Preschool has lots of rules

Evan started preschool yesterday. He was a little nervous going into class, but I was able to leave him without any meltdowns. When I came to pick him up, I was walking down the hallway and could hear the class talking. They were taking turns answering get to know you questions. It was Evan's turn (great timing on my part!) His question was what did you do on your summer vacation. Evan stated, I can't remember. I of course was sending him telepathic messages trying to help him out. The teacher gave him some ideas, like did you ride roller coasters, did you go camping, etc. He said, I don't know I just can't remember. When we got into the car to go home, I said Evan, don't you remember going to the cabin, going to the beach, going to the carnival and riding the rides? OH YEAH! He says, my teacher asked me those questions! He also told me "Mom, preschool has a lot of rules". I asked him like what kind of rules, he told me "don't walk under the monkey bars" I said that is probably a good rule!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school for Aaron and Jenna. It was their first day at their new school in their new town, in their new state. They both seemed less nervous about it than I did. I was of course worried that they would find friends to play with and that they would settle into the class without being the obvious newbie. So Evan and I walked them to school and sent them off to have a fabulous first day while Evan and I were off to have a coffee date with some other ladies new to the area. I worried all day that they were doing ok, that Jenna got through the lunch line ok. Finally, 2:30 arrived and it was time to pick them up. I promised Jenna I would be outside the school to walk them home, knowing she was nervous about the whole block she would have to walk home from school. Evan and I made sure we were there before school got out so she wouldn't panic. We waited and Aaron came strutting out as if he had been going to this school for years now. I asked him how his day was, he said great. Then it was Jenna's turn to come out of the school. I saw her smiling face which was a good sign and then I couldn't believe my eyes when I realized she was walking out hand and hand with another little girl. Jenna's first words to me were, "Mom can Maddie come over to play?" I think she had a good day! Aaron summed up his day as this, "Mom, you know what the best part about the day was? We got a brownie with our lunch!"

House still on market

Well, I got the news today, the alleged buyer can't get his financing approved so he has rescinded his offer on our house. Even though he was pre-approved for the loan, he was unable to come up with the down payment. I have mixed emotions about this. I am relieved because it felt like a crappy deal anyway, but I am sad because it keeps us in this stressful financial situation. So back to square one, looking for a buyer on the house, hoping one will come alone before we are totally ruined financially.

Our MI house

We have accepted an offer on our house in Michigan. It is not the fairy tale ending one would hope. We are losing our ass on the place financially, but the silver lining is that we will be able to move forward without having the stress of the unsold property lingering over us. I started "window" shopping for a house here in Iowa today. We'll have to wait until the dust settles from the house from Michigan and we did sign a year lease on the apartment we are living in, but it never hurts to start looking right?

We are taking inventory of the blessings we have in our life despite the loss on the house. We are all healthy, Bill is gainfully employed and loves his job, the economy here is very healthy, we won't have to make a mortgage payment and rent each month, and we still have some savings. So for that and many other things, we are very thankful.

Today's my birthday

At what age does your birthday become just another day? For the last couple of years it has felt just like another day. When I was a kid, I counted down the days starting when school got out for the summer. When I was turning 18, I couldn't wait to be old enough to buy a lottery ticket. When I was turning 21, I had a calendar I made so that I could cross off each day to count down the days until the big celebration with my friends from work. At 30, my friend Claire and I put together a 30th birthday bash.

I watched Aaron recently celebrate his 10th birthday, painstakingly trying to decide what ONE thing he would do to celebrate his birthday. Would it be going to a movie, going to the local pool, going to Chuck E. Cheese, it was a tough decision. I have also watched him over the last couple of days ponder what is the best way to spend his birthday money. In theory, he has spent it about 100 different ways. Watching him enjoy his birthday, made me realize for me it was just another day.

So in an attempt to celebrate the magic, I am enjoying the kids making me breakfast this morning. We bought some cinnamon rolls in the can yesterday so they could make them for me. While I was drying my hair this morning, I had several interruptions such as, how do I turn on the oven, what do I put the rolls on, where is the grease to grease the pan, can you come "pop" the can open for me. I came downstairs quickly realizing I needed to supervise. All 3 kids were afraid to open the can of rolls because they don't like the popping sound it makes. In my bravest effort, I opened the can without incident. After the rolls were safely in the oven, Evan, who is 4, came up to me and told me I was so brave. I asked him why he said that and he preceeded to tell me that I was so brave because I opened the can of rolls. I guess that in itself is the magic I have been missing on my birthday, enjoying the moments in which I am so brave in my son's eyes. (On a side note, it is now 10:08 and we are just getting ready to enjoy this fabulous birthday breakfast, thank goodness, I don't plan on the kids making breakfast every day!)

Starting a blog

So I decided to start a blog to keep family and friends updated on our new adventures. We recently moved from Michigan to Iowa in pursuit of our own field of dreams of sorts. We left behind many fabulous friends and family not to mention many wonderful memories, but we are looking forward to many new adventures. As I tried to squeeze as many last minute visits with friends before we left Michigan, it was suggested to me by Jean and Paula, a couple of wonderful gals that I should start a blog. They both thought it would be a great way for people to keep tabs on us and they both said that I was so funny that it would be fun to read (no pressure there!), so here we are, 4 weeks into the move and I finally have some time to figure this whole blogging thing out.

I have lived in Michigan my whole life, same general area as a matter of fact except for the college years when I moved to Michigan State, only to return back to the area I grew up in, so to say this move has been without trepidation, would be silly. The movers showed up and immediately started packing up our precious belongings. Having never moved using movers, I didn't know what to expect. I was thinking that it would take them a good 2 days to get everything packed up since we had sooooo much stuff, but leaving mid morning for my daughters dental appointment and returning an hour later to my whole kitchen packed up, I quickly realized that things were happening quicker than I could even imagine. By the end of the 8 hour day, they had our whole house packed up. Thank goodness a dear friend Betsy had told me to pack a bag of clothes and essentials before they arrived, otherwise, I would have been standing in our blank house, not knowing how we would brush our teeth! The next day was loading of the truck. At one point, our whole basement lined our driveway in the form of boxes and at that moment I thought there was no way on God's green earth that those guys were going to get all of our stuff in one truck.

Amazingly, 8 hours later, most of our precious stuff and memories were packed up and driving away heading to Iowa. It left me standing in an empty house that we still own having a moment, remembering all the things that had happened while we lived in that house, realizing that this event (the relocation) that we had been talking about and preparing for for months, was here and was very real. After shedding a few tears, it was on ward and upward to new beginnings. And so the story begins..........