"Practically" there

I have not abandoned this blog, though it does seem that way. Life takes such twists and turns that lately I've just been holding onto the edge of my seat and hoping I'm still in it when the ride slows down. Matt went "back to school" last fall. He started a 6 month EMT class that met every Monday and Thursday from 6pm to 10pm and required hours of clinical work in Emergency rooms and on ambulances. Right before his class began, basketball season started with cheer practice for me at least twice a week and games on the days where there wasn't practice. Needless to say, that made us a house where we passed each other coming and going and there were days that Matt didn't get to see the kids at all.

Basketball season ended in February and I regained some normalcy in my schedule. However, February took us on a new path through a thick forest with no path cut before us. We are still trying to find the clearing at the end of the woods and some days seem darker and the animals preying on us seem to be louder, but we are holding firm to what we know is true...God sees the clearing at the end of our path and He is waiting for us. We must only keep pressing on, knowing that all is perfect in His timing.

Do not be worried about us, nothing that major is going on around here....we are all healthy and our children are cluelessly happy. All they know is that daddy is home all of the time now and that sure is exciting! Carson has an afternoon playmate and Matt has a helper for the yardwork. However, no one pays you for playing with your children, that is where the unfortunate scary part comes to play. My Valentine's Day present was that Matt had lost his job. I still enjoyed my PF Changs, knowing it would be our last "nice" meal for a while. :-)

However, just this past Monday, Matt's 6 months of hard work paid off and we were able to attend his graduation ceremony. He graduated 3rd in his class and his teacher jokingly pointed out that he kept her spelling in check (for those of you who really know Matt, that won't shock you!). Only the state written test stands between him and a whole new crop of job opportunities. I am not worried about that test and am fairly confident he isn't either.

Here are some pictures from the graduation.....does he look shocked to be holding that certificate?? I had faith in him all along....I'm proud of you honey!!

Disney

You know that feeling...you go on vacation, you come home feeling totally unrested and a little frazzled. Then, while trying to catch up with work, laundry, more work, life, and a little more work, you can't find the time to post pictures of your vacation. Then, a few weeks has passed and you think, wow, no one really cares now....well, whether you care of you don't, you are getting some highlights from the best vacation ever!

Upon our arrival at the happiest place on earth...or at least the airport!

Look at those kids loving each other....vacation makes everybody nicer :-)

Racing cars at the Downtown Disney Lego store...now that was fun!

The Lion King show.....by far Carson's favorite activity that required him to sit still!

Two of the cutest boys I've ever seen!

One of the craft stations at Epcot

Even though Carson was coming down with the flu, he was still adorable in the pictures!

Riding the Buzz game one last time.....we are too competitive of a family, so we could have riden that one 50 times to try to out do each others scores!

Hmmm....think it was humid there??? Look at those curls!

tidbits of September

We took a Saturday to clean out the garage. Car was a HUGE helper! I'm kind of embarassed by the mess behind him, but I promise it doesn't look that bad now.

Delaney and I rewarded ourselves for a month of Kindergarten behind us and went to get pedicures. She did an awesome job sitting still. The super sweet lady put little daisies on a few of her piggies and fingers too!

This was the creative game the kids invented...zoom the cars across the shelves and into the box. It's pretty cute to watch them starting to work together to create different things to do with their toys.

This was the AWESOME duck cake at Shannon's shower. Jess's friend Sandy made it and it was just as delicious as it was adorable!

Obviously delicious as my sweets/chocolate connoisseur isn't letting a drop go to waste.

Delaney wanted to take a picture of us, so we let her...it actually turned out kind of cute!

And, finally, the beautiful roses left from Shannon's shower....nothing super special, I just thought they were pretty!!

Rise and Shine

3 out of 4 of us started school. Delaney started full day Kindergarten. She is adjusting well. The first few weeks were pretty bad as she was horribly tired when I picked her up. Now she is still tired, but she's learned to sit in silence instead of instantly screaming at me upon sitting down in the car.

I went back to teaching this year. I am teaching half day kindergarten at Greenwood Christian Academy (where the kids go to school). Carson is in preK there 3 days a week and stays home with Matt on Mondays. On Fridays he is floating around, although we've been fortunate so far that my parents have been able to work their schedule around watching him on Fridays. It's so nice b/c they can come to the house so I don't have to drive him somewhere early in the morning and get going a half hour before we usually do. As is, I am having to wake up kids every morning!As I mentioned, Car started PreK this year. This is his first school experience and he's definitely testing the waters! I had always heard that pastor's kids were "bad," well, I think that applies to teacher's kids too!!! He is exploring his boundaries and his class is full of energetic 4 year old boys, that makes getting into trouble even easier for him as there are always people to assist him.And, finally, a little brother-sister love. They run to each other at recess and hug, they miss each other terribly during the afternoons, yet, they still fight like cats and dogs. However, the love and concern they show for each other makes my heart melt.

Making our own traditions....

One of our goals when moving to Old Towne Greenwood was to make our own traditions for our family that, hopefully, our children would remember and want to share with their families when they were old like us!! So, we loaded up in the wagon and walked to our first Greenwood Freedom Festival parade. Look at that crew....

Car was VERY excited by the blimp...it was very interesting and very quiet (that earned the blimp bonus points in his book!)

Fire trucks from old and new...wish daddy could have been with us to see those, but he was playing golf :-(

And, unfortunately, instead of just telling us that he was terrified of the fireworks, Carson decided to be horribly disobedient prior to them going off, so Matt walked him home (which, come to find out, was what he wanted to happen). I, however, stayed with Delaney and enjoyed some sparklers in the dark and a very nice fireworks display. It's funny how the simpliest things can be so exciting through the eyes of a 5 year old! And, Matt did manage to convince Carson to go outside in his jammies to watch part of the fireworks. From the very back corner of our yard you can see them coming above the trees....definitely something to remember!

From a summer that seems long ago....

Wow, what a slacker I am! Did you even know we had a summer? What fun we had...so much I never made it to this computer to sit down and write these updates. However, now I must do so before we leave for Disney and we come home and you think we've been living there for the last few months.

Our favorite summer tradition is Regatta ~ the boat races in Madison, Indiana. We make a long weekend of it and thoroughly enjoy the traditions Matt grew up loving ~ the Friday night parade, Saturday daytime eating JUNK food, Saturday night fireworks, and the Sunday boat races. Our kids have grown to love Regatta and everything it stands for ~ loud boats, junk food, no bedtimes, and FAMILY!!

He's adorable, but TERRIBLY frightened by loud noises, fire trucks at the parade included! We missed the fireworks this year b/c he refused to go. I didn't mind, I also knew he was exhausted. It had been rainy all day, I was finally dry and warm, so we snuggled up on the couch, watched fireworks on the TV, and he snoozed. I, personally, loved every minute of it much more than any fireworks display I've ever seen!!!
During the parade we saw the boat we were cheering for...mmmm....beef jerky!!
Just a little example of some of that junk food we ate....although this shaved ice was probably the healthiest thing consumed all weekend. Isn't she the prettiest thing you've seen lately??
And....the boat races. It's a tradition I hope we continue for a long time. It's tiring and usually hot (although this year it was rainy), but the memories are well worth the annoyances.

Carson's 4th birthday

Carson didn't really want any pain inflicted on him for his birthday (although a few people have told me that he's told them he gets to get his ears pierced when he's 5...uh...no!) Actually he didn't really want much except a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles and Car movie on top....ask and ye shall receive!

Because we moved to an area where the kids can ride their bikes lots (we have a great driveway for it and great neighbors with kids their ages), we decided that they no longer could share the 1 bike they had been sharing, so Car got a Spiderman bike for his birthday. He loves it and rides it just about every day!!

A cute picture of Matt and Carson "fixing" the bike. They were adjusting the seat for monkey boy's legs :-)

Delaney's 5th birthday

Delaney has asked to get her ears pierced for a few months now and because she was persistent and we could tell she really did want it done, we decided to let her do it on her birthday. I took her to the mall (after calling and having a nice chat with the girl working at the piercing place as to whether or not she could really handle my emotional daughter and get the second ear pierced following the melt down I knew would occur...not joking about the call!!) Well, wasn't I shocked when this is all that happened....this is the look following both ears being pierced in a matter of maybe 5 seconds...the girl was amazing! Delaney looked uncomfortable, but didn't shed a single tear...WOW!!!
However, this is the look when Jenny's hair got stuck in the earring later that night!!! Priceless!!!!

Delaney really took time to read her cards this year...thought all of you who sent her cards would like to see her actually appreciating them :-)

We're havin' a party...

Okay, we already had the party, a few of them actually! We caved and had the family party at my parent's house b/c I just couldn't imagine having everyone at my house 8 days after we'd started moving in (and only 2 days after we'd actually finished moving out of the old house).....thanks mom and dad ~ don't we look well rested and happy, not stressed out or crazy at all!


This year's party had a Wizard of Oz theme because both kids are obsessed with all things Oz!! We have read the book, been to the play, and watched the movie half a dozen times. They love to act it out using costumes and props...it's fun! Here is cousin Seth getting some time in the Lion costume the day of the party!!
Prior to the party we asked our family to consider contributing to our Disney trip so that we could make that happen this fall as the kids REALLY want to go. Since we were moving in between their birthdays, a bunch of extra toys to find places for was not tops on my list and the kids don't really need more toys (I know, they are kids, they can never have too many toys!!!). At the end of the party we shared the big news with them that they had been given enough money to be able to go to Disney World in September...this was the look when they finally "got" what we'd said....I can't wait for the looks when we finally make it there. So, now the waiting begins....

The good, the bad, and the.....

part of the house I want you to see. I love the character (otherwise read as "oddities") of this house. Some people would NOT put up with it, but I'm kind of fond of most of it. As we were going through the buying process and looking at houses that are not typical for a couple our age to look at, someone wise said to me, "just wait until people find out you use water from a well, your waste is buried somewhere in your backyard and you don't have walk in closets!!" I, however, managed to steer clear of that whole list, but have since come up with my own list of "things people just wouldn't believe."

1. I have to walk down 12 steps to get to my washer and dryer which means I carry it down there and then back up...usually 3 loads in a day....I view it as a workout, not an inconvenience!!

2. I have water that magically appears in a corner of that basement everytime it rains...it's not much, but it's there and it makes it smell musty even with a dehumidifier running 24 hours a day.

3. I'm pretty sure my furnace is older than I am (okay, that one makes me nervous b/c I see dollar signs everytime I look at it!!), but they just don't make things like they used to, so maybe it will outlast me :-)

But, check this out...

1. I have window boxes that (thanks to my mom's help) have gorgeous flowers in them.

2. I have a nice size yard with trees taller than my house, MUCH taller than my house!!!

3. When I describe my house to people coming over they can pick it out b/c it doesn't look exactly like the one next door (had that problem a lot in the old house!!!)

4. I have arched doorways and REAL wood trim!

There are definitely perks to my 79 year old house!!

These things remain....

My life is in a state of utter chaos...but, these things remain....

Boys will be boys....they will make messes...even in their new bedrooms!

Carson will wait for the trashmen with much anticipation....even if they don't do things like "our trashmen" did!

Baby dolls will take naps on my couch....no matter where my couch is placed, they will find their way there.

Delaney will play with Barbie dolls for hours and will be even more excited b/c in our new house she doesn't have to actually put books on this awesome house bookshelf.