My family and I came to Lapeer in 1998. In Ohio, I spent 8 years as a Police/Fire dispatcher while going to college taking music and  business classes. This stressful , but very rewarding position would not work for my family, so I became a stay at home mom. 

 

A job offer in Oxford, Michigan that brought us here, and also broke the grandparents' hearts. We moved here from the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio.At that time, my daughter was a toddler and I found there were no activities in the area for us to participate in together.  I had just begun to become involved with the Kindermusik program prior to our move so I decided to go forward and start a Kindermusik business in Lapeer. Your older kids may have taken Kindermusik with me at the Lapeer Community Center. My classes grew from 8  to 50 students in less than a year. Due to a complicated pregnancy, I had to put the classes on hold.

 

My son was born in 2000. He was born with a form of dwarfism called Achondroplasia. If you would like to know more about his condition, please ask me, or visit www.lpaonline.org  Early intervention and therapies consumed most of my days for the first 2 years of his life. As he became a toddler, I found that I once again needed a program that would give him some social playtime and give me some adult conversation.

 

In designing the Great Start Playgroup, I drew from my experiences in Kindermusik, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), Early On Playgroup Services (playgroup for special educaition) and endless hours of of special ed services that I have participated in with my son.

 

 

 

I think we have the best of all worlds!