Catch-up!

Wow, time sure did get away from me!  I don't think it is possible to cover all that we've been up to for the last five months - but I'll try to hit the highlights.  The kids finished first grade - Katie earned the math award and we were really proud because by the end of the year she was "getting it" when she was struggling a bit early on.  Tyler was a reading machine and got an award for most books read (and luckily they had to take a quiz on the books to get points to prove they were actually comprehending the stories). The end of the year was bittersweet since it was our last time at that school, but we have great memories from Kindergarten and First Grade!  One of the funniest is of Tyler's attempt to cut his own hair.

This was the before picture - and as you can tell I was not very happy with him when I made the discovery.  

 This was after and the shortest haircut he has ever gotten!  I drove him immediately to the barber!!!

We settled in to the new house and are still loving it!  We really like that the kids have lots of room to play, and we have great outdoor space to hang out and grill.  The kids have kind of migrated back into the same room at bedtime, but occasionally they will seek out their own space for a bit.  We are fine with letting them share, for now, and for them to have an opportunity to talk about their day at the end of the day since they are getting used to a new school, new friends, new routines, new everything!  

It was a busy summer, and fun-filled, at least for the kiddos with the exception of Katie's first big injury.  Tyler accidentally swatted her in the nose at a tennis lesson, but luckily they were able to use glue instead of stitches and we had our pediatrician do it rather than having to go the hospital.  You can barely see it in this pic - but it is at the bridge of her nose and will leave a scar.  She has lots of oh so cute freckles for it to blend into, though!

I actually had a surgery, too (hysterectomy - that now at 12 weeks out seems like the best decision ever) right as summer began.  My awesome mom came to help me recover and take care of the kids.  They went home with her, and then to visit my dad for a couple of weeks and had a great time in Florida.  When they came back I was more on the road to recovery and got to spend a few weeks as a Stay at Home Mom (never been able to do that before)!  We went to the pool, had picnics at the park, they got to take tennis and golf lessons in the middle of the day, and a lot of the time we just played at the house like in the summers that I remember from my childhood!

I wasn't able to get in the water until August, but I still had fun watching these two make friends and swim while I got to read and play Candy Crush :)!  

 They both did a mini golf camp and are excited to be learning to play!  

I let them play in the sprinkler behind our house not realizing that it is a very, very powerful stream of water.  It didn't last long - but we set up our own slip n slide that was pretty fun too!  

My sister and family came to visit In July and we discovered another perk of the new house - an awesome fireworks show put on by a neighbor that can be seen from our deck.  It rained on 4th of July, but the boys still shot a few fireworks of our own (the neighbors waited until the day after to do their show) and the cousins had a great time together, as usual!

The remainder of the summer was spent at camps.  The kids practiced a lot at the pool before camp started and were so proud to pass their swim test!  It was a BIG deal, because passing the swim test not only means that you don't have to wear a life jacket, but it also gives you access to the pool waterslides!  

   
There was no camp available the week school started, and it didn't start until Friday so we took a short beach vacation.  The water was rougher than I ever remember it being (when there aren't storms and bad weather), but we didn't have much rain and it was good to have some beach time and good food before the craziness of a new school year began!

School is now pretty much in full swing.  The kids like their new school (Tyler says he misses the old one, but this one is okay too), they are riding the bus for the first time ever and think that is awesome (I do too, since it picks up right in front of the house), and they seem to be settling in pretty well - making friends, and remembering the school routine!

First Day! You can tell that Katie was nervous, but she did fine and has proclaimed every day to be a 10 out of 10.  They both like that they can wear whatever they want this year!   

I like most things about the school - the aftercare program is much better, they have smaller classes and fewer students so everyone gets to know each other a bit more (their old school had 8 2nd grade classrooms and the new one has 4), they are taking things like typing class, and have computer lab time daily which I think is a good addition, and so far they haven't implemented some of the crazy things we experienced last year like intervention/enrichment that meant Tyler was sitting in his classroom doing nothing  for an hour every day, or giving obscene amounts of homework that has to be finished in addition to 30 minutes of reading daily.  It's still early, though, and I would not be surprised in the least if things change soon. I'm really hoping, though, that homework stays at the manageable level it is at now.  This week Katie learned to ride her bike without training wheels and Tyler and Lance played catch and basketball and putted on the green for hours, and both kids played outside every day when we got home.  None of that was possible last year because they had hours of homework to do on days that we didn't have activities. It helps that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week - a touch of Fall almost!  Unfortunately, the nice temperature and sunshine doesn't really change my opinion on what I hate about the new school - it is impossible to get to from my work!  It takes me an hour or more every day to get the kids in the afternoons!  We have had to miss tennis lessons, were 30 minutes late to the first soccer practice (that starts at 5:00 - which is a bad time anyway), and the kids have even been the last ones to be picked up - all because if I don't manage to leave work before 4:30 I am not able to get there until 5:30 or after!  Hopefully I will figure out a better way or get a new job ;)!

Soccer practices and games have started for Katie, and baseball games (already doing practices) will soon begin for Tyler.  He is in a new league (machine pitch - real rules) this year that is closer to our house and their new school and he is loving it!  He has already learned more than two years combined in only two practices, but is is much more intense!  Practice doesn't start until 7:00 in the evening and ends at 8:30 and then they have a second practice, also for an hour and a half, on Sunday evening.  He likes it, though, and the times actually work better than trying to get somewhere during rush hour - it just seems so late!  It probably seems late, however, because it is hard to believe that my "babies" are going to be 7 years old.... next week! We are having a birthday party at the house for them this year, and they get to choose where we eat on their actual birthday so the kids are super excited for birthday time to finally be here (they are also tired of being the only 6 year olds in their class), but first we have to get through a crazy busy weekend that I think may be an indication of what all of the weekends to come will look like!  Sports, and birthday parties, and sleepovers, and get-togethers that require babysitters - but it is so much fun, for all of us!  I will try to do a better job of posting from now on!

"Spring Break"

The kiddos are officially on Spring Break this week, but we had our grand adventure last week.  Our family and my sister's family all went to Disney and had a blast!  This was the best trip so far for us in terms of the kids age and height.  They were able to ride most everything (and loved the ones that can be quite scary - Tower of Terror, Mission Space, Expedition Everest and Tyler's favorite Space Mountain), and had no problem making it all day and then staying up until fireworks in the evening.  School was supposed to be out Wednesday - Friday and we were originally going to miss only two days, but snow changed those plans and we were out the whole week.  Oh well, it was worth it - we have so much fun at the parks, hanging with my sister and her husband, and the kids absolutely love time with their cousins!

The weather was awesome (especially considering that this weekend is supposed to be below freezing here at home again), and we spent lots of time at waterparks and in the pool at the rental house.

The parks were super crowded (worse than we have ever seen them) so we didn't get to do much other than fast pass stuff (and didn't make it on the new Mine Train because of the perpetual 90 minute wait) - but our days worked out pretty great - we did  all of our fast pass rides and short wait rides in between in the mornings, went home for a little in the afternoons (when we weren't at the waterparks) and then back to parks for fireworks and light shows and a stroll around the countries in Epcot in the evenings.  We had some good food, and we were exhausted (time change on top of different time zone, the nature of Disney, staying up way too late) - but I am so glad that we opted for a repeat visit this year!

Enjoyed seeing all the characters made out of flowers.  

 Saw the new Frozen show and loved it!

 Rode Mission Space, and Space Mountain multiple times!

 Enjoyed the waterparks, especially Tyler's favorite - the zip line!  

The worst part of the whole trip was the drive home, since we always get stuck in Atlanta for hours and this time was no different.  We made it though, and had lots of work to do the Sunday after we got back since our old house closed on Monday (woohoo)!  We finished moving out and cleaning right as the new owners were pulling up and now we just have to get our house re-organized with all of the new junk we brought over, and we will start to feel settled.  Soccer games and baseball practice are on the agenda for this weekend, and every weekend through June really.  Unfortunately, we found out that Tyler's soccer and baseball games conflict every weekend in April and May and he will likely choose baseball - but we will try to work it out so he can do both.  This is obviously the last year for that - he will have to pick his favorite next year.  Katie is begging to start tennis lessons again and they both want to learn to play golf.  I love all of the interest in sports - we just need more hours in the day!  Katie, fortunately, has not seemed to notice that we cancelled her gymnastics class - and is really looking forward to her first soccer game this weekend - so I think it will all work out!

All Moved In!

Well, moving day was last week and even though we don't have everything over from the new house (it doesn't close until the end of the month),  we are officially living in the new one.  My dad and uncle came up to help (huge thank you to both of them) and the moving seemed endless, but it was worth it.  The new house is wonderful - we are loving it already!  On Saturday we had a few people over for a little impromptu birthday party in lieu of the dinner we originally had planned (the kids were with So-So - big thank you for that, too), and then on Sunday we enjoyed decent weather for a change and played basketball, a little golf, and Katie drove her toy jeep around the driveway for hours.  It is fabulous to have the space for the kids to play outside without me having to be out there to guard the road.  The view is better snow-covered, but much more fun as grass!

We also used moving as an opportunity to get the kids into separate bedrooms.  Katie was a big help putting her new bed together and was proud to sleep in her own big girl room.  She wants her own space (and has for a while), but when it comes to bedtime she wants to have Tyler to talk to.  They have been talking across the hall a bit right before they go to sleep, but it isn't as bad as I expected - knock on wood!

Tyler has had a little trouble adjusting (he slept on the floor in Katie's room two nights ago), but they are getting better sleep and getting used to it!  He is happy to have all of his switch and go dinos in his room now, though, and he has become a little reader and likes that he can settle in and read a little bit in the evenings without Katie bothering him.  They are actually sleeping too well lately, but that is probably a result of the time change.  They have been difficult to wake up the last couple of days which doesn't help since we are further away from school than we were before (not much, though) and we don't exactly know where everything is kept yet (backpacks, snacks, shoes, etc.).  We will get used to it, probably on Friday when we leave for Spring Break and they won't have school again for two weeks and a day!  All of the snow and ice messed with the days they officially have off, but our plans could not be changed so we are heading out anyway!

We are about the get even busier (I did not think that was possible - the last month has been insane).  Soccer has started for both kids (actually missing their first games for Disney), and baseball practice has started for Tyler, plus my tennis season starts in a week (playing on Sundays only this year and hoping to get to play at least a few times even though Lance has to work and I will need to figure out something for the kiddos), and work ramps up as usual for both of us in the Spring.  This stuff is fun busy, though, and I am very glad to have the packing and moving, utilities, bills, address change, what did we forget busyness almost over with.  Fingers crossed that the old house closes as hoped at the end of the month so we aren't adding to the tasks having to put our house back on the market!

School's Out!

Well, we had quite the ice storm here this week and school has been out the entire time (and even cancelled Monday, too).  Since the weather was genuinely too bad to get to work most of that time (I went Friday, and probably could have Thursday, but I am a wimp and freaked out when I slipped in the neighborhood) - we actually had real snow days.  Usually, schools are closed but work is still on and there isn't as much play time.  This time we got to go sledding three different days, played lots of games, watched some movies, ate crockpot meals (and thankfully had power), and got to sleep in a little bit.  Tyler is dreading going back to school and thanked us for hanging out with him all week - he thinks it was a week designed just for his fun! 

Sledding the first day was pretty good, the second day was way too icy, and the third and fourth days were perfect.  We broke out the radio flyers the 3rd and 4th days after way too close of a call with Katie on ice day.  She had bailed out like she was supposed to a few other times down the hill, and decided that it hurt and then refused to fall to stop when she went down another time straight toward a creek filled with debris.  She literally went through the only area of the creek that was clear, caught air, and finally slowed down on the other side. 

This is her, "I conquered the creek" pose!  

Tyler was a little daredevil, but after a couple of ice scrapes he was also thrilled to discover that you could steer the radio flyers!

They both loved it, but like all of us - didn't relish toting the sled back up the hill after a couple of times down! 

Our basketball games were cancelled this weekend, and we only have one weekend to go.  Good thing, though, because I am feeling pretty overwhelmed.  We close on the house and move a week from tomorrow (eek).  The buyers are supposed to close at the end of March and that means lots to do in the meantime (inspections, appraisals, getting everything out). Not to mention Spring Break (Disney!) is right around the corner, soccer starts early March and baseball in late March, plus I keep thinking about new things I need to do once we move (school, address, billing stuff).  So much that I am not really sad to see basketball season end since I am glad to have one less responsibility.  It has been a fun season (better than expected) with my girls, and a learning experience (mostly about how intense coaches can be even when kids are only 6) for Tyler's team - but Katie scored six points in the last game and Tyler seems to be having fun, so all in all a good experience! 

Contract!

Well, we have a contract on our house!  It isn't the best situation to be in since the buyers have a house to sell, but they offered full-price so if it works out it will be worth it.  We were at the point where we were going to have to buy the other one first anyway, or lose it, so if the buyer's end up not being able to close we will put the house back on (repainted and after we move out) in the Spring and hopefully have a bigger buyer pool.  Of course we had an agent call the day after we got the house under contract and said her buyers wanted to make an offer and that they could close quick and had nothing to sell.  We had been in communication with her before, though, and she knew an offer was imminent and wasn't willing to move quicker so I think it was more of a case of "want what you can't have."  Fingers crossed that the buyers house sells and we get to enjoy this view at our new house (with our house sold) sooner than later!

The kids are excited about the new place, they love the basketball goal and the play areas, but they are sad at the prospect of changing schools.  We will definitely leave them at their current school for the remainder of the school year, but not sure what we are going to do next year.  On one hand I love their current school and they do too, and we know the teachers and administration and rules and school culture, and it really is a good school.  On the other hand, the new school will be the kids that they also go to middle school with and who live nearby, it is supposed to be a great school too,  and junior high starts in 6th grade in the new district and 5th in the current so they will have to go to that elementary eventually at some point and I think that it might be easier on the kids to not be the 5th grade new kids.  We will likely switch them for next year, and hope that they meet some other kids their age at the pool this year that can help them adjust. 

Basketball season has been an experience so far.  It is very hard to coach your own child, I think, but I definitely have a great group of parents and kids (which helps, tremendously) and we are having fun and actually winning some games!  Tyler's team is a different story.  They are being outplayed every game, and his coach is trying desperately to win and thus doesn't give the boys equal playing time.  I think it is important, at this age, to encourage all players to learn the game and fundamentals and to have fun.  You have no clue, I don't think, at this age who has talent and who is going to be a "good" basketball player.  Unfortunately, Tyler's coach doesn't see it that way and he has identified his good players and his bad and makes it obvious at game time.  We will stick with this team this season since Tyler doesn't seem to notice or care, but we will definitely request NOT to have this same coach next year.  I think early coaches and early teachers are similar.  Your first teachers inspire you to love school, to be confident in your academic abilities, and really shape what kind of student you will be.  Similarly, first coaches teach you why and how to love the game, try to identify strengths and work on weaknesses, and encourage lifelong talents and interests.  I wish Tyler's coach would recognize the influence that he has, and I try to remember that when I am working with my team.  Don't get me wrong, I am NEVER coaching again, but all in all it hasn't been as bad as expected! 
A pic of my two basketball players.  I can't take them of Katie when I am coaching, and keep forgetting my phone when with Tyler - so this is actually pre-game (8:00 game for Tyler this morning - way too early on a Saturday)!

8....0

Well, our house has now been on the market for 8 days and we have had 8 showings - 0 offers  :(.  We have limited time to sell due to the seller of the house we have under contract requiring that we close on that house by March 2nd or lose the contract.  Looking like we are not going to move after all.  It makes me sad, because I really like that house and it does seem perfect for what we want and how we want to raise the kiddos, but I truly do like our house and neighborhood and school (even if it seems that we are the only ones) so I have to keep telling myself that everything will work out as it should.  The feedback on the house has been brutal.  Yesterday, when I came home, the towel on the oven had been trapped in the door making it obvious that someone had opened the oven.  I didn't think anything of it until Lance talked to the agent later and was told that he thought it looked like we didn't really want to sell the house.  When Lance asked for specifics the agent said things like - the inside of the oven is dirty, there is a garden hose under the deck, and there were men's clothes in the closet of the room that looked like it was for a little girl.  REALLY, really?!?  Some of the other feedback we have taken to heart and some there is nothing we can do about it - lookers/potential buyers have said the floorplan is too open AND others said not open enough, one wanted a master bedroom downstairs and another wanted a bigger yard, one said that it was too "Pottery Barn," and another said we should remove personal pictures (we did that one).  The most common feedback has been buyers desire to be in a bigger neighborhood with more amenities (we love our neighborhood and there really are lots of kids, the school park in walking distance, and is really convenient without feeling like you are in a big neighborhood - but we don't have a pool and park and walking trails like the others on the market).  The fact is that besides the things we cannot change, I find it hard to believe that even if the oven had been clean, or if all trace of children living in the home had been removed - that would have made this the house for any of these buyers.  We know that if we were able to move out and "stage" the house it would sell better, but that isn't really an option.  We could definitely paint to freshen things up a bit - but guaranteed that the first feedback after painting would be negative about the paint colors or fumes - ha!  Fingers crossed that someone comes along soon that understands that a family does live here, can overlook the toys arranged on the shelves or stashed in closets, wants to be in our neighborhood and likes the house, and knows that this isn't HGTV!

Basketball season has started for both kids!  I will try to get pictures this weekend.  We are having fun, but we definitely aren't the best two teams.  I have seen improvement just in the last two games, though, with my girls and I think it will be a great season!

So Much Fun!

We had an awesome holiday spending time together on a farm for our Christmas celebration with my mom's side of the family.  We played "Dirty Santa," sat by the outdoor fire, and went to an amazing lights show at Callaway Gardens (ALL of us)!  Leaving time came too soon, but we did manage to get a family picture and we even got one of our little family (which is really hard to get these days). 

Before Christmas we found time to make gingerbread houses with So So and the Nashville cousin! 

Christmas day was wonderful.  Present opening time was really fun this year since the kids could read the boxes to know what was in it and really be excited that Santa "remembered."  They loved their gifts, but also really enjoyed the days off of school (and us working) to play with toys new and old (Lance's grandfather made blocks for his children and eventually Lance and his brothers to play with and they were passed down to the kids this year and they played with them nonstop)!  We had a blast at So So's on Christmas Eve and with more of Lance's family on Christmas Day.  Despite suffering a real loss this year and really missing Ray Ray, this holiday was certainly one to be remembered - so fun and not even done!  This week we go to Gatlinburg (and our first visit to Dollywood) to spend some time with my Dad and family.  Should be even more fun times! 

Our other big, exciting happening in December was Tyler's loose tooth finally falling out.  Since then he has lost another and has yet another loose one, but that top one held on for a while and it was pretty big news when he could finally wait for a visit from the Tooth Fairy! 

We are waiting for them to finally go to sleep (yes, it IS almost 11:00 - hopefully we can get back on a schedule once school starts - even though we do make them go to bed at a reasonable hour, unfortunately can't make them go to sleep) so we can make sure the Tooth Fairy visits again tonight.

We decided against letting Katie join the gymnastics "pre-team" she was invited to - just too much commitment at this point.  Basketball starts soon and soccer will follow right behind that and we will see if she has any interest in anything other than gymnastics before we let it take up so much of our time and attention.  Competitive gymnastics can be very expensive and time consuming and we aren't opposed to it eventually if it is what she loves, but for now we think she should be exposed to other things in case she likes them more.  They both really loved the basketball camps they did over break and we would love to have a basketball goal at our house for them to play on - which was just one teeny, tiny reason we also made an offer on a house today - eek!    We were really nervous earlier in the day just after the offer was submitted but since we haven't heard back at all (it is for sale by owner before going on the market) we are thinking it isn't good news.  He had multiple people interested in the house and even though it is a great house for us and the first one to prompt us to make an offer since buying this one 7 years ago, we know that if it doesn't work out we are fine right where we are, too!  We really do like our house and neighborhood, but there were so many pluses in favor of this one for what we want and where we would like to be when the kids get older, that we had to give it a go.  If it doesn't work out I will probably be very glad that we don't have to keep the house in shape to show with two royal mess-makers, not to mention the hassle of packing and moving, and new school districts, etc., etc....