It's Official!

Speaking of Houses

I've had houses and homes on my mind a lot these days. So, here are some fun house-related things.

1. Nathan posted several of the house pictures that he did for us on his blog. I love these and I'm excited to see the rest too. He did such a great job - Jordan said after looking at these he feels like he needs to work harder at keeping our house nice because it looks so good in the pics. :)

2. After having read about a million home-for-sale descriptions, I thought this *dollhouse* blurb was great.

3. Even though we decided not to move to Texas, we still have this flyer from our Lubbock dream home up on our bulletin board. It really was the most beautiful home we have looked at in all of our home searching.

click to enlarge if you want to see :)

4. TravelinOma wrote a great story today about "the house that built me" - so funny.

5. If our house doesn't sell for a reasonable price, Jordan wants to build on a sunroom like this onto the back. ;)

Happy Moment of the Day

An elderly man at Macey's stood nearby watching this morning as I got Landon and Ellie loaded into a car-cart. It was quite a process - Landon choosing which car cart (red? blue? red? blue?), pulling it out of the narrow aisle (though not quite far enough, meaning some squishing in between the other carts), Landon climbing in (on Ellie's side) then Ellie (so excitedly) trying to figure out what to do (now that Landon was in her spot), at last happily discovering she could walk around to the other side, climbing in/being pulled in by Landon... close the doors, try out the steering wheel horns... and we're off!

As we headed into the store, this man said something kindly that I couldn't quite understand, then asked "You have two children?" and with a smile "I hope you have a dozen more!" said with such happiness like it was the sweetest compliment he could think to say to me.

I'm always so grateful for kind strangers who help me feel like I'm doing a good job as a mom. :)

Almost 10 years ago...

I wrote this for an English assignment in high school - an imagined journal for myself 10 years older. I knew then how much I would love being a mother. I didn't know that the day-to-dayness of motherhood wouldn't bother me - that those every day routines themselves would be a joy to me. And I knew I'd have a hard-working loving husband, but apparently I imagined he'd be working himself into an ever-tired state. :)

March 7, 2011

Well, today was a busy day as usual. Emma has decided that she no longer needs my help, so I've had to spend all of my time correcting messes - rebuttoning her shirt, switching her shoes to the right feet, pulling knots out of her hair, and tasting her creations. She has a mind of her own... She loves to hold Conner and play with him, which is nice...

With Logan gone all day, it's hard to keep on top of things...he works so hard for us...I am so grateful to him for letting me stay home with Conner and Em. I miss teaching, but it's nothing compared to watching my own kids grow up. Maybe someday I'll go back.

Today, I took Emma and Conner to the park - it was nice for Emma to get some energy out and it was a beautiful day. After all this gray weather I just love to see the blue skies and get out of the house. Conner was a little fussy but once I got him to sleep, it was a nice afternoon. I had to give Emma a bath though when we got home and that was quite a job, as usual. Trying to keep Conner from crying while trying to keep Emma from getting out of the tub is quite a trick.

...Well, that's about all that's happened lately. It seems like all these days just blur together. Every day is the same things - get the kids dressed, breakfast, clean up, change diapers, nap, lunch, change diapers, clean up, dinnertime, and get the kids to bed.

But I love every day of this.

Even though Logan's so tired, he's always good at reading to Emma or rocking Conner to sleep while I clean up some more (it seems like our house can't stay clean for more than an hour!) While he watches the news I finally get a chance to rest and a moment to breath.

But everyday is something new. Emma will draw me a picture, Conner will learn a new word. They are such little things, but it's those things that I love so much.

My house of dreams

We spent the day cleaning and scrubbing and weeding and arranging today while Nathan took photos of our home. After such a long day working, we looked at a few of the pictures Nathan had sent over.

They were amazing. We laughed out loud to see them because they were just so gorgeous -- could this really be our home?

And it made me cry to look at these beautiful photos of our home that I love so much, and think of leaving it.

Such a sweet time of my life has been here in this home that we've put such loving care into. So many happy memories of our two little children's fast growing days are here.

I told Jordan that I just might not be able to leave - he said he'll start digging a basement. :)

The Great Escape

We thought maybe the kids were sleeping well enough to put Ellie back up in the munchkin room close to Landon - and maybe so, but we've been off to a bit of a rough start. Like Ellie so proudly climbing out of her crib and going in to visit her big brother tonight.

(In Landon's words)

Mommy and Daddy! Ellie got out of her crib!!!

I was sleeping and sleeping and Ellie came in here to see me ... and she was smiling, because she thought it would be exciting...but I was worried because it was a fright!

The Great Escape