Monday

My normal Monday consists of taking the kids to school and volunteering for the morning. I help in a special education pre-k class. I worked in special ed in Lee County when we lived there, so I feel comfortable with these kids, and they seem to like me, so we get along. When I come the paras can work on other things while I help with the kids. When they go to lunch I will go to the grocery store and then come home and do a little house work or laundry until the kids come home. Monday is the only day that I don't babysit.

Today, since Evan had strep yesterday, I don't know if he will feel up to going to school today. The doctor said that he could if he woke up without a fever and felt good. We will just have to see. I know this is selfish, but I hate to waste a free day with staying home with a sick kid. I have to stay home the other days, so I like to get out on Mondays. Oh well, he and I can have special time together, in which kids in a big family don't get enough of.

Happy Monday! Make the most of it and live as the Lord would have you live!

We officially have strep.  Evan feels lousey, but we got some meds, so we should be on the mend by tomorrow.  I hope the others don't come down with it.  It is not very frugal for everyone to be sick.  $20 copay per kid plus $15 for meds.  Oh well, life with four!

Weekend sickness?

I don't know what it is about this weekend. I guess Natalie's birthday coincides with the two week start to school. The kids always seem to get sick this weekend. I know two years ago we had the swine flu. Two kids had to hid while the birthday guests swam. Last year the day after the party Ashley started with strep throat that ran through everyone. Now Evan got up this morning with a fever saying that his throat and stomach hurt. Strep? We will see. When they start cramming kids into rooms then the illness starts to spread. That is one reason that it is hard for me to work. We have so many sick days. I have to work on a team (like I did at Lee County High) or have a very understanding boss. Keeping kids in my home works out . As long as they are not too sick they can just stay away from the other kids. Our pediatrician has an after hours, so I can take them on the weekends or in the evenings. Works for us!

School in full Swing

Well, school is in full swing around here. We have been in two week, and the heat hear is killing the kids in the afternoon. I have been making them ride the bus to cut down on gas money and so that I don't have to get my nephew out in the afternoon. These buses have no air ( yes we are in Georgia) and they just sit and sweat on the way home.

I am keeping my nephew four days a week and two others on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It makes for a long busy day, but the mom is paying me decent so I put up with it. We need the money. I have been trying to cut down on our expenses, but have not done really well. September is going to start a new budget. I will let you know how it goes. I want to spend only $100 a week for groceries. I can do it, but we may eat some boring meals.

We also have a birthday this weekend. I made the cake. I don't really know how much money it saves, but it does help out and it tastes better than store bought. I did take seven of us to the movies. It was $45 and then $7 for popcorn. We got free refills on the popcorn and brought our own drinks. We then are having the family over for hot dogs. They are sale hot dogs from the freezer and then we are having chips and sodas. We are doing a pinita. The candy ran around $15 and will serve as the favor. Overall, I think the party including a cook out for about 30 people will cost under $100. Not too bad.

Here is the cake. It is a Mama pig and piglets. Some of the piglets look a little creepy, but the kids don't care. The cake is an ice cream cake.

Another Day Care Kid?

No, not my own. I have always done everything possible to ensure that my kids are not in the care of others. I think that they are my children and the Lord entrusted me and my husband to care for them. I do send them to public school. We live in an area that has good schools, and my children tend to do well academecly and well as socially. We have always said that if there was a problem at the school that we would pull them out to homeschool, but so far we haven't had a problem.





I did speak to my neighbor about keeping their two year old grandchild next school year. The mother is a college student and works part time, so the schedule will work with ours. I do want to keep Mondays open so that I can volunteer at the kid's schools. I just like to get to know the teachers and the students and we will go and eat lunch with them. Sometimes I will bring my daycare kids to eat with lunch with my kids, and sometimes not. We feel like we need the money this fall, so if they will bring him just four days a week we might do it. We will just have to let the lord work it out!





Today it is a trip to the orthodontist. I am going to put a pork roast in the crock pot so dinner is ready when we get home. I am going to go bake some muffins and try to catch up on the laundry today. We need to go to Papa's house and pick some green beans so we can can some more. We will see if any canning gets done.

Summer Winding Down?

Yes, you read that right. We are winding down summer her in our household. School doesn't start until Aug 12, but the kids that I babysit start coming next week. One will be here three days next week and then I ad the other four days the next week. My three day a week baby will only come for a few weeks and then his grandma is retiring and going to keep him. I can't decide if I want to look for another child to keep. The extra money is nice, but two kids are alot more work and it really ties me down during the day. I really can't take two little one very far. If one of my kids has an appointment it is almost impossible for me to go with two babies in tow. I have some things listed on e-bay right now. If I can do decent selling the things that I got at yard sales this weekend I might try e-baying a little and not worry about taking in more kids.

Well, we are going to Grandma's this morning to wish Granddad a late birthday. He was out of town on his real birthday, and my kids love to make a big deal out of birthdays.

We are at the beach with most of my extended family.  We have swam on the beach for most of the day and will eat hotdogs and homemade ice cream tonight.  My uncle and his friends have a garage full of fireworks that they are going to shoot off on the beach tonight.;  It is legal in Florida to shoot them off, so we just watch their's and have a great time.  The kids look forward to the fireworks all year!  Happy 4th of July!

family fun on the beach