Random Money Saving Tips

I am far, far removed from being an expert on saving money. However, I am married to a CPA who knows how to save a buck and work a budget like nobody's business. And having been married to him for almost 10 years now, I've learned a few things along the way.

Back in 2006, we made the decision to move from 2 incomes down to 1 so that I could stay at home with Garrett. When we first put everything to paper to see if this was feasible, we saw that things were going to be really tight, so we started buckling down before we had even lost my teaching income. Here are a few things we either started doing at that point, have done since we've been married just because, or have learned along the way. They're small and somewhat insignificant, but literally every penny counts.

1. We don't have cable. We've actually never had it. Cable isn't available out here in our neighborhood, so our only option would be satellite and that is not remotely cheap. I understand that some people have one or the other for reasons beyond just having lots of TV channels, but sometimes this is an easy place to cut a good bit of money. We bought a good TV antenna (spending on it what we would have spent on 1 month of cable/satellite) and Keith put it in our attic. Thanks to living about 30 miles from DFW, we're able to pick up a lot of channels. And the digital channels have quite a few good options, not to mention a great picture that looks nice on our HD TV. We do have a Netflix account which helps to cover some of those extra shows we might miss or times when we need multiple cartoon options. It's nice and so much cheaper than the alternative.

2. We do use credit cards, but we never, ever, ever carry a balance on them. If we know that what we're wanting to purchase, we would not be able to afford to pay for it in full at the end of the month, we don't buy it. We watched TV on a 19" old tube TV from the 80's for years while saving up to buy the 40" HD TV we have now. We had used living room furniture that Keith bought off of his sister's friend for the first 2 years of marriage until we saved up for new furniture. We don't have a bedroom suit to this day. Just a mattress and box springs sitting on a bed frame that came free with our purchase. Keith's nightstand is an old end table from his apartment days (that his sister gave him) and my nightstand is a wood Winchester ammo box. Is it pretty? Nope, but we don't have a couple thousand dollars lying around to buy new, so we'll make do until that day comes.

3. Aside from grocery shopping, the rest of my shopping is done online 99% of the time. I find that this helps cut down on impulse purchases. I know what I'm needing (new clothes for the boys, Keith or myself. Christmas/birthday presents, etc.) and I find it and buy it. There are a few tricks though. I always google for any coupon codes for the site that I'm buying from. 9 times out of 10 I will find either a 20%, or greater, discount code to use, or a free shipping code, or both. I also keep a running list of things that are needing to be purchased and occasionally peruse my standard websites and when I see they're having a sale (especially when they're doing free shipping) then I will jump in and get what I need. I almost always buy things from Amazon and always look through what Amazon sellers have to offer. Sometimes I can find a used book that's almost like new to give to someone as a gift. Does that make me cheap? Maybe. And if the book or movie or CD were to arrive at my house and not look anywhere close to being like new, then I wouldn't give it to someone as a gift, but many, many times, I have found excellent deals for items like this and they almost always arrive in excellent, gift-giving condition.

4. This one is a combination of #2 and #3. Not only do we use credit cards, but we specifically have cards that work for us. Keith's card is a General Motors affiliated card. So his purchases accrue money towards a down payment on a new vehicle (more on that one up next.) My card is Discover and I accrue cash back bonus money. Not only do I accumulate money, but I can exchange that money for gift cards worth more than the money that I have accumulated. Here's how I combine 2 and 3. Today, I was doing some Cyber Monday Christmas shopping/necessary clothes shopping for myself. The website I was shopping with had everything for 50% off plus free shipping!! Score! Not only that, but I had $60 accrued with my Discover cash back. So I went to my Discover account, looked up this company and found that they had a $50 e-giftcard that I could get for only $40 of my cash back money. So I was able to save $50 on what was originally a $200 purchase, marked down to $100, purchased for $50. And it only cost me $50 actual dollars, plus $40 accumulated Discover dollars which is really free money from them. In addition to this, I also have signed up with a variety of online survey websites (like erewards(dot)com) which also offers reward money that can be exchanged for discounts from websites and all I have to do is take surveys that they email to me. I currently have 5 different free magazine subscriptions thanks to this website as well: Martha Stewart Living, Cosmo, Glamour, Elle, and Reader's Digest.

5. We currently have 2 vehicles, both completely paid for. Keith's truck is 12 years old and has over 200k miles on it. He's meticulous with maintenance which I think is the key to it lasting this long. My SUV is almost 9 years old with almost 130k miles on it. I do my best to keep it clean. I know that sounds weird, but I've found when it's dirty and trashed, I hate it and spend lots of time wishing and scheming for a new vehicle. But after I've cleaned it up, I'm much happier with it. We honestly have no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon. When that day comes, it may be another used one (both of our current vehicles were bought used too).

6. I know you're probably expecting to see coupons on here, but I honestly don't do much with coupons. I know people who save lots of money with them. However, I know they also spend a lot of time researching putting everything together, not to mention driving all over to different places to save the money. We don't live close to very many stores, so that would require me to do a lot of driving to save this money and that just doesn't add up to being very cost effective in my mind. I do occasionally look online for some coupons for the things that I'm already going to be purchasing, but I just try to shop smart and the majority of my purchases are made at Walmart. I know a lot of people enjoy knocking the store, but I've always found good deals there and our local Walmart is clean and the employees are generally nice and efficient.

7. We usually limit our eating out to once or twice over the weekend. I'm not always a fan of cooking and generally I only cook 2-3 nights a week and the rest of the week is spend eating leftovers, soup, sandwiches, etc. I'm a huge proponent of crockpot cooking as well and have cooked quite a few different things in it.

8. I know this last one will be touchy for some, but I have to share it anyway. I am not a fan of smart phones. Yes, I know they're fun and it's so convenient to be able to access the internet 24/7 in the palm of your hand, but there are really very few people out there who absolutely need this ability. If someone was looking for a place to cut spending, this would be the first to go, in my mind. I honestly prefer an iPod touch as something small that can access the internet, but of course you have to have a wifi connection to use it, but do you really need to be able to check Facebook or read a blog when you're out somewhere that doesn't have wifi? Just food for thought.

I know there are many other tips and tricks for saving money and I'm sure there are plenty others that I do frequently that I'm also forgetting, but this will hopefully give you a few ideas.

Thanksgiving

This past summer, Keith and I had planned to take a family vacation when we found a week that worked for us. Unfortunately, Keith's work schedule didn't end up allowing him to take off any time between June and August, so we started making plans for an alternative time for our vacation.

We haven't been very consistent with taking family vacations every year. Our first one as a family of 4 was when Cooper was just 2 months old and we drove down to Galveston for a long weekend on the beach. Last year, we never ended up taking a true family vacation, though we did have a few trips due to visiting family. But I really want to make some sort of an annual vacation a priority for us.

We decided that since Garrett had several days off of school around Thanksgiving, we would take advantage and plan our vacation then. I'm typically pretty traditional when it comes to holidays, but I don't feel overly connected with celebrating Thanksgiving exactly the same every year (as I tend to be about Christmas). We picked Garrett up a little early from school last Tuesday and drove down to San Marcos, which is roughly 4 hours away. There are a lot of outlet malls there and Keith and I have shopped there once before and found quite a few great deals, so we wanted to check them out again. They were pretty crowded given the fact that it was a holiday week, but we were able to get some good deals, mostly on clothes. Then we headed back out, towards our hotel in San Antonio.

We checked into our hotel around 6pm that night and then headed out to eat supper at Mi Tierra. It's an experience you don't want to miss if you're ever in San Antonio. Christmas lights everywhere (and that's year round, not just because of the time of year) and a couple of different mariachi bands that travel around the restaurant serenading tables. Our table was chosen as one to serenade and both of the boys loved it! Cooper danced in his seat and Garrett just laughed and watched them closely. He was intrigued with the fact that they sang in Spanish. (We took pictures at Mi Tierra, but they're on Keith's phone. I totally forgot to bring my camera with me to dinner. We've already established that I'm a horrible blogger, so we can move on from that point.)

On Wednesday, we ate breakfast at the hotel (thank goodness for free hotel breakfasts, even if they are waffles and Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches!) and then we hung out in the room for the morning. Thankfully PBS was showing Curious George's Christmas movie, so that kept the boys entertained and our room had 2 TV's so Keith and I could watch HGTV which was nice since we don't have cable and can't watch that channel very often.

We headed to Chili's for lunch (yes, I know we were missing out on more great SA restaurants, but it was on our way and I knew the boys would eat well there.) After Chili's, we drove to SeaWorld. None of us had ever been so we were really excited about going. We got there right as they opened and the lines to get in were crazy! The night before, I had done my research on their website and put together a basic itinerary for the day as to what shows we would want to see and their times and locations. So as soon as we made it through the crazy line, we grabbed a map and headed straight for the first one on our list. Sesame Street Christmas.

At the entrance to SeaWorld

Until this point, we have never taken our boys to any show where they would see their favorite characters live on stage somewhere. So I was really excited to see their reactions, mostly

Cooper because he's a big fan of Elmo. He did not disappoint and, while he was excited to see the others, as soon as Elmo came on stage he immediately started telling us "There's Melmo!" and yelling "Hi Melmo!" It was so fun.

After this show, we had some downtime, so I was talked into riding a water ride with Garrett. Yes, it's November, but it was in the 70's so it was comfortable outside. We rode a ride called Journey to Atlantis. There are similar rides to this one at other places like 6 Flags. You get on a boat that has about 4 rows of people with roughly 4 people per row. The boat climbs up to the top of the hill and then comes down into the water making a big splash. It was fun and it had been a long time since I had ridden a ride like that. Thankfully, we did not get overly wet.

That's me waving!

Then we made our way to a new area at SeaWorld called the Sesame Street Bay of Play. They have a lot of younger kid rides there, plus some play areas and swing sets along with a few of the Sesame Street characters to take pictures with. The boys and I rode a carousel while Keith took pictures and manned the stroller. We also got a picture of Garrett and Big Bird. Cooper was not interested in meeting him. We never saw Elmo out for pictures, so we missed getting to "meet" him.

After this, we made our way to the Shamu show. This was definitely one we didn't want to miss. We grabbed some water and stood in line until the show opened, then we had to sit in the stands for another 20-30 minutes but it was worth it because we had good seats and they had other whales out entertaining the audience as well as a saxophone player who played Christmas music.

The show itself was so neat and it's really impressive what those whales can do. I will admit to getting a little choked up watching them with their trainers because I was remembering the Shamu trainer in Florida that was accidentally killed by that Shamu last year. I know, I'm crazy. You can tell just by watching those trainers how much they love those whales. It was very sweet watching them together.

Once this show was over, we immediately headed over to the dolphin show along with 700 of our closest friends who had made the same choice that we had. At first the dolphin show seemed to be a bit of a disappointment. I mean, you go from watching huge whales doing amazing things in the water, to seeing dolphins doing essentially the same things and I'm thinking "Yeah, well, you should be able to do that. You're a fraction of Shamu's size. What else you got?" Then I realized how ridiculous that was and I enjoyed myself much more. In addition to the dolphins, they also had synchronized swimmers and divers, so we were pretty impressed with what those humans could do too.

From there, we made our way to a Polar Express 4D Experience on the other side of the park. Out of all the times we had to wait in line for shows and rides and to simply get into the park, people were the absolute most rude waiting in this line. I don't know why exactly, but it was a sight to behold. We had our spot in line, which was relatively close to the doors and there was a group of people who brazenly tried to cut in front of us. I immediately looked the ringleader in the eye and said loudly "There's a line and it's back that way" and they moved. The worst part about that was these people did not have one child with them. The youngest in their group was in their 40's. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to watch these shows, but don't cut in front of families with small children! When the doors opened, you would have thought we were all horses in the Kentucky Derby. Everyone took off running and elbowing and pushing. It was

nuts! Once we got inside I saw absolutely no reason for anyone to be acting so crazy. It was just a big theater that seated about 700 people, so there was plenty of room for everyone.

Keith and Cooper had ended up getting out of line because it was about 4:30pm at this point in the day and Cooper hadn't eaten since Chili's, not to mention that he had not had a nap and had woken up before 6am that morning, so he was not at his happiest. Garrett and I snagged seats in the very back row and then I texted Keith to tell him where we were and they were able to walk in without a fist fight breaking out. That was a fun show. They basically shortened "The Polar Express" movie down from roughly 2 hours to about 30 minutes, showed it in 3D, plus the seats vibrated at different points when the train rumbled and we had puffs and air and water blown into our faces at other points in the movie when it was appropriate. It was really cool.

From there, we made our way over to the dolphin feeding area and watched them eat. After that we hit up the gift shop and headed back to the hotel (picking up dinner on the way). SeaWorld was very fun and I think this was the perfect time of year to go. The weather was nice and I never once felt hot the whole afternoon we were there.

Probably the most stressful part of SeaWorld, aside from the line experience, was the stroller situation. Of course we brought our stroller because Cooper is 2 and there was no way he was going to keep up with us without it. But when you go to the shows, you have to park your stroller outside. I had a few problems with this. #1 I don't trust people. Yes, I realize we're

talking about a stroller that a good percentage of people in this world have zero use for. But I still don't trust people. Even people with small kids will take something that doesn't belong to them if they're of that mindset. #2 It's a nightmare trying to find your stroller among literally hundreds of other strollers. #3 Every time you would park the stroller, you then had to empty it of all your belongings that you didn't want to possibly be taken. That entire aspect of SeaWorld would be much more enjoyable if you were taking older kids who don't require a diaper bag or stroller. Having said all that, we somehow managed to make it back to our house with the same stroller we took with us. Keith's opinion on it was "Well, if someone takes it, that's one less thing we have to haul home."

That night the boys slept like little logs from all the fun we had. On Thanksgiving morning, we ate hotel breakfast again (score!) and then headed out to the Riverwalk. Our hotel was about a mile from it so we drove and parked at the mall parking garage (which is also located right on the Riverwalk). I had done all my research and found that the riverboat tours that take place along the Riverwalk, are opened on Thanksgiving. So we were the first ones in line to buy tickets for a boat tour that morning. There were only about 10 people on our tour, but it was fun. The boys enjoyed riding in the boat and seeing the sights and it was a fun tourist thing to do.

After this we walked over to the Alamo, which was also opened on Thanksgiving. When we got inside, it was PACKED with people. I've only been there 2 other times and I've not seen it quite that full. We weren't able to really look into any of the side rooms because it was so crowded. We basically just walked through, explained to Garrett what we saw, and then walked out. We went to the gift shop to get a souvenir (Alamo tree ornaments!) and then took a few more pictures outside.

Then we walked back to the mall where we watched Happy Feet 2 in the theater there. Again, there were only about 10 people in the theater with us and none of the others had little kids. I found that to be an odd choice of a movie for people with no kids, but who knows. It was cute, and FYI, you don't have to have seen the first one in order to watch the second one. In case you were wondering.

Then we drove over to a Cracker Barrel for our Thanksgiving dinner. They had a mostly traditional Thanksgiving meal, so it was nice to have some turkey and dressing like most everyone else in America was doing. They were probably 3/4 full and it was about 1:00pm when we got there. Why is no one doing traditional Thanksgivings?! Or did everyone just decided to copy our gameplan and go "untraditional" this year?

We headed back to the hotel and the boys and I swam in the pool while Keith got some peace and quiet for a little while. We watched TV and just hung out for the rest of the day and then started getting our things packed up to leave the next morning.

At about 8am on Friday, we loaded up the car and headed to Denny's for breakfast. There's only so many breakfast sandwiches and waffles that my husband can take before he wants some real scrambled eggs and maybe a piece of bacon.

The final stop on Family Vacation '11 was at Natural Bridge Caverns, just a few miles north of SA. There are some caves there that you can tour and I thought that would be a fun way to end our trip. It was fun, but there was a lot more hiking involved than I was expecting, not to mention that Cooper wasn't fast enough or willing enough to keep up, so Keith and I had to alternate carrying him (unfortunately strollers just won't work in a cave, darn the luck!) While I was expecting it to be cold since we were ultimately going 200 feet below the surface, it was 70 degrees with 99% humidity. Needless to say, we were all a puddle of sweat by the time we huffed and puffed ourselves back up to ground level. But we did make it and we survived and we saw some pretty awesome stuff down there. It's amazing the things that God does above and below the surface of the Earth.

On our way home, we passed quite a few different shopping areas and malls and got to enjoy the madness and chaos surrounding them from the onslaught of Black Friday. I somehow managed to find some good deals from my couch and laptop that night without being peppersprayed. It was nice after the battlescars from SeaWorld.

A couple of weird confessions

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, but rest assured, the clothes were found.

Big sigh of relief, I know.

They were in the back of the attic, but thankfully they were found, have been washed, and now are waiting for hanger space in the closet. Cooper's closet is a bit smaller than Garrett's and that fact has never been more obvious than it is right now when I'm trying to organize a couple of different sizes and seasons of clothing in it. We have to have warm and cold weather clothes around the majority of the year because the weather down here is so fickle, so that makes it hard to squeeze everything where it belongs.

A weird confession. I love going through these clothes that were boxed up for the past several years. It brings back so many memories of when Garrett was this age. I usually have atleast one memory for most of the clothing so it's kind of like looking in an album. I'm sure that sounds so weird to other people, but if there's ever a load of laundry I enjoy folding and putting away, it's either brand new clothes or our hand me downs.

On a completely unrelated note, I feel so behind with Christmas preparations. Again, a weird confession. I normally have had a few things bought by this time and have a good list going for who is getting what, but I don't so far. I read posts on FB that say how many days are left until Christmas and I feel panicked and behind. I just gave the boys some toy catalogs, so hopefully I can start getting those lists knocked out.

The Missing Clothes

After Garrett was born, I became obsessive about boxing up everything as he outgrew it. Clothes, socks, toys, shoes, even some underwear (shhh, don't tell them). It was all neatly labeled and stored away. Although I had no way of knowing I was going to have another boy, I wanted to save everything just in case. Sure enough, Cooper was born 3 years and 9 months after Garrett, so out came all of the containers full of boy and baby things.

Over the past 2 years, Cooper's clothes have consisted of at least 75% of Garrett's hand me downs. It was so nice to not have to worry about clothes each size and season for him. Just pull out the next container, wash everything and hang it up.

Since cold weather is upon us, I've begun the process of sorting through the boys' closets, pulling out clothes they've outgrown and moving everything around. Now that Garrett isn't growing quite as fast as he used to, I pulled out all of last year's winter clothes and made him try on most of them. He was thrilled. Oddly enough, boys don't like fashion shows like girls do.

The boy is all legs, so close to half of last year's winter pants are now this fall's capris.

Not really.

I'm pretty sure Keith would outlaw his boys wearing capris. So they all got boxed up. I made a list of anything pressing he will need for the winter and his closet is now set for the next season. Incidentally, school uniforms have made this process so much easier! I didn't have to worry about school clothes for the winter, just play clothes with the occasional nicer top and jeans for the weekends and church.

After finishing up Garrett's closet, I moved on to Cooper's. He's kind of in that in-between sizes stage right now. Some 2T clothes fit perfectly and others are getting short on him. Some 3T clothes fit nicely and others are way too big. So I wanted to have a mixture of both so that by February, when I know he will have outgrown the smaller things, there will still be clothes that fit in the closet.

Unfortunately, the 3T clothes are missing. I know this isn't that big of a deal to most of you, but I really cannot figure out what's happened to them! Up until this point, I've had no problems finding any of the size clothing he was needing, either out in our garage or up in the attic. I also have the container of 4T and 5T clothes in the boys' closets, so the only missing container is 3T. I've even resorted to looking back at old pictures of Garrett just to see what exactly he was wearing back in that size. Surely he wasn't naked and we just skipped one whole size of clothes?

Nope, he was wearing clothes. Now to figure out where exactly those clothes are. Otherwise I'll have to go out and buy him some new things. Which, now that I think about it, might be fun. As long as Cooper's not actually with me when I'm buying them.

Cooper

It's been awhile since I've shared Cooper's latest, I thought I would do a quick post about him.

Garrett was a late talker and didn't really develop his "chatterbox" gene until he was 3 or even older. I assumed he would need to go to speech therapy at some point because he just didn't say much.

Then there was Cooper.

I don't know if it's simply due to being the 2nd born or if he's just wired this way, but he is a talker. In the past 3 months or so, his speech has just exploded. He started talking fairly early, but now he talks in nearly complete sentences and I can understand about 90% of what he says, though not everyone can understand him. Just yesterday he walked up to me with my iPod Touch in his hand and said "I play Angry Birds." He's been spending too much time with Garrett...

He still has a strong love for Mickey Mouse. I bought him a Mickey t-shirt yesterday and he was thrilled. I let him wear it to school today and he kept point out Mickey's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He also carried his stuffed Mickey with him to school and goes everywhere with it when he's there. He doesn't do this at home, but apparently he needs that security at school.

When he needs a diaper change, we'll go into his room and I'll tell him to climb on the bed while I get the diaper ready. He always climbs to the head of the bed (away from where I change his diapers) and dances around singing "Dance party! Dance, dance party!" He gets the song from a segment on PBS kids that they do most mornings. But for some reason this is his diaper dance. It's cute, but also annoying when I know he's dirty and really needs to be changed. Then I have to chase him around the bed, trying to grab him and it turns into this whole 2-year-old-tantrum-throwing-doesn't-want-his-diaper-changed thing.

Along those same lines, I think he would be amenable to beginning the pottytraining process, but I'm not quite ready for it. I'm thinking after Christmas we'll start going at it full force though.

He has this crazy love affair with his Daddy. And not just Daddy, but with Daddy's truck, Daddy's sunglasses, Daddy's boots. Pretty much anything "Daddy" related. We'll play the "I love...." game and he always says "I love Daddy's truck" before he says "I love Momma". That's not a problem for me at all!

He loves music. He has a variety of songs that he runs through and sings regularly. He also loves dancing, as I've mentioned. Anytime a song starts playing on TV, he will say "I dance" and then he does. He also bobs, nods, shakes his head in time to the music in the car.

He's learning to count and currently counts like this: "9,10,11,12,13." He doesn't know the first 8 numbers, but he knows those...

Keith and I feel pretty certain he will probably be the class clown/crazy kid. He loves making people laugh and being goofy. I don't really know where that comes from.

Report Cards

So I realize it's been way too long since my last post. And I have lots of things that I want and need to blog about, but some of those I'm not quite ready to discuss.

I did want to share that Garrett got his first report card this week.

I will be honest in saying that I was anxious to see it. I will even confess to emailing his teacher 2 days after the 6 week grading period was over to ask her when report cards would be sent home. (I promise I normally leave her alone! I'm not "that" mom. I've experienced "her" before and she's not fun.)

I don't know if other moms feel this way (dads too, maybe?) but the main reason I was anxious about this is because I felt like these were my grades.

Now, before you think I'm becoming "that" mom, by making that statement, let me clarify. I don't want or need to project any sort of expectations on to either of my boys. They are who they are and if that person is a straight C student, giving his all, then I'm thrilled. I have no particular aspirations for either of them. I just want them to follow God's will for their lives whatever that may be.

So the reason I felt like these grades were mine were because it gave me an idea of whether or not I had done an adequate job of preparing Garrett for this first year of school. I will admit that I'm not much on doing a lot of structured learning at home in the preschool years. He got some of that in his MDO/preschool program a couple of days a week and the learning he got from home was mostly from teachable moments and games that we played. I was excited to see how well prepared he was for kindergarten and where he stood over the course of these first 6 weeks of school.

Before I share specifics, I have to say that I've always thought of math as something that kindergarteners don't do much of. I know there's lots of counting taking place and other math processes going on, but that's honestly never been a subject I've thought much on during these preschool years. We counted things and sometimes Garrett would ask more in depth questions that involved addition and subtraction, but that was about it. When he started kindergarten, he was able to count to 100.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that in the 4 areas of math that are graded during the first 6 weeks of kindergarten, Garrett scored all "4's". Their grading system is: 1=a skill that the student is unable to do, 2=a skill that the student can do with help, 3=a skill that the student has mastered, and 4=a skill that the student has mastered and is helping others to learn.

Obviously, Daddy's CPA genes are being passed on!

All other areas, Garrett scored 3's, except in reading skills he scored a 2 (it's the first 6 weeks of kindergarten and he started the year only knowing environmental print, letters, and sounds. I had no expectations of it being any higher than that. He now knows all of his sight words and word wall words as of the lists for the 2nd 6 weeks of school and he's reading all of the guided reading books he brings home. I'm thrilled with his reading progress this early in the year. And I never worked at all with him on reading, other than to learn the letters and sounds and we've always read lots of books together.) He also scored a 2 in writing stories. (He started the school year knowing how to write Garrett and Cooper with no help. He's having a hard time writing when he is still learning to read. Plus they don't teach phonics anymore, which is a major problem that I have with the public school system, in general. So it's harder to sound things out without the phonics foundation. I'm actually strongly considering getting some phonics curriculum and starting on that with him at home. If anyone has any recommendations for it, I would love to hear them!) I got off on a couple of tangents there, but I'm so thrilled with his progress and assumed this was roughly where he would be (with the exception of the math skills I knew nothing about).

The rest of the report card is based on behavior and graded with E, S, and N, which I'm sure we're all familiar with. He got all E's except for an S in "follows classroom rules" and "works neatly and carefully". Neither of those S's are surprising in the least if you know Garrett. I was surprised he didn't get an S that would somehow relate to "talking when he's supposed to be quiet". Or "oversharing about Super Mario". That one would result in an N, I'm afraid. His teacher wrote that she loved having him in her classroom and he was a great joy to her.

I feel like I passed this first test of motherhood. And I promise the rest of the report cards from now until graduation will be a sole reflection of Garrett!

The Stare

Over the past 6 years of being a mom, plus the 4 years of teaching public school, I have perfected "The Stare". It's that look that you give a child who is misbehaving (or thinking about misbehaving) that stops them in their tracks and makes them think twice about what they're doing.

And maybe shed a tear or two because you're scaring them.

I have enjoyed this skill and have used it many times over the years with a pretty high success rate. Garrett has almost always responded to The Stare. If for no other reason than he knows if he doesn't, there will be further consequences.

However.

However. There's a new kid in town. This kid has been the recipient of The Stare a few times over the past year or so, once the tantrums began. For the most part, it received the sought-after response.

Until recently. Recently, this new kid has decided The Stare doesn't bother him. When he's mid-fit or argument or rule-breaking and I whip out The Stare, he immediately stops what he's doing, smiles really big and starts laughing.

I don't quite know what to think about this response. Is it good that it makes him stop the problem? Or is it bad because he think it's funny rather than scary/a premonition of what's about to come if he doesn't stop it immediately?

Frankly, I'm at a loss as to what can be my new go-to move with Cooper.

Because obviously my current one just ain't cuttin' it.

Changes

I am contemplating doing something crazy.

I'm considering going back to school to get my masters. I never ever thought I would do something like this, but the fact that I'm 4 years away from having both my boys in school has gotten me thinking about what I'm going to do when that day comes. While I do have my bachelor's degree and teaching certificate, I don't know if I want to go back to teaching for sure. I liked teaching and it was a great job, but I've been having other thoughts.

I've always wanted to do something like being a book editor. However, I know a job like that would be hard to come by. I would probably need more than just my masters in order to have all the qualifications for a job like that. Not to mention that I have zero connections in that field.

So my thoughts have settled on becoming a school librarian. It requires a couple years of teaching, which I have, so all I would need is my masters and to pass the certification test. I've found a college that's relatively local to me that offers most of the courses online, so we'll see. Now I just need to find the time to call the advisor there and see what my first steps to take would be. If anyone reading my blog has any experience in this area, I would love to learn from you!

First Day of School

Our school district has a uniform policy. Hence the reason why he's dressed this way. :)

Yesterday was Garrett's first day of kindergarten. He didn't really seem all that nervous. Right before we parked to walk him into the classroom, he said he wanted to be sure Keith and I both gave him a hug and a kiss before we left.

He went right into the classroom, sat down and started playing with the Playdoh that his teacher had set out for us. Even though I tried to talk to him a couple of times before we left, he was in "the zone" and didn't respond. We stood at the doorway, waving and saying goodbye and he never looked even once at us. I'd much prefer this to him clinging to my leg and crying, so I'll take it.

When I picked him up, it was a little crazy. You have the option of parking and walking up to the front of the school and escorting your child back to your car, or you can stay in the car and slowly make your way around the parking lot until you get to the front and someone helps your child into the car. I opted for the second one. With a 2 year old and temps over 100 degrees, trying to make my way through a crowded parking lot did not appeal to me. I had warned Garrett that I would not be one of the first parents there to pick him up, so he would be prepared for the fact that other kids would leave before him. I was in the parking lot about 10 minutes before the last bell rang, but it still took awhile before I made it to the front to get him.

He was super excited about his first day. He said it was his "best day EVER" and he told me about a couple of new friends he made. One he couldn't remember the boy's name and the other's name was Lucas (which is Garrett's middle name). Garrett was really excited about that. He also has another boy in his class named Cooper.

He didn't bring anything home in his backpack, so I have no idea if that's good or bad. Did he forget a folder he was supposed to bring home? Surely not since it was the first day of kindergarten, I can't imagine that his teacher wouldn't check on that sort of thing. The beginning of school has forced me to become more trusting. Trusting that my child is bringing home what I need and doing what he is supposed to and trusting that his teacher is doing what teachers do and not needing any input from me. :) I have to say that after just a couple of days of being the mom of a school kid, I would have changed several things I did when I was teaching. If I go back to it, I know a few things I will definitely do differently based on what I'm learning from the parent side of it.

The remainder of our time at home that afternoon and evening were so pleasant! Cooper acted out a little towards Garrett, trying to hit him or push him. I'm not sure what's up with that other than he was trying to let Garrett know he wasn't happy that he had been gone all day. But Garrett was so well behaved and excited and happy about school. It was really nice! They both went to bed really easily and slept great last night.

This morning, Garrett got up without any problems and was ready to go to school again. We had a few issues with drop off. His teacher had said we could walk the kids to their classrooms for the first 2 days and then after that they have to be dropped off at the school door. So I walked him to the classroom one last time this morning. Keith waited in the car this time with Cooper. But when we got to the classroom, the door was locked and no one was there. There were 5 other moms and kids waiting in the hallway for both of the kindergarten classes. We stood there for probably 15 minutes before the classes finally showed up. The teachers were in the cafeteria with the classes. I wish I had known that because I would have just dropped him off. It was a little frustrating because I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask, but by the time the teacher got there with all the other kids and the other moms were standing around, I just didn't get the chance. Garrett was a bit more clingy because of the mix-up and he asked a few times if we could just go out to the car and wait. But once the rest of his class and the teacher got there, he joined them without hesitation, so that was good.

I'm hoping every day will go smoothly.

Happenings

• Last week, we had a birthday party for Garrett. His birthday isn't until the end of the month, but it seemed like a good idea to get it out of the way before school starts. He had so much fun with all of his friends at the bounce house place. And I'm happy to have another year before I have to deal with another birthday party. (Does anyone else dread them? No? I'm a horrible mom...)


• 5 days and counting until life changes. Kindergarten. I'll blog more about that once we have a few days under our belt. Garrett says he's excited about going and learning new things. He did have a moment of being unsure and apprehensive about it, but I forced myself to be chipper and upbeat about it and that seemed to help talk him through it. I'm really trying to restrain my own apprehension and nerves.


• We never ended up getting to take a family vacation this summer, which bothers me some, but we've been looking through the school calendar to figure out when we might squeeze in a family getaway sometime soon. Garrett is starting to ask more and more about going to Disney World. We watched "Tangled" for the first time yesterday and he wants to know if Flynn Rider (or whatever the guy's name was) will be at DW if we ever go there. Maybe in another summer or two we can plan a fun trip like that. Keith and I have never been either, so we're both excited about the possibilities.


• This morning, I started reading "5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Son" by Vicki Courtney. So far it's an amazing book. It's opened my eyes to things that I know are issues today, but never really considered the impact they could have on my sons. If you're a parent of a boy, I highly recommend this book. I'm about 1/3 of the way into it and have already learned quite a bit. (She also has one for conversations with daughters. I haven't read it, of course, but I would imagine it's just as good.)


• Keith and I have become addicted to the show "Pawn Stars." We've been watching episode after episode on Netflix every night. You learn a lot about history, plus you see some crazy people on there. And Keith is a big pawn shop fan, so he enjoys the show simply based on that. I have to admit that I'm just as into the show as he is.


• This Sunday, we will start a year of teaching one of the kindergarten Sunday School classes at our church. I'm hoping that will go smoothly.


• Cooper has become Mr Polite lately. He says Yes, ma'am, Please, Thank You, etc. It's really sweet. Of course, he's also full-blown into the No phase too and that's not polite or sweet. He also is great at counting down from 10 to 1, but he has no idea how to count from 1-10. It's amazing how much they learn from older siblings. It's funny to hear him countdown like he's launching a rocket or something.

2 Years

Dear Cooper,

5 weeks ago you turned 2! This is what happens when you're the second born. It takes mom 5 weeks to finally blog about your birthday. Sorry, but I still love you!

In the past 6 months or so, you have truly been teaching me what a strong-willed child looks like. I always thought Garrett was my strong-willed child, but apparently he's pretty passive and compliant. Who knew.

You love to tell me no. About everything. You throw fits on a regular basis. You make regular attempts to beat up your brother. All in all, you're a very typical 2 year old.

You love anything that remotely resembles a gun. You turn toys into guns, you "shoot" us frequently and say "pow pow". It truly is genetic because this is not something that you've been taught. Garrett does have some toy guns, but rarely plays with them.

You've begun the "eats like a bird" phase. You exist on a couple of strawberries for breakfast, some cheese for lunch, and crumbs you scrounged off the floor for supper. Of course I offer you legitimate food at each mealtime, this is just what you choose to eat.

You attempt to take off your own diaper now and want to sit on the toilet whenever we'll let you. I'm so not ready for potty training yet, so I'm trying to distract you from this for now.

You LOVE Garrett and want to be doing anything and everything he is doing (when you're not trying to beat him up that is.)

You are an absolute, 100% Daddy's boy. You love your Daddy more than anyone else on this Earth. If Daddy is around, he must do anything and everything for and with you and no one else will do. This is a bonus for me, since that means diaper duty for Daddy when he's home. But everybody better watch out when Daddy leaves for work in the morning. I'm dreading when Garrett leaves with Daddy in the mornings for kindergarten starting next month. You'll be left with your least favorite person in the house.

You talk more and more all the time. You copy a lot of things that we say and we can understand about 60-75% of what you say. It's harder for other people to understand you though.

You love anything that you can cuddle. You have a good number of stuffed animals in your bed and you're happy to cuddle with any of them at bedtime and naptime. You also enjoy carrying around your (full-size) pillow and laying down on the floor or the couch and just chilling for a bit.

You did great when you moved you into a regular bed and we haven't had any problems since then. You sleep great in it and you rarely get out of the bed until someone comes into your room to let you know it's time to get up.

I cannot believe you're 2! We love you very much and can't wait to see what your future holds for you.

Cox Family Reunion

After we got checked into the hotel, we all headed out to my grandparents' house for a visit. They've lived in the same house since I was about 8 years old. My Grandpa worked for IBM and they used to live in Indiana, but then he was transferred to Pennsylvania. Their house out there literally sits on the side of the mountain. There's a small level area in their backyard and then the rest of it literally requires hiking to get to the back of their property. They're just a few miles off of the Appalachian Trail. Needless to say, it's a pretty area.

We all ate a yummy spaghetti dinner and enjoyed a lot of visiting time while the kids played with toys that I played with as a kid (and that my dad played with when he was a kid). When we got back to the hotel, we all changed into swimsuits and headed down to, what is probably in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest, indoor, hotel swimming pool. The sign on the wall said that the pool's capacity was about 15 people. And hot tub's was 3. Thankfully there were just the 7 of us down there (though we did all get into the hot tub at the same time because the pool was COLD!)

Thankfully the full day, combined with the swim time, made for sleepy boys and they were both out almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow. (And can I just add that hotels are super smart if they have at least 1 all-cartoon channel? This hotel had the kids' channel Sprout which was great because there was always something good on. Even the Disney channel can sometimes have questionable shows on for little ones.) The next morning, we all ate breakfast at the hotel, which was insanity because apparently everyone in the southeast portion of Pennsylvania was staying at this hotel and they were all eating breakfast at the same time. Things got a bit dicey around the waffle maker is all I'm saying.

After getting ready, we headed out to Walmart to get some last minute things for the family reunion, then we went to the church to help get everything set up. We had a great time eating some yummy grilled hamburgers and visiting with everyone. My aunt Beth brought a bunch of stuff to entertain the kids with, so part of the afternoon was spent sitting outside watching all of them play in a wading pool and sprinkler. There were 7 boys under the age of 7 there. Not to mention 3 girls under the age of 10. So the kids all had plenty of playmates and lots of people to keep them company.

After cleaning up from the fun, my parents, me and the boys, my sister and her family, my 2 brothers, another sister and my sister-in-law (enough people for you?) all went to Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania about 45 minutes away. Along with, again, everyone in the southeast portion of Pennsylvania which probably included all the people staying at our hotel. We've been to Hershey plenty of times over the years and have never seen it as crowded as it was on that Saturday evening. It was crazy. But thankfully they're very well equipped for the crowds and we waited maybe 10 minutes before boarding their Chocolate World tour where you get to see the process behind the making of the chocolate. Fun stuff! If you're ever in that area, you must check it out. The tour is free. And you get a free sample when it's over. Of course they get you in their shop, where the tour essentially drops you off. Candy galore along with anything and everything with the name "Hershey" or "Reese's" or something else along those lines printed on it.

During the night, that night, I woke up to a crazy storm pounding outside. I grabbed the computer and checked to see if we were under any sort of warnings because we were on the 5th floor of the hotel and I really didn't want to die while wearing my pajamas. The electricity went out at one point, but it either came back on a few seconds later or the hotel had a generator that kicked in. Thankfully between the a/c running and the sound machine that I use for the boys, they never moved a muscle during the storm. Neither did my sister.

The next morning, we again ate breakfast with the state of Pennsylvania and then got ready for church. My dad was asked to preach at my grandparents' church so it was nice to get to hear him speak. We all went to eat lunch at an Italian restaurant. They had a special that was 2 pieces of pizza and a drink and since their pieces were really big, I thought that would be plenty to split between me and the boys. That was so wrong. They both packed away the pizza. Thankfully my parents and my brother had gotten a pizza to share amongst them, so they found pity on my "starving" children and gave us a few pieces.

After a few pit stops, we finally were headed back to Indiana after lunch. The drive home was uneventful and we got to see some fireworks once it got dark since it was July 3. The next morning, my parents, me and the boys went out for breakfast and then my mom and I ran a few errands. We just lounged around the house for the rest of the day and then the rest of the family came over for burgers for supper. All the kids played with poppers and sparklers afterwards and then we had to say goodbye to my sister and her kids. I packed up my SUV and got everything all prepared for us to leave the next day.

At 5am, we pulled out of my parents' driveway and started the trip back to Texas. It's always sad to say goodbye after a fun visit like that. Thankfully the trip home was also uneventful and went by relatively quick (as quick as an all day drive can be). We actually made really good time and managed to shave off half an hour from the typical drive time that this trip takes, so that was nice. I'm sure the boys hated it because at both of our stops we were in and out with no dawdling. But when you're traveling alone, it really is easier that way.

I'm glad we made the trip for many reasons. Of course I got to see all of my family, which is always great because we only see each other once or twice a year. But I also proved to myself that I can make this trip on my own if I need to. So watch out interstates, I'm sure we'll be back out there again next year! (And here's hoping Cooper is potty trained by then and proves to have great bladder control like his brother has!)

Indiana and Pennsylvania

We had a great visit with my family! Just to refresh your memory, my parents, my youngest brother and one of my sisters and her family all live just outside of Indianapolis. They moved up there about 5 years ago to start a church.

The week that we were visiting, my parents had to work a few days. (They work "real" jobs outside of their church in order to pay the bills.) On Monday, they went to work, my brother was sleeping (he works nights for UPS) so the boys and I walked over to my sister's house for the morning. She lives about 2 blocks from my parents. The kids had a fun time playing while we visited. Then the boys and I went back to my parents' for lunch and then down time for the afternoon. It was nice to just spend a day doing little after a full day of driving the day before.

On Tuesday, my sister and her kids took us to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It's the BEST museum ever. Seriously. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend you check it out. It's expensive, but very worth the time and money. We had a lot of fun there and then ate lunch together at McDonald's. Once we got back to my parents', my dad came home from work and we left and went to visit my aunt Pat. She's not doing very well, health-wise, but it was very nice to get to see her. We went straight from her house to Pizza King for dinner with the rest of the family. The best pizza ever. I insist on eating there at least once every time we're in Indiana for a visit.

Wednesday, my mom was able to leave work early so she went with me and the boys and my sister and her kids to eat at Fazolis for lunch. They're very rare in my area and I love their food too (are you seeing a pattern for our trip?). After letting the little boys nap that afternoon, we all met back up at a local park. The parks up there are only about 99% better than any park in our area. And the weather was awesome. I actually enjoyed sitting outside at 4pm at a park. If I were to do that here, I would be passed out from dehydration and heat stroke.

Wednesday night was their church's prayer meeting and then we all had brownies and ice cream sundaes at my parents' house. So yummy! On Thursday, my mom, the boys and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and then we met my dad (who got off work early), my sister and her kids at the movies where we all saw Cars 2 together. It was a lot of fun! Our kids had never been to the theater together before and my parents enjoyed seeing a movie with all of their grandkids. Cooper slept through part of it on my dad and Tyler (my sister's youngest who is Cooper's age) ate almost an entire tub of popcorn. It was pretty funny. The big kids were all enthralled with the movie and barely moved during the entire thing. It was kind of James Bond meets cartoon type of movie. Very cute!

Thursday afternoon we just hung out at my parents' and then that night we ate at Five Guys for supper. I had never eaten there before but it was really good. On Friday morning, we pulled out of the driveway at 5am, my parents, me and the boys in my SUV, my sisters' family and my brother Jesse in my parents' van, and we started the drive to Pennsylvania. My dad's family had a reunion planned for that weekend. I hadn't seen my Grandma in almost 6 years and she had never met either of my boys before, so we were excited to see them. The trip was fun, mostly because I didn't have to do any driving and the kids were entertained by having other people in the car. When we stopped for gas, we rotated around some and Garrett got to have his cousin in the car with him for the rest of the trip. We got to the hotel around 3pm that afternoon and got all checked in.

Since Keith had originally planned on making this trip with us and since we had figured we were going to be in Pennsylvania for 4 nights or more, we had booked a queen suite. The room was so nice. I highly recommend Fairfield Inn's queen suites because it was big. 2 queen beds, plus a sofa bed. 2 nice TV's an iPod docking station, fridge, microwave, etc. It seemed huge just for me and the boys, so I invited my sister Christie (who's single, FYI) to stay with us rather than sharing a room with our parents. She currently lives in Lynchburg, Virginia where she's getting her master's degree. So she drove up for the weekend and the reunion.

This is getting long! I'll finish up the reunion, the 4th of July in Indiana and our trip back home tomorrow (or the next day)...

The road less traveled

I'm really behind with my blogging right now! I'm sure the crazy summer schedule has nothing to do with it.

A few weeks ago, the boys and I took a trip up to Indiana to visit my family. Keith has been super busy with work and wasn't able to come with us, but I really wanted to be able to go see them before Garrett starts school next month. So I decided to bite the bullet and make the trip with just me and the boys. For a variety of reasons, I decided to drive us up there rather than fly. Unfortunately it's a 14 hour drive. I debated between breaking the trip up into 2 days or just driving straight through and decided to just drive straight through. The hassle of checking into and out of a hotel and all the complications that come with corraling 2 kids in a hotel room just did not sound appealing.

The day before our trip, I got our SUV set up in a way that would be convenient for me to attempt to keep them entertained, fed, etc, without having a wreck and without needing to pull over every hour. In the seat between the boys' carseats, I put a soft-sided box with a variety of toys in it ranging from small cars to coloring books to stuffed animals. Next to each boys' seat, was a small throw blanket for when they were tired or cold. In the middle of the floor, within my reach, I put a second soft-sided box and filled it with easily dispensible snacks along with a container of wipes and a roll of paper towels. Then in the front passenger seat I had a small cooler with sandwiches and drinks. I pre-filled cups of water and put them in the boys' cup holders in case they got thirsty. I had DVD's in the pocket of the seat in front of Garrett and the portable DVD player was strapped to the headrest of the passenger seat in front of Cooper. Since we've had the same DVD player for years, I have the buttons memorized and know the play and eject buttons by touch, so I was able to change and start DVD's while driving. (I promise I was extremely safe with all of this!) Garrett had the laptop to watch his own movies on so I didn't have to listen to them argue about what they were going to watch.

We left at 4am on a Sunday. We carried the boys out and strapped them into their carseats. They stayed awake for an hour or so and then went back to sleep and slept for a couple of hours. We were almost to Arkansas when they woke up. We ate breakfast in the car (granola bars) and then settled into a routine of movies, toys, coloring and snacks. About 5-6 hours into the trip, we made our first stop to fill up with gas. After I started the gas pumping, Garrett picked up the toys that were thrown around the car and in the floor while I changed Cooper's diaper in the driver's seat. Once the tank was full, then we all walked into the gas station for a quick bathroom stop. We were back on the road minutes later.

The trip went really smoothly. We only stopped one other time, in Missouri, just a few miles shy of the Illinois state line. At lunch time, we ate the sandwiches I packed for lunch while in the car on the interstate and we had our snacks later in the day and the boys did amazing! My biggest concern was the weather because the weather channel was forecasting 40% chance of rain for a good part of the area we were driving through. Thankfully we only were sprinkled on in northeast Arkansas and the rest of the trip was sunny.

We crossed the state line into Indiana and ran smack dab into road construction. Road construction that had our side of the road down to one lane which was traveling at approximately 3 mph. By this point, we had been in the car for 13 hours and we were 1 hour from our destination. I grew up in this general area of Indiana and am vaguely familiar with the roads, so I called Keith and told him to walk me through how to get from the interstate I was on, to a 4 lane highway that I knew was close by. I just could not handle sitting there any longer. It may have cleared up minutes later, but my sanity was holding on by a thread at this point.

Traffic finally crawled up to an exit where I was able to get off and manuever my way around to the other road. At some point along the way, I had to pull over and change a dirty diaper. The poor kid had attempted to hold it as long as he could, but it wasn't happening any longer. (He has a pretty good "schedule" with this and normally takes care of business in the mornings. By this point it was about 7pm. For a 2 year old, this was good.) Once we made it to my parents' house, we were only about an hour behind schedule, which isn't too bad since we had to take a different road which cuts through small towns with traffic lights, not to mention at least half an hour was spent virtually sitting still on the interstate.

Truly, my boys behaved so well on this trip. I was really surprised. There were only a few whining moments (at least one of them was mine during the road construction. I will completely own up to that) along with a handful of times where I had to explain to them that I could not come back there and help with this or that, they would need to figure it out. Thankfully there were no tantrums thrown and no screaming. This is a huge achievement.

Tomorrow, I will share about all the fun stuff we did in Indiana. If we're friends on Facebook, I've already posted quite a few pictures from this trip.

Preparing for Kindergarten

We've had a lot going on around here lately, so I have several things I need to blog about. But I thought I would focus on something different first.

Kindergarten.

6 weeks from Monday will be Garrett's first day of "big school". That is very hard to believe! Back at the beginning of summer, I made a mental list of all the things I wanted to do before school started that would specifically be getting us all ready for kindergarten. This week, we have begun marking some of them off the list.

Today we headed out in search of school uniforms. Our local (public) school district has a dress code policy which requires uniforms to be worn at all times unless otherwise stated. The uniform is khaki, navy, or black Docker-style pants or shorts with polo shirts that are red, navy, white, yellow, or black. There are a few more details that go into the dress code like acceptable footwear and other things. I personally love the idea of uniforms. I used to teach in a school district (not the same one) with uniforms too and that's when I saw how great they are. My goal is to have a pair of pants/shorts and a shirt for each day of the week, then do laundry on the weekend and repeat. I may end up buying more than that, but for now, that's the plan.

Thankfully The Children's Place sells school uniforms so we went there first and they were actually on sale! I had to get Garrett to try on some things to check the sizes. He's tall and skinny so that makes sizing him a little tough. But praise the Lord, TCP has adjustable waist bands in their pants. The ones that fit him well in the length look a little gathered at the waist when I have them adjusted where they need to be, but we have no other options. In another year or two, he may be ready to wear a belt on a daily basis, but I have no plans of sending my kindergartener off to school wearing a belt. Bathroom breaks would become much more difficult if I did and the last thing a teacher needs is one more child who needs help dressing and undressing just to use the restroom. Hopefully between a little laundry shrinkage and a tucked in shirt, the gathering will be kept to a minimum. The only thing TCP didn't have was a very good variety of colors in their uniform polo shirts. We didn't end up buying any shirts there because of that. At least shirts can be bought online without worrying quite as much about the size, so hopefully I'll find some with a good deal.

This week we have also started reviewing several basic things since it's been over a month since he was in preschool. We've started with letters and how to correctly hold the pencil. We'll move on to reviewing numbers and shapes once I think he's got a good grasp on everything again.

2 other things that I plan on doing between now and the first day of school are: 1. to pack his lunch exactly as it will be packed for any given school day and have him show me that he knows exactly how to open everything up and can handle it all independently. And 2. to wear his uniform a few days and practice with tucking his shirt back in after using the restroom along with buttoning and unbuttoning his pants. Most of his current shorts/pants either have an elastic waist or a snap.

I know I sound like a crazy person, but these are the things I think about. If I do all of this then on the first day of school it won't hit me at 10am that Garrett may be getting a bathroom break and walking down the hallway of school with his pants undone needing his teacher's help to fasten them.

I've also started slowly making my way through the school supply list as well. Hopefully I'll be able to find everything on the list without needing to make extra runs to many other stores in the area.

Anything else you would recommend I do to prepare him (and me!) for this big day?

A Must-Read for Moms

I ran across this article today and found it eye-opening and challenging. If you're a mom, or know a mom, you should read this. Since I know I am bad about not wanting to click through on someone's blog, I'm going to copy and paste it here, linking to the original article in case you're interested in reading it there instead. It's long, but very worth it!

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-as-a-mission-field

Motherhood as a Mission Field

There is a good old saying, perhaps only said by my Grandfather, that distance adds intrigue. It is certainly true — just think back to anything that has ever been distant from you that is now near. Your driver’s license. Marriage. Children. Things that used to seem so fascinating, but as they draw near become less mystical and more, well, real.

This same principle certainly applies to mission fields too. The closer you get to home, the less intriguing the work of sacrifice seems. As someone once said, “Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help Mom with the dishes.” When you are a mother at home with your children, the church is not clamoring for monthly ministry updates. When you talk to other believers, there is not any kind of awe about what you are sacrificing for the gospel. People are not pressing you for needs you might have, how they can pray for you. It does not feel intriguing, or glamorous. Your work is normal, because it is as close to home as you can possibly be. You have actually gone so far as to become home.

Home: The Headwaters of Mission

If you are a Christian woman who loves the Lord, the gospel is important to you. It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church.

There are a number of ways in which mothers need to study their own roles, and begin to see them, not as boring and inconsequential, but as home, the headwaters of missions.

At the very heart of the gospel is sacrifice, and there is perhaps no occupation in the world so intrinsically sacrificial as motherhood. Motherhood is a wonderful opportunity to live the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood provides you with an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the people that you cannot lose. They are eternal souls, they are your children, they are your mission field.

Faith Makes the Small Offering Great

If you are like me, then you may be thinking “What did I ever give up for them? A desk job? Time at the gym? Extra spending money? My twenty- year- old figure? Some sleep?” Doesn’t seem like much when you put it next to the work of some of the great missionaries, people who gave their lives for the gospel.

Think about the feeding of the five thousand when the disciples went out and rounded up the food that was available. It wasn’t much. Some loaves. Some fish. Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into. In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than sufficient. There were leftovers. Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great.

Look at your children in faith, and see how many people will be ministered to by your ministering to them. How many people will your children know in their lives? How many grandchildren are represented in the faces around your table now?

Gain What You Cannot Lose in Them

So, if mothers are strategically situated to impact missions so greatly, why do we see so little coming from it? I think the answer to this is quite simple: sin. Discontent, pettiness, selfishness, resentment. Christians often feel like the right thing to do is to be ashamed about what we have. We hear that quote of Jim Elliot’s and think that we ought to sell our homes and move to some place where they need the gospel.

But I’d like to challenge you to look at it differently. Giving up what you cannot keep does not mean giving up your home, or your job so you can go serve somewhere else. It is giving up yourself. Lay yourself down. Sacrifice yourself here, now. Cheerfully wipe the nose for the fiftieth time today. Make dinner again for the people who don’t like the green beans. Laugh when your plans are thwarted by a vomiting child. Lay yourself down for the people here with you, the people who annoy you, the people who get in your way, the people who take up so much of your time that you can’t read anymore. Rejoice in them. Sacrifice for them. Gain that which you cannot lose in them.

It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not. You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive.

God loves the little offerings. Given in faith, that plate of PB&J’s will feed thousands. Given in faith, those presents on Christmas morning will bring delight to more children than you can count. Offered with thankfulness, your work at home is only the beginning. Your laundry pile, selflessly tackled daily, will be used in the hands of God to clothe many. Do not think that your work does not matter. In God’s hands, it will be broken, and broken, and broken again, until all who have need of it have eaten and are satisfied. And even then, there will be leftovers.

Our Summer

This summer has kicked off with a bang. Last week, we were at VBS every morning from 8:30am to 12:30pm. I taught 3rd grade, Garrett was in the pre-k class and Cooper was in the nursery. It was a busy week! I have forgotten what it's like to cram my normal day's stuff into a brief amount of time, but that's exactly what happened every afternoon once we were home. Of all the days for a wire on my braces to pull out of a bracket, it would happen the Monday of VBS. Then the boys were awful at the orthodontist's office while I was getting it fixed.

Thankfully that was not a sign of things to come and VBS really was a great week. I had the awesome, humbling, exciting opportunity to speak with about 6 kids in my class after they had made a profession of faith one morning. It's just amazing to get to hear 8 and 9 year olds talk about asking Jesus into their hearts and what that means to them. We had a total of 70+ kids ask Jesus into their hearts just last week at our VBS, and a total of 700 kids attend. It was the biggest one ever and while I was exhausted by the end of the week with all that goes into just getting myself and 2 kids out the door by 8:15am every morning, it was worth every second.

This week is thankfully a bit calmer. Garrett had his first ever swimming lesson this morning. We will attend those every day this week, but thankfully we went the private lesson route so it's just Cooper and I sitting poolside while Garrett is in the water. He talked his instructor's ear off and as a result ended up gulping more than the normal amount of chlorinated water. I explained to him on the way home that if he didn't talk so much, he wouldn't end up choking on water as much as he did. Hopefully his mouth will stay more in the closed position tomorrow.

This Friday, Cooper turns 2 and on Saturday is his party. So that means that our free time this week will be spent getting the house ready for about 15 people plus doing as much food prep-work as can be done ahead of time.

Next week we already have a doctor check-up, a drive over to the other side of the metroplex to visit my aunt who will be in town for a few days, and a lunch date with friends scheduled. I know that once mid-July gets here, we'll be wishing for some of the hustle and bustle of June. It's too bad we couldn't scatter all of these activities throughout our summer a little better, but that just seems to be the way summers go around here.