Our Busy Life Story of the Week

Once again, the only word to describe our life correctly would be BUSY! With school nearing its end, baseball and golf in midswing and swimteam on the horizon, we are crazy busy. This is not a complaint, we signed up for it and, though it is chaotic at best, we are enjoying the crazy. Mason-Kate has adjusted to the crazy....she now takes a look at her dinner plate and says "bye-bye" to Ryan anticipating that she will be getting in the car to eat as we drive to and fro. Gone are the Walton days of having dinner around the table, talking about our day. Thursday was the kicker for us. The boys arrived home from school, we got one changed into his baseball uniform while the other did his homework. We ate quickly, ran everyone into the car and sped off to be early to a baseball game. Plenty of time. We are on the road and Ryan says, "B, there goes Pryce's coach".....hmmmm, he was going the other way. So, we made a quick, very legal :) u-turn, and instead of going by our house to grab a schedule to see exactly where the game was to be held, we went on assumption and traveled to the field that we THOUGHT the game was to be played. We get to the field. No coach, no team, no nothing. We zoom around, fly to the original field that we were headed to and, again, no coach, no team, no nothing. At this point, we were going to be late so instead of making the effort to find the correct field and arrive late, what did this mom do??? What I always do in a desperate attempt to make everyone smile when their parents have messed up, offer Brusters, of course. So off to Brusters we went and we had a beautiful time, just us, no game, no ball, no tears, just us. It was nice. Lesson learned, always look at the schedule, don't assume.

Taking a Chance

We are going to take a chance. It will not be the first and it surely will not be the last chance that our family takes. I took a chance with Ryan....I was originally supposed to date his best friend (set up on blind date), decided to take a chance and told my friend (the one that set us up) that really I didn't like Ryan's best friend as much as I liked the other guy, Ryan. Ryan took a chance with his job. He was rising fast in a huge company with many praises. Ryan took a chance and stepped down from that company so that we could be closer to our home (and family) in SC. Together, Ryan and I took a chance creating our family, we knew what we wanted but there were no guarantees. So, my point is, we all take chances. And you never know until you take that "chance" what the outcome will be. Decisions, choices, those "chances". Together, our family will take a chance next year. We are going to homeschool. Everyone on the street has a different reaction to this. The first question that I am asked is always "What made you decide to homeschool? Are you not happy with your school?" And my response is always the same.....we are choosing to homeschool because I, personally, would like to see what I can do with the boys, what I can teach them. Homeschooling has always been on my mind. A brother-in-law of ours once said to me that one of the reasons he is so successful at what he does is because he has taken chances in his career, he felt like he would never know his capabilities unless and until he gave different opportunities a try. That is my thought on homeschooling - I, we, will never know what homeschooling is like without trying. So, we are going to give it a go....the boys know the deal, commit to a year and then re-evaluate. As for liking their school? I love, love, love their school. I love their teachers even more. We have had such a great experience in the public school system. Honestly, I am going to miss their school. And, as long as I am being honest, the closer the END of school gets (we only have 2 1/2 weeks left), the more sad I become. I hate (for lack of a better word) goodbyes. I hate that the boys will not be seeing their friends everyday next year. I hate that the boys will miss out on events at school. I am sad for them. But, we are taking a chance. A chance that we will all learn from no matter what the outcome. We will meet new friends and keep the old (old Girl Scout song), we will be a part of new events with new groups, we will learn what homeschooling is like. And if it works, great. If not, we can say we tried. We are taking a chance, learning from an experience.

Happy Birthday Pryce!

Today is Pryce's 7th birthday! WOW! Lucky for him, we have been celebrating all weekend long. Friday was party day. 14 children plus 14 Coke/Mountain Dews to drink plus Crazy Frog (loud) music to dance to plus a limousine to cart all of the above around equals some very happy times! Our driver gladly drove us to a most glorious, kid friendly destination, Chick-Fil-A. We were quite the scene and we were most definitely heard! We ate, the Cow appeared, we sang Happy Birthday, Mason-Kate spotted the Cow and could not breathe due to her fear of the friendly monster, we played and then the limo was back to return us home. Good times and, most importantly, Pryce felt like a king. Saturday was Open-Every-Present-That-Had-Been-Given-To-Pryce-At-His-Party day. The boys built Lego pirates, they fought many battles with new swords, they played in the sandbox with a new truck contraption, they had a Silly String war and then they took to the Slip-N-Slide for a little fun in the water. More good times! Today is the big day, though, and we are going to begin our celebration once Pryce awakens from his slumber. When asked what he wanted most for his birthday, he commented that he would like to be the "boss" for the day, make all of the decisions and give all commands. So, in between all of the celebrating today, Pryce will be our boss. And speak of the birthday boy, he just appeared and is already giving his first command...."I would like to open my presents now please!"....

She learns a lot from her brothers.....