Wow, thanks everyone!
Some further notes:
Wife is trying to pick up something she can do at home-- childcare, possibly piano lessons (once the kiddos are old enough to play in another room by themselves), etc.
Guardian-- About asking for a day off in order to work for free...I'm about to do just that. I'm going to request (insist, really) that I work only m-t-w, and use the other four days (th-f-s-s) to fix up my house, pick up another part-time gig I can do on nights/weekends, and work for free for a local property management office (a field I really want to get into) two days a week.
We're seriously open to moving to a city with more opportunity (thinking possibly Portland area), but need to fix up our current house to be rentable.
TS-- I keep trying to get some other experience where I'm at in the grocery store, but two things: one, I'm currently at the top wage-level in my department, and short of becoming a department manager (and none of the current department managers are likely to leave at this point), there's no pay raise in the near future, even if I could transfer to a department with a higher pay bracket; and two, the store manager says I can't work in any but two other departments because of some union rules (I'm trying to get a permanent dept. transfer, but that involves waiting until there is an opening).
Seattlecyclone-- Yes, our tax return is about $5-6k annually. No, I didn't factor that into my income. I would contribute to any plan that had a match ('cause hey, free money), but I'm not even vested into the retirement plan (I've only worked for the company 4 years, and you vest at 5), so no 401k or anything.
It's difficult with my current work schedule to do something part-time, because there is no consistency: random days off, random shift hours (anything from 8-4:30 to 12-8:30). I'd have been delivering pizzas or something long ago if I had a consistent early shift or consistent days off...
Half-Borg-- I currently ride the bus about 2-4 times per month. I'd use it more, but the schedule doesn't always coincide with my work schedule, and I often work on sundays when the bus doesn't run at all. So I'm stuck driving at least some of the time.
Peony-- Yes. Rental property. I am actually currently trying to get a loan to purchase a nice little place just down the street. Unfortunately, we're so frugal, that we've never needed credit cards, and our current mortgage is a private note (with my parents), so we have no credit score. Which apparently is worse than having a bad credit score. Which is super-frustrating to someone who knows he'd be a no-risk loan opportunity for the bank. Hoping to be able to refinance our current residence and use that to pay cash for a rental. We'll see how it goes.
Dee18-- The real estate agent who looked at our house said the same thing: look into getting your taxes reassessed. We're already planning on doing that. Great thought.