Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?  In the last 2 months I have asked myself that question A LOT!!!  For those last 2 months it hasn't seemed like I had much to be thankful for.  But I know that I really do have much to be thankful for.  I am struggling this morning with so much but I am trying to keep myself going.  I am trying to remind myself of what I do have & not be so worried about what I might not have or what I have lost.  So I thought I would take a little time & put down what I am thankful for, what I do have.

Family: I would be nowhere without my family.  I know that there are people out there that don't have much family that they can count on.  Through my hell I have been supported by my family - all of my family.  My husband has been amazing.  I know I don't give him enough credit or show him enough love for what he does for me.  Courtney has helped me stay focused & reminded me of who I am and what I have done in my life that I should be proud of.  He allowed me to make decisions that I needed to make for myself.  I also know though that the decisions I needed to make for myself & that I made for myself are going to be hard for us financially - at least for a little bit.  I am scared to death right now about money & how we are going to make it.  But I know that we will make it.  We've made it through hard times in our (almost) 10 years of marriage & we will make it through this hard time, too.  My son has been amazing.  He has no idea what's going on right now!  I am thankful for that!  This little dude is just happy as a clam because he's home with his mommy!  I know that in the end being home with him, no matter how hard it may be financially, will be a blessing.  I missed his first 2 years by having to send him to daycare but now is the time for me to be with him.  These are the years that he will remember - not his first 2 years.  He remembers things now and he will remember that his mommy got to stay home with him to take care of him.  His smile has reminded me to be thankful for him.  I adore that kid more than anything!  My parents have been amazing!  They have helped us financially, they have been there to support us - especially me.  They have driven to our home to be with me when I've needed them.  On days when I've been so far down I didn't think I'd be able to get back up.  My sister has been amazing.  She's so far away but she's been here with me, too.  In fact, she's flying home for Thanksgiving and it will be so good to see her.  She may be having issues of her own but I wouldn't know it because she's done nothing but listen to me complain!  The rest of my family - everyone that knows what's going on (some of you that aren't quite sure what's going on!) that has called or even just said a prayer for me has been amazing.  I know that I have people behind me supporting me.  I know that I have people who think everything will work out for me.  I sure hope you all are right! 

Health: I am healthy, my family is healthy, my friends are healthy.  I know I could be healthier but I am thankful for how healthy I am right now.  I know things could be so much worse...but they're not so I have to be thankful for that.

Home: I have a home to be at.  I have a bed to sleep in, a car that runs well, clothes to wear & food to eat.  I have everything I need to survive.  Could I use more?  Of course!  But I also know from living in Puerto Rico that I can live on less.  Is it going to be hard?  Yes it is.  I KNOW it will be hard.  I know that there are some tough times ahead but we'll make it.

Hope:  Okay so this is the one I'm struggling with today.  I am excited about getting to be at home with Cael.  I am excited about bringing new friends into our home for him to play with.  I am excited to be able to teach a much smaller group of children and to get to take the best care of them that I can.  But I am struggling because I'm impatient.  I want to get kiddos in this daycare so I can move on with my life financially.  I need to be able to support my family but still live comfortably.  I know we'll probably still live paycheck to paycheck but we can handle that. 

I am trying hard to be excited for Thanksgiving & Christmas but I'm struggling there, too.  Right now I'm worried about too much to be too excited.  Cael & I will be decorating for Christmas when we get home from Thanksgiving and maybe that will help out.  My yard sign & business cards should be in today (I doubt before we leave though!) and Courtney brought home flyers yesterday.  Hopefully I'll be getting phone calls by next week!  I'm really looking forward to next year - I think 2012 is going to be a great year!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving & start to the holiday season.  I hope everyone takes a little time this week to stop & remember all that you have to be thankful for.  Thanks for letting me get some things off my chest. 

Cutie Patootie Picture fix!

I L.O.V.E.this picture I took of Cael baby last weekend but it was so dark you couldn't really see his beautiful face.  Courtney took it & fixed it and now you can see him.  Love it!

Fall pictures

Cheesing it up at Daddy's sports banquet!

Driving Roger's car!

Grilled Cheese sandwich FUN!

Cael with his friends Zeke & Ray. 

First time eating at his Snoopy table.

This was the last Christmas gift we got from Cael's

Grandma Shirley.

Daddy reading to Cael & Bethany.

We had fun playing with friends!



Ena came over and took some fall family pictures & some of Cael.

We got our Christmas card pictures and I've already

had the cards made.  Mama's on it this year!

Open For Business!

I had my initial survey for opening my in-home daycare today!  I have 2 pages worth of write-ups which I was freaking out about.  She could tell I was freaking out and she said, "Oh no, this is good!"  Apparently there are some places that have 5 or more pages worth of write-ups!  It's mostly little stuff that you don't even think about.  I have 5 business days to "correct" everything and she will come back in a week or so to inspect again.  I won't know when she is coming for the next one either.  Could be interesting!  I figure I'll have everything done by this weekend so there shouldn't be anything to worry about.  I posted on Facebook that I was opening and within minutes had a chick I know messaging me about my rates for watching 2 kiddos.  I have my first "interview" with a mom tomorrow afternoon!  It's a friend of Amanda's that is due in a couple of weeks.  I won't have him until probably the first part of January and it will probably only be until the summer when he can go to his brother's daycare but that's okay.  I'll hopefully be filled by then!  I know the hard part will be getting my first kids but hopefully it won't be too bad. 

While the lady was here Cael was crazy!  He played....very loudly played....and ate the best he's ever eaten for me.  I was so happy he ate!  And he said the alphabet - by himself - completely!  He says the letters here and there but this was the first time he said the entire alphabet by himself.  It was ADORABLE!  I tried to record it on my phone but he turned into a cheeseball once the camera turned on so I stopped.  So again, if you know anyone in the Leavenworth, Lansing, Easton, etc. area that needs childcare send them my way!  I'm officially called "Teach & Care Family Daycare" :)

What a Saturday!

Okay so yesterday was quite a day!  Cael spent the night with Grammy & Papa Friday night so Courtney and I could finish up cleaning my stuff out of the garage.  We got up yesterday morning to head to the storage unit place.  We got to the storage unit place which is just up the street from our house.  We knew they had the size we wanted available, we just didn't know they didn't have that size at the location near our house!  So we got everything ready and headed downtown to find our new "unit" (hee hee!).  We opened it up and there it was.  A sleeping bag, sweatshirt and food belonging to a homeless person.  In our unit.  Yeah.  So we called the cops (we didn't know what to do!) and the storage unit people.  A cop finally showed up - after 1 cop couldn't find us....even though I was waving at him wearing neon pink sweatpants & a jacket....maybe he's color blind?!  The manager for the storage place showed up.  That was about a waste of time.  Neither one seemed surprised or apologized or anything.  We felt bad about evicting a homeless dude but oh well.  They moved us to a different unit.  We got all my stuff out of the garage :) and mom & dad brought Cael back with pizza.  We put Cael to bed and I stayed up watching the K-State game.  Then at 11:00 the beds started to shake!  I thought it was Winston licking himself so I kicked him - he didn't stop.  Courtney came running in to ask if I had felt that.  Apparently we felt the 2nd earthquake from Oklahoma!  What?!  It was wierd!  Nothing else after that and we've had a quiet and "normal" Marsh Sunday morning....so far! 

Cael hearts Hooters!

If this were still in October it would totally be in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month but since it's already November (REALLY?!?!?!  How did that happen?) it's simply because he hearts Hooters!  Cael baby has gone to daycare all week this last week so I could clean out my stuff in the garage.  Last Sunday we spent an emotional couple of hours clearing my stuff out of the school.  It only took a coupld of hours because some of the other teachers spent hours on Friday after school boxing stuff up!  That was so nice and it helped out SO much.  Would you believe that we put off clearing it out because we were told we couldn't do it before the 30th because other people had to be there.  I wanted to do it on the 23rd but was told no.  So we made an appointment for the 30th.  I even got a confirmation call on the 26th that yes the correct people would be there.  So we arrive on the 30th at our assigned time.  Guess who didn't even bother to show up?!?!?  That's right, the people who HAD to be there or I couldn't take anything out of the room.  How could you make an appointment based on YOUR schedule and tell me I CAN'T do it before then and then you have the audacity to NOT SHOW UP?!?!  Grrrrr!!!!  I finally completely believe that I did the right thing by resigning.  That's all I'm going to say about that so I don't get mad.  Moving on....yesterday Courtney decided that Cael should go stay with Grammy & Papa so he and I can get everything completely finished up.  Good plan!  I got through all of my stuff in the garage and yesterday I started in on the office.  The office that will now be the office/daycare room.  So after 10 years of teaching we have to get a storage unit because there is not enough room for 10 years of stuff!  I think I did a really good job of going through things, organizing things and putting things in storage tubs.  I'm actually very proud of myself for all of this now!  So today will be spent moving tubs to the storage unit (which mom & dad will be moving stuff in to soon!  Finally they will get to have their stuff here instead of Minneapolis!) and deep cleaning the rest of the house.  :(  It sucks but I want to be ready whenever I get my daycare license through and need my inspection.  I can't wait to get things going here with my daycare! 

Halloween 2011

We finally had a chance to carve Cael's pumpkin the other night.  Courtney started and Cael wanted to keep his distance.  We tried to get him to help but instead he would say, "No Daddy!  It gooey!"  So funny - where does he come up with this stuff?  He touched a couple of seeds but that was about it!



We went to State cross country on Saturday at Rim Rock Farm in Lawerence.  Thank goodness it wasn't too far away!  Cael still got to sleep - he didn't have the best night on Friday!  They did okay at state.  Not as good as everyone was expecting.  I'm glad cross country is over!!



Saturday night we went to Tracy's house for a bouncy house party.  Cael wasn't so sure about playing with the other kids....until Courtney & I left!  We left so he could have fun & we went to have a beer.  Things have been stressful for Cael too and he needed a little time without Mommy & Daddy.  We have taken him out of daycare and he misses Tracy and his friends!  This week he's at daycare so I can go through ALL of my school stuff.  It's a tough week!

Cael's finished pumpkin!  He wanted the cats and then at the last minute wanted the ghosts.

 Here's our little Darth Vader!  Yes, we stayed with the Star Wars costume theme!  Last year a week after Halloween I got an e-mail that Wal-Mart had this costume for like $3.00 so I jumped on it!  As we were putting it on last night I was praying it would fit.  It did!  I don't think Cael liked how it fit and maybe the velcro was itchy.  He did soooo great!  He would go up to the door & yell, "Twick Tweat!"  He would even yell it before anyone came to the door.  Then he had good manners and said thank you to everyone!  He got a sucker at the very first house and it lasted the entire time!  Yay!!

Getting ready to head out for the night!

 Yes, I was THAT mom!  This was his first house he went up to!  What a surreal feeling watching him walk up to a house to trick or treat.  My boy is growing up toooooo fast!!

 LOVE these pictures of Cael & daddy!

Still has the sucker from the first house.  This was when we got home.

 Wow - that must have been alot of sugar in 1 sucker!  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!