The swing says “weee“! I love how Elissa just throws back her arms and is carefree as she swings, saying “weee! weee!”.
Hugs for her favorite dog
Miss E’s Mother’s Day accomplishment…she learned to walk on her cast at Gma Carol and Gpa Eldon’s house.
My favorite and best kiddos Hunter pretending to have a “bump” so his little sister will give him a kiss. If you bump, Elissa kisses.
Charlie the dog child and Nathan playing their favorite game of Frisbee. You’ll note there is now a hole dug in Nathan’s parents yard for their addition that C-dog has to run around…not through.
Happy Mother’s Day to all my favorite moms! Yes indeed this is the correct time that I am posting. I am about to board a 5AM flight for my last business travel before maternity leave this summer. Today I am 31 weeks, measuring three weeks ahead of schedule! I probably won’t fly again until October which I will enjoy every minute being at home this summer. But as I have explained to a few local ladies who just can never quite grasp the concept that I am going to keep working while having two kids under the age two and a busy and active school boy, I have the perfect job set up for our family. Recently a local lady commented to me “don’t you wish you didn’t have to work?” Ah I don’t HAVE to work. I love my career, the company I work for and the people I work with every day. I am challenged by the work. Certain times of the year I travel frequently but Nathan is home with the kids. When I am not traveling I am working from home and have flexibility. That flexibility will allow me to begin working longer work days four days a week this fall and then have one day off during the work week to be at home playing, skipping and swinging with the kids…and doing laundry. Thanks to modern technology and great employer this can happen. And as I say (which I have learned from a friend and my mom) “a happy mommy makes a happy child”. Our family is happy. My mom made an ideal stay at home mom. And if I needed to stay at home full time with my kids, I absolutely would. However living in a remote location with the current economic times, I must say I am grateful for the combination of being a working mom. And for those of you worried about money, employment, your 401K, like most of us are these days, I highly recommend reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (on sale for only $10 right now) and then taking action. It has changed how we fiscally live and think about money. I was introduced to the Dave Ramsey children’s savings programs when Hunter was a young child by a friend who worked for Dave Ramsey and gave Hunter the savings chart and envelopes. Too bad I didn’t start on the financial program then. I bought the money makeover book before our honeymoon three years ago and began reading it on the beach in Mexico. Indeed that was a geeky thing to do but I looked good in a new bikini every day! One of the things Nathan and I learned in pre-marital counseling was that neither of us were superb money managers. One of us needed to become the family money manager and we needed to agree to how to do it as a team. I loosely read the book, sort of followed the program and did not finish. Last fall I picked the book off our shelf, re-read the entire book and finished it. I created detailed spreadsheets and adopted the plan in full. I made my sales pitch to Nathan who bought in completely. We are building toward “financial peace” (which you know about if you are a fan of Dave Ramsey’s program) which is reassuring during economic crisis. Okay this is quite an early morning rant that I did not intend. Time for me to fly and drink some coffee!
Thanks for your information about Dave Ramsey. I remember talking about him with you when you were in AZ and I have also heard his name from a couple of other people so I ordered the book today! I love your family updates and I am excited that you get to work 4 long days and get one day off a week this fall to be with your kids. That sounds like a great schedule!!
Thanks for your information about Dave Ramsey. I remember talking about him with you when you were in AZ and I have also heard his name from a couple of other people so I ordered the book today! I love your family updates and I am excited that you get to work 4 long days and get one day off a week this fall to be with your kids. That sounds like a great schedule!!