Next Year? Already?

Random Picture of Shawn overseeing Brytini getting ready for a pig show...

I have been thinking a lot about next year, and I have to say that I feel like this would be the perfect time for me to stay home with the boys and spend time taking care of things there. (Ok, I admit this happens every year.)

The school year is winding down. Slowly. But before we know it, it will be summer. And then before we know it, we will be back at school. But I wish it weren't so.

So, what is keeping us from being able to do it?

Ok, so Shawn got a pretty good raise this year when he went to teach in Liberty Hill. That is a great blessing that we have used to pay off a lot of our remaining debts. So we are almost done with those, except for our cars, of which there are many.

We have 4 cars. Someone say it with me: "WHY?" Well, there is a valid use for each one of them. Just ask Shawn. The white truck is a farm truck used to feed cows. The Suburban is just in case we all go somewhere together. The little car is for good gas mileage, and the gray truck is the other every-day vehicle. Right now the Suburban needs an alternator, or possibly just a new battery.

The only thing is, we are paying on all 4 cars. And will be til next year sometime. So that stinks.

But even so, I bring home about a relatively small amount of our monthly income. And that is due in part to me working in a lower-paying school, and partly due to the fact that Day Care comes right out of my check before I see it.

We do get some financial assistance since we are foster parents to help pay for all the needs kids have. So that helps.

So, my idea is that we would save on Day Care money, and I would be free and flexible to meet our family's needs, whenever and wherever. And soon enough we'll be done with car payments. Wouldn't that be great?

I think so!

I'm Baaaaack!

Hello again, faithful followers (Ahem, mom:) Just kidding, I don't think she even reads this, so that brings the total to somewhere probably in the very low single digits.

But I don't mind... I do this mainly for myself, but for those of you who are wondering why I even keep this thing up if I don't ever write on it, it is because I still like to go back and read some stuff about what our lives were like so long ago :)

So, thinking about that has made me decide to get back on here regularly again. I have been blog-stalking lots of fun people lately and I love that they have a record of all the little things that make them and their families who they are.

So, welcome back to me :)

Ashilee

Well, Ashilee left for Houston on Friday. She is to be gone for 3-6 months... Kind of crazy, the way the whole thing happened. It has been over a month since the fire, and her caseworker (and supervisor, etc.) decided finally to go ahead and have Ashilee complete a program in Houston to maybe help her with some coping skills. She's been through a lot in her young life.

Also, her parents gave up their rights last month, right around the same time as the fire. So they are legally free for adoption now. The only thing now is that we have to wait until she gets back so that we can wait the 6 month waiting period required before finalizing adoptions. We don't know if we can go ahead and finalize with Brytini or if we have to wait and do them together.

The one good thing is that we still get to keep in touch with letters and phone calls. Plus, as her caseworker pointed out, Ashilee has a place to go back to, unlike a lot of kids in her situation. So pray for Ashilee, and for the kids whose future is even more uncertain. With foster care, there is always a level of uncertainty, even for her...

It's been a while

The cutest little boy to ever start Preschool!


Well, it's only been about 6 months since I wrote on here... oops. School is in again, we are finishing our first 6 weeks up this week. I have to get grades done by Monday at noon I think. Yahoo.

Anyway, Bryce is in Pre-K 3 now. That is Pre-K for 3-year-olds here in Lometa. Henry is in the same little house as him in the daycare side. It is right on the same property as the school, so we are all close this year. Thinking about switching things up next year somehow. More later on that.

Henry is 19 months now and he wants to be stuck to me like glue all the time lately. If he's not doing that he is following Bryce around and playing cars with him.

Ashilee and Brytini started back at Lometa this year, and they seem to be doing well. Brytini is in 3rd grade, Ashilee is in 7th.

Today we have a case manager coming out to our house to see the girls. This is our new agency case manager and I have to say that so far I have not been impressed. She is brand new, and we are being switched from someone with a lot of experience, so that kind of stinks. Oh well.

Before I forget, here is a list I was inspired to write by a girl I knew in High School. On her myspace, she had her list, here is mine:

25 things I love at 25:

1. Shawn, my prince charming of 5 years
2. Bryce: the bravest 3-year-old. He got a shot today and simply said “ow.” That was it.
3. Henry: 18 months and loves his “bubba”
4. Ashilee: 12, but try to convince her of that 
5. Brytini: 8 years old; loves Guitar Hero, specifically “Hit me with your best shot!”
6. my front porch-it’s peaceful and fun to watch the kids play
7. being in a small town-most people know me, even if I don’t know them (My father-in-law is the judge after all)
8. the library- I just discovered our local (20 miles away) library, and I love taking the kids there… Free fun!
9. sunglasses
10. dark red paint in my den… and brown in the living room…
11. Thrift stores
12. having summers and holidays with family since I’m a teacher
13. internet forums, they are really interesting when you are researching a decision on almost anything!
14. getting snail mail from friends
15. pepperoni pizza, original crust
16. cool weather (NOT cold)
17. formal dresses and a reason to wear them
18. Dr. Pepper
19. West Highland White Terriers
20. Pam, my sister
21. Brandy, now has a 1-year-old and a newborn, and still takes time to call me
22. Kristen, getting through another hurricane, but as always the best!
23. my DSLR camera
24. traveling
25. the 5 minutes between classes

Update on kids

Well, I had to cancel my Glamour Photo Shoot... Oh well, just didn't have enough interest and I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff just for a couple of people. I would have lost money on that deal.

But I have senior pictures lined up for next Thursday, and a photo session on Saturday in San Saba. Then I have some Sweet 16 pics to do on the 26th. So I think we'll be having a lot of fun by May!

Henry is almost walking on his own now. He took about 7 or steps yesterday, before he tripped. He only had one shoe on so that edge of the shoe made him lose his balance. He is so cute! And he is really happy, just like Bryce.

Bryce is even more independent now and he has a mind of his own! He'll tell me to "Say mark set go, mom." And if I say it wrong he will let me know it. He'll say "Don't say that, ma!" When I do say it, he pushes his firetruck as fast as he can through the house like he is racing. And he also tells me to "go faster, ma!" when I'm driving, or he'll ask me "Are you racing?" He gets that from watching Cars!

Brytini is reading Charlotte's Web right now, along with some other books. She is the bookworm right now, and Bryce is definitely imitating her... She is hyper as always, but she is doing pretty well in school. We just have to make sure that we remind her to get her homework out and actually do it :)

Ashilee doesn't have any extracurricular activities going on right now since basketball ended a while back. So things are pretty relaxed. She is looking forward to the summer, as we all are!

Here is a picture of the kids a couple weeks ago at the park:

Spring Break Corpus Christi

We had a great Spring Break visiting down in Corpus! We left town Friday afternoon and headed to San Antonio for the night. We got to eat at the Rainforest Cafe there and that was a lot of fun! They have lifelike animals all over the place and about every 10 minutes they "come to life." The first time Bryce saw the gorilla start jumping around he nearly jumped out of his seat. Poor baby, it was so cute, though!

The next day we went to the zoo and got some cool pics there. We rented a wagon for Henry and Bryce, but Bryce preferred to pull the wagon "for myself, Mom" Apparently he is a big boy now and we better not forget it! :)

Ashilee pulled them some, too, and helped carrying Henry when he didn't want to be in the wagon anymore! Brytini liked looking at all the animals and she even got to put a bird on her shoulder in one of the bird areas. All four of them fed the fish, too. It was a lot of fun.

From there, we headed to Corpus Christi to spend 6 days. We went to the Texas State Aquarium, we swam in the ocean, and we visited the mall a couple of times. The girls spent one night with my mom while Shawn and I went on a late night cruise. It was nice, but wow, you could feel every pitch and roll, as they called it. Luckily neither of us got seasick or anything! We were out for about 6 hours.

Alas, now it is back to school...

Photography Dreams

Well I got my business cards in the mail yesterday, and I had a lot of fun passing them out to people at school today. I had several people mention they'd like to get some pictures done, so now I need to follow up on that and get them some information. I think since I'm just starting out that I don't want to charge too much so we are both getting something great out of the deal :) I just need to cover gas and expenses of printing of course :)

And April 5 I set a date to do some glamour shots at our house. So I need to get a background, some boas and glamourous fabrics for costumes, and some bling jewelry. I'm excited to get started!

New Header

Ok, my header has finally gotten a picture... Bryce's expression is so cute, and we couldn't help but crack up when we saw what finger he was holding up! :) (By the way, Shawn took this picture!)

Starting a business

I am researching what it would take to open a photography business, and I am planning on trying it out this summer! So if I can get some people to take a chance and hire me, I will be making a little money off of photography! That is exciting, I just hope I can hit the ground running. The only problem I see is living in the middle of nowhere. But maybe with the right advertising that won't be a problem. I don't mind travelling, after all. If it looks like I could make some money, I might be able to jump in full-time and try to make a go of it! I have been scouring photographers' websites and looking at printing services online. I'm still looking into startup costs right now... Business cards, website hosting and setting up my own domain name (www.diamondlphotography.com?), flyers, a copy of photoshop, etc... And maybe a lens or two. We've got a couple of good ones so far.

Thank you Mom!

Well my mom is leaving today after being at our house a whole week! She kept all four kids by herself while Shawn and I went to San Antonio for four days. And not only that but she bought us all kinds of groceries and even left fully cooked meals in the freezer!! Thank you, Mom!

The San Antonio Stock Show was fun, although we spent more time doing things other than the stock show. We went ice skating, we saw a movie, we visited the Alamo, and we braved a mirror maze. We had a lot of fun :)

I definitely missed everyone, though. When I got home Henry motioned for me to come get him and then when I put him down he screamed. Poor baby. I had just stopped by the house to drop off formula on the way back to school. I had to go put in a few more hours before I could come home. Today is school as normal, darn it. The picture is of all 6 of the kids who showed from Star.