copied it from one pictured in the book Halloween, by Joanne O'Sullivan.  I do love to copy.

Anyway, you cannot see out of this mask, but who cares?  It's so cool for a photo prop.  Carmen wasn't even scared!

In a crazy state, I suggested we have a Halloween party this year, and the kids have jumped on board. Every time they act up, I threaten to cancel the party.  (Juan Pablo reminded me that we haven't even invited anybody yet.)  But the kids aren't falling for it, and they keep planning anyway.

Time to get crackin' on costumes and decorations!

summer

We've done a whole bunch of nothing this summer.  

And while I will never forget the day I promised myself I'd never get on another roller coaster, I can just feel the chug-chug-chug of the cars going up the giant hill of life just before school starts.

We're going to shoot down that track in all different directions.  I'm hanging on tight, but geez, I wish I could just think about it one more time.

Looking at a few shots of the summer may help slow this coaster down a bit.

BLACKBERRY PICKING:

I took the kids, minus Joaquin, on a free hay ride to the blackberry patch early this summer.  (I think Joaquin was at his soccer camp, and he hates all nature things I make us do away, so it was perfect timing.)

The blackberries were HUGE.  And delicious.

The one problem was the june bugs.  They were hiding in the bushes and if you pulled one too hard, they'd buzz out at you and scare you to death.  Isabela learned the hard way and sent our whole bucket of blackberries flying.

We tried to eat as many as we could to cut the cost, but they weren't expensive at all and definitely worth dodging the bugs.

PONY PASTURE:

Would you believe we had never taken the kids to Pony Pasture before?  I had wanted to take everyone to Chincoteague for the pony crossing, but we settled on this.  We'd been to the river with them a lot, but not specifically to this famous spot.  

Hmmm.  Which way should we go?

Their fearless dad led the way.  Of course, I was nervous about the whole thing.  The sign said 'life jackets required' so I was ready to head to REI to pick some up.  Overruled.

They found their own little rapids and shot down on a natural water slide, while Carmen and I sat on the rocks and talked to the nearby ducks.  She wasn't too keen on getting wet, but laughed when a wet puppy decided to shake off on our rock.

Joaquin was pretending he couldn't swim back at one point.  (I knew he was kidding, but always fun for a mother to watch, right?)

PEACH PICKING:

My uncle David took us to his friend's orchard to pick peaches and apples.  Joaquin didn't pick a single one, but he did love on this sweet cat. 

The peach trees had so much fruit, they were sagging under the weight and even had broken branches.  I'd never heard of this happening.

Carmen wasn't much for picking either.

There's ol' uncle David.  Quite the comedian, like always.

Superman couldn't wait to get his hands on this bell.

We didn't stay there long and have learned not to pick too much.  We had German Apple Pancakes one morning...delicious...but I think there are still some apples sitting in the fridge from that day.

ZOO:

Carmen and I have zoo passes that I need to remember to use once the kids start school, but she and I, Diego, and abuelo checked out the zoo one day while the big kids had camps.

There were lots of babies! (It was a bad picture, but can you see the little face and tiny foot?)

Our zoo is amazing with giraffes to feed, 20 cheetah cubs born in the last two years, beautiful birds and monkeys, tigers, lions, bears....

I always love asking people questions.  (Just the other day I asked the manager at Cici's how many pizzas they make in one day.  Any guesses?)  At the zoo, I always wonder how someone comes to be a zoo keeper.  It always sounds like a fun job as a child, but not so much when you grow up.

The one I asked said she had studied international affairs in college, went to South Africa to study some cheetahs, and ended up following them to our zoo.  She said she was responsible for most of the animals in the zoo, except for the reptiles and the apes.  That sounds like a huge job!

Carmen enjoyed a little chat with a penguin...the oldest one they have is 35 years old!  

And we took the train ride to the secret part of the zoo.  Carmen was a bit sleepy by this point and would not stop saying "choo-choo, choo-choo" the e.n.t.i.r.e. ride!  So cute, right?

This ostrich followed us right out of the enclosure.  The driver had to stop the train to lead him back in.  I commented, "Wow! That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be!" And he laughed and said, "Well, if they flop down on the ground, it would have been a lot harder.  They won't budge then."  Maybe we can see that next time.

SESAME STREET: 

I took the little kids to our local PBS station for a showing of a Wild Kratts movie.  And yes, our station is located on a real Sesame St!

Carmen did not want a picture with Cookie Monster, and apparently Diego is too old to do that now.

But they could pose with posters.

Here's Dinosaur Train with a giant Clifford behind...

...and of course, Elmo, or Melmo as we call him.

They had little activities to do, but the highlight was popcorn and the movie.  Diego has learned more stuff from that show than I could have ever taught him!  Gotta love PBS.

And this was about the extent of our summer.  A few pool days, local parks, and much boredom.  My kids can't wait to go back to school.  Maybe that's how it's supposed to be?  

(Answer to the pizza question: 600 pizzas on a busy day!)

fighting creek park

Why do boys fight?  My boys are to the kicking- pushing- and- occasional- punching stage.  It IS a stage, right?  I hope not just in my house!  It is something I will never understand, but I guess it's fitting to write a post about Fighting Creek Park, our newest discovery and very close to home.

Juan Pablo always puts me in charge of, "Where are we going to go today?"  It had to fit his qualifications though...walking, park, not sunny, possibly water.  And that's how we stumbled upon this park.

Many of the trees and plants are labeled at the entrance to the playground area.  They all look like poison ivy to me, so I just keep to the trail.

There was a brand new, huge, awesome playground for the kids to enjoy.  I'm always drawn to parks to discover a little more about the world and nature around me, and their first question out of their mouths is always, "Is there a playground?"

These are some super-steep slides, so the kids pretended they were the Warp Wall from American Ninja Warriors.  Well, really, the whole playground was turned into a ninja course for a few minutes there.

There were some smaller parts for little Carmen, but I thought it was funny that the sign on the equipment said for ages 2-12.  There's really something out there that covers the ages of all my children?!

Diego has a talent for climbing...he can climb walls, poles, trees...anything that goes up.

And the skinniest little arms you've ever seen...I don't know how he does it.

Even one arm and he doesn't fall off!

I always love a playground that includes music.

There are lots of knobs to turn and things to do here.  There is absolutely no way a kid could not love this place.  Well...I may have to take that back.  Joaquin had a white spider on his arm as he was trying to climb the rock wall and freaked out.   Joaquin and spiders just do not mix well.

There's a very cool covered bridge nearby.  Way more amazing in person.

We stopped at the amphitheater seats for awhile and tried to throw rocks into this hole in a hallowed out tree.  No one peeked out like we were hoping.  We did NOT throw that stick in there, but JP did his best to throw another and missed.

A quick family picture before heading on...

There was lots to see along the freshly poured rock trails, including these odd looking fungi.

There were benches, picnic tables, and even disc golf cages along the way to look at.

And way into the trail, these little exercise points started showing up.  These balance beams were on springs, which made them just a little more interesting.  We tried to play 'who could make someone fall off first' but we all have really good balance, so we just had to continue on walking.

And see that awful thing Diego is sitting on?

Well, those yellow bars ended up knocking Carmen in the head and she fell flying onto her back.  Poor thing got a little knot on her head, but I was amazingly prepared with an icepack from the snack bag I'd brought along.

Our goal this whole time had been to search for a waterfall that was noted on the map.  I figured it would be small because I don't know of any falls around here, but we would have missed it completely if it weren't for Abuelo spotting it.  It was a little trickle down a large flat rocky area, just beyond this picnic table.

Diego bravely walked down the falls area onto a little island in a muddy looking pool and tested out how deep it was.  No one fell in, but I was prepared with a change of clothes just in case.

Beautiful tall trees shaded us the entire walk.  I can't wait to see this place in fall.

Diego's energy finally gave out on the way back, just for a bit.   But that's what piggy backs are for, right?