Blessed

Sometimes life seems as if it just isn't going your way.  For example the infamous car troubles you have around the holidays,  children that have tantrums when you just don't have time to deal with them,  and a chronic health issues that come back when you have so much to do.  That was what the past few weeks have been like.  But we feel ever so grateful for so many things that have be so wonderful and fulfilling this year.

1) Having talented, entertaining, and helpful children:

Lovin' Fall

Fall is our favorite season, and we will miss seeing the leaves change colors.  I found some cute Fall decorations for the front of the house:

Rustic, metal pumpkins and the girls each made a scarecrow.

 

I'm so glad Kylie did this on the lawn and not in the driveway!  I could barely see her.

I know these are a few weeks late, but our family had some really fun costumes this year.  Paul looked so much like Jack Sparrow!

 

Jenna the pirate.

Lana the Geek.

Kylie the Avatar.

We carved pumpkins late this  year, and attempted the Ph.D. level of carving.  Next year we will just stick to faces!

 

The little one is always so dramatic.

                                                        I agree with Kylie's face.  Gross.

 I don't know what I was thinking, attempting to carve a spooky house scene and a spider in a cob web.  I wasn't focused, I was frustrated.

 

All our hard work on display...Yes, mine is the easy scary face to the left.  Now that I look at it, the pumpkin really looks like a sad pumpkin.

Good news, then bad news, then good news again

It has been a roller coaster of a year for our family.  Between trying to sell our house, moving to another state and trying to have another baby-we have been a bit stressed.  We were so excited to get a contract on the house back in August to have the buyers walk away a few weeks ago.  When we heard the news we thought for sure we were going to live here forever!  I was feeling really discouraged and didn't know what to do, I felt like the economy had left us with very few option.  But....we continued to pray....and hope....and we have a second buyer!! Yipee!  They offered more than the first buyers so it really is a miracle that we are in such a good situation.

Our kids continue to amaze us with how fast they are growing.  Lana is growing so fast her body can't keep up.  She recently dislocated her knee.  She missed her first Cheer Squad game and pictures, she was so sad.  She is now in physical therapy to fix the issue.
Before:(we thought it was really funny that they had to give her an IV of morphine to calm her down enough to set her knee, and she was wearing a "drug free" ribbon that day)

 

 After:

Lana at the Orthopedic surgeon's office.  She'll be in physical therapy for 4 weeks and then they will determine if she can finish the Cheerleading season or not.

Contraaaact!

So for an update on our move out west...we finally got a contract.  We are hopeful and pray nothing falls through.  Our plan is to rent a house for a year or two until we can decide where we want to be permanently.  We'd really like to build a house, and since there is soooo much land and homes on the market these days, I'm sure we'll find a deal somewhere.

We also took a last minute trip this past month to visit my grandparents in Vegas, and we are really glad we got some time to visit them.  We were able to enjoy nature (it was unusually cool on some days), and especially enjoyed time with my sister.  We were lucky enough to also have Justine come to visit us in Chicago for a few weeks this summer.

I need some sunshine!

 When we were in AZ over New Year's I caught my kids reading out by the pool and laughed that it was so darn sunny out they couldn't even read  their books without being blinded.  Now that I'm back in dreary Illinois I'm wishing I soaked up more sun while I was there.

Although some people think it is so convenient working from home, lately I've found myself needing to get out of the house.  I probably sit in front of a computer screen for 9-10 hours a day and my brain is just mush.  I've realized I get little to no exposure to sunshine and my body is starting to feel the effects of it.  We've seriously considered moving out west the past few months and every freezing cold day we curse this weather and tell ourselves "we need to move, this is our last winter in Chicago!"  So today I made a commitment to begin seriously looking for houses and to look into finding a realtor to sell our house.  I know millions of people live in this crappy weather, but for me I think I'll be a happier person with a little bit of warmth and a tan (oh wait, I'm brown already).

Almost 2 Hands

Kylie turned 9 two weeks ago and has has a few birthday celebrations.  We surprised her with tickets to see the musical Annie and also went to Ed Debevic's for dinner.  Unfortunately, Ed Debevic's is not as fun and exciting as I remember and the food was very disappointing.  Annie ended up being a great experience for us.  An obvious highlight was the number "It's A Hard Knock Life!"  It was nostalgic seeing Annie at the Auditorium Theatre because that is where my siblings performed in Miss Saigon over 20 years ago.