Happy Graduation

I've got a few catch up postings to do. We have been very busy! Saturday took us out of town for a mini family reunion. My little brother graduated from High School. Tim really is the baby of the family. My other brother and I were in high school ourselves when our parents discovered that God intended on them having three kids! He was only 2 when I left for college. Hard to believe he is now 18 and off to college himself in a few months. Congrats, little bro!! Can't wait to see where the Lord will lead you and your music.



My brothers and my girly girls



Can you guess in what historic town my brother lives- where the fife and drum corps would be the flag bearers at the ceremony?

IRL (In Real Life)

I first began connecting with strangers on the Internet about seven years ago. We had decided it was time to begin adding a child to our family. Ever the planner, I wanted to have our first child born in May. The perfect month to maximize my leave as a teacher. I'd have the entire summer plus I'd take off a full year, have another summer and then go back when our child was 15 months old. So I set out to find information on natural family planning and discovered a website and forum called fertility friend. I joined a TTC (trying to conceive) group and was amazed to become the first in the group with a BFP (big fat positive)!! My new friend Shel was just a few weeks behind me. We were due in June. Success!!! Shel and I also joined a due date group and we went through all the ups and downs of pregnancy together. That was a group of 8. The TTC group gained and lost a few members, but averaged about 15 women. I ended up almost losing the baby early on, was defined as high risk, had a surgery to sustain my ability to carry her and was on bed rest for 5 long months. My borrowed lap top and my friends got me through. And seven years later we are all still in touch! The groups changed venues several times as boards added fees or drama or allowed public access and we needed a private space. Instead of checking in several times a day, it's now more like monthly. But these women have been with me, and I with them, through many births and losses and IVF treatments and just the ups and downs of parenthood. We have celebrated together the gift of each child and being called a mother. We have talked about a get together, but we completely span the country from coast to coast and Canada. I was so excited to get a message that my longest running pal, Shel, would be passing through my town on her way home from vacation. We arranged to meet at the Children's museum yesterday.






It was SO good to finally get that hug! Our kids all hit it off and had grand adventures around the museum for three hours. We'll get together again later this summer. We have decided to make a trip down south to their turf and check out their kids museums together!

**note- I got my May baby, born 3 weeks early. But I never did go back to work. God had a BIG surprise for us and by that planned return date I was the mom of 2!

Giveaway

A customer of mine, Sara, has a coupon and deal alert blog www.sarathesavvyshopper.blogspot.com She asked me if I'd be willing to run a coupon code and offer a giveaway on her site of some of my hair accessory products. I always oblige such invitations when I can, and finally got around to getting Sara all the information and pictures for the giveaway. I just sent them to her tonight, so I'm not sure when she'll have it up and running, so here is a sneak peak... and be sure to check out her blog for deal alerts, coupon information, and of course a chance to win one of my 3 great give away packages and see the voucher code for 20% off your purchase until July 1.

Infant/Toddler


School aged Girl


Adult

Ambush?

Ok. So I'm at the bus stop this morning, Last day of school. A mom takes me aside and asks if I have any water ballons or water guns. Um, no. We are a Girly Girl house, like totally girly. Why do you ask? Seems that the parents ambush the kids as they get off the bus on the last day. Supplied with this new knowledge I start to panic. If little miss Girly Girl P gets sprayed she'll have a fit, or more likely a melt down. So. Not. Good. I can see the total fun in this. Just not for my child. What to do?

I don't have to wait long to come up with an answer. The phone rings and I'm needed to come up to school with a pizza cutter and be the mom in charge of the pizza party in P's classroom. The mom on duty can't make it. Whew! The little Girly Girl can ride home with me.

So Girly Girl T and I get our pizza wheel and head off to school. I'm so glad I was called in, not just for the easy avoidance of the bus situation, but it's a fun time! I'm the only mom there so little T gets asked to be a helper, gets pizza and a cupcake too, grabs a seat and is a kindergartner herself for an hour- a role she totally delights in.



We get hugs from Mrs. M, say good-byes to the Spanish and Art teachers and get a hug from the principal as we walk down the sidewalk toward our car. Then we get stuck behind all the buses leaving and try to get back to our stop so we can see the action from the safety of our car. Drats! We get stuck behind another bus one block from our stop, but we get to see their attack. And WOW! I'm now so glad P is safe in the car with me. Can we say a mob of about 30 parents armed with hundreds of water balloons, super soakers and big plastic tubs of water, cans of silly string... Each kid is thoroughly soaked as they get off the bus. Nobody is spared. It's insane. And it's all totally in good fun, but I know my child and this experience would have been disastrous for her. Here eyes were wide as saucers as she watched what was transpiring out her car window. The crowd cleared. The bus moved and we were able to turn onto our street and see the remnants of the ambush that took place at our stop moments earlier. Just as involved and crazy. Whew, crisis averted. So when did this tradition start???

Approaching the end of another school year

Two days left to go. Actually two very short partial days. Why they do that is beyond me. P is only in school until 12 yesterday thru Friday. Report card grades were due last week so it's just fun (better make that chaos). The teacher asked each family to write her a letter about the growth and change we have seen in our child over the course of the kindergarten year. I have yet to write mine, I'm sure it will be an emotional letter to compose. P has undergone tremendous growth, socially, emotionally and academically. This has been an amazing year for her and God blessed us with a truly special teacher (who says she'll see to it that T is in her class next year!!).

We attended a royal ball!

Kindergarten style!!! It was so cool. P brouught home a formal invitation last week, just like a wedding invite complete with a reply card in a separate envelope and all that tissue paper. Our presence was requested at the royal gathering of princes and princesses at the Word Wall Ball. Word wall words are the 32 sight words all kindergartners are expected to master by the end of the year. In order to receive their invitation, they had to read all the words to the royal messenger. The morning of the ball, P picked out her pink silk and tulle dress (it's a special occasion dress that Gymbo mis-marked on line for sale for a few hours almost 2 years ago and I got for $14 and it still fits!!). T has one too and would be in attendance as a royal guest, so I decided I should match as well and dug out an old bridesmaid dress that had never been worn again. We took our seats around the dance floor, one class of parents and siblings on each side of the room. The Queen (Principal) welcomed all of us and introduced the children as they walked through a giant balloon arch in their finest attire and foam crowns and tiaras. The teachers were in their ball gowns too!! Each teacher called up their kids one at a time for a certificate recognizing their ability to read all the word wall words. I took two pictures of P getting hers and one is blurry and the other is a few seconds too late (darn!). Then the dancing began!! They had partnered up the kids and taught then a "waltz". It was too stikin' cute! P and her partner were on the other side of the room, so a still picture was out of the question, so I just video taped the entire event. The waltz was followed by the Cha Cha slide, Macarena and one other group dance whose name I didn't catch. Priceless. Simply priceless.

Milestones

What a past few days we have had!! I was hopeful that I could have posted already, but it was simply chaotic.

Our darling first Girly Girl celebrated her 6th birthday on May 21. It is so hard to believe that six years have passed. I was watching the finals of American Idol between Clay and Ruben when my water broke back in 2003. 26 hours later she was born via an emergency c-section. My pregnancy was high risk and I had five long months of bedrest to try to contain this child, and then when it was finally time, she wouldn't come out. She has been a strong child since the moment God first began knitting her together in my womb, and she continues to be so to this day. We had a wonderful, jam packed day that included me getting to volunteer in her class, deliver cupcakes to school,
head to the pottery painting studio (a favorite destination) immediately after getting off the bus,
a visit to the book store to pick out a few more chapter books for her library, her favorite pizza for dinner, a visit to the local ice cream parlor
and then cake at home.
Happy Birthday, Princess!!

The next day was just as eventful. Girly Girl two graduated from preschool. That too seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. We were so blessed to have been able to attend a wonderful church based preschool.

making thank you cards for her teachers

Both Girly Girls had fabulous experiences with Godly teachers who taught them much and thuroughly prepared them for kindergarten. Girly Girl 2 has some wonderful memories and dear friends.



It was bittersweet driving up the carpool lane that last day. We were told about this school soon after we moved to the area and that it was difficult to get into. I got in line at 3am my first year to get a spot when registration opened at 7:30 am. It just got crazier every year. To get GG2 into the 4 day class I wanted her to be a part of I knew I needed to be their early since space was severely limited. I was planning on midnight, but when my friend drove by at 9 and said somebody was already in line I grabbed my supplies (chair, sleeping bag, book, boots- yes it was January and about 20 degrees) and headed over to camp out in line. I got there at 9:30 pm and was number 4 in line. I have never camped out for concert tickets, but I was one of at least 20+ crazy parents that cold night in line for a preschool spot. And let me tell you, it was well worth it! Both girls blossomed and grew there. I'm a bit sad to see that phase end, but was quite happy this past January to NOT have been in line to register!!