New Ride

This post is a little late but oh well.

Before Danica was born we had to replace my Pontiac Vibe with a bigger vehicle.  If you've ever seen the backseat a Vibe you know there is absolutely no way 3 people can sit comfortably in it...let alone 3 child safety seats.  We decided to trade my dad the meat we raised for him for a mini van he had.  We were planning to pay off some bills and save up a large down payment to combine with our tax return this year so we could buy a new vehicle this spring.  After a year of not having a car payment we didn't really want to go back to having a car payment.  We agreed if we could find a big enough vehicle with low miles we would buy that with our tax return instead.

Gas prices, as you know, are ridiculously high.  $3.19 a gallon yesterday when I went to visit Amber and Anabel.  The prices are expected to keep climbing.  The van was getting about 18 mpg.  We live about 25 minutes from town and with Landon's visitation schedule to his dad's I'm running him about 90 miles round trip twice a week as well.  That really gets expensive.  We decided we needed to go back to a car so we could hopefully get better gas mileage.

After talking to my sister about her Buick Park Avenue we decided that we would look for one for ourselves.  She said her car was getting at least 30 mpg.  After browsing different auto sale websites and magazines we found one at a great price during end of year sales the Wednesday before New Years.  It was at a dealership in Waukesha.  Lucky for us my sister lives less than 30 minutes from there.  I packed up the kids and myself and headed down.  When traveling with a baby and a 3 year old the trip often will take longer than it should.  Our 3 1/2 hour trip took about 5 hours after breaks for nursing, potty, and supper.

Heather watched Dancia and Sawyer for me while my brother-in-law, Nick, and I went to the dealership.  I traded in our van and got an excellent deal on our new (to us) 2002 Buick Park Avenue.  It has 68,000 miles, leather and power seats, an upgraded sound system, and brand new Goodyear Tires.  After tax, title, and license we paid $6,000.  Not a bad deal and, even better, no car payments after we get our tax return.





By coincidence my brother and his girlfriend, Becky, were also staying with my sister on their way to Florida for vacation.  It was nice to spend some time together.  After the kids went to bed we had fun playing some old school Mario Brothers.






On Thursday, before heading home, I went to visit Ryan's great aunt, Sister Ann, who is living at the Clare Hall retirement convent in Milwaukee.  She was very excited to see me and the kids and we all really enjoyed the visit.

The boys are learning...

not to leave anything they still want to eat or drink unattended. 

Best. Game. EVER!

Aunt Tina and Uncle Mike

Both of my parents grew up in Waukesha, WI and then moved to Merrill (my hometown) after they were married.  We don't get to see our extended family from down there very often.  My Uncle Mike (who is also my Godfather) has been trying to plan a trip up here for a few months now and we finally succeeded at planning a little get together.  They got a suite at the AmericInn in town and we all met them there for an afternoon of visiting and swimming.  It was really nice to see them and catch up.  I'm hoping I will be able to get down to there place to see them soon.  I really miss them. *Somehow I missed a picture with Uncle Mike (sorry)*

Stay at Home Mom vs. Working Mom

Why is this such a debate? 

I don't get it.  

Maybe because I've been on both sides of the fence?

I know the grass is green on both sides with an occasional bare, dry, dead spot where the dog peed or where the lawn mower was set a little too low. 

I got in a bit of an argument with an acquaintance today.  Her first line of attack was that I should get a job.  I've been told this a few times when people get irritated or upset with me.  

I mean really?!

Do "you" honestly think its all computer time, soap operas, bonbons and bubble bathes?  

Do you think the only possible way I can afford to stay home is if we have government assistance so therefore I must be mooching off society?  

I can assure you that my husband is very hard working and makes enough money to support our family without government assistance.  We have some pretty darn good health insurance too.  

(I'm sure I'll get accused of bragging for the last two sentences)  

We make sacrifices in other areas so I can be a stay at home mom. I save us money by canning vegetables,  raising animals to feed our family, and cloth diapering, among other things.  

Of course even if doing that didn't save us money I'd do it for the health benefits.  

Would I be able to do all of this and work a full time job?  

Absolutely not. 

I am not so high on a horse that I don't remember what its like to have to work and how exhausted I was when I got home from work.  Baking bread by hand or canning vegetables til 2 in the morning would not be an option.  I don't work at a conventional job like you but that doesn't mean I don't work.  I have a farm here.  Which apparently you noticed because you hate how much I "brag" ( because farm work is such a blast) about it.  Do you think those animals outside make their own hay for the winter?  Or get their own bales out of the barn? Or come get themselves a bucket of water when they're thirsty? Or put their own feed in their feeders to eat? I can assure you they don't.  I do all of that.  Is that not work?  

Do I think I'm better than you because I get to stay home...or because I do different things than you do to take care of my family?  

NO!

  I haven't always been a stay at home mom.  I've worked 3 jobs at once in the past just to pay my bills and provide for my son.  It was hard.  I have a lot of respect for moms that have to work outside

the home and take care of a family.  

But please don't disrespect me unless you have spent a morning thawing pipes in a dirt floor basement. 

Or until you have spent a week at home alone with no one to talk to but your 3 kids under 5 and no one to call because all of your friends are working.  

Or until you have spent 3 hours chasing 5 pigs in circles around your house 

because no one is available to help. 

Or until you have to spend an entire weekend on a tractor (that you don't know how to drive) because people who said they would help had something come up. 

Or until you spend a few days in the hospital with your 15 month old hooked to IVs from an illness 

he got at the daycare he went to for 2 days. 

Or until you go to bed alone for 290 nights a year worrying if your husband will still be alive in the morning...

not because he isn't an excellent driver but because of every 

other idiot on the road who thinks a semi can stop on a dime; 

or thinks my husband can read their mind when they change lanes without using their blinker;

or some reckless kids decide it would be fun to drop a brick off an overpass into a trucker's windshield.  

 I was on the phone with my husband when he was mugged while sitting in his own truck.  

I was on the phone with him when a man was shot behind his truck in a gang fight.  

You go through all of that.  Live that life for one month (let alone for the next 30 years) and then 

tell me I need to get a "real" job. 

Who says you can't play outside after dark?

I think its more fun than during the day and so do the kids :)

The Big 5!

Landon's birthday is 3 days after Christmas.  We try to make sure to make a big deal of it since his special day can get lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years.  This year Landon's dad got a hotel room and had a pool/pizza party for him.  He invited me, Sawyer, and Danica.  We picked up Jordyn and Kolton on the way too.

Landon is quite a fish.  He loves to swim...even underwater, without a life jacket.  He keeps his eyes open too so he doesn't run into the side of the pool.

He loves jumping in to someone and then swimming back to the ladder.





Sawyer, on the other hand, is not a big fan of the water.  He usually won't go in unless Daddy is with him.  I was surprised though.  After watching Landon jump a few times he asked me to catch him too and jumped in to me a few times.  We're starting swim lessons this week to help with his fear of the water.



Danica?  She could take it or leave it..



My big boy even let his little brother help him open presents.





Then the monster truck cake!



Danica wasn't interested in any of it.  She was either getting into trouble with the tv buttons or being fascinated by a balloon.





Can't believe my baby boy is 5!