My Little Entrepreneur!

Last week Claire went with my mom to the flea market on Saturday.  My mom goes every weekend during the season and sells fresh cooked pork skins, homemade salves deodorant and tooth powder, etc.  Claire has been asking to go and try to sell her little rubber band bracelets and since it was Labor Day weekend and should be busy and she had built up a good little inventory we decided to let her.  She walked in the door late that afternoon with $65 in her hand!

She was apparently quite the salesperson. Lots of people gave her extra money and told her to keep the change, etc. One lady just walked up and put a few bills in her hand and said she just wanted to support her enterprise and when she walked away Claire realized it was $10. She was a big hit!

I'm so proud of her. She had taken $20 of the money she made to buy more bands to make bracelets and the rest she split in half to spend and to save.  (She bought herself a Lego set with her spend money.)  Yesterday we went to open a savings account for her at the credit union. She pulled just the bills out of her piggy bank and was able to open her first bank account with $55! We plan on working on the coins this week to add to her account. 

And now this morning she got up extremely early to head to the flea market with my mom again. She has been working on bracelets all week and wants to learn how to make bead bracelets to expand her inventory. I'm just so impressed with her. I did not have that kind of drive and entrepreneurial spirit at 9 years old!

Moving in the Right Direction

Well, we are no longer moving to SC!  We are actually buying a house here in Western NC instead!  I know, seems like the complete opposite direction, doesn't it?  Well, all I can say is that God's plan can be amazing sometimes! Daddy and I felt very strongly that we were being lead to move. He was having issues with work and we decided that Charleston near his brother would be a good choice. We prayed for God to open the doors He wanted open and he went down to look for work. And found nothing. He talked to 60+ companies and he found nothing that we could live on in that higher cost of living area. While he was gone my mom put her house on the market, because she was planning on moving with us. While discussing the payoff with her mortgage company she found out that with her type of mortgage she can transfer her house and mortgage to her parent or child with no closing or fees. When Daddy came back and we were discussing what to do I told him about it. The next day he got two job offers here in our hometown! God obviously wanted us to stay here.  What I find amazing is that without trying to move we never would have found out the option to "buy" my mom's house.

From the back of the house

We have so many ideas for the house!  One of the first things Daddy wants to do is put new siding on the house and enlarge the back deck.  I want to remodel the kitchen and repaint everything inside.  It has two bedrooms on the main floor and a large attic room with a walk in closet.  My mom is going to stay with us for a little while, so she will have the attic room and we will have the main floor.  Claire and Chandler will have to share a room, but they are really excited about that.  Claire says she is glad she won't be "alone" in her room anymore.  Let's see if she's still thinking that way in a few months!  We are so excited about  the house being ours and Daddy has job options here again!  We have a lot of peace about our decision and we know it's in God's Will. I'm just excited now!

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!

A lot has been going on ...

Well, Unlabeled Daddy found a new job (hurray!) and has already gotten a raise (double yeah!!). So things are starting to look better for us financially. We're not caught up, but it's looking better!

Little Man is still not talking and is 17 months now (today actually). Since he spent time in the NICU he is considered high risk for delays and he has had regular developmental appointments in the nearest city which is an hour away from us. At least it was only every 4 months! They referred us to the local Developmental Agency for evaluation. It was agreed he was delayed and is talking at a 10 month level. The speech therapist will be coming on Friday to do a more in depth evaluation and we will go from there. We also talked about his food issues. He is a little peanut, not even 20 lbs yet and he just won't eat! He won't even try "new" food. We have to jump through hoops to get him to eat anything. For instance, he will not eat grilled cheese sandwiches cut into quarters, but if you cut it in bit size pieces he will. They think it might be a sensory issue, so we are now waiting on an Occupational Therapist to evaluate him.

THEN, while the were evaluating Little Man, Princess Red Chief was acting like a wild child. We started discussing her and they agreed that she and I could use some help. They are referring her to a therapist that specializes in 3-5 year old children. Hopefully, she will be able to work with Princess and I. I adore my daughter. She is funny and loving and sweet and loves to help, BUT we end up going over the same things over and over and over and she still gets upset at me when I discipline her over it. It's like she just thinks I'm being mean and that she didn't do anything wrong even though I just told her not to do it. :::sigh::: God, give me patience. I sometimes feel like I spend the whole day yelling at her and it breaks my heart.

I guess I just needed to get this out and I will try to keep this updated with all our new therapy adventures!

Fun Day!

Well, today I worked at my mom's coffee shop/cafe for the first time. Miss Red Chief stayed with my grandmother (her namesake) and loved the one on one time. They fed the fishes in the pond, had tea time and played with the dollhouse. Monkey came with me and spent 3 hours contentedly on my back in my Mei Tai carrier. He was a big hit. I was able to make lattes, frappes and dish out pastries with a little helper on my back! It was fun! Now I'm tired and need to get home chores done!