Sometimes my grass is greener

Ever since we have begun even the thought of homeschooling, my first reaction was “Oh no.  They will miss out on         ” (fill in with many many different things).  I realize that comparing myself or my family to others is at its worst downright sinful and at its best a joy thief.

But sometimes….. sometimes you get a glimpse into the other side and realize that perhaps you have it good.  As in “my grass is greener” kind of good.

This past weekend Mini Man and Ariel tried a free class of gymnastics for the first time here in California.  They have been to this facility several times, so the comfort level is high, but neither kid actually took classes here before.  They were thrilled and I was excited for them.

I was a proud momma watching them high five their new coaches and tumble and roll on big fat play equipment.  I was among the huge bubbling over Saturday morning crowd of fellow happy mommas.  Well, some of them were happy.  In the middle of this joyous parental feeling I wound up in the middle of a conversation between two other moms whose children go to the same school.  The conversation was mostly positive, but often directed its ugly head to the negative Nancy side of school politics.

This wasn’t the first time I had heard this exact type of conversation.  It was just the most recent.

A few nights before I left Minnesota, I was lucky enough to hang out with a few girls that I got to know over the summer.  Several of those moms have kids in the same school.  The conversation veered towards gossip about the principle and his extra marital affair.  Everybody had a different reaction to this scenario and the fact that we were even discussing it.

I however whispered that I was glad I was homeschooling.

And I am.

Instead of comparing what me or my kids are missing out on, I began basking in the joy of what I do have.  Or rather what I don’t have.

I don’t have to worry about competition (momma or kid wise).  I don’t have to worry that my daughter will love her teacher more than me.  I don’t have to sign up to be apart of the political minefield that is the PTA.  I don’t have to go to parent/teacher nights and be sad that I missed it when she made that project.  I don’t have to worry about carpools.  I don’t have to get up super early or wake up my napping infants to drop off/pick up my kids from school.

I get to stay out of the drama.

Really there is a lot to be thankful for as a homeschooling momma.  Things might change and that will be ok.  I’ll adapt.  But for right now I’m going to be thankful.

You can’t steal my joy.

Big News and catch up

For those of you who aren’t my facebook friend, or an actual friend from real life, I have BIG NEWS to share with all of you.

I’m PREGNANT!

Some of you might have guessed due to my preggo widget on the side there.  I am currently in the beginning of my second trimester and it has flown by!  Its probably due to a couple of reasons.  A) this is my second baby, therefore I don’t have the luxury of pondering and examining all the little new discoveries of pregnancy, and B) I have been SO swamped with life.

What have I been up to lately?  What haven’t I been up too is the question!  2 months ago it was the whirlwind month of baby birthday parties.  Bradyn has a very full social calendar and must keep up with all of her little friends of course.  And more importantly, we were celeBRADYN my baby’s 1st birthday!

 Here we are on her actual birthday living it up at the “Happiest Place on Earth”.  Disneyland of course!  As a native southern California girl, there really was no other way to celebrate my wonderful daughter’s first birthday.

As you can see, she is decked out in the latest Disney apparel and accessories.  Our friends who went with us (who are self proclaimed “Disney Freaks!”), made sure she was sporting the best Disney could offer.  And let me tell you, my daughter is no fool, that (currently) life size Minnie Mouse was not out of her hands for a moment for nearly 2 hours!  She sure does love her stuffed animals and babies.

Next was her actual birthday party.  We went with a classic Teddy Bear theme and it worked out beautifully.  Here is the cupcake/cake I made for her.

Too cute right?!
Now here she is pretty unsure of what to make of her chocolate cupcake….

And folks, I believe we have a winner!

Word to the wise, if you have a baby celebrating their first birthday with a chocolate cupcake, I HIGHLY recommend just stripping them down to just their diaper.  Let’s just say that Bradyn had a full bath immediately after in the sink because she was so dang messy.

Not only were we in party, party, party mode, we were also in work, work, work mode with my inlaws in town.  They came to love up on their grandbaby for her big event, as welcome a new addition to the family.  My brother in law and his wife welcomed a brand new son just a few weeks before Bradyn’s birthday.  There was much to celebrate!

The working was due to my husband’s attempt at converting one of our bedrooms into an actual recording studio.  Granted its still a home studio, but when completed, it will be able to do all the fancy things a big studio can do.  Which means my retired engineer father in law was a big help in thinking through all of the crazy ideas Jeff has to vamp up his studio space.  Believe me, there was more trips to Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Fart than I’d like to count!  My in laws stayed nearly a month to help and visit. 

Oh and let’s not forget that I am currently in a workshop/show and its been nothing short of absolute insanity trying to get ready for our performance this coming weekend.  I’m tired just thinking about it!

So that’s the craziness that has been going on around here at Mommy On the Mic’s place.  What’s been going on in your world?