FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOLLOW UP

Well I went to the bus stop to wait for my kids at 3:54 this afternoon. And the bus did not show up, and it did not show up, still not showing up....okay finally at like 4:08 it showed up. And off the bus bounced all of my kids!!! WAHOOO!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so, they made it home, but Rylie does not like school, she cried the whole walk home, apparently, she misses me, AWWWW:-) I could not get anything out of her, she made friends, she liked her teacher, she had fun playing, yet she was still crying. It BROKE MY HEART!!!!! She just kept saying, "I wanted you there!" I did not plan on this, she was SOO excited for school to start she was just bouncing off the walls, for the last 2 weeks. And she is my outgoing one! But know, she wants mom there, which makes me feel good that she still loves me, but broke my heart. I am hoping that the first day was a little scary, but she will get used to being away from mommy.

I have been having second thoughts all night about my job as a stay at home mom, maybe it makes things like school, and such harder on the kids when the time comes, I mean they have NEVER been away from me, unless I was in the same building(i.e. church, park, etc)So I am confused, and feel bad, maybe I have not been doing what is best for them their whole lives?? Help, I need some words of wisdom!

And I am hoping she adjusts to school, cause I can not handle this emotional roller coaster!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PART 2

So Rylie started school today. And I am STRESSED! I am sure she will be okay, but her teacher did not leave me with good feelings when I dropped her off. I made sure her teacher knew she would be taking the bus home, and she said let me make sure I have all her information right. So she walks over to her paper and says, okay she will be going home on bus 308, I

said no, she is going home on bus 302. And she says no, it is 308. I said NO, it is 302, she says there is no 302, you must be mistaken. So this goes on back and forth for a few minutes, and she says okay lets go down to the office and take care of this. So we go to the office, and the ladies know me, so her teacher starts in about how she is confused about this bus system (she came from a different school, and apparently they did it different there) she says if they come on bus 308, shouldn't she go home on 308. And they said no, 308 is the kindergarten bus, then they turn look at me, an say yes, your kids go home on bus 302, DUH!!! So she starts going off about how is she supposed to know what to do with 30 kindergartners. So she takes off to go back to her classroom. And I followed her (I was not about to leave until I got her to understand so my daughter would make it home okay). I told her, all you have to do with my daughter is take her out to the bus and her brother and sister will pick her up and make sure she makes it onto the right bus. We are both really cranky by this time and she says yes, fine, yours will make it home on the right bus. So I finally leave, AAUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! SO I am hoping Rylie gets home alright. I KNOW that as soon as Kaiden and Makayla get to her she will be alright. And the rule is NOBODY gets on the bus unless all three of you are together. So I am praying she will make it home, and not onto some strange bus going God knows where! Which has been known to happen more than once down here, the bus system is screwy. So why send them on the bus? Cause their school is like 10 miles one way. And I have to drive out there 3 times a day (so that would be 60 miles a day, 5 days a week, for 300 miles a week), and with gas prices and my gas guzzler, nope can't do it! I would go and watch them today and follow the bus,. which is what we generally do the first time they take the bus. I did this morning with Kaiden and Kayla. But I told my friend I would pick her kids up from the school cause she has to work. And they go to a different school then my kids. So I have to pick them up at 3:30, and then my kids get off the bus at our house at 4:00. So in general it works out great. But this first couple days are stressful for me! But we will be fine.

SHE IS SOOOO EXCITED FOR HER FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

HER AND HER TEACHER, MRS. THORNBERG (NOT TOTALLY IMPRESSED WITH HER)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Well my kids started back to school today, well Kindergarten does not start till tomorrow, so Rylie starts tomorrow. But Kaiden and Makayla went back today. They were so excited!

KAIDEN STARTED 4TH GRADE

WITH HIS TEACHER MRS. THURSTON
AND MAKAYALA STARTED 2ND GRADE

WITH HER TEACHER MRS. BEHUNIN

TO JOIN IN MY REDNECKNESS

Here are the YouTube's that made it from our fair and demolition derby. Check them out they are fun. I would have just posted the video themselves here, but I am not that smart:-)

THIS IS OUR FRIEND TIM-"LLOYD CHRISTMAS"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XBh_qBqWcQ


AND NO THIS GUY DID NOT WIN:-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS23ONoWlgc

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A REDNECK..

When you go to your county fair, and when you purchase the tickets for the demolition derby, you are totally unaware of the 'red-neck Olympics' that will be going on in between heats, (but in the back of your mind, know they will be there, and you plan on enjoying them) :-) So yeah, our fair has been going on for the past week, and we have had some good times with friends at the fair this year. But alas, no pictures, cause my memory card is full, and Wal-Mart is to far of a drive on today's gas prices to go more than the twice a month shopping excursions. So last night we decided to take the kids and go to the demolition derby. It was very fun, and during the heats we had the 'red neck' Olympics, yes, I could have definitely done without them but they were a belching contest, armpit farts, toilet seat horseshoes, and tire rim frisbee. All very enjoyable, LOL (not really!). And we also had the rock crawl. Our good friend Tim (oh, I mean Lloyd Christmas)took his van over it again this year, he did it 2 years ago, talk about "everybody dies famous in a small town"!, he has been on Youtube, and all over the Internet, his pictures and been in the paper, and so on, all for taking his van over the rock crawl, my opinion is he has a death wish or something. But I love him! And he made it safely over it again this year, twice in fact! So anyways back to my redneck story. The winner of the rock crawl, a jacked-up Toyota pick up with huge tires, won with 3.1 seconds, anyways he went over it like 4 times, with the final time being his winning time, and on his winning crawl he was flying over and beer cans and a bag of potatoes flew out of his bed!!! We were laughing at him so hard...damn redneck!

So the demolition derby was the high light of our weekend, and we had a blast, but I always leave feeling more redneck than before:-)

YUM-YUM!!!

One of my favorite smells in the world is rain in the desert(right up there with newborn babies and a baby right out of the tub). And lately I have been enjoying this southern Utah weather. It is monsoon season( I am not sure if that is what you really call it, but that is what my father-in-law calls it, so...) it has been stormy down here, and the desert storms are AMAZING!!! I LOVE it here!!!! The past months weather has been SO fun! While I was cleaning up after the kids' dinner tonight, the rain started coming down in sheets, it was awesome! The kids all ran out to play in the rain, and I went out to watch and play with them. And it smells so good!!! I am sorry, this is rambley, but it makes me so happy:-) God's beauty down here AMAZES me everyday!! I LOVE living down here!!! I wish I have had my camera with me when I have been driving this last month, but I keep forgetting it at home, so I have not been able to capture, the beauty of 'monsoon' season, but I will try, I am sure it is not over, I hope it is not over yet:-)

SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?

Is life EVER going to calm down or be normal again?!?!?!?!? Things have been so crazy lately. I have been so stressed out, and well you know what happens when I get stressed out, I EAT!!! A LOT!!! Yeah, I have put on about 15 pounds in the last two months, AUGHHHHH!! And yes, I have tried to diet, but it just does NOT work!!! So anyhoo, that is not what this post is about. It is about the stress of my life, and the updating of it. The kids have been on summer break for over 2 months now, and they go back to school on Tuesday of next week. I actually finished all our back to school shopping. last weekend, wahoo, look at me go!!!:) I have three starting school next week, Kaiden will be going into 4th grade, Kayla into 2nd, and Ry will be starting Kindergarten. So during the day I will just have Nic and Will. I am looking forward to that, but I am also going to be missing the other kids. And I am definitely going to be missing the money of summer. I have been watching 14 kids (including my 5) during the days this summer, and now most are going back to school. And lets just say we were stupid, and adjusted our budget to the new income by buying two new vehicles, I KNOW it was dumb! And so now, it looks like I am going to have to go get a job out of the house, AAAAAHHHH unheard of! SO I am on a job hunt:( I was still supposed to have 3 kids, but 2 (they are sisters) of their moms called, and she is taking a voluntary layoff at her job cause they are so slow, and she was not even getting her hours the last month (I think I watch them a total of 5 days in the last two months). So now I am down to 1 baby 3 days a week. Which is nice cause I will have time with my boys, but is very hurtful to our financial life. So I am going to be deep in prayer about some more kids, or SOMETHING to happen! I KNOW God is going to provide for us, it is just so stressful! Also to top it off, our bank account has been suffering from fraud the last month. First it was my debit card number, so I filed a claim against those charges, received a new card and card number, thinking everything was fixed. Until yesterday, when I noticed MORE unknown charges on my account, I called the company directly, and he gave me my bank account number(not my debit number this time, but my actual bank account), and told me the charges were for my husband Chuck Tobin. HELLO?!?!?!?!? So I got that taken care of, he agreed to close that account, and refund me the money. And then I called my bank and they agreed to, if I bring my account positive(cause there was not money in our account for these charges!), she would not charge me the insufficient fees. So that was actually nice of my bank, I was happy with them for the first time EVER! So I have lost $900 a month, and Thom is looking at losing $300 a month because of government cutbacks. His job may be looking at getting rid of some recruiters, due to the cutbacks, but luckily Thom is number 1 on his team, so we should be okay, as far as losing jobs is concerned. So I have been MAJORLY stressed out about our finances. Thom is going to be going to Afghanistan in the next couple months, but it will only be for a brief time, maybe 2 weeks, he will be going as security to his friend john Smith, from the Smith and Bushman morning show! John is going to be doing a live week long broadcast from Afghanistan. But it is still a war zone, and it still scares me. Thom is SOOO excited to go!

And I seem to be having more mental problems lately than normal, and I ma not sure why that is. I don't mean that to be funny. I mean from my stroke, I have had problems thinking and reasoning things out (some 'things' don't line up right anymore, since my stroke, which has caused some problems in how and why I think). Which of course causes me to have more arguments with people, so I am not actually getting along too well with most people in my life, BLAH! I feel like...gosh I do not even know, but me and Thom have been at it lately. And he just does not seem to understand that it is not me, it is this 'disability' that I have.

And Will has been teething for over a month straight, AUGHHH!! He has been so miserable! Poor baby, he has a mouthful now though:) Speaking of Will, I brought him home during the older kids VBS and it was just me and him, I was working on our bank account on the computer in our room, and he was in the living room playing with the puppy (yes, the same one that is on his way to the pound) he was screaming and yelling and just playing together. And then it became quiet. So I went to check on him, and this is where I found him....He was just hanging out in his bath tub, playing with his bath toys, oh and the toothpaste the kids must have left on the floor(they do that often, why? cause they do not listen when I tell them they can't leave the tube on the floor, and then everybody blames it on somebody else! You know how it goes!)

This is Gavin, the little baby I will still have after all the other kids go back to school. He is being sweet here today, and fell asleep, eating his bottle. Yes I know his blanket here is pink, I am not quite sure why his mom sent him that one that day:-)

And these pictures are a couple weeks late, but better late then never:) Makayla taught herself how to ride her bike with no training wheels. I know she is kinda too old to just now be learning, but she was too scared, and then just kept practicing with her friend Tatum this summer, and she finally got over her fears and is doing great now:)






Actually things do not seem as bad when you sit and write it down, a lot of things were not even worth writing about once I got into it, so yeah, less rambling and venting for you!:-) Thanks for listening, and I am feeling better, and I KNOW God is going to take care of all my issues.