One Cold Cookie - a Page from the Diary of a Homeschooling Mom

It’s winter, one of my most favorite times of the year. What’s even better is that it’s Christmas, and time to bake cookies! I have a lot of memories about cooking baking. As a child, my grandmother, Mimi, made a big deal out of baking and decorating cookies. She was alive long enough to introduce the yearly tradition to my kids, which I’m incredibly grateful for. As I sit here, I can recall the smell of freshly baked sugar cookies coming out of the oven, and taste the over-sweet flavor of powdered sugar icing dyed in bright shades of red, green, yellow and blue. The assorted sprinkles in various colors, the crimson and pine hued sprinkling sugars, and the red hots that more often than not made it to my mouth faster than the squishy surface of an over frosted cookie.

My kids and I are Colorado natives. The weather here is predictable in it’s unpredictability. It might not snow much throughout the winter, then dump a foot or more on us in April or May. We might have to wear sweatshirts during an unseasonably chilly week in July, or hunker down through thunderstorms in January. We may shake our heads at whatever sort of weather is happening at any given time, and yes, we do think it’s crazy, but as Coloradoans, the randomness―and the craziness― is all part of the package.

When we moved to North Carolina in early February of 2009, it was smack dab in the middle of winter. I think about that now, but I don’t recall giving it much thought back then. I didn’t give much thought to anything, truth be told, except packing, leaving my family, and trying to figure out how best to approach the subject of breaking a rental agreement with our not so easy to deal with landlord. The decision to relocate was one that had to be made within a couple of days. My kids were nine and six at the time, and although we’d moved many times around Colorado, this was the first time we’d ever relocated to another state. It was a no-brainer, really. Either we went and had a job, or we stayed and we didn’t. We opted for employment and vacated the premises. The only thoughts of weather and winter I had at the time was what we may be faced with on the road as we travelled the 1,675 miles eastward toward our new home.

Setting up our homeschool in North Carolina proved to be a little challenging. The rules for each state are different; some more lax than others. In Colorado, there were letters of intent and record keeping, such as attendance and vaccinations. We were to begin standardized testing at the end of third grade, then again at the end of fifth, seventh and ninth. There were guidelines, but not many, and I followed them all.

There were homeschool support groups, but none of them were near our location, and because my kids were involved in so many activities, I decided not to join any of them. That’s the big thing about those who don’t homeschool. The “S” word always comes up in conversation. Socialization. Are the kids integrated into the world enough? What about friends? What do your kids do all day? Are they active? Are they socializing? I could hear these questions before they were even spoken. So, I was always ready, whipping out the proverbial calendar, prepared to tell them about choir practice, soccer games, gymnastics, dance, piano lessons, swim team … the list went on and on. Quite honestly, it didn’t matter to me that I couldn’t find a homeschool group close to us. With all the socializing we were doing, I doubt I could have found any time to pencil one in.

When we settled into Wake County in Cary, North Carolina, we learned very quickly that the residents there were very unhappy with their school district. They were so unhappy that many of them decided to take matters into their own hands. There were more than 7,000 kids being homeschooled within the county, and there was constant grumbling about the education system. It was the perfect place for us for so many different reasons. Not only was it beautiful there, and we were lucky enough to find a rental house in a wonderful neighborhood, but many of the local businesses catered to those homeschooling families by offering discounts and special programs. We even got an educator’s discount from Barnes and Noble. I went from being the odd woman out to being one of the many moms who homeschooled her kids. Even though my son’s new best friend happened to attend public school, and his mom was a substitute teacher in the county, the idea that Scott learned at home was accepted without question. Merchants and other residents of the town who saw me during the day never asked me why my kids weren’t in school. We’d become the norm. At least in Wake County.

It took us awhile even after we settled into our new state before I entertained the idea of a homeschooling group. I had a lot more to do for North Carolina than I did for Colorado. I had to register our homeschool and jump through a few more administrative hoops to make sure we were legal and set up correctly. Testing was required yearly―something I was in total agreement with―and the kids even had school ID’s administered by the state. We’d added yoga, bowling leagues, book clubs, sailing lessons, robotics and art classes to our after-school schedule, and were busy exploring a whole section of the US that we’d never seen before. Socialization? Yeah. We still had it more than covered.

Another one of the variables we had to get used to in North Carolina was weather. The predictable unpredictability of Colorado had flown right out the window. We didn’t know what to expect. When judging whether a jacket was necessary, we’d take a peek outside. Sometimes it appeared cold, but when we’d touch our fingers to the window, the glass would be warm. What was this wonderful thing called humidity? My dry skin loved it, and my hair … well, my curly, uncontrollable hair was even more so in our new more southern clime, but that’s what hair ties were for, right? There were lightning bugs, and no coats for trick or treating. The kids had perpetually rosy cheeks from the heat in the summer, but could pull out their beloved sweatshirts in the cooler months. The lightning storms and heavy rain proved to be a bit scary, and I was worried about missing winters like I’d grown accustomed to, but all in all, the weather in our new home was close to perfect.

I liked it, but I wasn’t used to this new weather―specifically the humidity. I’d spent some time in Texas as a child, but it was always during the hottest times of the year. I’d visited Florida, too, but during Spring Break when the heat was still bearable. Humidity, in my mind, was a hot weather thing. I never thought about what humidity was like when the temperature dropped.

It took us a long time to decide to join the Cary Homeschoolers group. It was a large group made up of more than 200 families. I still wasn’t convinced it was something we needed, but decided to give it a try. It was winter time when we took part in our first group activity, which was a cookie exchange held at a local park. It was December, and the kids and I reenacted our yearly Christmas tradition of baking cookies. I went through a mental checklist, careful not to forget any of the things Mimi would have had on hand. It was our first Christmas away from her. I wanted to make sure I did it right.

The weather that day was indeed wintry. The kids and I bundled up as we were used to doing in Colorado. In ski country, you learn to layer, and we had our parkas, our hats and our gloves at the ready. We’d been inside all day, in our kitchen with a warm oven, and had gone from there to our car which had been tucked away in the garage overnight. When I pulled into the lot at the park and got out of the car, I got my first taste of cold, humid, winter air. It was … invigorating.

No amount of tepid cocoa could chase away the chill that afternoon. The three of us walked around, introduced ourselves and munched on a variety of different cookies and other sweet treats, shivering and teeth chattering the whole time. Plumes of frost appeared before our faces when we spoke, and by the time we decided to climb back into the car, we could no longer feel our fingers.

I think maybe that memory is such a strong one because it was a day of firsts. North Carolina was a lot warmer than I was used to, but I was happy to realize that I wouldn’t have to totally give up one of my favorite times of the year. I still got winter. I knew Mimi would be happy to hear that the kids and I had carried on her cookie decorating tradition … and that everyone who asked would be pleased to know that, even though it took us some time to warm up later, we had a blast while out socializing. 

A Warm Winter Skye - The Book That Almost Wasn't

"Some of you may not know this, but I wrote Alabama Skye as a stand-alone novel. I wanted to tell the story of the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter―one that closely resembled the one I shared with my Mimi. It wasn’t until readers began to tell me that they didn’t think the story―particularly Noah’s― was finished did I even think about making Alabama Skye the first book of a series. Come to find out, there was a lot more story to be told. You readers are pretty smart. If it hadn’t been for you, A Skye Full of Stars would never have been written, and neither would the upcoming Under a Southern Skye. Let this be proof that authors are always paying attention to those of you who are invested in our books."

This is what I wrote on the Acknowledgements page in the new Gannon book I just finished over the weekend. I hit 'publish' late Saturday night, and am waiting for Amazon to finish their review of the files. This book came as a surprise to me. Up until a few months ago, I didn't know I'd be writing it.  An author's brain, man. It's a mysterious place. Even - or especially - for the author.

Every book has a story behind it. This one isn't any different. Although it turned out completely different than I thought it would when the first idea hit me. 

I had written a lot for A Skye Full of Stars that didn't actually make it into the book. Most of what got cut was written about Noah and the relationship that was forming between her and Keene. I wrote that book differently than the others. There were two story lines - Meara/Cheney and then Noah - and after I'd combined the two, then read through the first draft, it felt much heavier on Noah's side. I didn't want that to be the case, so I did some cutting.

I'm glad I did. As I stated above, I never had any intention on writing Stars. That seems crazy to me now because it's one of my personal favorites, but it's true. I love the way Stars turned out. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Apparently, I still felt that way even after deciding to use what I'd cut for a short story in the series, because once I started writing, the story took on a whole different direction than I'd imagined it would. Instead of being focused on Noah and Keene, it took a bit of a turn. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was Guthrie that I wanted to write about. Noah and Keene are still there - but they aren't the main focus. No ... Guthrie and her lovable stuffed sloth, Noodle, wound up taking center stage.

If you aren't familiar with The Gannon Family series, I don't want to give anything away. I really dislike spoilers, so I'll try to be careful here. At the beginning of Alabama Skye, the first book in the series, Greer, one of the main characters, is three months pregnant. During the course of the novel, she gives birth to a baby girl named after her grandmother, Sarah Guthrie Gannon. 

The more I thought about the story brewing in my head, the more it became about Guthrie, and what she meant to her parents, Greer and Jimmy. Of course, that made me think of my own kids, and the fact that there is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for them. A plot began to weave itself together, and I started to get excited. Something was forming, and I was liking it. I was liking it a lot.

This one was emotional - as all of the Gannon novels have been. Those of you who are fans of the series know that going in, right?

I've cried while writing every one of these novels. This one was no exception. This is a novella ... it finished up at just a tad bit under the 30K word mark. I knew it would be a shorter story from the beginning ... but I think, while it's smaller, it's also pretty big, too. 

This one is dedicated to Maya and Scott, my kids and two of the most incredible, special people I've ever known.

"Because of the two of you, I’m lucky enough to know what it is to be a mom. It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever experienced, and by far the one thing I’m the most grateful for in my life. Elements of both Maya and Scotty’s personalities can be found in Guthrie. Sweet, sassy, intelligent, funny, kind and brave. It was them I drew from while writing her. I know Jimmy and Greer well… I am absolutely familiar with the knowledge that a parent will do anything in the world for their child. Without question. I have some experience with the bad guy, as well. Thank goodness neither of my kids do.

For those of you who may be wondering … yes, there really is a Noodle. Okay, he isn’t a sloth, he’s a leopard, and his name isn’t Noodle, it’s Spot … but, well, you see what I did there. Just like Noodle, Spot was freed from a lifetime of sitting in a gift shop at the zoo, and he was loved … oh, how he was loved." 

Noodle the sloth

I pulled out all the stops for this novella. I had a 'be a character' contest, throwing all the names of the readers that left reviews for Alabama Skye and/or A Skye Full of Stars into a hat and drawing the winning name. I actually chose two ... it's so hard to have just one winner. Misty Nickels became one character - a spunky beautician and a good friend of Noah's - and Graham Griffiths played the part of Santa Claus. I'm also having a launch party on Facebook, hosted by the amazing Samantha Soccorso, on December 16th and 17th. We're giving away a big box of prizes to one lucky winner - just one this time, unfortunately. 

You can check out my street team on Facebook to find out how you can win this assortment of goodies. There's lots of prizes here ... and even your own Noodle!

I'm glad I wrote A Warm Winter Skye. I'm proud of this story, and I hope you all love it just as much as I do.