Impatient

Patience is not my strong suit. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to find a hint that I have any at all. Right now is when it is at its worst. I want my children to stop arguing at the drop of a hat. I want to have my house ready to list on the market. I want to be able to move and live with my husband full time. I am tired of being a single mother and want my husband there to help ease part of the load. I am ready for my life to become stable and settle into routine. I don't like uncertainty!
Things are moving at work. They have hired my replacement even though she hasn't started yet. The news of my leaving is slowly spreading through our customers. I received an email this morning telling me I can't leave. At least I know I'll be missed!

And these kids! Bryce has grown another inch since Christmas! He's over 5'10" inches now. Someone please make him stop. It's bad enough that I have to look up to him but to have to step back and look up? That's just too much!  Belle is now over 5'4" and Brady is just over 4'10". They are steadily growing up and it won't be long before I have to look up to my baby. I have tried EVERYTHING in my power to make them slow down and they just won't listen!

Bryce and Brady went to a concert a couple of weeks ago in which they had to dress nice in ties so I had to take pictures. 

I couldn't believe the difference between Bryce and Brady even though there is 3 years difference between them! I guess I am so used to seeing Belle sandwiched in that when I finally stop and look I'm stunned to see so much distance between them.  It won't last long since Brady is determined to catch up!

I have been working on this post for a week now, trying to find time to remember to post my pictures when I get home from work.  Now that I have managed to do that I find it well past my bedtime.  Until next time!

From Hubs

From my darling Hubby on Valentine's Day! He definitely surprised me from far away!

Decided

Well the decision has been made and we have finally determined where we are going to end up in the near future.

Indiana.

Hubs and I went over and over our options and then went over them again.  His current company has a location in Southern Indiana that he could transfer to or he could take a job with one of the last companies he worked for that would allow him to be home most nights, but again it would require us to move to Indiana.  So he is transferring to the Indiana hub.  He reports to work there on Monday and we will be following him during the summer so the kids can finish their school year here.

So that means we are working on the house.  So far I have been peeling some serious wallpaper and just for the record?  Whoever hung the wallpaper in my house should be drug out into the street and shot.

Just saying.

While the laundry room wallpaper is coming off and leaving behind a nice maroon paint behind (entirely too dark for the size of the room especially since it has no windows), the kitchen wallpaper was applied on top of wallpaper. The wallpaper that is behind it was literally glued to the wallboard so that stuff is not coming off without redoing the sheetrock and that is NOT going to happen.  So we will be wallpapering the kitchen again, albeit with a different paper that can be painted to give the room a nice effect.

Whew.  I'm tired just thinking about it.

I have also been looking at houses in the hopes that we will be able to sell our house quickly.  Naive? Yes, but I definitely hope for it.  I have found one house that Hubs and I both agree we LIKE. It has land, located in good school districts and is a style that we both agree on.  So rare!  Unfortunately, one drawback is that the schools do not offer an orchestra program for Belle and Brady. Brady has picked up the trumpet recently so he will have no problem moving over into band, but Belle has not played a band instrument.  She has shown interest in the clarinet and I hope reading music will be enough edge for her to start out. We shall see.

So much uncertainty! I hate it! And not only am I dealing with uncertainty but I am also dealing with a husband who is acting out because of the changes.  He is still hesitant about moving, despite the fact he starts his job so soon, but he also doesn't want to leave home now that he has been home so long, and I don't blame him for that.  However, if I could get him to understand that if he could help more with getting the house in order to sell that it will be sooner for us to be up there with him.  Men can be so hard headed!

Time for me to move on to bigger and better things. I mean like laundry. And dishes.  Yeah those things.  More on our upcoming move as details emerge, I promise. Until then...

Proud Mom

Not too long ago, Belle came in with paperwork that she wanted me to fill out.  She wasn't completely sure what it was, just knew that she had been nominated for something and that she wanted to be a part of it.  She had been "chosen" to join the Duke Talent Search program which would allow to her take the ACT any time between now and her sophomore year.  There was no way we were NOT going to allow her to do this and the fact she wanted to made it that much more important for us to sign her up.  She went last month and took the ACT for the first time at 13 years old.  By that point she was hesitant.  None of her friends were going to be there. It was being taken at the high school with the high school kids.  Because it was at the high school, I took her in, signed her in and walked her to her classroom.  When it was over, I was waiting in the parking lot for her and she was completely unsure of how she had done. Said there was so many questions that she had no idea about. Scores came in the mail last week and...
16!!

We are so very proud of her!

Winter Blues

It seems I get at least a touch of them every year and this year is no different.

And I hate it.

I crave sunlight and fresh air to clear my head.  To get outside and move around and not feel confined by the walls crowding in on me.  I know that if I am suffering from it that my family must be, too, but it's hard to remember that at 6am when the boys are arguing (again!!!) and Belle is arguing with every word I say.

Did you know the sky isn't blue?  If I say it is then it must not be true because according to Belle everything that I say is wrong.  Up is down and left is right and rightiswrongandohmygoshchildstop TALKING OVER ME AND LISTEN...

And then I feel bad, because it's not their fault. I know it is just the time of year and add a bit of hormones and a touch of uncertainty and I get this tangle of emotions that I struggle to control. Tears flow easily  for no reason at all it seems. Not only am I fighting every waking hour to keep control but my unconscious is fighting me, too. Dreams that linger long after I wake, tears flowing from the cruelty I inflict upon my self .  Then I put my mask on and go to work and hope it doesn't crack until I can get to bed again. Tomorrow's another day right?

Hurry, spring, hurry! My family needs you!

Your Child

Hubs and I have a running thing about "your" child.  Usually "your" child shows up whenever one of them have done something they shouldn't have but occasionally it is a true example of the child we used to be.  I saw Hubs in Brady not too long ago. 

The kids have figured out that empty water bottles are excellent for shooting lids across a room, especially Brady.  He takes pride in stalling when he's told to throw them out to show me his excellent "shooting" skills.  This particular afternoon was no different.  He grabbed the bottle, loosened the cap, and paused.  You could see the gears turning in his mind.  He was thinking.  Hard.

Callie was sitting only four feet in front of him, a distance he knew he could easily make. 

You could see the horns growing out the top of his head.  You could see Hubs take form sitting there on the floor.

"Don't even think about it!" stopped him in his tracks.  Busted! The bottle quickly made its way to the trash.

As I told the story to Hubs that night, he didn't deny that child.  The same guilty, pleased grin crept across his face.  The apple certainly didn't fall far from the tree.

New Year, New Ideas, New Post

I hate resolutions.  For some it is a yearly challenge to choose resolutions and stick with them as long as possible.  For me?  It is something for me to forget that I had meant to do after a couple of days.  So I don't even bother to make any.  However, that doesn't mean I don't have intentions during the year to change things in my life.  It does seem that I have a lot of those intentions at the beginning of the year.  Today is no different.  So to start the new year, I am going to attempt to start off on the right foot with a couple of different things.  I failed to start off eating better.  I've had more caffeine and sugar than I need.  I haven't exercised today so that knocks that out of the water, too.  And I have definitely lost my cool over a couple of minor things that I wish I hadn't have done.  But what's done is done and I have to learn from my mistakes.  I will blog, in the hopes that maybe by doing something I would like to improve on, that maybe, just maybe, something else will fall in line tomorrow.  We will see what happens.

Tomorrow I return to work after being off for the last week on vacation.

I. Really. Don't. Want. To. Go. Back.

Really.

Really.

Don't.

I spent the last week catching up on my laundry, spending time with my family at Christmas, un-decorating the tree, straightening up my laundry room, playing Band Hero with all three kids, playing Scrabble with Belle and Brady, working on a puzzle with Belle and Brady, taking the kids to the park (even though we left shortly after we got there because Brady wasn't feeling well), and I attempted to take them to the library but unfortunately for us, the day I took them, they were closed.  Oh well.  Next time.  I remember now what it's like being a stay at home mom.  To be able to do what I need to when I need to and spend some quality time with the kids.  I'm sure if I had taken my vacation on a week when the kids were in school, I would remember how bored I got because I can only do so much housework before I'm ready to stop.  Needless to say, I enjoyed my time off and am not ready to get back into the swing of working just yet.  Oh to have one more week!

Hubs and I are still weighing our options on his job situation.  We have been back and forth on the spectrum about moving and staying home.  Find a new job or transfer in the company.  Move the kids or let them finish school where they are.  So many decisions to make!  The kids are aware of the choices that we are facing and for now are excited at the prospect of moving.  Hubs, however, isn't so sure it is a good idea, having made the same move at the same age Bryce is now.  Difference is we have three kids who are ready to move on to bigger and better things and meet new people where Hubs didn't want to leave his friends and family.  Oh how things have changed!

I find it time for me to collect my things and get ready for bed.  Work is going to come really early in the morning as much as I hate to go back!  So a question for those who occasionally stop by...

Do you make resolutions?  What have you made?  Any recommendations on how to stick with the things I would like to improve?  I would love to hear from you!

Happy New Year to all my readers and may 2012 be a great year to you!