We've Moved!!!

As the saying goes, "home is where the Air Force sends us"! So where do we call home these days? Navarre, FL! We moved to FL the beginning of July. Luckily, we were able to sell our house in Texas. A lot of our friends did not and are now renting their houses out. We bought a great house with a pool in Florida that is 5 minutes from the beach. I've always wanted to live at the beach but who would have thought that living at the beach would come with so many snakes, frogs and BEARS!!! Yes, Bears!! Our neighbors have seen bears out in our yards at night. They raid our trash and break boards off of fences.

We love our new house and the best part of it is the pool (see picture above), which the kids and I were in almost every day until it got cold. We have great neighbors and did I mention, its 5 minutes from the beach (haha)? We were excited about moving to Florida and the new adventures it would bring but we are missing TX more than we thought we would. There was just SO much to do there. We miss our church, our neighbors, our house, friends, and the FOOD! You can't get good mexican here like you could in TX.

Once settled in our new house we had lots of visitors....which is a nice change!!! We have always lived so far from family that we only saw them a few times a year. The month of August was full of family visits....Ruby, Mike & Jean Ann, Heather, Shane & Evan, (my sisters) Vicki, Sammi, Jami & Mike all visited in August & the first part of September. Then in October we got to see Kathy & Bob (Clint's Aunt & Uncle) while they were in PCB visiting thier daughter Kara. We get to see Kara and her girls more now too and Nicholas just loves that. The kids play so well together.

In September, I started homeschooling Nicholas. When we got here, I couldn't find a good preschool near us. Most places around here 4 year old preschool is paid for by the state and so the curriculum is state mandated. When inquiring about curriculum I always got the same line "state mandates we introduce the ABC's and sounds and the numbers 1-10!" Nicholas has known that stuff since he was two. I thought about letting him go just for the socialization, I mean afterall it is FREE but it wasn't worth the drive to Gulf Breeze everyday, twice a day. Overall, I felt I could teach him more at home. Its going great! He is already learning to read, write and can count to 100. I think we both are enjoying homeschool! So much that some days I think I want to continue with homeschooling next year but I think maybe we should give the primary school a try.

Also in September, I became an Usborne Children's Book Consultant. I do home shows and go to craft shows and little holiday markets around town to sell my books. I just love the Usborne books so much as they are so nice, beautifully illustrated, educational and fun! I figured the best way to build our home library would be for me to sell them. I have done so well in fact that I have already earned over $400 worth FREE! People just love these books so they are easy to sell. You can shop online 24/7 at http://www.itsybitsybookstore.com/ .

In October we celebrated Nicholas' 5th Birthday. As if its any surprise to you, our little Jedi Knight chose to have a Star Wars themed party. We made light sabers out of swimming pool noodles and silver & black duck tape, played pin the light saber on Luke Skywalker and had a bunch of kids running around playing. It was a good time!

Next, looking forward to heading up to SC for Thanksgiving. We are planning to go up to Manning where Clint's some of Clints family lives. Should be a great time and we'll get to see lots of people we don't normally see.

I know its been awhile since my last blog. Truth be told, I forgot all about it. We were so busy with the move, the company, homeschooling and just trying to settle into a routine it was the last thing on my mind.