It Has Been Awhile...

I can not believe I have not posted anything since the beginning of September.  It has been a crazy few months with lots of changes for us.

The biggest change is that I started another part time job!  It was one of the first resumes I sent out and I got the job.  It was truly a "careful what you wish for" type of feeling.  I can not believe with how many people out there looking for work right now, I got it.  I feel very blessed.  It is part time Monday-Friday in the mornings only…. I am back home by 1 o'clock.  Mondays are long though since I moved my other part time job to the afternoon.  And also on Monday I do my third part time job after the kids go to sleep.  But overall, I like the people and the job.  I am using my brain which is a very good thing.  And, it has added a cushion to our budget which was the desired result.

It is funny, the hardest thing I struggled with was having to move Little Man from his preschool to a whole new day care/preschool set up.  He did really well with his old preschool teacher despite how much of a challenge he could be.  I could have pieced together care for him during the week and keep him there, but he would have had four different care givers during the week.  And that would have only been through the end of the year.  That was not going to work on many levels, but most importantly, it was not fair to him to shuttle him around so much.  So we made the decision to make a complete change.

It has been the best move for him.  He LOVES his new preschool and teacher.  Just yesterday when I picked him up, we were walking out to the car and he said "I just love this place."  Oh Little Man, I do too!  While he has had some difficulties, he has not seemed to struggle with behaving like he did at his old preschool.  They see how smart he is and what a sense of humor he has.  They see him positively, not negatively.  I so need to hear that when it comes to my Little Man.

Since I pick him up after all the other kids that are still there have gone down for rest/nap time, he has to sit at a table and quietly play and wait for me.  I thought this would be a big negative.  But it has turned out to be wonderful for him.  He is getting about 30-40 minutes of one on one time with a teacher, sometimes two!  He is coloring, practicing his letter and using flash cards.

And, he is at a home daycare on Mondays with a wonderful loving, Christian women from our church.  He can snuggle on the couch if he needs too.  And, she also does formalized preschool activities with the kids so he is getting five days a week of "education."  Fabulous.

The girls are enjoying their new found responsibility of getting themselves to school.  They have worked together well and Soccer Girl has really stepped up to look out for Lizard.  They have surprised me.  They are doing the chores I leave for them and getting their reading done all before school.  Yah for responsible children!

It is funny how everything fell into place and the timing of it all.  The location, the hours, Little Man's care, the girls stepping up...The answer to prayer is not lost on me.

The other fun thing that has happened is the number of photography jobs I have gotten.  I have done five senior portraits sessions in the last three months and have a family session coming up this weekend.  I love it!  I has been hard to balance the time commitment it takes in editing the photos with all that has been going on.  But it really has been fun.  I see my photography as a fun creative outlet for me, a much needed service for people looking for good affordable photographs (did you know that senior pictures can cost upwards of a $1000… can you believe someone would pay that and that someone would have the nerve to charge that?!) and something that earns us some extra spending money.  A win-win-win!

As I am getting use to the new schedule, I think I will be back to posting more often.  I have lots rattling around in my brain that I think needs to be written… thoughts on working more and how that impacts me and how I view myself as a Mom, updates on Little Man, making things a priority that should be…. lots in my brain.  I am feeling a little less frazzled so I think I can begin to formulate my thoughts so I can document this time.  After all, the name of my blog is "simply capturing life" so I should do that, capture our life.

Next Year Goals

Well, I have not been very good about writing down my thoughts and that darn menu plan.  I still menu plan as always, but I’ve decided I will not put it on my blog – it does not seem necessary to me after all.

Lots has been swirling around in my head and I not been too focused.  I could blame it on the hussle of the Christmas season, but I won't.  That is too easy.  It is not Christmas and all that goes with it.  It is simply my thinking lots of things and not taking the time to write it down.  But that will be changing with the New Year.

Chief and I have come up with an idea for our family for 2010… not really New Year’s resolutions, but more of goals we are striving to work on this year (so I guess you could say they are resolutions, sort of). The girls seemed excited about it and Lizard immediately came up with a few for herself.  I am still formulating mine but the big ones I have are:

Read the entire bible by January 1, 2011
My small group of women from our church who get together once a month for a Girl’s Night Out are going to do it together with a "girls weekend at the beach" for those that complete it as the reward – how fun is that?  Click here for the schedule I am going to follow.  Chief is going to do it with me too!  I have never read the entire bible, only bits and pieces based on the bible study I am doing at the time or from sermons.  I am really looking forward to the lessons God is going to show me through this.  Thank you Jennifer L. for encouraging us all to do it.

Lose 35 pounds by September 1, 2010
I am going to take the “Move More, Eat Less” approach… with “real GOD made” food as the focus and eating less sugar, eating more fruits and veggies and more protein and eating smaller portion sizes as my guide. I do not want to follow some rigid “diet” – I just want to eat healthy at least 80% of the time.  I am going to loose about 5 pounds a month which is about right – nice and slow!

Launch photography business by March 1, 2010
I have done three official photo shoots for friends (oh what fun it was!) and feel I am ready to put myself out there as a beginning photographer for hire.  I need to develop my website, get the legalities in order and begin to advertise.  It will be so fun to see what happens with this!

Some other ideas swirling around up there are… keeping to a regular blogging schedule, more topical writing on the blog, developing a regular chore schedule for the kids (I have done them in the past, but they always seems to fall by the wayside), following the Ramsey plan for our family better and lots more. There are both big and small goals in the works, but all ones I want to work on incorporating into our Goal Plan.

So… I’d better start reading my bible so I stay on task with my first goal… 2010 here I come!

A Mixed Bag of Thoughts

I have been working on my projects and it still feels good.  Ottoman painted – check.  Boards cut, sanded AND painted and ready for the decorative expressions – check.  Glass block decorated for a Christmas gift – check.  Top of fridge cleaned – check (ohhh, so gross – need to do that one more often).  Kids clothes sorted and ready for the consignment store drop off – check…Lots to still do (it is never ending), but I have been trying to make a concerted effort to stop wasting time (like on the computer) and do something productive.  Wahooo!

I spent some time last week out practicing with my camera in the manual mode.  I definitely have a big learning curve, but it’s fun to see the results when you tweak something here and there.  I am going to photograph a friend’s family soon as a way to kick off my business – we are just trying to nail down a date.

Oh and I found a great Melissa & Doug fire truck floor puzzle for Little Man at a garage sale for $2. He loves it and I love the deal I got!

I was watching SuperNanny the other day and the mom on the show said something profound to me.  She said she has stopped looking at her kids as a “chore” and has been enjoying just being their mom.  I have not been able to stop thinking about that statement.  I think I have been guilty of thinking of my kids as a chore at times.  What a horrible revelation to me.  I love my kids beyond words and want nothing but the best for them and I have not been giving them my best.

I have been taking more time to play with Little Man during the day – that is after all why I am home and why we make the sacrifices we do.  I have stopped and just hugged my kids more than normal.  I have made an effort to just enjoy watching Soccer Girl (my 4th grader) play soccer instead of getting frustrated that I have to wrangle Little Man all the time.  I have let Lizard just play without demanding she do things on my timetable as much.  It is has been fun.

My kids are amazing to me – a mixed bag of emotions, energy, ideas, aggravation, eye rolling, foot stomping, love, giggles – just amazing.  I want them to know they are amazing.

Fresh Starts

The girls started school today - 4th grade and 1st grade!  That just amazes me.  It is so cliche to say "it goes so fast" but man it sure does.  I was thinking last night how so much of this summer was spent breaking up arguments, cleaning, running errands and all the stuff that in the grand scheme of life, does not matter much.  We never did have our Silly String fight in the backyard (I should surprise them this weekend).  Last night I wanted to hug them and never let go.  But, I have to - a little bit at time, one school year at a time. 

I am needing a fresh start too - in parenting, life... oh, in lots of areas.  I am starting a new bible study tomorrow - we are studying the book of Acts...Looking at our talents and using them.  It is funny how God works.  Chief (my hubby) and I have talked about me starting to do some photography on the side and seeing what happens with it.  And, I am actually starting to take some steps to actually get that moving.  It takes a lot for me to step out of my comfort zone and starting a business requires that.  So I think this bible study is very timely for me.  I love taking a photo of my kids that really captures them in that moment ... but am I ready to do that for others? 

After giving a friend some pictures I had taken of our kids together and some of just her kids, she showed her oldest daughter.  After looking through the pictures, her daughter asked her "now, who took these pictures Mom?"  When she told her that I had, her daughter said "these are really good, she should do this as a job."  Perhaps, maybe I should.