My Little Man

The second I found out I was having a boy, I was extreamly excited about one thing..... BABY BOY SUITS!!

I cant even put into words how much I love to put this little suit on him!! Its a good thing we go to church every week so that I have an excuse for this kind of outfit. :)

I cant beleive how big he is getting! On days like this when we dress him up he looks even more "grown up". It acctually kind of makes me sad sometimes - it just all goes by so fast.

My Montessori Dream

Six years ago when I decided to take the Montessori Teacher training it was mainly because I figured that even if I never worked as a teacher in a classroom at least it would be great information for raising my own children. But as I began to learn more about the Montessori approach and what it was all about I really fell in love with everything about it, including the classroom. Very quickly my plan changed and my goal became having a small classroom in my home.

I feel lucky to have spent a few years at a really great school (Montessori House) with a couple of amazing ladies. And I am truly grateful for the privilege of knowing and learning from Sherie Richardson, and that I was able to be a part of the beautiful school that she has created. I was sad to leave the school but I was sure that I would have my hands full with Ren and transitioning into being a mother of two.

Well everything went a lot smoother than I thought. Ren is such a good baby that I found myself looking for something more to do. And I wont lie - I like being able to contribute at least a little bit to our financial situation. :) So a few weeks ago (with a little bit of encouragement from a friend) I decided I didn't need to start my little classroom under perfect dream like circumstances, I just need to start and allow it to grow into my dream. I have been buying things here and there over the years and storing them thinking I would use them someday. So I pulled out all my boxes, bins, and shelves. Then I did some research and found some pretty inexpensive Montessori materials on line and bought only the necessities. The other great thing about Montessori is that lots of the materials can be made by hand. So I spent a week being creative with my computer and laminator, and now I have my very own little classroom! And I absolutely love it!

I put the word out to some family and friends and now I have five children who come to my house on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Its really perfect. I get to be "Miss Kindra" and have the classroom time that I crave but I also get to be home with the two kids I absolutely adore.

Mini Vacation

A few years ago we agreed to listen to a time share pitch from a company called Interval International. As we walked in Vaughn and I repeated over and over that we were only here for the free gift and we were not buying anything. We walked out with a week every year at Cibola Vista Resort and Spa that can be traded at tons of resorts across the country. Yep, they got to us. For the next two years we referred to this purchase as a big mistake because we spent so much on our monthly payments and yearly fees that we couldn't afford to use the thing.

We have now decided to change that. We took a "mini vacation" last week to finally check out what it is we bought into. It took about an hour to drive out to the resort so it felt kind of out of town but not really which is one reason I am calling it a mini vacation. It took all of the same prep work as a real vacation to pack up two kids and get in the car but then we didn't have to drive so far, which was kind of nice. The rooms are condo style with full kitchens and living rooms so we still cooked most our meals. That meant I still had to do dishes which is the other reason I only consider it a mini vacation. It was really nice though. We didn't plan a bunch of stuff we just slept late, hung out at the pool and watched movies most of the time. It was really nice to just have some time to be together and not have places to be and things to do.

I am really excited to try out trading our week at another resort too. We have a "real" vacation planned for February in California. We were able to find a resort we could trade at that is not to far from Disneyland and Vaughn's sister Eliza and her family are coming with us. And hopefully more of the family will decide (or be able) to come too. The whole reason we got sucked into this time share thing is because of the beautiful picture they painted of what family vacations could be like. I want those memories with my kids and I am really excited that Macie is getting old enough to really be able to enjoy and remember these kind of experiences.