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 So far we've replaced outdated light fixtures and window coverings, Bernie has started patching the walls for touch-up paint, and I have been de-cluttering like mad.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!