We have arrived!

Now that we have finally settled (hopefully!) in North Carolina, I decided it's about time I started documenting the day-to-day happenings in the House of Payne. Let me introduce the family. I'm Lisa, the CarolinaMom. Don't get confused. We live in North Carolina, but my Carolina is for South Carolina. That's where the Payne family started. I was raised in Columbia, SC, went to school at The USC (that would be the University of South Carolina) where I met Roger, my wonderful husband. We were married on September 4, 1990. We were babies. I went on to finish college with a degree in mathematics and got certified to teach 6th - 12th grades. I taught middle school for 3 years and we found out our first darling, Haley, was on the way the summer before my 4th year teaching. After my 4th year, I quit my job and we moved to Greenville, SC where Roger found more gainful employment. We lived there for about a year, then his company moved us to San Diego, CA. That was culture shock for me as I had only lived in the south my whole life. Roger grew up in the Army, so new places were the norm for him. We were in San Diego for about 6 months, which was long enough for Haley to catch chicken pox, bronchitis, get diagnosed with asthma (which was bogus, but with the air quality over there, who wouldn't wheeze?), and for me to get pregnant with Alec. At that time, getting pregnant was not easy for us. It took almost 3 years, many tests, lots of drugs, and a surgery to conceive Haley. Alec was drugs, drugs, drugs, then artificial inseminations. Right about the time I finally got pregnant with him, Roger's company was having financial difficulty and we were sent back to Greenville, SC. I think we were both ready to come home! We lived there for 4 more years, had one more child (no drugs this time, although we were about to start again!), and the addition of Roger's mother after his parents divorced. The financial difficulties with the company Roger worked for were continuing, so he started looking for another job. He ended up going back to the company he worked for in Columbia before we had any of our kids. Now, at this point in the story, there is a definite pattern. We moved back to Columbia, lived there a year, and had another baby. Then we moved to Ocala, Florida, lived there a year, and got pregnant again. We moved to Nashville, TN, lived there a year, and had the baby. Then we moved to Stephens City, VA. This time it wasn't just for a year and there and there were NO MORE BABIES. We lived at the top of Virginia for 3 years and loved every moment. Too bad it wasn't in the south. We love the south. But we also loved the 4 distinct seasons in northern VA and the 360* mountain views. Now we are in the Raleigh area of North Carolina and we believe we are done moving around. Our kids are Haley, age 12; Alec, age 10; Carrie, age 8; Erin, age 6; and Landon, age 4. They keep my hoppin', that's for sure! So, through this blog, you will get a glimpse into our crazy life. We love it.