Oh, Christmas Tree

I love Christmas trees. I could capitalize, bold, and underline the word love, then add two dozen or so exclamation points, and it still wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Putting up the Christmas tree, more than putting up the lights, baking cookies, or completing laps around overflowing store parking lots, marks the official start of the holiday season.

The tree gets put up (with only a little disagreement about what "straight" actually is). I wrap branch after branch with white Christmas lights. At that point, I think I like it best like that, and maybe this year we will only have lights on our tree.

But then I open the boxes filled with ornaments (all non-breakable, of course.) And then I let the boys decorate to their hearts delight.


Giant silver balls, small shiny gold ones, sparkly pears, glittery pine cones, copper wire stars, red and white (non-peppermint) candy canes.


Pipe cleaner wreaths, construction paper frames with smiling school pictures, a zoo of animals made from clay, puzzle pieces, paper, and Popsicle sticks.

Now, it is complete.


Well, almost.

All the ornaments are hung as waist height or lower. After Roman and Blaise are tucked in bed and sleeping, smears of Advent calender chocolate still on their faces, I rearrange and spread out the ornaments.

Our glittery, gold and silver tree is beautiful.


But then again, that's what I thought about our tree last year too. Poor little thing.

The glow of the lights fills the living room and twinkles through the window at me when I come home from work. The fresh smell of pine is subtle, but refreshing and homey at the same time.


And every 30 minutes or so, a Tonka truck, sword fight, or football reminds me of why I'm grateful for shatterproof ornaments.

Free Time

Today marks the first day of my first vacation of residency!

Well, vacation actually started last night, after a much needed girls night out to see New Moon. It was great. No work, no kids. I haven't had that in a long time.

I go back to work on December 1st, at which time I start Trauma Service. This excites me about as much as being told I have a cavity at an annual dental exam. Or Blaise falling asleep on my bed without a Pull-Up on.

So my goal is to make the most of the next 10, now 9, days. They are going to be the fastest days of my year so far, that much I am certain. Already, I can see the end of vacation and feel myself whirling through time towards it.

We thought a lot about going back to Utah for Thanksgiving. This is the longest I've gone in my entire life without seeing my family. I last saw them in June, 5 months ago. I'm not "homesick" in the slightest, since I don't miss Utah or our tiny, dingy apartment for a moment. But I am completely "family-sick." I do miss my family a lot. Since I managed to get vacation over Thanksgiving, we initially thought it would be perfect to go back home. But the 1200 miles were just an obstacle we couldn't overcome, at least this year.

We thought about flying. We could drive to Chicago and fly non-stop from there. But there are four of us, and financially that put that option out of reach. We thought about driving. But that would mean driving I-80 across Wyoming in November. First of all, the trip itself would take at least 1 1/2 days, one way. Which would mean 3-4 days out of 10 on the road. Yuck. Second of all, have you ever driven on I-80 across Wyoming in November? A storm would probably come up and then we would get stuck in Rawlins, Laramie, or Rock Springs for 3 days. Seriously. This happened to someone I know.

So we've made the decision to stay put here in Iowa for Thanksgiving. Although some good friends from medical school have invited us to spend Thanksgiving dinner with them, so we won't be spending it alone.

Keith and I also decided this "vacation" would be a great time to get some more work on the house done. We're already halfway through a project. Which I will post. Later.

We are going to finish Christmas shopping, put up Christmas decorations, sleep in, read books, and watch movies.

But most importantly, I'm going to use these days to spend as much time with my family as possible. Games, stories, outings, arts and crafts, blanket houses.

And in between and during all that, just being together.

Swing

Back before we had a house, back when the four of us were living in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom 650 square foot apartment with the tiniest of patios, we would sit and talk about what we wanted our house to be like.

Not so much look like, because we were ready to settle for almost anything. We more imagined how it would feel like.

Now that we have our house, we are slowly turning it into that place we imagined so hard.

And I'm pretty sure our dream home included this...


To me, nothing says childhood like a tree swing.

Unless it is a tree swing holding two darling boys.



Keith and I made this one for Blaise's birthday. The biggest surprise is that the branch we attached it to holds not only Blaise and Roman, but Keith and me.

Adding that one thing as made the boys spend hours more time outside. Even if they are not swinging. Blaise carries a bucket around by his swing, picking up small sticks and nuts discarded by the squirrels that live in the tree. Roman sits on the porch and bird-watches.


This swing makes it feel like a family lives here.

Better now then, say, Thursday

I feel like I really need to do a recap of my week. I know that it's actually been a week and a half, and that weekly recaps are best done on a Friday, or Sunday, or maybe even a Monday. But mine is going to be on Wednesday. Because that's what I've got.

So here we go...

(And there will be pictures for the post. Someday. As soon as I figure out which box has my camera card reader.)

Friday, June 5:

Roman's last day of school. First grade sounded so old and grown up to me, and now it's gone, and he's going to be a second grade.

We picked up our ginormous U-Haul truck. We finished packing the last few boxes. My brothers and sisters and mom came over to help us load the previously mentioned beast. This took nearly all day.

And then we still had to clean the apartment. And the apartment management said "please focus on the blinds." Two blinds in, I was ready to go buy new ones. But that would have eaten into our refundable deposit. And these days, we need every penny. So I just kept on cleaning blinds.

Saturday, June 6:

Got our sleepy boys, my mom, my little brother David, all loaded up in our SUV and truck, and started out. No fanfare, no crying. Just a full truck and a very long drive. (We did head out nearly 2 hours later than we originally wanted, but still early enough to miss morning rush hour.)

So, I had this brilliant idea to take a picture of the surroundings we were driving through once every hour. And I was going to post them in order. 8 am: Parley's Canyon, 9 am nearly out of Utah, 10 am, Evanston (sarcastic yeah!) And then late in the day, I realized that no one wants to read a post with over 20 hours of scenery pictures. So I'll just post the highlights (yes, there were highlights.) Eventually. When I find that particular box.

We drove out of Utah, and into Wyoming. And no offense to anyone living in southern Wyoming...but it's ugly. It was by far the worst part of the trip. My mom drove from Rawlins to Cheyenne and I slept. Around Cheyenne, the scenery started to improve.

Then we drove part the way across Nebraska. Everyone kept saying that would be the worst part of the trip, but I liked it. We drove along the Platte River, and there were a lot of trees, and ponds. Everything was so green and pretty.

Sunday, June 7:

First real meal in 2, maybe 3 days: Waffles at La Quinta. Food that was not out of a box or from a drive through!

Drove the rest of the way across Nebraska. And into Iowa.

Got stuck in traffic for nearly one hour because part of a wind generator had fallen off a truck.

Got to our hew home at 6 pm.

Explored the area.

Love it, love it, love it!

Monday, June 8:

Try to go and buy carpet for the upstairs. Realize it is going to take a long time. Cry just a little. Pick up lights, doors, paint.

Let the real fun begin.

Tuesday, June 9:

Decide we DO NOT want to live with popcorn ceilings. Make sure it is not asbestos. Start scraping ceilings.

Very, very dirty.

Wendesday, June 10:

Finish scraping popcorn ceilings. Now have one trash can completely filled with popcorn and plaster.

Sand ceilings so they are relatively smooth. This is awful. As in no description. There is dust over everything. The cabinets are covered with plastic. It looks like a demolition zone. I may or may not cry a little at this point.

Thursday, June 11:

Start priming now smooth ceilings. Prime trim, bright colored walls as well.

Friday, June 12:

The real paint finally comes out!

Start painting walls. And trim.

Start hating trim.

Get internet again!!

Saturday, June 13:

Touch up paint in the three upstairs rooms.

Set up the boys' new bunkbed. I can't wait to show you how cute their room turned out.

Paint ceilings on main floor and downstairs.

Tear up carpet in family room. Find some water damage and mold. Cry again.

Everyone finally sleeps in their own rooms.

Sunday, June 14:

We really need a day off by this time.

We go to the Devonian fossil beds, look at swarms of tadpoles, catch frogs.

Go to the lake for a picnic. Don't have swimsuits, but let the boys play in the lake in their clothes.

Take pedal boats out on the lake. Blaise rides with Keith and me. Roman rides with Grandma and Uncle David.

Drive one hour south to drop my mom and brother off at the Amtrack station. Cry again.

Go back home, and finally realize we are alone here. Maybe cry a little more.

Monday, June 15:

Shop: more lights, a "big boy" mattress for Blaise, the missing door knob, food (there has been a surprising lack of food in the house.)

Try to find a jar to put bugs in for the boys. Realize that we don't know where anything is.

We took the boys to the field near our house, and found caterpillars. Took them home.

Tuesday, June 16:

Touch up ceilings. Paint more trim. Put up all the lights! Feel happy, but wish we had somewhere to put a couch.

So, if you are still reading, that gets us to today. When we woke up, sun shining, and realized that our lawn hasn't been cut in over 2 weeks. And looks terrible.

Keith will finish the last door today, and work on the yard. I will hopefully finish painting the living room so we can finally bring our couch in out of the garage and have somewhere to sit.

I guess that means I have no more time for this.

But I promise, there will be pictures. Someday.

The BIG Move

Well, it's finally here.

The boxes are completely full.

The moving van is out front and half full.

The cupboards and closets are empty.

We are ready to hit the road.

I can already see the signs of the stress of change in my boys. Blaise is crying a lot more than usual, potty training has almost stopped, and he hasn't slept through the night in almost a week. Roman is much quieter than usual.

It's a big change. For all of us.

I'm not going to have internet for several days (maybe longer.) So you'll just have to use your imagination about how things are going. Until I get internet again and can tell you.

Goodbye Utah, hello Iowa!

Let the countdown begin

We closed on our home today!

We are real home owners now. We are saying goodbye to apartment living. Goodbye to sharing walls and floors, and ceilings with people. Goodbye to too little space and too many restrictions.

With the joy of closing, comes the not so joyful start of packing.

Keith and I have spent the last two days cleaning appliances, carpets, and blinds. We seriously better get our deposit back.

(And why do you have to pay an extra deposit for having a pet, but not a two year old. I bet the neighbor's tabby cat never colors on the wall with marker. And I doubt that basset make dents in the hall wall with a golf club.)

I'm sitting here tonight surround by bare walls, empty bookcases, and stacks of boxes.

The next time I open these boxes will be when we're finally home.

Free to Run

I spent the weekend at my mom's.

View of orchards on the drive to Grandma's house

I had a long list of reasons for doing this. Keith has finals early next week, and he really needed uninterrupted time to study. I've started several projects, then left all the materials at my mom's house. It was really time to work on and finish these. And with just over a month until the Big Move, I'm trying to spend as much time with my family as possible.

But in additional to all these well thought out reasons, it is just nice for Roman and Blaise to have somewhere they can run around, which out me hoovering over them every second.

We pulled up, I unbuckled them, and in less then two minutes (after I was handed now unwanted stuffed animals and books and sweaters) they were gone. They has disappeared into the towering bushes of just blooming lilacs, into secret hide-outs and grape hyacinth dotted lawns.

The entire two days we were there, I hardly saw them. No "I'm bored," no "I'm starving! When's lunch," no "Can we please play outside?" like there is when we are cooped up in our tiny apartment at home. My role, between visiting with my mom (and not really finishing any of my projects) was to kiss and bandage any accidents, find above mentioned stuffed animals and sweaters, and to hug as they occasionally ran past.

And although I'm going to miss my family so much I can already feel the ache, I'm hoping that our own tree covered, hedge-surrounded yard that is waiting for us in Iowa will provide the same happiness, memories, and room to run that they find at Grandma's.

Catch Up

I can't believe how quickly things change. I feel that things should be slowing down, each day filled with plenty of time to do all the things I want. But each day is so crazy and busy, I'm not sure how anything gets down. And I hate feeling rushed. I just want things to slow down, so I can savor each moment.

Okay, this will be the very last picture of our Easter tree. Because Easter is over. But you can see by the flowers that it really is very beautiful. Once again, I wish that I had started this a week before Easter, so that we could have enjoyed the flowers then.


Roman has been sick for 4 days now. Fever, fatigue, grouchiness. I'm pretty sure that after today, with movies, lots of rest, lots of water, and stories, he will be good to go tomorrow. I hate when my boys are sick. Just because I don't like seeing them go from balls of energy to droopy, sad little things. Although I do like that Roman gets extra cuddly when he is sick.

Blaise's potty training is going slowly. At least it isn't such a fight. But I can't get him to tell me that he needs to go. So we go on a schedule. Every hour (except when we are out and about, or sleeping.) Sometimes he stays dry. Sometimes he doesn't. But he has figured out how to milk the situation.

He realizes that when he is sitting on the potty, he has my undivided attention. So he brings a handful of toys with him, and wants to play all sorts of games while he sits there. When I'm starting to get ready to move on, he says, "No, don't go. I still need to go potty." But really he just wants to play. I think it is very cute. But I would think it was cuter if each trip to the potty didn't take 30-45 minutes.

"Mom, I've got my red hat on. I'm ready to go outside!"

Roman has started karate lessons. I know, I know. Of all things. But he got a "Classroom Leader" award that included two months of free karate lessons. And of course, he couldn't think of anything cooler than taking karate. And since we will move in two months, it works out pretty well. He looks so darling in his little white suit, trying to keep up with the other kids. He is still painfully shy. Any time an instructor comes by and tries to help him, he can't even look at them. I'm hoping he gets a little confidence from this whole things.

Although I am doubtful that we will continue this outside the two months.

I just got my schedule for my intern year. My first rotation is Emergency Medicine, which starts me to death, since the only time I have been in the emergency room is as a patient and to admit people to the floor. But never to work up what ever walks through the door. Hopefully, since it is my first rotation as an intern, everyone will expect me to suck, so anything I do will be above expectations.

I'm on Trauma Service in December, which pretty definitively secures that I will be working over Christmas.

But other than that, my schedule is not that bad. An alternating patterns of easy, hard, and so difficult I'm pretty sure I'll want to die.


As far as the house goes, things are almost done. The seller agreed to fix everything we requested. Even the vent for the microwave. (It kind of makes me wish we had asked for more things to be fixed. ) I agree with Keith. The seller is just ready to get this house off of his hands. No counter offer, no disagreement on the remedy request, nothing. I've sent in all our paperwork for our mortgage. I've found homeowners insurance. I'm ready to book the movie van. We're pretty much ready to go.

Now we just hurry up and wait.

Follow Up

We got the results of our home inspection late last night.

I don't think that there was anything that really surprised us. We know that it is an older home and needs some work.

I really like this picture of the house
Funny that the best picture of the home
was taken by the inspector.

However, our real estate agent called this morning and asked if we really still wanted to buy the house.

Um, yes.

Because even if we didn't, the cost of fixing a lot of those things would be less than buying more airline tickets, trying to find time to go back out there and find a different home. And I don't think we would find one in such a great location.

The foundation, the roof, and the heating system were in perfect condition. Those were the things that we were really worried about. So now, we can rest easy knowing that the house won't crumble beneath us, the roof won't cave in on top of us, and we won't freeze to death during a Midwestern winter.

There were a lot of small things, some of which Keith and I had planned on addressing already (doors that were in bad condition, locks that didn't work, siding that needs to be addressed.)

There are a few things we are asking the seller to address. Such as electrical safety issues, toilets that don't work, and the lack of wiring for the washer and dryer. Because we will really need to use the bathroom and do laundry pretty much the second we walk through the door.

It is definitely going to be a project, but totally worth it. Mostly, because it's ours.


I also had some requests to share the progress of our Easter Tree. (I really should have started this a week before Easter, so that it would have bloomed by Easter. But honestly, I just don't have things together enough to think that far ahead.)

But here is what our Easter Tree looked like this morning. You can see the bright pink fat buds just getting ready to burst open. It is really a cheerful thing, and a wonderful reminder that spring really does happen.




ADDENDUM: I guess before I wasn't very clear about what is actually wrong with the house. The siding is rotted in multiple places and will need to be replaced. We were planning on doing this in the next couple of years. There are several windows that don't stay open. We know that the windows will need to be replaced before we sell. There is part of the sub-floor in the dining room that is rotted and needs to be replaced. But as we were planning to replace the flooring in the kitchen and dining room anyway, not too big of deal. The doors don't shut, or the locks don't work, or the knobs are missing. None of the toilets work. Half the lights don't work. One of the garage doors doesn't work. The water heater is almost as old as the house (1976).

So, nothing serious at least, but still a lot of work. And we knew it was going to be. But still, to have a list of everything that is wrong makes the work feel a little overwhelming. But at least I don't have to feel guilty about tearing up the dining room floor anymore.

Easter

I never seem to have time to post on holidays. Between activities and family time and clean up afterward, there is just never time to share pictures taken on that day.

We had a beautiful Easter. The weather was finally warm and gentle. We had a fantastic Easter lunch (seriously good food.)

And then we watched the children hunt eggs outside.




Blaise was so cute. As soon as he found his first egg, he was all game. He took on a semi-crouched position and moved about the yard almost on tip-toe saying, "I'm finding eggs."



Just being together as a family, enjoying the sun, was wonderful.

I can't think of a better way to have spent Easter.


And other news, our home inspection is today. We're sure that the inspector will find several things wrong. After all, it is an older home. And a few little things that mean some work for us are fine. But I'm nervous that the inspector will find something so horrible that we won't be able to buy the house. If that happens, I don't know what we will do.

So, here's so hoping that the inspection goes well.

Somewhere to call home

We bought a house!!!

That's right! I matched two and a half weeks ago, and now we have a house.

The speed at which everything is happening is nearly boggling.

Keith and I flew out to Iowa City over the weekends and stayed with a friend from medical school (Thanks so much you guys!).

Knowing that you have a small budget and only two days to find a house is just a little nerve-wracking. I was an emotional basket-case nearly the entire weekend.

At first, it wasn't looking good. What we could afford, we didn't like. Or it was too far away from the university. Or it was in a bad school district. Or it didn't have a yard. Or it needed too much work. I wasn't going to budge on the school district issue. I felt we had to be in a great school area for Roman and Blaise. Keith wasn't going to budge on the amount of work to be done (like, rebuilding half the house.) The first night after house hunting, we almost had our first fight. Almost.

The next day, I was looking at listings in the morning. I wrote several down.

Then we went and re-looked at several of the homes we had liked from the first day. Then I asked the real estate agent if we could look at some from my list.

The very last one on my list, the one I had written down while I was being shoo-ed out the door. That's our house.

Our first house!!

And we got it with our first offer. No counter-offer or anything!!

Okay, the house needs a little work. Think "vision." (Or like Keith says, "Project.")

The front room
(this one and the kitchen need the least work)

The kitchen (with brand new cabinets!)

But seriously, this house is perfect for us. There's enough space, it has a yard, it is right next door to one of the best elementary schools in Iowa City, and it is in a gorgeous neighborhood just two miles from the university.

Our back yard

What we live next to.
Isn't it just gorgeous?

Already, we've starting planning what changes need to happen (immediately: paint, carpet, and lighting; later: siding, windows, basement).

I am so excited!! Let the home-owner adventure begin!