Christmastime

It seems like the last month has gone by in a blink. Busyness will do that, I suppose. Christmas is just 5 days away. Fortunately we are pretty much ready!

It has been lots of fun shopping this year. I love it when you find exactly what you are looking for, and feel like you are really getting your loved ones something they will like and enjoy. And it is even better if it is something they won't expect. And even better than that is if it is something they like, something unexpected, and something on SALE!

Of course there is always the downside to that...I received an email yesterday informing me that my gift for Eric was out of stock and it would not arrive by Christmas. So that left me in a lurch, scrambling desperately to figure something else out for Eric in time for Christmas. His Christmas gift will become his birthday gift, I guess. That's one benefit of a January birthday.

On top of all the Christmas hustle, we noticed that a home we've been watching for some time went down in price. We decided to go and look at it. We have no idea why we were so compelled to go look at it because we both knew it was most likely impossible that we'd ever be able to afford such a house. But we fell in love...it is the perfect house, perfect neighborhood...it needs some cosmetic updates, but after the overhaul we did of our current home, a few cosmetic things is trivial.

Unfortunately the home is in short sale (what happens sometimes prior to it foreclosing) so because of that we cannot place a contingency on the sale of our home, and also cannot "close" the deal until the actual sales papers are signed. Typically when you make an offer on a home, the seller accepts your offer and then it is legally binding and to back out there is a penalty. Not so in this case. It remains open until the actual closing. So if the seller receives a better offer, we could potentially lose the house. So we really have no idea if we'll get the house, or sell ours, and at this point we don't even have an accepted offer from the seller, although we're in negotiations. So tons of prayer would be appreciated! We really want this house to work out, but if it doesn't then obviously God has something different in mind for us. All we can do now is wait, and pray, and wait, and pray...you get the picture.

This weekend we are going to try and "complete" our home. We want to refinish the floors and finish putting some trim around some windows. Things that we've been wanting to do for some time now. Not what we'd like to be doing at Christmas, but we're hoping that there will be some interest in our home starting in January, so we'd like it to be finished by that time.

Well, the clutter is calling for me to clean it up, so I had better get to that. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls at Christmas. In our opinion, there isn't much more precious than that.

What a Week So Far

I've been having the worst week so far. This is the third day in a row that I've had the kids to myself from morning 'til bed with no adult contact. It isn't like Eric is off partying so I can't complain a whole lot, but between work and school his schedule is taking a toll on my sanity!

Just tonight was mayhem...Grace has a cold so she was incredibly fussy, so I was carrying her around while clearing the table, I go back into the kitchen to find the dog eating off the table (lost my temper, let me tell you!) and then go into the bathroom to find that Hannah had dumped all of my powder make-up onto the floor. And this was after a day packed with similar incidences...the kids both went to bed early and I wish I could say that it was time to relax but no...now I have to do dishes and fold laundry. Blah!!

To top it all off Eric was roped into doing the Christmas program at church. So logically I realized when I looked at the calendar that this involved Christmas Eve. But yesterday it hit me emotionally when I really realized that Eric was going to be gone for the entire Sunday before Christmas, and on top of that all of Christmas Eve, so that means all family festivities are shot. I'm so the type of person that just thrives on the little family traditions and the fact that this is Grace's first Christmas means a lot to me. So Eric threw a wrench in the whole operation because he couldn't say no to the church, and I didn't realize how much it meant to me that he didn't do it until now. He has the two weekends before Christmas pretty much filled up with rehearsals, performances, etc. Should make for a very lonely Christmas season.

Some highlights from my week:

Playing together so nice



Hannah singing the "Crocodile Song" from Peter Pan



Here's hoping the rest of the week goes better!

Halloween

Hannah's second year of Trick-or-Treating went successfully. Last year we just took her to a few houses on our block. This year we graduated to our street. Maybe next year we'll do a couple streets. The benefit of living in the city is that you could potentially spend the entire 3 hours out there and still be nearly in your backyard with many more streets to go! When I grew up it was just our little town, and you did those houses, and that was it! I doubt it was 3 hours worth, and you hit every house, not just a few streets.

Hannah went dressed as a princess this year. Last year we just had a hand-me-down costume, and since I can't see spending tons of money for this one day, we decided to figure something out. Hannah received a crown from my aunt and uncle when Grace was born, and she had a frilly dress, so it just seemed to fit together well. Add in some costume jewelery, and some pretty shoes, and voila...a princess!




Grace was a tiger. She did very well watching Hannah go from door to door. Her costume was pretty warm so I think she fared better than her big sister did!



They were just so cute together! Can't wait for many more Halloweens with our two little girls.



We carved a pumpkin this year, too. Hannah did not remember last year (not surprisingly) and really seemed to enjoy this year. I love these early years when everything is new (again!) each time. Eventually she will start to remember doing it previously, but until then it is fun to discover each new thing one more time. The only trouble is that now she thinks we're going to eat it.





In the midst of all this October fun, Eric has been slaving away on his midterm and a presentation for his class. He's still made time for us, though, which we've enjoyed (and appreciated). He's still not quite finished with the midterm (it was a take-home) but he has until midnight tonight, so here's hoping he gets it done! He's been pulling "most of the nighters". He can't quite manage an "all nighter" anymore. Showing his age and all that ;-)

Now we get to look forward to November and Thanksgiving. Grace is soon to be 8 months and we're looking forward to this month and all it will most likely bring (like crawling!). Should be lots to write about!

Marathon

We are back from Eric's marathon. He ran the Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland. We "test ran" the kids on the 5 hour drive, seeing how they did in preparation for our Thanksgiving trip to Pennsylvania to visit Eric's family.

We decided that Hannah starts out strong, makes it about 4 hours and then passes out. Grace starts passed out, and then gets sick of the whole scene and melts down about 4 hours in. Should be interesting all the way to PA...we are stopping after about 8 hours on the road and then have another 3 the following day. Yikes!

Back to the marathon...Eric completed it successfully. We were all very proud of him. He was pretty exhausted by the end, and is still hobbling around because of his aching muscles. He claims he won't be doing another one, but I think we'll find ourselves watching another marathon before too much time passes by. He wasn't completely happy with the results, and that is always a driving force to try again!

My Favorite Runner


The Finish Line


Marathons are Tiring


Triumphant Finisher


The kids have been sleeping like a dream since we got back. I think the whole ordeal tuckered them out. They didn't have a decent nap all weekend! But life will start to get back to normal today, I'm sure. We're looking forward to a few weeks with nothing at all planned.

Milwaukee Marathon

We spent the day in the hot sun driving from spot to spot to support our friend Todd who ran the Lakefront Marathon today. He and Eric have been training since May, so I think we were all glad to see him finish. We both felt badly for him, though, because he trained for a fall marathon, and the weather was in the 80's, and he struggled a good deal because of this. We came home exhausted, dehydrated, and a little bit scorched from sitting in the sun too long. In OCTOBER.

I cannot get over the weather. I hate this unseasonal warm streak. I like the weather in the 80's, don't get me wrong. In JULY. October is light-jacket season, where you get to wear jeans and occasionally a snuggly sweater. The season of a crisp breeze and fall camping. Where you can sit by the fire to stay warm. I cannot wait until the seasonal weather returns in a couple days. The weather guys keep talking as though this warm weather is a good thing...and I do not agree!!

Next weekend is Eric's marathon in Ashland. The weather promises to be in the 50's and sunny, so we're hoping that proves true. This is Eric's first (and most likely last) marathon and we want it to go well for him.

We're going to stay in a cabin and we're hoping it will be a bit like fall camping, without the tent, and with separate bedrooms for the kids. The best of both worlds ;-) We're hoping that my parents can make it, but they will just be getting back from a long vacation and I'm sure they'll be ready to crash at home, unpack, and get settled. So who knows...

Can't wait until next weekend and this whole marathon thing will be in the past!! It has begun to dictate our lives just a touch too much. We'll see what Eric chooses to do next :-)

Lighthearted Living

Trying to come up with a "clever" blog title is a challenge. Do you make it something silly about your family? Do you deem some great purpose behind what you are planning to write? You don't want to set too high of standards, and you don't want the title to be so silly that you cannot write something serious. It is a quandary.

We chose something that reflects both, I hope. We (Eric and I), as Christians, are committed to finding joy in everyday circumstances. No matter how icky. We need to live in a state of joy because no matter what life brings our way, we have joy in our relationship with Jesus. And that, hopefully, would lead you to be lighthearted. Not that we have to be "happy" all the time. Joy goes deeper than mere happiness. But I digress..."lighthearted living" was an attempt at both silliness, as well as reminding us that we should be finding joy in our lives.

Ultimately, this will be updates on our family, and perhaps some "day to day" musings. Every now and again there may be something of great substance, so don't forget to check back. You wouldn't want to miss that!!