Another Season Gone!

Well, another year of school has passed and we are enjoying our summer thus far.  Caleb and Laci will be starting new schools next year so it will be exciting.  Although, I have absolutely loved the current school they were at.  I loved the principal, I loved the teachers, and I can honestly say they loved my children.  So thankful for that.  Caleb had the same teacher two years in a row and she never let the year go by without telling him she loved him dearly.  I will so miss them all.  Since we have moved, he will be attending another elementary school near our home.  It is also a good school and it was a hard decision for us to make, as the principal would have let him stay at his current school, if we so chose.  But I found it would be more convenient for me to run Laci to the middle school and then drop Caleb off at his new school rather than trying to get him to the other school and then get to work.  Oh, that's right, can you believe Laci will be in middle school?

It's mixed feelings for me, seeing them grow up. I love all the exciting things they are doing as they are growing, but when Laci and I were walking down the driveway together the other day, I noticed she came up to my nose!!!  When did that happen?  She has the longest legs ever. Gee, wonder who she got that from?

They are both involved in so much; baseball. swimming, theater, music.  The band teacher at the middle school found out Laci played the violin so she asked if she would be interested in playing the string bass that the school just bought several years ago.  She's going to give it a try.  I think she will like it.

My hope and goal for this year is to really, really get more organized in our new home.  Thus far, we've been there a month and still have boxes in the garage!  I try to do a little each day, but it still takes a lot of time.

Did I mention we love our new home?  We love the convenience, the location, the neighbors, the shade trees.

I need to be blogging more, but I seem so, so busy all the time.  I've not taken very many pictures lately, especially of the kids, even the milestones in their lives; Laci's 5th grade graduation, swimming, ball.  I need to get with it.

Laci is trying her hand at a volleyball camp this summer.  She seems real interested in it. We'll see if she takes a real liking to it.

Both kids finished the year with honors.  Laci even received the President's Award.  That was a surprise.  She's not a straight "A" student, but A/B. Her brother on the other hand seeks perfection when it comes to school work.  Sure wish he thought that way about his room, cleaning up after himself when he eats, picking up after himself around the house (he's a boy for goodness sake). But I aim to work on that boy!!!

I love working downtown.  I love the people I work with.  My attorney is approaching 50 years in the business this September.  He takes most of the summer off, (as he should and has every right after that many years).  He gives lots of money to charity and good causes, works hard when he's here, plays golf two times a week, frequents his mountain home and beach home often. He's got the life, I tell ya!  Oh, and we are going paperless at the office (slowly).  That's a biggy in the legal field, as we tend to kill lots of trees.

I'm rambling, I know, but it's my way of recapping thoughts that need to be put to paper as one day I will forget!  My brain isn't getting any younger, you know.

Maybe once I get organized to a certain point, I will blog more often.  For example, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE DONE WITH THE CORDES TO OUR COMPUTER IN ORDER TO HOOK EVERYTHING UP.  What in the world could I have done with them?  Why aren't they with the other computer stuff?  I know I put them somewhere.  And I have no email as my email was with our other phone company that is no longer local for us.  I really need to get moving!  So I shall call it quits for now and see if I can get these things moving along.  Until next time ...

"FOR SALE BY OWNER"

We sold our home.  In this economy we weren't so sure, so we thought we would try.  We posted it online "for sale by owner."  Didn't even put a sign in the yard.  Had a dozen people look at it, and then finally a young professional couple bought it.  It was on the market for about 4 months.

We've traded our 3 acres for 3/4 of an acre.  Seriously, it takes 20 minutes to push mow, tops.

We've traded our creek for a neighborhood pool.

We've traded our four-wheeler for a golf cart, maybe.

We've traded our basement for a very, very small shed.

We've traded a bare naked three acres for a view of the 11th hole fairway full of shade trees.

We've traded our three-car garage for barely a two.

We've even dusted off our golf clubs (after 15 long years in the basement).

We thought it would be a bittersweet move.  That we would be sad to leave the only home our kids knew, the one we built 13 years ago before we even had kids.  But it hasn't been.  We absolutely love our new home, new neighborhood, and we haven't looked back.  We've traded lots of things for the sake of "downsizing."  But everything has worked out so perfectly that we feel God has moved us to this place. 

We had a huge yard sale.  It was a great success.  We hired movers and started packing weeks in advance.  We labeled every box.  And no matter how much we planned and no matter how organized we thought we were, moving IS NO PICNIC.  It still took 3-plus days to get all of our things moved,  We just about killed ourselves.  We're old, what can I say?  We still do not park in our garage for all the "stuff" that still fills it.  But we're making progress. Each day one more box gone. And still getting rid of stuff.

We bought an older home that could use a little updating.  But that's the fun part.  It's a well-maintained home.  It's a one-owner home.  One the couple built after they married 31 years ago.  It's been kept up really well.  There's shade trees all around.  Much different than our other place.  But even with all the bugs and falling limbs every time a storm rolls through, I still love it. 

Our family has enjoyed a little golf in the afternoons.  Both my kids have a pretty good swing.  Me?  Well, I haven't picked up a club in 15 years, so we'll just leave it to the imagination (let's be optimistic).  My husband, the could-have-been-pro if he tried, hasn't picked up a club in 15 years and swings as if he hasn't missed a beat.  When I was a senior in high school, I worked for a chemical plant.  They had lots of golf tournaments throughout the year and always invited the interns to play.  The guys there taught me how to swing a club.  Then when Greg and I married, he bought me my own set of clubs.  And I practically haven't played since.  Isn't that the way it goes? 

The kids can literally ride their bikes to the pool, which is the biggest bonus.  Except they aren't quite old enough to stay there by themselves.  The dogs and cat?  Well, they love chasing all the critters around the yard.  And the funniest thing of all.  Our cat walks the golf course with Greg and Caleb.  He goes from hole to hole.  He will walk to the hole, sit down and watch the ball go in, chase all the bugs, and then head to the next hole.  It's the funniest thing you have ever seen.  We've renamed him the "caddy cat."  He watches and makes sure the ball goes in each hole.  He literally follows them around until they head back home.  So I think they like it here too.

Greg is literally 2 minutes to the interstate to head to work, and I'm just a straight shot downtown to the office.

It's as if we were always meant to be here.

Sox and belts ~

I have guests coming for Christmas.  I should be washing clothes, washing dishes, washing sheets and making beds, grocery shopping, baking, and on and on I could go.  But I'm not.  I have spent the entire afternoon sewing - with my son.  And I can't think of anything else that is more important at this very moment than spending a little time with him.  He came home with a huge bag of goodies from his Christmas party.  On his bag was a picture of a sock monkey - and directions on how to make one. 

"Mom, will you make a sock monkey with me?"

I couldn't help but think of my first sewing project with Laci when we made little Dolly and entered her in the fair.  We had fun.  So I said yes, of course.

It took many hours.  And that's okay.  Sox (his new name) has turned out pretty cute.  So long brand new pair of socks ~

Sweet!

Libby even likes him ~
                               _______________________________

We've had lots of celebrations around here lately before the holidays.  Cub Scouts had their winter banquet last week.  Caleb received lots of belt loop awards for many accomplishments throughout the last few years ~

My, what long legs you have, my dear ~

 

swimming, music, baseball, art, basketball, chess, soccer, flag football, video games ~

Not only do you have to do the activity but you have to tell about safety and answer other questions about them.  I like it.  It challenges them to try new things, maybe things they haven't thought about.  Caleb was so proud.  I think he wore his belt every day for a week straight.

Your dad and I are also very proud of the well-rounded young man you are becoming!

Reels from 2013 ~

Busyness of life has kept me from not posting pics from 2013 - here are a few - and not in any particular order -

 

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FA-LA-LA-LA,LA, LA-LA-LA-LA

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends, and then ... changed things up a bit. We have, like, never put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving weekend because a lot of times we have been out of town (I'm quite sure we're the only ones on the block who doesn't). And then a week or two later we would put up our lovely fake Christmas tree (the one that leans to the right halfway up) that we've had since the kiddoes were born.  It's just easier when you have little ones.  But we decided, now that they are older, we would change up our tradition a bit and head to the mountains to one of the gazillion Christmas tree farms and have our tree cut this year.  We all could not wait.

Some people live ready ~

We left mid morning for our 2-hour trek up the mountain, and about the time we got 20 minutes from our destination, Caleb is feeling a little ...well, car sick (he does take after his mother with some things).  So we pull over for like an hour trying to get him to drink a coke, get out and walk around for a bit.  The weather was beautiful and had warmed up a bit from the previous weekend.

While brother lay in the back seat (head on daddy's lap), said person pictured above, not in the least bothered by our little detour, decides she's going to count (the countless) cars coming down the mountain carrying their Christmas load.

Brother chimmed in once he started feeling better.  I think they finally gave up at 160, 180, something like that. You can always find a game in the car, right?

We stopped for a bite to eat and then headed to the outskirts of Boone for our perfect tree - or not so perfect tree.  What kind of tree do you prefer?  Fat, skinny, round, tall, short, Charlie Brown?  I didn't necessarily want "the perfect tree," I wanted something that was more of the Charlie Brown stature.  Okay, not quite that bad, but natural looking, shall we say.  But everyone else opted for the most perfect tree.

We have the yard stick and we're on the hunt for an 8-footer.

The scenery is beautiful.  Trees everywhere.  Ohhh, which one should we choose?

How about this little Charlie Brown beauty for our room, mom?  (Said kiddoes are bunking together for the month of December) uh-huh.

And then we see it ... the perfect tree.  We all agree ~  Wow, it sure looks big.  Can you please cut it to 8 feet?  Sure.  No problem.

A little snow still left on the ground ~

T-i-m-b-e-r ~

Lots of folks waiting to get their trees trimmed and wrapped ~

Gee, mom, which one is ours?  Okay, kids, mommy does NOT know everything!

They load 'er up and we head to my favorite little village of Blowing Rock for a little shopping ~

The sun is setting and it's getting quite cold out.  The village is beaming with shoppers - music playing in the park - and there's actually NO WHERE to park.  Every spot is taken with some van, car, SUV, or truck with a tree loaded on top.  Finally, someone is leaving and we grab us a spot. Christmas lights are everywhere, and this is my idea of a good start to Christmas.  We make our way down Main Street, buy a few ornaments, take in the music, grab a bite to eat, and head home.

We're 45 minutes from home, it's dipped to 30 degrees out, not much traffic on the dark highway (it's 9:30 p.m.), and ... WE BLOW A TIRE!  Not just any tire, A BRAND NEW TIRE!  So the hub gets out and changes our tire in the freezing, dark night (at least it wasn't raining).  Thanks, honey!

We're only off course about a half hour and then we finally make it home.  The hub decides he's going to get the tree off the top of the car (it's about 10:30 p.m.)  He proceeds to get the tree down off the top (in spite of my efforts of doing it tomorrow IN THE DAY) - he drops the tree - on its crown - dear, where will our beautiful angel go now!  He drags it into the garage and thinks, geez, this tree looks BIG!  He measures it again and guess what?  Leroy up on the mountains obviously doesn't know how to measure.  Our lovely tree is 9 feet tall and will not fit into our 9-foot ceiling home.  So ... he calls me out there.  Do you want the good news first or the bad?

He explains and it all seems so simple.  Okay, the chainsaw is broke so we can't cut the large  trunk off the bottom part, the top is already snapped in two - about a foot - just take it the rest of the way off -- instant fix!  We nestle our little angel on top very carefully - and no one is the wiser!

Despite all the Broom bleeps and blunders, everyone had a blast and the kids are already planning for next year.  After all, it's the bleeps and blunders that make the memories, right?

Wha-la, she's a beauty ~

Home sweet home ~