Saying goodbye.

Goodbyes are so hard. I just dropped a friend off at the hotel she is staying at one more night before flying to Florida. One way. She is moving.

For the better part of the past 2 years, she has been one of my closest friends. She is the one I chat with on Facebook every morning, despite living less than 1/2 mile away from eachother. She is the one I spend twice a week with for homeschool group, any time we go "out with the girls", we go together. I can't drive past her street without peeking down it. She has been such a presence in my everyday life. I've never had a friend move away before. It sucks.

I am so blessed to have known her for the time I have. I will miss her so very much. I love her.

My brush with fame.

Last week, I picked up my teenager from his friend's house. I'm also friends with his friend's mom, so I went in to chat for a bit. There was a guy in her kitchen, eating apple pie and ice cream. I'm used to various people coming in and out of their house so it didn't faze me at all. I didn't want to ask "and who might you be?" because I figured that was a bit rude and it was none of my business. I deduced that he was their guitar teacher, though, and by the time he left, I had learned he was driving to Texas that day for a "gig"--he was obviously in a band.

After he left, my friend told the story of how they found this guy, which included "we found someone else but she had a waiting list and so she gave us the name of this guy" and "we really like him--he's pretty cool". But what she didn't include was "he's the guitar player in the band that sings a song that you hear frequently on the radio".

I learned 2 days later when my teenager told me. I think it's pretty dang cool.

Chuck Testa

This cracks me up!

Music to my ears.

My friend Stacy has 4 amazing daughters. Here is her 15 year old daughter, Taylor, in one of her many videos on youtube. Check them all out under TaylorBaylor96.

*goosebumps*

For the Thrill of It

Theme parks and thrill rides are at the top of my most favorite things to do. We are pretty fortunate to live a few miles from a pretty dang awesome theme park. I grew up going there. Rollercoasters are my favorites, but this is my current favorite ride:

It gets me every time. When I'm riding it, I say things like "Oh shit" and end up apologizing to the person next to me and explaining to them that I have Tourettes Syndrome*. 

We are heading back to Disney World in January and I'm absolutely giddy about this. This will be my 4th time there--2 as a child and 2 as an adult. Even though we were just there 4 years ago, Jacob wasn't quite gutsy enough for some of the thrill rides and Owen wasn't quite tall enough, much to his dismay (he came out of the womb ready to conquer these rides). I'm thrilled to get to experience the rides there with them this time.

Our plan is to travel around the country in the upcoming years and visiting the various theme parks. I think it's a great plan. There are a lot of great theme parks scattered across the United States. 

*I don't really have Tourettes Syndrome. *blush*

Owenisms.

My youngest child is Owen. He will be 9 in December. I've affectionately referred to him as my "challenge" in the past. My Jacob was such an easy-going kid. Owen challenged me in ways I didn't think possible.

Fortunately, my response to it was to lighten up; to pick and choose my battles wisely. I'm so thankful that I chose that route instead of trying hard to control him to be something he wasn't.

The part of his personality that made him a challenge as a toddler/preschooler has made him this amazing person to be around today. He lives life out loud. You never really have to wonder what he's thinking or feeling because you just know. If you don't know, he'll tell you. He's fearless and headstrong and just a cool guy.

Years ago, my mother and I coined the term "Owenisms". Oh how I wish I'd journaled them all along. I should have been a blogger then so I could look back on them and laugh my ass off all over again. I plan on randomly sharing my Owenisms here as I remember them or as he comes up with them.

One of the fun things about homeschooling him is to read some of the things he comes up with in his schoolwork. And what's great about it is that I can just take pictures of them and upload them to the internet to share with others. He'd be so pissed if he knew I was doing that. ;)

Second grade, age 8 Language Arts.

This is what I got to say goodnight to one night.

Hi Mom!

New girl.

Welcome to my new blog! :) I guess I'll start by introducing myself. I'm Rachel. I'm 35 years old, female, and an only child. I'm married to Bryant. We met in high school and have been together a mind-blowing 17 years now. We will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary in a little over a week.

We have 2 children--Jacob (almost 16) and Owen (almost 9). We (I) homeschool them. We are starting our 4th year of homeschooling. Bryant works full-time at a turf and forage seed company. I'm working as a server/bartender 3-4 nights/week. I love my job--it's fun and pays well. It's definitely not for everyone though. After being either unemployed or self employed for much of the past decade, it was a huge change to get used to working for someone else. I'm coming up on my 2 year anniversary and I'll be honest when I say that I'm actually still trying to get used to working outside the home.

This isn't my first blog. I wasn't a very good blogger. I mean...my writing was fine, I think. It was the content, or lack thereof. I didn't feel like there was anything noteworthy in my life to write about. But there is and I really want to blog. I want to chronicle my life and my kids' lives, however mundane it may feel at the time. I want to look back on it in the future and giggle or cry or whatever one does when reading their "journal" years later. So...let the blogging begin. :)