Broken System

I try to refrain from doing too much complaining on this blog, but I am really frustrated with something in particular. Child support. Now I know that some people really need and rely on child support, and I'm not knocking that. I also think child support is necessary and more fair when one biological parent has majority custody. I just think that the system is broken. Here's a little back story:

When Matt and Kylee's mom were divorced, their pay was quite similar, and since there is a 50/50 custody split, there was no child support owed. Fast forward several years - Kylee's mom decided to open a case with Health and Welfare to have child support recalculated (I keep trying to tell myself that this has nothing to do with the fact that we won the educational custody case earlier this year, but I am positive that was a contributing factor... especially since she told us she would delay opening the case if we let Kylee attend kindergarten at the school near her house).

Needless to say, we were less than thrilled when she told us she was requesting the recalculation. If she truly needed the money to support Kylee, that would be one thing. But the truth is that Kylee's mom and stepdad make more than double our household income. What's the problem, you might ask? Well, child support is only calculated on the biological parent's income. That means that Kylee's stepdad's income doesn't count in the calculation, even though he is the primary breadwinner in their household (Kylee's mom is a school teacher). So here we are, basically a one income household, and we are being ordered to pay Kylee's mom monthly child support. $250 a month in child support to be exact. We are fighting the dollar amount because we don't believe the salary for Kylee's mom included in the calculation was correct, but we will still owe a substantial amount of money each month (I'm thinking it will end up being between $175-$200 per month). At least that is substantial for our family... We already make sacrifices so I can stay home, so trying to find that extra couple hundred dollars a month won't be easy (although we'll make it work!).

What's even more frustrating, though, is hearing how often Kylee's mom and dad go out, hearing about how almost every week Kylee's mom takes the entire family to the movies or the aquarium or Big Al's or somewhere else that isn't cheap, hearing about how their nanny does all the laundry and helps with the cleaning and cooking, hearing about how Kylee's mom is taking the entire family (plus the nanny) to Florida over Christmas and how the plane tickets alone are over $6,000, etc.... Meanwhile, I'm cloth diapering, canning as much free fruit as I can, buying birthday and Christmas presents at garage sales, etc. But we are being ordered to pay child support. I'd say that's one broken system.

Harvest Time!

Matt's grandparents in Inkom have a large garden and an orchard with probably about 40 trees. There are all different kinds of trees, but most of them are apple trees. This last weekend we joined up with Matt's extended family to pick apples and make apple cider. The cider is sweet and oh so delicious. We got to take some home and I'm trying to figure out the best way to make it last as long as possible. I'm considering either freezing some or water bath canning some so we can enjoy it longer than this week!

Of course we had to eat some of the apples we picked! Tyler's first tooth popped through this weekend, and he loved gumming on his apple. We also had an apple tasting with 14 of the varieties of apples found in the orchard. The favorite apple was Honeygold (different from Honeycrisp). Matt and I are planning on planting fruit trees in the spring, and will plant a Honeygold if we decide to plant an apple tree! Apple pie bites and a caramel apple bar were also part of the weekend festivities :-)

One of Kylee's favorite activities was playing with the leaves. I took the first picture of her below, then she requested I take another and did this silly pose. What a silly girl!

Tractor rides were another favorite. I think Matt makes a handsome farmer :-)

Overall it was a busy, fun, yummy weekend and it went by too quickly. Matt is already planning a trip back next week to try his hand at hunting. Fingers crossed he gets a deer!

Zoo Boise Spooktacular

My friend and co-worker Ashlee sent me an invitation last week for a free entrance to the "preview night" of the Zoo Boise Spooktacular - a non-spooky, interactive fall/Halloween adventure at the zoo. Matt was working and Kylee was at her mom's, so I invited Mandi and her family to join me and Tyler.

The zoo had some great decorations.

The activities were well planned and well executed. The kiddos made paper bag jellyfish ghosts, got to touch a snake and hold a cockroach, and got their faces painted. We saw monkeys and bats and the zebras, had a glow dance party, and watched a professional pumpkin carver. It was such a fun evening! 

Gallery Wall

We have officially lived in our home for a year and a half and I am finally getting stuff on the walls! It has taken me a while to decide what I wanted to do, because I decided early on that I wanted my decor to be meaningful. After looking at tons of pictures to get ideas, I decided I wanted to do a gallery wall in my dining room. I identified some key pieces that I wanted to use and drew out layout ideas on graph paper (to scale). Once I had figured out what I wanted for the most part, I traced each object on butcher paper and taped it to the wall so I could see how the finished wall would look before I started hanging everything. After a little tweaking, I decided I was satisfied and went to work! I LOVE the finished product. I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. Here's a little detail of the objects on my wall (in addition to family pictures!).

1.  Idaho Pallet Map. I love Idaho. It is where I grew up, where Matt and I met, and where we have chosen to raise our family. BJ picked up a free pallet for me, Matt pulled the boards off the pallet, then BJ trimmed them down for me. After a light sanding, I stained the pallets with some stain I had on hand and mod podged on a map of Idaho that Matt's dad printed for me. I am in love with this.

2.  Hudson Street Sign. My friend and former boss Kris sent me this picture. I thought it was a perfect addition :-) 

3. Family Theme. I had read online of people having an annual family theme - something for the family to focus on for the year. I loved the idea, and as decided our theme for the year would be "Let us oft speak kind words to each other." We thought this theme was especially appropriate with Kylee starting school and knowing how kids can say unkind things sometimes. The plan is to incorporate the theme into Family Home Evening each week and work into conversations at other times throughout the week. 

4. The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Because family is so important. 

 5.  Wooden decor from Honduras.  Matt served his mission in Honduras and brought this home.

6.  Artwork Display. I wanted somewhere to display Kylee's artwork/schoolwork. I knew I wanted something that would be easy to swap out the pictures, so I came up with this idea - I bought a cute frame from Hobby Lobby, added some vinyl lettering to the bottom, and hot glued a clip to the top of the frame. Voila!

 7.  Ship Wheel from the Bahamas. A little momento from our honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas.

8. Monogram Picture Collage. I knew I wanted an "H" on the wall for our last name, but wasn't exactly sure how I planned to decorate it. I showed Kylee several ideas from the internet, and this is the one she picked! My mom's friend cut the H out of MDF for me, and then I just printed out pictures on the computer and mod podged them on. Another thing that I am in love with!

9. Landscape Canvas. Matt and his dad go on a backpacking trip every year. They love it, and it is a fun way for them to spend quality time together. Matt snapped this picture on his backpacking trip this summer, and we both loved it. I just mod podged it on to an extra canvas I had sitting around.

Dear Tyler - [10 Months]

Dear Tyler,

You are ten months old today! And what a month you've had. The biggest excitement of this last month is you learned how to crawl! You can now get pretty much anywhere you want now (although not always as fast as you want). You're even half way decent at crawling up the stairs. Think it's time for mommy and daddy to invest in some baby gates so you don't hurt yourself!

I've also decided that getting you dressed or changing your diaper should be an Olympic sport. You wiggle and roll and fight me, making it SO difficult. Ugh, it is quite the workout!

You love standing up, but that's nothing new! You will pull yourself up on anything you can.

You aren't quite ready to walk yet, but you sure had fun playing with Grandpa!

Just this last week you discovered the dishwasher. Looks like I've gotta start being more careful & keep the dishwasher door closed!

You love "eating" books, but you also love when I read books to you. You usually sit and listen quite well! I'm thinking we might need to get you some new books for your birthday or Christmas.

You've also discovered the door stops & think they are pretty amazing. A door stop can keep you entertained for quite some time! Matchbox cars are another favorite of yours, especially when your sister or dad play with you.

You are still growing so well! You are up to 17.5 pounds and got your fourth haircut this month! You also continue to eat well. You are really loving eating meats - chicken noodle and chicken with vegetables are some of your favorites. About a week and a half ago, your appetite changed a bit though, because you got sick. Poor kiddo - I felt so bad. I think your throat was sore (making it no fun to eat!), but I'm glad that you're finally feeling a little better.

Unfortunately, since you got sick, you haven't been sleeping as well either. You are now waking up once or twice in the night and thinking you need to eat. Let's see what we can do this next month to get back to sleeping through the night, okay? I've been one tired mama lately!

Overall, though, you are such a joy. We love you to pieces.

Love,

Mom