Deck The Halls

Ok, I know our tradition is to usually put of our tree the day after Thanksgiving I got a little antsy.  After not getting to put up my tree and decorate last year I was extra eager this year!    The girls really enjoyed listening to Christmas music and decorating are enormous tree!  I bought our tree the last year that we lived in Alvarado and wanted to get the biggest one I could.  Well, the biggest I could get in Alvarado was 10 ft tall which perfectly accommodated our 11 foot ceilings.  Well, our new house is apparently a foot shorter so the top of the tree is a bit squished.  No room for a tree topper this year but that's ok.  I just plan on buying a lot more picks for the top instead.

Well, I have definitely jumped on the Pinterest wagon and it has of course come with LOTS of "to dos" for my list.  I actually added the cute little house rules to our gigantic chalkboard in the kitchen, I spiffed up the girls art wall in the mud room, I made an outdoor chalkboard, and created a Prayer Pail.  I have tons more on the list to do but I have decided to knock out a few of the Christmas items since it obviously seems fitting.  I finished my Christmas wreath, and have been working on my advent calendar.  I'm really excited on how it is turning out.  I went with the idea of doing a different tradition/event each day for the 25 days of Christmas.  I still have to put it all in the right order but here is the list I came up with:

Unwrap a Christmas Book to Read
Have a North Pole Breakfast (this was also a Pinterest idea and I'm happy to say that Hobby Lobby had          everything I needed)
Open a New Ornament for the Tree
Do a Christmas Craft
Write Letters to Santa
Have a Christmas Movie Night with Treats
Decorate Christmas Cookies
Unwrap New Christmas Pajamas
Read the Story of Jesus
Decorate Gingerbread Houses (we are having a Gingerbread party with our friends)
Drive Around and Look at Lights
Attend the Christmas Service at Church
Visit Santa
Have a Christmas Tree Campout
Read The Night Before Christmas
Make Reindeer Food
Attend the Christmas Parade
Go to the Prairie Lights with Grandpa
Have a Happy Birthday Jesus Party
Go Ice Skating
Attend our Church Christmas Program
Do Something for Charity
Have a Christmas Party with Friends
Select a Wish from the Wish Tree for Those in Need

Along with everything on our Advent Calendar we are also going to be doing the Elf on the Shelf this year.  I'm really excited to do this!  I think the girls will get a kick out of it.  His first appearance will be at our North Pole Breakfast.

So the Holidays are off and running in our house!

All She Wants For Christmas...

Is her 2 front teeth....

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treating with my 2 beautiful butterflies...

Halloween Party With Friends

Our Little Lefty

I have always noticed that Katy dominated her left hand but never actually thought she would end up a lefty.  I figured like most kids she would flip to her right hand once she started writing.  Well, Katy is not "most" kids and has definitely stuck to using her left hand.  She now uses it for everything "school" related such as painting, coloring, writing, cutting, etc.  The only other person in our family that is a lefty is Mitchell's mom Kaye.  So, Mimi and Katy are the only left handers in our bunch!  These pictures were taken last week when she was staying a her Tita Julie's.

Officially a Business Owner ;)

As most everyone knows my long time goal has been to start my own preschool/daycare in my home.  Well, I have finally made it happen!  It really happened unexpectedly while job hunting elsewhere.  I decided I would put an add on southeasttexas.com (our craigslist) just for the heck of it.  Within two days I got my first call from a single dad needing care for his 2 year old.  After they came over to check everything out and I discussed it with Mitchell and I decided to go for it.  I was a little apprehensive with only taking one child knowing I would only be making a very limited income but I figured I had to start somewhere.  Much to my surprise I received 5 more phone calls within one week of posting my add.

I decided I better get working on my application to get licensed before I took any more kids.  I knew I definitely wanted to be licensed not registered.  The difference is that being licensed means that you have more experience and your credentials are higher.  It also means you can keep more kids.  After researching I discovered that I would be the ONLY "licensed" childcare home not just in Lumberton but in ALL of Hardin County!  I sent off my application and all my hundreds of documents right away.  I heard from licensing within a couple of days and she began to review everything.  Excitingly my application for licensing was excepted and now she set up my inspection for Monday October 10th!

Whew!  Let the work begin!  I had to of course "child prof" my home, install smoke detectors in EVERY room, purchase a fire extinguisher, install a paper towel holder in one of the bathrooms, and other little odds and ends.  The greatest task was fencing off the trampoline since state will not allow it in the play area.  We wanted to do something that could be removed easily if we wanted to be able to utilize the entire yard.  Mitchell and his dad came up with a great idea!  They buried fenced poles into the ground so that they would be flesh with the grass.  They then took smaller fence poles to sit down in the ones in the ground and then used construction fencing to go around the poles.  When the fence is not in use we simply pull up the poles and the fencing rolls up.  We even went further to install a fence in the front yard as well so that we could utilize the large covered carport area.

I had to decide what age groups of children I would take in.  My first instinct was to only take the older ones but I kept getting A LOT of calls for children between 6 weeks and 18 months old.  I decided to do a trail run and began keeping an 11month old baby twice a week.  It didn't take me long to decide that I would not accept children under 2 lol.  Don't get me wrong the baby was sweet....when I was holding her.  I couldn't set her down without her crying and when I had other children to provide attention to there was just NO way it was going to work out.  The down side was that I had to turn away multiple people when they called but I am happy I did because I am now starting to get calls for the right ages.

So I am about 5 weeks into it and I currently am caring for 5 children.  I have Shane (will be 4 next month), Lilly (2 1/2), Summer (2), Braelynn (17mo), and Jadyn (3).  Yes, I know Braelynn is not 2 but it was a packaged deal with her brother Jadyn so I made a ONE TIME exception.  So far I am absolutely LOVING doing this!  I get all the perks of a stay at home mom plus I'm making more money then I have ever made before.  I'm able to spend time with Katy and I can plan ahead to do the things that go on at Brylie's school.  The only big changes we had to made were with Brylie riding the bus and then John taking them to gymnastics.  Other than that I am still taking them to church on Wednesday's.  I love not ever having to get out and drive to and from work (not to mention the savings in gas) and I also love that pajama pants are accepted all day long.  Did I mention it comes with a 2 hour nap each day?  :)  I at first was worried my house would look like a "daycare" and constantly be a disaster but believe it or not it is actually cleaner now then ever before.  Since I have parents going in and out each day it motivates me to stay extra neat.  I have "trained" everyone that we only get one thing out and clean it up before getting anything else out.  I have learned that paper plates and cups are my best friend.  I have also made sure to spend part of nap time picking up, sweeping, mopping, and wiping everything down.  I then repeat all this in the last 30 minutes that I have kids (they watch videos) and give everything a good helping of Lysol.  This way I end my day clean and by doing it while I still have a few kids I'm not having to do it "after hours".

As far as advertising I have so far gotten all of my clients off of southeasttexas.com.  However, I recently went on to vistaprint.com and had a hay day ordering stuff!  Mitchell and I worked 3 nights in a row to come up with a logo for me.  Once we came up with one we ordered 6 yard signs (I'll put these in front of places like Walmart and the elementary school), 2 car magnets for my car, a large yard sign for our front yard, and 250 business cards.  I cannot wait for them to come in!  I also joined the Lumberton Chamber of Commerce.  This means that I will get to have my own official ribbon cutting!  They will also provide my information in the bags they send out to new residents and I am allowed to pass out fliers and such at events like the Christmas parade.  Plus they advertise for me on their website.  My next step is to get colorful t shirts made with my logo on them.  I want to have a different color for each day of the week.  Last but not least is my website.  If you haven't already be sure to check it out!  I put a lot of time into it and I am very proud of the outcome!  www.firstlearningplace.com

Ok, wow, I know I just wrote a complete book but this really is a huge part of my life right now so I wanted to share.  I really am so happy to finally be doing what I love!  I also must say thank you to all of my family that has helped me get here!  My grandparents for purchasing nap cots, chairs, and toys for me, my mom who paid for my license, safety equipment, and fence, John for helping Mitchell build the fence, Kaye for giving me LOTS of advise and paying for my advertising, and last but not least Mitchell for believing in me and allowing me to explore my dream even with the financial burden we temporarily went through.  I really couldn't be happier right now!  I feel like I have finally settled in and put my stamp on our new town!  :)

Lots of Updates

I finally got all the blog updates uploaded.  Make sure at the bottom of the page you click on the "older posts" button to see all of them!  :)