School supplies!!

I am amazed at how expensive it is getting to buy school supplies!! I love back to school time because I usually load up on crayons, colored pencils, and markers for our home. My kids love to draw and color. What I don't like is all the money I have to spend. I don't have a list yet for Elizabeth's preschool class, but I tried to assume what I would need for her. So, for 3 kids and what I have for home, I spent....between $300 and $325! I haven't bought Ethan's new lunch box yet either. Now, I did buy Ethan an L.L Bean backpack this year in hopes of it lasting through high school, and I purchased the more expensive supplies with heavy duty notebooks and folders so they will last all well. This year I was able to reuse all of Ethan's folders from last year, his scissors, and his ruler. I was still shocked by the cost of everything I purchased. That didn't include the stuff I already had at home that we needed to buy. This year each child needed to bring 2 20lb packs of copy paper to school. I understand that buy purchasing so much it keeps the costs down for the school, but man oh man! I am grateful for Wal-marts price match guarantee, and their lower prices. I could have saved more buy not buying the nicer supplies, I chose quality over price. I can't imagine what it will be like when we have 4 in regular school. I will have one year where all of our kids will be in one school. I will have kids in K,3,5,8 all at the same time!

So, on top of extra school supplies, we are now charged a fee for the school. $25 PTO fee, and a $75 materials fee for each child! So, we are to bring our checkbooks ready to pay $200 for the boys. Yikes!! Top that off with the $400 I paid for uniforms this year and I am in shock! Thankfully I was able to find some really cute clothes for Elizabeth at the thrift store, and I still plan to shop at their back-to-school event where all kids clothes are $1. School is getting more expensive each year, but I try to tell myself that I'm investing in my children's futures. Education is so important, and we have been abundantly blessed to have a private education at the public charter school. $100 per year is cheap for a top education. CCA is an amazing school, and we couldn't be happier to be accepted into the program. I did have a hard time thinking about dropping $400 the 1st year (or more if the price goes up) for fees when all 4 kids are at CCA.

Ethan and Isaac are both excited about starting activities this year. We are trying to convince them to stick to a recreation swim team rather than Aces so they have the time to focus on school AND activities. Aces is so time consuming, and costs a small fortune as well. Ethan is going to be in 4th grade, and has the opportunity to start band. He goes on Monday to check out the instruments and see which one is a good fit for his body type, but he is excited about possibly playing the trombone. Both boys want to start Chess Club this year, and Ethan wants to check out Geography club too. I think it is going to be a very busy year!

With those thoughts, I am asked a lot why 4 kids. I know these days families chose 1-2 kids max due to cost of raising a child. While the cost of raising a child is increasing, and extremely difficult for a one-income family, it can be done. Our family doesn't have cable tv, we don't eat out for dinner, and we don't take big vacations. Our vacation time/money is spent visiting family that we live so far away from. Our family has never packed up and went on a family vacation where our time wasn't spent with family. For example, when we've gone back to visit Paul's parents in San Diego, we don't sight see at the zoo, Sea World, or Disneyland....we spend our time with Jim and Janet soaking up as much family time as we can. I can guarantee you, those precious moments with family will stick in the kids' minds a  lot longer than a trip to see Shamu. This year I took the kids back to see my mom in Missouri. While it would have been great to go here and there with the kids, we spent our week at the park, their house, and fishing. Once again, I can guarantee the kids will always remember the excitement of catching their first Catfish! This time next week, we will be off (with Paul this time) to Iowa for the Otto family reunion. This time I have planned a few stops along the way for some fun sight-seeing. My hope is to take the kids to the Omaha Zoo and Aquarium, and then to The Living Farm museum in Iowa. Then the rest of the weekend is going to be filled with fun activities with the Otto family. So, while we could drop several grand, and go into debt, to take the kids for some amazing place, we would rather spend our time and money investing in our family relationships with people that won't be here forever. I have another hope to travel out to Arizona this year and spend more quality time with Paul's Grandma. She is an amazing and kind Grandma and Great-Grandma to the kids, and Arizona isn't too far of a drive.

So, is having four children difficult...at times yes! Do I wish I would have stopped at 1 or 2 children....nope! We love having a big family, and while it can be a strain on the finances at times, God is faithful to provide exactly what we NEED, not always what we WANT. Children are a Blessing and gift from God, and Paul and I both wouldn't change our family dynamic for the world.