And....We're OPEN

Ok...so here's the latest in the HALF ACRE FARM Road Side Stand!  Got my OPEN sign! Mr. Eye Candy has figured out an ingenious way to place that baby in optimal viewing!  He's a smarty farty sometimes...(well he did marry me!). :)

Here is the pic:

Ok...so if you look closely...there is a REALLY UGLY wood basket for flowers. I do NOT like this monstrosity!  It's hideous to me. Oh well! It was free.  We moved it...hauled it away...it's heavy...I poured some sweat over it....and now I'm stuck with it. sigh.

Welcome to the OPEN Half Acre Farm Stand! :)

Happy Weekend!!!

The inner struggle re: Home School or Not

A lot of my friends won't read this post...that is ok.  I am writing it for me really.  I've been debating on whether to home school our kids (Princess 8 yrs old and Little E almost 7).  The Princess does ok in 2nd Grade now that we've moved her to a Montessori school.  She has really come out of her shell this year in making new friends.  However, she still has days and days (more than I'd like to count) where she cries about going to school.  She'd rather not go.  I've been telling myself...hey, self...what kid WANTS to go to school?

As for Little E, (he's in Kindergarten and we held him back until he was 6 to start it), he struggles more than I'd like to EVER see!  I've been told by the teachers that his emotional outbursts and anger issues need to be addressed by perhaps a PSYCHOLOGIST!  I wasn't offended by them saying this, just saddened.  He cries every day. EVERY day.  Sometimes he cries several times a day.  He tells me he wants to stay home. He hates school.  We don't use the word "hate" in our house, so when he uses it to tell me about how he feels about school...well, I know it's bad.  I ask him every day, "Hey, Bud, how was your day?", He replies almost daily, "It was a bad day, Momma.  I crieded 2 times." (yes he says crieded).  I ask him what made him cry etc, and it's usually something to do with the work he is pushed to learn.  I hate the idea of 'holding him back' another year! So then I read this great blog!  I'm adding the link here (copy and past):
http://simplehomeschool.net/the-worst-reason-to-homeschool/

This is a great blog entry, and I've spent the entire morning reading several of her posts!  I am honestly considering Home School now without the fear I've had before!  After all, don't we want what is BEST for our children?  Why is it, that today's IDEA of school is formal learning?  My children are not flourishing in this 'formal' environment.  I dread dropping them off (although I won't let them see it) as much as they do.  I put my chipper face on and tell them to have a great day, to learn, be kind, etc.  Only to return hours later to collect them and hear how they struggled yet another day in the pits of hell. 

Mr. Eye Candy is not 100% on board with this Home School idea, although I think and believe he is very open to it.  We have several families in our area that do this with their children.  One of the mother's that home schools her children is a woman he went to school with.  He's actually talked to her about it!  So, this leads me to believe he has faith in ME, his wife, that maybe I can do this! 

Just like when I started researching for my weight loss surgery, I am spending hours on the internet researching Home Schooling.  I never go into this type of decision blindly.  I'm not perfect...even in my wls journey!  I'm not a perfect wife, or mother, but I love my children.  Who better to teach them than Mr. Eye Candy and myself?

Frogs and Friends

Well, I took the princess and Little E downstate this weekend...not even knowing if we were going to wind up in a hotel or an empty upstairs apartment.  I needed to go help a friend load up her life. Yup...she's starting over, and I was going to make sure she got as much stuff packed in that truck as possible!  We did an amazing job too I must say. WOMEN rock!  When we band together there is NO stopping us!

The best part was that we wound up staying in the home of her friend.  This other person who I will call Angel...has some fun kids around the age of mine. So needless to say, they had a great time!  Here is a picture of Little E and what he did most of the weekend.

There was no way I was touching that thing...but a quick photo op was really in order.

I must add in a funny story here.  The second night we were there...I was asleep until about 4 a.m.  I kept hearing this thump thump...another minute would go by and I'd hear it again. This went on for about a half hour.  Finally, I got up, thinking maybe it was the dog and he wanted out. I went out and down the hall...no dog.  So, I went and got my computer and brought it back to the dark room and proceeded to sit in the comfy chair and check facebook. :)  I heard the thump thump again!  This time right out in front of the door I'd left open to my room.  So, me being such a smarty farty....I turned my computer screen around and used it like a flashlight.  I walked to the hallway, and guess what I saw?  A DARN FROG!!!  Those kids had caught a few from the pond and had them in a bucket on the screened porch.  They'd left the slider door open a crack and the darn frog had jumped out of the bucket and into the house!  I must have walked right past him when I went to get my computer. HA HA  Well...I was so brave! I went to the kitchen and found a tuperware w/ a lid so I could catch the slippery devil.  He was not as big as the one in the picture above! THANK YOU GOD.  I then proceeded to carry him back to his bucket and CLOSED the slider door.  Kids.  They never let you down. Always something to keep us going.

When I told all of them the story in the morning there was a lot of laughter!

I am so glad I went to help my friend.  I not only knew I was doing the right thing for her, I also met a new friend! Angel and her kids!  She opened her home to us, watched the kids so I could help pack the truck, and was just a genuine sweet soul. 

I also know that there are times in our lives that we feel absolute clarity in the rightness of what we are doing.  This weekend was just like that for me.  I have no idea when I will get to see my dear friend again, but I know she's off on a real adventure!  The old Irish Prayer comes to my mind...

I wish this for you, my dear friend and sister.  I could not have gotten this far in my life without the friendship I share with you.  Safe journey!