Christmas, Christmas, and More Christmas

So this year has been a Christmas reality check for me.  I grew up in a bizarre set of surroundings where holidays went mostly unnoticed.  The only person that I was close to who even bothered celebrating them were my Grandma Pat, and I do have a few nice memories of the Christmas tree and a family dinner with the Fagg Family.  But during my early memories, my dad was reveling in his newfound cult/religion.  I didn't even officially celebrate holidays in school until 3rd grade because I subscribed to my dad's religion at the time. My mom could never be bothered and balked at the commercialization of everything even then.  You have to cut her some slack though, as she grew up with a bunch of Jehovahs.  So, yeah, my experiences with Christmas was patchy at best.

I struggle with the meaning of Christmas because of my past and because I am an Atheist.  This is the first year where I know Bennett may be forming lasting memories.  What do we want them to be?  What does Christmas mean to us as individuals, as a couple, and as parents?  I won't speak for Bernie at all.  His experiences have been wholly different from mine growing up in a Catholic/Christmas is a big deal kind of family.  What about Santa Claus?  I never believed and don't feel a void for it.  I don't have any answers for any of this, but I have been thinking about it all a lot.  And I have been doing LOTS of Christmas stuff this year.  Tree, presents, crafts, gingerbread houses, charity donations, cookies...all are checked off the list and accounted for.  I have enjoyed most of it, but also felt the stress of all of the self-imposed goals and deadlines.  So, I will try to take it more easy on all of us next year and hopefully let whatever Christmas is going to mean to us as a family form a bit more naturally.

Bernie's birthday is coming up!  For some reason, birthdays were the holiday that NEVER went unnoticed in my house.  I decided to surprise him with a May trip to Chicago to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field for the first time.  He already knows since I had to book the tickets last week.  I think he's excited-especially since we are going child free!!  Bernie's mom is coming down to stay with the kids for four nights.  It will be our first real trip without them.  It will be a good dry run for our upcoming big trip...timing and location undecided.  Probably South America sometime early next year.

My mom ended up not coming down because my grandma came down with shingles.  She seems to be on the mend now and is back at work for awhile most days.  It's the second time she has had it, which I guess is fairly uncommon.  But then again, I had the chicken pox three times as a child and everyone knows the difficulty I have had with cold sores in the past.  I'll be running for the shingles vaccine at 60, that's for sure.

Bennett is on Christmas break now, so we'll see how we all do with full days with Bernie at work and possibly some snow.  I am looking forward to it.

I am sitting on my couch after a glass of wine and piece of pecan chocolate tart.  I turned on the NGHFB's DVD and I think I'm ready to write a post!

Today was Bennett's 4th Birthday that came with all of the cliche "my baby is growing up" feelings.  We took him to a very overwhelmingly huge train show in Denver and he did pretty well.  I can see where he gets some of his crowd anxiety moments.  There were multiple times I just wanted to run out of that building, but we all made it through and had some fun.  He opened his presents first thing this morning and has been loving his new trains the most.  Bernie had to work this afternoon/evening, so the rest of our festivities have been laid back.  I made cupcakes and Bennett blew out the candles.  I recorded a video while I was singing Happy Birthday.  He then watched it about a dozen times.  Every time it ended, he pushed play and said "I want to listen to Mama singing to me again!" Awwwwwww....

I don't think I wrote about the surprise birthday party Bernie through for me last month.  It was really a special day, one of those that I will always remember.  Marlena was able to drive down and we had a great time hanging out.  It also reminded me that I have made some great friends since moving to Colorado.  30 generally feels pretty good, no complaints on the aging front at the  moment.  But I suppose I better take my own gerontologist advice and remember how relative age is.

That's a lot of birthday talk.  They come fast and close together around here.  It won't be long until Bernie turns 35 on January 15th.

I have been running consistently and doing some exercise stuff on the Wii.  Pre-Thanksgiving-binge-fest, I was down below 140.  I'm feeling in decent shape and am excited to build on that for the rest of the winter.  I've conquered a couple of 5 mile runs and hope to increase the distance as my hips/knees allow.

My mom is talking about coming down in December.  Bernie and I are hoping to sneak out town for a night or two, maybe just to Boulder or the mountains.  We'll have to wait and see how her dates line up with Bernie's days off.  She likes to wait until the very last moment to see if she can get a cheap ticket.  

Bennett is almost 4 and Vivian is almost 2. Here is what they've been up to...

Bennett

-He is talking one million times more than when he turned three.  He speaks in complete sentences and is pretty easy to understand.  He still struggles with turning his thoughts into words.

-is surprisingly polite.  He always says "thank you" and "excuse me" at the appropriate times, but still needs reminders for "please."

-loves Angry Birds in Space

-loves loves loves anything to do with Thomas and trains in general

-can get himself dressed 90% of the way, still needing help getting things on the right direction

-continues with OT and ST at school as well as both privately.  He has grown to love both his private therapists.

-enjoys going to preschool and always tells his teachers that he has missed them.

-getting more patient all the time.  Bennett still does best with a set schedule/routine and warnings when things are changing or are different.

-pushes Vivian down every chance he gets.

-sucks his thumb and is attached to blankets

-has just started to shape actual letters

-has the most amazing brain for memorization that I have ever encountered.  He has Skippyjon Jones books memorized and can spell at least 50 words.

-struggles with socializing and playing with other children.


Vivian

-talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.  If only I understood more than 50% of it.

-is a mimic for everything.  That's a new experience for us.  I've heard her say "shit" a couple of times recently.

-is a shrimp.  She is short and weighed 22 lbs at 18 months.  I don't think she'll pass 23 lbs by much at two.  She's been in 18 month clothes since the 1st of April now.

-twirls her hair just like a Fagg woman.  In fact, we had to chop it short last week because she was tying knots in it and losing chunks daily.

-plays amazingly well by herself.  It's a good thing, since Bennett mostly ignores her if possible.

-loves Hailey

-loves shoes, specifically wearing two different ones.

-is attached to her Gabba blanket

-loves dancing and is beginning to sing along to music in the car

-started going up and down the stairs on her feet without holding on to anything this week.  I have about 7 heart attacks daily.  She still prefers to go down the slide on her tummy.

-is extraordinarily strong-willed.


Family

-I need to paint Bennett's room and maybe post some after-move pictures one of these days.

-Bernie had a great time hunting in North Dakota and we all had an overall fun vacation.  Surprisingly, there are a ton of things to do with kids in Bismarck.  They had the best pumpkin patch ever, the zoo, and one of the best kid's sections in their public libraries that I have ever seen.

-I am starting to plan a co-party for the kids on November 10th.  They are just too close together to have separately every year.  And I'm having it catered.  Whew!

-Spanish is going well.  I am starting the second class on Monday.

We can all pretend that I am going to update more frequently, but I think everyone would be disappointed.  For whatever reason, this is always the last thing on my to-do list that gets done.  

All is well at the Meier house.  We are FINALLY transitioning into fall and I am loving that.  I was just thinking this morning that I need to get the kids on a leaf-collecting walk and look at Pinterest for a leaf project that we probably won't ever complete!  Anyone seeing a theme here??  To my credit, we finally did some Angry Bird rock painting this morning.  I've only had the rocks sitting around for 4 months or so.  It didn't go too well since Bennett is totally freaked out about having paint on his hands and the rocks need to be held in order to paint on all sides.  But we did it!  I just have to find some eyes to paste on them.  I applaud the effort of my non-artistic self.

Bennett has been sick for a few days now.  Not the lay in bed all day kind of sick, but he's been out of school for the past two days.  He has a very hoarse voice and some mild coughing.  The on-call pediatrician he saw yesterday suspected croup since it's going around.  So now we are treating that and waiting to see if Vivian gets it as well.  Bennett is a little more emotional and lower energy than usual, but otherwise is functioning like his normal self.  It makes it hard to keep him resting.  

We had our house-warming party over the weekend.  It was a good time and a fairly big party.  I'm sure we had 40-50 people here-seemingly all of them with 1-3 kids.  Our house seemed to work really well for that kind of get-together.  It did make me happy that we have decided to do the kiddo birthday parties together this year.  

My mom left on Saturday after a week-long visit.  All in all it was successful and we are all still living.  She is already talking about coming back in November.  She likes those cheap day after Thanksgiving flights.  

We took the kids to Day out with Thomas on Sunday.  Bennett was just starting to get sick and was very difficult to focus and deal with.  He is still talking about it, so I assume he had a good time on some level.  Maybe next year will be better.  

Promise Walk planning is starting again.  I had a really promising meeting with a couple of volunteers who want to be on the planning committee.  It looks like we are going to drop the 5K and focus on making the event as meaningful to our participants as possible.  That should also help us keep costs under control.  We have a "budget" meeting with the national coordinator on Friday, so we will see what she has to say about it.  I have a feeling it will along the lines of "spend as little money as necessary, and raise as much as possible!"  Just a hunch.  But I am getting my enthusiasm for it back, so that's a good thing.  

I am at the end of my first Spanish class and am happy so far.  I feel like I am about at beginning of the third year of high school.  We are starting the preterite in the next session.  That should confuse me nicely for awhile.    

We are North Dakota bound (driving....gag)  in about 10 days.  Bernie is finally going hunting after a three year hiatus.  I'm looking forward to it.

Motivation to update this blog has been lacking lately.

Bernie's parents were here for a visit last week.  We took the kids up to the mountains to ride the train on the Georgetown loop.  Bennett was very pleased.  I can't imagine what his reaction is going to be when we go to "Day Out With Thomas" next month.  I think he will either be very excited or totally afraid.  That trip will include a ride on a life-size Thomas and Sir Topam Hatt will be there as well.  I am trying to prepare him now to minimize the shock.

It's always nice to have grandparents (or any visitors) around.  Bernie and I finally got to use a hotel stay in Broomfield that he won at a 5K over a year ago.  It was weird to sleep somewhere and not be in any danger of hearing your child cry.

Speaking of 5K's, I have finally recommitted to running.  I even have a schedule of 3 days on and 1 day off.  I have been feeling motivated to go every day and have seen some improvements already.  The plan will be to run a couple of races this fall with the goal of running one in under 30 minutes.  I think the fastest I could do it now is around 33 minutes, so there is a lot of work to do.

In other self-improvement news, I signed up for a Spanish class in Boulder.  It starts next week.  I hope my brain is ready to deal with language-learning again.  My resume needs some kind of addition for future job hunting and it is something I have wanted to pick up again for a long time.

Bernie has been hard at work in the yard-seeding the dead spots, pulling endless weeds, and tearing down dead trees with his bare hands.  He really did that last thing this morning.  It was a small tree that had been very dead for a very long time, but still a manly display.  I'm waiting and hoping for the raised beds I want on lowe.com to go on sale so we can get those installed this fall.  And then there's our very large, hot, uncovered patio.  We have gotten one bid and will get another tomorrow for covering possibilities.  It seems that the projects are never-ending even in a semi-new house.

Our container tomatos and peppers have not done well at all.  I'm sure it has something to do with the zillion degree heat we've had all summer.  I will be glad to have a regular garden back next year.  And fall, I'm very very glad that fall is almost here.

Bennett went back to his old public preschool today.  The class he was in last year was only 7 kids, so it seemed a shock for him to see it full with 14 today.  He really loves his teachers there though.  I think he will be fine once he readjusts, but there is always the danger of him falling into the background because he is often quiet and withdrawn.  We will see what happens.

My mom used a gift card I gave her to get her very first pedicure at a spa in Great Falls.  I gave it to her 2005.  She recently found it in her car.  And then she sent me an email photo of her gigantic feet as a thank you.  It's the gift that keeps on giving according to her.

Vacation Recap, etc.

We got back from Great Falls last week, but I haven't had time to update until now.  We convinced Amy to make the trip back with us for a little visit.  She has the summers off of work, so it was the perfect opportunity.  She stayed six days and we had a lot of fun.  We did a little (ok, more than that) shopping, including her first trip to Ikea.  I hadn't been to the one that opened here last fall.  Saturday wasn't the best choice for that but we had fun anyway.  We both found a rocking chair that we love and will be perfect for those moments we Faggs need to center ourselves by rocking back and forth like babies.

The trip itself was good and bad.  It was a very long drive there (13.5 hours) and worse because Bennett wasn't feeling well.  He had a fever before we left and the illness got worse for the first 6 days of the trip.  He was not himself.  We took him to the immediate care twice in Great Falls and once in Missoula.  His gums were sore, swollen, and bleeding.  That made eating, talking, tooth-brushing, and just about everything else lots of fun.  His attitude was understandably terrible.  His behavior was the most challenging that it has been for his entire life.  We finally got him on some antibiotics and things started to get better on day 4 or so.  He was good to go by the time we got to Seeley Lake and we tried to run as much pent-up energy as possible out of him.  The kids loved being at the cabin and spending time at the lake.

It was great to see Sara, Melanie, and Marlena in Great Falls.  A few of us had a late night at the Stein Haus/Sip and Dip, which was my most hung-over moment.  My mom was able to spend more time with the kids than usual and Bennett LOVED the train that passed in front of her house.  My dad is doing surprisingly well at his assisted living.  He's the only man living there at the moment and the staff/residents dote on him.  I took him to an epic almost-three-hour-long trip to Hastings so he could pick out about 40 CD's.  He's obsessed with music at the moment.  It's an expensive habit, but it keeps his mind active and he seems happy, so I don't complain.  But I probably better go check his bank account balance!

I loved being in Missoula for a couple of days.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown and were able to walk to most of the things we wanted to do.  We had dinner with my cousin Denise and visited with my old practicum supervisor.  It did remind me how I love Missoula and put to rest any doubt I had about not returning to Great Falls.  If I can't live in Missoula, where we are is the next best place.

Faggfest was also a lot of fun.  We hung out at my Aunt's cabin a lot and just spent time talking and drinking beer with the clan.  What could be better than that?  We missed the Washington Fagg group though, and I hope we will see them in the not-too-distant future.

We are just trying to return to normal around here.  Potty training is progressing slowly but steadily.  Vivian is weaned and sleeping through the night.  It feels like we are on the brink of the next stage in the kid's development and that's an exciting time.  I have a few projects going on in the house right now (painting and creating a stairway gallery of family pictures) and we are going to hit the yard projects soon to get ready for next spring.  I will try to get some pictures up of our progress.

Settling in

It seems like we are finally settling back into a routine and it feels good.

We are doing the potty training thing with Bennett pretty hardcore at the moment.  He is only wearing diapers to bed, and is otherwise in pull-ups or underwear during the day.  It is going well most days.  He can be resistant to peeing, but can usually be convinced.  Pee accidents are fairly rare.  He usually refuses to go poop in the potty (or in his diaper for that matter) and holds it like crazy instead.  So he is on a steady diet of stool softener to regulate things out.  That and lots and lots and lots of bribes.  We're those parents for sure.  Right now he is working towards a Thomas bridge for his train tracks.

Our garden is quite small this year as we need to do some serious planning for the yard for next year.  I just bought a few tomatoes and peppers for containers and will see how that goes.  We also signed up for a CSA at a local farm and have been getting plenty of veggies from there every week.  It's pushed me to try new things and new recipes (collard greens for example).  And it's nice to get the kids at least exposed to different things, even if they don't always eat them.  Bennett has actually improved immensely and will try almost anything.  He loves mac and cheese all of a sudden after refusing to even touch it for 3+ years and is easily convinced to eat most vegetables.

Bennett is enjoying his new preschool and Vivian is loving the extra time alone with us.  She is now sleeping through the night better than 50% of the time.  Mom is doing the extra-happy dance every morning when I wake up having gotten seven or more hours of uninterrupted sleep.

We have been going cable-less since we moved into the new house.  It seemed silly to pay over $100 a month for something we rarely watched.  The kids like their daily dose of cartoons, so we have been hooking up the ipad to the TV to supply those.  I just signed up for streaming Netflix to see what we think.  Are there any other suggestions?  I really want to watch Six Feet Under in it's entirety, but I'm definitely not buying it on iTunes and it isn't available streaming on Netflix.  I might just have to sign up to get the DVD's in the mail from them instead.

We have our weekly trip to the library this afternoon, so I better get to taping up some of the books we borrowed.

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!