Reflections from 2009 and Wishes for a New Year

(Pardon the brief "language" in the following sentence)

This morning a friend of mine mentioned that part of him would like to tell 2009 to go to hell, but that he grew too much as a person for it to be all bad. I echo that sentiment exactly.

2009 was a huge rollercoaster and I can't say that I'm entirely sad to see it go. But I am reminded of the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and it is definitely true for us. I almost went into a detailed story about our year's tribulations, but instead decided to focus on each of individually and have some fun with it. Enjoy.


Nathan turned one at the very beginning of the year and it was a little hard for mommy. He is definitely no longer a baby, though we have yet to cease referring to him as "baby". He can carry on a conversation quite easily and we enjoy seeing what his new word or sentence he's going to learn each day. He is potty training, although it's not going quickly since he still has timing issues. We know he'll be faster than his brother though! Nathan is looking forward to entering preschool in the fall of 2010. He has already learned his ABCs and can count to 20. He also looks forward to learning to ride his new tricycle....as soon as his feet can touch the pedals.

Aiden began his 2nd year of preschool with a brand new teacher this fall, turning four years old soon after. He loves every bit of it! His communication (which concerned his former teacher) has improved drastically and he's growing into an adventurous little kid more and more every single day. He learned how to ride a bicycle over the summer and has become quite a train expert. He enjoys creating works of art (on both canvases and walls) and often hums classical music while doing so (I'm not kidding). In 2010, he will start his 3rd year of preschool, but will be in the same mixed age class that he's in this year. He also plans on attending some summer day camps that his school offers. Both boys look forward to having a backyard to play in and a bedroom that is not used for storage, hopefully early in the year.

John turned a grand ol' 27 this year. He is finishing his degree and looks forward to being done with OIT....so he can start his MBA. This is still being discussed with his wife. After losing his job in early 2009, he spent some quality daddy time with the boys over five months and was re-hired by his employer in August. He was accepted into an engineering internship program at U of O during the period of unemployment, but was rehired the same week, so he declined. He enjoys spending snuggle time with the family cats that he allowed his wife to talk him into in early January. In 2010, he looks forward to being a homeowner so that he can do as many "upgrades" as he pleases.

Carrie began the first real job that she'd had since being pregnant with Aiden (the paper route was not a real job - more like torture with a small paycheck) in January. After six weary months, she moved on to a better job and is still very much enjoying it. She discovered painting and crafts as a means to relieve stress and in early December, put together a Christmas bazaar for the church. She suffered a two week long asthma scare in October, which turned into what is believed to have been swine flu. October also brought the thrill of her life when she was able to see Mikhail Baryshnikov perform here in Portland. She sat in the 2nd row and cried from sheer joy. She turned 26 in November and thinks she's a little young to be on the verge of knee surgery, but when she trips over one of the cats and severely injures the same knee for the 10th time, can she really expect anything less? In 2010, she also looks forward to finally becoming a homeowner. John plans for her to head back to school as soon as he is done. She also plans on coordinating another bazaar for the church - with more help.

As we come to an end of 2009, we are still struggling with some things, but we have great hope that 2010 will bring us closure with these struggles. I don't know about John, but I am a very different person that I was this time last year. I honestly can't say that it's all good, but the journey to self improvement is staring me in the face. I just need to be willing to take it. It was an odd mix of personal damage and maturity that happened at the same time over the course of the year. Maybe that makes no sense to anyone but me. But hey, it's really all between me and God anyway.

No matter what 2009 brought you, we want to wish you all the best for 2010 and we hope that your Christmas season was filled with joy.

Happy New Year from the Minthornes!

My Child is Incredibly Strange

This isn't Christmas related and we do have pictures and stories to post, but I have some items from today that we need to remember.

Aiden is an interesting child and comes up with many odd things to say. Sometimes these things give us laughter, sometimes we worry about what on earth he's thinking. Today was no exception.

At dinner: "I want to eat a cat. But when you get the white hairs in your mouth, then I think it would be disgusting."

At bedtime as John began to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: "NO!! THAT SONG IS A LIE! ALL THE SONGS ARE LIES!!"

I've now decided the a four year old's mind is a scary place.

Merry Christmas!

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you;

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Christmas Prep

This will mainly be a jumble of things, but I had to write something out or else I wasn't going to be able to focus on anything that needs to be done today.

I spoke to the real estate agent yesterday. Not much is happening yet and he said to not really expect anything until the first week of January. I figured with the holidays, we wouldn't hear anything, so it was basically just a confirmation of what I was thinking. During our conversation, I came to the conclusion that he's more frustrated than we are. I'm just happy we have someone who is willing to put up with all of this for us. We've been more than pleased with the service they've provided. He's even stopping by this evening because he "has a little something" for us. He's been giving us gift cards to various places since August, so it will be interesting to see what he's bringing us that couldn't fit in the Christmas card he sent. John thinks it will be a fruit basket.

Now, I've had a bit of disappointment with not being in a house for Christmas this year and it's been affecting my Christmas spirit. I can see that the boys are very excited and I am looking forward to watching them open their presents, but I haven't found that overwhelming Christmas mood that has brought me so much joy in the past. In order to remedy this, I made the decision that we will load the boys up in the car after dinner this evening to go to Winter Wonderland at Portland International Raceway. We haven't gone on any Christmas light viewing adventures yet this year and I've always wanted to go to this event, so it seemed like a good time. Hopefully I can get some pictures, but we will be in a moving car and it's cold outside, so I doubt I'll have the windows down!

In good news, I can say that I have happily been finished Christmas shopping for over a week now. I still had to get diapers at Target two days ago and that wasn't the most fun experience, but I survived. :^) The presents aren't wrapped, but I have kept my Christmas tradition from high school in regards to wrapping: On Christmas Eve, I gather all the presents and wrapping items in the living room and I watch A Christmas Story as I wrap everything. It's definitely something I look forward to every year. It also keeps wrapped presents out from under the tree until after the kids are in bed the night before, so there's no temptation for them.
But before all the wrapping happens, I have to get this place clean, so that's what I will be doing today and part of tomorrow. I get a Christmas present tomorrow afternoon....a little trip to the salon while John watches the boys. Nothing beats a fresh hair cut for Christmas!

A Prayer by Nathan

Aiden requested to do the prayer for their lunchtime today and he prayed for the food and daddy to be safe at work, and even thanked God for Christmas. Then it was Nathan's turn...

Nathan - hands not really folded but more pressed directly up against his mouth: "God, where is Jesus? Amen."

They both did pretty well at ignoring the stifled laughter coming from behind mommy's hands.

House Update # One Million

I know it only feels like the millionth update, but it has been three months of waiting on just this one house.

After a full month of no word (our agent has been contacting us a few times a week to tell us that they haven't heard anything), we finally got a small update last night.

Apparently, the bank did some sort of computer update to help organize the massive amounts of short sales and foreclosures that they are dealing with. During this update, "our" house got lost. To be more specific, it was listed as being assigned to someone who it wasn't actually assigned to, so no one was working on it.
The bank has finally realized the mistake and is working on assigning it to the correct person and getting it fixed in their computer system. They say that this will take two business days. Since they supposedly only need one more signature, or so we were told six weeks ago, we're hoping it won't take too much longer once someone is actually working on it.

The listing agent praised our patience and hopes that we will hold out for the final decision. She also mentioned that through the real estate decline, this particular bank is getting much, much worse on how they are handling short sales. Not really what we want to hear, but we are still keeping the hope up that we are close to the end of this. We've waited three months, we can wait a little longer.

Some days I feel like I can't wait too much longer, but that's mostly due to the apartment. Yesterday, Aiden was being quite noisy and I told him that he needed to calm down because that was too much noise for the lady who lives downstairs. Aiden's response was, "Well, then we just need to move". While I'm in strong agreement with that statement, it's hard to explain to a four year old why I can't just fix the situation with a snap of my fingers. As much as I want to get out of here, I do have to admit that I was a little relieved that we weren't going to have to move right before Christmas.

Well, that all. Our agent is more than a little annoyed with the bank, but knowing something more makes me feel a little bit better. John and I think it seems promising that work will actually get done on the file now. And as always, you'll be updated when we are.

How Old is Jesus?

Aiden has been enjoying his Sunday School class with grandma very much and this has prompted many discussions about Jesus between Aiden and I. Today's was a little interesting...

Aiden began the discussion by making sure that I knew what Christmas was about.

Aiden: Mommy, Christmas means that it's Jesus' birthday.
Me: Yes, I know.
Aiden: But he can't open his presents yet because it's not Christmas.
Me: Oh, ok. So if it's Jesus' birthday, I wonder how old he is....
Aiden: He's 25.

I took this opportunity to point out to Aiden that mommy is 26....so did that mean that mommy is older than Jesus? Well, Aiden decided that didn't sound right (thank goodness. I know I feel old sometimes, but that's pushing it!). Then he made the decision that Jesus is actually 30.

We left it there, although I'm sure as Christmas continues to creep upon us, these talks will get more and more frequent and I'll have to remember to write them all down. They are quite entertaining!

To Preschool or Not to Preschool?

Our little Nathan is growing up faster than I care to notice. Everyone we encounter who asks how old he is always looks surprised that he's not yet two. He can carry on a conversation for goodness sake! Sometimes it just seems silly.

A few days ago, he'd been fairly clumsy throughout the day and had gotten hurt multiple times. During dinner, John asked him if he'd had a hard day and Nathan frowned, replying, "Yes, a hard day". I laughed so hard! It sounded so funny coming from an almost 23-month old (4 more days). And this morning, he tripped and yelled out to me, "I broke my foot, mommy!!". More laughter from mommy... I don't usually laugh at my children's injuries or difficulties, but he makes things awfully hilarious.

Because he's acting older than he is, he's also been attempting to take part in Aiden's class whenever we're there after class has started or before it's over. The teacher doesn't mind and will invite him over to join them in circle time. It's pretty cute because I think he has a crush on her. He talks about Teacher Ally all the time, but acts super shy whenever she talks to him.
Ally and some of the other moms have voiced their opinions that he's very ready for preschool. I do have to agree, but for some reason it's harder to imagine sending him off to school than it was to send Aiden. Aiden has always been more independent than Nathan, so maybe I'm just going off the feeling that Nathan can't be without me like Aiden could.

He is definitely going to be signed up for the next school year. But last time I checked, there was one more opening in the little kids class that Aiden was in last year. As soon as he is 2 (mid-January), he can be signed up for the class. John thinks we should do it whereas I keep going back and forth. Obviously, if they've filled the remaining spot, our question has been answered for us. I'm not going to worry about it until Christmas break is over and school resumes on January 6th. At that point, if the spot hasn't been filled, I'll talk to the director and we'll do a test day (where Nathan and I get to go in and take part in the class for a while). If all goes well, we'll probably see about signing him up. He does get a discount because he's a sibling of a student already enrolled, so that's nice. But I sort of expect the spot to be filled, as January seems to bring some new students around and they are having an open house this coming Sunday. And if that's the case, we will be fine with waiting for the next school year. Nathan certainly isn't screaming that he's ready as much as Aiden was, so it wouldn't be a huge crisis or disappointment for us.

For now, I'll just enjoy the remainder of "baby time" that I have with him. At some point, I'll probably have to retire his nickname of "baby", but what's the rush?

Refried Beans

It's probably a little strange to do a post on refried beans, but there's some pride in this, so bear with me!

I had planned on doing tacos for dinner last night and John had mentioned that he'd really like some refried beans to go along with the taco meat. Well, we didn't have any and I didn't feel like going back outside to go to the store (it was in the 20s all day yesterday!), so I dug the can of pinto beans I'd bought for some unknown reason out of the pantry and decided to make my own refried beans. Yes, I did cheat a little by using canned, but I didn't have time to use dry beans. Once I can plan further ahead, I'll definitely make a big batch using dry beans.

I didn't know how to go about this, so I just made things up as I went along. To my surprise, my creation ended up looking and tasting like refried beans! So here's my "recipe" - I made sure to write it down for at least my own sake.

This is for about one can's worth of beans since that's what I did last night - you'll need to adjust it if you're using a 1 lb bag (3-4 can's worth, assuming 15 oz cans).

Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in frying pan over medium heat.
Once heated, add 1/8 cup finely diced onion and cook until tender.
If wanted, chop up 1 tablespoon of jalapeno and add along with onion.
Add a dash of chili powder and a dash of oregano.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder.
Add 1 can of pinto beans with liquid and mash to desired level (I left some whole beans in ours).
Stir over medium heat until desired refried bean consistency is reached.
If using canned beans, add no salt. If using dry beans, salt to taste.
Also, I had to let mine sit on the stove on very low heat to keep it warm until everything else was done and it didn't dry it out, so it possible to keep it warm that way without ruining it.

Church Bazaar

I can now proudly say that I have successfully coordinated an entire church bazaar! After three months of planning and organization, Tigard Community Friends Church held it's 1st Annual Holiday Bazaar yesterday (Saturday). It was about as busy as to be expected for a first year bazaar in an interesting economic climate, but I know that things were sold and I got some positive feedback from some of the vendors.

The majority of the vendors were found on craigslist, but we did have some church people there with their own booths. We had a good mix of company reps (Avon, Pampered Chef, etc) and handcrafted items.

We did quite a bit of advertising, although we have a few more ideas for next year. We had some great rushes of people from time to time and most of the traffic was from people outside of our church family, which is fantastic!
I was speaking with one of the pastors and we discussed how there was a great feeling of community throughout the day. The vendors didn't know each other when the day started, but they all quickly introduced themselves to one another and people chatted continuously. Everyone was social and any customers who came through were happily greeted by smiling faces.

The hardest part of the whole thing was the physical labor required the night before and the day of. John and I spent most of Friday evening moving tables and chairs and marking off booth spaces. We didn't get home with the kids until midnight! Poor kiddos did a great job, but Nathan didn't sleep well that night. I couldn't my brain to quit working, so I didn't fall asleep until 1:30am. I then had to get up at 6am to get to the church before everyone else and get some extra work done that I hadn't had a chance to do the night before. Needless to say, I was running off of barely any steam all day Saturday, but the excitement and momentum of all the vendors kept me going (plus, I was treated to plenty of caffeine from my church family).

I do have to mention that Laura and Kevin had a booth and it was quite popular! Laura made these ADORABLE little Christmas ornaments (snowmen and penguins) and Kevin sold cards featuring his photography. Laura even got special orders for made-to-order snowmen! I'll have to take some pictures of the ones I bought and share them with you.

At the end of the day, we moved everything back to normal once everyone was gone and we left with many new ideas for next year. While it wasn't constantly busy, I felt like it was a success in bringing about community and fellowship and I'm excited to have finally found my place in the church. I knew I was meant to do something for the church for many years, but it wasn't until late September that this idea occurred to me.

It was completely exhausting, both mentally and physically and John was very understanding that I was too tired to think clearly by the time we got home yesterday. He made a celebration steak dinner while I collapsed on the couch for a while. I slept hard last night and woke up with everything hurting this morning, but it was worth it. Maybe next year I can get some more sleep the night before. Not to mention that I was strongly scolded by one of our ladies from Kenya for not asking for more help. Another note to make for next year, I suppose. :^)

Oh, Christmas Tree (and Happy Birthday to Me!)

On Sunday we made plans to go out to lunch for my birthday and then pick out a Christmas Tree. We ended up catching up on sleep instead of going to church, so our morning was fairly relaxing. When lunchtime came around, I wanted a place where I could order breakfast at any hour, so we headed to an IHOP. We all had breakfast for lunch and it was very good. John avoided telling any servers that it was my birthday (I really didn't want to be sung to in an IHOP), but at one point I was afraid that Aiden was going to let it slip - especially when the manager started walking around the restaurant asking if it was anyone's birthday! John joked that he could smell my fear of IHOP birthday singing.

After lunch, we went to our favorite U-Cut place (our third year!) to find our tree. It's $20 for any size tree, but we always get a little tree. Once we finally have a house, we'll get a big 6-7 footer and it will be a great deal. We found the perfect little tree (after I noticed the perfect big tree that would have come home with us if home were a house) and John cut it down. The guy who owns the place joked that if we were going to go for that size, he'd let us have two trees for $20.

After the tree cutting, we stopped at Target for some cake mix and Aiden picked out a birthday present for me (my presents that John had ordered were delayed, so I had nothing from them to open). He chose a bottle of bright pink/plum nailpolish, which I am happily wearing (as are they...on their toes!). When we had cake that evening, Aiden announced that we should "eat our cake and have it too". We laughed and wondered where in the world he'd picked that up. The boys had great fun singing Happy Birthday to me and helping me blow out the candles. I think the whole day was a bigger deal for them than it was for me. And I can't forget the mention how I woke up on my birthday....with two excited little boys bursting into our room and shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!" as they hopped on the bed to wake us up. It was the best way to wake up and that little moment holds a special place in my heart.

Here's some pictures from our tree hunting. Enjoy!

Looking for the perfect one...
Birthday me hugging the perfect big tree. I joked that right as John snapped the picture, a spider would land on my head and we'd have quite the birthday photo.

My boys with our perfect little tree.

Running after daddy and the tree....

Merry Christmas!

An Eventful Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful as always. We began the day watching Macy's Thanksgiving Parade while I baked apple cranberry bread and my new addition of pumpkin bread (which turned out very yummy!). We got a little bit of a late start to get over to John's grandparents' house, but we were just in time for dinner. We did what we always do - stuff ourselves continuously throughout the day while playing games and watching TV. We didn't get home until midnight!

Black Friday was spent in our pajamas. I browsed and shopped online to get a few good deals, but no serious shopping was done. I finally had to get dressed since I was working the closing shift at Coldwater Creek. I was a little nervous about traffic and parking, so I left a little early, but was there and parked in 20 minutes. I had another 20 minutes to kill before I needed to be at work, so I wandered around Bridgeport. I did end up finding a random present for John at Borders, so I guess it was worth it. Once I got to work, we all discovered that we were completely overstaffed (it wasn't abnormally busy for a Friday). So we cleaned up and two people were sent home early. We were scheduled until 11, but were completely done with cleanup by 9:45. Just as well, since I was still tired from over-eating the day before.

Today (Saturday) was meant to be fairly relaxing too, although we knew the boys needed to get out of the house for a while. But in the morning, Nathan had crawled into bed with me and was snuggling when he suddenly threw his head back and hit me full force in the face. My nose, top lip, and right cheek all swelled and I ended up with a nice little headache. Most of the swelling went down by 1pm, but I have felt disoriented all day. I'm actually in more pain now than I was this morning, but John says not to worry because it's probably just a hairline fracture.... Something definitely feels off, but I'm hoping it's just severe bruising.

Since the boys kept fighting, we decided to head to the zoo around 3pm. We had forgotten that the zoo lights were up, but since it's only later in the evening, it didn't matter too much at the time. It was quite cold, but not raining, so we really had a good afternoon. We hadn't yet seen the new Predators of the Serengeti and I have to say that we were all very impressed. The animals were out and about and very easy to see, although that portion of the zoo was fairly crowded. The lions and cheetahs were so beautiful. A cheetah even came right up to the window while Aiden was up there! Sadly, I didn't take our camera, although I did grab some shots with my phone. We also spent some time in the Africa exhibit, which was interesting (the boys got to play some traditional African instruments). Aiden was looking at a map of Africa and saw a picture off to the side of the map, showing a Sphinx. Aiden proudly announced, "Look! That's the Great Stinks!". He's apparently learned about the Great Sphinx at some point, but ended up a little confused on the name. We laughed.
Towards the end of our little trip, it was getting dark and the zoolights were being turned on. We considered staying, but we had all gotten quite hungry and Nathan had skipped his nap, so we decided to return for zoolights another day and go get McDonalds instead. The zoolights certainly put us in a Christmas mood though!

Tomorrow is my 26th birthday and we plan to go out to lunch as a family (I usually choose somewhere that served breakfast all day, so I can get french toast) and then head to our favorite U-Cut place to get our Christmas Tree. It has become a fun tradition for me to choose to celebrate my birthday on the Sunday after my birthday with my family while we decorate for Christmas. My birthday just happens to fall on a Sunday this year.

We've thoroughly enjoyed this 4 day weekend and especially so since I just had one small shift at work. Aiden doesn't go back to school until Wednesday, so we have a few more days of break for him, but it will be back to work for both John and I on Monday. And we will be hoping for some sort of word on the house next week - you'll certainly know as soon as we do!

Giving Thanks

Since I will probably be a little busy tomorrow, I thought I'd do a Thanksgiving post today.

This year has been rough (to put it lightly). Between strange illnesses, unemployment (and unlikeable retail employment), disasters with early intervention, and everything involved with house hunting, there have been some very emotional times that I would prefer to put behind me. But there are so many things that I have to be thankful for and I'd like to share some of them with you.

Two beautiful, healthy, smart little boys who challenge me and light up my life daily.

Two loving cats that have been wonderful additions to our and family and we wouldn't trade them for anything. Did you know that it's hard to get cats to cooperate for pictures? :^)

No picture for this (yet), but I am thankful for the opportunity to purchase a home. As we still patiently wait, I know that we will get there. And I know that I will be VERY thankful once we actually move into a new house!

I am thankful for employment for both of us. It is a wonderful thing that John's employer thinks of him as an asset to the company and wants to keep him around. I am thankful to my manager from Payless, who thought enough of me to take me with her when she moved along to a better company. For being retail, I really do like my job and everyone I work with.

And with all that being said, we Minthornes would like to wish all of you.....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
(Yes, he actually is shouting "Happy Thanksgiving" as I take the picture)

My Budding Artist

This school year has brought quite a few big developments for Aiden. He has learned to write his name quite well (even with the extra dash in his 'E'), his communication skills have blossomed even further (giving the school director reason to believe that there is no need to follow the recommendations of this summer's early intervention disaster - thank goodness), and his drawing has turned into very clear actual pictures. His teacher has repeatedly remarked that he excels at art projects, which must be his own thing as John and I are not particularly good at art (sometimes I get lucky with a project, but I'm no natural painter or anything).

One thing they did around Halloween was read the story of three little pumpkins sitting on a gate. After reading the story, they made pictures. This is Aiden's gate, with three little pumpkins (plus one!) sitting on it. He drew it all himself and it really made me smile. The scary pumpkin teeth give it lots of character. :^)

Adventures with Pumpkins

My first adventure/experience with a Cinderella pumpkin needed to be told in pictures. I've never used a pumpkin for anything more than a jack-o-lantern (although this year was the first time I'd personally ever carved one - I usually just draw a face or John does the carving), so I decided to document my afternoon with the Cinderella pumpkin. It may just look like a big ugly pumpkin at first, but as I cut into it, I grew to love this variety of pumpkin. The color is fabulous, the pumpkin "meat" is juicy, and it will provide us with plenty of new and interesting dishes.
I bought the Cinderella pumpkin for $5 when we went to Baggenstos early in October, purely because I wanted to try my hand at making a homemade pumpkin pie. Little did I know how much I'd actually get out of one pumpkin. So what began as a "why not?" sort of thing quickly turned into the beginning of a fall tradition. And here's your introduction to the fabulous Cinderella pumpkin adventure:

This is how it began. Short, squat, and not all that pretty. There was a certain cuteness to it though.
I began by cutting it (using all the arm strength I could manage - these things are tough!) into four sections.

I highly recommend enlarging this photo (just click on it). The beads of "juice" coming off this pumpkin were just beautiful on top of the gorgeous pumpkin color. And look at how thick the pumpkin "meat" is!

Sorry this turned out a little dark. I cut it into a few more sections to allow me to scrape out the seeds. As you can see by the bowl, there were a lot!

After I scraped out the seeds, I placed the pumpkin sections on cookie sheets and they went into a 350 degree oven for probably about an hour.

After they cooked and cooled for a few minutes, I scraped all the pumpkin I could off and put it straight into the blender. I pureed the pumpkin until there were no lumps and it was totally smooth. Honestly, it really does look like a smoothie, but I don't know how great a pumpkin smoothie would be. There's probably a recipe out there somewhere!

The small stack of skins left after being scraped clean.

After all the pureeing, we ended up with a grand total of 17 cups of pumpkin puree! Just from one pumpkin! I separated them into 2 cup sections to use for individual recipes and placed them in the freezer. I realized that this is probably the sort of thing that is better if you have an additional storage fridge in your garage, as our freezer is being overrun with pumpkin puree.

To use, I just defrost the puree in the same bag overnight in the fridge.

My first creation with pumpkin puree: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

I used a recipe that called for 1 can, so it was just 2 cups/one bag of puree. It made 30 muffins! The batter was dense and the apartment was filled with a fantastic pumpkin smell as they baked. They were a huge hit with the boys and I'm looking forward to making pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving.

This was a great experience and I'm actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it. To get 17 cups out of a $5 pumpkin was amazing and a huge savings over buying canned pumpkin. You'd get about 4 cups from $5 worth of canned. For anyone who is interested, here is the recipe for the muffins: http://southernfood.about.com/od/muffinrecipes/r/r90122d.htm

Like I said, it does call for 1 can of pumpkin, but I used 2 cups of puree.

We may just have to grow our own pumpkins once we finally have some yard space!

This is Barely Worth the Update

We've been sitting, ever so patiently, to hear something about the house. The past few weeks we've been constantly told, "Just one more week" or "A few more days" and it's getting a little old. Our agent spent most of the day yesterday calling the bank every two hours to get them to tell him something (or at least bug them into getting that last signature). Finally, today, he got a small response.

The bank assigned a new negotiator to the house, so it's the paperwork has been being juggled a bit. The new negotiator has PROMISED to get back to the listing agent within 48 hours (and of course, that's business hours - pushing it into next week).

Our agent says that knowing whose hands it's in is a good thing. I'm just hoping that this doesn't mean that someone's mind will get changed about the sale approval. We're soooooo close.

Like I said, it's almost barely worth the update, but it had been a little while, so I thought I'd let you all know what was happening. Hopefully Monday. But I can't get my hopes up too far, because Monday may come around and they'll tell us, "Just one more week...". My patience is running thin.

Aiden at School

Aiden's teacher just shared some pictures of the latest painting project that they did on Wednesday. She covered a large section of the floor with paper and they painted with, well, their bodies basically. They had brushes, but since they encourage the kids to just go for it, the kids were covered in paint by the end of the afternoon. There were a few pictures, but I just snagged the two with Aiden in them so you could see him in action. He's actually quite clean in these pictures. He came home with paint in his hair! He really loves going to school!

This is just a portion of their artwork. You can tell Aiden is really concentrating on using the brush. The little girl is Sarah Jean. She was more into using her feet. :^)

This is early on in the process - you can tell because the paper isn't completely covered. Here Aiden is working with his friend Max on a blue portion of the artwork.

A Rough Patch

I've been struggling a bit lately and am having trouble finding relief from most things.

Most days, I feel like a big failure as a parent. While I can say that my children have clothes on their backs and food in their tummies, I can't seem to get a handle on their misbehavior. Having two boys close together is definitely a challenge and my children seem to require a certain approach. An approach that I haven't discovered yet. They are growing increasingly frustrated with not being able to go outside whenever they want for an extended period of time, so they end up bouncing off the walls - making my frustration level skyrocket. They are fighting more often than they are playing with each other, and when they do play with each other, it eventually turns into a slapfest. Nathan has discovered that we don't want him stomping through the apartment due to the crabby woman downstairs (she's been banging on the wall to voice her displeasure with their noise), so of course he tries to do it as much as possible. Some days I'm pretty sure that if she actually decided to come up here to complain, I'd be extremely tempted to ask her if she's realized that she lives in an apartment. Guess what lady? It's going to be on the noisy side sometimes!
Then there's the problem with potty training. Nathan is on his way, but still on the young side for a boy so I'm not too worried about that. It's Aiden that's the problem. The kid has it all down like a potty pro and is dry at night - but he's decided that he doesn't want to go in the potty anymore! At his 4 year check up, we discussed this with the pediatrician and he said that unfortunately, Aiden has decided to take complete control of the potty situation (which is really how potty training should be, but in a good way!) and be super stubborn about it. We asked Aiden why he won't go in the potty and he actually sat there and said, "Because I don't want to!". His pediatrician reminded us that this is something that is really out of our control and as much as we can try to bribe Aiden to use the toilet, it's up to him to decide to start using the potty again. We should be happy with the fact that it's only a control issue and not a learning problem, but it has triggered huge amounts of anger towards potty training in general.

Then there's the work issue. After five months of John being out of work, I should be so happy that he's got more work than he knows what to do with. But it's hard to feel thankful for both of our jobs when we spend a grand total of three-four hours together as a family each week. We are able to eat dinner as a family maybe once a week, and I really stress MAYBE. John has been working almost every daytime hour that I am not, including weekends. I've been struggling with my decision to work (of course, it's not just a decision, but a need) as I begin to think that the boys' recent behavior problems might be somewhat related to the lack of family time and the stress it's causing. It's gotten to the point where it feels like we're living lives of single parents while we're married and living together. I've been wondering if it would be better for the boys to go into daycare for a little while during the week so I can work a short day shift instead of evening, as that would give us more family time in the evenings. But then what would be the point of my paycheck? It would all go towards childcare. It doesn't seem like there's any way around this right now.

The stress of these things is taking away any joy I was hoping to get by taking on some extra "fun" projects - like coordinating our church's holiday bazaar this year. While I'm really excited about it, I'm not able to give as much energy to it as I want and I sincerely hope it doesn't affect the final result. Speaking of the bazaar, I'll take a moment to say that if any of you know anyone in the Portland area who would like the be a vendor, the spaces are $20 and the bazaar is on December 5 from 10-4. You can have them email TCFCbazaar@gmail.com for an application.

That all being said, John has definitely noticed me struggling lately and decided to surprise me last night by setting aside $200 from his paycheck for me to go out and spend on whatever I please. He said that he hopes I will take some time at the Coldwater Creek Spa (where I can use my store discount) and then maybe get myself some new clothes (he knows that there are some new boots I've been wanting). It won't solve all my problems, but it sure reminds me that I have someone who loves me and wants me to be happy.

Trick or Treating

I decided I should go ahead and post these before it got much further into November.

We had a very fun Halloween and I was quite impressed with my boys' energy levels! Even though it was a Saturday, John had to work yet again, so we were without him until about 4pm. We tried to stay busy throughout the day, but both boys were so worked up with the anticipation of candy later that evening that we had some rough patches leading up to the evening. After a little costume rebellion on Aiden's part, we finally made it out of here around 5:20. We headed over to Bridgeport Village first. My co-workers wanted to see the boys in their costumes and a lot of the stores were handing out candy. It was quite popular! I suppose since it was a safe atmosphere and they had Radio Disney there leading dances and playing games with all the kids, there was bound to be a crowd. We didn't stay very long, but it was long enough for Nathan to get the hang of trick or treating down.

After Bridgeport, we went over to John's parents for some dinner and more trick or treating around their neighborhood. We've done this every year and we feel very comfortable taking the kids around to the houses there. Their neighborhood was very busy this year! But the kids gathered quite a candy haul and even made away with some full size candy bars. I was amazed at Aiden and Nathan's lasting power. We covered a good portion of the housing development and the boys just walked and walked and walked. Nathan's costume got lots of "Oooh, he's so cute!!" and "How adorable!!". I dressed him as a little pirate and I was dressed as his pirate mommy. He LOVED trick or treating! He even started saying "trick or treat" when holding out his bucket and would say, "Tank Tu!" when the candy was dropped in! So cute. Aiden was full steam ahead (he was dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine after all!) the whole evening. There were a few houses that were a little too spooky for him and he would steer clear of those without too much trouble. Nathan was good about choosing the homes he wanted to pass up as well.

We had a great night and something that we all look forward to as a family every year. Here's the boys in their costumes!

Argh, matey! Little pirate Nathan.

Peep! Peep! Our really useful engine, Aiden.

A Happy Halloween + A House Update

Some news on the house. While the bank expected to make a final decision this week, it did not happen, but we did get an update. Our offer has not been officially accepted yet, but it shouldn't be much longer. As it turns out, the sellers have two mortgages on the house. The acceptance of our offer was approved by the 2nd mortgage, but has not yet been approved by the first mortgage. So, as far as we've been told, our names are on the acceptance. We just need that additional acceptance for it to be official. We've been told that it will probably be next week. While I'm getting a little tired of hearing "just one more week", the final result is looking to be in our favor.
For now, I'm trying very hard to focus on having a fun Halloween with the boys. Enjoy the picture of my very first jack-o-lantern! Happy Halloween!

Baggenstos

On October 10, we kept up our fall tradition of taking the kids to the pumpkin patch at Baggenstos. We try to go on the 2nd Saturday of October every year, mostly because the weather has always seemed to cooperate for us in early October. We had perfect weather again this year and had so much fun spending an afternoon outside.
Aiden is finally old enough to remember how things worked the previous year and he was so excited to take a hay ride. We got to sit right up front on the hay ride down to the pumpkin patch so Aiden could be right by the tractor.

Once we got down to the pumpkins, the boys couldn't decide on the perfect pumpkin, but we eventually found two to call our own. As John was in the line to take the tractor back up to the farm store, I walked around the patch with the boys some more. As we were walking around, Aiden found a very fuzzy caterpillar and the boys had a great time crawling along the ground after it. They were even very gentle and "petted" the caterpillar numerous times. I wouldn't let Aiden pick it up though, just out of a safety concern for the caterpillar. :^) Sadly, John had the camera and I wasn't able to get any pictures of the caterpillar bonding time.

After taking the hay ride back up to the farm store, I picked out a large pumpkin to use for baking (pumpkin muffins and scones!) and the boys chose two tiny pumpkins for indoor decor purposes. We spent at least another hour or so letting the boys play on the play structure, run around in the kid maze, look at the animals, and enjoy some caramel kettle corn. Yum!

I love our pictures from this year, but at the very beginning of the outing, we ended up with a dirty fingerprint on the camera lens and I didn't realize it until I got home and downloaded all the pictures to the computer. So each picture has a foggy smudge on one side, which is especially noticeable if the sunlight hit it just right. Oh well. If you'd like to see the whole album, just click on the title of the blog post. Here's a few to share:

The pumpkin patch and perfect weather!

Nathan was quite interested in the tractor. I think both boys would be happy living on a farm!

He found his pumpkin!

Nathan and this rooster had quite the connection. They stood there staring at each other for a long time. It makes me wonder what they were thinking. I'm pretty sure one of them was thinking, "Hmm, food...". :^)

And here's what we brought home. Two baby pumpkins, two carving pumpkins, and a big ugly pumpkin (which Aiden constantly reminds me is a Cinderella pumpkin) for baking.

Aiden's October was especially exciting pumpkin-wise, as his preschool class took a field trip to Heritage Farms about a week and a half later. I wasn't able to go with them, but Aiden told me all about Farmer John taking the whole class on a hay ride through the apple orchard and then they all got to pick out pumpkins. And there were animals too! He tells me that he really enjoyed the pigs. He brought a cute little pumpkin home and Farmer John gave the class a bag of apples. I think they are planning on cooking with the apples in class sometime this week.

House Update, Number...I Lost Count!

One more phone call from the real estate agent:

The bank is waiting on one more approval signature, which should take five business days (so, it will be next Thursday). But it looks like our names will be on that approval! Of course, it's a short sale, so anything could happen between now and next Thursday, but the bank has supposedly assured the listing agent that since they've done all of the preliminary paperwork, they really just need that one signature to be done.

So far, they are right on track with finalizing everything by the end of October, which is what we were told at the beginning. Provided that final signature gets put on the paper, we will have the final answer next week and then we will start the closing process (inspections, etc), which will take about a month.

I want to hop up and down with excitement, but I am staying cautious for now. Plus, I'm deathly ill at the moment, so any hopping might cause me to pass out. I really want it to be next Thursday already though! Please keep this last leg of the process in your prayers. We've been having some issues with the downstairs neighbor and we are definitely feeling anxious to get out of apartment living.

Quick Update on Urgent Care Visit

Just a quick little update:

The urgent care doctor called yesterday to let me know that he got the blood test results back. It doesn't look like a blood clot, thank goodness. He's thinking that it still might be something called pleurisy. Google it - it doesn't sound fun at all, but the symptoms are exactly what I'm dealing with. For now, he wants me to take ibuprofin for the anti inflammatory three times a day and wait a few days. If I'm still having trouble around mid-week, then I will call my regular doctor and we'll set up some appointments to try to figure this thing out.

My Evening in Urgent Care

What do I like to do after an 8-4 shift? Spending my entire evening in urgent care isn't on the list, but that's what I did. Here's the back story:

Thursday afternoon, I started having slight pain in my right lung. I figured my asthma was acting up so I used my inhaler, but it did nothing. As the afternoon and evening progressed, it got worse. Bad enough for me to call the doctor on call to see if I should head to the ER. He said that if I was having ANY trouble breathing, I should go to the hospital. Yes, it hurt if I breathed in or out and any time I coughed (which I needed to do quite often). But I was exhausted and didn't want to spend six hours in an ER in the middle of the night. So I took some Tylenol PM and went to bed. Yesterday, it wasn't so bad, so I figured I'd just pulled a muscle or something. Then today came...I went through most of my shift feeling fine up until 2:30. I kept having to stop and use my inhaler (which continued to do nothing) and it was getting difficult to talk. My chest was in so much pain, I requested to leave work a little early (just 15 minutes) so I could head to urgent care.

After much waiting, I was seen. The doctor thought it didn't sound like asthma because I wasn't wheezing. So he ordered chest x-rays and a white blood cell count. No pneumonia. After having me describe in much detail how the pain felt and point out exactly where I could feel it, he determined that everything points to the possibility of a small blood clot in my lung. So he ordered more blood work that will determine something (though I don't remember what) and will call with those results in the morning. I don't know what happens if the blood test comes back positive. In the meantime, I am not supposed to go to work tomorrow so I can rest and I was given a nice prescription for oxycontin to help deal with the nasty chest pain.

The thought of a blood clot is scary and not knowing why my lung hurts so badly is scary. I hope that it's something simple and we can get it figured out very soon. I will update when I know more.

House Update

Our agent called this morning to let us know that the bank had called him to make sure we were still interested in the property. They are getting ready to send the offer to the investor, who will make the final decision. They've been moving on to each step fairly quickly (usually within 5 business day or less), so we're hoping that they follow their own trend and the decision will be made very soon.

Every time I start feeling frustrated over not having an answer yet, we get some news from our agent and it renews my excitement over getting close to knowing the outcome. Though we have no guarantee that ours will be the offer they choose, I now know that I DO have the patience to wait this process out (as hard as it can be sometimes) and now have the knowledge as to how many different steps short sales have. So if we do have to move on and go through this again, I'll know which step needs to come next in the buying process.

So that's the update and I can't tell you how hard I prayed after I got that phone call! I hope to update you all with great news very soon.

The 4 Year Check-up

Since we now have health insurance (thank goodness!!), Aiden was able to go for his four year checkup (Nathan had to miss his 18 month). Aiden was very excited and talked all day yesterday about seeing his doctor. I have to take that as a sign that we have the right pediatrician. :^)

At 4 years, they do a vision test and while Aiden wasn't so keen on having me cover one of his eyes (he kept saying "But I can't see when you do that, mommy!"), he did really well and answered all of the nurse's questions correctly.
I had many things to discuss with the pediatrician and he's always so great about letting me take as much time as I need to talk these things out. We talked about the early intervention fiasco and he agreed that their decision that Aiden has a severe communication delay was incorrect and that there's nothing to worry about regarding his speech level.
We discussed finishing up the potty training and some little issues we're having here at the very end of it. But he said he's still right on track with any other four year old boy, so all is good there.

And we discussed a new problem that began about two weeks into the school year. Aiden has been having occasional screaming fits (and boy, do I mean SCREAMING). It tends to happen if he's been told that he can't do something or if Nathan prevents him from doing something or takes something away from him. I had no idea where this angry behavior was coming from. But when I was helping in Aiden's class, I noticed that there is this one little boy who bosses Aiden around like crazy. Almost to the point of verging on bullying. Anytime Aiden is doing any creative, this kid will come up to him, get in Aiden's face, and tell him that he's not doing it right and he shouldn't be allowed to do that anymore because he doesn't know how to do it like it's supposed to be done. Then he will attempt to take whatever it is away from Aiden. It was bad enough on my last parent help day that I took the little boy aside and told him that Aiden is doing it the way HE likes to do, so we needed to let Aiden paint his own way. The kid looked totally shocked that someone would tell him to knock it off (I'm kind of assuming that he gets away with it at home). So, the doctor said that it's entirely possible for the screaming fits to be stemming from that problem and he suggested talking to Aiden's teacher about it so she can watch for it and give Aiden some emotional tools to work with so he can stand up for himself and not repress the anger he's feeling when the kids picks on him.

In general, he's a smart, healthy kid. Weighing 40 pounds, he's in the 80th percentile. His height is at 40 1/2 inches, putting him in the 53rd percentile (what we would expect from us shorties). He still seems really tall to me though.
The pediatrician was very impressed that Aiden could tell him where various inside body parts were! It was pretty cute. I was a little surprised that for four year olds, they expect them to only count to 5, whereas Aiden is up to 20 (and Nathan is up to 10, so counting to 5 at age four seems really low). Drawing people is supposed to be people with just 2-3 body parts and he's getting more detailed than that - but his teacher did say that he's extremely detailed artistically; more than she would expect from a kid his age. They also expect them to be able to name just 3-4 colors, but he's past that. He's to the point where he can write all the letters of the alphabet (some with a little difficulty, but enough that you can tell what it is), write his own name, and is already recognizing some written words and can read them out loud. All of the writing and beginning to read is all since this school year started, so I have to give his school a huge amount of kudos for a job well done.

He didn't need any other shots today, except the flu shot, which they were out of. So I have to take both boys back once they have the "flu clinic hours" so they can get poked. He also strongly recommended the H1N1 vaccine. I've been a little skeptical of it, just because it's so new (I have no problems with vaccines in general). But at the same time, I've said all along that if our pediatrician recommended it, I would trust his judgment. I'm not the in the medical field and he's got enough experience to know when to recommend things to parents. And one shouting reason to get the vaccine is that one of Aiden's classmates has a brother who is being treated for high-risk leukemia and because of the chemo, his immune system is shot. We've all been informed by the school that if we even think our kids MIGHT be getting sick, we need to keep them home so as not to expose the classmate to anything he might be able to bring home to his brother. If I were in those parents' situation, I would certainly hope that all the other parents would respect the wellness issue and do all they could do keep their sick kids home or keep their kids from getting sick in the first place.

So that's all - sorry it was so long. Four is a big number which requires a big detailed appointment!

House Update

It's been two weeks today that we put the offer in on the house and we did get a little update this morning. This is straight from our agent's email:

"We did just receive word that the bank negotiator ordered a “payoff amount” and that there is nothing regarding acceptance yet. Seems to me that they are getting much closer to accepting something, but no one knows when."

It's strange because that news isn't really anything, but yet it feels so important. I think it's just because we've waited so long for anything to get this far and now it feels like something is actually happening. It lets us know that we're still in this.

In other house news, the house that we put our first offer on way back in March has gone back on the market. This time owned by the Dept of Housing and Urban Development. Offers are supposed to be submitted electronically by the 18th. I think if our offer gets turned down on the current house before then, we would consider putting an offer on that one again. But we are both definitely in favor of the current house over the old one.

That's it for now. In a perfect world, we would get a solid answer by the end of the week, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Glasses for Carrie!

I now have glasses! Here's the somewhat blurry picture for you. :^)

Aiden's Party

Aiden's party was great fun! We enjoyed cake and snacks with family, and our little 4 year old gave us all some good laughs. We were even able to to extend the party into the evening and have Uncle Brady stick around to spend some time with us! We had a great treat this weekend by having Aiden's party coincide with Brady's National Guard weekend and Aunt Carrie's days off from work. We really love having the chance to see the both of them since they moved to that horrible place with all that sunshine and Disneyland. :^)

We can't believe our little guy is 4....and he's really acting like a true little kid, not a toddler. School is his favorite thing in the world right now, but he has so many interests, I can barely keep track! We get compliments nearly every school day about how polite, kind, friendly, cooperative, and artistic he is. His teacher showed me a small pile of ladybugs the whole class had made out of construction paper. She showed me a few of them, saying that they were put together like a typical 4 year old did it (just sort of smattered together) and then she picked up Aiden's. She told me that she was amazed at how careful and precise he was with every single art project - his ladybug was perfectly symmetrical and everything was in the right place! It makes me so happy that we can give him the opportunity to go to such an enjoyable preschool.

Here are some pictures from his party, but if you'd like to see the whole photo album, just click on the title to this blog post.

Opening one of his favorite presents - a truck he can take apart and put back together with a little battery powered screwdriver!

A Thomas the Tank Engine toy! He loves watching the train "bust" through the snow bank!

My goofy little boy and his birthday cake.

Blowing out the candles!

The main decor for his party - some Thomas the Tank Engine, but also a lot of his artwork from school last year.

Happy 4th Birthday Aiden!

Happy 4th Birthday to my little Aiden bug! We love you so much and we're so proud of the caring little boy you're becoming. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. Have a great birthday weekend!

First News from the Latest Offer

We got a quick email from our agent yesterday:

The owners signed off on the offer and it was submitted to the bank. The bank has now submitted it to the Phase 2 Negotiator and they have 10 days to review the file and make a decision.

I'm hoping to get a little more detail on what the "decision" consists of. It could just be the decision on how much they will actually accept for the house, which means that if all offers are lower than what they want, they'll notify everyone and we'll all have an opportunity to up our offers. Or they could decide that one of the offers is sufficient and the buyers (whether it be us or one of the other two) will be notified that the offer has been accepted. This is just what I believe happens now, but we see our agent again in the morning to take pictures of the house and I'll ask for some clarification.

This is the closest we've gotten to getting an answer so far and I'm scared and excited. I can barely imagine getting an answer within 10 days after we've been working at this for so long. You'll definitely know as soon as we hear anything!

For now, we've got a busy weekend ahead. I'm providing a birthday snack for Aiden's class today, then it's off to another eye appointment to tell him that I hate contacts. Then John and I have tickets to see Mikhail Baryshnikov (the best ballet dancer ever) in person tonight and I just want to hop up and down like a little girl. It's truly a dancers dream to see him perform....and I have 2nd row tickets!! Saturday and Sunday will be family-filled with a Minthorne cousin reunion and Aiden's birthday party.

Maybe we'll be so busy, I won't have time to be nervous about the house!

Yet Another Offer

We pulled the Walnut offer yesterday and placed an offer on the new one, Muirfield. It all happened really fast, but we didn't want to waste any time after getting news from our agent that afternoon.

Apparently, the understanding that there were no offers in on it was wrong - there were two. But they have been in long enough that the bank has done all of the work that they need to do regarding appraisals and paperwork involving the short sale. All the bank has to do now is pick an offer and they are expected to do that within the next 30 days. The listing agent was very forthcoming about the current offers in and told us what the highest one was, which meant we were able to put in the highest offer. Obviously, this means that the agent will be forthcoming with everyone else and so there is the chance of it turning into a bidding war, but we will decide how high we're willing to go if that happens.

We made the decision to go ahead and get the offer signed just a few hours later as one of the sellers is in Hawaii and it could take some extra time to get the offer signed before it can be sent to the bank. Hopefully the bank will wait to make the decision until after they have received our paperwork.

Now, we're just waiting again. We'll be notified when the sellers have signed our offer and when the offer has been received by the bank. I do like that we have a time frame for this one and we should know what's going to happen by Halloween. I just really hope that this one is it, because I'm going to be able to sign offers in my sleep if we end up doing this too much longer.

Quick Update

Since the offer on Walnut is basically down the drain, we are planning on pulling that offer sometime next week. We could just sit and wait to see if something happens, but we found another house today! I actually feel really good about this one and it (as of this morning) had no other offers in. We forgot to take pictures, but will be planning another tour for next week. We are planning on getting an offer in ASAP (it's the exact same list price as Walnut), so the 2nd tour may be after the offer is sent in. After feeling super frustrated about Walnut, this new house makes me feel re-energized about home buying. It could still take a while since it's yet another short sale, but I'm definitely prepared to wait for this home.

On another note, I had my vision checked yesterday and after going this long with no glasses or contacts, I'm now an official contact lens wearer. They are definitely taking some getting used to and I was ready to toss them and ask for glasses at the end of the day, but I'll give it a week. I go in next Friday, so if they are still bothering me then, we'll talk about switching to glasses.

Aiden had his first field trip yesterday. His class went to the fire station! I forgot the actual camera, but got some on my phone before my battery died - I just need to figure out how to get them off the phone and onto the computer. They're really cute!

That's it for the little update. I'll go into more detail on things later and hopefully have some pictures for you.

Aiden's Name

I really love Aiden's school. We're two weeks into the school year and he has learned to write his name. I didn't know this until earlier today when he was coloring and I happened to see that he was writing some letters. I asked him, "Can you write your name? A-I-D-E-N?". He happily said, "OK, mommy!" and quickly wrote it down. Here is our little guy's hand-written name:

Yes, the E has an extra little dash in there, but who's counting? As soon as he wrote it down, he handed it to me and said, "Here mommy, this is a present for you to keep forever". And you know what? It's going straight into his baby book to be kept forever. He's growing up so fast!

Walnut House Update

We received news on our house offer this morning.

After the sellers signed our offer to send it off to the bank, the bank informed them that they needed to choose just one offer to send in and not all three (yes, yet another offer has been put down on the house). They chose the first offer that was put in just before ours. Apparently just because the down payment was a little bigger. Ours is still considered a back-up offer, but it looks like we won't be the ones to get the house, unless the bank decides to pick ours randomly.

Not great news and I guess I was expecting something like this because I didn't get myself attached to this home like I did the last one. There's so much frustration surrounding this in general, I feel like I need to cry, but nothing's coming.

Between getting derailed by the layoff this past spring and having to deal with on-going bidding wars on every house we're interested in, house hunting is causing me more stress than I ever expected. We'll be choosing some more homes to view and will hopefully get back out there by this weekend.

Taking a Much Needed Break

For some reason, there's been a lot of stress running rampant around our home. Once it hits the boiling point with parents, the kids start reacting to it as well and then the stress level skyrockets even more. It's gotten to the point where I'm struggling to get to the end of each day without having cried multiple times or locked myself in my room for a few moments to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs. I've been frustrated that it seems like all I do is break up fights, clean up messes, go to work, come home for an hour with my husband, then go to bed and do it all over again.

The boys have been fighting non-stop and yesterday it all hit the fan. I was breaking up yet another fight when I happened to get in the way as Aiden was winding up to throw a Thomas the Tank Engine toy at Nathan. I was beaned with Bertie the Bus right in my eye. It hurt so much, I couldn't keep from crying in front of Aiden. I felt a little bad for doing that because he got very, very upset that he had made me cry, but maybe he needed to see it to understand that hitting someone with something actually hurts them. He kept apologizing for quite a while afterwards, so I think he got it. But my eye was swollen and turning purple....a great way to look while at work. I got a lot of the swelling to go down, but an hour or two later, while breaking up another fight, Nathan ended up head butting me right in the nose. We added some purple to the other eye! I was able to make-up myself fairly well before work, but people could still tell that I was slightly swollen around the eyes. I also had some trouble driving because my actual eyeballs hurt and I had some difficulty in adjusting my vision from near to far (a problem I do actually have since I'm farsighted, but it doesn't usually affect my driving). I'm still in some pain around the eyes today and had some issues getting my eyelids to open all the way when waking up this morning. Who knew being a parent was so darn dangerous??

So since I was about to snap and feeling like I wanted to run screaming from our home, John decided that it was a good idea to plan some no-kid time. Thank goodness for my husband....we will be completely separating ourselves from being parents tomorrow night as we leave the kids with John's parents, go out to a fun dinner (a jazz club downtown!!), and then we'll be staying the night at a hotel! I don't have to go home on our date night to a kid toy covered living room!! And maybe I'll actually get some decent sleep since our mattress really needs to be replaced and I haven't slept through the night in months. This is so needed, I'm getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it.

I love my children so much, but I will tell you that as a parent, we are not meant to spend every waking moment with our children. It will drive you insane. You cannot be a good parent if you're stressed and frustrated to the point where you just want to leave and not come back. Thank goodness for grandparents who love their grandchildren enough to keep them overnight so mommy and daddy don't go crazy! I'm looking forward to this more than I can say, not just to release myself of parenting duties for a while, but also to spend more than an hour with my husband. Hopefully this will prepare me for a heavy workweek for both of us - we won't see much of each other until next Friday evening.

Let's hope my next post will be coming from a fresh and re-energized perspective!

Back to School!

Aiden returned to school on Friday and oh boy, he was ever so excited! But the day didn't go quite as smooth as we were intending....

We were down to one car on Friday, due to the car that we have been borrowing needed to be worked on a bit. So John went off to work in the morning and then came back home around noon to pick us all up. The plan was for us to drive by his office so he could pick something up for his meeting, then I would drop him off at his meeting, and then take Aiden to school.
So we got to his office and he ran in to get whatever it was that he needed. But when he went in, he turned the car off. When he came back out, the car wouldn't start. One of his co-workers was attempting to help us jump start it, but it wasn't working. As they're trying to jump the car, Aiden keeps saying, "Come on! Let's get to school!". I knew that if he didn't get to school that day (something he'd been talking about for a good two weeks), we were going to have the meltdown of all meltdowns. I was scheduled to work that evening and thought that I'd better warn them that I might not make it, so I called to let them know what was happening. They sounded pretty stressed at the thought of me not coming in.

After about 15 minutes of attempting to jump start it, we got the car started. John called out of his meeting and we decided to drive Aiden to school, have John sit in the car with the engine running while I took Aiden in, and then we'd take it to Les Schwab. So Aiden got to school after all....thank goodness!! We took the car in to get the battery replaced, walked over to Fred Meyer and had a deli lunch while we waited. After getting the car back, I took John back to work and then picked up Aiden from school. He had such a great day and didn't want to leave! So it all worked out in the end (although John got in only about 3-4 hours of work that day) and I was even able to make it to work.

It was just the beginning to a hectic, tiring weekend (I'm including Monday in that as well....), but we are so happy to have Aiden back at school and he is enjoying himself even more than last year. Here's his first day back to school photo. I think he looks so happy and you can kind of tell in the picture that he wouldn't stand still! He picked out his own school outfit for the day. :^)

And the Wait Begins

We met with our real estate agent this morning and put an offer on the Walnut house. I don't have too much to say in addition to that, but it sounds like we won't have an answer from the bank for 6-8 weeks. Ick. But I am ready for this and I will somehow find the patience to deal with waiting for this home. If we're meant to have it, we will get it.

I was asked for pictures and while we forgot to take any while we were touring the house, I have taken a few from the real estate listing (copyright of the listing agent). The person who took the photos did a terrible job at capturing how open it actually feels, so the photos make it look a bit crowded. So, they just aren't the best pictures, but we are hoping to tour it one more time within the next week or two, so I will take some better pictures then. These will just have to do in the meantime. :^)

The backyard. We thought the size was great and very ready for some cute plants. There is a little area just off to the right where we could plant a small veggie garden.

This is the master bedroom. This picture basically just shows a window and where the bed goes without showing anything else. There is a master bathroom and a large closet, along with some extra space that isn't shown off the left.

This is the updated fireplace and living room, but of course, it cuts it off and makes it look super tiny. It's not the biggest living area anyway, but just fine for our family.

This is most of the kitchen. It has updated counter tops and backsplash. What you can't see around the pantry on the left is the additional counter space on the other side of the stove and the fridge (side by side doors!).

This is the dining area. Again, the picture totally cuts off the room and makes it look smaller than it is.

Once we tour again, I'll take some better pictures and actually show you the whole house. There weren't any pictures of the entry, the two smaller bedrooms, the bathrooms....pretty much most of the house wasn't photographed for the listing.

I guess that's it for now. Whenever we hear anything, I'll update. But for now, it's just time to wait.