Right Now

It has been three years since we woke up here and not there.  Maggie has officially lived here for as long as she lived in Sanford.

I have a polyp growing my uterus.  It hurts sometimes.

We are looking forward to going to the beach soon.

Big Daddy and I are really enjoying our first year of being the proud owners of a blooming hydrangea!  (It was my Mother's Day present last year)  Hydrangeas remind me of my Grandma's house and the place where Big Daddy and I spent our honeymoon and many summer weekends in the first few years of our marriage.  I have little bouquets scattered through the house.

We are all sorts of excited about an Ice Cream Social with our homeschool group to celebrate the end of the school year.

We are still talking about the fun trip we took last week to have dinner with our friends in Sanford. Maggie and Ellie were able to love on Gammy Gladys and play with their friends, while I had some much needed time with my favorite mommies.

Ellie loves her homeschool preschool time.

Big Daddy and I are planning a little trip for our twelve year anniversary that's coming up.

First and Last

 Maggie had her first (and probably last) dance recital this past weekend.  I only took pictures during the dress rehearsal the night before, so that I could be fully present for the actual recital.  Sadly, Maggie has decided that dance isn't her thing and she'll be trying something new during the next school year.

I am so NOT a dance mom, but I really enjoyed the recital and the little bit of hype that surrounded it.  Maggie's favorite part of the recital was killing time with her friends while waiting their turn to perform!  

 Of course, a cheap plastic trophy and flowers from your dad are also nice.

Maggie received her first trophy when she won "Clubber of the Year" in her AWANA class a couple of weeks ago and she was thrilled to add another trophy to her collection.

A Little Brain Dump

I feel like the past 6 weeks or so have been so crazy and so many things have happened in our lives.  From the death of Mike's mom to Maggie turning six.  I decided the best way to document some of the stuff that we've had going on is to do a recap.  Is there any other way that I'll be able to look back in a month and remember what happened?

• Turning six was lots of fun!

According to Maggie, this scooter is "the best gift ever because it's a dream come true".  Nana rocks!

• We celebrated our first "Homeschool Field Day".  Both girls LOVED it and wanted to do it again!  It was quite a production getting 130 kids organized by age and gender and rotating them through all of the events.  My favorite thing was when the girls played tug of war!
• Maggie had her first dance pictures taken in preparation for her recital and the end of her first year of dance.  They had pictures taken at the dance studio and they wore the outfit for jazz and tap.  I decided to take a few in her ballet outfit too.  I'll be taking some in her jazz outfit at some point because I have very little faith in the picture (singular) that the photographer took.  I paid for "10 edited images" and she snapped one picture so fast that I don't even know how Maggie was posed.  I guess I'll get one image edited 10 different ways.  I have no idea!

Ellie cried and wanted in on one picture!!

• Maggie has finished first grade and started most second grade work.  We are doing another year of first grade math, but in a different curriculum.  She does well at math, but gets very stressed out if she doesn't understand a concept immediately.  I am hoping by going through another year of first grade math she will gain some confidence.  We are doing several lessons a day since we're at the easy stuff, so she'll be in second grade before I know it.  Another beauty of homeschooling!!
• Ellie has started preschool "work" at home!  I have attempted this before, but didn't stick with it.  She'll be doing some of the basic things that Maggie learned in her three year old preschool class and hopefully more.  I asked if she liked preschool and she said, "Yes! It's ottsa fun!!"
• We had hoped to send both girls to summer day camp at our church, but Ellie's camp is at the same time that we'll be at the beach and Maggie's camp has become an overnight camp.  After a discussion, we determined that none of us are quite ready for that.  Maggie thought it sounded like fun, but said that three nights away would be too long unless we would come and stay a couple of nights.  Maybe next year we will all be ready!
• And did I mention that Maggie lost her first tooth!?

That gets me caught up on the past few weeks, I think.

Right Now

I write a lot, but it's in my head.  I think about the things that I want to remember (like yesterday when Ellie said, "Look, I'm just like a little rolling pin." as she rolled across her bed!) and the different things that we have going on from day to day.  In the end, there are too many other things that keep me from writing (or typing).

Maggie lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago and (finally!) learned how to ride her bike without training wheels last night.  She is six and I homeschool her and I wonder how in the world that happened every single day.  We have taken a couple of weeks off from any school work (but we learn every single day) and will start second grade next week.  The break has been nice, but Maggie thrives when she has work- and her behavior is much better!

Ellie is such a mess!  She is so funny and sweet and she doesn't put up with any junk from her big sister!  She has really shown me what a sponge children are.  Most of the "bad" stuff that she does, she learned how to do from watching her sister.  She seems to be strong-willed like Maggie and she also has the same sweet spirit.

I cannot believe that Big Daddy and I will celebrate our 12 year anniversary in June.  I cannot believe that we got married so young or that we are getting so old!  I'm happy to say that our marriage has lasted longer than the appliances that we bought the first few months of our marriage.  We replaced our washing machine in January of 2009 and just bought a new dryer this week.  So, our appliances died before we did!

I now have the sewing machine that I have wanted for so long.  I have made pillow covers and curtains for Maggie's room.  In just a minute, I'm going to work on a couple of little tote bags.  My sewing machine makes me smile!!