Steady As She Goes

I never managed to make it back to the blog before Christmas to post my wishlist, but needless to say I got exactly what I really wanted for the big day: a wonderful holiday season with my family and joyful kids on Christmas morning. We also got a lot cleaned out of the house over the holiday break, with multiple trips to Goodwill and the dump. That, my friends, was truly the Christmas miracle.

And as a small bonus, we finished one of our projects set for completion in 2012. Less than two weeks into 2012 and I can already check something off the house "To Do" list for this year....yessss!!

Behold, our redone bar chairs. (iPhone picture, so please forgive the quality) I wish I had a "before" picture, but can't seem to find one. Alas, here is the finish product. I bought the chairs off Craigslist for a mere $40 for all three. They started off as a bad oak-like color with off white, tweed chair cushions. This is what they look like now.

Here's what it ran us:
Chairs $40
Fabric: $16
Paint: $8
Total for project: $64
Cost per chair: $21.33

If I saw these in a store, I'd pay $21 for one. The best part? They are completely one of a kind now. We're pretty in love with them. Next up...our new glass-tile backsplash in the kitchen. I'll provide pictures when it's complete.

We interrupt the holidays....

My next post was going to cover my Christmas list and all the wonders I'd love to see under the tree on Christmas morning, but instead I'm interrupting the holiday season for a birthday party. That's right, we celebrated a birthday this past weekend. If you assumed it was mine, you'd be assuming wrong. Then again, you know what they say about assuming....

No, this weekend was the official party to celebrate Miss Sophia turning 5. Though she actually turned 5 the end of October, our schedule just didn't work (and Kelsey Creek Farms didn't have any party openings) until now. Sophia didn't mind the extended birthday - who wouldn't love more presents six weeks after your actual birthday - and got to spend the afternoon touring the farm and seeing the animals with all her little friends.

Happy Birthday my darling, spirited little girl!

Believe

Each year I watch my kids start months in advance prepping and preparing their Christmas lists. For Hudson and Sophia we mostly translate, though this year Sophia can write her own list for the first time. The lists always have pictures that go along with them, just in case Santa gets confused and needs some visual aid. For Isabelle, the list is long and extensive and complex above one's wildest imagination. Oh, and expensive. Did I mention expensive?

Fortunately, as least as far as I know, Isabelle still believes in Santa...and it literally brings tears to my eyes that she does. Some might say it's naive, that she's too old to believe in such a thing, but I adore that she believes, and that she encourages her brother and sister to be good so Santa will come. I want her to believe for as long as possible. I see no reason to burst the bubble and tell her that Santa, in the way she knows him, does not exist. I accept that the day will come, and every season I pray "please don't let it be this year," but I accept it's coming. And when it does, we'll keep the magic alive for Hudson and Sophia as long as possible and she'll find the joy in being excited for them like we are right now. But when it's gone there's no getting it back, so I'm enjoying it now.

I remember making my Christmas list growing up. The anticipation, the hope that when you wrote something down on that piece of paper that maybe, just maybe, you'd find it under the tree on Christmas morning. I wish I could give my kids the world. I wish I could give Isabelle every single item on her 50 item (no joke) Christmas list. I wish I could give Sophia all the American Girl dolls that she wants, or Hudson every Lego set on the Lego aisle. Alas I cannot, but I still encourage them to write, encourage them to wish, and encourage them to believe.

Next update...my Christmas list. :)

Four minutes of sanity

It is exactly .89 miles from Sophia and Hudson's preschool to my office. I completely bask in the glory that is the two minutes (each way) of alone time that this trip allows me. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's these four minutes that allow me to cling to my sanity at times.

Each day I cannot wait to walk both of them to class, give them a hug and kiss, wish them a good day, threaten them that they better be good, and then wave goodbye as I leave. The threat is a guarantee; the hug and kiss may or may not happen depending upon their attitudes in the car going to school. But the threat? I fear for their teachers, if I were to forget the threat. Sophia gets dropped off first, and then Hudson. After my last "be good," I am practically skipping out the door and up the steps to the car.

People must think I'm just that excited to get to work. Hardly.

In reality, I know the next two minutes are all mine. The music I listen to is something I want to hear and it's typically some pop song that is no longer "cool" in Isabelle's eyes. Most days you will find me around 900 AM driving through Factoria singing at the top of my lungs, head bobbing and ear drums on the verge of shattering. The kids make fun of me when I sing (I suck), and complain when the music is too loud. They are incredibly lame and I can hardly believe they are mine most days. Other days I listen to sad bastard music that reminds me of older times and when played in the car with Isabelle causes her to start making gagging noises followed by her simulating death. (Missing You by John Waite...More Than Words by Extreme...Be With You by Mr. Big....man, it's 1993 all over again.) She doesn't appreciate my high school classics.

At 300 PM the cycle starts all over again. I leave work and know that my two minutes are counting down from the moment I hit the car. At this point, I usually don't care enough about the day anymore to attempt excitment over a song. I merely ride along in silence, gearing up for the night ahead...homework, soccer practice, constant requests in the car of how to spell something, breaking up fights like a WWE ref (foreign objects in the ring a given), after school activities, dinner...you get the idea.

But those four minutes? Man, they're good.

This update brought to you by Initiative 1183

As I sit here next to Isabelle while she writes out her thoughts on the King County election taking place this week, I find myself with some time since we just finished our hot debate on Initiative 1183. Therefore, I figured I'd knock out a quick update on the month of October in our house. (On a sidenote, I'm not sure my 9 year old should be writing her election thoughts on a topic in which she's arguing on the side to close state liquor stores so that Mom and Dad can buy liquor at Costco...but whatever. In her words, "why does the state get to add so much tax and make so much money and not everyone else." Amen, sister.)

ANYWAY...while she writes down her final thoughts, here are a few pics from this month. In quick summary, we did the following:

1) Watched/played a lot of soccer games (approximately 20 in October)
2) Remodeled the kitchen
3) Went to the pumpkin patch (3 times, in fact)
4) Grandad came to visit
5) Drove many many many miles between practices, extracurricular activities, dance, etc. to the point that I'm pretty sure the state will be building me my own lane on 405...or at least they should
6) Celebrated darling Sophia's 5th birthday
7) Wrapped up the month with our now annual tradition of the Halloween Death March. This year with an astounding 28 people in the group. We clean houses out of candy, people. No lie.

Hope everyone else had a magical October. We leave for Hawaii in a week and a half and I. CAN'T. WAIT. It's 40 degrees here right now...and 83 in Hawaii. Yeah, that'll do just fine.

Questions

I haven't written much in a while, so probably no need to start now. But for your entertainment, I'm stealing from Crystal to switch things up a little.

1. What ringtone do you have on your cellphone? If Todd calls, it's Baby by Justin Bieber. (I know. No, really, I know.) For all other calls it's All Summer Long by Kid Rock. With summer coming to a close (boo!), it's probably time to change that. And probably the Biebs while we're at it.

2. What is your favorite memory from this summer? Wow. Tough one. Early summer we went to Disneyland, which is always memory making. Late summer I watched my daughter win her first soccer tournament championship at Bigfoot. I took a spectacular trip to Vegas with friends and spouse, and was fortunate enough to have my mom and my dad both come visit with us this summer plus see dear friends from Texas that I don't see enough. Impossible to pick a favorite.

3. Paper books or ebooks? Can't lie, I love my Kindle. Paper books are still cool but the convenience of downloading whatever I want at will, and switching books without having to leave the sofa...my lazy side gives that a standing ovation.

4. If you could have one home upgrade, what would it be and why? Currently we are more than 75% done with a kitchen remodel that we've longed to do since we bought our house 5 years ago, so I guess I'm taking that off the list. Past that, it would have to be our second bathroom downstairs. It's embarassing and must be shown who's boss in the very near future. That remodel will also gain me a laundry room/area (bonus!) so that rocks. As for the why of this...we have five people in our house and share one bathroom. That has one sink. You do the math.

5. When was your first serious boyfriend/girlfriend? Probably 7th grade. We went out the entire year and he was the first boy I kissed. By 7th grade definition, it was "serious." For what I would define as "serious" now, I would have to say Todd was my first serious boyfriend. And that was high school, which I think justifies definition of "serious" much more realistically.

Sea Fair Weekend