A Whole Bunch of Random Thoughts from the Weekend

So here we go . . . let's start with Friday.  Marlie had a friend get off the bus with her to play.  I had gone over and met her Mom on Thursday (though more for me than her!) - she was very sweet.  The whole situation peaked several things in my mind - have I ever told you how much I overanalyze everything in life???

• The little girl's Mom worked full time, and she just happened to be off Thursday because she was taking her oldest daughter for her driving test.  I told her the thought of a kid driving gave me a heart attack.  She told me that she was so jealous of me being home with my kids and having that time with them.  That's the first time someone has ever said that to me - it was EXTREMELY humbling.  For me, when I worked staying home was never something that I envied - so I don't know that I understand that emotion.  I told Jayson once that I didn't want to stay home with Marlie, but I would've liked to have had the option! ha!  But for me, once I hit the point of being home, it was just the decision and I did what I needed to do to make it happen.  It's tough sometimes knowing that I am making the decision to be broke, and it is a decision - I could earn money and balance my time, but I am very pointedly choosing not to at this point - but I guess I don't think of it in terms of not being able to stay home if it's something you want to do.  There are always sacrifices it seems that can be made - it's just a matter of how many you want to make. But every sacrifice in the world has been worth it, especially on days like that - where very simply, I get to give my daughter something that I NEVER had.  Having a parent there when I got home from school was not part of my world, much less having a friend come home too . . . pretty awesome . . .
• Second note on the playdate - I was worried that Marlie would leave Samantha out.  So I had a chat that went like this: "I know you will have your friend over, but it would be really awesome if you could include your sister for at least part of the time so she doesn't feel totally left out" to which the response was "Of course Sam is going to play with us - she's my sister and I love her - why would I hurt her feelings and leave her out?" I don't know that she will ever say anything else that will stick in my mind like that . . . and Sam played with them for a bit and then decided she would rather hang out with Evan and me in the playroom. Can we have a cheers for not wanting to be older?!?!?!?!
• Lastly - the little girl had very sweet manners . . . but it's always interesting to see the difference in a 6 year old that is the oldest and one that is the youngest - she reminded me a little of me at that age, just a little more edge than Marlie has :)

Friday night we ran by the school to drop off some donations for a charity yard sale . . . I tried to help sort some stuff, but Evan wasn't really having it for more than 20 minutes.  Luckily I got put on shoe sorting duty - um AWESOME!  I scored a brand new never worn pair of Skechers for Jayson, brand new never worn Skechers boots for Marlie (she loves them, I am torn - they are black with light up toes and peace signs and Ugg-like), and a brand new pair of Pumas for Evan - yea, they wanted $2/pair - I gave them $5/pair.

 

Saturday morning was madness - I dropped off consignment sale stuff (always an annoying process) and then headed to the yard sale for a bit.  There was a ton of help and a lot of shoppers.  They raised over $2000.  Just a note - the charity is for the mother who served as PTO president last year at our school.  Her daughter, Jenna, came home one day from school with a cough . . . turned out to be a tumor that took up her entire lung and she was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor and stage 4 cancer - Jenna is 4.  Her mother is a single mother of 3 girls 9 and under.  It gives me horrible chills every time I talk about it - she is Sammie's age and I think of all of the respiratory stuff that we have gone through with Sam over the years and how frustrating it was . . . I will hug my nebulizer now and tell myself to shut up!  But on a good note, the lemonade stand we did for ALSF back in June might help this family in a roundabout way.  The foundation works for research money but has a small division that will give travel assistance to families in this situation - they have to drive to Vanderbilt for her treatments.  So that is just awesome!

 

Then I ran home and picked up Marlie (Mom was manning the house at this point with the other 2) and we headed to Girl Scouts

 

My Little Daisy

A few of the girls were missing - but they toured a bank.  They got little piggy banks that the girls are using to save their change in so they can all pool the change and use it in December for angel tree gifts.  However, excuse me while I am proud for a second, Marlie decided that wasn't enough.  She came home and announced she was ready to put her chore chart back in action (she took a break for summer).  When I asked why she said "because change isn't enough, we need dollars for the Angel Tree, so I need to earn some money so we can buy more toys for the kids who don't get any".  Nice!  So we worked out a scale and topped it out at $3.50 this time around instead of $2.50 :)

The rest of Saturday is a bit of a blur . . . I think I was exhausted by that point!  I ran non stop from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon.  So Sunday morning was spent in jammies while I got the house back in order with laundry, cleaning floors, and of course, switching over wardrobes.  With 3 kids, season change is a BIG FREAKING DEAL!  Especially with the consignment sale coming up - I have to see whose coats fit, who needs pants (everyone of course!) and where we are at in sizes. And this is what happens when I bust out the vacuum . . . everyone on the couch! ha!

And then after Evan's morning nap it was off to the park to enjoy the nice weather!  Look at him - he's such a stud!

The girls did the see saw (or teeter totter depending on where you grew up) for a bit and then Evan wanted to hop on.  So the girls on one side and Evan and me on the other.  Let me tell you - with over 100lbs of kids, this used to wear my thighs out within less than a minute - man, I didn't even flinch today.  Its nice to see the practical applications of my workouts - thanks Jillian for making park days more fun :)  On a note - I have now lost 27in and 3lbs - I am serioulsy hoping the pounds start catching up . . .I know they will . . . but for now, I like knowing I am stronger . . .

Oh, and the workout has helped my cardio too - real life application, if you're too busy taking a picture of your daughter in her super cool new Skechers before school and don't open the front door so the bus passes and you have to run down 4 houses, you can do it with speed and without getting winded . . .I love starting Mondays off on a stellar parenting note!