DH and I are driving up to Arkansas for his assistant's wedding this weekend. We are going a day early to squeeze in some flyfishing and will be riding up and sharing a cabin with his secretary and her hubby. I have a college student coming to stay with the boys while we are gone, but she works on Thurs/Fri (another babysitting job) until 6:30, so I have a girl in the youth group picking the boys up from school and watching them until the "real" babysitter gets here.

Now that I am trying to put EVERYTHING on paper, I see that being a mom is very time intensive and difficult. Not that I never noticed it before, but when you write down meals to fix, bedtime routine, school morning routines, etc. it is alot!! It complicates matters that one DS has Cub Scouts Thursday night and then both DS's have 2 different birthday parties and 2 different times on Saturday. This babysitter will definitely be earning her money!! BTW, any thoughts on how much to pay her (Thurs evening-early Sun morning)?

DH and I will be out of town again in October for a conference, but my mother is coming to keep the boys for that. So much easier---I don't have to worry about planning meals, making sure she understands bedtime, etc. She'll just have it all under control.

I will be working myself to death this week getting the house ready, cooking up meals in advance, and stuff like that getting ready. Hopefully there will be some relaxation in the Arkansas mtns for me along the White River....ahhhh.

By Emdee on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 08:40 pm:

Just curious--where in Arkansas are you going? I live in Northwest Arkansas--Fayetteville, Springdale area and it is just beautiful. We have been to a few weddings in the mountians up here that are just wonderful. BTW, I can only imagine how much work you do as a mom--seeing as I only have one toddler and it seems like a ton! Good luck with the babysitter-I am sure she will enjoy the time just as much as your boys will, and have a great weekend.

By Pamt on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 08:46 pm:

We'll be in Mountain Home in the Bull Shoals Lake area. Ironically, the same place where we went for summer vacation this year. In fact, we are staying at the same cabin I love Arkansas. I think it is one of the most beautiful states and DH and I plan on retiring there or maybe in the Carolinas one day.

We used to be neighbors!! Before we moved to LA, we live in Carthage, MO for 6 years. Do you know where that is? In SW MO on the MO/AR/OK/KS state line area? I sure miss fall in the Ozarks

By Kate on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 09:13 pm:

Flyfishing?!?! You have more in common with Flylady than I thought!

I have no clue how much to pay the sitter, but my random guess is $200. Let's see what everyone else says to see how far off the mark I am. Have fun!

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 10:07 pm:

I would think $100 for Saturday, $50 each for Thurs nite, Fri nite and Sun. morning, so that's a total of $250.00.

The other girl, I would pay by the hour.

By Emdee on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 10:16 pm:

Yes, I vaguely know where Carthage is. I grew up in MO in Neosho and then Ozark--left there 11 years ago for Arkansas. I think SW MO and NW Arkansas are very similar and great places to live! Have a great trip--enjoy the mountains.