Backing It Up

Yes, this is a Christmas post.  Fitting, as we are a mere 4 months until Christmas 2015.  Now that I can once again download pictures, I may as well update for posterity.  

The kids and I spent Christmas in Nevada (M had to work out of town).  Although I am a homebody, and there is nothing quite like Christmas in your own home, Nevada is a close second.  And I think we were all in need of a getaway.  

Before we left, we were able to have a family Christmas at home (just a few days early), with gingerbread houses and presents.  

Before leaving, J starred as Tiny Tim in his school's performance of A Christmas Carol.  

He did a great job, and it was a wonderfully festive night. 

Early morning flight.  Troopers!

Christmas Crafts

Christmas morning

My gorgeous girl

Hiking

State Line

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a train.  

We even enjoyed a little snow!  Too bad it was mostly melted by noon.  All too soon we had to return to Ohio (and who knew that more snow days would be waiting for us?!).  

 

Catching Up in 2015

I stopped blogging for a number of reasons, the main ones being computer issues and seasonal exhaustion.  Ohio had another freezing cold winter, and between the grey, the cold, and the 15+ snow days, I just couldn't.

But we're not in Ohio any more, and the computer issues are .... better..... so I will do my best to cobble together a few catch-up posts.  I'm having trouble accessing photos from the last 5 months, so I suppose we will start with the more recent past.

At the end of June, the kids, the dog, and I said good-bye to Ohio & our friends, and moved to Texas.  No worries - Daddy comes in a few months.

It was a long & stressful 3 day drive (mostly because of the dog), but we made it.  We are settling in, unpacking (STILL!), and getting acclimated.  Yes, it's hot, but most places are in mid-July.  We are loving the friendly people, the sunny skies, and the abundance of things to do.  

We've been to the Farmer's Market...

Crossed the Suspension Bridge....

Visited the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor Campus.  Recommend.  

Daddy came to visit and we went to Medieval Times!

2 hour show & everybody was entertained.  

We also took part in Cow Appreciation Day.....

And have been spending quality time at the local water park.  

That's it in a nutshell.  We're happy to be here, but yes, a little lonely. 

Friends take time, and I guess that right now we've got nothing but time.

It's 2015

I suppose it's time to get back to this blogging thing.  

2015 holds major changes for us, and even if I feel like I'm only talking to myself on here, I should still record this stuff for memory, right? 

I'll update about Christmas in another post, but for now I'll focus on what's going to affect our entire year: Our Move to Texas.

That's right.  In just a few short months, we will become Texans.

In full disclosure, we've had this locked in since the end of May.  Very early, but we feel good about how everything worked out.  

I'm excited that we will be moving to a larger city.  As I've told the kids, it has about 80% of what we want, and the other 20% is within an 80 minute drive.  Given that we've spent the last 4 years 90 minutes from the nearest Target, that sounds like Heaven.  

So now my days are filled with plans to sell the house and coordinate the move.  Dates are a bit fluid.... we don't want to have to move until school is done here, but the kids and I will get there first because school starts in August.  We plan to rent for a while because we want to be very sure that this is the right career move for Husband.  And because I firmly believe that you don't really get to know a city until you've lived there for a while.  What looks good on paper is usually a little different in the light of day.  

We are very, very excited.
I'm embracing The Move, so heads up, you're going to see lots of Texas references here.
Yáll.   

     

Recitation

Each student is required to recite a poem at morning exercises.  This was J's day.  

September Vacation

Knowing that our time in this area is limited, the Outer Banks has been at the top of my must-see-before-we-leave list.  In September we were able to make it happen. 

We left on a Saturday, right after soccer games.  Daddy is always on the hunt for more pressed pennies, so we made a few unscheduled stops like this one: 

We stayed the night in Richmond, then proceeded south the next morning.  We stopped in Norfolk at the Nauticus museum.  We almost had the place to ourselves!

We also got a shot with Grave Digger (still looking for those pennies.....)

The kids' first view of the Atlantic Ocean.  The weather was nice for most of our trip.  Sunny, high 70's.  The wind was constant (there's a reason the Wright Brothers chose Kill Devil Hills for their flying experiments), and after the first few days the seas became fairly rough.  But not bad enough to keep us away!

We visited the Roanoke site, learning about the Lost Colony.  

And saw most of the famous lighthouses.  

Bodie Island

Cape Hatteras

The kids also learned to Boogie Board

Currituck Lighthouse

 And of course, we had to visit the Wright Brother's Memorial.  

It was so cool to learn about their process, to walk the path of their first 4 flights, and to see the reconstructed workshop.  I also did not know that this is one of the only national memorials where one of the people it is dedicated to was actually at the opening ceremonies (Orville).  

The details: We stayed in Kill Devil Hills in a condo I rented online.  It was wonderful!  We had plenty of space, and the beach was a short walk across the street.  The condo was equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, board games, books, beach chairs, sand toys - everything we needed.  We spent time at the beach each day, but also explored the surrounding area.  Because we visited after school was back in session the crowds were very manageable.  Still plenty of people on the beach, but it wasn't "crowded".  It was a 4 star family vacation!

A Revelation

We know we're moving.

It's not until next summer, but the thought always lurks in the back of my head.... "you're moving... are you ready?.... where will you live?  what will you do?  when will it happen?  are you purging the house yet? do you really need to buy that?  you'll just have to pack it....."

As you can see, I have a very ACTIVE inner monologue.  This is the reason I look tired all the time.

I've worked since I was 14.  My longest stretch without a job was late 2009-early 2012, after I was laid off (a dark time).  I've been working part-time for going on 2 1/2 years, and while the job is.... a job, I can't complain about the workload, the pay, or the hours.  I like working.  I like the interaction with other adults, and frankly, I like the satisfaction of earning a paycheck & contributing to the family (or to my handbag collection).  When The Move was decided, I started thinking about where I would work and when I would start to look for that work.  Matt and I talked about it.  He encouraged me to think about what I wanted to do & where I should do it.  There is a Prestigious University in this new town of ours, and I like the idea of being able to say "Oh yes, I work at _____." But then I started looking at jobs and working hours, and thinking.

Right now it's Fall.  School has only been in session for 9 weeks or so, but every day when I finish work at 1pm, I feel like it's a sprint to bedtime.  Errands, exercise, soccer practice, music lessons, church activities, meetings, school pickup, doctor appointments, cleaning, laundry, dinner prep, lunch prep, grocery shopping.  You know the drill.  Most of my days end with me mentally tallying up what didn't get done, and feeling bad about it all.  I know things will quiet down a bit once soccer ends, but it starts again just a few months later.  

I found a full-time job at The Prestigious University that I think would be perfect for me.  I know we're a long way out, but I like to plan & plot & process as much as I can, and this job had me doing all those things.  And then A Revelation came.

At the end of one of those long-sprint days, I suddenly thought "Why would I do that to myself?".  If I only work 20 hours a week right now and I feel like I'm barely keeping it together, what makes me think that working 40 hours a week is do-able?  Much less a GOOD idea?  Do not mistake what I'm saying.  I know there are millions of two-income households who do this every day, and are just fine.  They've got it dialed in (or at least they look like they do), and I envy them.  But for me and  MY household, I just couldn't stop thinking: Why?  Why add to the stress?  Why add to the guilt?  Why add to the last minute pizza runs that still happen too often for my liking?

I am incredibly fortunate that I have the option to think these thoughts, much less make a decision.  And then I read an article online that gave me great comfort about opting out of working.  The perspective was that having someone at home running the household is a gift to the family.  It's a gift that one of us doesn't have to spend precious weekend time slogging through the grocery store.  It's a gift that we can sit down to dinner at 5pm each day.  It's a gift that someone doesn't have to take off an entire work day to wait for the cable installer to show up.  It's a gift that the end of the work week doesn't mean facing 14 loads of laundry or squeezing in extra time working on a PowerPoint sales pitch while the kids are at track practice.  Staying home can be the contribution that I need and want to make for my family.    

And suddenly I felt better.  I felt like the choice - which was never really even a choice - was made.    

And I'm grateful.

No Good Reason

For days I've thought about how to get back to blogging.  And why I stopped in the first place.  There was no defined reason.  Life, really.  You know, the same life that allows relatives to go months without talking, or random phone calls to go unreturned, or pictures to remain undusted, or to-do lists that languish for weeks.

Life.  

And there was also the feeling that my online life was becoming a drudgery.  The internet is such a crowded space, with so many voices talking, talking, talking all the time.  

And sometimes I really just don't want to add to the noise.  Because that's what so much of it feels like - just a lot of white noise, with no real substance or place or meaning.  A jumble of not very well-written words that do little or nothing to uplift or provoke meaningful thought.  So much narcissism. 

But we've had a lot of changes around here, with more to come in the next 10 months, so I guess that while there's no real excuse for not blogging, there's also the same lack of reason to not get back to it. 

And here we are.  

To update: 

• April: Soccer season, games every weekend, a new car for me, a job offer for Matt (or was it two?), and another interview.  
• May: Soccer season continues, The Honda gets rear-ended (not my fault!), Matt started a 2 month stretch out of town, another job offer, school ends.  
• June: Kids go to day camp for the summer, Matt still gone, Matt accepted a job, I applied for a new job.  
• July: More day camp, a visit from Grandma H, job interview for me (I didn't get it), Matt is home!
• August:  My birthday (it was wonderful), Grandma M visits, M starts middle school, J starts at a new school, soccer season begins.    
• September: Soccer continues, family vacation to the Outer Banks, Matt gets a new car, we say good-bye to The Honda (I had that car longer than I've had Matt!), Matt moonlights, and the countdown to finishing residency begins.

And here we are.  

We are all healthy and well.  

Pictures to come.