Nothing really crazy to report around these parts lately. We celebrated a very low key New Year's Eve with the kids and a family friends. It was a great evening...yummy food and we mooched off the neighbors fireworks...which were cool at first but then seriously by 1:30 a.m., I was contemplating a full blown backwoods Virginia redneck butt whipping on unsuspecting neighbors. I don't really ever remember fireworks in Virginia or Ohio but apparently it's a big deal in Florida. You'd think they were done and then BOOM! another would go off. By 1:00, Lizzie was crying "Please make them stop!" I almost did baby girl, I almost did. Momma almost was just about close to seriously considering the criminal ramifications of finding the neighbor who was setting them off and ripping them to shreds.
Lizzie Lou enjoying a low key NYE dinner. She likes to party hard. Sorry, not sorry!
Over Christmas Break, I lost the diamond in my ring. I searched the house high and low. Even bribed the kids with money to the lucky one who could find the diamond. I am convinced at this point that diamond is done...maybe washed down the sink or maybe I lost it at the mall that day. I accepted the fact that I would be getting a new diamond. Daniel was awesome and told me to get what I wanted and even told me that he wanted me to increase my price range (which I didn't do). I contemplated for hours over three different bridal sets...and when I say hours, I am not exaggerating. I was consumed by finding the perfect ring. I ended up going to the jewelry store to get fitted and they happened to have one of my three in stock. I tried it on and knew immediately that it was "the one." I fell in love with it, called Daniel and got his blessing. Now the hard part...waiting. I had to get it sized so I won't have it for a few weeks. It's absolutely gorgeous!
THE ONE!
No New Year's Day would be complete without a true Southern meal. We actually ended up having our New Year's meal on Jan. 2 but our black eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, collard greens, canned pickles and ribs (from Shorty's) were Ah-maz-ing!
Southern Deliciousness
Norwegian Sky....my home away from home soon enough.
Another fun thing we did this week was book a short, 3 day cruise on this beaut! We are taking a long weekend and going on the Norwegian Sky out of Miami next month. I love to cruise but Daniel is a skeptic....but I actually think he is excited. Lizzie is NOT excited. She is so upset that we are taking another vacation without her as we did just go to New Orleans. I had to explain to her that it is important for moms and dads to take time to spend together and that it is important to marriage. She did make me feel a little guilty though so I did spend some extra time planning our summer cruise vacation. And before anyone is ready to call up Social Services because Princess Lizzie is not going on another vacation with her parents, rest assured she'll be spoiled rotten along with brother and sister, Frances, while they spend the weekend with Gammy. It's so nice having my mother close by to help us with the kids. We will be traveling to Nassau and the Great Stirrup Cay. We've been to Nassau several times so we'll probably just take it easy and make our way over to the beach at Atlantis. We have never been to Great Stirrup Cay and they have some neat excursions we may try out. We are definitely going to do the jet ski excursion and are also trying to decide between the paddle boarding and kayaking. If anyone has been to Great Stirrup Cay and has recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and just like that, Christmas Break is OVER! :( So we did our best to be as lazy as possible on our last day of freedom. We ordered some Papa Johns and spent the day doing....
A ltitle bit of this
And a little bit of this
And some of this
Can you believe the pool was mostly empty? It was about 76 degrees which I'm guessing is cold here but since we are transplants from having lived in Ohio for five years, this is the perfect winter weather for us. (Which reminds me of a funny story...last year Lizzie came home saying she had to wear her heaviest winter coat, hat and gloves to school because there was an announcement over the PA at school of how cold it was going to be the next day....it was going to be 59!! I told her there was NO WAY she was wearing a coat to school and to tell them she just moved from Ohio and at 59, we were breaking out the bathing suits). Even with having a hard time with living in South Florida, I have to say the winters here ROCK! While the kids were swimming today, Daniel even remarked that he wondered if there was place where we could live with the same weather in winter but not be in South Florida. Anyone have any suggestions?
Going back to work and getting back into the school grind is no fun! By Sunday night, I was in the worst mood ever! I hate when breaks end. I love lazy days, no alarm clock and no schedule...and most of all I love NOT packing lunches. I needed to add a little get up and go to my morning so my banana nut bread coffee and cute coffee travel mug were just what I need to get the day started right.
Love my fun mug!
I wasn't so much dreading my day at work because I had RtI meetings scheduled all day. I have meetings all day every day on Mondays and I really enjoy meeting with the team and brainstorming ways to help our students or to make the decision to move forward to formally evaluate a child to see if they have a disability. And one fun thing I got see as soon as I opened my email at work this morning was my picture on the front of the Eagle Times, our school newsletter. I was the "spotlight" for the week. I have a really cheesy interview included but I'm too embarrassed to share that :) ( I would also like to add that this picture was taken on the day before Christmas Break while I was in my pajamas!)
My time to shine
And as if our day back to work and school couldn't get any better, my princess was so excited to pull this bad boy out of her book bag to show me. Lizzie struggles in math....I waiver between wondering if it's her or if it's the way math is nowadays. It's taught so differently than when I went through school and as a teacher and a parent, I hate it and I think it is ridiculous. If I had the guts and/or enough knowledge, I wish I could go to capital and fight every politician that creates laws that have to do with education. People who have never set foot in a classroom...but I digress. The teachers hands are tied and my little girl is a victim of Common Core/Florida Standards teaching. And God forbid I try to teach her how to do something a different way. It's like she's brainwashed into thinking that she has to do it one, certain way. Anyway...I could go off on this for hours....
So back to the important stuff....Lizzie was so excited over this A! She did get a C on her first report card for math and she is so excited that this A could be "the one!" This could be "the grade" that helps her not get a C this nine weeks and she could be right. Every little point helps. She tries so hard. I pray and pray she gets higher than a C on her next report card. She'd be so excited. After we celebrated the A, I walked through the kitchen to see this on the fridge and it just made my heart so happy.
So proud of this "A" paper
And if getting back into the routine, packing lunches, getting up early and being a taxi driver isn't bad enough, I'm doing it solo for the next two weeks while Daniel is working in St. Augustine. Boo! Being a single mom is hard work. (Edit-Daniel was able to get a great deal on a rental car and came home for the weekend!).
The Stud!
It's time to get this weekend started so adios for now!
XOXO
Emily
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