Homeschool here we come!

On Monday I went to my first homeschool meeting! Well, my first homeschool meeting as a parent. It felt so weird, but was a lot of fun to be able to sit with other moms interested in the same things and just talk!

Then today we went to the homeschool playgroup at the park. There was 12 other children there besides my two, the youngest there was 3 months and the oldest was 8 or 9. The Girl had an absolute ball! Little Man loved watching all the kids run around. The Girl and the other children where playing something with prisoners and guards and she just didn't want to leave. Some of the other ladies brought picnic lunches and The Girl really wanted to stay. I will have to remember do that next time!

Speech therapy update

Little Man's speech therapy is going great! He gets very excited when Miss Gloria gets here, it's time when everyone is focused on him and just plays. He's had a month of speech therapy so far and is saying "Mama", "Da-ee" (Daddy), "tee" (kitty) and "boo" (book) consistently at home after having zero words a month ago. During speech therapy he has said "mo" (more), "bag", "bubu" (bubbles), and has signed "more". We're very proud of him!

Awesome progress!

Occupational therapy really helps! With Little Man's sensory issues we would NEVER have seen this a few months ago! I never thought I would be so happy to see my kid a mess! :D

Busy weekend!

It was a super busy week and a fun, busy family weekend! I had 3 appointments for the kids and a lot of errands this week and we really didn't stop! We loved our fun family weekend. It started with a trip to the County Fair. This county has one of the last purely agriculture fairs, so no rides which most people think is weird, but we're used to!

At the Fair:
The Girl and the cow

Little Man loved the goats!

And so did The Girl! Unlabeled Daddy said it almost made him want to get a goat! At least then he wouldn't have to mow! ;)

Then on Sunday we got The Girl's new big girl bike out and went to the Greenway. It only took her a few minutes to figure it out. We were so proud of her! Here's my big, smart girl:

What a big girl!

Little Man running to keep up

Someone has bike envy ....
So proud and sad to see her peddle away from us. :( I guess this is growing up. It can be hard on Mama!

Difficult Day

For some reason September 11th is hitting me harder this year. I was raised on Long Island about 40 miles east of the City and even though we moved when I was 9 I still feel like a New Yorker.

Nine years ago I was driving to work at the Cupboard Cafe in Dillard, GA and the radio announcer said that a plane had hit the Trade Center. Everyone assumed it was an accident, but they didn't know what was going on. I was walking into work when the second plane hit. We had several TV's in the dining room and they were on the news and turned up all day. One of the most difficult parts of my day was breaking the news to travelers who came in to eat and hadn't been listening to the radio. One man went white and ran outside to use his phone. Turned out his brother was in New York that day. Thankfully he was able to get a hold of his sister-in-law and find out he was alright.

I think that day changed how a lot of us thought about being Americans. We all banded together. Firefighters, police and volunteers jumped in their cars and drove to Manhattan to help and do everything they could. People too far away donated blood, arranged food drives, helped stranded travelers and did everything they could for each other. We came together. The entire nation functioned like a community, a family, thinking of each other. I wish we hadn't lost that. Why did we forget so quickly?

Uhoh ... Mama's thinking

I'm in a contemplative mood today. Not really a good thing. I have so much that I want out of life that I feel we have to wait on because of a couple of bad financial decisions we had when we were a little younger. :( Nothing major - but just enough that we can't afford much until we finish with it.

We want to move and are slowly figuring out where we want to go. We had plans on moving before The Girl was born, but it got pushed aside when we found out we were pregnant. We have a town we are leaning towards now, but need to check it out first. We get frustrated not having anything around us. We live in the middle of nowhere with an hour drive to the nearest mall, museum, Target or good grocery store. I hate that whenever the kids need any clothes it's a day trip. I hate that we live somewhere that doesn't have anywhere in the entire town that sells maternity clothes! That's just pathetic.

On to my next thought ... I want a baby. I am close with my sister and I want The Girl to get to experience a sister or Little Man a brother. I don't want a huge difference in age either. I want them to enjoy playing with each other. But I know if we want to move we might have to put it off. That's where I go around and around in my head. Lowering our expenses so we can move without huge difficulties vs. having the baby we want and letting the chips fall.

::sigh:: Thinking is bad.

I love my kid!

Best Girl quote of the week:

While hugging my husband and I, "Aww! These are my grownups!"

:) Love that kid!

Family day ...

Yesterday was one of my first Saturdays off in a very long time. It was so wonderful! Unlabeled Daddy and I took the opportunity to take the kids to Asheville. We didn't do much, but it was nice to get out of town and be together. And to top off my good day I fit into my size 10 jeans! Whoohoo!!

The Girl was very good with only 2 little incidents all day. I was so proud of her! She loves clothes shopping and we only got a couple little things, but she picked out a dress, a little t-shirt and we found a cute pair of boots that she just adores that were originally $34.99 and we got them for $12.99! Showing off her new boots and dress:



Little Man was kind of fussy but that's what happens when his naptime gets messed up. All in all it was just a laid back family day. My favorite kind!

Pre-K here we come!

I've been debating doing Pre-K with The Girl this year since she's been so wild. We've been having a lot of behavior issues and I thought I should focus on that. But I decided to get a little workbook just in cause and yesterday after her rest time I let her play with Play-doh for a little while and then we sat down and did 3 pages until she said she was done and got down. I was very pleased at how she paid attention. Then we used some flash cards to practice her counting. She had no problem doing up to ten. Thank you Sesame Street! ;) I think she did very well and we may not do some everyday, but I think we definitely with do a low key Pre-K program this year and an added bonus, she seemed to love the one on one time and was very relaxed!