School is Back

The girls went off to school this morning!! The house is so quiet without them. Josh may even take a nap on occasion now, who knows!



I didn't take any pictures but this one on my phone so I'll need to get them from my camera. They were nervous and excited. Their backpacks were so heavy though!

I'm glad we went to orientation on Friday. I have heard mixed things about Emily's teacher from other parents and I was apprehensive. Meeting her in person and sharing my concerns for Emily helped allay my fears. I hope that this year will go smoothly for her. She will be in Talented Music and Art this yet which should be a wonderful opportunity.

Sydney will be in the gifted program this year. So proud of her:). She did not get to meet her teacher Friday. She was out sick. That was very disappointing. We found the room and met the teachers aide, who let us know there would be a make up meet the teacher day for us. But Sydney was disappointed. Her teacher is rumored to be great though.

Here's to a wonderful new year!

More organizing mania

In a final get ready for school push my good friend and I tackled Josh's room. I will be doing preschool with 2 friends and needed the room to have a little more space to play if we use his room during preschool. I also needed to get the baby toys he doesn't use out if his bins, and get the too small clothes out of the closet.

We said goodbye to our pink dollhouse as well which was harder than I thought it would be. Josh had it since he liked to play with it when it was in the room with Emily and Sydney, but he didn't play with it in his room. His kitchen however gets tons of playtime!

I was thrilled to find he pulling out books to read now that the bookcase is more accessible and more willing to out his toys away in the bins. Now we just


need to maintain the order!

We also removed the changing table. He isn't potty trained, but he is so big it is not often used for diaper changes. So the floor will work for us from now on!

And most importantly to Josh, there is room for his train track!

Rocky and Bullwinkle

About a month ago Karl lost his marbles, I mean fell in love with 2 little sugar gliders and brought home the newest additions to the family. (Apparently my fault too since I did not stop him.) They are about 3 months old now and are bonding with us fairly well. They have not activated any prey urges in the cats or the dog which seems miraculous to me, but according to some websites they will bond with animals as well as people. Sadly they are illegal in some states. We are enjoying working with them each night to get them used to us and tamer. Rocky does not bite us as much anymore. She likes to taste her environment though. Bullwinkle is sweet and mellow. He will curl up and snooze anytime. He is the ultimate couch potato. Karl loves to carry them around in his shirt or pants pockets. Or the back or his polo shirt.





Rocky is really curious and will jump on all sorts of things to explore the house.












More fun pictures to come!

Sugar gliders are marsupials. They are Australian. They don't need to be feed insects. They are messy eaters, and fairly playful. They live 12-15 years. They are nocturnal.

Blissful neglect

There was so much stuff I should do, but during the storm I started this fun sewing project and had to finish it off today. I love how it turned out!


Yes I am a grownup playing with dolls. So what. I wanted her for about 25 years. I figure after all this time, I still want her, it is Not a phase! I love my dolls! I have Felicity on the left wearing her authentic colonial outfit, (gown, petticoat, and mob cap) and Samantha on the right shooting forward a century from her timeline to wear modern clothing. (Her hoodie/jacket was designed by me based on an actual jacket for kids:))

My favorite part is probably sewing tiny historical clothing. Did you know they did not use pockets sewed into gowns in the 1770's? They had a pouch/pocket tied to their waist and a slit in the side of the petticoat to access it under the gown. And don't get me started on historical underwear!! So interesting!!! The ruffles on her gown would have been from her shift and not necessarily from her gown. Who knew!! These are part of the gown though.



Emily says that since I have two dolls she and Sydney should have 2 as well.

We have power!!!!

Air conditioning and laundry!! I love you electricity!!!

We did not buy an ac unit, but I am sure the extra fans will be handy next time. It is great to know we know how to use a generator though.

Air conditioner

Apparently these are seasonal items. None available in town. We got a Dehumidifier and fans instead.

Day 3 hurricane update

We are still without air conditioning and power. Karl managed to get our generator plugged into the house so we could have lights and ceiling fans. We are cooking on the grill and hanging out at home, but we miss our comforts in life!! We are so grateful for our water pressure though. We still have easy access to clean water! Karl is off to return a bunch of hurricane prep stuff we did not use and get a window unit ac instead. With that, we will be sitting pretty!

Today we expect rain and thunderstorms so that will probably slow down workers getting power restored.
In the meantime, we are enjoying family time and getting creative for entertainment options.