Wait just a minute...

I'm not exactly sure how it is October already. I had BIG plans to become a better blogger and keep a journal of my life with my family in NC. Sigh. I could say I just don't know what happened but alas, I do.
In January, fed up with the afternoon melt downs from Ty I looked into his classroom dynamics a little closer. I met with the principal, the teacher and sat in his class. I was shocked and disappointed when his teacher told me unless he was on medication he would continue to struggle. She said, a multi sensory, interactive classroom is just not reality so unless you medicate him he will not be able to sit all day and do his worksheets. Unacceptable. The best part is that when questioned she said, on record, that she never said any of that to me. Not surprisingly I had no choice but to pull him out of the public school and tried my very best to homeschool the boy. In the meantime working my tail off to make sure that both Tate and Ty would get accepted into a new charter STEAM school. Well, it was a long few months of working and poor Ty coming to the art studio every single day...but we made it. He is now currently enrolled in Envision Science Academy with Tate and they are both loving it. No medication required.
The studio saps my energy on a daily basis but I feel blessed to be doing what I truly enjoy. I love getting to know the kids and their parents. It is still exhausting to be compared to the previous owner. It has been a year people! I rely heavily on word of mouth recommendations so every single day and every single person is really important. You can see where this might get a little tiring. However it is good and I've made some cute changes to the space and try to keep things new and fresh. I added a tween series of camps this summer after watching Ellie struggle with finding some sort of social outlet. She has moved so much and has no solid, lasting friendships so at least this created a safe space for her to be herself and have fun. The response was great and I met some interesting a fun tweens this summer for sure.
Ty decided he wanted a dog. I wasn't sure about it. I know how hard it is to find just the right animal for each family. By chance a lady was fostering a cute rescue pup and brought him to Chance's school to look for perspective families. I was the sucker. Lily was so cute and so she had to come home with us. Two things worked out, Lily is an easy, happy dog and loves the family. Another thing is we met a great family from Austria ( the foster family) and Rob is currently trying to convince Claudia to make him something that resembles Danish food.
I am sitting here with Ellie. The house is so quiet. Rob took the boys camping last night at Falls Lake which is almost 10 minutes away.

Here they are this morning. 

I love that Chance is old enough to join in with the "big boys", I'm sure he is having the time of his life. Plus Rob let them eat Doritos for breakfast. 

We live in such a beautiful part of the country. Aside from being so far from my family I  love North Carolina. I really enjoy the access to good southern food, the southern accents that pop up when you least expect them, the sunshine and warm temperatures and the gorgeous fall weather that is just about to hit here. I can't stand how bare it is in the winter but when the leaves change everywhere it is breath taking no matter where you are. 

Maple glazed pumpkin muffins are on the table and Halloween is right around the corner. Life is good. 

It's the end of the year and I know it!

December 29, 2013
Well, we squeezed in one last trip this year. The past two days we spent in Washington D.C. I really wanted to see the White House and the Capitol. They were big and grand and totally worth it. I had to listen to a Disney movie soundtrack the entire drive ( 4 hours ) there and back. I also got to listen to lots of screaming, tattling and name calling. However I got to snack on chips and peanut M&M's which I really only allow myself on car trips. It is a special junk food treat that makes all of the above mentioned a little more bearable. We saw a LOT of interesting people, saw a lot of armed guards and secret service officers and even got to see the Capital at night with a lit Christmas tree in front of it. It was awesome. I still can't believe we live close to these places.
Thanksgiving weekend we took a quick trip to Charleston SC. What a cool city. I loved the architecture and the food. I enjoy visiting states south of us a bit more than the stogy northern states. They are very crowded and old and a lot less friendly. Give me some southern hospitality and fresh baked biscuits any day!
It has been a great year though. We have had a lot of changes, I started working full time, we moved again ( hopefully we will stay put for awhile), Ellie started middle school and Tate got braces. I feel like my kids are growing up so dang fast. I am grateful I still have a little dude I can baby from time to time. He is a mama's boy and still keeps my attention focused where it needs to be. I love him for that. I'm really looking forward to 2014 because I'm hoping it will be a year of settling down and settling in. I want to run more, worry less, be more organized and keep my house a little more tidy. :) It'll be easier if we aren't always packing or unpacking...right?
Happy New Year and thanks for reading. xo-Kari

Exhausted

Here's the thing, I love my job. I'm super grateful for the opportunity. However I'm pooped. It's been a lot of work trying to refresh the art studio. I've been working 6 days a week. Thanksgiving weekend we all had a break so we got in the car and drove to Charleston SC. The southern charm was thick and beautiful. The food was awesome. We didn't stay long but we will definitely be back. 

Charleston Turkey

Well we are on our way to Charleston SC this Thanksgiving weekend. I've never been but have heard it's a pretty cool place. 

Thanksgiving is a strange holiday when you are far from home or family. We were invited over to a friends house which was so nice. However I found myself looking for my moms gravy and disappointed when the pie was served without whip cream. The laughter and company made up a little for the emptiness in each of us. Once we got home I tucked Ellie into bed and layed by her while she cried. 

We decided to make Thanksgiving weekend an adventure to look forward to so this weekend we are checking out Charleston. 

I'm happy to have a little break from home, from work and from laundry. 

Today I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. We love our new house, I feel so blessed to work and do what I do and this Thanksgiving I wasn't sick about where I was going to find the money for a fancy meal. 

To cap it off we just are at Cracker Barrel which would make anyone thankful. Our waitress had the cutest southern accent and she kept the hot biscuits coming. Two more hours and all my turkeys will be in Charleston. Here's to more blogging! 

Stormy Summer

Well it has been a bit since I posted, yikes. I just noticed my last entry was when it was freezing outside. Opposite! It is hot and humid and I can only wear my hair in a pony tail. Occasionally I get tired of it back and think it won't be so bad. The humidity and my hair is so bad. So Bad! I can't stand it even for 10 minutes.
Lately I have been thinking of that quote, "The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco". I think of that because the rainiest summer I ever spent was a summer in Raleigh NC. It doesn't sound as nice but it is so true. It rains every day, not Oregon drizzle. Instead the day starts out sunny and hot and progressively the heat gets heavier and heavier. Typically after I finally get to crawl into bed the sky starts cracking. The thunderstorms here are outrageous. Last night I watched my room light up for an hour, it looked like a strobe light. The thunder shook the house and within minutes I had a bed full of little boys. I was secretly glad to have the company because they still scare me. I'm hoping the fall is nice and sunny and the thunderstorms go away.
Aside from the weather there have been some big changes around here. Chance is now attending preschool and loves his new teachers. I'm happy he has a fun place to go now that I'm working every day. I have taking over at a local children's art studio and so far so good! It is a lot of work and a big change but I'm glad to not be sitting around this stupid rental house every day. There are squirrels in the attic.

A cold weekend in Raleigh

It seemed I should document what locals say is a rare around here. Snow, freezing rain and temps below 20 degrees! I will need to look back at this when its 100 degrees in the summer! Lets hope it killed off some of the mosquito population.
The boys found some swim goggles to put on. I might have told them it was so cold it'd freeze their eyeballs. I suppose proud of their problem solving skills!

Do you know what Oregon makes you? A water snob. I'm sure it makes you a salmon, coffee and knitted hat snob too but for me it has made every other state I visit unpalatable. We have been trying to get used to it but I threw in the towel today. We will be getting Le Bleu bottled water on Thursday. phew! 
Now that I've got that super important update out of the way it is on to the latest. I'm eventually going to post all the pic's from December but I think I did enough of that on FB. It was a very fun break and a very long road trip. We spent a long time in southern Texas and now Chance refuses to wear anything besides his beloved boots. ( extra cool because they were handed down from his buddy Mason) 

Our life is back to routine. Here is little man getting the paper for me after we drop the kids off in the morning. 

We spend the day cleaning up after everyone and have decided to retire this bike trailer for good. Here is Chance helping me get it ready for a Craigs List photo. Look closely. 

This is also the first winter in a very, very long time that I have seen so much of the sun. We have had our rainy days, cold days but also....70 degree days. Its going to take me a very long time to get used to this! You know what you get with the sun? Sunsets. I was driving home from dropping Ellie at ballet and turned to my left to check traffic. I sat at this intersection for a long time. Isn't this beautiful? I had to explain to the kids what it was exactly. 

Oh yeah and I turned another year older last week. It was a dreary week and I pinched a nerve in my neck which made my entire right arm have shooting pain for almost 5 days. I felt old and fed up and decided to change it. The benefit of having a birthday at the beginning of the year is that it is a perfect time to make changes and new beginnings. I started a FB group that provides a place for women to share their 'get healthy' tips, questions and ideas. It has given me a new place to connect with old friends. I am also filling out paperwork to get a license to teach art in schools here. I am faced with the reality that my little buddy won't be here forever. He is a 'big boy' and those are his words. For future posts I promise to keep it a little more current. My good friend Jodie is posting a picture a day on FB and it has been something I look forward to seeing. She has an amazing nack for capturing the simple beauty in life. Until next time!