Long and winding road

Staying home with the girls is the most fulfilling job I've ever had. It is also the most challenging and while I may not always 'meet or exceed expectations' I do know that this is precious time, well spent time, and most importantly time to get to know our children. It did get me thinking though, as I do all my mommy things exactly how many jobs I've had. Really, a long road of 'career choices' led me to this place. So, I hope for my girls to some day read this-by no means exhaustive-list and know of all interesting job experiences I've had before settling on mommy (aka personal assistant to the stars)

Bus girl at a truck stop, got to run the cash register one weekend and screwed it up so bad that I was once again known as bus girl
Cashier at hardware store leading to person who counted money in very very tiny safe room
Bar maid in what can only now been seen as a really skimpy uniform
Secretary for a non-profit group(my boss was always taking me out for drinks after her divorce and seriously she had years of handling her liquor whereas I did not)
Answering phones for magazine subscriptions and sending free inappropriate subscriptions to friends
Answering phones for people who ordered coffee through the mail(I had this job for one day)
Working the drive-thru at a credit union
Day care for exceptional children(first job I was officially allowed to nap at)
Bartender in a much more appropriate uniform( I was really really awful at this, I could never remember what went in a drink, learned it was not good to ask a patron if a margarita had vodka in it)
Check encoder at a bank
Counselor at a group home where I saw things like one guy who was always trying to eat his sheets and another who often told a strange story about bodies being buried
Driver for a hotel-this lasted one week, I altered some labels on things to read Days End instead of Days Inn
Hostess at Perkins, I was always screwing up on the seating and the cooks hated me because they thought I was rich...must've been those Goodwill Doc Martens I always wore
Retail store cashier where I was moved to tiny tiny safe room to count money after checking customers through so quickly that I earned the daily prize of free nachos too many times
Overnite counselor at a group home(paid to sleep)
Counselor a children's habilitation center
Counselor at group home again
finished college finally
special education teacher
English speech teacher
got my masters degree
mama!

So as anyone can tell, I learn things the hard way. Maybe the girls will have lists like this or maybe they will know immediately what they want to do and how to do it. Either way is fine with their parents.

we are family

Our daughters are incredibly lucky to have lots and lots of cousins all under the age of nine. There is great love between all of them and it's wonderful to see them together and know they will have each other when we are gone. Some of our cousins we see quite often. Talan and Maddox often come over and spend the day with us..tearing up the house, dancing, singing, fighting...all the fun things that family does. Talan was here when Gretchen took her first steps. He fed Fina her lunch today. Maddox is a free spirit who always comes to join the crowd if there is music or dancing. I got some tears in my eyes last week when Maddox called me Aunt D. People often mistake them all for brothers and sisters because of the strong resemblance and red hair.

We see Ben and Vivian quite a bit also. Gretchen looks up to them and will do whatever they ask her to do. Nana's house becomes Ben and Vivi's when they are in town and the adults don't matter anymore. A few months ago Ben was in the car with us and I found myself filled with delight when I had the chance to go into the gas station to get a coffee with out all the unbuckling and cajoling of bringing everyone along. I came back and he told me that he had gotten Fina to stop crying by giving her a lollipop. I look into the carseat at my 3 month old baby sucking on a dum dum! Ben continues to be quite proud of being able to keep Fina happy and he does. She is lucky to have so many kids around because truth be told she prefers them to adults. Vivi loves to hold her as much as squirmy Fina will allow these days.

We also have Izzy in California who only 3 months older than Gretchen. We don't see her much but she is in many of the stories we tell and her pictures are everywhere in our house.

Ellie and Audrey live close also and Gretchen is glad to have some more girl cousins who treat her like a little doll. I'm sure Fina will join in soon as well.

Enough can't be said about how lovely it is to have our daughters have so many cousins who will grow up with them. Family is always.