Parents These Days

***Fair Warning:  I'm not talking about anyone in particular or any particular group of people, just ranting about my observations in general***

Is it just me, or have many parents just checked out when it comes to school events?  I mean, what's so hard about being engaged in what goes on at your child's school?  I'm seeing so much of this lately.  And before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, I know how busy life is.  I've worked and been a wife and mom for years, but I always made time to be involved.  I'll be honest, what I see most...parents don't want to take the time or be bothered with giving money, time, or their input.  They only choose to complain when they don't like things.  My response to that?  Don't complain if you're not willing to help resolve things.

This year has been a rough year for my daughter's school.  It started out horribly, and things have been an adjustment.  But through it all, I thought I would see more "pulling together" from our families, and I'm just not seeing that.  I think there's been even more withdrawal from parents this year.  And it's not just our school, my friends in Dallas have said the same thing.

Now I will say that our annual carnival was this last weekend and we had a great turnout!  I missed seeing a lot of faces, but overall I was pleased with how many families came and had a good time.

I'm sure a lot of this is coming from being in PTA...I see more parents complain but aren't willing to do anything about it.  It just makes me sad.  Sure, there are plenty of times I don't want to go to a meeting, I don't want to volunteer, I'm tired of sending money, but it's for my daughter.  To give her the best years in school as possible with as many extra opportunities as possible.  And it's not just school, it's outside activities too.  I know so many parents who don't have their kids involved in anything.

Hear me out before you attack me :)

I know better than most how expensive things are and how poor our economy is these days.  Budgets are tight.  We've paid the big bucks in the past for competitive cheer, but not this year.  We couldn't afford it.  Now if her dad would help pay for stuff every now and again... we chose to do a cheaper activity this year.  Soccer.  It's a great league and only cost $75 with the uniform provided.  Now add in about $50 extra for socks and cleats, a ball and we've spent less than 1 month of cheer!  In fact, she's played 2 seasons and we've bought 2 pair of cleats and that's still less than 1 month of cheer!  And that's 8 months of playing soccer!!!

Need something even cheaper...go to the park!  But instead, what do I see day in and day out?  Video games, nothing, TV.  Nothing makes me madder than when I hear a friend/parent tell me they can't sign their kid up for something because they can't afford to, then turn around and talk about a stupid xbox game they just bought!  Really?  That game costs almost as much as I'm paying for soccer each season.  I've seen the prices of Call of Duty.  Or they constantly go out to eat.  Ummm, eat at home for a month, put the money you normally spend in a jar, and I guarantee at the end of the month you could sign your kid up for something reasonable.

I just feel like so many parents have lost sight of what it means to be a parent.  I, by no means am a perfect parent!!!  I spend time on the computer, I spend time away doing PTA business, I spend time with friends.  But I do try to give my daughter my attention first, try to get her involved first, think of her first before I make plans with friends or a vacation.  It's definitely a balancing act, but I'm just so tired of seeing all the things I've been seeing over the last couple of years and it just seems like it's getting worse.

Now, I have to get back to my sweet dog Betsy, who is currently having puppies :)  I can't wait to see Caroline's face when she gets home and sees them!!!

Making the Jump

You might notice that when you visit my blog, Blogger will give you a message that says you are about to be re-directed...don't worry!  I finally made the jump to my own domain.  So now, my new blog address will be

www.murrymayhem.com

I'll be re-designing the look of things too!  Hope you stick around!

Business as Usual

I'm up to my eyeballs {still} getting ready for our school carnival.  So many little details to see to, and nowhere near enough time.  Wow...I always knew working from home or being a stay at home mom was not an easy task, but I didn't realize I'd be just as busy as I was when I worked outside of the home!  It's just a different kind of busy.  Today my munchkin is home sick.  Man, I love just being able to pick her up and not answer to anyone why I'm leaving work or won't be in the next day because she's sick.  It caused me so much stress!

Today we're just taking it easy.  I'm painting canvases and spending time with my girl.  I've also been editing pics, and re-editing some I had new ideas for.  I did some Valentines sessions which turned out super cute!  I thought I'd post just a few!

 Have a great weekend friends!

A Little of This, A Little of That

Just when I think I'm going to get a break and get things all scheduled out, I get swamped again.  Which isn't a bad thing, because I like to be busy.  I do however, hate the things I have to put on the back burner!  So yet again my poor blog and bloggy friends have taken a back seat not to mention my poor house, which does make me sad :(

Can I just say that I LOVE working from home?  I love being able to get to eat lunch with Caroline whenever I want to, run errands whenever I want to, and work at my own pace on the things that I love!  Seeing her face when I pick her up from school everyday, spending time with her in the afternoons, making dinner with her so we can eat when the hubby gets home and not at 7pm makes everything worth it!

Now, me being a little over advantageous and piling a million things on my plate, that makes me a little crazy, haha!  But I do it because I love to and I want to cherish these things while I still can!  

Caroline's school has been planning our Annual Carnival which includes a huge silent auction, and that has me up to my eye balls in details.  So I've been recovering ticket cans, gathering donations, and working on the student part of the auction, which is always a huge hit, so 

I'm hoping I do a good job!

 

Normally the kids help make something from each class, or take a class picture or something similar that includes all the kids from each class.  In years past, they've painted huge potted plant containers, made picture frames they all signed, well, you get the picture.  This year I decided to do canvases that the kids can all sign or paint something on.  Here's a little sneak peek!

Needless to say, I've been quite busy with PTA stuff!  And I love being able to do it!  And you'll be so proud I've even got some posts scheduled!  Thank the Good Lord I'm getting back in the groove!  With all the change that's been going on, I lost myself for a bit there...but I'M BACK peeps!  Or at least I'm pretty sure I am :)

Tis' the Season

Since I'm playing catch up, this post is all things Christmas!  Now that life is slowing down a bit I'm catching up on things and starting to get my blog posts scheduled again!  It seems like Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye this year. 

We had so much fun making ornaments this year, we decided it was glitter all the way!  I think I'm still vacuuming glitter!  We made new wreaths, decorated, and carried out family traditions.

We spent Christmas morning with my family, and had so much fun watching the kids tear into their gifts!  It always cracks me up...they can.not wait until we tell them they can start opening their gifts!  Every year we do 3 gift exchanges.  The adults each draw a name and buy for that person, then we buy a $5 dollar gift and then we make a handmade gift.  The $5 gift and the handmade gift are done as a white elephant exchange where we can steal the gift!  This year the 3 kiddos decided they wanted to do a handmade gift too!  It was really cute to see what they came up with.

Of course we have to have several trees, that's what you get with 2 girls who love to decorate!  We have the one in the living room, Caroline's, the guest bathroom and then the puppies have one {which sits on top of their kennel}!

 

My bestie {from Dallas, who I never get to see} came down for her son's football game at Baylor's Football Stadium, so we got to spend the day with them!  Yay!  We both needed that!  We had such a great time cheering her son's team on, and having our girls play!  We ended with a yummy dinner, hugs and tears!

 

We've had baking parties, friends over, gone to friends and families homes...not a dull moment!  This is also the 1st year that I've been home with Caroline during the Christmas break, unless you count when she was like 4 or 5, but that just seemed so different since she was only in preschool then.  This year was Caroline's 1st year to bake at Baking Day!  She had 2 of her friends come over and we had 3 little bakers this year! 

I've done photo shoots, school parties, Elf on the Shelf duties, cooked and wrapped till I was blue in the face.  But, in the end it's always worth it.  There's more than one reason why...You can go with the whole Holiday spirit, enjoying family and the amazement on your child's face on Christmas morning, or you can go with the birth of our Savior.  Personally, I do both.  Who doesn't love the holidays?  Well, I know there are those people out there who don't, but work with me here, most of us love it!  And I have to admit that this year, even though I was so, so stressed, was one of the best years yet with Caroline.

We weren't so sure the whole Santa thing was gonna stick this year.  She's at the age where her friends are talking about it and she's asking some questions.  We decided we would buy into the whole Elf on the Shelf thing this year in hopes of getting a little more time of Christmas Magic.  Let me tell you, it totally worked!  Hubby and I had so much fun hiding "Sweetie" and watching her little face light up each morning!  

But more than anything, I love what Christmas means.  The birth of Christ!  One of the most precious gifts God has given us!  More than all the holiday fun, it truly is about celebrating that precious little baby that was sent to save us all!  I just can't imagine what Christmas would be without that.