Losing My Mind at Chuck E's Crib

So my friend decides to have her 4 year-old daughter's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on a Friday night (5 PM start time).  I thought, "Hmmm...can't be too bad, right?  And I have friends visiting from out of town with kids, so we should definitely go."  Seriously - what was I thinking?!?  Chuck E. Cheese on a Friday night in Greenville?  That is like the only kid-friendly place to go during the winter!!!  And our town only has only one Chuck E.!!!!  Yeah...wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be.

Between my family and my friend's family, there were 9 kids to look after.  I'm glad Chuck E. Cheese has a child-protection system in place - giving each child and parent the mark which can only be seen under their super-duper special light - but honestly, that still doesn't make me feel safe enough to let my children roam aimlessly from game to game.  I am naturally a distrusting person when it comes to my kids which means that wherever I go, I am constantly keeping my eyes on them to make sure no stranger takes them or touches them inappropriately.  So Chuck E. may give each of us special little stamps, but he still has restrooms and who knows which awful pedifile is lurking and waiting to help my children go potty?  I shudder at the thought.  Now you can see while I am on edge at place like Chuck E.'s crib.

On a Friday night there were a TON of children and strangers!  I was losing my mind trying to keep up with everyone.  That already gave me a bit of stress but add loud music, strobe lights, and an extremely warm temperature in the building, I was ready to vomit and scream at the top of my lungs - anything to create extra space around me.  For goodness sake, I had an 8 week old child strapped to my chest (I use an Evenflo carrier) so I was already feeling closterphobic!!!  Someone get me outta there!!!!!!!! 

Don't think I'm a Chuck E. hater, but on a winter - almost spring - Friday night, it is pure insanity to bring your children to that place!  The food was good - or so I thought until this morning when the toilet became my best friend for an hour - and the games are extremely entertaining for young and old (like my husband) but I don't think the stress is worth the entertainment I strove to provide for my children.  The little girl had a fabulous birthday and I'm glad we were able to help celebrate but from now on, I make a vow, a solid committment NEVER to enter Chuck E.'s crib again on a Friday night.  Maybe a Monday night or some time during the day but never, ever, a Friday night again!   Here's to Chuck E. - thanks for the headache and memories!  And cheap prizes!  All children went home happy and all parents went home with migraines - priceless!

Just Call Me the Laundry Bunny

I am trying really hard to motivate myself to dive into the rubble of clothes that lies in different mountains in my laundry room.  And I'm trying to muster up the energy and strength that is needed to sort the mountain of clothes.  But, I don't want to.  Who cares that my children do not have fresh underwear to put on.  I learned from a movie that you can acutally put your underwear inside out and wear them again - maybe I'll teach my kids this trick - might as well teach the husband too!  If I spray Febreze on the underwear, it should still smell OK, right? And what if I put the dirty underwear into the dryer - should feel softer, right?

It's not that doing laundry is a pain it's just that this family of eight creates too much laundry so really I need to do roughly 3 loads per day in order to stay on top of things and to avoid the disaster that is awaiting me in my laundry room.  But, life happens, right?  I mean, I'm not always home 24/7 to do 3 loads of laundry and the thing that really impedes my progress is the dumb old dryer.  That thing makes me dry each load of laundry twice in order for clothes to become really dry!  What a waste of my time!!!  I guess I could start hanging clothes up outside but that requires more work!  My husband always tells me to work smarter not harder so I guess that means I will just continue to dry each load twice :)

I think we're reaching the point where we need at least two dryers.  I'm envisioning a laundry room similar to that of the Duggar household.  You know the family - 19 kids living with parents under one roof.  If you don't recognize their name, check them out on TLC (http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/duggars/19-kids-and-counting.html)  It makes sense to have more than one dryer if mine is currently getting used at least six times a day!  Maybe I'll have the kids help dry clothes by using a hair dryer.  Something has got to speed the process up and save me from this mountain of clothes.  Or maybe I'll spare the dryer and have the fam use my new underwear trick and apply it to all their clothes.  If only my infant would stop pooping through everything, then he could learn the trick too!

A Name to Love

There are days when I wish I could change my name because all I ever hear - almost 24/7 - is "Mommy!  Mommy!  MOMMY!!!!" 

My almost 2 year-old child is constantly saying my name from the moment her eyes open and her feet hit the floor.  Almost ceasingly, she goes throughout her day yelling my name while she roams around, seeking to find me.  Sometimes I wonder if she even knows another word or recognizes the fact that someone else in the house - besides Mommy - can help meet her need/want/desire!

Just this morning my little toddler said my name EIGHT times in a row while she sat in her high chair and watched me prepare her breakfast.  She wanted to eat and she wanted the food NOW.  Obviously in her mind, saying my name repeatedly, each time with increased volume and fervency, would prod me to work faster in getting her meal ready.  

One would think that as a mother, I would love to hear the sound of my name being repeated over and over again - that the very utterance of my name would be as a melody in my ear.  That simply is not the case.  All I wanted to do this morning was to muzzle my child!  I jokingly asked my husband if there is a surgery - similar to that of taking away a dog's ability to bark - that could be performed on my toddler until she broadens her vocabulary.  Sadly, there is not, and although the very idea is inhumane, I wonder why it crosses my mind so frequently?

Before you judge, you have to remember that I have SIX children at home with me - all day long - who also love to say my name.  So, add five other children into the mix with the toddler who is always shouting my name and you can better understand why I am beginning to loathe my name! 

Ah, "Mommy" - I do love my name and I realize that the day is coming when I will want my kids to utter my name more frequently because they will be in that stage of development where Mom is so not cool but for now, I could stand to hear my name a little less.  Well, at least having a child say my name in a quieter tone and not so demanding!  :-)

Working from Home

In today's economy, I feel strongly that I am not the only stay-at-home mom looking for work that can be done either online or at home (like stuffing envelopes or telemarketing).  I have been blessed to land two online tutoring gigs (http://www.brainfuse.com/ and http://www.ed2netlearning.com/) - both of which allow me to work at home, online, with rather flexible schedules.  I am paid $10 an hour if my students show up, but if no one shows, then I am paid 1/3 of that hourly rate.  Doesn't sound like much, I guess, but the gigs are allowing me to make some cash while I am at home.

Even though I have been fortunate to obtain some online work, it does not provide a stable supplementary income and that totally bums me out.  There is a dollar amount in my head for which I need to earn per month in order to help pay the bills.  As I mentioned before, this is a supplementary income - my husband is the breadwinner and is bringing home a good paycheck but the amount is less than what our family needs to survive.  And let me tell you, we do not live outside our means by any stretch of the imagination! 

Hello?!?  Six kids?!?  You do the math: spending roughly $1,000 a month on food to feed us (we do not go out to restaurants - no McDonald's, no CiCi's Pizza, nothing!)  All food is bought at Wal-Mart or Costco.  Then you add in the bills we need to pay (gas/electric, trash, phone/internet, water, life insurance, etc - no car bills here, thankfully!) and the miscellaneous such as the amount needed to drive us around town to work, the grocery store, the library, YMCA practice, and church and voila!  Where did the money go?

So, back to making some money online.  I love the idea of online tutoring because a) it is flexible, b) I can do it while the kids are playing or napping - no interruptions for me, c) utlizes my Elementary Education degree as well as my M.Ed., and d) gives me money!  But....there is a problem: I stress myself a bit trying to make sure that all my tutoring is done during nap-time because one company uses headsets while the other one doesn't which means if the children are playing while I'm tutoring using a headset, the online students can hear my children = huge no-no!!!  I also get a bit stressed and totally discouraged when students do not show!  I'm waisting time while I sit and stare at a computer screen for apparently non-existent students!!! 

I absolutely LOATHE the idea of wasting time!  I do try to do something constructive while waiting such as Facebook or Gmail (no time like the present to catch up with family and friends!)  But is this waiting worth the frustration and discouragement?  Should I continue to stay on as an online tutor if students are never guaranteed to show up?  It would be great to have the ability to rely upon making a certain amount per month with these tutoring companies but sadly this isn't happening.  I suppose the biggest thing that gets me is this: I am qualified to teach but our state isn't currently hiring teachers, or substitutes for that matter, and I'm torn between the desire to teach full-time and stay at home with my kids.  I know the Bible says to be content in your situation but sometimes it just feels good to earn some money - personally makes me feel validated for having earned my college degrees (and having to pay off the loan debt still!). 

I love my kids so much and don't want to leave them so that's why I absolutely LOVE the idea of staying at home and working from home...I suppose sometimes you can't have it all?   What do you think?  Any successful stories out there from moms staying at home and earning sufficient money to make ends meet while not taking away time from the kids and husband?

Looking Forward to Spring

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring!  This winter has been wonderful with all the snow - I LOVE the snow - and I'm huge fan of cold weather.  Something about colder weather makes me feel skinnier - perhaps that's why I think winter is the best season!  But, this winter has brought so much sickness into my home and I'm tired of dealing with that stupid stomach bug.  You know the one...constant diarrhea or throwing up - for DAYS!  And it has literally been many days at my house with this sickness in the past few weeks because of how many people reside here and share all those lovely icky germs!  Enough already!  Bring on the Spring!!! :)

I have Lysoled the house like crazy - all the furniture, even carpets - and have been changing sheets, washing laundry as soon as it is defiled, making sure kids are washing hands, coughing into their sleeves instead of into their hands, yet for all my worthy efforts, that dumb stomach bug reigns!  We may have rid our home of the stomach virus but I think we've moved onto the strep throat virus - lovely!  Highly contagious!  And I have a 6 week old infant to protect from these nasty invaders!  Sigh...the groundhog saw it's shadow, right?  Hmmm...maybe only a few more weeks of winter?

If you have any tips on how to effectively rid the home of germs - specifically the stomach and strep throat ones - comment me!  I could use some help - obviously!  Here's hoping your family gets rid of the sickness soon too! 

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Long ago when I began this motherhood stage of life (9.3 years ago), I made a promise to carry around some sort of notebook that would be easily accessible to write down all the crazy things my children would say.  Parents all know that kids are quite blunt and articulate when it comes to saying whatever pops into their minds.  So, today I make a list of some of the funniest one-liners my kids have said recently...

Situation:  Watching this week's Winter Olympics in the ice-dancing sport, my 2 middle daughters (ages 6 and 4) had the following coversation:

Bailey (6):  Ooh, I like her dress!
Olivia (4):  But, do you like her face?

Different conversation during the same Olympic viewing...

Bailey (6):  Where are they (ice-dancers) from?

Chandler (9):  They are Swedish.
Avalon (8):  No, they are money-ish.
Chandler:  There is no such thing as money-ish!
Avalon:  (emphatically) Yes, there is!  Look at her necklace - has coins all around it so she is money-ish!
Chandler rolls his eyes as Bailey nods her head in agreement. 

Wouldn't it be nice to be from MoneyLand? :)

Situation:  Grandma has a boyfriend (she and Grandpa divorced this past year) and Bailey sees her kiss him in the kitchen...

Bailey:  Yuck!
Grandma:  It's not yuck, Silly :)
Bailey:  (shakes her head)  Yes, it is and besides, you have to ask Jesus first (to do that)!
Grandma:  (laughing and cheeks red with embarrassment)  I did ask Jesus and He said yes!
Bailey just hides her head into Grandma's stomach, shaking her head no...

more to come later...

Road Trip

I love road trips!  There is nothing more exciting than getting in the van and driving down the road, soaking in all the majestic scenery.  My parents frequently took me and my four siblings on road trips when we were younger.  At least two weekends each month Dad would either drive us to a lake or place to hike - anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour from our home. At least once a year we would have a long road trip to either the mountains or the beach.  Every time we took a road trip, I had so much fun looking out the window and letting my mind wander for miles.

Not much has changed since my childhood-road trip-days for I still enjoy the time I get to let my mind wander as my husband whisks the family down the road to our destination.  Just this past weekend my husband decided it was time for an impromptu road trip up north to see my family.  Yay!!!  It was a short visit - we left Friday morning and came home Sunday night - but the road trip was exciting and worth it - no matter how long it took us to drive up there!

Preparing a road trip for six small children is no pint-size task - especially when Daddy is teaching all day (morning, noon, and night) the day before we leave!  The duty of getting everything packed and loaded into the van fell to me but I wasn't complaining.  It's just that there are SIX children and I have to remember all the hats, gloves, winter coats, extra blankets, toys, books, etc which requires me to make one massive list!  The kids do help by picking out the toys and books they want to bring, but I always downsize their items because if I didn't, there would be no room for us to sit! 

So I spent the evening doing laundry, packing, re-packing, and finally loading everything into the van.  I was pumped to see my family because for the first time in my life I am an auntie!!!  The kids were equally excited to travel up north because they couldn't wait to see their aunties, uncles, grand-parents, second-cousins, and finally they would be introduced to their very own first-cousin!  With all this excitement in the air, the kids had a bit of trouble falling to sleep that night but were ready to get on the road when the sun rose the next morning!

So, what is our vehicle of choice when hitting the road?  A 12 passenger white Chevy van.  It may not be a sports car or look super-chic for a family of eight, but to me, it is AWESOME!  For one thing, the engine is amazing and actually climbs up mountain roads quite well as compared to our Ford conversion van.  Another thing is that there is space for the kids to sit two per row which means some extra leg room so I don't hear as much whining - this fact alone makes my van super-chic in my eyes!   And this van enables everyone to control how much air (heat or AC) is blowing on them so that is pretty cool too!

A road trip with our six kids does involve some whining here and there but overall the kids do a great job of entertaining themselves either by reading books, playing with their toys, or playing on their PSP or DS-Lite.  This gives me a whole bunch of time to let my mind wander or to enjoy conversation with my husband.  This is probably my favorite reason to take a road trip: spending time in the front seat with my husband talking about whatever comes to mind while the kids entertain themselves in the back of the van = pure bliss = priceless!

Our road trip was a success - everyone enjoyed visiting the family - and I can't wait to get back out on the road again!