If you said the carrot you are correct! Yes, I walked into the living room a few days ago to find that my precious Chloe decided to add to the decorations. I found 3 shriveled pathetic little carrots among all of the other decorations so I scolded her a bit and laughed a lot. Kids are so much fun. Well sometimes they are. I've had the worst time keeping Halle out of the ornaments. She kept taking them off the tree and pulling the tops off. So I would spank her hand, put her in time out and tell her "no, no". So finally she started taking them off the tree, told herself "no, no" and put herself in time out. At least she's efficient.
These other pics are the best ones that I could get of Chloe during her Christmas program. I didn't get to take any pictures of her in her costume because Halle was sick so Travis went to the first service and I brought Halle to the second service and we swapped her there. But unfortunately by the time I got out of church and to her room to pick her up the only part of her costume that was left on her was her little white leotard and hair decorations- I wish I'd remembered to send the camera with Travis.
In other Chloe news she will be starting public school at the beginning of the year. I'm excited for her because the school district here is amazing and she'll have opportunities that I can't give her. And I'm glad that we homeschooled the first half of the year. At the point that we started we knew we were moving but weren't sure where and I wasn't ready for her to start school in one spot just so that she could change in 6 weeks. But I had no idea that we'd be moving to a fixer- upper and the amount of stress that all of that would amount to. It's actually begun to affect me physically and I'm not devoting the amount of time to anything that I need to. I really don't feel like Halle or Chloe are getting what they need and the house stuff has to get done. I'm not complaining- really. I love it that we own our home and it's OK with me that things need to be done I just can't do it all. I really feel the need to justify our decision because homeschool is a passionate subject but we've prayed, talked to the guidance counselor and her new teacher and they're totally excited to have her and Travis and I really feel like Chloe is going to thrive here.
OK, moving on. Amanda is home for good- well at least until college- next week! I'm so excited and am very much looking forward to our family getting back to normal or actually better than normal. I know that God opened these doors for us to be close to our church and I'm convinced that he didn't lead us here just to be home owners. I truly believe that we're going to see some great changes in our lives. Have you ever felt like you were just on the edge of great things happening and it seemed like you could taste it? Well, we're there. I don't know what it is or what it involves but I'm expecting it. It doesn't matter to me what it is as long as we're doing what God wants us to do. We don't have to be in "full-time" ministry or recognized as ministers in the traditional sense. That used to be so important to me but it isn't now. Travis and I want to make a difference in the world and maybe that will be in our neighborhood or Chloe and Amanda's school or in the grocery store or whatever but through these 6 and a half crazy years the Lord has changed us and has changed what's important to us and I think we're finally ready for whatever......whatever's next.
Halle's second birthday is today and as she likes to say "hap booday TO you"! We had a birthday party for her this past Saturday and I don't know how it happened- especially since I saw Travis take Halle's picture- but we have no pictures of the birthday girl from that event. So I just picked out some that I thought were cute. I'm very thankful for our fiesty, sweet little Halle and am glad that she joined our little family.
Oh my goodness! I dropped my precious Chloe off for her first day of school today. Of course, in typical Chloe fashion, she wasn't the least bit concerned about my leaving her. She was just content to take in all of the sights at her new school and to make friends. I'm sure you're wondering why, since this is such a big day, I don't have pictures of the occasion. Well that's because I loaned my camera to Amanda who is finishing her semester of school today. I'd have to say that I held up pretty well although I did get a bit teary but I decided to make her first day of school a non-dramatic one and kept my tears (and the hole in my heart) to myself.
I was able to talk to Ms. Macintyre her teacher and found out where the students are in the year and I was very relieved to learn that Chloe isn't really behind. There are some things she hasn't learned such as a page full of sight-words but I'm going to make flash cards and Chloe will know those by the time she gets back to school from Christmas break. And the other thing is journaling. They write in their journals most days of the week so during the break we'll read a story and I'll have Chloe write a sentence about it and draw a picture (which is what her teacher said that the students do) and she should be familiar enough with everything to be up to speed.
I'm so excited for her. She's going to be in a learning environment for the whole day (yes, ideally home school should be a constant learning environment but it wasn't here) and will be able to make friends, do crafts, learn music and I am thrilled for her. I will miss her dearly here but she and Halle seem to be fine with the new arrangement and I will have more time to do things that I need to do here. And now I'm off to pick up Amanda from her last day at her current High School. Pray for her if you think of it- thanks. 
If you said the carrot you are correct! Yes, I walked into the living room a few days ago to find that my precious Chloe decided to add to the decorations. I found 3 shriveled pathetic little carrots among all of the other decorations so I scolded her a bit and laughed a lot. Kids are so much fun. Well sometimes they are. I've had the worst time keeping Halle out of the ornaments. She kept taking them off the tree and pulling the tops off. So I would spank her hand, put her in time out and tell her "no, no". So finally she started taking them off the tree, told herself "no, no" and put herself in time out. At least she's efficient.
In other Chloe news she will be starting public school at the beginning of the year. I'm excited for her because the school district here is amazing and she'll have opportunities that I can't give her. And I'm glad that we homeschooled the first half of the year. At the point that we started we knew we were moving but weren't sure where and I wasn't ready for her to start school in one spot just so that she could change in 6 weeks. But I had no idea that we'd be moving to a fixer- upper and the amount of stress that all of that would amount to. It's actually begun to affect me physically and I'm not devoting the amount of time to anything that I need to. I really don't feel like Halle or Chloe are getting what they need and the house stuff has to get done. I'm not complaining- really. I love it that we own our home and it's OK with me that things need to be done I just can't do it all. I really feel the need to justify our decision because homeschool is a passionate subject but we've prayed, talked to the guidance counselor and her new teacher and they're totally excited to have her and Travis and I really feel like Chloe is going to thrive here.
