Reminiscing

A few weeks ago we celebrated the boy's 5th birthday.  It seems like no time at all since his 4th.  No really.... no time at.  It prompted me to look back over the world wind year in an attempt so see where the time went.

I am amazed at how much has occurred during the last year.  Considering that it has been some time since I have blogged, and so much has occurred, I have decided to catch you up a bit, rather than jumping in with my latest crafting endeavor.

As I said, it was about this time last year that we celebrated my son’s 4th birthday with a Lego party.  Soon after that we left on an epic journey across the country from Florida to Texas (about 900 miles).  On the way we visited my sister in New Orleans, LA, and ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter.  In Texas, we visited some friends who have a cattle ranch on the Colorado River.

   

These friends had a few chickens at their house that Fire Beard was very impressed with, and when we got back he decided it was time for us to get some chickens of our own.  We now have 9 chickens, and are planning to get a few more this Spring.

The girl kicked off the summer with her graduation from Preschool and her first ever Ballet recital.

The summer was spent having fun, and avoiding the heat as much as possible.  The kids spent most of the summer in the kiddie pools we kept filled with cold water, but we did venture out a few times on some amazing adventures.

We started home schooling in the fall.   Science is one of the kid's favorite subjects.

At the same time Fire Beard quit his job and set off for Law School.  My search for a job became desperate - we had no income.  At the end of October we celebrated the girl’s 6th birthday.

The kids were Ron and Ginny from Harry Potter for Halloween.  I was completely overjoyed about the costume choice.  I wish I had been able to make proper costumes for them, but at around the same time I finally found seasonal employment at Target.

Target was part time, and minimum wage, not nearly enough to live on (although my experience there was a positive one), so the search went on.  I was finally contacted by one of the local universities that I had applied to about two months earlier.  They were offering me a job - full time, and including benefits.  The pay wasn’t nearly as much as Fire Beard had been making, but it was enough. I started working full time at the University right after Thanksgiving (after working the opening shift of Black Friday at Target).

The  transition to working full time - or for that matter part time - was difficult, especially with Fire Beard away.  We are still adjusting, but we managed to have some fun this winter anyway.  The county fair was in November.  My family tends to visit the exhibits rather than the rides - although the kids did go on a few rides.  This year the chickens were particularly interesting.  The kids want to enter our chickens next year.

Christmas was very modest, but we enjoyed it.  It was full of handmade goodness (at least as much as I could muster), and 1 long desired gift shared by the kids.

Thus far, this year we are still adjusting to me working full time.  Fire Beard is back home this semester, and is acting as Mr. Mom.  The kids are happy with him home, as his priorities are a bit different than mine - the house is a bit messier, but there is a lot more play time.

I am a bit surprised to report that I have actually been crafting more since starting work.  I have a whole hour to myself every day during which I can craft my heart out (they call it lunch time for reasons I can’t comprehend).  I have already finished a pair of socks (pictures forthcoming).  I have even joined the gym, and may finally loose some of the weight I gained with these kids.

Hopefully my next post will be back to the normal crafty stuff I have tried to provide in the past - here’s to hoping.