Sanity but no Salery

OK, so a little over 3 months ago, I decided to stop doing childcare. It just wasn't worth the stress for the little bit of money I was making. And now that I have two boys to take care of, I'm very grateful to not have other kids to care for too (it would just be to much). But with that decision, I gave up the extra couple hundred dollars a month that I was making. At the time, I was more than willing to give that up, but now... our savings is not quite what it used to be. I have visited the Employment Resource Center at the church, but they haven't been able to find anything that I can do at home that isn't childcare.

They did give me a website http://ratracerebellion.com/ that is dedicated to "work from home" jobs. The site is great, but I am not qualified for most of the jobs. I did however try doing Paid Surveys, but they just didn't work out for me. So, here I am loving my life without a "job", but wishing I could find a way to contribute to our family bank account. Does anyone have any advice? Job ideas? Let me know, because I could really use the help.

First Ride

Jacob is almost 3 months old already. It's hard to believe how fast time goes sometimes. Of course it depends on your perspective. Three months of being pregnant can seem like an eternity! Right Stacia? :) But after having your baby it seems like days go by pretty fast.

Jacob has had quite a few mile stones in his little life already. He's been to Hawaii for the first time (I'll put pictures up of that soon), Stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's while Mom and Dad went on a date (we didn't leave Isaac until he was almost a year old), and just this week he went on his first bike ride! Yeah! We ordered a double trailer for the kids but it is still on back order. So for the last few weeks we've been impatiently waiting to go for the first ride of the year. Then I decided to borrow a trailer from a friend, Thanks Jen and Chad! We have used it a few times already, and we're leaving for another ride in a few minutes. :)

Joe and I were very proud of ourselves last night. We rode our bikes all the way up to Kincaid park. That might not sound like much, but for those of you who have pulled a 20 pound trailer with a 35 pound kid inside going up a 3mile hill, all with the wind in your face... it's not an easy thing to do. (This year I am pulling Isaac, I got the heavy kid, Joe got the easy one ;) And this was only our 2nd ride of the year. That is quite an accomplishment, even if I say so myself!

Presenting the Class of 2021!

Today my baby sister Jamie graduated from Kindergarten. There was a ceremony where the class walked (very slowly) into the classroom to Pomp and Circumstance. It was very cute to see them walk, "right, together. left together" hehe :)

Then they sang 2 songs that they had learned throughout the year. After their performance each child stood up and told their 3 favorite memories from their kindergarten year. That is what is decorated on their little yellow headbands.

After each student received their certificate of graduation, the parents read their kid's advice for the incoming kindergartners. Some of them were very funny. Others very classic, but overall advice we all could follow.

"Good luck standing in line and being quiet"

"Don't talk during Journal time"

"Listen"
"Be Respectful"

Then Ms. Tami (I'll get to her in a minute) presented the future class of 2021! Amazing to think what life will be like 12 years from now. Congratulations Jamie Rose! I love you! It's hard to believe you will be in 1st grade next year.

PS: There were lost of tears today. Mostly for joy, seeing their cute 6 year old's achieving so much and finishing their first year of school. But some tears of sadness to see Ms. Tami's wonderful teaching career coming to a close.

Now about Ms. Tami.... Tami Phelps is Jamie's Kindergarten teacher. She has been teaching at Denali Montessori school for the past 21 years. Both Jessica and I were in her 1st, 2nd,3rd grade class way back when she first started teaching. And now after teaching Jamie, twenty years later, she is retiring.

Ms. Tami is an amazing person! She was my absolute favorite teacher. After my 3rd grade year she moved to teaching kindergarten. I would hurry and finish my work for the week so I could go back and help in her class. I did that all through 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Then when I was a senior in High School I had "early release" so I would then go back and help in her class at least once a week. Over the years I became very close friends with Ms. Tami. She is, like I said, and amazing person. I have learned so much from her over the years. I am very sad to see her leave Denali. But I am very happy she is taking the opportunity to pursue her career in art. I wish you all the best Ms. Tami. You will be missed very much! Congratulations on your retirement! We love you!

Our Newest Family Member

Almost eleven weeks ago our newest baby boy was born. Jacob David Mason was born on February 25th at 6am. Even though both Joe and I have dark hair, eyes and skin (well at least I have dark skin) our little Jacob has Red Hair, Blue eyes and very white skin. He is the sweetest little baby ever! His big brother Isaac, just loves him to pieces.

Isaac always wants to hold him...

"My hold him!" (he doesn't say I yet)

And he always asks about his baby brother every morning when he wakes up...

"Mommy, where's Jacob?"

"He's sleeping in his crib"

"Oh, My go see him!"

We are so excited to have our new baby boy!

I want to play too!

Hello Everyone,
So for the past few months I have really enjoyed visiting my friend's and family's blogs. It's fun to read about what's going on in their lives and seeing all the fun pictures of their kids. A while back someone told me I should start my own blog, but I didn't think it was anything I would want to do. But now that I am not watching kids (except my own) all day, I thought I might have time to keep up a blog page. It looks like a lot of fun showing off my two adorable boys and getting to design my own pages. Plus it's a good way to keep in touch with people who are living sooo far away (Sis, Stacia, you guys really need to come back to Alaska) So anyways, I decided... I want to play too! I hope everyone enjoys it! Maybe I'll do better with this than my facebook page.