Last Night

Well, tonight is our last night in this house. I have a strange mix of emotions that I haven’t quite been able to identify yet. I haven’t been feeling well either so that probably complicates these emotions even further.
This house holds so many memories and the walls could speak of laughter and tears. This house is where Chris and I spent our wedding night. This house is where Josh got to have his very own space. This house is where we brought our sweet, exhausting baby to and the only home Andy has known.
We have spent the last five days moving all of our earthly belongings to our new house. Five exhausting days. At one point early on I looked around at all the chaos and I just wanted to cry. I really just wanted to curl up in the corner and cry. I’ve had to remind myself to sit back and enjoy the process. We are blessed to be given the opportunity to live in our dream home for the rest of our days and I truly am grateful. God is good. God is always good.
So, tomorrow morning when we wake up it will be a mad dash to get the last of our stuff out and the house somewhat clean because that’s the way this deal is going down. And morning will be here very soon. At this time tomorrow night I will be sleeping in a strange place I will call home.
Goodnight.

Cute Kid Story

On the unfortunately rare occasion that we sit down and eat dinner at the table as a family, we hold hands and pray for our meal and other situations that may or may not affect us or our loved ones. Last night was no different. Since Andy is now getting old enough to join us in prayer time I grabbed one of his hands and Josh took the other. As Chris prayed I watched Andy out of the corner of my eye. He was quietly moving his head back and forth carefully observing us. After Chris was finished with the prayer, I dished up the plates and we began eating our meal. Soon I felt Andy’s little hand in mine and looked over to see him reaching for Josh’s hand. It didn’t take me long to figure out that Andy thought it was time to pray again. He was intently looking to Chris as if to say, “It’s time to pray. What are you waiting for? Isn’t this what we do!”. When I explained what I thought Andy was thinking we all busted up laughing. We were laughing so hard our faces turned red and tears were in our eyes. But Andy kept a firm grip on our hands and a serious look on his face which made us laugh even harder. Finally Chris caught his breath enough to say “Amen!” At that Andy released our hands, picked up his fork and resumed eating his dinner. That made us laugh even more as it confirmed exactly what we thought he was doing! He is a very observant and bright boy. He loves to imitate and repeat everything he sees and hears and trying it all out in his own cute little Andy way.

Winter Frost

Yesterday as I was at work and watching the sun rise I noticed the crystals formed on the bare branches and needles of the trees as a thick fog was hanging in the cold morning air. I left work, picked up Andy and my camera and ventured into a field close to our house. I was in snow up to my knees but I just had to get photos of these bushes frozen in time in an untouched land before the warming sun melted it all away.

I am not sure that I particularly like this photo. I was trying to achieve my very limited understanding of capturing bokeh in photography but it doesn’t look like I did so much. The focus is a little strange too but I can just call it artistic license.

Sold!

We are finally coming out of an extended deep freeze here in the frozen tundra. Seriously, I am looking forward to the 30’s that are forecast for mid-week. It is still only about 20 degrees today but you know it’s been cold when 20 feels noticeably warmer. Anyway, I got outside to finally get a photo of some really big news. Our house is sold! I was keeping a timeline of the whole process but there is too much that has transpired that I am having a hard time remembering exact dates. I suppose if I thought really hard and did some quick research I could come up with them but it’s just not important anymore. The details are kind of muddled anyway. I do want to note a few things about selling our house. When I left off we were waiting to hear from our buyer and we were given an offer from the seller we couldn’t refuse. In fact, we found out it was too good to be true when he changed his mind after a bit of confusion about exactly what he was offering us. We were really angry and almost backed out of the whole deal but we talked and prayed and realized that the refigured offer was still a great offer so we added a few of our own stipulations and reached an agreement with the seller. Meanwhile, we settled on a selling price with our buyer and made it through an incredibly long inspection. There are so many more details like the fact that our seller wanted us to sell our house within 30 days and our buyer happened to have a showing at our house that very same day the offer was proposed. Only God can orchestrate all those details to work out in His perfect timing.

This is our new home, our perfect little dream home, as of January 27th! One of the stipulations that we asked of our seller was access to the third stall of the garage beginning January 1st. Chris has moved several loads from our house since then. We also asked for moving in access 5 days prior to closing to be able to move all of our things in and organize a bit before we actually live there. The seller agreed because he isn’t living there anymore. I have been working on transferring Josh to a new school and preparing him for the move. He is a little nervous and scared but I don’t blame him. I have been praying for a smooth transition for all of us. I have taken most of that week off because I know that I don’t sleep well, especially in a strange place, and I need time to acclimate to the new environment. Anyway, I took this photo the day we were visiting our friends across the street and saw this house for the first time. It is our dream come true and we get to raise our family in that house and neighborhood and community and that is something we are really excited about!

Skateboarding

Josh loves to skateboard and this past summer he, with the help of his dad, used all the money he saved up and bought a professional skateboard. Josh even got a chance to take part in a skate camp in July and show off his new board. On a warm day in November I took Josh to our local skate park so he could show me some of his mad skillz while I took photos. It was kind of spur of the moment so we didn’t have any of his protective gear.

Before skate camp Josh would hold his board at the edge and then drop down but now he can start from the rail and keep on rollin’ down the half-pipe.

He used to jump off the board and grab it just as he reach the top of the half-pipe but now he can land on the flat like a pro. I just made up the term “flat” and I think I like it.

Here’s another view of Josh landing on the flat. My favorite shot.

Josh is practicing and perfecting the “Ollie”.

I also found out that those red parts that look an awful lot like axles are called trucks. I hope I spelled that right.

Andy’s First Snowy Play

Just A Few Items

Well, it’s been a while since I have blogged. I am so far behind and I have too many things I want to write about that I don’t sit down and write about any of it. I have been a  little overwhelmed by how much is going on(even though there is nothing really going on. I’m just lazy!) that I don’t do anything. I have felt like blogging is a chore instead of something fun to do so I don’t do it at all. But I don’t want to miss anything so I have decided to throw a few items into one simple post. Novel idea, right?

We started off Thanksgiving day at the Walk To End Hunger event at the Mall of America. This was our second year participating and I completely dropped the ball when it came to promoting it to my friends and family and soliciting donations. I even forgot to bring a bag of food donations. Bob and Barb were visiting for the holiday so they joined us in walking at the mall even though Barb had both of her knees replaced at the end of August. Something cool and ironic: Heather, one of the ladies that I was standing with in line at the mall to meet Pioneer Woman and who sent me pictures via email, was volunteering at the event. We had to check in at the registration table by the first letter of our last name and there she was sitting under the “R”. It was so fun to see her there and make that connection again. We ended our walk with the very addicting, yummy Cinnabon rolls.

Thanksgiving dinner was as delightful and delicious as usual even though we were missing Jer and Angela and Matt and Amy and all their kids. Josh was kind of concerned about being bored with only Andy to play with but he ended up having a lot of fun playing dominos and watching football. We all stuffed ourselves silly and even made lefse for leftovers. That is usually a Christmas tradition but Dan(my uncle) talked my mom into making some with him. Dan, my mom, and I spent several hours, yes, hours, poring over the Black Friday ads and strategizing our shopping trip for early the next morning. We loaded our phones with our gift ideas and mapped out our route on Dan’s GPS according to which store was most important to get to first. We went to bed early, got up at 3am, and shopped ‘til we dropped. We got to Target at around 4:30am after hitting Sears and had to wait outside in a line until 5am when it opened. I had a bit of time to think about what we were doing and I felt like we were the epitome of materialism, all of us in that crazy cold line, but we got some really good deals on lots of great gifts. Between the three of us, Dan’s SUV was completely filled by the time we were done. At one point as we were standing in line I commented that I was crazy and dumb: Crazy because I was standing in a line for Target at 4:30am and dumb because I only wore a  down vest. Just a vest. No coat, no gloves, no hat, and just little ballet flats for shoes. Next year I will be wearing a whole lot more. That is, if I ever do Black Friday shopping again. We were home by 9am and I slept for about three hours.

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December 5^th was Josh’s 10^th birthday. I didn’t get to see him since he left that morning for a four-day snowboarding trip to Colorado with his dad. He had a great time but the trip ended up being a five-day trip because their flight was canceled due to a snowstorm here and they couldn’t leave until the next day. Josh came home very tired and kind of crabby but his birthday trip was unforgettable. I feel like I cheated him out of a birthday post but we are going to celebrate his birthday later this month when all the cousins are here for Christmas. I have some fun things related to the number 10 planned for him. I will be sure to dedicate a post all about his 10^th birthday after his party!  So instead of celebrating Josh’s birthday we took Andy to get his first hair cut.

The “before” style. Notice the beautiful curls!

We had to keep him occupied with a bubble machine because he got ansty aproximately 2.3 seconds after sitting down in the chair.

The “after” style. Still a little long and curly but he lost the girly look.

Apparently he felt close enough to his stylist to poke her in the chest after she was all up in his hair.

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We are still trying to sell our house. We have lowered the price a couple of times which has prompted quite a few showings. No one has made an offer on it yet though. In keeping with the timeline I have going, on Thursday, December 10th, the seller of the home in Prescott offered to sell us his house on a discount but we have 30 days to sell our house if we accept that offer. That evening we met with Wendy and she showed us some other options such as renting or selling on a contract for deed and trying to be creative with this process. We really want to be living in our beautiful little dream home and there are many buyers out there who cannot get a traditional loan for various reasons. We did rule out renting but we are open to a contract for deed situation so Wendy will be putting that on our listing shortly. The ideal situation, though, is to have an outright buyer so we are praying for that to happen. Before we met with Wendy we had a showing and when we got home afterwards, most of the candy that I leave in a little dish was gone. We thought that was hilarious and we hoped whoever was there would buy our house because we had “sweetened the deal” !…

I wrote the previous paragraph Friday morning and little did I know the candy must have done the trick! The gentleman who looked at our house on Thursday decided to write-up an offer! Wendy’s initial call said that the buyer was choosing between our house and another and in the end he decided on ours. So on Friday, December 11th, he made an offer and we countered the offer. We are still waiting to hear back about whether he will accept but we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement. This is truly an answer to prayer and if all goes well we will be moved into our new home by the end of January. There are so many variables that have to fall into place still and we are working on them one by one. The next time I write about this I hope to be able to declare that our house is sold and that we have bought our new house!…

As of today, Monday, December 14th, there have been some amazing developments in this saga called “The Emotional Drama Of Selling Our House and Buying Our Dream Home” that I just don’t feel like going into yet. I won’t breathe easy, though, until we are living there fair and square. Then I will finish my time line.

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Last but not least, last weekend our church had resident photographers there to take family Christmas photos. We took them up on it even though Josh was in Colorado. So we had one piece of our family missing but it still turned out cute! Not great but cute.

A Birthday Surprise

Right now the Bears are playing the Vikings at the Metrodome and even though we live in Minnesota we are Chicago fans. Because of that, it has become a tradition for various members of my family including some who actually live in Illinois to attend the game every year. Well in advance, someone will purchase a block of tickets and then everyone decides who will be going to the game. This year six tickets were purchased and five people were committed. That left one extra ticket. My mom asked Chris if he wanted to go but Chris, remembering the horrendous experience at the game last year, declined but said that if they absolutely cannot find another person to go he would, reluctantly. Up until today she still had not found someone else to use the ticket so Chris was planning on going even though he really didn’t want to. Then my parents had a great idea. Since Josh’s birthday is on Saturday and he’s been eagerly volunteering to use the extra ticket, they decided to surprise him by taking him to the game for an early birthday present. My mom had already gotten him some Bears clothing for his birthday so after church we went over to their house for lunch and they surprised him with his new shirts and my mom told him she would take him to the game today.

Josh is “opening” his gift. My mom is already in her Bears gear.

After Josh opened his gift I told him that it was too bad that he had nowhere to wear his new Bears shirt.

Then he found out that he would be going to the game and that he could wear his new shirt there.

Gramps, Dan, Josh, my mom, and Bryan. (Matt is the sixth person.)

So all six of these people are at the game right now and Chris and I are watching the game on TV from the cozy comfort of our home. I am excited to hear what Josh thought of his first NFL game in person and I hope he has a really great time! What a great start to his birthday!

Meeting PW

Sometime around two months ago Pioneer Woman, PW, announced that her cookbook, Pioneer Woman Cooks, was finally done and was available for pre-order. I immediately went to Amazon and accidentally ordered it through the quick order option but I am not sorry I did. Shortly after, PW announced that she would be going on a book signing tour. I scrolled down the list of locations and smiled when I saw that she would be coming to the Mall of America. What seemed like a long wait quickly came last Saturday. Honestly, the closer the date came the little less sure I was that I wanted to go to the book signing. I finally decided on Saturday morning that I would go and just see how long the line was.  The signing started at 1pm so I decided to show up at 11am.  As I was nearing the mall I noticed two women in the car behind me and figured that they were going to the signing. When I arrived, there were several people in line, including the two women in the car behind me, but it was only about half way full. I got my wristband and decided that I would wait and read a little on my iPhone, chat with other bloggers, and text Chris. It didn’t take long for the rest of the line to fill up and wrap all the way around the original line that I was in and pile up down the hallway. There were tons of people! Channel 9 News was there as well as a TLC camera crew filming a documentary about mall cops. The place was nuts! Later when I watched the news I saw myself on the introductory segment. Fun!

The two hours before the signing surprisingly passed quickly and it was time for PW to show up. We were all excited and cheered when she stepped on stage. She was nervous and showed us how her hands were shaking. I like that about her! I think many of us felt a little stalkerish and silly being there but she really put our minds at ease because I think she felt a little silly being there too. I can imagine it is probably a very surreal moment. She mentioned that it was her first time in Minnesota and told me when I got to meet her that she was felt warmly welcomed.

Considering how long the line was it is fair to say that I was near the front of the line. Even so, I didn’t meet PW until 3:10. 3:10! I had to wait another two hours after she started signing. Finally it was my turn. I walked up on the stage and sat down next to her. I gave her my gift of Minnesota Wild Rice and told her that I was giving her a taste of Minnesota. I figured that since she was signing a cookbook and all, I would give her some food. She informed me that she had plans to make something with wild rice in the following week but that she didn’t have any wild rice yet. (I am secretly hoping that she will mention my gift when she posts the recipe that she used it in.) When she told me that she felt warmly welcomed to Minnesota I said, “Good. I’m glad. At least we’re not frozen right now!” She explained that she had many warnings and was happy that it was relatively warm. We had our picture taken and she signed my book. It was a lovely, short conversation with an incredibly sweet, humble woman.  I have made it sound to be a long, boring experience but it was fun and I was able to meet some great ladies during our wait.

This is the line I was in for a total of four hours. The beginning of the line is at the top of the picture. One of the ladies that was in line near me took this picture.

There I am! The woman in the rust colored shirt emailed me these pictures since they were taken with her camera. Her name is Heather. It was so fun to meet both those fine ladies!

Ree a.k.a Pioneer Woman signing books. I was so close I could taste it.

This picture is not so flattering of me at all but here is PW signing my book. I don’t know what we were talking about but we look happy.

We stopped our conversation to pose for a picture. This looks much better.

Again, not so flattering but I think this was when PW was telling me that she had been warned about the possibility of freezing weather.

Or maybe she was kindly telling me to get off her stage and I thought she was joking.

Either way, she told me to pick up a T-shirt on my way out. What a nice lady!

Pioneer Woman Cooks is a wonderful cookbook with lots of  beautiful pictures and great stories. I have a few recipes tagged that I want to try out first.

So that is my story of meeting Pioneer Woman in a nutshell. It was fun and I think I would do it again. In fact, she is writing another book about how she met and fell in love with Marlboro Man, who was there too with their littlest punks, and I plan to meet her then if she comes this way again.

Date Night

Last weekend Josh and I went on a date. First we went to dinner at Las Margarita’s, one of Josh’s favorite restaurants. I asked Josh what he wanted to talk about. At first he said he wasn’t sure but then he remembered something he wanted to tell me about. When Josh was going to Crestview there was a girl named Bailey who, inevitably, was in his class every year. Josh had a hard time with Bailey as he found her to be extremely irritating. Once when we saw her and her mom at the grocery store Josh literally hid behind me. He hid behind me. That’s how much he did not want to see her. When we were discussing transferring Josh to Hillside we asked what he thought about it. He said he was excited because he wouldn’t have to see Bailey anymore. We explained to him that there would always be a “Bailey” everywhere he went from childhood in school to adulthood at work. On Saturday night Josh said to me, “Do you remember how you told me that there would always be a ‘Bailey’ everywhere I go? Well, there is a ‘Bailey’ in my class and I have to sit right by her!” I just laughed and laughed as he told me just how annoyed he was with her. Of course, through my laughter, I reminded him about how important it is to be kind even when we are so annoyed with someone. We had fun together with good food and great conversation!

After dinner we went to see Seussical the Musical at East Ridge HS. Chris was directing the orchestra so he wasn’t able to watch it. It was a great show! It was evident that the kids were relaxed and really enjoyed themselves. There are a couple of strong singers and actors who have some great potential. One of the directors of the musical is a real live New York actor and a former choir student of Chris’s. The orchestra was fantastic! They played beautifully no doubt to Chris’s excellent teaching and directing. The days and months leading up to the musical was difficult for me since Chris put in some very long days but it was well worth it. I think he did a great job and I’m pretty sure he had a good time. Josh and I both enjoyed the show and laughing together.

I took a picture with my iPhone but it didn’t turn out so well. I even tried editing it with several different applications on my iPhone but this is the best I could get. The lighting was very bright where we were sitting before the show started.