The Last Day of Public School and the First Day of Freedom...

This is what Jake looked like as we got in the car and were ready to head to the 4th grade for the last time.  We were running late so there was no time to pose for pictures if we wanted to make it on time.

This is his last goodbye to Sadie...on the last day of school.

This is his last hug to me..on the last day of school.

This is me missing the shot of him signing I love you and blowing me a kiss, like he does every morning (he is a sweet boy)...for the last time, on the last day of 4th grade...

This is me getting ready by stacking up all the wonderful things we have collected in preparation for homeschooling next year.  It looks like we spent a fortune but 95% of the books Nana Harmon got for us for FREE!!!  THANK YOU NANA!!!!

This is what Jake will see when he walks through the front door after school...

This is the sign, you can't see in the picture of the books, on the cocoa (we don't drink coffee, so Jake dubbed it the cocoa table when he was about 3 years old) table, that Jake will see when he walks through the front door.  (This post has a similar pattern of repetition as a popular children's book...but I can't think of what it was actually about at the moment...It was not planned.  I am just trying to post all these pictures that took forever to upload...download?...which one is it.  My computer, and brain, are both running slow today.)

This is the sign on the front door that Jake would read....Oh you get it already!!!

This is me driving one last time to pick him up from public school...wasting precious gas...

This is Jake getting in the car after HIS LAST DAY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!! (Well if all goes as planned anyway...)

This is the traditional ice cream cone we eat on the last day of school at Dollar Cone...Not sure what my hair is doing...I took a shower and immediately put it up in a pony tail and well something funky happened from there...

This is my ice cream with Jimmies or sprinkles to you non-New Englanders.  Really I just was playing around and when I noticed my favorite colored nail polish was in the picture I had to post it. :)

This is the mandatory trip that I promised Jake we would make right after school, to rent  Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, since he got 3 A's and 1 B.  Good job dude!

Here's the report card and free rental coupons...I didn't plan on taking a picture but since the guy gave us and extra one just to be nice I couldn't resist. :)

This Jake at the front door...FINALLY!  Drum roll please...For anyone that doesn't know, Jake has been asking to be homeschooled and we are finally doing it...Everyone (almost) but Jake knew we were going to do it months ago.  It is so hard to keep secrets and this was a big one...

This is Jake's first reaction to all the books.

Then to the note...

Soaking it in....

Tears...I was getting ready to hug him so it is blurry but I had to post it. 

What did he do next?  He immediately started checking out ALL the books....

And a little organizing took place.

This is his "I can't believe this is really happening" expression.  He had just hit himself in the forehead a moment earlier and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. 

Jake says he is soooo happy but he will miss his friends and the playground.  To which I reminded him that he will still see his friends and there are way better playgrounds we can play at WHENEVER WE WANT BECAUSE WE ARE FREE!!!!  Well, almost whenever... :)

I can't believe it's finally official: we are homeschoolers!  :)  If you are too and you would like some A-MA-ZING resources, ideas, and networking than you have to check out:




It is nice to know I have a place to go whenever I need encouragement or help and it is only a mouse click away!

Five Minute Friday: Backwards

Got writers block?  Need to empty out the old noggin'?  Then you need to try 5 minute Friday over at The Gypsy Mama.  This is a hard one for some reason...Remember I ramble, I don't write, so don't expect too much... :)

Go 
  
I eat pizza backwards. Crust first...That is seriously all that is popping into my head right now!  But I guess if I really think about it I do a lot of things backwards in the eyes of the world. I married Aaron before I lived with him. I got married before I had a child. I got married at 21 rather than waiting until I was 32 and successful in a big career.  I decided to stay home with my child and pinch pennies and cut coupons rather than have 2 incomes and go to Disney World on vacation.  I consider being a stay-at-home mom the greatest job in the world, rather than saying "I am just a mom" when people ask me what I do.  I choose to follow my Heavenly Father's plan, rather than following the worlds "do as you please" attitude.  In the eyes of the world I am "backwards".  I don't give myself enough credit (the world says)-I could do so much more in life than "just being a mom".  I think the world is backwards.  

Stop

"No other success can compensate for failure in the home"-J.E. McCulloch. One of my all time favorite quotes....


I added the quote after the 5 minutes was up, but I had to it is what kept popping into my mind.  I have learned if things keep popping into your mind it isn't a coincidence, it is the Spirit trying to tell you someone else might need to hear it too.  Or it is the Holy Ghost reminding me that I need to focus and remember it in my life.  Either way, it is an awesome quote and I wanted to share it.  :)

Brain Declutter...Because my brain is overflowing with clutter...

Clutter is putting it mildly....There is some guilt mixed in too, so i (a lower case i because that is all i deserve at the moment) will start with that and get it over with...

*i will not be winning any mother of the year awards any time soon i am sorry to say...We got an invitation to attend an awards ceremony for awesome kiddos (Jake of course was one of them) and i...forgot.  Totally and completely forgot...i was in school on Tuesday morning and the saw the principal and she said "I gave Jake his medal and award.  Sorry you weren't able to come on Friday night."...To this my reply was come to what?  i didn't even remember it then!!!  My child could have walked across a stage and gotten his medal and award for being a smarty pants (at the local High School, because it was that big of a deal and i could have cried like a baby clapped and cheered....but i forgot....i stink.  i am also really bummer because they changed the words to apply to the kiddos getting good grades and sang "Firework" originally by Katy Perry.  i really love that song and wish we could have heard it. i would have cried for sure...
Here is Jake with his medal and certificate.  Sadie had couldn't resist being in the picture.

*Jake's way of trying to make me not feel so bad (he forgot too, but he is 9 after all and i am the mom) is to remind me that he feels bad about getting into our mini pool and playing in it with Sadie...with my cell phone in his pocket.  We are talking submerged fully for enough time that they couldn't even retrieve my phone numbers or photos from it when i went to Verizon...i really can't be mad at him and i'm not.  He was carrying my keys and phone in his pocket when we went on a walk with Sadie, because I had on yoga pants that didn't have pockets.  So, if you are a close friend or family member that didn't receive and email from me here is what it said: "Please send me a text (or email) and tell me who you are if you would ever like me to call you again."  There are some people i expected to hear from but haven't...i wonder if they didn't get it, or if they are not responding deliberately...This mishap made me realize:  i don't even know my mom and dad's cell phone or my in-law's...And I thought I knew Aaron's (my husband, for those of you who may have stumbled upon my random blog), but I was off by one number.  This is my wake up call to get organized.  It would be pretty bad to not be able to call...well anyone, if there was an emergency.

*i went to Jake's school today to help with a field day of sorts.  The 4th grade was playing "A Minute To Win It" and it was a lot of fun.  It was 9,000 degrees out so i was lucky that i got to be in the hall way.  You see i had "defying gravity" that required balloons which popped as soon as they hit the 9,000 degree ground.  They were supposed to keep 3 balloons up in the air for 1 minute...We ended up modifying it all the way done to 1 because the longest anyone could go with 3 balloons was not quite 4 seconds, and with 2 they made it to almost 30 seconds...Try it-it is harder than it sounds.  We are talking 1 person trying to keep 3 in the air with out holding them. It was fun but again no mother of the year award because i forgot my camera!!! But i did remember it on Tuesday when the 4th graders did the NC Living History Museum.  They all had to pick a person linked to NC in some way and dress up like them and give a speech.  It was so neat, but for whatever reason it was 7,000 degrees in the hallway Jake's class was standing in (the rest of the 4th grade was in the nicely air conditioned gym...)  and by the end of the hour, costumes were being peeled off and parents had abandoned their children and were standing in the gym chatting... Not all parents. i I only went in to hear a couple of kiddos in the gym do their speeches and then went back out to suffer with my child's class.  After that we had a picnic and an ice cream party and i I took Jake home early. Jake was Sir Walter Raleigh.  Have you heard of him?  He is pretty interesting, you should Google him.

By the end of the hour Jake had shed his fancy neck ruffles and cape...

At the picnic with his best buds in his 4th grade class.  From left to right:  Kayla, Sophia, Maddie, and Connor.  Jake/Sir Walter Raleigh in the front. :)

*i  (back to lower case because this is not nice...) am thrilled that i am done being a room mom!!!!  i will just say what is on my mind right now (don't judge me people):  it is really hard to be the room mom for a teacher you are not a fan of.  i had to go and buy her an end of the year gift with the $165 people sent in (how much do people send in for awesome teachers???).  i have to admit a tiny part of me wanted to put the money in Jake's savings account to compensate him for his pain and suffering of being in her class all year...(i told you not to judge me...).  i didn't of course.  YIPPPEE that my duties as room mom are over!!!

*i have to go and check on a baby bird Sadie almost stepped on this morning when we were on our walk. I called the vet and they said don't pick it up because this time of year baby birds are learning to fly and the chances are good that the parents were nearby waiting for me to leave so they could go on teaching their baby.  Part of my hopes it isn't there because i don't want a pet bird...but I can't leave it there to die...

*Sadie threw up in the car 2 times yesterday as we drover around trying to find the park we went to a couple of months ago to play in the pond...Awesome.  The great thing is I have this car cleaner that works amazing and the car doesn't even smell like puke-not even in 10,000 degree weather.

*Don't let the fun activities fool you.  Jake's school has done more this week than they have done the whole year.

*While waiting in the car rider line today, a mom carrying a toddler, wearing a huge t-shirt with words on it walked by.  i got as far as: As* (rhymes with bass...) and Bit#@ (a term when used correctly means "female dog") and stopped reading.  i watched her (judging her very harshly, i must admit) as her daughter (i am guessing a kindergartner) ran up to her wearing a pretty pink princess dress...Oh the irony.  This after talking to one of Jake's classmates moms, who kept dropping the F bomb.  Lovely.  It did make me feel better that she dropped the F bomb while sober, because Jake went to a pool party at her house (i thought is was safe to leave him under her care because i have known her since 3rd grade...) and when I came back from going to the grocery store to pick him up, i found all the adults drinking on the porch while the children were in the pool...She was dropping the F bomb while i was talking to her at the pool party so i assumed she had to be drunk.  Apparently she wasn't, she just talks like that all the time children aren't close by.  So, as far as the pool party goes if she wasn't drunk, she could have jumped in the pool and rescued a drowning child.  I am trying to look at the bright side of our decaying society....

*Random picture of Jake in one of the trees in the front yard.

That's enough decluttering for now...Hopefully my next post won't be a picture of our new pet baby bird...

Just because I can't stop talking about it!!!!

It's my blog so I can ramble on about this (AGAIN) if I want to right? :)
Tomorrow we are telling Jake we are going to homeschool next year..Oh yeah, I have mentioned that 3,249 times already right? I can't help it I AM SO EXCITED!!!

I went to a Homeschooling bookstore yesterday and found myself wanting to buy all sorts of curriculum.  It is a consignment store where you can bring the stuff you have already used and get other stuff you may need.  It was wonderful!  There were kids sitting on the floor reading while their mom's were searching the store.  There was a girl taking a piano lesson in a little "classroom" office.  There were birds chirping sweetly in a big glass cage.  There were A Beka (and every other one under the sun!) curriculum-the books and teachers answer guides.  There were educational games and DVD's.  I looked at everything and almost spent a small fortune (not really I just could have).  Then I remembered that we aren't going to do it that way.   We are going to be making our own curriculum...Yikes, that sounds so scary...And it is a little, but also, not so much.  I have the list of all the things Jake "has" to learn in the 5th grade.  We will learn those of course...but we are really going to study all the things that Jake wants to learn all about.  In fact that will be our first task starting Monday...That's right the poor boy isn't even going to get a break. :)  We are going to jump right in-but it isn't going to be like school AT ALL.  We are going to create Jake's "compass"-the list of what he wants to learn about.  The guide we will use on Jake's path to self education... How awesome is that?  Learning what you are interested in.  Going into that wonderful bookstore made me realize (again...) that stepping off the conveyor belt of public school education is going to be an ongoing process.  It is in grained in my brain that you must follow the norm.  Take the easy path.  Go page by page in the workbook and that is learning. Right?  It works, but Jake needs more than that.  He deserves more than that. He deserves an education.  He is smart enough to learn how to love learning.  All children are...I am not drinking the Kool Aid, I swear.  I am just excited because I have learned so much preparing to help Jake.  I know he will LOVE it!!!

Wordful Wednesday: Alliterations...(this is not easy people!!!)

Over at Chocolate on my  Cranium, Cocoa has challenged us to write an alliteration  today.  This was HARD for me for some reason. So, here it is...This is as good as it gets.  I had to change the color of all the "f's" to prove that they really are in there...

One of my Favorite Faces...

This familiar face is one of the first things I see in the morning.  Freckles from the summer sun find a home for a few months here. Finding out how you are feeling is easy for those who know you.  From your eyes we can feel your emotions. 
From the moment I found out you would be part of our forever family I was filled with joy.  Then I saw your sweet, fresh from Heaven face and I found a part of my heart that was never fully formed before. From the moment you entered our family I was forever changed, for the better. I will never forget your first words, first steps, and first day of school. Our family found its meaning when you found our way into our hearts.
 Faith comes easy to you. You are funny, friendly, and forgiving.  Family, friends, and strangers find full acceptance from you. I hope you never fear the future, for yours will be amazing.  From your talents you will always find the strength to fully fulfill your purpose in life.  Find the path your Father in Heaven has for you and continue in faith to follow it. 

Are you better at this than me?  Find out if it is one of your talents! See if other people found it easier than me over at Cocoa's.

Farewell to my 2nd home: Bi-Lo (not forever just for now...)

I am a stay-at-home mom. :)  Yesterday was my last day of 5 days a week at Bi-Lo.  (I am going to go in to help with the sales tags so to be kept on the payroll so I can go back if I need too, but that will only be once a month.)  Picture me jumping for joy!  I admit I will miss all my regulars.  The sweet deaf lady that writes me notes on receipt paper to tell me what is going on in her life.  All my coupon ladies that came through U-Scan just to chat.  New grandmother that gives me an update on her precious grand daughters when she comes in.  My favorite fake grumpy guy who is upset if I let anyone else use his U-Scan check out #4.  Free thermometer  lady. "You doing any work today?" guy.  The Yankee Sisters.  Chocolate milk man.  The lovely Queen Redfern (is that not the BEST name you have ever heard?).  Back brace and visor wearing lady. Parents of one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever seen who toddles over and lets me hold her and talk to her :). Mr. Blessings who owns a cafe in town called "Blessings Cafe" and tells me what is on the menu everyday (and I WILL go and eat there one day I swear!!!).  Cute purse lady. My Norman Rockwell couple. The guy who calls everybody "buddy" (male or female). "Paper bag only" lady.  The lottery ticket family.  My favorite redneck, down-to-earth family.  The VFW men that sell hot dogs on Friday to raise money.  The lady that comes through U-Scan and always gets the same kind of tobacco every time she comes in and I was only able to remember one time what it is called-I remember it now-"Society".  Scamming the system lady  (she uses her Food stamps and coupons to buy all sorts of stuff and sells it out of her garage...Not to mention she knows how to use her coupons so that she gets money back from her food stamps at the U-Scan...a big no-no that is a glich in the system that no one seems to know how to fix), and who claims to be a very strong Christian. My mom regulars who I love to chat with.  The girls that work at the day care right down the road.  All the homeschooling families.  I could go on and on!  I do know a lot of these peoples names but it is much more fun to give them nicknames.

I will also miss all our vendors: the Doritos Lady, the smelly Pepsi guy, The Sun Drop guy, Magazine man, Hershey's lady,  The beer guys...again the list could go on and on.  I will miss my co-workers that became great friends.  I will miss running the register-not U-Scan...I won't miss that at all.  I will miss the beep the registers make when you scan groceries.  I will miss the buttons-how I love to push buttons!!! I won't miss the annoying commercials that come on in the middle of the best songs we play.  I will and will not miss all the drama that small town people like to create to make their lives more interesting. :)  I will miss Senior discount Wednesday when all the sweet old people come in and buy their small amounts of food and stand around to chat and give hugs. If you ever want to feel like your are part of your community than you should be a cashier for a little while.  I have loved it (and hated it)!  I am so looking forward to eating food that isn't warmed up rather than cooked.  I am looking forward to having matching socks because the laundry will be done.  I am looking forward to having a clean house again.  I am looking forward to not feeling guilty this summer that Jake will just be sitting around by himself while I am at work and Aaron has to sleep because he just got off from working 3rd shift.  I look forward to starting homeschooling and getting on a schedule.  I look forward to exercising more.  I look forward to my old and most favorite job in the world (EVER): being a stay-at-home mom.  I look forward to it because I know without a shadow of a doubt that home is where I am supposed and want to be...But I will miss my Bi-Lo...But not for long!  I have to go by there on the way to Jake's school and pick up some ice cream for his party today. :) 

Memorial Day, My B-day, Jake's a Bear, and Our Pool

We all had Memorial Day off this year which was so awesome! I have to admit I was reminiscing about our Memorial Day tradition in Asheville and really missing it this year...We used to go to Pisgah National Forest with a bunch of our good friends and play in the river and cook out.  We decided to do the cooking out part this year and Aaron cooked some ribs.  I am not a huge fan of ribs but my guys are so I was happy to eat a couple for my b-day celebration dinner.  My b-day wasn't until the next day, but Aaron had class and work that day which meant he wouldn't be home at all, so we celebrated a day early.  I got a ton of texts, phone calls, and Facebook happy b-days on Tuesday so I felt loved. Thanks everyone!  (I got so many emails saying I had messages on Facebook I decided I better go on...I am NEVER on Facebook.  I even got a couple of "Not sure why I am saying happy b-day here because you will never see it!"  messages on it.  I typed a little message saying thank you and I will most likely not be on until my next b-day if people are nice enough to do it again.  Why Facebook when you can blog?)

Aaron got cheesecake instead of cake because I LOVE IT!  It has become a fun tradition to look forward to.

Wednesday at Pack Meeting Jake got his Bear badge. Way to go dude!

All Jake's glasses are in serious need of some bending back in place.  We are going this week to have it done no matter what!  I can't take it any more...Take a look at the next pic and you will see what I mean....

They also worked together to see if they could catch water balloons in towels. :)

And last but not least for our week:  We bought a POOL!!!...For $10 at Walmart.  :)  It was in the 90's with HIGH humidity all week and we thought this would be a fun way to cool off for Sadie...and us too.

Sadie jumped around and splashed the water like crazy-she had a ball...Jake in the tiny pool with a dog who is going crazy...Not so much!  She acted like she was digging in the dirt or something which was pretty funny.  I kind of love Jake's face in this one. :)

Holding his breath since she was splashing water EVERYWHERE!

Jake was not loving it so much...This is his "Eye-yie-yie!" (how do you spell that?  I know it is Italian and we say it a lot...but never really thought about spelling it....You know what I mean right?), moment.  At least one of them was enjoying themselves.  Now when Sadie has been outside we have to check and see if we need to grab a towel before we can let her in. :)

That was pretty much our week...besides spending Thursday night going a project for AIG math that was so fun! Jake loves to research and do projects (he learned that love from me. I am so proud to have taught him so well!), and I think we will be using that love a lot in homeschooling. He doesn't even know he is homeschooling yet but he already want to do projects this summer on Black Beard the Pirate and Beethoven.  We are going to have so much fun homeschooling. :)

Five Minute Friday: Everyday

I am not a writer-I am a rambler, so this really works for me. :)  If you need to just write without thinking.  If you need to just let out your thoughts and not worry about what people think-just release...Then you need to link up to The Gypsy Mama and have some fun with 5 minute Friday.

Here is my 5 minute Friday Starting now:

Everyday I want to take a step forward, instead of two steps back...I didn't accomplish my to do list...Let's be honest-have I ever really finished my to do list?  No, because in everyday life there is something always something to add.  Send the email to remind parents to send in $ for the end of the year class gift to the parents?  Check!  Figure out when I am actually going to have time to use the $ they send to get the gift for the teacher....Laundry done? Check!  No...wait...My dog just jumped on my freshly washed capri's and left 2 cute (sarcasm)  muddy foot prints...Add laundry back to the list.  My to do list never says Ta Da!-your done!  But that is okay...I am embracing the gift that my Heavenly Father has sent me.  I am a woman.  That makes me the mommy.  The center of our home for nurturing, preparing, and maintaining our home.  The To Do list is my reminder that everyday I am taking steps to lead my family back to our home above.  The EVERYDAY things I do to make our house a home are my way to take a step forward, instead of two steps back.  I will always look forward, because everyday is a gift...

STOP

I saw this on a blog I love and decided this would be my new mantra:

Now it's your turn...It is so fun you have to try it!!!  Come on everyone has 5 minutes.  Consider it a mini brain declutter.

Embracing 35...

That's right I said it, I am 35.  I was going to redo 34 but driving home from Virginia on Sunday something clicked in my brain and I realized no matter what spin I put on it I am still 35...and that is okay. I earned that year, even though on a  personal level I feel like I have accomplished...well nothing this past year!  I know if I really thought about it I probably have but on the surface I feel like it was kind of a flop.  I sound so pitiful and depressed don't I?  I'm not really.  I am just going to look ahead to what this year will bring.  Here are a few things I plan on accomplishing this year.  This year is going to be my year.  My wonderful husband reminded me that I say that every year on my b-day...but I am pretty sure this really is my year...My year to:

*Lose a whole bunch of weight and you won't even know it (because I am so done talking, crying, whining, complaining, dwelling, murmuring, and rationalizing it) until I post a picture of myself and you will all look at my blog and leave me comments saying "You look great!", "How much weight have you lost?", "Great job!".  And I will love myself and actually be able to recognize the person I see in the mirror as the person I have been hiding a way under layers of fat for the past almost decade. :)  This is all I will say about that subject so don't even mention it...until you see a picture that you can say "WOW!" too...I guess I should post a picture of the "wow..." that is me right now so you will have something to compare it too.

*Not make long lists of things that I WANT to do but don't really have TIME to do or Need to do. I will stop adding more pressure to myself.  I did accomplish some of the things on my list that I made the beginning of May.  I read my scriptures ever day except one and I just plan forgot that day.  I did read a few other books (on my Kindle that ROCKS), not all of which are on the original list but things I just plan wanted to read.  I finished my puzzle, but not any of the other projects (that I will do this summer...whenever I decide I have time and really want, rather than feel like I need, to them).  I never got up at 5:30am and I am totally okay with that.  I am not a morning person and I don't think that is ever going to change.  I have done better with exercising-wait I said I wasn't going to talk about it!  I can't even remember what else was on the list...Oh yeah Spring cleaning-negative on that, but it will happen because next week I am done working 5 days a week and we are going to get on an AWESOME schedule immediately after school gets out..Okay-rambling!  You get it-the list was not completed-surprise, surprise.  Moving on...

*Continue to strengthen my testimony.  I will serve more.  I will set a better example to those around me.  I will remember who I am-"at all times, in all things, and in all places".  I will stop neglecting my spiritual needs.

* Take time for me.

*Follow through rather than giving up in all areas of my life that this applies to.

*Be less grumpy.  I will not take my stress out on my family.  I will try not to stress about things out of my control.

*Do better at keeping in touch and reach out and reconnect with people that have touched my life for the better.

*Remember what is important and stop worrying about things that aren't.

*Be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, etc....

 *Doing other things that I see I need to do as the year goes on.

That list is much better than the one I did the beginning of May.  I guess I am already older and wiser.  35 may not be so bad after all....

Simple Pleasures: Air Conditioning and fans...

We live in North Carolina. It is hot here. It has been in the mid to high 90's all week...It's only June 2nd. I ask this every year: If it is this hot now, how hot is it going to be in July and August, our 2 hottest months? We are already in the "it is too hot to go outside for any length of time" phase. It is stinkin' hot...My simple pleasure today is air conditioning and fans that help the cool get pushed around the room. Enough said.

What is your simple pleasure today? Check out Cocoa's and you can get some cool free printables she found. :)