Holes

I sense that the narrative on my blog has some gaps.

So in case you were wondering...

1. The children and I are in Utah for the wedding, to escape the Texas heat-humidity, visit with family and friends, and breath some mountain air before we settle into a decidedly midwestern life.
2. Greg was able to come to his brother's wedding. This is primarily because I literally cornered (I can show you the corner in my mother-in-law's house) Daniel and Brittany and forced them to tell me "hypothetically" when they would get married. (This was almost two months before they were actually engaged, so you can see how kind they were to oblige me.) But with this precious piece of information (June 29!), Greg was able to carefully plan and use his leave in such a way to ensure his presence here to celebrate this wedding with all six of his siblings. And, though I'm sure I earned the label "Scariest Potential Sister-in-law" that day, Brittany has been nothing but gracious.
3. Greg goes back to Honduras this weekend. He still has a job there.
4. Greg officially finishes his tour in Honduras on July 16. This is happily a week or so earlier than we had anticipated!
5. Greg flies from Honduras to Utah on July 16. We will be here in Park City anxiously awaiting his final return.
6. I feel like I should mention that my mom is here with me. I am happy to give her an excuse to spend a good chunk of her summer in the mountains! And I am even happier to have her help!
7. On or about July 19 we will begin the drive back to Texas. Once in Texas we will visit with Greg's parents, make some key purchases, try to find and organize all of our crap at my mom's house in preparation for the packers and movers, take care of some doctor's appointments, squeeze in a few play dates, and watch the movers load up the stuff at my mom's house and all the stuff in storage that I haven't seen in a million years.
8. At the very beginning of August we will drive to St. Louis to pick up our poor little red Forester that has been (hopefully) lovingly cared for at a vehicle storage facility in South Carolina.
9. Please don't ask me to explain why we are picking up our car in St. Louis if it was stored in South Carolina.
10. After retrieving our car in St. Louis, we will proceed to Madison, where within a few days we will paint, receive the movers, and start unpacking.
11. From now until the beginning of August, our house will sit empty. (This is why the neighbors have my phone number. Also, our agent quickly volunteered to walk through the house once a week. Plus, someone--yet to be determined--will be mowing the lawn weekly.) The sellers were anxious to close by June 30, and we obliged them, for a price, of course--though they are a great family and we were happy to do this for them.
12. Closing on a house in 21 days with Greg overseas was proving almost humanly impossible. Sure, some intense back and forth FedEx-ing can go a long way, but it was going to be a close call. (Everyone was very edgy, no one more so than our nice sellers and their nice sellers, who were scheduled to close their deal just two hours after ours.) Our being out-of-state was driving up the closing costs, so buying a plane ticket wasn't much more money. So, yes, for the twelve-millionth time, I know that in this day and age you don't have to be present to close on a house, but in this case it was just plain easier (and possibly cheaper) to do it the old-fashioned way.
13. A note on buying this house. We did not necessarily intend to buy a house with this move. Our intention was to do whatever made the most sense in whatever market we ended up in. Since we knew we would only live in the house for three years, we were definitely leaning towards renting, unless it seemed obvious to buy. The thing about Madison is that there is no rental market for decent single-family homes. None. It was apparent right away that we would need to buy, and so the search began. Because we know we will turn around and sell (hopefully) the house in three years, it wasn't some kind of "we've-arrived-in-life-dream-house" experience. When we were looking, Our Future Buyers were first and foremost on our minds. That said, we will get to "make it our own" more so than if it were a rental...but the presence of Our Future Buyers will loom large.
14. A note on this particular house. It's perfect for us. There's nothing super spiffy (no, this is not the house with the brand new kitchen, the geo-thermal system, the California closets, or the screened in porch). It is no more or less than what our family needs right now. We walked in and immediately felt comfortable. It was no effort to imagine living there. I love the house already; I could sense the memories we'll make there. It's not perfect--Our Imaginary Future Buyers and I wrestled with one flaw in particular--but it's just right. And it's ours!!

I hope this answers some lingering questions or clears the fog of confusion that seems to have been created by my posts (or lack thereof) recently. Now I am free to post sporadically with little or no context.

Good luck to you, good luck to me,

as the aery beat nears its end.

Home sweet home

Closing day!

Last night after the wedding reception, I dropped Greg off at the airport for the red-eye flight to Atlanta, where he caught an early morning flight to Milwaukee, from where he drove to Madison, where he arrived two hours late due to road construction. Then he did a quick walk-through with the agent, rushed to the closing, where everyone was anxiously waiting, signed the papers, power of attorney in hand, swung back by the house to quickly take pictures, measurements, and, at my explicit request, meet the neighbors to give them my phone number. He then drove to Milwaukee, where he is currently awaiting a flight to Denver, from where he will fly to the Salt Lake City airport, where I will pick him up at 11 pm. Then I will drive him to Park City, where he will sleep until his children can't stand to wait any longer to play with their daddy.

So, yes, we are homeowners.

Rest stop

This is a picture of a rest stop in Colorado. (Note the flag.)

Now we are in Utah, for the Tuesday wedding of Daniel and Brittany, Greg's youngest brother and the lovely fiancee.

I drove from Flower Mound to Park City. Fortunately, I had my parents and Roderick nearby until Fort Collins, where the kids and I stopped to visit some friends and my parents pushed ahead to Utah.

I made it here sound and safe. The only hiccups in our journey involved a certain child of mine announcing in the middle of nowhere that he had to poop (which he was not able to do along side a barbed wire fence, though the location was rather picturesque mountain ranch land, but he was able to hold it until a Pizza Hut with lunch buffet appeared) and a broken DVD player (which resulted in the prompt purchase of a new one--there was no way I was going to face the state of Wyoming alone with two whining kids and no functioning DVD player).

Greg too made it here, which is something of a miracle, with cancelled flights, rerouted airplanes, missed connections, and really expensive plane tickets. We picked him up at the airport yesterday just in time to swing by the store for a tie and clean shirt (his luggage is in Chile) and make it just twenty minutes late to Big Family Event Number One--a baby blessing and family photo shoot.

I was exhausted when we got home last night. I could barely drag myself into bed at 8:30. I guess I was tired from the drive and the ironing of clothes for said photo shoot, but mostly I think I am beginning to feel the wear and tear of the past year.

But today Greg is here. The children adore him, and much prefer him to me. And we don't have Big Family Event Number Two until later this afternoon. So this morning is my rest stop. I am going to read and sleep and watch some soccer, and do basically nothing. Try to recharge for these last few weeks ahead.

July 16 is the magic date.

I wasn't the only one who thought David's party was fun

P.S. Sydney has made some other appearances on the blog, like in this post.

Hot shot

Lest you believe Mary was traumatized by six and a half hours of crying at summer camp, she came home the last day acting like a big hot shot.

She was super proud of the clown collar she had made.

David, on the other hand, was uncomfortable with the clown collar. He wouldn't go near her, and he kept telling me, "I don't like Mary in that. I want her to be regular Mary." (Coulrophobia, perhaps?)

Summer birthdays never end

I think I've mentioned before that--except for the fact that it takes twelve days to drive across--Texas is a small state. It shrinks the world and brings all kinds of folks you know into its borders. Lucky for me!

My first year teaching I had the pleasure to teach with Diana. She is Texan through and through, which, I will admit, scared me just a little at first. But I soon learned that she is just plain awesome! Smart and fun and gracious and beautiful and super competent. (She also planted the tiny seed in my mind that living in Texas might not be the end of the world after all. That's how persuasive she is!)

Finally, after eight years, our paths finally crossed in Texas. Her daughter Audrey was having a birthday celebration, and we were invited to join in the festivities. After summer camp was a bust, a good, fun birthday party was just what the kids needed. And I was anxious to see a good friend!

David and Mary dived into the fun. Here they are swinging with Audrey (on the far right) and her cousin (when your own cousins aren't available, just borrow someone else's).

Mary decided right away that Audrey was the cat's meow. She announced to me frequently, "I like Audrey." And, as you can see, she tried to stay really close to her.

(I'm not sure how Audrey felt about her new shadow.)

After hot dogs and watermelon, the kids enjoyed the slip and slide.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream. This was not just any old "cake and ice cream." This is Texas, and Diana is Texan, meaning that girl knows how to host a party: You can never have too many beautiful, delicious desserts.

The ice cream was deliciously homemade, both vanilla and also vanilla heaping with fresh strawberries.

The cake came in three varieties.

Red velvet cake pops. Real, honest to goodness, Texan red velvet cake. Pops. What a treat!

Now, this is a delectable sprite cake with strawberry butter cream icing. What I want you to notice is how perfectly it's frosted. PERFECTLY. It's simple, elegant, and perfect! Diana is one of those people who are so beautiful on the inside and out that they make everything around them beautiful.

And look at these cupcakes! Have you ever seen cupcakes frosted so perfectly?

And so delicious! Strawberry cupcakes with a cream cheese filling...and that chocolate frosting, of course.

Mary could not stop eating them.

Audrey definitely enjoyed the cake too.

Then it was time to open presents. Very exciting!! My kids had to be right up in the action. Mary insisted on being close...

really close...

Between hot dogs and cupcakes and presents and little girls running to the potty, Diana and I did have a chance to catch up some. We talked about homes and Seattle and motherhood and leaving teaching. And what to do with all of our teaching materials! I love Diana. I admire her, as a teacher, a friend, a mother.

I can't wait until Texas brings us together again!

By the way, you can see/read more about this beautiful family on their blog.

Summer fun fail

My kids loved their preschool. So what better way to spend a week in the summer than at camp offered by said beloved preschool?

Now, I did carefully explain that it wasn't going to be exactly like school. There would be different teachers, and they would meet in different classrooms, and only some of their friends would be there. But I guess those were some hard concepts to grasp, especially for my two-year-old.

When we arrived, Mary sprinted towards her classroom, rushing to see her teachers...only to discover that this time school was in a DIFFERENT classroom with DIFFERENT teachers and DIFFERENT friends. Mary was heartbroken. HEARTBROKEN. And she completely freaked out.

The first day she cried three hours. The second day she cried two hours. And the third day she cried an hour and a half. Fortunately, it was only three days long--though she was steadily improving.

Like all good summer camps, Mary came home with a memento of her summer fun:

As you can see, this picture uploaded sideways. I have never, ever had this happen before, though I have heard of other people complaining of this annoyance. But, as you can see, try as I might, I could not beat Blogger this time.

But what I can do, is show you a close-up.

Wow. That's some serious summer fun.

Another twin?

Remember this post?

Now check this out.

This twin is already a twin. And Mary doesn't share genetic material with this gorgeous gal. But their moms have some random stuff in common, their names being just the beginning. Doesn't that count for something?

And if nothing else, they both have the same "Sound of Music dress"!

Long-distance twins

Recently Mary has been very good about smiling for the camera.

One pose she likes is to lounge with legs crossed.

But I can easily convince her to stand up.

The reason for the posing was to capture an image of Mary in that pretty little dress. It's something of a long story, but her far-away cousin E has one just like it.

Aren't these girls beautiful? One with brown straight hair and brown eyes, and the other with blond curls and blue eyes. So maybe they're not exactly twins. But as cousins they do share some of the same genetic material. And the same dress!

Class pictures

I am just now thinking that I should post this year's class pictures.

Can you spot my cuties?

What a happy year at preschool!

The big event

There comes a time in every parent's life (in this parent's life it's about twelve times a day) that you must compromise your parenting principles--because not doing so just isn't worth it. This is just one of the thousands of ways that God uses parenthood to teach us humility. There's nothing quite like swallowing your pride.

And swallow my pride I did.

When we first moved to Texas, I could not get over how many birthday parties were big, elaborate affairs held at the most over-stimulating places imaginable--like Chuck E. Cheese and various bouncy house complexes. What happened to relay races in the backyard, or cutting the cake on the picnic tables at the neighborhood park? I became more determined than ever to keep our birthday parties simple and "homemade."

But then I got tired. And as the months slowly dragged on toward summer, David's expectations grew bigger and bigger. And I felt even more tired.

The thought of hosting a party here at home kept me awake at night for weeks. My parents have a spacious house, but the architect didn't have children's birthday parties in mind when it was designed. I couldn't picture the logistics of such an event. Besides, hasn't my mom done enough already? Does she really deserve to have a dozen screaming 5-year-olds running through her house?

So I dutifully began researching other locations. And that is how I started down the slippery slope towards the very kind of birthday party I was determined to avoid. But you know what? I'm really glad I took that slide, because it plopped me at the front door of the perfect location: The gym where David and Mary take gymnastics.

David has had a rough year. Nothing can change that. But the kid could at least have a super fun birthday party, right?

And super fun it was!

I think this was the only time David will have a giant swing at his birthday party.

Yes, a GIANT swing!

Here are his friends, all lined up, waiting their turns...

...to do this:

David loved the obstacle courses.

Tio Dave even joined in the obstacle course fun too. (His Marine training helped.)

Mary wasn't one to sit on the side lines. She was right in there with the big kids.

David and the boys, Caden, Andrew, and Ryan. Looks like David is definitely enjoying himself!

Sweet friends, Sydney and Maddy.

This is Mia. She is from Wisconsin! That's why David is excited to move there. If Mia likes Wisconsin, it must be okay.

After an hour of playing hard in the gym, the whole gang got together for a quick snack.

David, Ryan, and Caden.

This is David's fun playmate Brooke, along with little Grant and little Luke. (David was careful to include two little friends on his invite list, so, I quote, "Mary can have somebody to be with." Isn't that sweet?)

Then it was time to sing to the birthday boy! And eat cupcakes!

I love this girl! (David does too.)

Friends C.J. and Maddy.

As you can see, Mary staked out a spot for herself right next to the cupcakes.

(Above, in the leotard, with her back to the camera, is good friend Leah. Sadly, I don't have a decent picture of her!)

And, once again, the joys of opening presents.

It was a good time!

AND I didn't have to clean up the mess--that was easy to swallow!

David had a great time, and he was thrilled that so many of his friends were there to join in the fun.

Not only did David have lots of friends attend, but family came to celebrate with him again.

It wouldn't have been a party without Tio and Tia!

We love them so much! (Hey, guys, what are the odds you'll transfer to the University of Wisconsin??)

We're especially grateful Greg's parents decided to spend their Saturday afternoon with David and his friends! What a treat! (Notice the birthday boy's unhappy face. He was ready to go home and play with his new presents--NOT pose for pictures!)

Most of all, we're happy Greg could be there. The Senior Master Sergeant he works with was the one who suggested to Greg that he ought to fly back for David's birthday. Senior Master Sergeants give a lot of good advice, but I think this was the best advice ever! (Thank you, Sergeant Bridgewater.)

A few weeks ago David started praying nightly for the following things:

1. "Bless me to be patient waiting for my party."
2. "Bless my friends that they can be patient waiting for my party."
3. "Bless my daddy that he can come to my party."

Well, David survived the agonizing wait, and lived to see his party. So did his friends. AND his daddy was there to celebrate too.

God hears my child's prayers!

(And teaches his mom humility.)

I love my guys

Birthday boy!

After months

and months

and months

and months

of tedious waiting and praying for patience, it finally arrived!

David's 5th birthday!

After Mary's gymnastics class, we let him open the first of his presents. (After all that waiting--a whole year!--it seemed cruel to make him wait until evening to open everything!)

That evening we had a family gathering to celebrate the birthday boy. A dad, a mom, four grandparents, three cousins, two uncles, an aunt, and a baby sister. Not a bad turn-out!

How wonderful to celebrate David on his birthday with so many family members!

We had the traditional cake and ice cream.

And, oh the joys of opening presents! (Especially on your daddy's lap!)

What a fun, fun celebration! David especially enjoyed sharing in the festivities with his cousins!

I really like this five-year-old thing. Still sweet, still innocent. But more mature and independent. And, to me, a lot more fun. I'm very happy David is five. I'm not sure how he feels, though, because the day after his birthday, David woke up whining to me, "Mommmeeeeeeee, I want to be SIX!"

Let the waiting begin. Again.