Goodbye Princess.

Today is a sad day at the Blue House.

Princess Granola passed away at some point during the night.

Princess Granola was Katie Beth's cat.....her 5th Birthday gift. The ONLY thing on her birthday wish-list that year was a cat of her very own, a black and white one.

I was thrilled to find a tiny little black and white Humane Society kitten at PetLand, and when she tried to claw through the glass cage to get to me, I knew she was the One.

Katie Beth chose the name Princess Granola because it was the most BEAUTIFUL name she could think of.



She's caused us some stress and anxiety over the past 2 1/2 years, because one of her favorite habits was to get under our house and forget how to get out, at which point she'd HOWL at the top of her lungs for hours on end, day and night. And yes, I even crawled on my belly underneath the house to pull her out....MORE THAN ONCE.

But still, she was a sweet, affectionate little cat and a nice addition to our family.

I have no idea what happened to her. I found her laying in the neighbor's yard this morning, where she appeared to be sleeping...by all appearances a happy, healthy cat, and only 2 1/2 years old!

Katie Beth has taken the news surprisingly well. I waited several hours to tell her....trying to work up the nerve....convinced it would be tragic to her. We've never faced the death of a pet before!

Sometimes, surprisingly, children are much tougher than we are, and though she was sad and a little teary-eyed, I was proud of how she handled the news.

We'll miss you terribly, Princess. :(

House For Sale.

The first house we ever owned, remodeled, lived in for seven years, brought our first baby home to, is for sale.

I loved seeing the pictures online here (*you have to enter MLS# 9989747) and strolling down memory lane.

Looks like most of the paint colors are just like we left them four years ago!

And I SOOOOO miss that enormous backyard....two lots!

Thought all our friends who spent time at this house might like to see the pics and reminisce with me.

Call me crazy but I wish we could buy it. :(

Two bedrooms and one bath could work....right?

Evil Words.

This morning at breakfast, we had a very short, very informal Bible time and one-or-two minute discussion about the book of James.

In terms a 3-and-7-year-old can understand, of course.

I read 2 or 3 verses to the girls, paraphrased for them what the verses meant and talked for a minute or two about how we should watch what we say and avoid evil words because the words that we say matter a lot to God.

Emphasis on the avoiding evil words.

At that point Annie's eyes lit up and I could tell she was plotting a move that was guaranteed to shock us all.

She looked me right in the eye and slowly and purposefully spoke the most vile, evil words she could think of:

Bugs.

Cockroaches.

BOO BOOS.

I'm not sure if the Lord gasped in horror at Annie's scandalous flippant use of such horrific words.

At the breakfast table.

But I am praying that eventually, these Bible lessons will get through.

Sink in.

Change lives.

Because clearly we need a little Divine Intervention.

At least she didn't call one of us a bald-head baby.

Our July 4th Celebration.

We had a great time July 4th.

Our friends the Watermans invited us out to their farm where the girls played, and we cooked out on the grill. Their favorite? Playing in the boats... on dry ground.

Little girls are easily entertained sometimes.

Following the cookout, we kicked the girls out of our boats and drove out to the lake. It was a neat experience watching the fireworks from the water, surrounded by hundreds of boats.

Frightening, though, loading up the boat at the boat ramp in the dark of night....

Not to be snobby, but.....Have you ever seen the people who hang out at the public boat ramp in the late, late hours on July 4th?

There was a party goin' on, I'll tell you for sure, and we couldn't get out of there fast enough. Inebriated fools, in the dark, with fireworks = somebody was going to get hurt, and it made me uneasy.

The good news is..... 1) our truck, miraculously, wasn't broken into that night, 2) we didn't run over any drunk kids who were floating in the dark in the boat lanes, and 3) no one got shot. All in all, a good night. Sometimes its the little things.....

Cookout at the farm? Wonderful.
View of fireworks over the water? Fabulous.
Not getting shot? Priceless.

How Things Change in a Year.

I was scrolling back through old posts today, and one year ago today this is what I posted:

So my sister had a sonogram today...

.....and though she's only 15 weeks, and the sonogram technician told her "its a little too early to tell 100%, so DON'T go buy a bunch of stuff," but she's as certain as she can be THIS early that....

And those are the best, you know. :)

Everything looked great on the sonogram, and all potential problems had corrected themselves. Thank you LORD for this good news. :)

And now, one year later, we have little Micah...

...and the little booger has wrapped both of my children around her little finger.

And speaking of boogers.... that same week a year ago? Boogers. And more boogers.

Thankfully, we've moved past the booger obsession since those days a year ago.

Toots are WAAAAAY funnier.

Bringing Out the Big Guns.

So Thursday afternoon, I took the kids to Jumpin' Jacks Party Shack for open jump.

They open their doors every Thursday afternoon from 3:30-5:30 and for the ridiculously expensive not completely budget-breaking price of $6 per kid, you can buy yourself a couple of hours of germs, noise, and other people's poorly behaved children air-conditioned entertainment for your kiddos.

Its one of those Necessary Evils of parenting....sort of like poopy diapers, spit-up, throw-up, and Yucky Chucky's Chuck E. Cheese....when you have kids, you just gotta suffer through it.

So Thursday.

My two, along with Cousin J, were happily playing amongst the various bounce houses, when I hear that this one little bully was being mean to and pushing my Annie.

As a mom, you know the angst you experience deep in your tummy when you hear another child being mean to your precious little one....

But never fear.

Annie is nothing if not strong and self-reliant in times of trouble.

The kid pushed Annie, and Annie defended herself.

She struck the lowest of low blows at this kid when she yelled at him, in front of everyone....

STOP BOTTERIN'

ME, YOU

BALD-HEAD

BABY!!!!!

The bully whimpered, "I'm not a baby.....", tucked his tail, and ran off to find his momma.

Don't mess with Annie.

You'll see what it feels like to get taken down by a three-year-old.

Homeschooling. Yes or No?

I know my closest friends know that I've been pondering and praying about the idea of homeschooling my kids for some time now!

And now here we are, coming up on another school year, and once again, I'm standing at the edge of this homeschooling cliff.

Dare I jump?

I couldn't bring myself to do it last year for first grade.

Or the year before that for kindergarten.

I wanted to, both times.....but I'm staring over the edge of that cliff, and I'm not really sure what's down there.

Public school, I kinda feel secure with that....been there, came out ok....and I really, really, really do like our elementary school. At least, I should say, I know what to expect. It may not be ideal, but I know what to expect.

If I were to homeschool, let me clarify that it is definitely NOT because I have any kind of negative opinion about our school.

Now, our Middle School, that's a different story, and by 6th grade you can be guaranteed that I will be one denim-jumper-wearing, violin-playing, 15-passenger-van-driving, herb-growing homeschooling momma* because my child will NOT, I repeat, NOT be going to that school.

*Except for the denim jumper and the van.

*And probably the violin.

IF I were to homeschool, it would be more about the 'Pros' than necessarily avoiding the 'Cons' (at least for elementary school)
....more quality time with my girl who desperately longs for it,
....more peace since we'd have less time-constraints,
....more experiences because I could pick and choose which field trips to take and we could actually take our time and appreciate, say, the Art Museum, rather than being shuffled through like cattle,
....more rest because she would be finished with 'school' LOOOOONG before 3:00 pm,
....more of me being in control of my child's education,
....more Bible curriculum (significantly more than the 'zero' she will get at public school)
....I LOVE to learn, and would love to share that with my kiddos.

I could go on and on.

So just for the sole purpose of conversation....what do you think about homeschooling?

If you do it...why?

If not....why not?

My only requirement is that if you are anti-homeschooling, just please spare me the 'socialization' argument....you know, that "homeschoolers are just so socially awkward..."

Please. As if *NO* public school kids are awkward??? NONE of them? Public school is just a monoculture of super coolness? The absolute cure for being geeky? Come on now....

I'd be willing to bet that we all went to high school with several dorky socially-awkward types and could probably name them by first and last name even after all these years.

And believe it or not (you may want to sit down before you read my next statement because it is so incredibly monumental that you might faint)...

...I've actually met more than one homeschooled person who turned out....... dare I say it....... NORMAL? Normal as in, wears clothing that isn't necessarily a homemade denim jumper and may even at times be considered stylish AND can function and possibly even carry on a conversation in a variety of social situations.

I know that comes as a huge shock to you as it did to me.

So avoiding dorkyness isn't reason enough for me to NOT homeschool.

And if you have no opinion on the subject, just for fun, read this post and the 800+ comments after it.

Whichever side of the homeschooling argument you stand on, its guaranteed to make your day. :)