New shoes

Keeton got new shoes yesterday (had to throw away several pairs because they stunk to high heaven).

Conversation before bed:

Keeton: Dad, I think I might get in trouble at school tomorrow.

Jeff: Why?

Keeton: Because I'll be looking at my shoes all day and not paying attention.


When he got home today he reported he only looked at his shoes five times. He is his daddy's son/clone.

High & Low

So, today's low was sitting in class until 12:30 when I really wanted to go to church (yes, really. I love church during advent season).

Today's high was celebrating Ella's 8th birthday (early--she's still 7 for 3 days, thank you) with the family.

Sum it up

Exhausted

The Daily Grind

For those of you who may wonder why we are so terrible at keeping up. Here's today, which is pretty much the same as every day:

5:00 Alarm goes off (I hurry to make sure the elf has moved to a new location...silly elf forgets sometimes!
6:00 Jeff gets up and Ella is usually up because she hears me up clicking around in my heels
6:20 I'm out the door! Grabbed my piece of cinnamon bread and coffee for the road.
6:30 I'm at work (love the new commute, that's for sure)
7:15 Jeff and the kids are out the door.

Work until 5:30. Jeff and the kids are at ballet by 5:30. No events to supervise tonight, so I go home and work on my paper (it's done..yay!) until they get home at 6:45.

7:20 It's a "scavenger" night, which means I don't cook. Jeff eats left over Steak N' Shake chili from a can, Keeton has a hot dog and Ella & I have grilled cheese.

8:00 Kiddos in bed
8:30 Outfits figured out for tomorrow
9:00 Watch Criminal Minds--I love that show!
10:00 In bed...

Yep, it's kind of boring, but it sure is busy!

Cookie marathon

Sunday was a cookie making marathon! My mom, sister, Ella, Keeton, and I made cookies all day long--our ovens ran for 7 hours straight! It was a huge mess with cookies covering every counter and filling our dining room table, but it was lots of fun and we have platters upon platters of cookies to share!

My reward

Why, oh, why am I SUCH a procrastinator? I am currently rewarding myself by allowing myself to complain on this blog. Minimized on my screen is the very little amount of work I've done toward a 20+ page literary analysis on Common Core Curriculum (what's that, you ask? If you are in education, you get it!) due in two weeks for one of my grad classes. I have read all of seven sources and have, oh, like 20 to go with nothing actually on paper yet. It's not like I haven't had two months to do this...and I wait until the last minute on Thanksgiving weekend. Oh, yeah, I also have five other assignments due for my other class next weekend. Don't you hate it when you totally know your personal flaws and still succumb to them?

Back to work.

Thankful, Day 2

Keeton:
Um, I thank you for, I mean thankful for my family.

Ella:
I'm thankful for my world.

So, Keeton is a copycat and Ella is gearing up for a pageant response...

Thankful, Day 1

Thanksgiving is 16 days away...I can hardly believe that! That means our annual Christmas tree hunt is in 18 days (remember the tree trauma from a few years back?). I thought it would be fun to ask the kids what they are thankful for each day and post their responses here. All wording is in true Ella & Keeton language!

Ella: For my family.
Keeton: Um,my teacher?

I bet tomorrow we will have more certain responses!

Avoidance

Jeff is working late tonight--day 2 of his new job and it's "Family Reading Night", so he gets to meet all the curious parents wondering who the new guy is! I am leaving for a business trio Thursday to Las Vegas and SHOULD be packing, but I really don't have a clue what it is that I should pack. All the sudden, my closet seems full of all the wrong things. So, I am avoiding the task!

The simplicity of 10 years

Wow, where has 10 years gone? I guess that it is s testiment/compliment to my hubby that 10 years doesn't seem like an eternity, right? When we got married we were young, and by today's standards, we were really young--22 and 23. I was right out of college and Jeff, ever the Peter-Pan, was wrapping up his teaching degree. Our first apartment had one couch (new--I can remember AGONIZING over what piece of furniture we could afford to buy and deciding a couch was probably a necessity), a wooden chair, a 27 in tv on an old tv stand, a hand-me-down table and chairs, and our bedroom furniture. That's it. Man, life was so simple. Now, 3 houses (4 if you count the addition/remodel) later, with more furniture banished to our basement than we owned in that first apartment, I can't help but think the oddest thing that 10 years has taught me is that when it really came down to it, that first year--the simplicity of that first year, without all the "clutter" of life, was so foundational in our marriage. Heck, we didn't even have cable--way too expensive! While I am certainly proud of our accomplishments that have brought us where we are now and while I love the life we've built with our kiddos, I think it's important to remember where we started and fall back on what we built with so little else to fill up our hearts.

Happy 10 years, Jeff--Love you!

Last weekend's photos

Here are some pictures from last weekend. We had three days off and it was a true "Indian Summer" type of weekend. Lots of sidewalk chalk, blingy pumpkins with Grandma, and raking leaves. By the way, I don't think Keeton has ever had the fall-leaf experience. He was 10 months old when we moved to our last house, which had no trees!

I need a hobby...and time...

You know how I said we are all so busy and I can't even keep up with myself let alone everyone else? You know how I haven't really even cleaned the house we moved into four weeks ago? And that part about how I usually work at least 10-11 hours a day? So, I think I need a hobby. Really. Not a crafty hobby, but a physical one where I can take out some tension--a kick butt type of hobby. Now, I played tennis, ran and danced (in my more fit days). Those are NOT contact sports--I was never one for getting hit, punched, kicked, pushed, etc. So maybe this is a mid-life crisis? I need ideas for something to do (and I need ideas for when I can do it). My co-worker suggested I take up running again--he figured they make cute running shoes so I'd go for that. Point well taken. Any ideas are welcome (cute shoe wear is a plus)!

Anyone miss us?

It is has been a loooong time, I know. We've been MIA for almost a month, which is even a long time by my standards for this bog! Here's the run-down: we moved in on Sept. 10th. I had classes the next three weekends in a row (2 classes all weekend with plenty of homework to keep me busy). In between there I've been to a football game every Friday night with the kids and Jeff in tow and last week was Homecoming, so that consumed most of the weeknights and Saturday night, too. And that, THAT is how 3 1/2 weeks has blown by us so fast that we can just now catch our breath.

There are a few things we've discovered these past few weeks:
1. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I am so thankful we moved because I don't know where I'd be squeezing in the extra hour in the car each day.
2. I dearly missed having a dryer. That got delivered Sunday (yep, one month later) and you know you are old when you are uber excited about doing laundry and testing all the new settings!
3. Molly LOVES the lake. WAY TOO MUCH. Today was the 3rd time she got out and found it. Once again, she was covered in burs and sopping wet. Today was finally our incentive to get the invisible fence set up. Check that off the list.

I know people want pictures and they will come soon enough. Maybe I will post some with September's pictures of the day (yes, I know it is October, sigh).

Welcome home

We closed! This is our new home!

Move in day is tomorrow and I can't wait to put an end to this chapter!

When to say when

Yesterday I was all set to say we were "good to go". I was even ready to post a sneak peak of the house. Today, 6 days from closing, we got more bad news that could make this all disappear much faster than I can even get my furniture back from storage. Honestly, I am too exhausted -- physically and mentally to even go into details. I am ready to throw in the towl and say, "I'm done; this journey is over". I'm angry at the situations surrounding this, the bank who keeps throwing us curve balls, the system that makes it hard for honest people to buy houses now, and I am even angry at God. I am angry that I locked myself in my office to cry today. I am angry that my kids are sleeping on mattresses on the floor because their beds are on a storage pod. I am angry...and that's about all there is to say.

So much depends on...

Two weeks until closing and we are still waiting on two very important documents before we can go to underwriting...and that has to be done Monday. Needless to say, I am freaking out. I'm freaking out a lot. My personality trait of compulsive worrying is kicked into major overdrive. The document we need the most was mailed from California Tuesday (of course, California. Can't be Missouri or anything close). If it doesn't get to us tomorrow, I am afraid to think of what the results will be.

Besides the fact that our house is half-packed, the kids start school tomorrow...in a new city. All the neighbor kids started today at Central. In a way, this makes me so sad. I feel like I am upending them (especially Ella) and so much depends on a stupid piece of mail from California.

Because I worry so much (about pretty much everything), I have this "coping" strategy where I think of the worst case scenario and if I can deal with that, then I can usually relax. In this case, if we don't get the mail we need (oh, by tomorrow), and if this falls through, I will have to unpack my house, transfer my kids, .... I really can't even think about this.

God has really seen us through a pretty amazing journey. I am choosing to believe that it isn't going to all come down to the US Postal Service. However, I will take all the prayer anyone might be willing to send our way...for a speedy mailman, for a great appraisal, for final underwriting, for a successful closing, and for easy transitions on my kids as they start school tomorrow--counting on Mom and Dad to have made a good decision in their lives.

Update

So, here's where we are right now...the trade deal on the houses has gone through (we buy their house, they buy ours). Closing date is September 7th. This weekend and early next week are the really important "next steps" because almost all the inspections and appraisals are happening between that time frame. Always the realist, I don't want to get too excited yet, knowing all it would take for the deal to fall through would be a piece of bad news in any one of these items. For those of you who have been faithfully rooting for us, please keep those prayers coming because He's hearing you!

Your persistence will pay off soon...

That was my fortune cookie a few weeks ago. I'm hoping that a sudden turn in events is leading in this direction. More details to come!

July in pictures

Not a perfect month, in terms of photos, but I got more than I thought I would! I will do better for August, right?


July 6, 2011 ~ Keeton mastered the diving board in four swim lessons. He's my brave one and that scares me to death!

July 11, 2011 ~ I know this will seem like an odd picture to most everyone but me, but with the day I was handed, it was the best I could do.

July 13, 2011 ~ Silly girls! Ella and Kate get such a kick out of each other, you can't help but laugh at them (or with them, I guess).

July 16, 2011 ~ And on to the boys...just as silly, just as cute!

July 18, 2011 ~ Spotted a funnel cloud, which really freaked our neighbor out. Strangely enough, I thought it was pretty neat and was glad I ran in to get the camera!

July 19, 2011 ~ Can you believe I had to chase this kid down for a single shot? And then he got all contortionist on me!

July ?, 2011 ~ Hmmm, not sure when Jeff took this one, but another picture of Keeton obsessed by trucks, cars, and all things that move (literally, the neighbors were moving their cars to another state). This would totally freak me out if my cars had been on there.

July 20, 2011 ~ Love having a hydrangea bush right outside the door. Well, when it isn't covered in Japanese Beetles, anyway. I know, they are gross. Really, really, gross. But the flowers are pretty, right?

July 21, 2011 ~ I had a closet intervention with Ella. I took away all her soccer clothes, mandating that she wears the adorable summer clothes she has, instead. Sounds mean, but by the looks of this photo, I think she went overboard in swiping my shoes, too!

July 22, 2011 ~ What a face! I guess my root beer floaties aren't as good as Papa's...I know, what? I can't cook...not like I didn't know that. Actually, you don't cook root beer floaties...whatever.

July 23, 2011 ~ Keeton cracks me up with his "worker" obsession. He spent the morning imitating the guys who were re-paving our street. He got a few high-fives, too.

July 24, 2011 ~ Yep, sometimes a boy has to just give the dog a hug, even when he's in his underoos and "just passing through".

July 25, 2011 ~ If you look very closely you will see a rainbow set against these stormy clouds.

July 26, 2011 ~ Don't you just wish you could pass out like this some days? I sure will admit that I do! Ah, to be 5 again...

Imitation is the best form of flattery...

Averaging once every 5 days...

Here's a start to my "month in pictures" goal. I am not getting one every day at this point, but here's a start:

July 6th ~ Keeton took four days of swim lessons. Started doggy-paddling, ended by catapulting himself off the diving board!

July 11th ~ Sign came down. Rough day.

July 16th ~ Keeton and Rhett loved taking turns pushing each other on the toy car. For as rough and tumble as Keeton is with his sister, he is so sweet to little Rhett.

July 18th ~ How cool is this? Jeff ran in to tell me there was a tornado. Not really, but there was a funnel cloud that sent half our neighbors to the basement and the other half outside to look. Sirens came on, but only after this dissipated.