To My Daughter on Her First Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe the day is here already. It just seems like yesterday that I was holding you in my arms and now you are waving at me out of the window from your seat behind the bus driver. You had such a smile on your face and I could barely watch without tears flowing down my face. My baby is heading to "big people" school. I am scared for you. I know that you will do well, but how will other people treat you? I dread the day you come home crying because someone said something mean to you or didn't include you in something. I would love for you to stay home with me forever, but I know how important it is for you to learn to deal with these issues. I want to protect you, but the only thing I could do for you today was pray to God to watch over you and protect you and to let nothing happen to you that you couldn't deal with. I watched the clock all day wondering what you were doing. When it was lunch time I looked at your empty chair and wondered if had already eaten your lunch and if you sat with anyone.

Finally, it was time to walk to your bus stop and wait for the bus driver to safely deliver you back to me. I was so relieved to see you sitting on the bus and the look of joy when you saw me waiting for you. You were so proud. The first words to me where "whew, what a long day." You have no idea. It seemed liked eternity before I saw you on that bus again this afternoon. I am so relieved that you made it through the first day of school unscathed. I felt like I was walking on clouds back to the house with my little girl beside me telling me about her day. I couldn't believe how much you have grown up. I am so proud of you.

I know there will be days when you won't be coming off of the bus smiling. I hope that God will give me the words to make everything feel better. I will be praying for you everyday. I will pray for God to give you the strength to resist temptation, the knowledge to know when you are being tempted, the desire to teach others about Him and protection from evil doers.

I am so proud and grateful that you are my daughter. I will always love you.

Hilton Head Vacation

WOW!  What a great vacation.  It was far better than my husband and I could have ever imagined.  First, the kids did great in the car.  It took us 12 hrs to get there.  We didn't even hardly get to use the dvd player.  They were just content looking out the window trying to spot "slug bugs."  Then we counted how many people had cargo bags on top of their cars.  The trip there was pretty uneventful.

When we arrived we couldn't believe how nice the place was!  We were right on the beach with a great ocean and lagoon view.  The people before us left a ton of food and some cold beer :)  We headed to the ocean right away and the kids were in awe of the crashing waves and warm water.  Bailey starting her shell collecting right away and Bella had to test out the waves.  Bryson was very apprehensive about the water and was just content watching everyone else and chasing after the sea gulls.  

The next day we ate a quick breakfast and grabbed our boogie boards and sand toys and headed to the ocean.  It was such a short walk there.  We were there until lunch and then it was nap time.  After that we headed to the main land for some groceries.  Wow, the food was expensive.  They wanted $5 for a gallon of milk!!  Anyway, we ended up heading to Sam's Club to get most of the stuff we needed for the week.  Then it was dinner and back to the ocean.   Bailey and I were splashing in the ocean when I felt something hit my foot and wrap around it.  I swiped it away and grabbed Bailey and headed to the shore.  I was in some major pain around my ankle and arm.  Then Bailey started to scream and grab her hand.  We were stung by jellyfish!!  I never knew how much they hurt.  I didn't know what to do and it started to swell and we got welts all over where they stung us.  Then a guy in the ocean started to scream and he darted out of the ocean and started to rub sand all over himself.  I ran over to him and he said he was stung by a school of jellyfish.  We got lucky, I think it was only one or two that got us.  He said we needed to rub sand on it then pour vinegar on it to suck out the poison from the stings.  It hurt like hell.  Bailey and I were a little scared after that to go back into the water.  It took a couple of hours for the pain to subside.

The next day we went to the ocean in the morning and then the pool after naps.  The pool was awesome!!  The first level was for the little kids.  It was only 12 inches deep and had fountains and waterfalls in it.  There was plenty of tables and seats.  It was great.  Bryson and Bella were able to play in it without me having to hover over them in case they fell.  I was able to sit at the edge and relax a little.  Then if you went up six stairs you were at the bigger pool.  It was 3-5 feet deep and had an awesome waterfall on one whole side of it.  It was surrounded by palm trees and great landscape lighting.  Bailey liked that pool the best.  She still isn't that sure of herself in the big pool, so Brian and I were always right next to her.  Then if you went up six more stairs you got to the tanning and spa deck.  They had a huge pool that was only 6 inches deep with little tables and chaise chairs in it for drinking your beverages and tanning.  Connected on to the pool was one of the biggest jacuzzi I had ever seen.  It was great.  No one under the age of 10 was allowed up there which was kind of nice.  I hate it when you are trying to relax in a jacuzzi and some kids are using it as a swimming pool.  Of course I don't mind if my kids are there :)

The next day we did some more swimming and headed to a marina to do some dolphin watching and catch a boat to take a tour.  It was really hot and we didn't see too many dolphins.  The kids got to drive the boat and wear the captains hat.  They loved that part the best.  Afterwards we got off the boat and starting down the dock when a dolphin literally surfaced right next to us.  It scared me half to death.  I felt like I could have reached out my hand and touched her.  I could hear her blowing air out of her blow hole.  It was so cool.  A couple of us stayed around and watched her.  Then we saw her baby.  It was so cute.  They were so close.  Then we saw more dolphins and were watching the baby when all of a sudden we saw a different fin emerge from the water.  You could see the looks of everyone as we all realized that it was not a dolphins fin that we saw, it was a shark and it was only a very few feet from us.  Did I mention we were on a dock and not a pier?  We were almost even with the water.  I grabbed the kids as they were way too close to the edge and the shark.  Now, it was only about 2 feet long, but still, a shark is a shark.  I only hope it didn't go after the baby dolphin because we saw it thrashing around eating something.  We saw a dolphin attacking something and thrashing around a little while later, so who knows.  Was she going after the shark that hurt her baby or just trying to get some fish for it?  Who knows, but I would rather think the last thing.  Anyway, what a great day!  To see two amazing creatures so close was great.  

Stay tuned for more blogging on the rest of the trip!!  

Heading to Hilton Head

We will be embarking on a road trip to Hilton Head in the next few days. I am very excited, but very apprehensive at the same time. I am not sure how my children will do when we are at the condo. I am scared that they will be bored. I know we will go to the ocean and the pool and do a lot of amazing things. The thing is that my kids think they need to be entertained everyday and I am having a huge problem with my oldest. She doesn't want to have anything to do with her siblings. She just wants to play by herself and be left alone. Now, our house is big enough for her to do that. It's just that our middle daughter wants to be with the older one all the time so she follows her. Being the youngest in the family, I can relate with my middle daughter. My sister didn't want me around either and it made me feel terrible. I don't know what to do. I am hoping that once school starts, things will be better.

Another big change that will be occurring soon is that I am going to start watching 3 more kids. Their ages are 4, 19 mos, and 2 mos. Yes, it will be crazy. It will only be for 2 days out of the week, but it will start at 6:20 in the morning!! I am not a morning person so this should be interesting. Also, I will be going back and forth from preschool as the 4 yr old goes to preschool in the afternoon and mine goes in the morning. With that said, I know it won't be that bad. I know the kids and my girls get along well with the 4 yr old. Their mom works the night shift and she needs to get her sleep during the day and she is so desperate for someone to watch them. Right now she is not sleeping during the day and still going to work!! I give her a lot of credit. I do not do well without sleep, let alone work a 12 hr shift in the hospital.