Life as a single mom

Single mom's are the most amazing women on this earth.

I've thought this well before I've ever had to partake in single parent child-rearing for 10 days; but I had to put those words down to let all those women (and you know who you are) know how much I greatly admire them.

Jason headed out to Colorado last week on a hunting trip with my brother-in-law and two nephews. I think it is actually the longest Jason and I have probably been away from each other, let alone him being away from the kids for an extended period of time. I laugh at how when people ask me if I missed him, my response directly goes to-"the kids did".

I managed well while he was gone; I will never proclaim to be that "supermom" who feels the need to be with her kids 100% of the time. Nor do I have the patience of a saint; that's where Jason comes into the parenting picture (o.k., I guess that's not his only contribution):). He's an amazing father-and we rely on each other in different parenting aspects which is why we both love raising our kids together. The help I received while Jason was gone was much appreciated, and much welcomed as a break for me; whether I was working or at school it's still a mental break from child-rearing 24-7.

He's had this trip planned for quite some time which in turn had given me some planning time of my own: once my in-laws agreed to watch the kids for a weekend, I took the opportunity to go visit an old friend I went to college with. The weekend was cut short by a 20-50 page research paper due in my IT Admin course; nonetheless, I had a wonderful time catching up with my friend for the short while I was there.

Melissa is a single mom of a 3 year old, she's a faculty member of her alma mater in the Physical Education department; she specializes in Pedigogy which I believe involves defining curriculum and giving future teachers the real tools they need to go out into the teaching world. She managed to earn her Masters in the foothills of the Wyoming mountains, while spearheading some amazing educational and extra-curricular programs into the Indian Reservation school she taught on out there-and continues to teach online. She did all this while being pregnant, giving birth to, and raising her little girl; some will say it was a choice she made (to become pregnant)-but she'll be the first to point out that she has beaten the statistics given her situation. She hopes to continue to eventually earn a PhD, I assumed it was so she had one more thing to add to her Vita but she'll tell you "it's just so I can be called Dr. Sprain".

While all these benchmark achievements are amazing, it's her love for life and how she continually educates those around her that make her remarkable. There is not one conversation I have with her, that I don't walk away with a greater understanding for another person's point of view-and not just an opinion, a validated point of view that makes me realize how fortunate I am in many senses. Relationships, politics, children; those are just the many areas she has either supported me when needed; or proved to be devil's advocate to bring me back down to reality-which the reality is that I am so blessed for all that I have. God dealt me a pretty good hand in comparison to her, and look at the lemonade she made with her lemons.

Thank you Melissa for being such an amazing friend, while it was a short stint for me at UW-LaCrosse, all things happen for a reason; and that reason for me-was you.

Old Friends

Last week we organized a meet up of a bunch of friends from high school, not everybody could make it-but those that did had a really great time. It's hard to describe high school friends, as you leave high school and move out into the "real" world you in a sense move on from those friends. You acquire friendships based on where you are at in that point of your life: single and living it up, married w/ out kids, or married w/ children. What you don't realize is that you never really move on from those friends; it is actually one of the few constants in your life-you know that those friends you had way back when-are exactly the same as you remember them, and the only thing you have to talk about are all those careless but wonderful things you did as a teenager going into adulthood. For a few short hours you let go of the worries of today, and just remember a "simpler" time and enjoy each other's company. And realize that while we all change, our circumstances change, outlooks change, we are essentially the same person we've always been deep down.

Just including the girls above, we have 17 children and are expecting 2 more-it's crazy to think how all our lives have changed in just 10 short years!

Fall is here

Here's Alex modeling one of his best pieces of artwork yet. He's officially completed a month of school, and he loves it. His teachers say his "strengths" are coming to cuddle with them every once in a while, and that he's adapted to preschool extremely well. His weakness, he's having a hard time not interrupting when he has something to say (not really a surprise considering he's 3), so we'll work on that one.

We've already made our annual trip to Little Farmer, which the kids had a great time seeing the animals, pumpkins, going on the hayride, and best of all-the carmel apples. Hard to believe Fall is here, but earlier nightfall and brisk yet warmer temps are a good sign. I'm looking forward to Halloween this year cause Alex will be more into it, and Laura will be able to participate as well.

Sissy is also catching a few milestones, more and more teeth are popping through. And I decided to cut her bangs a little, hey I know how much a ponytail hurts my head all day-I couldn't imagine how it felt on her little head. So we can still get it in a pony, or leave it down and it's not drowning in her eyes. Here's my little multitasker: purses and loaders. . . . A girl's dream, right?!