Monday, August 25, 2008

The Beginning of a New Era

Today was the beginning of a new era. Randy would begin staying home with Tanner & Morgan during the days - although we'll maintain them in a church preschool for three half-days a week.

So, without further ado, "first day of school" pictures.


Tanner's first day of school picture - always my kid who will smile for the camera.



Morgan, not quite so cooperative with the camera.



But finally, a cute picture of them together on their first day (and look - I didn't even dress them in coordinating clothes!)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Seven signs you are south of the Mason Dixon line...

1. There is a Cracker Barrel at every exit along the freeway.
2. Winn-Dixie is the grocery store chain of choice.
3. Humidity level is at "wilt"
4. There are two flavors of tea - sweetened and tea for northerners.
5. The side dishes offered at dinner are all fried - fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles.
6. Alligator is an entree choice.
7. All y'all is used to refer to a group of people.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Listen to your mother...

My mom & I had the following discussion last night (with my dad on the other line of the phone)..

Grandma Crazy: "Well, you know, the only reason I'm watching the Olympics is in the hopes that Michael Phelps is going to come out of his swimsuit one of these times..."




Hmmm.....interesting.....very interesting....

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Summer Tradition

Watermelon, fireworks, lightning bugs, late nights, long days, mowing the yard, swimming - those are my childhood memories of summer. So, taking my kids to swimming lessons, feels like I'm sharing a part of my history with them.





Tanner loves to submerge his head underwater while waiting for his turn...









Morgan likes jumping into the water - but she freaks if she gets her ears wet.









Sunday, August 03, 2008

For the record...

Overheard tonight in Aisle 26 at Sam's Club...

"Tanner, you'll always be my best friend."


Yeah....they're that cute.

This is for the stay at home moms...

Randy & I were doing some number crunching today. You see, about 4 years ago this next week or so is when I went back to the workforce - leaving my kids with our nanny at the time. We kept the nanny until a month after their 2nd birthdays, when they entered daycare world. Their first 18 months were at wonderful daycare in Kansas - and the the last 7 months have been at 2 daycares here in Colorado. Okay daycares - but certainly not up to snuff with our Kansas daycare.

At a birthday party this weekend, someone made mention to Randy about 6 years of daycare and how they were excited to not pay that anymore. It made Randy & I think - what had we paid for daycare the last 4 years?

We're budgeting kind of folks...I've put every bill into Quicken for at least 10 years. So, this was easy to figure out...even if it was a little shocking.





$79,367.92 for daycare for the last 4 years




Now, $25,000 of that has been "tax free" in our childcare cafeteria accounts. What did we have to earn (before taxes) to shell out that amount of money (after taxes)?

Are you sitting down....

$111,435.48 over 4 years - or $27,858/year.

We're both engineers...but that is still a ridiculous amount of money when you think about it. And, that doesn't include all of the "extra" costs associated with working (like more meals out because you don't have time to cook, more gas, more vehicle cost, more clothing costs, etc).

So - for all of you stay-at-home moms out there, I hope this gives you an idea of how much childcare for two is worth...maybe you can ask for a pay raise?

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Mommy & Me

Morgan had yet another birthday party today...it seems like "5" is the age at which all of the kids have a big party. Since she's in the class of kids that are turning 5, she's had at least 3 - 4 birthday parties in the last 5 months.

So, with Morgan & Daddy off at the party, that left Tanner & I to do our own thing. We decided to go shopping - Tanner is my most awesome shopper. He is patient, stays near the cart (even when he is walking), and even participates in the shopping process politely ("Mommy, I think Morgan would like this shirt - it's cute!").

What did I learn today? I'm totally jealous of those with singletons...

ONE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EASY