Bullet points will have to do

-We have obviously been super busy.

-The walk was this past weekend.  Thanks to all who donated.  We might break $5,000, which is disappointing when considering last year's $17,000.  But for pulling it together at the last moment, I'll take it.  I had a lot of really great volunteers this year that want to form a planning committee for next year.  I hope that actually happens because we will be able to accomplish so much more if each person can focus on specific tasks instead of me trying to coordinate everything.  We are definitely dumping the 5K next year and doing just a walk.  The 5K timer/manger got people off course AGAIN this year and it costs close to $1500.  And we are not attracting even close to the number of outside people to pay for it.  So, we will focus on making the event more meaningful for area survivors.

-Our old house closes on June 6th.  It is 98% emptied.  We plan to finish clearing it out tomorrow and I will head over to clean on Friday.  I cannot wait until that part of the process is finished.  We made our first double mortgage payment this month and are happy it will be the only one.

-The new house is coming together.  We are almost entirely unpacked but things are still somewhat disorganized and messy.  I'm trying to remind myself that it is a process.  The backyard is so great.  Bernie and I just like to sit outside after the kids are in bed looking at the mountains with a margarita in hand.  That's the life I've always dreamed of.  Also, we have lots of room.  So come visit.

-Bennett went to his first baseball game with Bernie tonight.  They had a great time and I just got him to bed after 9:30.  It should be an interesting morning.

-Bennett finished up public preschool last week.  He has one week of vacation and then he is doing three four-hour days of preschool at Tiny Tim, where is gets his therapy.  We are going to visit tomorrow and meet the teacher.  He has absolutely loved going to school.  It should be interesting to see how he adjusts to a new classroom, teacher, classmates, going more days a week, and for longer periods of time each day.

-Bennett came home with his first school picture a couple of weeks ago.  It is so freaking cute to watch him with it.  He holds it, admires everyone it it, and repeatedly says "my fwends!"

-Vivian is talking a crazy amount.  I'm sure my perception has been shaped by Bennett who said basically nothing until he was three.  Vivian mimics absolutely everything and must pick up 3-5 words every day.  She is also likes a bit of drama and throws her share of fits on a daily basis.

-I don't even want to type this because I'm sure it will all be ruined.  Vivian is sleeping through the night about 25% of the time.  This is a huge development in in this house and we hope to keep building on it (edited to add: 5 minutes after I typed this, Vivian woke up).


-Faggfest is coming up in about six weeks.  I'm getting excited to see everyone!  I think we will spend a night or two in Missoula as well.

Life has been very very busy around here lately.  The push to get our house ready to sell is over now and we are officially on the market.  We listed the day we left for Phoenix (last Friday).  The hope was that it would be shown a lot while we were gone so we wouldn't have to deal with so much of the daily upkeep, but it got off to a slow start.  The activity is picking up now.  We've had seven showings so far and all positive feed-back.  But that doesn't mean much without an offer, so keep fingers crossed that one is coming soon.  Living in the house with two kids while keeping it in staged condition is a challenge.  We are spending a lot of time away from home, which is easy when the weather is so beautiful.  Here is a link to see our house:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2683-Beech-Cir_Longmont_CO_80503_M13692-14945

So send your buyers over ASAP!

At least we are closing on the new house May 1st, so we can stop living in and showing this house at the same time.

The run-up to the race is a bit depressing at the moment.  We raised 17K last year and we aren't even going to come close this year.  Changing organizers was a huge mistake, as I am going to end up doing it all anyway with a really late start.  Add that on with the other person scheduling on Memorial Day weekend, and things are not looking good.  Our top fundraiser (over 4K last year) can't come because of the holiday weekend.  I am trying to be positive about it and do what I can.  And I have more people willing to help out this year, which is awesome.  The goal is just to get it done and start over again next year.  Losing the momentum really sucks though.

And of course there is our trip to Phoenix and Noel Gallagher.  We consumed plenty of margaritas and spend a lot of time in the pool.  Everyone had a good time, except for the foot and mouth issue.  Grant had it first and the worst case.  Bennett and Vivian were running a fever by the end of the trip.  Bennett seems entirely well and Vivian will be tomorrow I think.  All in all it was a pretty mild.  Bernie had it much worse right before we got married.

The concert was amazing, but no one would expect me to say any differently.  We were able to get second row tickets off of Craigslist (there was a two row "pit" as well, so it was more like row 4).  Being that close was perfect.  There was a split in the seats in front of me, so I had a totally unobscured view.  I sang (screamed) the entire time and I'm pretty sure Bernie thought I was crazy.  Noel actually saw me at one point when the lights switched to the audience and gave me a nod and chuckle.  I'm sure I looked awesome while singing.  I'm having a bit of the post-concert letdown at the moment, but that's normal.  I really hope he does a few more US dates at some point and comes to Denver.  Sara needs to be there!

My mom will be here this week and I am helping out with a Promise Walk booth at a Denver JBF sale, so we will continue to stay busy.

Under Contract!

We are under contract for a new house! I have had my eye on a particular house for months now. It was on the market last spring for two months and then taken off without selling. I have been hoping it would come back on the market. It's in a really family friendly sub-division with two parks, a city park near, another huge city park being built even closer, and walking distance to schools K-12th grade. It also significantly shortens Bernie's commute (by about 7 minutes each way. Add that up over a year). The problem is that all the houses have little tiny yards. There are a handful-maybe 5 out of 200+ that would satisfy our desire for a large yard. And with the tiny yards comes being backed right up to your neighbor.

Anyway, this house sits on the back corner of the subdivision with no one backing to the south and west. So it has awesome mountain views and privacy. The lot is twice the size of our current lot and the largest one in the subdivision. I had been wanting to see it so bad, but it hadn't come back on the market. Then, about two weeks ago, I drove by it (total house stalker) and it had a "for rent" sign. And I am very nosey. So we had our realtor call and ask if they were willing to sell it. They said a serious buyer could look at it and we went last Monday. We really loved it. There is 3,000 finished square feet and an unfinished basement. It has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a three stall garage. It really meets almost all of our criteria, falls in our price range, and we could actually agree on it. After A LOT of back and forth and the owner claiming they didn't want to sell it because they loved it, and they wanted to move back from the east coast, we have finally agreed on a price and close May 1st. There was lots of drama and I didn't think it was going to get under contract. Now we just have to hope everything goes smoothly until then. Oh, and that we can sell our house soon. We hope to have it on the market in about 10 more days. We are currently spending all of our time getting it ready.

I will try to get a few photos of the new house up on Flickr. There aren't too many available since it wasn't actually on the market.

To add to all the busy fun, I am helping get the Promise Walk up and running. The person who took it over has been unable to fulfill the obligation, so I am trying to help out as much as I can. It would break my heart to see the walk go under after all the work and success we had last year. If you have a moment and an extra dollar, please consider a donation to Team Bennett:

http://www.promisewalk.org/pfpw/participantpage.asp?fundid=1896&uid=5114&fkroledescid=3&nnaffundid=28

Did I mention we are going to Phoenix April 13-20th?? For Noel Gallagher????? I don't think I could take much more excitement at this moment in my life.

Long time between updates

I have not been in the mood for blogging recently for some reason. March is acting like May at the moment. We have had many days now of 70+ degree weather and we have been out enjoying it as much as possible. We have gone fishing twice in the past week and actually caught four little trout today. Bennett was very proud but kept saying he wanted to catch five fish. We have also been catching up on some sorely missed park time and messing around in the back yard time.

We also had a nasty respiratory virus go through the house. The pediatrician thought it was RSV. Bennett was the only one who required antibiotics for an ear infection and we all seem to be on the mend now. Sick season always seems so long, I hope we can avoid any other nastiness for awhile.

We are having a garage sale this weekend. It will feel good to get rid of more of the stuff that is cluttering up the basement. I think I will feel a little closer to having the house market-ready after I take what remains post-garage sale to the thrift store. Not that there are any houses to buy even if ours was ready to sell. We saw one last week that we were close to making an offer on, but the yard was just a bit too small. Maybe things will pick up as spring approaches.

When we were fishing this morning, the lines from two of the poles got tangled in each other. As Bernie was attempting to reel them in, he said "shit!" Sure enough, Bennett repeated it a few times right away. It was the highlight of my week because Bernie gives me crap about my frequent swearing. And then Bennett went and learned his very first swear word from Daddy. Ha!

The kids are doing well. Vivian is calling me "mama" all the time and Bennett is now counting to twenty and saying the ABC's. He is talking constantly. I can understand most of what he says, but other people have trouble. They are both enjoying the increased outdoor activity and taking longer naps because of it.

February is being shitty

The weather acts like it's winter or something. We're in the middle of what seems like an endless stretch of cold, snowy, cloudy days. It's not as cold as Montana gets, but I am ready to break free of it. It's a good thing March is around the corner. I'm getting a little antsy for longer days and flower/vegetable planting.

The house search isn't progressing much at this point. We are getting closer to being ready to put ours on the market, but the for sale inventory is very low. I'm sure things will pick up as spring approaches, but I am ready to look at some houses! We went to an open house today just to see what 2800 square feet feels like (not quite big enough for Bernie). The yard was about a third of the size of ours, which is out of the question. The more I think on it, the more important the lot size is to me. I think I'm craving a bit of Montana style space.

We have tickets to Noel Gallagher in Phoenix in April. I can't express my excitement, so suffice to say, I will finally be fulfilling a life-long dream. And it will be great to see Bernie's family again. We always manage to have some fun (usually margarita-fueled).

Bernie was recently allergy tested as a step in what has been a very long process in figuring out what is up with his sinuses. He has been consistently congested, snotty, etc since I met him. It turns out he is allergic to yeast and mold. So his diet is likely at least somewhat a culprit. He is planning to cut most of that our next week for awhile to see what happens. Cooking for dairy/yeast/mold allergies should be an interesting adventure. He also plans to start the four year allergy drop routine. Because a lifetime of no beer doesn't sound like much fun at all.

I have started being more committed to running again. It feels good to at least be trying. My friend and I made it three miles around the lake today even though it was about 25 degrees. That's the farthest I've made it so far. I hope to work up to a personal best 5k sometime this spring or summer. In other personal enrichment news, I am seriously considering taking a Spanish class. I need to keep adding to my resume while I am out of the workforce and a social worker who knows Spanish is very marketable around here. Plus, I always have that classroom itch.

Faggfest 2012 is all set for Silverwood in July. I have made our reservations and am ready for some serious Fagg festivities. There will be lots of hair twirling, rocking (chair style), and silly conversations that make no sense but Amy will remember for the rest of her days. I can't wait.

We have been busy around here lately. Our house-hunt has dialed up in seriousness, so our house has been getting a lot of attention it needs to be put on the market. So far we've replaced outdated light fixtures and window coverings, Bernie has started patching the walls for touch-up paint, and I have been de-cluttering like mad. We got a small storage unit to put all our extra junk in and have started a garage sale pile. Hopefully, we will move to our new house a little lighter. I have also been going Craigslist crazy getting rid of our baby stuff. There is still a long list to accomplish, but we hope to be ready to get the house listed soon.

We will likely find a new house before we list ours, just because the logistics will be easier to work out. It would be difficult to find somewhere to stay if we sold this house before getting a new one. There isn't much on the market right now, but it should pick up as spring approaches. I am VERY excited to find our forever house. We'll be picky, so we have an open-ended timeline to make sure we find what we are looking for.

Vivian is now walking almost everywhere. She's at the really cute stage where she looks like she is waddling and still has her fat little legs. I'm trying to soak it in because she'll be a crazy toddler soon enough. She is learning her animal sounds and recently added the "please" sign to her "more" sign. I die of cute each time she puts them both together.

Bennett is still adding speech rapidly in large chunks. He's got some 4-5 word sentences and is learning new words every day. It feels so awesome to listen to him mimic what we say......finally. Now I better watch my mouth. He is really loving preschool which is a relief. And so far we are happy with our decision to place him in public school.

Both of the kids are in swimming lessons. Bennett seems to be at a developmental stage where he is soaking it up better. It helps that he loves the pool and has asked me to go swimming 20 times since Tuesday. Vivian was a crying mess the first time and about 50% better the second. Fingers crossed that she will enjoy pool time more as time goes on.

We are guinea pig sitting in February for 2.5 weeks for my aunt and uncle. Bennett loved having Bugsey here this past summer, and I'm sure this time will be even better since there are two pigs instead of one.

Home in 2012

Phoenix made for a lovely December vacation destination. The weather was awesome (mostly in the mid-70's with a couple of 80 degree days). I didn't even miss the snow considering we got a heavy foot of it the day before we left. Traveling with the kids was challenging but never as bad as it has the potential to be. Having the Iphone to entertain Bennett while we check in and go through security is helpful. But I am very confused on the boarding policies of some airlines. Why in the world to they board front to back?? Maybe they noticed what a bad idea it was when the flight attendant had to take a bag from me because I was apparently hitting people on the head with it while trying to carry a VERY uncooperative Bennett to his seat.

The same flight attendant approached us right before take off and whispered the following:

"As long as you are doing your job as Mom and Dad, I don't have any problem with a screaming child. If anyone says anything to you about it, let me deal with them...it's my job." That was a first for me, but she needn't have worried. Despite Bennett's almost-fit and Vivian's pre-boarding huge melt-down, both kids were basically angels during the flight.

Anyway, back to vacation talk. We had a great time with all of Bernie's family. It's always fun to stay with Crystal and Jeremie so the cousins can have some time together. Bennett did better interacting with them this year, but by the end was ready to go home. Vivian seemed to enjoy all the commotion, minus Emily wanting to pick her up/walk her/generally be in her face all the time. I would expect nothing else from a six year old and it was actually very sweet to see how interested she was in Vivian.

We shopped, played golf, drank margaritas, went in the hot tub, ate lots of good food, toured a dairy, drank margaritas, gambled for approximately 5 minutes at the casino, went to the train museum/park (Bennett's highlight), and drank more margaritas. I got to see Bernie and his sisters when they were very little on an old home movie. And we soaked up the sun, which is always welcome in the winter.

Bennett is back to preschool on Thursday. Vivian is walking very sporadically. That about wraps up the excitement for the moment I think. Happy New Year!