Vacation Prep (AKA Needing a Vacation to get over Vacation Prep)

Oh vacation, how I love you.

Every year my in-laws rent a house somewhere big enough for the entire family to go stay and be together for a week. We've done Honeoye Lake twice, Autumn Lake (Adirondacks area) twice, and this was our third year in Salvo in the Outer Banks. We stayed in a different house than the previous two years and really enjoyed the new place!

Now I don't know about you, but planning for a vacation is hard. It's easier now that the kids are older and we don't have to worry about diapers and all the other baby things, but still trying to get a family of five packed for a week and getting two animals prepped to leave is challenging.

To Do Lists!

And this year decided to throw us a couple curve balls.

We knew this year would be a little different. Our house still has a For Sale/Sale Pending sign in front of it, and even though we don't live in a village or city, a lot of traffic goes by here everyday. We were a little nervous about leaving our house vacant for a week, but we took steps to make sure that it wouldn't look fully abandoned: our cat was going to stay here and our neighbor would check on him nightly, and some friends were also going to come and harvest our garden while we were away. It's not as much movement at our house to make it look occupied, but we thought it would be enough. (And it was!)

The one problem about the house still being Sale Pending was that we didn't know if we'd need anyone to come through the house for various appointments during the week, and one even got scheduled for the morning we were going to be leaving....meaning we had to leave the house SPOTLESS. That's hard enough to do on any given day, but trying to get your house spotless while trying to leave for vacation is a whole other level of craziness!

The biggest curve ball of them all we didn't even begin to expect.

We swung by my in-law's house on Wednesday to drop off some things, and my father-in-law commented on how our exhaust was sounding loud. We thought it was just a heat shield, so he said to bring it over early Thursday morning and he'd help Pete take a look at it.

Thursday morning came, Pete took the van over. I'm home with the three kids, babysitting an additional two, and trying to pack. Pete calls: the fixed the heat shield, didn't really see anything wrong with the exhaust, but there's a squeaking and squealing noise. They took it to the mechanic's, and the water pump is dying. And two front bolt springs (I think that's what they were??? Definitely part of the front suspension...) were completely broken and could cause real damage at any point....also known as, van isn't leaving the shop OOOOR going on vacation. Big $$$$$ flashed in front of our eyes!

So Pete and his dad checked into rental vans, and we didn't want to pay the price to rent one. We decided to take our car, and my in-laws graciously offered to take one of our kids in their vehicle so we wouldn't have to have three kids crammed in the back of our car. Thankfully we had fixed the car and it's issues earlier in the summer so all it needed was for the air conditioning to be recharged for it to be ready to go.

Even with all of the craziness and our plans going straight out the window, we are so thankful. We are glad Pete's dad had the wisdom and foresight to check our van, thankful there was space for Paige in their truck, thankful our friends and neighbors were able to look after our house, and just so thankful that we didn't try to take the van on vacation (we probably wouldn't have made it out of the state, or at least through Pennsylvania....it definitely wouldn't have made it over the bridges and bumps on the OBX island!).

We were able to leave our spotless house at 5:58 Friday morning (two minutes ahead of schedule!!!!), with Paigey securely in the back of her grandpa's truck and the boys snuggled in the back of our car. We were Virginia bound for the night, and were praying that all the bumps in the road were already behind us!

Up next: Friday afternoon fun in Virginia!

What a Week!

This week was a little different for us.

Paige was home every day with the boys as her play was over, which made our afternoons so much less stressful as we weren't travelling back and forth multiple times a day.

I also babysat three days this week: Tuesday was my friend's two kiddos while she had a doctors appointment, Wednesday was my honorary nieces, and Saturday was our friend's little boy while they had a conference all day. It was sooo nice getting my little kid fix in!

Building houses on Tuesday with some littles!

There were a lot of random and fun things thrown into our week as well:

We had a beautiful sunset one night...

My shipment of The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse Book 3 The Wrong Direction came in...

I started photographing newly made jewelry with a new set up for my Etsy store...

Ryan and I played Rummy....

...lots and lots of Rummy (he was home sick on Thursday)...

The boys got their summer hair cuts, leaving a small hair creature on the floor....

I got to see Nate's art work on display at school...

Each letter of his name is made up of a different animal!

I got bit by the one toothed vampire (routine blood work, nothing to worry about!)...

we started working on prepping our garden beds for the year...

and Mason looooved having little kids in the house all week! Yes, he chose to lay in the pile of toys rather than the clear spot on the rug!!!! Such a silly pupper.

This next week should be a little different as well. I have a doctor's appointment, the kids have their spring concert, I'm volunteering in Ry's class, I'm helping at the library in preparation for our open house Saturday, and then other normal activities/house projects fit in as well.

What have you been up to this past week? What are you looking forward to this upcoming week?

Endings, Beginnings, and Struggles

This year has brought about a lot of changes for me.

In February, after almost 7 years of babysitting out of my home, I handed in my resignation to all of the families I worked for, effective the end of the school year. It was a really difficult decision, full of emotions and stress. But my health was failing, I had so many demands that only I could meet, and with three kids in school the upcoming year, I was going to be needed more.

When I'm asked if I miss the babysitting, it's hard to find the right answer. I don't miss a lot of it, but I miss the kids so much. I miss the snuggles, the laughter, them growing. My house is so quiet now as it's just me and our pets during the day. But I'm able to focus more on my business during the day and be more available for the kids when they get home from school.

But it really is a struggle for me to get used to the new schedule.

A lot of people have been asking me how things are going, and I love the support I'm getting.

But there are some people who do a double take, who expect me to go out and get "a real job" now that I'm done babysitting and all three kids are in school. I then get the dreaded question:

"So, what do you do all day then?"

I never know how to answer. I'm sure they picture me sitting on my couch, watching tv and eating chocolate all day.

I usually stumble through a quick line about some project I'm working on, but what I really want to say is this:

I've been a mom for 10 1/2 years now, and a wife for almost 9. In all that time, I have not been a priority. Kids always need to be fed, diapers changed, protected, entertained. Husbands need to be fed, his clothes ready for work.

Please don't get me wrong, I love being a wife and mother.

But somewhere in all that time I lost myself.

If I didn't get a shower every day, or sometimes even every other day, that became the norm.

If I needed new clothes, I probably wouldn't get them because kids needed diapers or school supplies. And that became okay.

My life became sweatpants, frumpy hair, doing chores and errands for everyone else. Because their needs felt greater than my own.

I don't know how to take care of me without feeling guilty about it.

I have so many obligations for my business right now. Christmas is coming, so I need to get stock built up and in my Etsy store, promote my Christmas products, and work on commissions that will be gifts. I'm promoting the first book in the children's book series that I illustrated as well as starting work on book 2.

I'm volunteering for an hour every other week in Ryan's classroom by helping out with math. I just went with the kindergartners on my very first field trip this past week. My oldest two kids are in 4th and 5th grades, and I hadn't been on a field trip yet.

Mommy and Ry at the pumpkin patch!

I'm busy, so busy...doing important, wonderful things.

And when the house work doesn't get done, I'm the only one who seems bothered by it. I feel like I'm not serving my family the way they need, which is crazy. And yes, my husband and kids help out so much around here, so please don't think otherwise.

Last night, I gave myself a pep talk. I told myself that I was doing fine, I just had to get into my rhythm and adapt to the new schedule. I went to sleep, doubting that I'd be able to stay pumped up for today, figuring it would be another depressing day of not getting much done and feeling like I needed to scramble just to survive the day.

But this morning I woke up, ready to face the day.

My kids got on the bus at 7:30, and for an hour and a half I cleaned.

I didn't get everything done, but that was okay. The house looked so much better that it had been, and I could focus on work. I then sent out emails, I photographed products and listed them on Etsy. I wrote a blog post for my business blog, I took a long hot shower, and got caught up on laundry (6 loads were washed, folded, AND put away today! It's a miracle!).

Today wasn't perfect. My work stuff is still all over the coffee table, there are still crumbs on the counters, and the toilets weren't scrubbed.

But it was a better day. And tomorrow might not be a good day, but it's going to take time to build this habit of finding balance and finding me in this new stage of life.

Answering the "what do you do all day" question still isn't going to be easy, and that's okay. But it's not going to be a quick, shy answer anymore. I don't know what I'll say yet, but every day that passes, that answer will be more confident than the day before.


How are you guys doing? How do you balance everything in your life?

Saying Goodbye

The end of the school year was pretty emotional for all of us this year.

It all started when we decided for Pete to switch schools. Saying goodbye to a wonderful school and amazing co-workers was harder on him than he thought it would be. It was really amazing seeing how much everyone appreciated him; his superintendent bought him a going away cake, and all the male teachers in the middle and high schools threw him a going away party.

We also found out that I was losing five babysitting kids for this next year. Now, it's nice going to a less crazy schedule, but these five kids were the ones I've had the longest. E & L were getting to be old enough to go home on their own (they'll be going into 5th and 7th grades); this had been my fourth year with them. J, E, & L are moving to a different school district; I've been watching these kids off and on for five years, and they'll be especially hard to say goodbye to as J is Nate's best friend. These five kids were like family, and we're sad to see them go.

On E&L's last day, we had to have a really fun day. We had homemade ice cream sandwiches (the sandwich part was homemade, not the ice cream!), and then spent the afternoon outside:

We played volleyball...

...and played on the swing set....

...and played some baseball!

Goodbye, E&L!

We were unable to fully celebrate with J, E, & L as their mom got out of her last day of school hours early, but I had parting gifts for them. J loved playing with Nate and his cars, so we got him a set of really cool Matchbox cars, and for E & L, we got some princess jewelry cause all little girls love to play dress up!

It will be weird next school year without these five awesome kids hanging around!

A Humbling Conversation with my Daughter

Have you ever had a time when you've been so proud of yourself and high on life, just to have someone bring you back to reality?

Today was Day #3 of crazy early wake up time week. And yet again, my house has been cleaner than usual, dinner got on the table right away, and I got the laundry all washed, folded, and put away. I even folded seven a few loads of laundry this morning and put them away as well, and got caught up on my filing that's been sitting around since April for awhile!

To top it all off, the extra babysitting kid's mom was raving about how much fun her son is having here this week, how impressed she is with me, and volunteered to make snack for everyone on Friday as a thank you for the week.

I was walking around with my head high, slightly inflated, and all proud of myself. I can do it all and more!!! Look at me go! I'm an awesome mom, taking care of my family's needs and helping out others!

Then I talked to my daughter, who was more than willing to bring me back down off my high horse. Here's our conversation:

Me: "Okay, Paigey-girl. Get your jammies on, it's bedtime. Don't forget to brush your teeth and floss!"
Paige: "Why do I need to brush and floss at night time????"
Me: "....um....you should be brushing every night....you haven't been?!?"
Paige: "No...I thought it was only at Grandma's that we brush at night...I never brush when I'm home before bed."

Come to find out she's been reading that extra few minutes instead of brushing. I guess I'm not as awesome as I thought :) Reality was bound to come back eventually!

Early to Bed, Early to Rise...

This week is...interesting. I have an extra babysitting kid this week as his usual babysitter is on vacation. He seems like a great kid; he's in Paige's class, and actually lives somewhat across the road from us. Paige loves having one of her best friends here, and the boys love having another boy to play with. He's a good fit with the kids he's met so far, so the week should go smoothly.

Part of the reason that it's interesting is the fact that he gets here at 6 am...fifteen to thirty minutes earlier than we're used to getting up in the morning! It really isn't too awful bad...it's just most of us aren't morning people. Nate, the one and only morning person in the family, even had trouble this morning. Coffee has been consumed in huge quantities by this momma the past two days!

What really amazes me is how much different my day is because of that extra 30 minutes in the morning. Instead of getting up at 6:15, I'm up at 5:45. Everything else still happens at or around the same time, but it goes much smoother because I'm not rushed.

My mornings are usually crazy. For those of you who think I have it all together and am such a great mom, here's proof that I'm not: I get up and start making Pete's tea and lunch. The kids get up (sometimes with a lot of coaxing by mom), and are demanding breakfast. They get cranky because they have to wait for mommy to finish getting daddy's stuff ready. Then the kids are rushed for breakfast, we all end up getting frustrated with each other, and the kids get on the bus glad to get away from mom, and mom's glad that she's left with only one kid left to deal with. I then rush around before babysitting kids arrive/preschool starts/I leave to run errands, then my day goes downhill from there. There's always something that needs to be done, something that didn't get done, and piles and piles of mess that all needs my attention right now. It is nothing but rush rush rush, and it's exhausting.

But not this week. My house is staying clean. I'm caught up on laundry (with exception of folding it. I hate folding.). The mornings have been argument free. Pete comes home, and I'm not stressed. I am less exhausted now that I was last week, yet more in control and organized than I was last week.

How does that work?!?

I think I may keep the earlier wake up time from here on out. It won't be easy, but I think the benefits outweigh the difficulties hands down. I may end up having to keep the early wake up time as N may become a permanent kid to my roster; his parents are searching for a new babysitter, and he's loving it here so far. I'm not sure if I want to permanently add any kid to the roster right now, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


What things help your day go smoother? I'm always looking for more tips!

Thankfulness Day 5: My Babysitting Moms

I have four families that I babysit for on a regular basis, and three of these families there has been an 'incident' with one of their kids under my watch that hasn't been very good.

Now, before you start calling Child Protective Services on me, understand a couple things:

1) I take care of these kids as if they were my very own.

2) Accidents happen, especially with kids.

3) I do the best I can to keep all the kids safe and away from harm at every opportunity.

Thankfully the moms (I say moms because they are usually the ones dropping off or picking their kids up) understand this.

Family #1 was the first family I babysat for, and they are friends of ours from church. It happened as an emergency situation; there had been a huge problem at the daycare they had been with and needed to find someone immediately to finish out the school year. Their child was 2, and both parents were teachers. Everything was going great...then the child was bit by a rabid raccoon in my care. I did everything I could to keep the child protected, even put myself between the two, but he was bit regardless of my efforts. His parents were amazingly calm (I say amazingly as this happened only a few short days after their second child was born), and not only did it strengthen our relationship, but I continued babysitting for them, and am in my third year of caring for their children.

Family #2 was a family that I didn't know at all. They were referred to me by a mutual friend, so we barely knew anything about each other. My very first week watching their kids, their oldest fell down our basement stairs and crashed into the wall at the bottom of the stairs minutes before they were scheduled to be picked up. He was shaken up, but okay. It wasn't easy telling their mom what happened when she arrived! She was extremely understanding, and I'm in my fourth year of watching their kids :)

Family #3 is also one I didn't know very much. The mom is a teacher at school, and her sister had been babysitting their daughter. Then the sister moved south, leaving them without a babysitter. It was literally days before the school year started last year that I signed on as the babysitter, and we made it through the year incident free. This is my second year babysitting for them, and past week has been a different story; last week I almost dropped their almost 4 month old by tripping over a toy, and I scratched his face and drew a little blood. Then their 2 year old was fine in the morning on Friday, then had explosive diarrhea (all over my bed...) during nap time, but was fine after I called her mom to come get her. Then today I almost dropped the baby again (I tripped over the cat and the dog, then the bouncy seat in which I really hurt my ankle), but he barely even noticed. Then the older child broke out in random hives after nap today (she's fine now, thank you Benadryl!).

So I was feeling like a crappy babysitter today with everything that went on in the past week with Family #3, which then brought back memories of the other incidents with the other families. For some reason, if something happens with my kids that they get hurt or sick, I'm not so hard on myself. I know I'm doing the best I can, but I can only protect them to a certain extent. But with babysitting kids, if anything happens to them, I feel awful. Almost like I'm incapable of keeping anyone safe. I know, I know, I'm too hard on myself. I just want to do the best I can, and when things go wrong I feel like a failure.


Today I am very thankful for the mothers of my babysitting kids. They trust me completely with their kids, and even when things go wrong, they are understanding and assure me that accidents happen. I have a great group of families I work with, and am so blessed by spending time with each and every one of their children.


What are you thankful for today?