Patience...a virtue I really need to perfect

I have, for years now, wanted to be the mom that gets to stay at home and raise her kids, help in their classrooms, and be there in the event of an emergency.  I, of course, am not that mom.  This past week has been really difficult for me.  I have been an grumpy gus.  And that is the nicest way I could put it.  I have not been very happy at work since I had to return to work full time (going on 8 months).  It is a daily struggle for me to put that smile on my face and greet patients as they walk in the door, because I would much rather be at home cleaning my house, preparing dinner and getting the kids from school.  For over a year now, we have been doing our best to get me out of the working environment and into the home environment.  It obviously hasn't gone as planned, and what little patience I have had,
has gone out the door.  I am tired of waiting.  I want something to give.  I want to be happy doing something other than what I am doing now.

For now I need to be patient (easier said than done sometimes).  But, maybe that is the lesson I am to learn along with the rest of the family.

Maybe tomorrow will bring news of a change.

Responsibility...a hard pill to swallow

Especially for my Cameron-man.

This guy is having to learn a lesson that is even hard for us adults.  Lately we have been dealing with being forgetful...forget to do homework, forget to bring homework home, forget to do chores.  He is one great kid, but is having to learn a lesson in being responsible.  If he had a one track mind he would do great, but his mind moves at light speed sometimes.  I hope that this is just a phase and that he will get more and more responsible.  I can't take any more tearful phone calls on my way to work in the morning.  It makes being a working mommy very hard.  I wish I could fix it all for him, but I know that I would only make him more reliant on me and even less responsible.  Patience from me for now.

He will get it one day... I Hope.

Weekend Getaways are the Best Way to Recharge

After a really crumby day at work today.  I am thankful that I was able to run the kids to Monterey for a quick jaunt to the aquarium over the weekend.  There is something about the ocean that recharges my battery and helps me make it through another week of craziness.  It also builds some great memories that will last our family a lifetime.  Next time we go we will make sure that daddy can go with us.

Hindsight is always 20/20

On Tuesday, my husband met me for lunch at my workplace and we picked up some fast food and headed to his best friends home.  Mainly to see what progress had been made on their home and then to show off the wheels that my husband had powder coated on his truck.  (I am not your typical girl, that doesn't know what that means, I am more of a guys girl.  You'll learn that quickly as I do my best to get this blog running again.)

As we left, and headed back to my workplace, we talked about how nice it would be to be homeowners again and living a completely different lifestyle.  Because of circumstances beyond our control, and some in our control, I have been forced to return to the workforce full time.  It isn't ideal and my husband is actively trying to change that current state, but it is what is working for us right now.

As I pondered more what we had talked about, I came to realize that what is most important to me is my happy and healthy family.  If we had done things differently in the past we would not be where we are right now.  I don't have the house of my dreams.  I don't have the nice new car.  I'm not where I would have pictured myself at this point in my life.  But what I don't have, makes what I do have, that much more important and special to me.  I can't focus on what I don't have.  I can focus on what I do have a celebrate all that is good.

What I do have is a husband who works hard to provide all that he can for his family.  I have a son who impresses me everyday with his mind.  I wish I had half his smarts.  I have a daughter who never ceases to amaze me with how fast she can pick up a sport or activity and become the best that she can with hard work and lots of practice.

It may not be what we pictured in our minds of what our future held for us when we got married years ago, but I don't regret one choice or decision we have ever made in our lives together.  It has taken me a few years to realize this, but it brings me joy and happiness that I can be at
peace with the fact that I am where I need to be right now.

Another Attempt & Maybe (probably) Fail

I have needed to do this for months.  That's right, update my blog.  I am making yet another attempt to make this an everyday occurrence so that I have a record (journal) that my munchkins can read and learn from and understand the importance of keeping a journal themselves.

I would love to go into great detail about all that has gone on with our family, but you would get bored, I would keep rambling, and there would be page after page of events that have gone on with the Staley Family.

There was Valentines Day, and I don't even remember what happened.  There was Easter, and the kids always get their new Spring duds for Easter Sunday.  Bama played in her first year of softball and improved so much from start to finish. There was swim team, which my Bama (nickname for my daughter) did awesome.  Even surprised her mom and dad with how well she did.  Her brother, on the other hand, had to miss most of the season with a broken nose due to a soccer game at summer school.  Note to all parents out there, the pole always wins and the nose always loses.  The Cameron Man has taken up golf and has really come to fancy it a bit.  There was our wonderful trip to Yellowstone and stay in Big Sky, Montana.  I now understand why Montana is always  referred as Big Sky Country.  Of course we had an end of summer trip to Lake Tahoe as one last hurrah before the start of another school year.  The Mr. and Miss have ranked (moved) up to 5th grade and 2nd grade.   Bama started soccer thanks to our closest friends who needed another player on their team.  She has taken to that as well.  Cameron and Dad got to watch the pro's play @ Pebble Beach and Cameron Man was 100% impressed by the opportunity.  Mom and Bama spent the day @ the Monterey Bay Aquarium to pass the time.  Apparently she loves jellyfish.  I love puffins (they're birds). That about sums up our everything that has apparently happened in our lives (what I can remember at this point).

I will share some photos just so you don't have to read a boring post and not see what we look like now, or how much we've changed.  Not much so you didn't miss out on much.

Being a Mom is the best reward ever!!!

Sometimes being a mom is the best reward you could ask for. Case in point...I have one very sick little boy, who is not so little anymore, and all he wants to do is cuddle with his mom to make him feel better. Next is the little 6 year old who is stalling her bedtime tonight, because she is so excited for the tooth fairy to come tonight. And all I want to do is tell her that she can stay up, but I can't or I will have a cranky 6 year old in the morning. I just can't do that to her very awesome 1st grade teacher.

 Being a mom isn't always the most glamorous...especially when you worked an entire 8 hours only to come home, get dinner on, and then get as much of the housework done that I can before it is my bedtime. But I wouldn't trade any of that. It makes me who I am and my kids make me even more of who I am.

How does one get it all done???

Today was a whirlwind of a day and I got absolutely nothing done.  There is the kid with the yucky cough who is having a hard day breathing.  The 8 hours I spent at work yet again.  Leave work to get the rent check.  Pick kids up from grandma.  Stop to get dinner because I have no time to make it.  A meeting at 6 pm that I just barely make it to on time.  Home again to get a little girl in the tub, dressed for bed and then up to bed.  Give medication to the sick one.  And I just can't do anymore.  The dishes will have to stay dirty tonight and the floor will not get swept till tomorrow.  I am finding it very hard to want to get any of this done, and I agreed to host a Shelf Reliance party for my sister on Thursday night.  I hope people don't mind that my house isn't 100% taken care of.

Hoping for my second wind tomorrow.  Maybe a good nights rest will take care of that for me.  Good night all, if you have some suggestions to help this mommy out, I am all ears.

Changes!!!

2013 is gracing our family with a lot of big changes. Most of the changes directly affect this mommy. It has been known for some time that my current place of employment was going to be losing our manager and his company that runs our office. There was a lot of unknowns that had to be taken care of...like who was going to sign a contract to run our office and if we were going to be retaining our jobs.

 Friday I was offered a full time position with the new company, doing what I already currently do. I stewed for an entire weekend trying to decide if this was the answer to our financial prayers. For the past 9 months Paul has been busy trying to find a new department to work for that would allow us some breathing room financially. Many months of prayers and fasting... and nothing had come our way until Friday. So to take some burden off of our financial issues to take care of a mountain of debt...we believe this is the answer to our prayers and fasting for the time being. I will be a full time mommy and a full time employee. It is not the best of circumstances, we know, but it is what we have to work with for the time being.

 I am sure there will be days that I lose it and want to cry. There will be things that I will have no choice, but to miss...I just hope that as my kids get a bit older they will understand why I had to go back to work full time. I love my kids, I love my husband and it breaks my heart that things weren't different.

So here's to a new year, a new beginning, and big changes for our future.