Saying Good Bye

It has been weighing on my mind for awhile and truthfully, I was having a hard time letting go. I LOVED working with SimplyFun. They have been a great company and are getting even better as time goes on. I LOVE their products! We play them all the time! I loved that I was able to get them at a discount and I enjoyed introducing them to others.

I started SimplyFun 5 years ago. RJ had just turned two and I was 4 months pregnant with Savannah. The company was still new and the prospects were high. I was very quiet, shy, and kept mostly to myself. I enjoyed playing games and I thought this would be a perfect fit for me and help me break out of my shell. It was rough at first but I soon broke that shell piece by piece. (I still have pieces to break, but I feel good about the more independent person I have become).

Other then changing my personality, SimplyFun has brought fun and learning to my kids. They are now at the perfect age for most of SimplyFun’s products which made the decision to leave even harder. But that won’t stop us from continuing to purchase products from SimplyFun and continue to enjoy family game time.

Life has been busy. Jared has scouts, RJ has homework, karate, and occasionally after school activities, I enjoy book club and enrichment nights, we seem to have little family time as we are pulled this way and that and it is only going to get worse.

The last 5 years I have also gotten into digital scrapbooking and 2 years ago I became a layout artist for Scrap Girls which demands more time with required assignments. I have juggled my life as a mother, homemaker, wife, friend, school volunteer, scrapbooking artist, and SimplyFun consultant well. But lastly I have been feeling the stress and knew something need to stop.

It was not so much of a physical stress but a mental stress. I really was not doing a lot of parties but the stress of booking parties, keeping parties, and preparing for parties was weighing on me. After praying about it I knew that I needed to say good bye to SimplyFun. And hopefully my day to day stresses will be lifted just a little.

It was hard, because I had some high hopes for 2011 and lots of potentially people for parties. I had a hard time sending off an email to my customers today saying good bye. It is hard to close that door. It has been with me for 5 years and I have loved it. But I know that more family opportunities will come. And I won’t have to worry about other obligations. And so it is, I am now saying good bye to being a faithful consultant for SimplyFun. And I thank all that have supported me.

Happy New Year

Me with my mother and grandmother toasting the New Year!

I forgot to mention that we went to Monticello on News Year Eve. After we put the kids to bed we had a little toast (don't be fooled up the glasses and color of our drinks. I drank some Martinell's apple cider and everyone else has some Monticello Old Fashioned brewed root-beer, which was really good). Then everyone went off to bed after a long day. However Jared and I stayed up to watch the ball drop.

Out Visit to Monticello

Grandma P left Wednesday (Dec. 29th) afternoon. After dropping her off at the airport we went home and cleaned and my parents, Grandmother, and younger brothers arrived late that night for a visit. This was their first time visiting Lynchburg and we were happy to have them.

Thursday we spent catching up and visiting and Friday we drove up to Charlottesville to see Thomas Jefferson's home. But before Monticello, we stopped at Michie Tavern for lunch, which was an extremely fun and yummy place to have lunch.

RJ loved having his uncles around.

Zachery really enjoyed his chicken leg.

And here we are walking into Monticello for our tour.

Monticello is a beautiful house and the tour was wonderful. I hope to come back again in the spring or summer when the gardens are at their best.

Christmas with Grandma P

Just a few days before Christmas, we set up the train. Zachery LOVED it!

Jared's mom flew in form California and arrived late on the December 23rd. The kids woke up on Christmas Eve full of excitement to see their Grandma.

Christmas Eve:

On Christmas Eve we read the nativity story and then the kids got to unwrap a new ornament to put on the tree.

I mixed up RJ and Zachery's ornaments and RJ snatched his out of Zachery's hands, apparently Zachery wanted RJ's as well.

Savannah putting her new ornament on the tree.

After the unwrapping of the ornaments, we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights, hopping that all 3 kids might fall asleep before we made it back home. We went to a house with one of those programed light shows. The kids loved it!

Both Savannah and Zachery fell asleep on the way back, RJ stayed up a little longer to help set out the cookies and milk for Santa and lay out the Christmas pickle for Santa to hide in the tree. RJ even made sure the fire place doors were open so Santa would be able to make it out of the chimney okay. He was a little concerned that Santa might wake up Grandma who was sleeping down stairs, but Grandma reassured him that she was a pretty deep sleeper.

Once all 3 kids were tucked into bed, Santa soon arrived.

Santa brought us Band Hero!

Each of the kids got Glow Sticks in their Stockings

Anything else in there?

After the Stocking we went up stairs to open gifts from our family. Being far away from extended family we get all their gifts sent to us by FedEx and UPS. A truck brought us a package just about every day during the first 2 weeks of December. It is always fun to receive a package :)
We saved all the gifts from family in the basement and didn't put much under the tree until the kids went to bed Christmas Eve. So it was pretty exciting to see all the gifts under the tree from our family in the morning. We are very blessed and are thankful for such loving parents and grandparents who helped make our Christmas special.

Before we opened gifts the kids searched the tree for the pickle. Savannah found it! I think this might be three years in a row for her. She got to open the first gift.

Jared made Savannah a "Zoo" to keep all her stuffed animals in. And Grandma bought each of the kids their very own pillow pet. That was the most desired gift this year and they were super excited to receive one.

After much practice unwrapping stocking gifts, Zachery was a pro at unwrapping presents and he wanted to help unwrap them all!

Zachery received new jammies from Grandma Bartley and he quickly took of the PJ's he had on and request the new ones be put on him immediately!

Lots of hugging happened this year!

Savannah looking for more presents for herself.

Grandma Pearce made her this apron.

RJ gave Mommy a new pair of socks

Daddy got a desk calender showing off RJ and Savannah's art work.

Zachery got a little people fire house

The after math.

The kids woke up at 6:30 and we were all done opening gifts by 8:30. So much for sleeping in. We spent the rest of the day eating, cooking, and playing games.

Waiting for Christmas Dinner

Mmmmm and out traditional Dark Chocolate Peppermint Tart for dessert

The kids sand Happy Birthday to Jesus before we cut into it.


It snowed Christmas night so the next day Grandma took RJ and Savannah outside to play.

Grandma got sick with a horrible stomach bug Monday. We just hung out for most of the day while she rested. Tuesday, she was trying to recover. So we played a lot of board games.

Tuesday night we broke out the glow sticks and put on a show.

Wednesday afternoon we said goodbye to Grandma.
Thanks so much for visiting. We loved having you here to celebrate Christmas with us. Sorry you had to get so sick, but it was still a nice visit.