The New School is starting up all over. Ours officially started this Monday.  Hard to believe that I am now a mother of a 5th, 2nd, and 2-kindergarteners, not including the almost toddler that he is quickly becoming.

What are you doing differently this year? I know I have been struggling all this time with how to make the transition between home and school. No matter how I thought about sending the kids to the area where their lessons were, it was still home. Iknow what you are saying, its taken you this long to figure such a thing to help the kids out?

But not this year. We are actually walking out of the house. We are exploring our surroundings, well at least for the distance around our Cul-De-Sac. They walk one direction to get to school and the other way to get back home.

Never knew that this would make that much of a difference in the attitudes that take place. Really helping my eldest with the transition of having lessons and being a kid.

So we get to see how this experiment is going. Who knows, maybe one of you can glean from our experiment.

Next up~ who knows maybe even school uniforms to wear.

You know that feeling. You go into the room and look in the crib… its the look that you are longing for, the moment when the baby looks up and recognizes you. When the smile breaks across their face, that moment you feel like you are in heaven. Where does that time go though.  

When on the ball field looking out wondering if you are watching what they are doing, With a small little wave, their eyes are drawn to you. They now feel secure in what they are doing,

When my daughters took at dance, at the recital they both looked worried up until they found us sitting in the crowd. Then they were able to proceed with the performance.

What is it that feel find so comforting to have our love ones to recognize us? Its the feeling of ‘You can do this’ and ‘You are cared for and loved’ that make us want to keep moving on. Keep striving to be the better person. To be able to take rejection. Knowing that we are not alone in this big bad world that makes all things better.

And that is what I say to you dear readers, What is it that you find to be reassuring when people recognize you?

You know what I am talking about:
Those people that are not like you, well you think that they aren’t. But are they really? You see them at the restaurants, the grocery stores, the malls, just about everywhere.
They are those Other people.
Those that you wonder:
- How do they do that?
- I know if I….
- What are they thinking….?
- How could they possibly….?

Well did you ever stop and wonder if they are thinking the same thing about you?
Well they are, How do I know, because I did stop to ask!

Here is my story to show you.
Last weekend it was, that I stopped to talk to another family with 5 kids, new baby included. At the restaurant that we had just finished eating at. We only had the baby with us since my mother in law had the others. I stopped by to let them know that they had a good looking family. And that is how it all started.
With a exhausted look the mother gave me a “ya right how would you know what I am going through” response of thanks.
That is till I continued to tell her how many kids that I have. Then it came, right after I opened my mouth and said we had just came back from a homeschool convention….. “So how do you do it with 5 kids?”
Just remember, both of us have 5 kids…each.

Now how does that work? Well we had been thinking how they are doing it, since it looked like the kids were pretty much about 9 months apart between everyone of them x5. Where as there is an actual space between ours, well almost. But you see what I am saying. We were comparing each other. Even with being in almost the same shoes.

So when it comes down to it, people are always trying to compare themselves to you, either good or not. If you go outside if those 4 walls of your home, people will have some sort of idea of the type of person that you are.

When you think of how rich you are, what do you think of first? Do you think about how much money is in your bank account? your family? or how many cats that you own?
For me, I think about my family and how blessed we are to have them. As I look into my youngest son’s eyes as he nurses I am truly happy. There is no greater feeling in the world to me than to be a MOM.
To see them smile and run in and wrap their arms around my neck and whisper into my ear, saying “I Love You, Mommy!”
So why is it that there are people in this world that refuse to accept you for who you are and for the family that you have?
These are the struggles that I have been facing. With that I ask you, why do we put up with that? What makes it something that we feel we need to put on a pretty face to be accepted. When our kids accept us for who we are, without holding back?
Who are we really trying to impress than? Is it our parents, even though we have been long out of their house? Is it the boss, that you are trying to get more money out of? Or is it a celebrity that you are trying to rub elbows with, just to say that you know that person?

The crowd cheers as the basketball is thrown into the air, will it make it. Going, going, swish it made it into the basket. The players are all in kindergarten age ranges from 4-6 year olds. Then there is my little man, out there on the court in his basketball uniform. Crying. Not knowing how to play the game. Just over whelmed by kids that came into the game already knowing something about it. The coaches just look at him, not understanding that he doesn’t know how to play. They have only had one practice before the first game. And here he is mortified by what is going on around him. As a mother, I am wanting no longing to go out there and make it all go away. but wait isn’t it the coaches jobs to take these kids and teach them how to play the game? but instead his coach is worried that she forgot the snack for afterward. Wait a moment, that is more important – Snack??? So now to try to teach him, to build him up to be able to survive the rest of the season. How can a non-sports mom survive this. To help him where they are failing he little guy. He gets time on the court, that is part of the set up, but when that is the only thing he has going. Where to begin without hurting his ego and his love of sports.