Tap, Tap, Tap.... Is This Thing On?

So I'll have to admit that it's been a while.  SO long in fact that there's not just a little irony in my last post.  You know... the one in January of 2012 saying my New Years Resolution was to blog more?

I'll try to just, ahem, skirt right past that one. 

Shortly after that post our house went on the market (nail biter) we sold it fourteen days later (yeah!) and then moved in with my in-laws for what we thought would be a few months (more like eighteen).  As much as I wanted to blog all of the highs and lows along the way, I was holding onto the rollercoaster of emotions for dear life. We looked at house upon house upon house upon house.  We watched countless hours of HGTV and I got intimately neurotically familiar with the search features and capabilities of all of the local real estate websites.  I was hopeful one minute (making spreadsheets, planning colors, calculating payments) and in the pit of despair the next.  We were a week away from settlement on one house I was CONVINCED was our dream house when the carpet was ripped out from underneath us and we dazedly walked away.  For months after that I tried to figure out how we could get that house back and was feeling the need to "help God out" in regards to the logistics.  Kevin and I often look back and shake our heads at those moments as our "wandering in the desert" days because when God moves on something big like a house or a job or marriage He is CLEAR.  And we had forgotten that.

To the ire of my husband, I'll save the whole story for another time.  There really is a lot more to tell. (He hates it when I don't tell a story in full, but "ITS MY BLOG NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!")

Hey... when you're surrounded by a 4 and 6 year old you start to act like one!

Lets just say things have been very BUSY since we bought this place.  We moved in almost 6 months ago, I switched jobs 2 months ago and I'm trying to figure out how this blog thing might actually fit into my new schedule.  I'm noting that several of my blogging friends have given it up eons ago and may not return and I'm not  sure I really have an audience anymore.  Or anything that interesting to say for that matter.

But, that resolution for 2012 is still haunting me.  The "keep better family records" one.  I look back at the records I have made and cherish them.  I look at the void of records I kept for the past two years and marvel at how much my children changed (Liam was 2.5 when we moved and Natalie was 4) and think its a crime I didn't take more pictures or write more down! 

So we'll see... No new resolutions though.  Because that might set me up for failure.

Okay, so I've promised a game of Skip Bo to a sweet 6 year old who knows how to melt my heart by wrapping her limbs around me like a spider monkey when I've got to go do something and crooning in a squealing voice "I just want to snuggle with you, MAMA!".  I also promised I'd get off the computer so a chocolate faced boy dressed in a Spiderman costume can play PBSkids.org and brush up on his hacking skillz.  So I'm going to share a highlight of the last two years in pictures... the ones I did take, at least.

Here are the kids right before we moved.  Feb 2012

 

Natalie's Jazz Dance Recital - March 2012

 

We went bowling, hon!

And cooked a lot.

I got braces on the bottom for the second time and got them off.

We camped several times.

And played a lot outside.

Liam got a two wheeler.  Natalie got her training wheel off!

My husband became a lumberjack.  And I LOVE it!

We ate and ate and ate.

And took trips to the park.

 

We visited Nana and Papa in Kansas City.

 

And played dress-up.

 

Natalie turned 5 and started kindergarten.

 

Natalie: 5  Liam: 3

We celebrated 10 years of marriage.  Getting old!

 

And we did more dressup!

 

My fantastic father turned 60!

 

Natalie graduated from kindergarten.  Sniff!  Sniff!

 

Celebrating age 4 (Liam) Chuck E Cheese style.

 

Now we're on to preschool!

Natalie turned 6 and started 1st grade. 

 

Natalie adores her 1st grade teacher.

 

 

And my marvelous mom turned 60 too. 

 

Love her!

 

Alright... lets see if I can keep this thing rollin, ya'll.  Right now I have a 6 year old on my lap and a 4 year old standing in the doorway sworn to silence so he can play Caillou in 5 minutes.  It's hard to work in the spare time to keep good notes, but I'm hoping they'll be glad I did someday.