First Grade!

How can my baby be in the First Grade? It seems like a minute ago when I was registering her to start at St. Andrews. The past 4 years have flown by way to fast. Margaret has grown up into quite an amazing little girl. She is sweet and sassy all rolled up into one. She is tall and beautiful and becoming picky about what she eats. She loves animals and pretend play. She just discovered a love of kayaking and is still shy sometimes and slow to jump right into an activity. Margaret is reading now and is very proud to read "Go Dog Go" in her bed while in am in the shower at night. When asked, Margaret will tell you she has 2 brothers, Sammy and Oscar, and in pictures she draws of her family, she always includes Sammy, Stella, and Oscar. Margaret loves her new teacher, Mrs. Bozard, and is doing well at OPS.

Looking Back

It has been over a year since I have posted on this blog. I am sure all of my friends and family have lost interest and absolutely given up on keeping up with Margaret and me via the blog. For that I am sorry. It has been a tough year. I think my new "year" mark will be Sept. 18, 2009 until Sept 18, 2010....it is approaching really quickly. Last year on that date my divorce from Jonathan was final. After 3 year of separation, that was the date it was official. In the year since, we have been on a roller coaster. A few days after the divorce date we had to make the tough decision to put our beloved Romeo to sleep. He was a great dog and will be forever missed. Almost exactly two weeks after, I became really sick and had to have emergency abdominal surgery. I was in the hospital for a week and out of commission for over six weeks. During my sickness I sort of fell apart. During that falling apart process I realized many mistakes and things I wanted to change about my life. It has been an uphill climb to put things back together in the almost year since all of this has happened. However, I am getting there.
I am going to start this blogging thing again. There probably will not be as many pictures and will definately be lots more words, but the words will be from the heart and will be therapeutic for me and will be good for Margaret to read one day. When she is older, she will be able to see that her mama loves her so, so much and has always tried her very best to do what is right.

My Little OPS Cheerleader

Margaret was a little timid at the thought of Cheerleader camp, but was willing to participate once she knew all of her friends were going. I am so glad she did! It made a pretty tough week at school much better and made OPS fun for her! Margaret has been practicing cheers and doing "toe touches" since camp...she is very funny. Pictured above are Laine, Ryn, Margaret, and Hannah. Ryn and Laine were in Margaret's original 5K class and Hannah is a new, fast friend who is in the class that Margaret started on the day of the cheer performance. Looking a little timid just as she got into the stands to start cheering....There were SO many little girls on the field and such a huge crowd at the fence to watch that it was pretty impossibe for me to get close ups. In the picture below and in the video, Margaret is in the middle. Blakley is in the jean skirt in front of her and Ryn is beside her in gray leggings.

Making a BOOK BOX...first school project

Baby Ella is home...

First Clemson Game 2009

Welcome to the World Baby Ella!

Margaret's First Day of BIG GIRL School

There is a lot more to this story....text will come later.

Getting a BIG Haircut...again

Back to Blogging...

A very wise friend told me a few weeks ago that it does not matter how "behind" I am in blogging, just to get back into it and start now. She said she does it for herself and for her girls. I do this for Margaret and for me, so she is right...who cares if it is out of order. We were there for it all and as long as it is documented we can read and remember it together. So, after nearly a year of totally not keeping track...here goes.

A VERY Snowy day....not so much!

The Nutcracker!! Christmas 2008