Unfortunately there is always a down fall to back to school. A part that always rains on your parenting parade.
Back to school SHOPPING. (c'mon can we get a collective sigh here??)
I dread the supply shopping, and clothes shopping. Blah. I mean, seriously. WHYYYY?!
I understand why the teachers ask for what they ask for, and thankfully the teachers at our school aren't bad at all on what they ask kids to bring in, they make very reasonable requests in my opinion. However, all of that times three is so much fun....
When my kids were babies...they were so much cheaper. Seriously. Even with the price of formula and diapers and wipes (thankfully with my sons I cloth diapered and did the whole home made baby wipes things and I breast fed all of my kids as long as I could, which wasn't nearly as long as most people do or what I would have wanted, but it was better than nothing, we made it 6-7 months anyway!)
My daughters crib, while it did cost $200 was also a gift, a greatly appreciated gift that's for sure! We went through a program that is open to everyone in the community to get the car seats. Most baby products were picked up at yard sales or second hand stores and were all in like new shape. AND they could be re used with the next kid (or not as all of my daughters stuff got ruined in storage and we had to start all over again by the time I was pregnant with the boys!!)
They didn't have a lot of little extra "surprise" expenses when they were little.
Now?
- School supplies (clothes, and other supplies)
- School pictures
- Extra curricular activities (Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts, sports like Soccer, Flag football, and softball and basketball)
- FOOD shopping (we always always run out of milk and bread and CEREAL) We are doomed the older these kids get, they are going to eat me out of house and home.
- Gas money running them to and from things (and considering at the moment we are 'sharing' my mother in laws van, and that is a SUPER big pain in the ass)
- Bills. Yeh, the older they get the more water and electricity they use up, which makes your bills higher. More laundry, more of them forgetting to turn lights off and stuff and what not. Thanks kids.
- Hobbies. Yeh. Lego's are fun to buy....so are video games. (not that they get too many of any of those! And they certainly do NOT get brand new video games, thank you Game stop for your used game section, and they are still in that cheap video game stage where the games are like $4-$5 in the bargain bin).
- Vacation/Outtings. It takes more to go on outtings. Hotel if you are going too far out of town, buying up more snacks, stopping at more places to see more kid friendly things....now they are all out of that "kids under 5 are free" age so now I have to pay half price for them. *sigh* I didn't take advantage of that FREE UNDER FIVE thing nearly enough ha! So even eating at a buffet costs more now. Thankfully we've never done much eating out anyway.
However, watching them grow and love school and learn, and blossom and grow into amazing people is worth every dime invested in them, so I generally don't say TOO awfully much when we pay for something for the kids to do. I do joke with them and tell them it's time to get a job and help pay for the stuff they want to do, which they are like Hey yeh! That sounds like fun, ha!
As our summer is winding down and I'm scrounging up pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, whatever I find in the bottom of my purse, and in the couch cushions....to pay for school stuff again this year, (yeh I know whose with me on that one?) We are still trying to squeeze as much fun out of the last bit of summer as we can.
We FINALLY got to have that squirt gun fight in the back yard with some neighbors. It's been raining so much that our yard has been a swamp. Now we are in scorching hot temps and the humidity is so bad you can almost literally cut the air with a knife. Perfect time to send the kids out into the shade of the back yard for a squirt gun fight, right? They loved it. We gave them the icy cold water in the water cooler left over from our trip to the drive in on Saturday night to watch the Minion movie. Hearing them squeal and giggle over the icy squirts of water was hilarious. They declared it the best squirt gun fight EVER.
My daughter had a sleep over this weekend, and we are still planning for the boys to do something this weekend with a friend. They don't think it's fair their sister gets more sleep overs than they do, and I have to agree, buuuuut I also know my sons and their friends...and sometimes the boys just aren't ready for a sleep over. So we've agreed to a 'night' over, where the boys hang out until about 10pm and they play games and all the things that boys do. When 10 hits the boys will all go home. I think that will work out nicely.
I hope.
*fingers crossed*
We finally got a phone call from the college about the Art on the Block event we went to in June. Turns out.... Circus Son #1...well he won FIRST PLACE in his age category! I am so proud of him. He won a NICE blue ribbon, a certificate, and a SUPER nice 126 piece art kit. I am just so super proud of this boy! He worked so hard on his chalk art and had planned out what he wanted to draw ahead of time and had drawn several drafts before the event. He is usually a pretty quiet easy going kiddo. He has a sweet nature, and is generally kind and caring and has been seemingly ok with his younger twin brother stealing the spotlight for most of their life. He has just ridden in the passenger seat letting his brother take the wheel. I have always known that this sweet boy would get his chance to shine, and boy has he found so many chances to shine! He is doing so good in school (loves math, and loves to read!) He doesn't need as much help on his IEP as they had originally thought and we are both thrilled about that. He SHINES in soccer, he has truly found HIS sport, and I am so happy for him and I love to see him shine on that field. When he won that art contest, his confidence boosted so much more and he is just so happy with how well he did, and is really taking a shine to art again (which is something he has always loved to do but his sister kind of chased him away from everything 'artsy' much to his dismay and my hard work at continuing to keep him active in art!!) This has really prompted him to keep trying.
My daughter...was ticked off. She didn't win, and she was mad her brother one and she was on a rampage about it, and so I had to promptly sit her down and have a talk with her about losing gracefully, and that she is NOT the only artist in this family, and that while she didn't win THIS time she might win at something some other time that her brothers do not, and that's ok. That I was proud of her art and she should be too, and to never compare her art to anyone else's. She needed to be proud of her brother and congratulate him. It took her a bit, but she finally agreed that I was right, and she was being mean about it all. So she finally told her brother she was proud of him, and he hugged and said it's ok and asked her if she'd like to use his art kit with him sometime soon.
Circus Son #2 was a little miffed about it too and so I had to have a talk with him too. He got over it MUCH quicker though thankfully.
In the adult category....
I kicked my husband's BUTT. Whoop whoop! I got 2nd place and he got 3rd. Now, it would have been an even SWEETER victory if I had gotten first...buuuut I will take second and be happy about it, because well I still beat my husband. (We had been picking on each other the whole contest on who was going to win between him and I, and honestly neither one of us expected to place at all, we just wanted to give each other a hard time and compete against each other, because well....to be honest we are both a TINY bit competitive...sometimes...when the mood strikes!)
We got ribbons and certificates too, but no art kit that was only for the first place winner.
So our family cleaned up nicely at the Art on the Block event, I think!
We had a lovely 4th of July which I shared about in the previous blog. The kids are in another Vacation Bible School and are loving it, and are enjoying a library program this summer too.
Otherwise? The husband and I are just working our butts off. *sigh* The kids don't like our new schedule. One of us has always been home with the kids. We've always managed to have it to where I worked one shift and the husband worked the other shift, well now we both work the same shift. The kids have to go to Grandma's...and they are not happy about that. They've never had a regular babysitter before. My sons, have basically never ever had a sitter before and they are NOOOOT handling it well. Especially Circus Son #2.
They say Grandma's house is boring. I wish she'd watch them at their own home at least 2 days out of the week but that won't happen, and it really makes them sad. So we've been struggling with a few attitude issues with all three kids here and there. They will adjust, and it's only until school starts. Once school starts, we will work while the kids are at school and be home in time to get them off the bus, they will only see Grandma on early outs and school holidays (and the rogue weekend we pick up extra hours at the same time). I can't complain about my work schedule, it's a pretty sweet one. I know a lot of people who would love to have it, so I am very thankful for it.
I try not to talk about work often, because well, work is work.
Days are hectic, but we still find time to hang out and have fun as a family. Tonight we are all camping out in the living room because the kids wanted to snuggle with Mom and Dad, and because their bedrooms are just TOO hot (their words not mine, and I do have to agree that the boys' room is a bit on the warm side tonight). I don't mind snuggling and camping out in the living room with my three favorite children of all time. I'm so happy to be there mom. Tonight we had so much fun reading books and laughing and joking and watching classic Felix the Cat cartoons. Just soaking up the rest of our summer.
Mom Circus
