New beginnings

Yesterday was the first day of school for my two sweet little girlies. One in 2nd grade, the other in kindergarten. It was a little sad, just to feel the changing of the times, the leaving them to fend for themselves. But, for the most part, I just get so excited to see them begin new adventures in their lives. I honestly was a little nervous about Emma's teacher this year, but when I picked her up yesterday, her first words were, "Mommy, I had the best day. I am so glad I got Mrs. ~~~~!!" Time will tell whether my apprehensions will ever be realized, but for now, I am happy, too. I really have a core belief that things work out the way they are supposed to without too much unnecessary meddling (gather from that - I don't usually request specific teachers for my kids, because there are probably reasons I can't see yet for them getting who they get).

As it was the first day of school, and as I am no longer teaching, yesterday was also my first, first day of school at home. I have to say, being a stay-at-home mom rocks! I am getting my eyes opened to the innumerable blessings of housewifery. Now, don't get me wrong, I have actually been on both sides of the fence for the past nine years. I have taught full time, part time, and have been home during the summers. So, it's not that I don't acknowledge how challenging it is to manage a family (house, kids, husband, comings and goings, etc.). It's just that now, that's all I have to do. My only responsibilities (yes, immense in themselves) include taking care of my house, kids, and husband (and the little ones I am providing day care for as they come and go). In the past, I have done all that (except for the day care), plus worked outside the home. It is an amazing burden that has been lifted from my shoulders, and I am delighting in my new-found freedoms. It is like soaking up the first warm rays of sunshine after a long winter. I am immensely grateful for this new blessing.

Peaceful mornings

So, yesterday morning, the kids all wandered out of their sleepy beds and onto the couch. It was chilly in the living room after a cool windows-open night, so they all snuggled up in their blankies. None of them were interested in breakfast yet, and nobody had anywhere to go or anything to do. They were perfectly happy to hang out on the couch together and watch one of the many episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog we have saved on the DVR (Jagger loves anything involving puppies). It was a perfect summer morning, and a fitting end to a great summer (as school starts on Monday). I'm going to miss mornings like that.

Catching Up

So this summer has been mostly filled with baseball and T-ball. The girls played on two different teams this year, so we had games four days a week. This was Em's first experience with machine-pitch, and she did so good. Nervous at first, but she caught on quick. I think her batting average was somewhere near .500 (impressive, huh?) Bella played on a T-ball team with a bunch of kids who had never played before. One of the dads told me he thought Bella was the most athletic kid on the team. (hee, hee, hee). It was so fun, but I am honestly really glad that it's over. Jag really, really wanted to play with the big kids! Every chance he got, he would try to run out onto the field. One time, I had to chase him almost to 2nd base. Every time whatever girl's team we were there to watch went out into the field, he would commandeer the available balls and bats and try to coerce me, or the other sister, or whatever family member was there to play with him.

Whew, this blog is finally done!

So, I decided to create a blog - for family and friends to keep track of us, for me to purge all of my random thoughts, to post the occassional meaningful discussion. However, this has been way more of a task than I anticipated. I have been working on this thing for a week now! I remarked to my friend that I would have to search through every single background on thecutestblogontheblock.com before selecting my perfect one. (I did end up settling with this one before viewing every single selection, but I still think it's pretty cute). That experience alone attests to my have-to-have-it-just-right personality. From address, to fonts, to colors, to playlist, etc., etc., I wanted to have everything JUST RIGHT. Alas... I decided today to deal with just-for-now and at least get the thing up and running. So here it is.