Driving?!

Nothing gets me anxious like the thought of our girls growing up. Yesterday, our oldest passed her driver's test; she is now a licensed driver. And the youngest was right on her heels getting her driver's permit.

Of course with power comes, "Mom I'll be back later!" Yep. Shortly after we arrived home the oldest announced she was off to the library to return some books.

I know what you're wondering. "Are you (mom) okay with this?" Do I have a choice? No. Did my heart skip a beat with that announcement? Of course it did. And it didn't beat normally until she arrived back home...safe and sound.

I know years from now I'll look at this time and think I was just being silly. But living it in the here and now. I don't think its silly. I worry. I'm a Mom. Worry is what we do. Right?

A new season of homeschooling

When we first started homeschooling, I was asked frequently, "how long are you planning to homeschool?" I always said I hoped through high school. I wasn't always sure we'd make it.

Here we are with our oldest a senior in high school and the youngest in 10th grade. Y'all. I blinked. How did we get here? So many math lessons and arguments about English (them not wanting to do it). And yet here we are. We are on the cusps of change.

The oldest has been accepted to the only university she applied to. She choose it because it is the only one in the state with the masters program she wants and she had no desire to leave the state. We are currently waiting to find out how much she is getting for a merit scholarship. Proud doesn't cover it, but I'll leave it at that.

Our youngest is currently studying for the PSAT and SAT for the next school year. She has yet to decide what she wants to do in life, but she is preparing in case she decides to go to college. This year she is taking two math courses to get caught up. Again, proud.

Our view on homeschooling may be unique. It may not be, but honestly, I'm not sure. It feels different. My initial reason for homeschooling was to protect my kids, not shelter. But for protection. There are some crazy people out there in the world and I didn't think a five-year-old is prepared for them. But that is my own opinion.

John and I have tried to teach our girls about the world. We talk about so many of the subjects that other parents (even those in public school) don't or won't talk about. I know college will still be a shock; it was for me and I graduated from a public school. But I am hoping our girls are strong minded enough to protect themselves once they are in college.

I'm working on letting go...somewhat. I am trying to not panic when they want to do something on their on. In a few months, I will have no idea what the oldest does or eats daily. It is so difficult after all this time to toss them into the world and see how the fly. But. {sigh} I'm working on it. I have no choice. Unless...does anyone have a time machine I could borrow?

Healing and yard work

Chloe is feeling better today. She spent more time coughing yesterday than she did the day she was diagnosed. She did well at taekwondo, but spent most of the ride home coughing. I think sparring was a bit much for her, but she has settled down now.

John and I set up the raised garden bed last night. I didn't get a picture of it today (too many things happening today). We still need to get in all the screws and the dirt. lol  We have plants to put in the bed when it is ready, then I'll fill the pots with annuals.

I have to admit I've neglected some plants in the yard, namely the butterfly bush. I didn't realize, until late last year, you should cut them back every year. I talked to my Dad last weekend. I told him the butterfly bush had already beginning to leaf, but I still had not cut it back yet. He and I decided I should go ahead and cut it back even though it may not grow out this year. Well. I went out there a couple of days ago. I think the bush knew what I was thinking. At the base of the plant, there were quite a few brand new leaves growing. Awesome! I cut everything I could with my loppers, which was almost all of it. There were two branches I had to leave about six inches because I needed the bigger cutters, but didn't feel like walking to the garage. I'll fix the rest over the weekend.

Sleet and more snow/sleet

We wound up getting about 5 inches of sleet here. The one thing we prepared for was not having power. It flickered a few times yesterday, but never went out. We were lucky. John's sister, Kim, texted this morning they had no power. He called her to talk for a few minutes to find out, after he talked to his Mom last night, her power went out too. As of tonight at 8pm, Oma still had no power. We are really hoping it will get back on for all of them soon. But the news is reporting it could be up to five days.

The girls entertained themselves today. Another game of PayDay, some art projects, TV, reading and now Big Game Hunter, or something like that anyway. The three of them are quite animated when playing.

I've spent more time to day researching. I looked at some RVs, but spent some time looking into tent camping. Did you know you cannot camp in a tent, or pop-up, at Disney with dogs? I didn't. Now, I'm seriously not happy with Disney right now. Now that we have two doggies we are not going to leave them with my parents for our vacations. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we'll figure something out.

I did manage to get some laundry done today. Okay, I still have to fold everything then put it away, but it is still washed. ;)

Snow! Not exactly.

Well, since they were calling for an inch of ice, I suppose I'm happy with about 3-4 inches of sleet. There was some snow that came down for awhile this morning, but it began mixing with sleet about 8 or 9 this morning.

I could have spent the day downloading my camera; however, I didn't. lol  Surprised? Probably not. I did take a few more pictures though. I'll get to it one day. Maybe tomorrow. I haven't decided on school for tomorrow. We didn't have school today, but two days I think would be too much. I'll put it down as TBD.

We had a good day anyway. This morning we all played Payday together. Jesse won with over $45,000. I came in last, only because everyone else continuously landed on "Deal". I landed on it once. Oh, well. The girls wound up playing another game with Chloe winning it. She had over $100,000!

John and I both did some internet research. I was looking for RVs, of course. I'm not sure what he was doing, but last night he was looking at compost toilets.

I think the funniest thing today was Hank. We can always count on Rosie to not want to go out when it is wet, but Hank is always up for going out. He loved the last snow. This, however, was not snow. It was some snow with sleet. I was talking to my Dad, when John opened the door and Hank ran out turned around immediately and ran back in. I laughed so hard. He said he was having none of that! lol

I think I'll bug John some more and go look at RVs more. :)

A lesson learned

At first I was going to write about horrible children. Then I decided to write about parents who do not parent. But rather than either of those (for now), I'm going to tell you about Chloe.

Chloe is quiet. She is somewhat shy and nervous around new people. She is always polite. Chloe has a generous and kind soul. If she knew her friend needed anything, and Chloe had it, she would offer it to her friend without any other thought. She wears her heart on her sleeve, which in this world can be treacherous.

While she is not an all A student, she is very intelligent and articulate. She has a way of looking at situations and seeing the good, no matter what. Though some situations, it takes a bit of time for her to find the good. She loves to read, and do all sorts of art projects. Some are easy for her and others require great effort from her. She rarely gives up. Okay, she says she is giving up often, but I always find her back trying again after a brief break.

She will eventually find the good in any situation, as I said, and today she had to do just that. She had to forget the cruel words said to her a birthday party, and find the good. This afternoon, swinging with her sister, she found the good. She spoke happily of her friend, the birthday girl, and our old friends from taekwondo, who were at the party too.  I could not be more proud of her.

I WAS watching the Super Bowl

But geez! 43 to 8, Seahawks over the Broncos, is beyond embarrassing!

The final show for "The Wizard of Oz" was today. I haven't heard anything about the show today, so I assume things went well. Chloe loves her new t-shirt, but wishes the cast party had gone better so she could have had it signed by her friends. But it matches all of her other shirts that were not signed, so I think, in the end, things will be okay.

My heart almost stopped during the cast party when I saw kids getting cupcakes when most of the cast still had on their costumes. Oh my! Costumes and light blue icing don't mix! I'm really hoping there were no accidents. Jesse said she even saw one kid eating a cupcake while still in a costume.

When we got home from the theatre, the girls went to swing for awhile. They are loving the swings! Now, I just need them to focus on some school work this week and forget we have a swing. Wish me luck! lol

I won't tell you the story, because Chloe was already embarrassed by this; however, I think I need new glasses and for my sinuses to clear up (help my vertigo and vision). I mistook someone for another person (I don't know) today. In my defense, the person was a good 100ft away and it was her mother. However, I believe Chloe wanted to hide. I, of course, laughed it off. Poor Chloe.

A Swing!

Yes, we are John is insane. Yes, when it was 27 degrees outside this morning, John and I were outside putting together a swing for the girls. Did it go smoothly? Yes and no. We bickered over the best way to start, so starting took awhile. But once we got going it went fairly well. We got the A-frames in the ground and the large beam on (not secured) before I had to go inside to get ready to take Chloe to rehearsal.

While Chloe and I were gone, I received a text with a picture of a completed swing. And a note from Jesse saying she had already tried out her swing. Chloe ran straight to the backyard when we got home to get a few minutes of swinging before dark.

John told me during dinner that he swung too and tomorrow, or Monday, I need to swing too. At least we will no longer have to be on the look out for a nearby playground with a swing.

Doctors. Doctors. Doctors.

And I don't mean Dr. Who (but I wish I did) {giggle}

Today, Rosie had her check-up at with the Vet. She is doing awesome! :) 

Jesse went to the doctor. She didn't have anything in her chest, so she should be improving over the next couple of days.

Most of my morning and early afternoon were spent in those two places. Jesse and I then went to get Hank some food/treats and a few other items.

John and the girls took Rosie and Hank out to play soccer in the yard this afternoon. I think they all had a good time and got in some good exercise.

A new seat

We went upstairs today to work on schoolwork. The new dog, Hank, was staring out the back door in search of cats to whine at, so we couldn't get him to come upstairs. The solution: the sewing chair in front of the back window with both sets of blinds raised. He loved it! He sat there all afternoon. Okay, he went from the window to the back door all afternoon. But he wore himself out. lol

I had the chance to go hang out with my friend Julia again tonight. I was trying to make it up to her for hogging the conversation Monday night at rehearsal. We had fun. Well, I had fun. We always seem to have weird conversations, but it may just be us.

Jesse has complained about her throat today. She had some hot tea that helped for a bit. Tonight she has a low-grade fever. If she still feels bad tomorrow morning, we'll see if we can get her in to see the doctor.

Struggles

I remember when I was much younger my Mom telling me, "as you get older time will go by faster." She wasn't wrong; however, she left something out. When you have children, you sometimes wish time would stop.

Admittedly, I have never been fashion forward. Ever! I have family who would vouch for this. My children are a totally different story, which is funny because they homeschool. I think part of it is their artistic sides. Jesse's sense of fashion is very much like those graphic artists I used to work with at the ad agency. We actually just bought her a new winter coat over the weekend. She picked it out and I have to say it fits her personality to a tee. Her new thing is scarves; I think she feels she cannot compete with Chloe's fedoras so she found her own thing. ;)

Chloe, on the other hand, definitely has her own style. She loves her new high top Converses and her fedoras. She too picked out a new coat. I really didn't think she would pick the one she did, but it too suited her. And she gets so many comments about her fedoras, just yesterday at McDonald's the lady behind the counter said, "I like your lid."  It took Chloe a minute to figure out what she was talking about. lol

The struggles comes from John and myself. We are now struggling with the reality of our girls growing up. They have their own opinions, and neither are shy about stating them. We've gone from buying them toys to buying the electronics, pocket books, and fishing rods. Some days I just want time to stop. More time to enjoy them while they are home. More time to bake and laugh. Some days I just have to pause and take it all in. There are days when I'd like to turn back time, but knowing we cannot just makes today more precious.

Jesse's birthday "party"

Jesse did not want a party this year. She only wanted the family to go bowling. John wanted to spread out her birthday too, since Chloe had a party before her birthday and a small celebration on her birthday. So, the Sunday, before Jesse's birthday, we all went bowling.

We all had fun, as you can tell by Jesse's last photo. And we each bowled a strike!

Jesse's first birthday present

In my last post, I said we gave Jesse one of her presents when we arrived home after our visit to Charlotte. This post is about that present. John found it on-line and, of course, he had to get it for her!

Imagine that! A VW Bug!!

Of course, assembly had to start right away.

John is there to help out with her first model.

The proud new owner!

Birthday's!!

I admit, as always, I'm late posting these pictures. We spent July 28th, in Charlotte, celebrating the girls' birthdays with Grandpa and Grandma. We just stayed the day; Sunday we took Jesse on her birthday trip, but that is another post. :)

A fun game of BINGO!

Grandpa was the BINGO caller!

Jesse tried several times to get up; Grandma got the giggles!

Cake?

Still laughing!!

Rosie...finally calm.

Grandpa looks awesome in Chloe's fedora!!

We had a great time, as you can see. When we arrived home, Jesse got one of her presents from us. I'll post that next.

Drum roll, please!!

Finally! Jesse's room.

She has had this sign for years now. It is the only thing we can find with her spelling of her name.

We have been invited in.

IKEA is everywhere!



A place for her favorite things.

In the above picture, you can see a red frame where she framed her winning art work from CCT S.T.A.R. Also, her Bug collection, ducks, Stitch, etc. 


Most of her rubber duck collection.

 

Now, she wants to add a corkboard but I have no clue where it will go.



Can YOU find the dog?

 It took us quite awhile to find a bedspread she liked. This one, I believe, suits her to a tee.

We also added an art display (the wire going across the room). She loves it! Here is some of her artwork that is currently on display:

Goofy, of course!

Baljeet's (from Phineas & Ferb) twin who lives in India (from the mind of Jesse!).

Chloe turned 9!!!

Believe it or not, I know I have a difficult time believing it, Chloe is nine!!

This year Chloe wanted to have a party. She rarely wants to have one. But this year was different. And this year she had big plans! Not only did she want a party, but she wanted a destination party. Yep! She wanted a party outside the house. lol  She finally decided on Monkey Joe's. Monkey Joe's is a bounce house here in town, in fact they just built one on our side of town last year. I thought of trying to convince her to have the party at home, so we could invite more people. However, she has had so few parties I wanted her to get what she really wanted.

What I don't like about Monkey Joe's is the basic party is for just nine people. So, we were only able to invite two other families. Chloe had so much fun! She had her own inflatable throne and her friends treated her as though she were a queen! She loved it. The girls made a giant cookie, with a kite (from Pooh of course!).

For her actual birthday, she had cupcakes (from Food Lion) and picked one of her favorite places for lunch, Chinese buffet. Again, she loved it! She also received her present from John and me. A PEZ display for her collection. I really thought they would all fit. They did not! Five are left without homes. :(  But two of them have no "feet", so they can't go into the stand. And the other three are pull-backs, so she plays with them more.

I think, overall, she had a great birthday!!