Around Here

Well, hello there.

How ya been?

After an unanticipated, unintentional hiatus from the blog...HELLO!  I'm not sure what happened there, but it did.  Oofta.  So sad to have been away.  Gonna try really hard to not do that again.

Things are kinda weird around here.  Adjusting back to "normal" life has been a bit more difficult than I would've anticipated.  Maybe "difficult" isn't the right word.  Things just aren't quite flowing as much as I'd like them to be.  Nothing crazy happening, really, just still getting adjusted to our new home and new town and new responsibilities and schedules and things.

So here's a quick look into things around here, before I get back into telling some of our stories.

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago.  33.

It's pretty uneventful, growing older.  Well, I anticipate I'll have stronger feelings around 35 and as I inch closer to 40 (we can slow that party horse down right now!), but 33 was no big deal.  My birthday fell on a Tuesday, so Drew insisted we not start the party until he was home from school (of course!).  So, because it was my day and it's darn near the only one when I can successfully manipulate all the men in my life to do what I want :) -- we ventured over to Saginaw for dinner at Culvers (duh) but not before I forced the boys to go to Hobby Lobby with me.  Mwahahahaha!!!!  It was spectacular. :)

My days with Reed are fun but busy.  We are gone two mornings of the week, participating in a couple Bible studies, and we usually spent another morning running errands.  Our afternoons vary depending on whether or not Reed thinks he needs a nap.  I fear he is growing out of them (grrrrrr....) and our "quiet times" can be anything but quiet.  And then before I know it, 3:30 has rolled around and it's time to pick up Drew.  I have yet to really develop a real routine for our days.  I hope it comes together soon because it would help me a lot in actually getting some things accomplished around here!

School is going really, really well.  More on that soon. :)

We are s.l.o.w.l.y getting things done around the house.  It is taking quite a bit of time as our to-do list seems to get longer and longer as we start working on different things.  This house is far from a fixer-upper but it wasn't move-in ready to our liking either.  For example, I'm all ready to paint the living room but hit a snag as there is what I thought was vinyl lettering on the wall that I need to remove.  Come to find out, it's not vinyl and does not come off as nicely as vinyl would.  So, after trying four different remedies to solve that problem (Mr. Clean's magic eraser didn't even do the trick!) I have to wait to make another trip to the store to pick up potential remedy #5.  So what I intended on painting two days ago, still sits untouched.  And so it seems with many of our projects; one thing leads to another leads to another.  We are working on everything from growing grass to caulking trim to installing new light switches and plug-ins.  It all takes time and is slow in completing.  I hope we can get some new built-ins constructed and installed before Christmas and that the boxes I have left to unpack will be empty before spring. :)

Brad was officially installed as the Associate Pastor at Midland Reformed Church this last Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful service.

The boys are currently trying to decide what they want to be for Halloween.  Without easy access to my mother, I'm on my own in pulling together this year's costumes.  Perhaps another year of Mover Rich and Mover Dave will be ok?

I'm looking forward to Christmas.  Random thought I'm having right now and thought I'd share. :)

If you were to walk into my house right now, you'd find the living room floor covered in legos and cars, my bed covered in clean clothes that need to be folded and put away (at least they're clean!), the curtain rod in the boys' room needing to be replaced because Reed pulled on the curtains and pulled the nails out of the wall, several random stacks of paper that need to be sorted through and put away, and the noise level would be through the roof as the boys chase each other throughout the entire main level.  BUT you'd also find the super cute pumpkin garland I have hanging in the kitchen.

It really is the small things, people.

Alrighty then.  Enough of that for now.  I have an ongoing list of approximately 20 stories I'd like to share here on the ol' blog.  I can feel the juices starting to flow again.... so here's to more posts in the near future!