A 3 Year Old's View of Her Birthday

Maggie has been asking for a lot of thing lately so I told her she needs to put them on her birthday list. She quickly agreed. However she thinks this means she gets to decide not only what people are buying her, but who is buying her what. So far, here is her list:
Austin is buying her a bike
Madi is buying her a music box

LOL
I am sure the rest of your names will be on there as she thinks of more things she wants.

She also keeps telling me... "When my friends come over for my party...." I don't have the heart to tell her that her friends can't come over. Maybe next year we can make a trip back to Ohio for her birthday.

Back to School

Tyler went back to school this week. He had a nice 3 week break, but I think he was really ready to go back. We had actually planned to homeschool Tyler for the remainder of the year since we were uncertain of where we would be living or what the schools would be like. When we finally did find a place to live, we noticed there was a very new looking school across the street. Then when we decided it would be best for Tyler to go back to school, it was nice to learn the school had only been open 6 months. There is a huge overcrowding issue in the county and we are glad to be part of a new school that doesn't have to deal with that issue yet.

The school system here is very different in little ways. They are much more concerned about crime and safety issues. The school is basically "locked down" for most of the day. Students are not allowed in the school before a certain time in the morning. Students are ushered off school grounds pretty quickly in the afternoon. There is no lingering, loitering, etc. There is also no walking your child back to his classroom in the morning. This is very hard for me. Tyler is still unsure of where he is going, so to watch my "little boy" walk in those doors by himself is very hard some mornings.

I guess he is really not my "little boy" anymore. Tyler informed me this week that he is NOT a little boy. He has certainly grown up in the week since he started back to school. He decided that he would ride his scooter to school. That was really cute to watch. He is getting pretty good at the scooter, but I think we may get his a bike this weekend. He is also, unfortunately, dealing with some bullying issues at his new school. Tyler has told us that he has 2 girl bullies that tease him and make him do bad things, at least according to Tyler. My Mom thinks that is because they like him, but I am not so sure. Hopefully I can talk to his teacher next week and figure out what is going on.

Other than that, still unpacking and organizing. Hopefully I will be done before my parents come down in June. We were glad to be here last weekend when it was snowing in OHIO!! Ha Ha Ha
Love, Donita

Boxes, Sunburns and Goodbyes

My house is still a maze of boxes. Despite being here for a week, with my Mom and Sister to help, I still have lots and lots of boxes to unpack. Ok, to be fair, my Mom TRIED to put stuff away but I told her to stop because she kept putting it in the wrong place. So instead of unpacking we spent most of last week hanging out, eating, and shopping. Oh yeah and going to the beach, which brings me to my next point.

Who invented this new continuous spray lotion? Apparantely someone who has a little more sense than the Hammond family. You see we bought the lotion, applied it, and still went home with sunburns! I was so mad. We took a weekend trip to Siesta Key on the Gulf and hit the beaches. It was a great time. Only when we got home, we realized we did a poor job of applying the sunscreen. The backs of my legs really got burnt and Jeff's whole chest as well as Tyler's back. Maggie got some crazy genetics and luckily doesn't burn as easily as the rest of us. The burns are kind of random, so you can tell the sunscreen worked in areas it was applied properly. Live and Learn!

My Mom, Sister, Niece and Nephew all flew home early Monday morning. It is now very quiet in my house. But there is no one to hang out with, shop with, or go to dinner with. I realized today that there without knowing anyone in the area, and with Jeff working lots of hours, any kind of shopping is going to be very difficult. This was very apparent today when Tyler complained the whole time we were running errands. I even gave up on my Wal Mart trip because I didn't think the kids could handle anything else. I told him he needs to go to school so Maggie and I can do some shopping. LOL

That's all for now. We are enjoying all the sunshine and warmth!

We Made It to Florida

After a long 3 days, we finally made it to Florida. 24 hours later I pounced on the first decent condo I saw and signed a lease. 24 hours after that we were unloading a truck and moving in. We have been living in mass confusion for the past week. In addition to Jeff and the kids, my two Brothers, Mom, Sister, Nephew and Niece have also been staying with us. My brothers flew home this morning so things are finally settling down. My new home is a massive mess, but hey at least someone has an unblocked wireless connection I was able to "share."

Hopefully I can post some pictures and another update soon. Our internet will be hooked up on Friday, so I will have some better access soon.