Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween

I wish all of you a Happy Halloween. Stay safe while out tonight.

If you do not celebrate Halloween, I wish you a great day anyway.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Donation Box

It is getting to be that time of year again when the boxes are out to donate food or toys for less fortunate people. Today while picking up a few groceries for ourselves we also picked up a handful of shelf stable items for The Man to take to his work donation box. K and I also picked up a donation list when we walked into one of the stores and decided to pick up a few of the items for their donation box as well. It isn't much, but I figure if everybody just dug the change out of their car and donated whatever they could buy with it then the boxes would fill quite quickly.

I also took the opportunity to teach K that giving to others was a good thing to do. I explained that certain items that went into our cart were for ourselves and then certain items were for daddy to take to the work donation box and certain items were to drop off with the lady by the big box who gave us a piece of paper. When we checked out I put all of those items in a bag and had him hand them to the lady as we walked out. I am not sure if he totally understands at the age of three but it is definitely not too early to start trying to teach compassion and giving.

We don't have a lot of extras, but I feel it is important to give if I can because at one time or another we all hit rough spots. I have been there and had help. I am glad that I had that help at the time and feel like if I can help even in the slightest way, I should try. I am not perfect, nor would I recommend giving to the point it makes your own life harder, but I think helping out others is important. It also makes you feel pretty darn good that you could be a part of the good that is left in the world.

There are many ways to donate especially at this time of year. The local food pantries are always in need of donations. Most accept money as well as food. The McDonald's has coin boxes to drop your change in to help out families who need to use the Ronald McDonald House. Stores will start having boxes for food or toys to help over the holidays. Usually right before school starts, places will take donations of school supplies. Charity shops like Goodwill or The Salvation Army take donations and use the proceeds of the sales to help out people in need. Not all donations must me monetary either, time is just as valuable. Animal shelters generally have volunteers to help train and walk animals so they can be re homed. Soup kitchens have volunteers to serve up meals to the people who come to eat a nice meal.

Currently we donate food, toys, or clothes the most, but as my children age I hope to find more opportunities to teach them about donating. It makes me feel good for being able to help out and also makes me stop and be thankful for the wonderful things that we do have in our life even if we don't have the best or newest.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Just Some Updates

I am finally feeling mostly better. It got colder here and we turned on the heat and my head got all stuffy and I got a bit of a cough. It hasn't been good because I have felt drained but today I am feeling much better.

The Man has been working days now for about 3 weeks. WOOHOO! I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I love having him home at night. We haven't slept in bed at the same time much our whole marriage due to his work schedules. This has also been awesome for him because he hasn't been as tired and his body has been feeling better. I tried to convince him that nights was rough on a person but he didn't believe me. He is just hoping that he can convince the higher powers that this is a good change and that he can keep this schedule for a while.

I have weaned my last breast fed baby now. It is a sad and a happy time for me. It is sad that I will not ever have another tiny baby of my own but I am happy that life is progressing. It has also been nice because she is now sleeping through the night most nights. I love my sleep. Even though I have a rough time falling asleep, it is nice to be able to stay asleep after I do actually fall asleep.

T is doing wonderful in kindergarten. He likes being able to go and play and hang out with other kids his age. I think he is a bit of a busy body but the teacher hasn't complained as of yet.

S is doing good in school too. He started playing the clarinet last year and is taking intermediate band this year. I love listening to him play his music. I never learned to play any instruments so I think it s wonderful that he has picked it up and progressed so well. He is also doing awesome in math as usual. He struggles a bit in social studies but I cant complain too much as he still has pretty great grades.

K does so much better now that T is in school. Our only struggle with him at the moment is that he doesn't like waking up from bed or nap to have to get ready and walk to the school to drop off or pick up T. I think he gets this from me. He is much nicer and calmer since T started school too. I think maybe T's craziness affects the kids a bit too.

H is now 18 months and wow she is quite different than any of the boys. She is smart and loves to help me with my housework. The boys never quite wanted to help and still don't like when they have to help. She is picking up many words and has some great baby dance moves. She dances all the time when I put the music on while I do housework. She is growing like a weed. I think someone forgot to tell these kids that I wasn't ready for them to all grow up so fast.

I think The Man and I have figured out where we want to move. I think we are going to go to Washington. I lived there as a teen and went through junior high, high school, and beauty school there. It is a lot like here as far as the weather goes. I like the weather here. It isn't crazy high heats or lots of feet of snow. I will be near some of my friends that I have kept in touch with. My dad's side of the family is also there, except for him. It is also isn't much difference in driving time from Arizona to The Man's family so that will be nice too. I am going to go back early with the kids to get a job and get set up for when he is released from the military. We both wish he could just go the extra 4.5 years to retire but the odds are not in his favor for that.

I am having a lot of stress over life in general but things are pretty good too. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Have a great day!