Growing with Girlfriends

The last few years have been wake up call for me, in terms of girlfriends. I have loud friends, shy friends, happy friends and sad friends. I expected my relationships with each friend to be the same. Girl, was I wrong! I realized that I was sabotaging my friendships by making them fit into a cookie cutter idea of what a friend should be. At the time, I expected a friend to be loyal, exclusive, inclusive, outgoing, entertaining..how unfair!

Why weren't my friends meeting up to MY expectations? News flash, it was ME! How wrong was it for me to expect my friends to cater to my needs? If I could go back, I'd slap myself. I found a beautiful book called, Grown Up Girlfriends by Erin Smalley and Carrie Oliver and my life was changed. Every page applied to my life and my distorted expectations of girlfriend relationships. I am still being changed by the words in this book. I promise that you will feel the same!

Reading this book opened my eyes to the baggage I was bringing into my grown up relationships. The deep scars from my high school years were definitely still fresh wounds on the arms of my grown up relationships.  I wasn't 16, 18 or even 24 anymore. Time to grow up!

If you have wonderful friends that are supportive and loving, or have friends that you don't understand why they won't include you, I encourage you to read this book. It changed my views on girlfriends and definitely helped me find grown up girlfriends.

Bright and Sunny Homeschool

So, Christmas is over and it's back to school at Dean Elementary. We have some sad faces in this house. We have been schooling in a back bedroom, downstairs. And let me be frank-it sucks! So, the girls and I dragged the desks and chairs out into the basement family room, and have set up camp next to the bright and sunny french doors. Not only does this allow us to soak in some vitamin D, my computer is situated right next to them. This allows me to work and them to school in a bright area. Here are some ways to make your homeschool bright and sunny: *Place desks or work space near windows *Track the weather by logging temperatures *Make a tropical smoothie for breakfast *Read stories about sunny days or the beach

Home Sweet Home

We finally made it, with a few bumps and bruises along the way. This summer, we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Deans'. We were very grateful to for them to allow us to stay at their home while ours was being built. Our home is absolutely gorgeous! We are very blessed and thankful!

New House!

So, we are building our house! We have been tasked with choosing carpet, hardwood, cabinets, lighting and hardware fixtures. So far, I am leaning toward the oiled bronze finish and Merlot cabinets. The house will be sitting on 3 wooded acres; plenty of room for the girls to explore. The process is a little stressful because the girls and I are returning to school/work on Aug 20th. Jayla will be entering Kindergarten on the 20th and Jules will be entering preschool on September 4th. I am teaching at the same school that Julie will attend, so she will just hang out with me until we pick Jayla up from the bus stop. We are expecting the house to be completed by the fall. It would be so nice to celebrate the holidays in a new house! The next task is picking out the colors and blinds!

Julie's in P3!

Julianne is entering the P3 class at Little Sheep Preschool! We are so excited for her to be in this class because we absolutely love Mrs. Weber. Mrs. Weber has been a friend of mine and a fellow teacher with me. Jayla had Mrs. Weber as a teacher for P3, and we couldn't be more thrilled. This year, Julie has been learning her ABCs and 123s. Because she has mastered these subjects, we have started teaching her how to write her name and simple math. Julie loves dressing up and playing puppies. Whenever we go to the gym, she always gets the game going with the daycare kids! God Bless! The Deans

Jayla's Entering Kindergarten!

Jayla is entering her first year of Kindergarten! After 2 years of preschool at Little Sheep Preschool, she is definitely ready. During the summer, we have been working on writing her name in upper and lower case letters, manners and math. Since math is not my strongest subject, Jared has been handling that task. Jayla will be entering Kindergarten at Hilda J. Barbour Elementary in Front Royal, VA. Because our house is under construction, we will be commuting from Manassas every morning. She will catch the buss with the Cross family. Fortunately, I was approved by my boss to leave school early to pick her up from the bus stop at 3:20pm. We are so excited for her to begin Kindergarten! I think I am more excited because I get to plan her lunches. I am in search of veggie and cookie cutters to make her healthy lunches more appealing. Our back to school night is this Thursday, and open house is next Monday. During the open house, we will meet her new teacher. God Bless! -The Deans