Wordless Wednesday

My hubs!

My boys.

My sweety and my DD

My dare devil.

Guest Post by Daughter

Life sucks! And the thought of moving on to 5th grade isn't helping.  Luckily, I have 4 siblings that help me in different and better ways.  Joey the oldest boy helps me get down and dirty and let my creative side shine. Marysa, the oldest of all the kids, can help me with my girl problems.  Then there's Sonny, the second-to-youngest. He helps me feel responsible ('cause I watch him all the time) and that someone always loves me.  Last but not least, Declan. He teaches me how fun life can be if you just go with the flow.

When I first thought about the 5th grade, I was scared even. But then I realized I have totally Awesome brothers and sisters to help me. I love my family so much, and I hope you people out there have a family just as great as mine.

California Acadamy of Science

Since January I have been trying to get into the "New" California Academy of Science. Let me tell you the place is so much more popular than it was when they had the old building. The first time we went was January 2nd. The line was so long you couldn't see an end. We went to de Young instead. I would recommend de Young to people without the kids or with older kids. I went with my troop, they were good but not really that interested. Warren seemed to like it. A great place to try out his new camera.

We then tried again Valentine's Day. We got in after about 30 minutes in the members only line. As much as I enjoyed talking with some science teachers from the Richmond school district the kids got very antsy. The building was crowded Warren and I got separated and it took almost an hour to reconnect. Our kids were hot, tired and cranky. We could not wait to leave.

I am very persistent and thought maybe a weekday would work better. Could not find a single adult that could go during the week. I almost gave up when Tuesday night I found out my daughter had a minimum day the same day Joey always gets out of school early. I picked up the kids and we left to the Aquarium. Just me, two schoolers, a preschooler and a baby. It was a quick drive at 1230pm to get there. The directions from the website worked perfect. There was parking and no line to get in. We explored the Philippine coral reef, saw the taxidermy animals I remembered as a child and walked around the swamp and aquarium. About two hours after we arrived it started getting busy so we weren't able to see the rain forest or the living roof, leaves something for next time and more I'm sure. We did see some really cool Bat rays and skates, an albino alligator from above and beneath and see a cool show with a diver in a huge fish tank. Over all if you're a scientist at heart get a membership, break up your visit into a few trips and have fun.

I loved it and my kids seemed to enjoy them selves as well.

home business vs the job that's waiting

After having Declan I have been worried about affording daycare for everyone. Going back to work means that I pay for Marysa, Joey, Sonny and Declan's childcare bills. For Sonny and Declan it also mean buying extra diapers for those daycare's and Declan will need bottles and food brought for him as well. Before I went on leave I was paying for Marysa and Sonny. Joey my friend was watching and now she's in school full time. My estimate for day care is roughly a lovely grand total of about $3000 a month. I make $3800. Doesn't leave a lot for food, utilities, any fun at all but benefits are included. I wont ever get to see my kids. I have always wanted to raise my own kids instead of paying someone else to do it. While I was out I thought about opening my own daycare. I wont get paid nearly as much as I would holding on to my job but my expenses would drop way down to food, utilities and fun.

My mom had a daycare when I was growing up. I loved coming home to my mom and all the babies. I loved sitting on the sofa and talking to a baby and watching those cute gestures. I loved my mom was there is I wasn't feeling good and I needed my bed to be made and a cup of soup. I loved the songs and the toys and all the noise.

Having five kids of my own I still love those things but the noise at times can get out of control. I never have enough time to do everything. My house is marginally clean most the time if all the toys get put away. Keeping up dishes, counters and floors is hard when you're helping with homework, nursing a baby, making dinner, vacuuming and trying to do home schooling for your self. Not to forget the surprises, leprechaun traps, ER visits, potty accidents, play dates and just needed an hour at the park to burn off energy. I think I stay on top of things alright, marginal but what about when I have other people kids to watch. A few more butts to clean, boo-boos to prevent, mouths to feed, and adults in addition to my own to deal with. At least when I tell my other adult what kind of day I had he may be OK with the dishes still in the sink but my mom never had dishes in the sink, or at least not more than a few. She would get up an hour sometimes more before the daycare opened and go to the Grocery store for milk and bread or mop the kitchen floor. She really was and still is Super Mom. Even though she tells me I'm a better mom than she ever was. I'm sure that's a white lie to keep me motivated to keep trying to do the best I can.

I'm going to open that daycare. My kids at least need to see that I tried to stay home with them. To love them better than the teachers at the YMCA did. Who knows maybe one day I will compare to my mom and inherit the title of Super Mom.

Monday the Childcare Council is coming by before I mail my application in to see if my house might pass the states inspection. I really hope it does...... in the mean time a few extra prayers and good thoughts and hope sent my way wouldn't hurt.

Giving it a try

Hey I'm Mary. It's been almost 2 years now and my life is nothing I expected. My mom tells me I should write a book. I think I'll start with a blog.

Two years ago I was a single mom of one little girl. We lived in a nice two bedroom home with our wiener dog Ozzy and our cats Mike and Bob. Life was good. I wanted to date and went through an internet personals. I met Warren. His face looked like a heart. I looked at it a few hundred times and about 6 weeks later I responded to his response. We had our first date commuting home on BART. It was public and safe. I dressed my worst to protect my self for some serial internet dater, Warren now teases me and says I had so many colors on I could have been a rainbow. We hit it off. We have daughters a month apart..... they hit it off. We were married four months later.

That explains two kids. The Girls...... Tanner and Marysa. We have four. My brothers kid was in foster care bouncing from house to house. Me and Warren decided we would take him since my brother wasn't going to get him anytime soon. We applied and got him. Another four year old to add to our family. Three four year olds you'd think we were good
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Oops..... Warren birthday came I got pregnant. We gave birth to Sonny in February. My new life adventure began.