Picnic in the park

Well things are about to change again in the Kale household. No, we're not pregnant and having a second child. Mommy got a new job. I turned in my two weeks notice at Furman and worked my last day in the Grants department Thursday. I've decided to go back into Human Resources and start Monday at another local company. I know a lot of people probably think I'm crazy for leaving Furman but I wasn't particularly happy working there, for a variety of reasons.

Because of this change, we had to make the decision to enroll Gretchen at a different daycare. While we loved the care she was receiving at Memorial CEP and have recommended it to friends, their schedule just didn't work for us. As I've mentioned previously, they follow the Greenville County School calendar so every time the schools are closed, the daycare is closed. Two weeks at Christmas, Spring break, random teacher workdays, etc. Also, they close at 4:30. And to make things more difficult, their summer program runs Monday through Thursday, 9-3, with three weeks of closings. All of this has required us to do a LOT of juggling with our work schedules, which will be impossible in my new job. We spent a week frantically searching for another daycare and have been blessed to find one that we think is a good choice. It's open 6:30 to 6:30, only closes for major holidays when Clay or I would be off anyway, is only a mile from where I'll be working, offers a discount to people who work there, and most importantly of all, Gretchen likes it. She went two days this past week and her teachers and the directors have all raved about what a happy, good baby she is. Of course, we all knew that.

While my schedule will be less flexible and I will technically have less time with Gretchen, the time that I will have will be better quality because I won't be spending hours every afternoon working from home while trying to take care of her. Also, Clay will be able to go in to work earlier and get out earlier since he won't have to wait until 9 to drop Gretchen off at daycare. And we should be more rested since we won't have to get up at 5:15 for me to get to work at 7. Now if only Gretchen will cooperate with the new sleep schedule.

To celebrate the new era, Gretchen and I had a wonderful day yesterday, playing at home and then meeting Daddy downtown for a picnic in the park. Our little family plans to spend a lot of quality time together this weekend and trying to clean up, rest up and prepare for our new schedule.

Enjoying the falls.


Ahhh. A nice shady spot


Picnic lunch!


Gimmegimmegimme!


Gretchen tries her new sun hat.