My Happy Ever After

I'm going to do my best to keep this short and sweet. I have always struggled with the right education choice for my children. Homeschool, public school, private school? What is best for us? I was homeschooled and I truly believe it is the best education a child can get. We tried it. We tried public school. We tried homeschool again. Finally I have peace, my kids are going to a Charter School, and not just any charter school but one that is 12 minutes from my house and founded my a couple of county teachers that were fed up with the system and wanted to create a better way. Of course I was nervous for a change in schools for Asher and Laila's very first experience away from me all day. Open House changed everything. Let me preface this story with saying Tim and I have prayed about what the right choice was and prayed our kids would get matched with the right teachers. Especially our Laila girl, so shy, non-verbal except parents and siblings, so anxious about things someti...

We made it! (almost) I have so many feelings about this. I'm happy with how the summer went, keeping the kids busy on a budget! I enforced one day "off" a week where we got to stay home. There were people I planned on seeing that it didn't work out, I still hope to make that happen though. Just minus the kids 😂 There were only 1 or 2 things we didn't get done that we wanted to and I'm fighting the perfectionist in me to be able to say it was a successful summer anyway. This week we will try and tie up all the loose ends, run a few errands, do some back to school haircuts, get prepped for Small Group, and Open House!!! A couple fun things to celebrate the end of Summer too, our $4 movie theater is showing Aladdin and the girls are dying to see it, so we're going on Wednesday 😉 Asher is excited about school, a little nervous to start in a new place. (We are transitioning into a Charter School this year) He's going into 5th grade, this year can tak...

We don't always go up north for a whole week but this time we did! My baby brother got married (woohoo!) So we made the best of it. I'm gonna be honest and tell you that it wasn't my favorite trip back home. Some trips are just so much fun and we do so many things, seeing so many people. This was one of those trips where things didn't go quite as planned. For the last few years we've stayed at my parents house but as sleeping situations have been altered, siblings gotten bigger and one moving back home it's not as easy to find space for my crew as it has been. I found out both my cousin and sister were coming to town and staying there too so that sealed the deal, we get to stay at Grandmom's!  Ana remembered Grandmom's front porch swing and wanted to go out there almost as soon as we arrived. So we sat and swang, swung, swinged.... 🤷🏼‍♀️ Grandmom pulled out the bug nets and containers, the kids caught so many fireflies as the sun set. I live...

Slowing down! I struggle with blogging consistently, probably because I don't know if anyone is enjoying it (which makes it worth it). But maybe I'll keep this up for my own benefit to look back on later, like Facebook Memories. Sometimes I post things just to preserve the memory of day to day things 🥰 Here's what you've missed: The week after my anniversary trip we stayed busy! - Storytime at the library - Lots of hair appointments (clients getting ready for summer 😎) - A morning at the Splash Pad!  - I got to go grocery shopping by myself 🙌🏻 (Sorry no photographic evidence) - We made moonsand 😬 ( 8C Flour 1.5C Baby Oil) Now this is super messy so if you attempt DO IT OUTSIDE,  that being said it kept my girls busy for hours! Laila wore her "maker sings" because we mixed the oil and flour in my kitchen aid before bringing it outside on the front porch - I can't say I've ever baked a box cake with my kids but when I saw an Aldi br...

My sweet husband took me to Nags Head for the weekend to celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary. His dad drove down from MD to watch the kids so we could go, I was a little nervous leaving him with all three kids for 3 days but he did great! Tim and I spent as much time as we could on the beach. I don't enjoy swimming where the sharks do so Tim hung out with me where I could still see my feet 😂 We were fortunate to have a sandbar nearby so we could go out further that we would've. The hotel we stayed at allowed dogs so there were dogs everywhere, obviously this made Tim happy. However he was much more curious about the pelicans and why they do what they do, it became our little joke that weekend.  Yup, he wore matching shirts with me. Yup, we got lots of attention for our shirts. It was super fun and if he was just humoring me he didn't show it! We kept it all super low budget so we can continue to pursue our debt free life, that kept us from doing all t...

We survived! We did the things! It wasn't too bad actually. Summer rules are pretty much only about screen time and they're just as much for me as they are for the kids. Before the kids can have any they must complete the following: - wake up routine done (dressed, groomed, bed made, breakfast & juice plus eaten) - chores complete - lunch eaten & cleaned up - after 12pm Asher is allowed to earn more time (up to an extra hour) by completing math pages, chores etc. So far he's done a TON of extra math and taken advantage of that. This week we - went to storytime at the library - got an adjustment at the chiropractor - went out to dinner with my MIL - made house calls doing haircuts - had a well visit for Asher - (I) had a coffee date with a friend AND got my nails done - attended an event at the library to make a library tote bag - made marshmallow creations - had a wonderful family night full of chinese food and quality time snuggled on the couch...

My oldest gets into trouble when he has nothing to do, despite my best efforts he is the type of person who does not occupy himself well. Unless he's reading.. So when a friend asked me if we have a structured routine over the summer it hit me, I don't but I need to! My girls occupy each other well but we're going to need some type of plan for the whole family. You know that quote going around social media that says we only have 18 summers with our kids? That plays a part too, I am no Pinterest-Mom or even an Insta-Perfect Mom but I am a mom striving to live in the moment with my kids before it's gone. It's a struggle ya'll, I am always thinking about what's next and what is expected of me after we're done. In the spirit of being transparent, we got into some debt last year trying to stay afloat in Tim's career change. So working hard to pay that off means we have a tight summer budget! We usually do but this year is especially tight as we...

Have you ever just wanted someone to say "it's ok" so all the stress of making a decision melts away? Sometimes I think it's because I'm not really ready to be an adult and make big kid decisions, other times I wonder if it's because I depend too much on what people think. Regardless what it is, sometimes when someone gives me permission I realize what I really wanted all along. I try really hard to seek God before asking others their opinion, but sometimes God says do what you want to do! 2018 was so hard.. Lots of big decisions were made, lots of big changes, lots of transitions. I am so grateful to have been surrounded by people who love me and have said "it's ok". Surround yourself with the right people, seek God first, find someone who will (be honest) and tell you it's ok. You're ok, you got this, God's got you.