We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Woke up and Kei was so excited about my present. She got me a red rose, a snicker’s bar and my favorite candle. I had gotten her candy and this cool “Believe” wall hanging.
Brit also went to church with us. It was a good time!
She was acting all “I’m 10 and I have a BF” until later that night. She got a bunch of stuffed animals and played with them.
Then she fell asleep looking like a 5 year old. That’s what I love about my girl.
This morning we woke up to SNOW! Our first snow in the new house. We went outside for about 22 seconds. It was COLD.
Kei Snowball
Kei at the Ditch Footprints
We have moved.† We are now living in the house I grew up in.† My Daddy remarried and is letting Kei and I live in the house.† I had such mixed feelings about this at first.† Now I am super excited.
There is a ton to do, things to paint, things to update, changes to be made.† But I am home.† Funny how life goes full circle.† I was 9 when we moved here.† Kei and I moved in when she had been 10 3 weeks.
There is still things that need to be gotten out of here.† <my brother’s stuff..hint hint> ;)† Daddy has things everywhere, especially outside, but it feels like home.† It feels like MY home.
We have a room just for homeschooling!† A WHOLE ROOM filled with bookcases!
And crazy as it sounds, we are already running out of bookcase room!
I have painted and redone what was my Mom’s bedroom and is now mine.
We have painted Kei’s bedroom.
She still wants to paint her bed…purple. It is a deep, grape colored purple.
I painted Kei’s bathroom.
There is still tons to be done. The house is in great shape but hasn’t been updated in forever! We have big plans Lucy!
Kei has a pet chipmunk that stays on the patio.† She feeds him bread crumbs and grapes. She named him Chippy. Since she begun feeding him, he has been joined by birds and squirrels. Can you say menagerie!
We have room for all of our friends to come visit at the same time!† We are so blessed and feel so lucky to be here.† I know Momma is up in heaven, grinning…
We went to HS Skate Day and the kids exchanged Valentines.† It was the 1st time Kei has made a Valentine box since 1st grade! We had a blast!
Gina’s step mom passed away unexpectedly Friday.† She and Gina’s dad were in Panama City.† Gina and Bobby left to go down to be with her dad.† Brit and Cody are here and as sad as the circumstances are, we are delighted to have them here.† We have had such fun having a taste of a bigger family!† Gina you are in our thoughts and prayers.† We love you much!
Life is good.
We started ‘school’ back today.† Kei and I were both ready for it.
She did a report from “The Daring Book for Girls”.† This is the coolest book ever.† She picked, of all things, Karate.
Then she helped me fax my work flyer to about 50 Production companies.† She said she needed to write down the numbers so she would have them ‘one day when I am about to be an actress’. 🙂
We had to miss our roamschool outing to Moe’s.† Daddy wanted us to come over and go through the house again.† I have such conflicting emotions about moving.† I just pray that it all works out.
Tomorrow we start cleaning over there.† Lord give me strength and patience! 🙂
It is so cold here.† Unfreakabelievably cold!† Minnesota cold!† Sweden cold!
Last night we went to convergence at our church.† Our church rocks!† Kei and I were greeters.† There were so many people there.† We had a wonderful night.
Epic Kei
Our band is so awesome. Plus they were joined by musicians from 3 other churches!
Epic Band
We woke up this morning to SNOW!† It wasn’t a lot but it snowed all day.† It was so cool to look out of the window and see snow falling all day.† I thought of my Momma all day. She always loved snow days.
Glorious snow!Winter Wonderland..
It is supposed to get frigid tonight.† Low in the morning is -10 with the wind chill.† BRRRrrrrrr!
Well Christmas has come and gone.† Thanks to the coolest friends in the world, we had an amazing Christmas.
We left Santa cookies and milk.
Ho Ho Ho...
We then spent a very restless night.† Kei could not sleep because she was so excited.† She started at 1:00 am asking me if she could just sneak down and check and I said no.† She asked me every 30 minutes until 5:30 when I finally said yes.† I have to have a bath before I function <hey some people need coffee, I need my bath!> so we have started a tradition of her opening her stocking on the bathroom floor while I am waking up in my bath.
Kei got everything on her list!† And more!
Wonderful Christmas
We went to Eddie and Heather’s for Christmas breakfast.† Daddy and Marlene† came too.† We had a yummy breakfast casserole, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, orange juice and coffee.† Then we opened presents.† Good times were had by all!
Kei and I came home she played for hours while I took down the tree! I know, I know, but I was sick of that puppy.† So down it came.
Then we went to Marlene’s for Christmas dinner.† We met her son and his wife and their adorable little girl.† Everything was delicious and it was a nice night.† You know, traditions sometimes change.
Saturday we went to Laura’s for traditional Christmas dinner.† The food was excellent and the company was awesome.† I laughed so much my stomach hurt.† We love you all so much!
Suzette had everyone over to her house for our !st Annual Homeschooling Christmas dinner.† We had the best time ever!† We had fajitas and beans and rice and tons of sweets.† We also played Trivial Pursuit.† It was a great time with great friends.† Suz, you are the best.
Trivial PursuitMore Trivia
We spent New Year’s Eve quietly at home.† I had given her an early birthday gift and she played Wii sports for hours!
I played WoW with Carla and a friend from Canada.† We laughed so much and had so much fun.† Here is a screen shot of Carla and I waiting on Paul to figure out how to get me on a zeppelin that I was 7 levels too low to go onto.† It is a hilarious story but you have to play WOW to understand. :)† Yes we did it!
Happy 2010 on WOW!
The 3rd was my beautiful girl’s 10th birthday and she was SO EXCITED. She is such a blessing in my life and I thank God for her every single day.
Sweet Child of Mine
She told me she was going to be the Big ONE OH!
10th Birthday
We went to church and then we went to IHoP.† This is the 6th year in a row we have gone to eat breakfast on her birthday.† The waitress’s all sing to her and she loves it!
Happy Birthday!
Then we came home and Daddy and Marlene came over.† Marlene had made Kei a beautiful birthday cake. It was yummy too!
Yum Yum Yum
Then she opened my gifts.† She loved everything ….
but nothing as much as the Johnny Depp bag I found for her.† I took 5 pictures and they were all blurry because she kept jumping up and down!
Kei & her future husband
Eddie, Heather and the kids† came over and brought her a Zhu Zhu complete with a house.† She loved it!† Later on that night, she was playing with it and I was on the computer.† Everything got very quiet.† I said “What’s up?” and turned to look at her.† She had her Zhu Zhu dangling from her hair!† She said, “I was laying on the floor and he just backed up and ran over my hair!”.† Only Kei.† I got one wheel out but I could not get the other one.† We called Jerri and went to her house for assistance.† Everytime you touch the dang thing the wheels would turn and it would make crazy noises.† Jerri and I were laughing so hard we were crying.† We finally got out all but about 10 hairs and we just had to cut it out.
Zhu Zhu of Death
Kei said, “Please don’t blog or Facebook this Mom”, but…it was too good to resist.
Now we are in the middle of a huge FREEZE! It is cold, I mean COLD, didimentionCOLD?† My Southern blood isn’t up to this kind of weather.† We are in the house and not going out until the temperature hits at least 40!
So, here we are….2010.† Hang on tight because the best is yet to come.
I remember having a White Christmas when I was small.† Kei has wanted one for years.† At first I thought that was a possibility but now the weather has changed once again.
White Christmas or not, it is upon us.† Things are different this year.† Last year was very hard for my family because it was the 1st Christmas without my Mom.† This year my Daddy is remarried.† Things change, seasons change, traditions change.
We made Christmas candy the other day.† It was fun, especially for Kei.† She adores anything bakey.† We made Chocolate Oatmeal cookies < which we always call the unappealing name of Doo Doo Cookies>, Oreo balls, Peanut Butter Microwave Brittle, Chocolate dipped Pretzels, and Chocolate Chip cookies.
Candy Good!Messy Goodness
I still lack a few presents.† I will do that Tuesday, maybe…I hope.
Christmas Girl
At church the kids did a little program while the band sang “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls.† It is a great song for this time of year.
Faith and Better Days
We want to go see the Christmas lights in the next couple of nights.† I hate driving though, I never can look at them very well when I have to concentrate on actually keeping the car on the road!
We have done some “Christmasy” things the last week or so.
We volunteered to ring a ling ding the Salvation Army Bell.† We did this with Heather and her boys and it was FREEZING!† The kids had a blast when they weren’t too frozen to speak.† Heather brought her violin which I am sure was a first for our town.
Me & My girlFrosty KidsMaestro
We also got some snow!† It never snows here in December.† It used to, but not so much now.
Snow in the South
We decorated the tree, although in all honesty, Kei did 99% of this herself.† I can not believe she has gotten to the point that she can do our entire tree!
All By Myself...O Christmas Tree
We went to eat with Gina and Bobby.† Gina made chili and it was so good!† We brought Brit home with us and they did their usual girl things.† Max and Rob and Johnny and Fang, oh my!
Da Girls
It is about 2 weeks until Christmas and no I am not ready.† But then again, I never am!
Christmas.† I used to LOVE Christmas.† My brothers and I loved December and my Momma and Daddy made it a wonderful time for us.† Christmas meant presents and beautiful trees and huge family get-togethers and whispered prayers for snow.† Then I grew up.† In my teens, I still loved Christmas but not with the fervor of a child.† Then I got married.† I liked Christmas† and decorated every room in the house, put up a magnificent tree, bought enough presents for a small nation.
Then I became ambivalent toward Christmas.† Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.† It just was.† I put up the tree and bought presents, but the magic wasn’t there.
The last almost decade, I have loved Christmas again.† Having a child makes you enjoy Christmas differently.† I love Kei’s excitement, her giddiness at all things Christmas related, her unshaken belief in Santa.† The way she gets more excited about what she gets me than what she is getting.† How her favorite part of Christmas is listening for Santa’s reindeer hooves on the roof.† How she understands the true meaning of Christmas.
Last Christmas was hard.† The 1st Christmas without my sweet Mother.† Kei helped me so much. Her presence made it bearable to survive my 1st Christmas alone, without Momma.
This Christmas I have been so worried.† Worried about money that I didn’t have to buy gifts.† I listened to Kei tell me, “Don’t worry Mommy, I am asking Santa for the things I want.† I don’t want anything from you.”† I worried and cried to myself and prayed.
Do you know there are angels everywhere?† They walk among us and show themselves in the most wondrous ways.† I have amazing people in my life.† People who don’t love me because I share their blood and they have to love me, people who love me just because.† People who have helped me to make sure my girl has a wonderful Christmas.† People who understand the true meaning of this season.† “Thank you” doesn’t seem like a big enough thing to say.† I am blessed, truly blessed to have you in my life.† I am honored to call you “friends”.† I have so missed having this kind of friends in my life.† Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.† Bless you.
I am not ready for December.† I am not ready for Christmas and presents and trees and decorations.
Kei is though.† She is more than ready for us both.
The past 2 weeks have been good.† We have done some really cool things in homeschooling.† We are still doing the American Revolution and also making a Grammar Lapbook.† It is a really fun one where you are a visitor from another planet and are trying to figure out the English language.
We have learned about the Brain and Kei made a brain hat. <this is so neat!>† She also did the Stroop test and thought it was so cool.† We determined which was her dominate side <left>.
The Girl with 2 Brains
We went to Heather’s for a GNO.† We ate pasta and sandwiches and desert and caramel popcorn and watched Momma Mia! on blue ray and trust me, it DOES make a difference.† Our girls were singing and dancing the entire time.† We don’t have 1 shy, introvert HSer among us! 🙂
"Momma Mia, Here I go again"MM Robot
Chan came and spent a few days with us.† We always love having her.† Her and Kei had so much fun.† They borrowed my camera and kept trying to get jumping shots of themselves.
Yes, Kei still has her tonsils!
Thanksgiving we spent giving back to our community.† We went with our church to serve 1400 meals delivered to families and serve 400 inmates.† We love doing this each year.
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. ~Dr. Seuss
Then we went to Gina and Bobby’s.† We had an AWESOME Chinese dinner.† The lumpia’s that Gina made were out of this world.† I am still craving them.
Thanksgiving Chinese Style
Kei and I had written down a thing that we were thankful for each day in November.† We made them into a chain and read each other’s Thanksgiving Day.† It was scary how similar they were.
Kei and I spent the rest of the holiday weekend watching movies, playing computer games and board games† and laughing a lot.
I have been really bad about updating. I need to blog more and I don’t even have an excuse. I like to keep a record, not for the4, 2 people that probably occasionally read this, but for me and Kei.
Life has been…life. Mostly good, sometimes bad, sometimes sad, more often happy, not enough money, but making it mostly.
We went to Esther’s for lunch and play. I love my friends so much and can’t imagine what I ever did without them. They are truly a blessing to me.
Kei has been learning about the Human Body. She knows most of the bones and has blown me away with it. She did the skeleton below from memory. I also found a really great site for learning the bones and muscles. We have played and played this. WARNING: This crazy song will be stuck in your head for days! I have relearned them also. That is a benefit of Homeschooling!
We are learning about the American Revolution and she has been doing cool ‘crafty’ things. Also we watched “The Patriot”.† It is bloody but ….it was a WAR! We love Evan Moor teacher’s file box. I use their “Pockets” for almost everything! It is the only monthly expense I have just for Homeschooling.
Kei also made a “Save the Earth” poster. She is so passionate about that and just did it on her own. I have almost NO plastic bags now because she has been refusing to use them for a year.
Kei and Vicki have spent hours playing on the balcony. And hours cleaning up the balcony.
The other day when Kei was eating lunch she yelled at me “Mommy come look”. She was eating a cracker and said, “Look, it is Italy”.
We went to our HS Skate Day and had a blast as always. Kei won a coloring award for her Squirrel picture.
We went to Cathy’s for our 1st Annual HS Thanksgiving.† It was a WONDERFUL day of awesome food and conversation and lots of laughter. If you homeschool, I can’t tell you how important it is to find a group of moms for support. It is strange because I was homeroom Mom for Kei in K and 1st grade and I didn’t get to know any of the moms.† Now I can’t imagine my life without “my moms”.
Livvy spent the night with Kei and they wanted to have the upstairs for “their house”. They spent hours up there playing.† After listening to the CD with us about 100 times, we finally introduced Liv to “Dr. Horrible”. Of course she loved it!
I am still playing WOW with my best friend.† I told Kei the other day that I am NOT letting her out of my life again! She sent us $25 Fandango bucks so we could go see “New Moon”. I protested and she said, “Oh please girl, I have to discuss it with you after wards like we always have”. Honestly, when it is all said and done, I truly believe that it is the people we surround ourselves with that matters.† And I have amazing people.
Kei wrote her letter to Santa.† She still mostly believes in Santa but for some reason she thinks he will only come until she is double digits. <she will be 10 in January>† It was so bittersweet to read her letter and watch her put it in the mailbox.
Letter to Santa:
Hello Santa,
I know this is probably your last time to come so I wanted to say Thank you so much for all the stuff you have gotten me over the years.† Just so you know, I will always believe in you.† So I can’t wait till my kids will give you milk and cookies.† Please stop by my house sometimes for milk and cookies and carrots even though you won’t be bringing me anything.
Oh tell Dancer I say ‘hello’ and tell Mr. Baggledrum <she got a letter from Santa last year about Mr. Baggledrum and how he kept the elves happy> thank you for keeping the elves happy.† Santa I only want 5 things for Christmas this year so here I go…..
She then ends with :
Santa you have been so nice to me so thank you.
I love you,
Keilee
My sweet girl…
So time is marching on.† I can’t believe it is almost Thanksgiving.† Daddy has made some progress cleaning out the house, but it is like a drop in a vast ocean.† Maybe after the first of the year.
