Hello Bright New World!!

As of now I am a completely Stay at Home, Homeschooling Mom!! Excuse me ... *~*~* HAPPY DANCE *~*~* This weekend was my last day at work!

When The Girl was about 1 year old I quit my full-time job as a loan officer assistant (which is pretty much a loan processor) which I really enjoyed to stay home with her. But we needed more income so I took a part-time job as a waitress in the evenings. After a year I was asked to be a closing manager. I've been there over 3 and half years and this part-time job has slowly become more and more. Also in this last month Daddy got a new job that requires him to go all over the area for jobs. Sometimes he's here in town, but sometimes he has to drive an hour or more away! That makes it very difficult for him to be home by the time I need to be at work which brings us to the other problem ... we've lost some of our babysitters! My mom and sister works, my mother-in-law is busy and my grandfather just had knee replacement surgery so my grandmother is very busy helping him. All in all after several very long discussions Daddy and I agreed it would be best for our family for me to quit work for now. We will have to be frugal - my income paid for any extras - but we will make it work. Happily I left on good terms and I was told by several managers that I would be welcome back at any time, so that is nice to have in backup! But now I am looking around the house that has been neglected due to us both working and I have a very long list of cleaning and organization to complete! Allons-y!

Scottish pride

Yesterday was the "Taste of Scotland" festival in town. We live in a little town in Western North Carolina and these mountains host a proud Scottish Heritage. My husband and I both have some Scot background (him more then me, our last name has a Scottish background, my great grandmother was Scotch-Irish) and we never miss a year! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but I did snatch a few with my cell phone. We arrived just in time for the parade of the clans with the all the bagpipes going! I may be weird, but I love bagpipes! :) We also got to see the Knobby Knees contest of all the men in kilts and lots of wonderful Celtic dancers and singers! There different venders and some clans have tents up as well. This year the man at Clan Young stopped us and told us that he had some child size kilts that were bought for a wedding and we were welcome to try them on and take pictures. You don't have to ask me twice to get the chance to see my son wearing a kilt! He wasn't sure about the kilt, but he loved the sporran and he cried when we took his "belt" off. Does he not look absolutely adorable? And no, he did not go "traditional"! ;)
The Girl got her face painted and was so excited. It's hard to see in this picture - but she got a butterfly on her eyes. But I got to see how grown-up she is now. Daddy, my mom and a friend of mine were talking and I was standing next to her while she was in line and she pushed me away and said, "No, mommy, don't stand with me. Go with Daddy and Grandma." So, I started to walk the five feet to where they were standing and she stopped me and said, "Wait Mommy! Give me the dollars!" Sure kid. Handle the transaction by yourself. How old are you again? And people say homeschooled children are shy and reclusive ... they've definitely never met my child!

Please excuse the mess!

Changing the email address attached to this blog was MUCH more complicated then I expected it to be and now all the pictures are missing all of the sudden! I am not happy! Please excuse me while I try to get this all fixed!

Homeschool Update

I just wanted to do a quick update on Kindergarten! We have decided to do year-round schooling because I really don't see any reason to take a summer vacation. The Girl begs to "do school" most days and if she's eager to learn I don't want to tell her no! Today she asked me, "Mama? After nap can we do my education?" Is she not wonderful? Plus I think if we school year-round I will have a lot more lee-way and relaxed schedule because we know we will get our 180 days in without even trying!

The other day my brilliant girl wrote out "BED" and sounded it out! So proud of her! We're making very good progress at reading.

Memories ...

I have had a storage unit since I first moved out of the house when I was 17 years old. This week Daddy and I emptied it out! There was so much stuff I forgot that I owned. I sorted and donated 15 boxes of books to the local Friends of the Library bookstore. I only kept six boxes! Daddy has promised to build me another bookshelf if I find somewhere to put it! ;) I also found 3 boxes of my old toys. What a trip down memory lane. I even had the corsage that my Mom gave me at my first ballet recital when I was 5 years old! Some things you just can't throw away. The Girl found the box of my old Sylvanian Familes and had a ball playing with them. There is not much better then watching your child enjoy something that you enjoyed as a child! So much fun!

Officially a grown-up!

I am the proud owner of a mini-van! My sister has already made the soccer mom jokes, but I don't care! I can fit everything and the kids have plenty of room and there is room for anyone else who may come along. :) It has rear air conditioning and a DVD player that we have to figure out how it works. The kids think the automatic door is the coolest thing! I'm very excited, but I have to admit I do feel like I'm "officially" a grown-up mom now!

5 years old?? Already?!

The Girl turned 5 on Monday - yes, my daughter's birthday is 6/6/06! At least it's easy to remember! I'm still in shock that I've been a mother for 5 years. She's so tall and beautiful and smart and silly and a pain in the neck! ;) Seriously, she makes my world wonderful even if she frustrates me and teaches me much more then I ever expected! It's it amazing how we expect to teach our children so many things and they end up teaching us more about ourselves and the world then we ever thought possible.

We had her birthday party on Saturday. She kept changing her mind on what theme she wanted. Originally she wanted a ballerina party, then a Barbie party, but we finally settled on a Sleeping Beauty Party. It's very hard to find just Sleeping Beauty stuff so we agreed on a pink party with a little Sleeping Beauty things.


Her beautiful Sleeping Beauty cake made by Creative Confections by Amanda - didn't she do a fantastic job? And the cake was delicious too!


Our porch all pinked and purpled out!


And last, but certainly not least - our gorgeous Birthday Princess! :)