Here's what we've been growing ... I mean, doing!

Turns out my kid loves to grow things!  We planted Sugar Baby Watermelons (of all things!) and surprise, surprise they sprouted in two days!  Aren't they adorable?

My gorgeous baby!

And ... the winds came, knocked our Sugar Babies to the curb and the poor things just couldn't pull through.  Sooooo, back to the beginning! We picked up some new supplies ... Taken' it to the next level!

Poor kid.  He has my grandpa's smile ... adorable.

We started all but one row in our seed starter, nothing popping through yet, but we remain hopeful.

Starting a garden isn't the easiest thing when you live in the desert.  So, we converted a turtle sand/water, uh, thing, for his garden.  We even got a little umbrella that might (probably won't) help with the scorching sun that shows up around now.  Either way, we're having fun getting dirty and learning about how things grow!

Homeschool room is ALMOST finished!  We have a chair being delivered tomorrow that will hopefully make a great spot for reading together and we are just finishing up our blackboard.  I had a few pictures, but for some reason the files didn't work ... so ... SOON!

Three weeks later ...

... and we are well on our way to officially being a homeschool family!  I honestly think that everyone here is pretty excited.  Watching Bug learn has reminded the grandparents of the awe they felt when my brother and I were young and McH and I are loving the first time around with all of this awe business.

I'm digging through the internet trying to find the right curriculum.  Not an easy thing to do, apparently.  These days there are a plethora of curriculum choices.  That might make my job of researching seem endless, but it's so amazing to see that we can really find something that works for us ... and, if we can't, then I am more than able with all of the options to create something that does.

Next time I'll post before and after pictures of our "homeschool" room, we are very nearly complete.  The last major items are to find a big, comfy reading chair and to make a blackboard - we have the items, just have to get it finished.  THEN, we get to decorate!  We have wall stickers with the alphabet, numbers, fishies and big, fun circles!

So, back to researching I go.  I have been settled two curricula over the past several weeks (ha!) and I'm thinking I'm close to settled for the third time!  Will it be the charm?

Here are the two I was previously enamored with:

Enki Education
Oak Meadow

Now I'm looking at:
Moving Beyond the Page

I'll add in foreign language (Spanish and maybe French or Latin??) and music.  I may also add math.  We're going to start out using Starfall and BOB books for phonics and see if we need to add Explode the Code.

So, there ya have it!  Funny, I read about a lot of people who have people around them being very harsh and critical about the choice to homeschool.  We just haven't had that!  It's like when we adopted and so many of my friends had such a difficult time with the mean and ignorant things people (even family!) would say and we were absolutely blessed to go through the process without that.  I'm SO thankful that we have such a supportive family!!

Wonder where we'll be in another three weeks!!

New Direction ...

Ladies and ... well, let's be honest, I don't know how many will read this entry, but I'm pretty sure it's all ladies!! If there's a gentleman out there, then my apologies!

Anyway, this blog has sort of fell to the side.  I mostly blogged to share things with my parents and since we live here, there isn't a need for that.  My in-laws have trouble loading all of the pictures I post and they'll be here soon as well.  The other blog motivation I had here was to let off deployment steam.  Again, that's gone so this blog has just sort of sat for a while.

NO MORE!

We had such a great experience with school in TX.  Really the only thing we liked about the 6 years we were there.  I was floored and crazy disappointed when I found out that there is no public pre-k in our city.  Private school is insane expensive AND is far more daycare than school.  We have tried one thing after another and have bruised noses from all of the doors that have shut in our face.  Even our current homeschool option seems to be closed to us for the moment ... BUMMER!  But, I'm not letting it get me down.  I have ALWAYS loved the idea of homeschooling, but not for pre-k, not even for elementary school LOL  Just never been my teaching cup of tea.

So, I know that I'm going into this with a disadvantage ... I'm used to teaching kids that have a longer attention span and can do some independent work. This will not be a blog that will always espouse the joys of homeschooling.  I'll probably be really frustrated some days ... I am surprised, though, that I'm starting to get excited about this.  So ... homeschooling ... here we come!

Settling in ...

A big chunk of the fam.

It is really hard to believe that our last day as a military family was only 7.5 weeks ago.  We've been in Arizona for just less than that. McH started school last week without much problem; the Monkey's education has not been quite as easy, but he is absolutely loving all the time with his Cissy. My acclimation has been the most difficult.  I'm disjointed and unsure of what I'm doing. I think I'm having the issues most would expect from McH! He hasn't seemed to have any problem adjusting to the civilian life.  Me, on the other hand ... I'm still trying to figure out my place.  I'll find it, though!

Cissy and Monkey at the races on New Year's Day

One thing that we are loving is all of the time we get to spend with family.  It also doesn't hurt that we have a fantastic babysitter (my mom!) and are able to spend a lot of time together.  McH bought a new motorcycle a few weeks ago ... haven't taken it out for a long ride yet, but we will be ... soon!

The new ride

Me and McH on our way to AZ

So, back to me and my purpose.  I'm going to get a tattoo ... then I'm going to write, then I might find another fun thing to try out.  I'm going to make soap ... lots of soap. I'm going to remember what it is I believe and why.  I am going to enjoy every beautiful moment that we have here, I'm going to cherish the fact that I didn't have to go to a deployment briefing the other night and take lots of moments to pray for my friends that did.


So, here we are ... settling in!

El Paso

I haven't blogged here in such a long time! Soap took over my life and then the Army really messed us up. Some day i'll share all of that, but for now i'll start from here. A U-haul truck speeding through El Paso, over the Texas border into New Mexico. We'll be in Havasu tonight or tomorrow, ready to start our new life as civilians. Crazy where a year can unexpectedly take you!

I successfully ignored what I'd miss in Texas. Family and friends. I don't thing I'd have survived without our neighbors Scotland Tasha. Oddly (though typical for Army life) we only met them in September. They helped us so much without expecting anything ... can't thank them enough! We also for very lucky that friends could move into our house. It's nice that I can be confident that my home is in good hands. But, that brings up my biggest worry: who will I do a Twilight marathon with when Breaking Dawn comes out???

We would have had a much tougher time the past six years if we hadn't been so close to my in-laws ... already missing them. One of our nieces was there when we left and she wanted to come with. Too bad we can't bring everyone.

Anyways, we're almost out of Texas. Not our favorite place but we started our life here; became parents here. I'll do my best to only keep with me the good memories.


SEE YA TEXAS!

Remember me?

What an absolutely wonderful and BUSY December and January. It was so fun to put up the Christmas tree together ... Monkey was a fantastic helper!



At the last minute we decided to pick up and drive to AZ. FUN FUN! We stopped at Cracker Barrel and found a cute little Kai-Lan doll. The trip was L O N G, but Monkey did great and we survived!


They had this amazing park with horses. We spent several mornings with my cousin, her two little ones and my aunt.

Monkey and McHottie hanging out at the park, checking out the tractors.


We also had a really great New Year's Eve with Cissy and Papa. Monkey picked out our hats and made sure we all wore them AND blew our horns as often as possible. He had such a fun time!



So, now it's getting back into a routine. McH is back to work, though next week will probably be the first week of full days. No fun and Monkey really hates daddy being gone, but we're all handling it and SO glad he's home! It's been so nice to have such a long vacation and half days at work.

Can't wait to get back to AZ ... July, here we come! My little brother is getting married ... YAY!

HE'S HOME!!!

After a LONG 51 weeks, McH is HOME!!! Here are some pics, I'll post more about it later!

The sign on our garage.


"Sgt. Grimsley extra duty starts NOW" !!!




It was C O L D!!!



This is one of my friends ... we've pulled each other through the past few weeks. Her daughter was born the day they deployed!


Me and Monkey