Getting Out of the House

The key to making the long mornings on the weekends not seem so long, is to get the boys out of the house. Since they graduated from their mornings naps a few months ago, it's been tough to get through the hours from 7:30am to 1:30pm when they go down for their afternoon naps, unless I take them somewhere.

Last weekend we tried the local parks, but the equipment was old and unsafe. So, this Saturday we traveled to another town several miles away to find a nice park for them to play. Then on Sunday, Heather came to the rescue and we went to her house to swim.

Lk and I at Heather's after our swim...

Hello!
Grandma gives Lk a hug!

Lm and his spin toy...

Lm really loves to get himself drenched in the Backyardigans water toy. He marches up to it, steps on it to make the water spray up, covers his face, and then does it again. In this heat, they love this game!

Here's Lk standing in the circle where the pool used to be. We only used it a couple of times before I let it go and had to drain it. Next time: chlorine. I've retired it to the shed until next summer.

Saturday at the park. At first we were the only ones there, then a car pulled up. My boys are very social, and as soon as they saw a little girl emerge from the back seat, they ran right up to her and said "Hi!" and wanted to play.

Despite his feats of derring-do at home, which include flips off the couch, climbing on bookcases, and diving off furniture, Lk is not so sure he wants to try this slide by himself, thankfully!

He wasn't so sure about the horse...

They loved the fire truck!

This really was a cool park. If only it was not 25 miles out of our way...

With our pool being down, hence, I invited us over to Heather's. She's got a deluxe pool. I only brought Lk with me, though, as handling both of my guys at once is a little much in the water. For their birthday, they got this floatable water car with a horn from Grandma and Grandpa. He loved it! He and Zoie played bumper cars.

Shameless Plug for YM**OYL

Right now I’m reading, for the umpteenth time, Your Mo*ney or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, just for inspiration. This is about the best book anyone could ever read, and I’m a die-hard fiction fan who loathes books on finance and business.

Its title is based on the saying that, if someone pulls a gun on you and asks which you’ll give up, your money or your life, you’re going to hand over your wallet because your life is far more important. And yet, every day most of us are giving up our lives in the pursuit of money. As the book says, “We are sacrificing our lives for money - but it's happening so slowly that we barely notice.”

What separates this book from others is that is has a “whole life” approach to your relationship with money, rather than just the ho-hum practical steps to build wealth that are offered by gurus like Dave R*am/sey. (Which isn’t to knock DR—probably I would agree with 90% of what he says if I read his books in total.) Meaning, it offers hope and a different way of thinking for anyone who questions society’s obsession with the 8 to 5 till you’re 65. It’s called “FI thinking”; FI stands for Financial Integrity, Financial Intelligence, and Financial Independence. Most books just talk about achieving the last of these three.

When I was 25, I bought a house by myself with 20% down, so already I was in step with FI thinking, but in 2001 is when I actually started putting it into practice. Before that, I made some dumb purchases (a car with leather seats and a sunroof is one example) and realized that what is truly important is time, not material things. I always knew that, of course, but really putting it into practice in my life did not happen until then.

Fortunately I had this epiphany before the age of 30. The book put into words what I already believed, but it only convinced me further that I was on the right track and I was also inspired by the “whole life” approach to money, which is that the way we handle money should be in line with our values and life purpose.


If you’re read this far, you’ll definitely want to read this brief but poignant article. It’s piss-your-pants hilarious, I promise you!

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27698

Mr. Sunshine...and lots of rain

When it rains, it pours, or in our case, if there’s a breeze, it’s a tornado. Last night I got a call and found out that my daycare lady is in the hospital with heart problems (possibly congestive heart failure!). She’s only one year older than me and is otherwise in perfect health, or was. She’s an active person, slim, young—so this comes as a major shock. I’ve known her since grade school, we were in the same class until 7th grade. She has four kids and this is devastating to her family. I just feel so badly for her.

The other problem of course, is I depend so much on her for L&L. Even as early as my first trimester, I went to every daycare within a 30 mile radius, and found no place that I would feel comfortable sending them. I even had Mom go with me to check out a few places while the boys were in NICU, and she was as horrified as I was. The situation was so dire, that when my daycare lady told me she only had one slot available, I said I would take it and my mom would watch the other baby until she had another opening. Her daycare area is beautiful, plus I totally trust her.

Well, she ended up fitting both my boys in, and they’ve been there ever since. I’ve been extremely grateful. Obviously with a home daycare, you run into a scheduling snag now and then, which has eaten up a few of my days off, but it’s all been worth it, for the peace of mind. They are so attached to the place, too. It’s especially hard for Lk to adjust to new environments. Ultimately, we just hope she will be alright and can be treated.

Originally I made this picture at the top as I wanted to write about how cheerful Lk is in the morning. He’s usually the first one to wake, and he’s so happy when he does—I’ve never known anyone to be this eager to start the day. “Hi!” I’ll hear from his room while I’m laying in bed. “Fun! Oh, boy! Hi! Yay!” Then he’ll break into song, usually Twinke Twinkle Little Star, and I’ll put my pillow over my head for a couple of minutes; finally I have to just giggle at his joy. I mean, how is this possible at the crack of dawn?? Lm is appropriately cranky, and he wakes up crying for his breakfast, though he’s cheerful the rest of the day. I just shake my head at Lk, though. I hope he is always like that!

Town Parade & Water Fun

This weekend was our town's parade and fireworks celebration. They have it a week after July 4 so that more people can be there. My dad wore his Legion hat and had to serve hot dogs at the booth, so he wasn't able to sit with us at the parade.

We sat with one of my best friends from childhood, Mary, who came up from Wichita with her girls for a few days so they could visit her dad. My mom's best friend was Ed's wife, who died in 2005. Her girls are really growing up, they look like models. My boys had a fun time teasing them at the parade.

My little guys were so eager to see the floats going by. Lk got hit in the head with a lollipop, but otherwise no catastrophes. They got a sackful of candy!

This is Mary and I. She has been out sunning and I've been in the shade all summer, as you can see!

L&L kept trying to get the attention of the girls, they would "tag" them if they felt they were not getting enough attention.

Lk bonded with Chelsea and Lm with Darcy...

A clown came up and said hi to the kids.

Lk kept saying "Hi!" and waving to every car that went by. Some of the now "classic" cars that were in the parade were from the late 70s. Made me feel old, since I can remember riding in those when I was little.

Here was a clown with a walker. That was a new one!

On Sunday, their great aunt, Marylee and uncle Darrell gave them their birthday present. It's a Backyardigans water hopscotch game. You just attach a garden hose to it and turn it on at any speed and it's like a sprinkler.

The boys were hesitant at first, as they cautiously approached it.

Lm put his hand on it to see what would happen.

It took awhile for them to warm up to it, then they kept hitting the water with their hands.

Lm got thoroughly soaked.

I brought them in then for their naps. I live for 1:30 on the weekends. Well, Lm would not nap!! He's able to crawl out of his bed now and open doors and roam around. He sees no need for a nap. Trouble is, I DO need one, and I got cheated out of it. Could it be possible that he is already graduated from his daytime naps?? I brought myself to tears over the possibility yesterday. I tried everything under the sun to bribe him into it. I left him in there, on and off, for an hour, trying to soothe him down to sleep. I even called my sister the way you would a 911 operator when your house is ablaze, but she was on vacation.

Over the past week he's been giving me a hard time about going down for his nap AND bedtime. Could he be one of those who just doesn't need much sleep? Because when I let him out of his room after the failed nap, he was still pumped up with energy and raring to go (though I was half-dead) and still last night he cried when I set him down.

If this continues, I am SOL.