Disneyland?

Disneyland!! Yes, we're going!

We are SO unbelievably ready for a vacation and after a few months of searching vacation deals, we finally found a great price and we are booked. It's part Aiden's spring break and part our five year anniversary. Yes, it's an anniversary trip with kids, but I'm really ok with it. We leave March 24th and come back March 30 (which is our anniversary, but I can't complain too much since we will have had nearly a week in Southern California).

While I've always been quite wary about taking small children (Nathan's age) to Disneyland (Is it realistic? Will they really remember anything?), we realized last summer that Aiden was getting old enough for it and we just couldn't imagine leaving Nathan behind. I know that we will have to take it slow and so we're planning about three days in the park while we're there. The only thing I'm really concerned about park-wise is explaining why we're waiting in such long lines to both boys. They are not the type to just sit still and wait, so that will be interesting.
I did reserve a hotel just two blocks from the park in case we need to go back for a little while for any reason during the day. It just felt like a smart thing to do with two little kids.

We are hoping to spend some time visiting Brady and Carrie and seeing their new home! We miss them terribly and we hope they can join us for some time at Disneyland. Laura is also in planning stages for spring break in California to attend a wedding, so it might just be a grand reunion!

Ah, I am so excited to have it finalized and I can't wait to break the news to Aiden tomorrow!

A Busy Weekend

John and I had a date planned for Friday evening, but on Friday morning we still had no idea what on earth we wanted to do. John left for work and I tried desperately to think of something more exciting than dinner and a movie. After a few hours a random thought came to me: "I wonder if there's a hockey game tonight?". And what do you know, there was! The Portland Winterhawks were playing the Seattle Thunderbirds and it sounded like a wonderful idea. I promptly bought the tickets and made sure I got us as close as possible.

Later that afternoon, we got a phone call from John's aunt Lorna asking if we would like to attend a George Fox Alumni awards ceremony for John's grandpa Verne the next morning. Uncle Price had gotten sick and cousin Josiah had offered to watch the boys and give up his ticket. This was a great surprise and also meant that we didn't have to go back to John's parents to pick up sleeping boys after the hockey game - they could just stay the night and Josiah would watch them there in the morning.

The hockey game was amazing and I had forgotten how much I loved getting into the action. I used to go to hockey games about once a month (sometimes more) in high school and have missed it greatly. We were about 15 rows up from the ice and we felt like we had a great view (except for one corner, but that's what the big screen is for). It was John's first hockey game and I think he really enjoyed himself, partially because he was amused by his tiny ballerina wife yelling and screaming over a hockey game.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. We ended up taking our seats at the game right at 7:30pm (start time), which I don't like to do. I prefer to have at least a few minutes to relax and maybe grab a drink before it starts. But why we were later than planned was worth it. Right as John was running out the door to get home in time, his boss called him into his office saying that he needed to speak with him immediately. You have to imagine that John was a little worried over this. But as it turns out, his boss gave him an impromptu review and a raise! The raise is fantastic and his boss said that it's the highest raise percentage that anyone in the company will receive all year. He also added that he thought John was worth much more. :^) A good start to the weekend, I think!

On Saturday morning, we headed out to George Fox for the ceremony and as it turns out, an old family friend, Dan Nolta, was receiving an award as well. His wife Judi was there and she was my mentor in high school, so it was a wonderful treat to see her again. I could go into a long story about the ceremony, but a lot of you reading this were there, so I'll just say that it was a good thing I happened to have tissues in my purse. I am extremely blessed to be a part of this family and I am so thankful that John and I were able to be there.

The rest of Saturday was less than exciting; John had to go to work for a few hours and only came home about five minutes before I needed to leave for work myself. I was at work for just two hours before they asked if anyone wanted to go home (it was too slow to keep everyone on) and I took the opportunity since my knee is still bothering me quite a bit.

Sunday was the Superbowl and we hung out at home with plenty of snacks. John cheered on the New Orleans Saints while I rooted for the Indianapolis Colts. Sadly, my losing streak with Superbowls is still in full effect and the Colts lost. It was not cool to see Peyton Manning (Colts Quarterback) cry when he realized they could not comeback from the interception mistake, but I know that the city of New Orleans was bursting with joy over their Saints winning and I got a little teary over their award speech.

And now we're back to the weekly grind, but there's still plenty to talk about. But I'll save it for another time since my laptop battery is ready to give out.

And the Bank Says:

They say two more weeks. My favorite sentence in the whole wide world!

The final negotiator has had it for three weeks now, but the way that they work is in the order of which the paperwork arrives. These negotiators can have up to 500 files at a time and the way ours sits, it will probably be completed mid-February. While I am tired of hearing "two more weeks", it does help to push us through when we are given some sort of time frame. Even if that time frame is totally false. Obviously we hope that the negotiator really will complete it mid-February and we can get the whole thing finished.

There are some apartment frustrations that are getting harder for me to deal with, especially with two growing boys on my hands. We would all appreciate some prayer for coping and figuring out solutions. We are not guaranteed this house by any means and it really would be in our best interest to learn how to work with our current space for as long as we possibly need to.

Maybe our cats need a bodyguard

A while back, I posted about a strange thing Aiden had said to me regarding eating cats and how once you got the fur in your mouth, it wouldn't taste so good. Well, I'm beginning to think we should be careful about leaving Aiden alone with either cat....

I came into the living room after getting ready for work and Aiden had turned Nathan's tricycle upside down and was spinning the wheel by working the pedals with his hands. I just figured it was interesting to him, so I didn't think too much of it, but I asked him what he was doing anyway. He says to me, "I'm making a cat squishing factory". I repeated him, thinking maybe I'd misheard somehow, but he confirmed it. "Yes, a cat squishing factory. So the cats can be flattened". Oh my. I have no idea where this came from!!

But I know he loves the cats. He is always nothing but gentle with them and enjoys snuggling with them whenever they allow it. He also likes helping to feed them if he notices their bowls are empty. He just has some strange ideas sometimes. So I won't concern myself too much until he actually attempts to squish a cat.