Summer is finally here!

So much has happened since the last post, where do I start?

4th OF JULY WEEKEND:
This last weekend was 4th of July weekend which we spent down at the beach with Dustin’s family. Now those of you who know everything that’s happened over the last 5 years knows that could have taken one of two roads – either turning into a long ugly horribly wrong weekend… OR turning out to be an unexpectedly GREAT weekend… Well I’m glad to say it took road number 2 lol. It was one of the best times I’ve had with Dustin AND his family. I guess I could stop calling them HIS family now since after 5 years their kinda my family too… lol anyways it turned out to be a pretty perfect weekend at the beach.

The first day we were in Rockaway the weather was just perfect! We had a BBQ and then just kinda hung out… Everyone got along so well without arguing. Serenity LOVED playing with her cousins Grace and Eden. She was all but GLUED to Grace for the whole weekend 

The only not so perfect thing that first day was the fact that just a couple hours after we got there the sirens went off to let us know some 20 year old guy was caught off guard by a wave and was taken under – they searched for him the rest of the day and well into that evening and I don’t believe he was ever found again.

Then on the fourth everyone got together in the evening for dinner and fireworks which again was a great time.

FAMILY UPDATES: I still can’t believe we have been blessed with TWO very beautiful girls. It’s challenging – So much more so than it was with just one little girl – but also SOO worth every minute of it. My life is never dull with Serenity and Destiny in it… There’s always something new and exciting… Like the fact that destiny is now almost 4 months old! She’s already rolling over, trying to scoot, grabbing at things, and possibly teething (she is soooooo drooly and chews on my fingers like she’s trying to take them off haha ), she even talks in the cutest little “voice” ever! In her baby language of course. I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to experience this all over again. With Serenity it all went by so fast, but we enjoyed every minute of that too. Both times so far have just been incredible.

It’s hard to believe almost a whole three years have gone by since that very special day in September of 2007 when we were blessed with Serenity (our first little girl). She is so smart, she knows how to work her computer and get online to a few websites she’s allowed to play on for a few minutes at a time, her favorites beingwww.sproutonline.com and www.nickjr.com. I have never known a 2 1/2 year old to know how to navigate the web or even a computer… I blame this on her daddy being a little bit of a computer addict haha. She talks amazingly well, of course her brain goes a little faster than her mouth can move sometimes but if you ask her to slow down she does great    The nice thing about her is that she doesn’t rely on her computer to entertain her (I wont let her lol), she’s pretty good at using her imagination too and playing with toys like a almost three year old should. Were working with little work books from Barnes & Noble to teach her how to follow instruction and trace/stay on the line when she’s tracing and she’s doing great so far. Still a little messy but I’ve found it’s all about getting her to slow down and really pay attention. Getting her to slow down has always been a challenge BUT it’s definitely the key to success with her and CAN be done. Her love of learning new things also helps a ton!

SERENITY GOING TO SCHOOL… OR NOT: Dustin and I looked into preschools for serenity and decided on a nice little preschool in Milwaukee… After words kicking our selves a bit because we’re just not sure if sending Serenity to a public school is really best for not only us but her as well and mostly her. As probably every parent knows “they say” the first 3-5 years in a  child’s life are very important and that is also when they have the most learning potential… Well I was thinking sending Serenity to school would be a great way for her to meet friends and have a little bit of a social life and kids to play with… So Dustin and I signed her up because we didn’t want all the spots to be taken. Not to mention the fact that Serenity has wanted to go to “preschool” like Caillou since just a couple months after she turned two years old… I didn’t want to let her down and tell her “you’ll never be able to experience that Serenity” So she’s signed up to start in September this year….

Now, after we had made that decision… a couple months after actually, I felt Dustin and I should revisit our talk about Serenity attending public school. I knew my views had changed a bit and apparently so had Dustin’s. I am pretty sure I want to home school serenity… I want to at least try to make it work so that I know what she is learning and how I as her mother can help her. Especially if I am going to be a stay at home mom I think, it is MY job as her MOTHER to teach her what she will need to know. It also makes it easier for me to make sure my child isn’t learning things she doesn’t need to know from other children. Now don’t get me wrong… I do not want to shelter her from the “real world” and I don’t think that’s what I’m doing, I just want her to learn the difference between what is acceptable for her age and what is not. In public school everyone especially the girls are growing up way too fast and are taught by others that its ok. I mean seriously have you seen the way they dress? The things they listen to? Or even the things they do with their free time? Allot of people today would like to say “this is normal childish/teenager behavior… they’ll see one day that it doesn’t work in the real world and they will grow out of it eventually”. The truth is, I don’t believe this. I don’t believe kids grow out of something they’re taught is ok all their lives very easily. They need their parents to help guide them in learning what’s ok and what’s just not acceptable from the beginning. Anyways I think you get the point… So Dustin and I have decided and don’t quote me because things are always open to change depending on circumstance – but as of right now… Since her preschool has already been paid for and she’s so excited already to go… Were going to let her go to preschool this year, since its only 2 1/2 hours a day for 2 days a week she will still be doing most of her learning at home anyway. Then after this year of preschool, I am going to home school her and instead of taking that “social life” & ability to go out and make some friends we will enroll her in a dance class, or art class, etc… She will get to chose what type of extra curricular class she would like to take on the side. This way she’s still able to be social but she’s not spending all day every day with these kids who have completely different values. And really they’re cutting the funding for all these schools and taking just about everything good out of them anyway so I don’t feel she will be missing out on much.

I know everyone’s opinion is different on the school issue but this is my opinion and no ones going to change that. What may be best for your family may not be best for mine and I’m ok with that.

This is a pretty LONG blog but these are SOME of the main updates and discussions we’ve had recently… Hopefully I will get to blog again very soon but for now I’ve got to get back to my little family 

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend and continues to have a great week!