Here goes. I get to be the sole parent in charge all day. My husband is off at his new job and I get to do it all even more so than usual.

Some ways, it’s not so different from other times. It’s been a while since I’ve consistently been the only one to put the kids to bed, and my oldest in particular is rather emotional about not having Daddy home for a few days. My son says he’s not going to be sad about it, but we’ll see. That’s easy to say at first, after all.

And we’ll see how much the baby notices. They do, after all. If nothing else, there will be cues for her with how everyone else is acting.

But I’m used to being the one in charge all day, so that part isn’t going to be so difficult. I’m planning lots of play time for my kids with their friends that we will be moving away from. Trying to get what work of my own done that I can. Trying to find a home to move into up there.

And sleep. I know there’s time to sleep in there.

Really.

Despite the baby’s best attempts to keep me up some nights.

Sometimes I do my best work when things get crazy in my life. There’s just no time to goof off, and I know it. If I work at things, this might just be a help rather than a complete hindrance.

I posted about the new home party network, Emily Rose @ Home the other day. I think it’s a great opportunity for moms and daughters who love the American Girl style dolls.

They’ve started a contest now to win a free Platinum Starter Pack. If you’re thinking about joining this opportunity, I suggest going over and checking it out.

You have until July 21, 2009 to enter, and there are a few ways to earn entries.

The package includes @Home Business Builder manual, products samples, catalogs, business cards, marketing materials, and even membership in the “Founder’s Circle”.

This is the kind of business you can do to encourage your daughter’s entrepreneurial skills, while having fun yourself. Getting a free start isn’t a bad way to go. Give it a try and go enter!

Things are going to be really busy around our house the next few weeks or so. My husband just got offered a new job, so we’re going to be moving soon, as it’s about two hours north of where we live now and he’s just not crazy enough to force that kind of commute on himself.

I am so not looking forward to it. I hate moving. Love being done with it, though.

On the other hand, this is the furthest from pregnant I’ve been on a move since we got married. Every other move I’ve been either pregnant or within 4 months of having had a baby. By the time we actually move, Selene should be about 5 months old, so that’s a record for me!

He’ll be working for the state in the unemployment office… which, by the way, is currently doing a ton of hiring. If you know someone who might be interested and is in California, send them to the State Personnel Board website and take the online test. Working for the state can be a pain some ways, especially with the furlough days, but it has its good side too. Sadly, I think unemployment is California’s one growth industry at the moment. I hope that changes soon.

We’re still waiting to see if the local office will take him instead, but when you have a bird in the hand, why beat around the bush?

He’s starting next week. They wanted him to start tomorrow, but he wanted to give his current employer just a bit more notice. Obviously we can’t get the move done that fast, but it gives us a bit of time to start planning.

I’ll still be posting as time allows, but I’ll be going easier on myself. I have a post coming up tomorrow for a really interesting home party opportunity, and of course I’ll be writing whenever I’m not packing. I get really fidgety if I spend too much time away from my work – it’s just too much fun!

I just realized that I’ve been doing this Free Fun Fridays thing for over a year now. Not quite 52 posts of it, as I wasn’t too regular at first, but still quite a number of posts.

This week’s suggestion I can’t believe I haven’t made before. Read together.

With younger kids, you can read to them. If they know the story from having it read so often, encourage them to fill in the lines by pausing at points you think they know.

Take turns reading with older kids. It can be sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph or page by page, depending on what you think will work for your child’s skills.

Kids will catch you off guard sometimes. We were at the store the other day buying toothpaste, when my oldest daughter grabs a pack of colorful flossers off the shelf and starts begging me to buy them.

She’s begging me to buy dental floss? Are you kidding me?

Of course I bought them. I’m not sure someone didn’t switch kids on me for a minute there, though.

These are the Dentek flossers, and they’re… adequate. My kids really haven’t had trouble with them, and it’s nice seeing them want to brush their teeth. I don’t like them for myself, though. They loosen up too easily.

It’s fun seeing them debating which color to use, rather than putting up a fuss over having to floss.

There are some other really nice looking kid’s flossers over on Amazon I think I’ll check out when these run out, though. I want to keep encouraging such a healthy habit.