Our Holiday Season

So I mentioned in my last post how this holiday season has been overshadowed by our moving adventure. We sold our house in November and have been "running" around ever since. It has been a CRAZY season.

We went out looking for houses three different times. Twice in conditions like these:

The last house we looked at all signs pointed to it being THE ONE. First of all, when you drive into the neighborhood the first street is Mason- our nephew's name. The next street is Marcy- my sister in law's name- not spelled the same but still. And the house we chose is on Jones Circle. Jones circle is the same street that Matt, Eric and I moved into. The house where it all began for Matt and I. I would call that fate, wouldn't you? Take all those factors and mix in that the house is awesome for us I would say we got what we wanted. Needless to say- we are really excited!! That now means we have less than 3 weeks to get everything that goes with moving done!! EEEKS!

If that isn't enough to make you crazy busy- throw Josh having eye surgery again in there. So far things are going great!! We are keeping our fingers crossed that they stay that way!! The day after surgery he started to run a fever- which isn't good. But it turns out he was just dehydrated. WHEW!! A little bit of a scare but glad that it turned out to be nothing.

So with those things going on in life- Christmas sort of took a back seat this year. It wasn't a bad Christmas. But it wasn't in my top 10 Christmas either. The day before Christmas Eve we went out to dinner with my mom and Ralph, and my step sister and her family.

Then came back here for the kids to open presents. It was a nice evening.

Christmas Eve we went over to Ronna and Larry's house for an awesome spread of appetizers and soup. It was wonderful!!

Christmas day we hung out here. Matt and I like having Christmas day here. But for me it was a day of mixed emotions and sort of sad. It was our last Christmas in our house and I wanted it to be REALLY special and built it up in my mind and since we were so busy with other things the plans in my head didn't get put into motion so the day didn't reach my expectations. But like I said- it wasn't a bad Christmas....just not perfect. I still made ebleskiever.

We still opened gifts.

And we still had a nice day together.

Another problem was I just had a really long to do list going on in my head that it was hard to sit and relax and enjoy the moment. The day after Christmas we took the tree down and spent the rest of the weekend packing.

And although we made some progress- it made me realize that there is a lot more to do than I thought!! Last time I moved it was just Matt and I from an apartment into our house. That is WAY different that moving from a house that you have lived in for 9 years and have added to your family. :) It is good though. We are making progress and trying to get our ducks in a row. It will get done. And on one hand I know all this- but change is hard for me. Good or bad- it's hard.

The other night we spent the evening with my aunt Mary Carol, uncle Harry, Wade, Allison and Sarah and my parents. We didn't make it to Kansas this year. Which I am sad about- but there was just too much going on that it wasn't going to work out this year. Us Omaha people still wanted to celebrate Christmas together. I had everyone come over for dinner- which may not have been my brightest idea as this place is a DISASTER!! But we are family and everyone understood....I hope.

Josh taught Allison how to play checkers. It's his new favorite game!!

Matt still has the touch!! :)

And of course the kids opened presents! We gave Sarah her present and she just dove right on it! :) It was really cute!

Wade, Allison and Sarah gave the boys a new electric train. Which the boys were REALLY excited about.

Wade has one from when he was a kid that he and the boys have played with. The boys LOVE it. It was a really thoughtful gift. One that the boys will love for years to come!

Over break, the boys and I went and toured their new school. We even got to meet their new teachers. I think that helped Josh out- and me too!! Josh has been the one who hasn't exactly been on board with this whole moving thing. The school was great!! This is the first year that it has been open so everything is shiny and new!! The principal happens to have triplets too- who are in kindergarten and will be in each of the boy's class too. Needless to say we hit it off! :) It's going to be good!! I was impressed and really happy and the boys didn't want to leave when the tour was over! They fit right in! YEA!

Anyway, overall we are getting things done. We gave our swing set to Sarah. The boys were out growing it and we didn't want to move it nor was there great space for it. We thought Sarah would enjoy it when she gets to be a little older. So Wade, Harry and Matt moved it yesterday.

Our backyard looks so empty now!!

Lots of change going on around here!! I will be so happy when the dust settles. Right now things are overwhelming...but all in a good way! :)

7 Days: Day 3

Here is my day 3 of 7 days shot. Isn't this sign beautiful? I mean seriously- it brings tears to my eyes!! It's so awesome!! We are giddy with excitement (Well, Josh wasn't happy at all at first. He was refusing to move. But once we drove him by the new house we are moving into he gave his stamp of approval and is now excited along with the rest of us)....And our excitement seems to be turning into stress and overwhelming emotions with all that needs to be done...but overall it's all good! We are really happy!!

November Update

Earlier this month I had my 36th birthday. I bought gobs of makeup, joined a gym and hired a personal trainer. That pretty much sums up how I feel about being closer to 40 than 30. I wonder what I will do when I turn 40! Yikes. Seriously though- It was nice and uneventful.

On my birthday, I celebrated with Matt and the boys. I even got to open presents!! For some reason I don't understand, Alex was REALLY worried I wasn't going to like what he got me.

There was no need to worry at all! He got me a really pretty necklace and earrings.

Josh got me slippers, Zach got me a pretty sweater and Matt got me a KINDLE!!! Honestly I was unsure if I would like it. I LOVE the smell and feel of a book. I like the flipping of pages and dog earing them when I need to stop reading. I, also, love passing on a good book to someone else. With all that said- I do have to admit- I love my new kindle. In fact, this morning I was reading on it and Josh came and snuggled up with me so he could "read" with me. While I read the book I am reading, Josh read the words he knew on the page. His highlight was getting to push the button to turn the page. That kid is SO INTO electronics it's a little scary!! Anyway- I would highly recommend one. They are pretty cool.

That weekend we went out to my aunt and uncles farm. My aunt and I have a birthday two days apart so we have always celebrated them together for as long as I can remember! And, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I mentioned that I turned 36.....look what age Mary Carol turned!!

How cool is that!! 36 and 63!! We were all very impressed by that!! I don't think that will ever happen to us again. It just made our birthday a little extra special!

Kids in costumes are just awesome, don't you think? So we dressed them up again. Which for my boys wasn't any different from the days since Halloween. I think they would wear their costumes to school everyday if they could. They were very happy to show them off again. And look how cute Sarah is as a tootsie roll!!!

We got to play with Sarah- my cousin Wade and Allison's little girl. She is a doll!! We all love spending time with her!

That night it snowed!! The first snow of the season....which means it's also the first snowball fight!! The next morning the boys had a blast shoveling snow! Let's hope that lasts throughout the season!!

In fact, they went all the way down the block.

You're welcome neighbors!

After shoveling, they made snowmen.

or had snowball fights with the neighbor kids. Either way they had a blast out in the snow!

Other news- we put our house back up for sale. We were planning on taking a break. But after we took it off the market, realtor after realtor called us. So we decided to interview a few, just to get a fresh pair of eyes in here and see if there was something we could do differently. We really liked what this one realtor had to say and have rolled the dice again with him. So far- I am happy to say we have had 3 house showings in one week and a realtor tour. We got lots of feedback from the tour which was very nice. So we will see what happens. Fingers crossed!!

Day 2 of Seven Days

Today has a theme of hot. I had a few possibilities for hot. We went out to Woodcliff Lake and I thought a nice hot beach shot would be good. Also, we hosted a Father's Day BBQ that evening and I thought a grill shot would be good as well. Unfortunately, neither of those ideas worked as it has been cool and thunder-storming ALL DAY! So instead I stopped at Starbucks for a nice HOT chi tea latte and took this shot:

Today is also Father's Day and its been a nice day. Bill and Linda took the boys overnight and so we got to sleep in a little bit and laze around this morning before heading out to the lake to pick up the boys. Linda fed us a late breakfast of Swedish pancakes. YUM!!

Ronna and Larry came over that night for a BBQ. Which we were able to squeeze in. It stopped raining long enough to cook the chicken kabobs and for me to bury the guy in our yard.

The guy being St. Joseph. We followed the directions on the box very carefully- burying him upside down and by the for sale sign all the while chanting a prayer. Here I am chanting my prayer with Josh and burying St. Joseph.

I think its hilarious that the boys are saying we buried a guy in our yard. And now Alex is saying that we buried Indiana Jones. I sure hope that doesn't anger St. Joseph!!

When we finished a flash of lightening went across the sky. I am going to take that as a sign that St. Joseph heard my request and will get right on it. :) Er something....

Enjoyable Evenings

Friday night the boys had a sleepover at Matt's parents house. It was wonderful for all. :) Last time they had a sleep over it didn't go so well. The boys played musical beds and then were up and ready to go by 4am. So everyone was grumpy by the time they got home/dropped off. This time things went much better. They gave the boys the choice of where to sleep. It ended up that Ronna slept with Josh and Zach. Larry slept in the guest room. And Alex slept on the floor with his head in the closet. Which is hilarious as that is how he sleeps here at home. His bed sticks out of the closet. We REALLY need to move before the poor kid gets a serious complex!! But we are working on that....did I mention that I am sick of cleaning? :) Anyway they did lots of fun things that grandparents and grand-kids do together. Like make pancakes for breakfast. Ronna told me that Zach thought they were so good that he looked at her and said "Grandma can I buy your pancake recipe?" So cute!

While the boys had fun with grandma and granddad, Matt and I decided to bring back date night. We used to do this every week when the boys were little and went to bed by 7pm. We would cook a fun meal, share a bottle of wine, and just spend some time together. Now the boys are older and go to bed later so we don't do that anymore. Plus we like eating together as a family. Since the boys were gone for the night we did date night again! We decided to grill some steaks...

eat some shrimp while said steaks were cooking....

and enjoy some wine.

Bon appetit!

mmmmmmm steak! No I didn't eat that whole thing. But I would have been proud if I would have. It was YUMMY!!

Yea for date night!! I think the thing that was most enjoyable is that we weren't on a schedule. We could take our time and didn't have to worry about whining kids who were hungry. AND I didn't have to get up to get anyone anything. It was WONDERFUL!! The next morning we slept in. YEA!! That day we got some errands ran and I got the rest of my homework done. YEA all I have to do now is show up to 2 more classes and I GRADUATE!!! WOOO HOOO!! The boys got back in time for us to all leave as we had a house showing.

Today we had ANOTHER house showing....did I mention that I am SO SICK OF CLEANING!! The weather was AWESOME today so we went to a park for a while then out for pizza.

Josh had a great time climbing to the top of this thing.

So did Alex.

Zach not so much.

Zach liked the tornado slide the most. That was always my favorite thing as a kid too. That was how I would rate the coolness of a park...it was all about the tornado slide.

Anyway, hopefully something will come of all these house showings. We are getting antsy over here. And...(all togehter now)....I am so sick of cleaning!!

Oh one more funny thing.....in the car on the way to the park out of the blue Alex says "Probably when I grow up I won't have any superpowers. BUT I probably can still become a superhero." -Just like Batman. :) Matt and I got a kick out of that.

Seven Days Has Begun....

...and I am a little behind in my blog. No worries its my blog so I can be behind right? :)

The Seven Days of photography (where you take a self portrait every day for seven days) that I like to do has begun. When it started my plan was to blog everyday and share each picture and blog why I chose it, blah blah blah. Well, its now day 4 and I have been so busy that the blogging didn't get done. So here is day 1-4.

DAY 1
Saturday was the first day. Here is my day one picture.

Alex and I are snuggling on the couch. We had a house showing that morning so we all had to get up and go. Not an easy task to do, especially on the weekend. Alex and I were tired and had an extra minute before we had to leave so we snuggled up on the couch. Really is there anything better than snuggling with you kid? I think not.

Day 2
Sunday was busy. But not too busy to get my Day 2 shot in. The theme was style. I had a hard time coming up with an idea for this shot. The only thing I could think of was styling my hair. So this is the shot I got.

That morning (after styling my hair) Matt and I cleaned the house AGAIN!! (SO SICK OF CLEANING) because we had an open house that afternoon. The good news is we had a good turn out. We had 6 groups come to look at it. The bad news is no one bought it, which means more cleaning for me. Its SO HARD to keep a house show ready while living in it and with kids running around. Anyway I went to lunch with some good friends (which was lovely) and Matt took the boys out to lunch- lord knows he didn't want to mess up the kitchen after we spent the morning scrubbing it. After my lunch I met Matt and the boys at Dave and Busters to play games. It was fun.

The games the boys like to play gives them lots of tickets...

Which then gives them cool prizes....

I just try not to think about how much cheaper it would have been to just take them to a toy store and buy the crap they chose. :) Its all about the family outing right?

Day 3
Monday I got a carwash with the boys. Its always a fun time. I get a clean car and the boys laugh with delight and yell "Its the MONSOOONN!!" as we go through. I thought it would be creative to take a picture going through it. So here is my day 3 shot.

This was after volunteering at the boys preschool but before I rushed off to class. Only 4 more classes to go by the way!! YIPPPEEEEE!

So that gets you caught up for now. :)