Make it Monday

I love to craft.

I have a craft supply hoarding problem.

5 Tupperware boxes full of assorted craft supplies in both of the boys rooms closets.  Also, Pinterest is the devil and now aids in my addiction.

The first step is admitting you have a problem, I have no clue what the next step is so I'll just decide to do something with these craft supplies.

Enter,  Make It Monday!

Every Monday, I will make something, even if it's a noodle necklace with yarn!  I can wear it around town and claim that one of the boys made it.  This is the benefit of having kids. 

So today, I am being adventurous.  Setting my expectations high!  (Never a good thing..)  This project will involve tools of the manly sort.  You know like an electric saw, screws, and maybe a hammer.  Is a hammer manly?  If it comes in pink does it qualify as more of a unisex tool?  (my head just directly into the gutter, but I digress)

If you follow me on Pinterest you may have already guessed that my first project is a pallet project.   Nothing too fancy, like an outdoor couch, which might be something I tackle down the road but for now I will stick with a sign or something. 

So now it's time to get off this here blog (I am from the south, your gonna get a lot of that here, you've been warned) and get the boys dressed to find pallets! 

Back To School

I am tired...

Ryan decided to time his 4 month growth spurt to follow along with the boys going back to school. 

Not cool little man, not cool.

So, I have been up every 2 hours starting at 2 am.  My alarm goes off at 6:20 am but typically I am already awake and just hoping the clock is wrong and it's really  Saturday so I can go back to sleep.  Alas, it's not Saturday and I must get up and start the day.  While I am thrilled that the older two are back in school and I have my hands a little more free than they were over the summer it also brings a whole other set of issues.  Once the bus stops and the boys get in the door we don't slow down until bed time.  Home work, followed by various sports, dinner, bath, and then finally bed.  I shouldn't be so whiney about this because it's really what I thrive on but by 3:15 my energy is gone and I am dragging so I pull out a coffee cup for a pick me up.

This new schedule is going to take some getting use to and hopefully Ryan decides to sleep again.

So there is a bigger picture here that I really want to address.  I find myself being more and more grateful for my parents the older my kids get.  I doubt you are asking why because really there are many things you are probably grateful for as adults that you were not as much as a child.  That aside, today I am thankful for the fact that my parents allowed me to participate in sports.  I never understood how much this cost them! 

We have had the boys in soccer,  baseball, and flag football and while they all cost money they weren't more than $65 for a fairly long season.  Noah, my second, doesn't care for team sports.  My husband, try as he might, couldn't convince him to play.  Finally last year he asked to do gymnastics, Darien wasn't too excited.

So after a long time of asking he got a 6 week session for his birthday from Grandma.  He started last week and loves it.  I am beyond thrilled!   He is also doing year round swim team which he is so excited about that he sleeps with his goggles.  Conner is taking tennis lessons and they both are doing a running club.

So how much does this all cost you ask?  Well you didn't ask but in order to understand why I am so very grateful I will tell you. 

In order to continue gymnastics after this session it's $130.  That is for 6 sessions for 45 min once a week.
Swim team is $118 for insurance which thankfully is a one time fee for the year.  It is $55 a month plus our family membership to the YMCA which is $75 a month.   Conner is taking group tennis lessons at the YMCA and we lucked out because he is the only one signed up so we pay $40 a month for that but get private lessons which is actually $70 a month!

The school use to offer a free running club but this year an organization stepped in and is offering a more detailed club and it's $85 per child for the whole program. 

The costs add up and they aren't even in school sports yet!  As a cheerleader coach I know how much a Varsity sport costs!  My parents spent close to $800 a season and that's not including the monthly gym fee.

Since I am no longer coaching or working doing all of this is financially harder but worth it.  My parents never once told me I couldn't do something because of the costs.  We have actually had to have that conversation with Conner about swim although I didn't really want to.  He went back and forth on whether or not he wanted to sign up and finally we just sat him down and said he was going to have to decide between tennis and swim because swim was expensive and he needed to be very sure about it.  In the end he chose tennis.

So thank you mom for letting me do all of the sports, dance, and gymnastics classes even if I wasn't grateful for it then.  I cannot imagine how you did it when all four of us were involved in sports!  I am slightly dreading that day...

All in all, we are happy to have such active kids and even if I have to cut back here and there I will do so gladly.  In the meantime I am hoping Evan or Ryan decide to be artists. 

A mom can dream!

Art lessons are free right?!?!

Never A Dull Moment

It has been too long since my last blog post but have 4 boys and it being Summer has hampered my ability to juggle the blog along with everything else.  School starts in a week from tomorrow and I am sad but excited at the same time.  I am hoping that at the very least I will have a bit more time to update the blog at least once a week but let's be honest, I would settle for once a month. 

Ryan is almost 4 months old and there have been so many more changes in our house!  Hubby got the "snip snip" done so we are officially done having babies which was a sad moment for me but also a really great thing.  I think it will always be sad to have something that has been such a huge factor in our lives for almost 8 years be over with but it also is a fork in the road that brings us to a new place as a family.  I find myself trying to enjoy the small things, even the frustrating things just to hold on to the small amount of time my kids will be kids.  All too soon they will be teenagers! 

As high schoolers people ask the all to insane question of where you see yourself in 10 years and of course we are almost always wrong but at this point in life asking a mom where you see yourself in 10 years is a very real and tangible thing. 

In 10 years I will have a 17 year old who is getting ready to start his senior year and a 16 year old starting his junior year.   Evan will be almost 13 and Ryan 10!  That is such a crazy and scary thought that we are only 10 years away from that.  So as I sit here holding Ryan as he sleeps and listening to the older 3 fight over Lego's, I try very hard to just be still and enjoy it.  I know that all too soon I will be wondering why these days were gone so fast.

This summer since I haven't had cheerleader we enjoyed doing things, getting out of the house and going on adventures, attending camps, and VBS.  I never realized how much my coaching held my kids back from these little things.  I don't regret it but it definitely makes me see things in a new perspective. I've watched the older three fight over how to just be brothers.   It seems to be a never ending battle but slowly they seem to be working through it.  It will be exciting to see how Ryan fits into the mix. 

My little bit of time is coming to a close so as much as I want to keep writing, I need to get the boys to swim lessons!

Thank you all for sticking with me!  Find me on Facebook for short snip its of our daily craziness!