Is this a Sign?

After much thought and ignoring my feelings of guilt, I hired a cleaning lady. Those of you who know me well know this was a very difficult decision for me. I like to do everything myself, and Matt and I both NEVER hire out and always do everything ourselves. So, I researched, called many references and took the plunge.

She was initially scheduled for Wednesday at 1:00pm, which totally conflicted with naps since she would be cleaning up to 4 hours, but I was committed to make it work. She called at almost 1:00pm to tell me her Dyson was not working and needed serviced. What is a cleaning lady without her vacuum? So, okay, we rescheduled for today at 2:00pm. Again, conflicting with naps, but going to make it work. She frantically sent me a text a little before 2:00pm asking me to call her because our dog attacked her. Um. Okay. So, I called...we talked...she told me her life story of her fear of dogs. Baron is a yellow lab who makes you fear him by licking you and jumping up with excitement. Attack is not an appropriate description. I explained to her just open the back door and leave him outside until you are done. No such luck. I explained that I refuse to leave him outside from the beginning of the day or kennel him, so now she is coming back in one week (her next opening) at a time where I not only have to load my kids up and go somewhere, but also my 80+lb. dog.

Maybe this a sign from above reminding me why we don't hire out. We have done it twice while living here. Once for a fence, which has to be redone before putting it on the market. And, second, for interior painting which had to be completely redone by Matt and me. We decided never again. But, I made the leap in hopes to ease my load a bit. Maybe I will just live with a dirty house.

Blake's 5th Birthday Adventures...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Time has flown...Blake is 5! We went a different direction with birthday planning this year, and instead of the traditional birthday party at or near home, we chose to celebrate his big day in Atlanta at the Georgia Aquarium. We also wanted to include his friends, family and classmates so we sent invites to his "pen pal" party asking everyone to make a card and mail it to him. It was such a success and so much fun to see his face light up when he realized all that mail was for him! The ones he received from his classmates made a huge impact because he sees them everyday and they are truly his buddies. Blake also received several gifts from family in the mail and loved opening all of them! The Georgia Aquarium was absolutely amazing. Blake was mesmerized and so engaged in each and every part that I'm sure he would have stayed all day and spent the night. After he picked out a fish from the gift shop we braved the crowds at The Varsity for some good old-fashioned grease served up as burgers, fries and onion rings. Then, of course, on the way back to Greenville we had to stop and shop at the outlet mall. Atlanta is a little over 2 hours from Greenville, so after leaving at 7:00am and getting home around 9:00pm we certainly knew we had put in a full day. Seeing all of Blake's excitment and joy in everything we did (aside from the shopping!) was well worth our travels and we would do it every weekend if we could.