making some decisions & changes

Sorry for the quiet again.  Lots of things happening around here since my last post about the hard & the beautiful stuff.

We've made some decisions about some changes we are making as a family.  It's nothing I ever thought I could or would do, but we are taking the plunge into homeschooling our 2 littlest punkins.

I am beyond words at how supportive Kemeri's school has been of our decision. They have truly invested themselves in understanding not just her educational needs, but her emotional ones as well.  She will continue to receive her therapies, but now they will come to our home.

And I will do my best to continue the good work they've been doing to help her catch up while also pouring all I have into this little one's heart to help her understand that family is forever.

We have already started converting the "green room" (it used to be painted green...it now has green furniture, so it's still considered the green room) into a place that houses some basic preschool materials.  I am so thankful for all of the online resources, other homeschooling moms, & especially my oldest daughters, who are both teachers, for inspiration.

We decided that both girls would benefit from being at home, & Kendi has loved it.  Kemeri has had a trial run since we've battled some illness, but as of today, we are official (we had an IEP meeting at her school & discussed the new arrangements).

Truth be told, I'm a little nervous.  Those doubts of "what if I'm horrible at this?" can so easily creep in.  But then I remind myself that motherhood has taken me out of my comfort zone time & again as I have sought to do things in each of my children's best interest.  Right now, we believe it is in these sweet girls' best interest to work on establishing confidence in the fact they are an amazingly special part of our family.  We pray that they find strength in that knowledge that inspires them to spread their wings & follow their dreams as they grow.

hunting for the perfect tree

It's always a favorite...the trip to the Christmas tree farm.  This year, we ventured to a different place where every tree is the same price.  We found ourselves underestimating the size of trees out in the field one too many times, which is a bit of a problem when trees are priced by the foot.

I'm pretty sure we looked at every single tree at least twice.  It was a pretty mild day, so I think we were just enjoying being outside.

Somehow, Daddy has discovered the "selfie".

Kendi was fascinated by trees just her size.

I had to convince the people that this would not fit in the living room.  Like I said, we are notorious for underestimating.

I told you, he's all about the selfie.

We finally agreed on one!  We were walking in circles for so long that Kyler had to leave for work. This was still going to be too tall for our 8-foot ceilings, but I couldn't convince anyone of this.

Kendi was insistent on helping Daddy.  Sure enough, this beauty was not fitting in Dad's trunk, so we had to recruit Kam & Dante to take Dante's car (which has a roof rack) to go get the tree.  I must confess that I found this scene hilarious.  I'm not sure the picture does the ridiculousness of this justice! 

I was ready with my measuring tape, & sure enough, it was a 9-footer.  Kam & I got down to the business of making adjustments so we could get the tree in the house.

Gus thinks he's helping.

Somehow, I managed to not take a picture of the tree until after Santa had come, but it was a beautiful part of our home for Christmas.