Never Say Never...

My poor, poor neglected blog. So many things to write about, absolutely no time. Well, I'm taking the time tonight even though I know I have 10 million things to do on the to do list.

You may be thinking, "Why so busy?" After all, the moving is done, the short-sale is just about complete, and the kids are about to celebrate the 100th day of school. There's no more yard to work in, no seed catalogs to pour over, and the holidays are over. Why so busy? Low and behold, I was offered a real job. An honest-to-goodness art history teaching post at a college in the Chicago suburbs. Get this---my students call me "Professor". I'm still reeling in shock, since it was the one thing I always wanted and its the one thing I gave up.

So first a big thank you to my dear friend David who was kind enough to offer me the position. I guess it really is all about who you know! But at this point I do have 5 years experience, and there is no way a newbie could step in at such short notice and teach four new classes. I found out I was officially hired in the middle of December, and its been nose to the grindstone ever since.

I am overwhelmed--OVERWHELMED--by the new responsibilities on my plate. I now have over 100 students!!! And juggling kid schedules has become an Olympic sport. It's been a lot of change for all of us. Days of getting up with the sun instead of an alarm are a thing of the past. I'm up at 5am to put on business clothes (no more pj days). I wake the girls up at 6:20, breaking rule #1 of the house. Oh goodness they can be stinkers in the morning. Nora can't stand it; she moans that she needs more sleep, that she's too tired to move, that I've made a mistake and it isn't actually morning. Sometimes I get frustrated, because the good Lord knows we're always running late, but I laugh too because I am ever so aware that I'm standing in my mother's shoes, and I'm seeing a 7 year old Ivy.

Emily loves the early mornings, because she has been enrolled in daycare. She goes off to what she's dubbed "Apple School", so she joyfully bounds out of bed each day. She's dressed (and its not hard to pick out clothes for her since she recently outgrew her entire wardrobe), and ready to leave in a matter of minutes. Daycare makes life for a working mom a piece of cake. They feed her breakfast and a snack, and they even have a bus to drive her over to her Early Childhood program in the afternoon. She loves her teacher Miss Carrie, and she learns so much! They do science and math and art everyday. Its unbelievable. Its more like a private school than a daycare. She loves it, and I'm not sure, but I think she actually has a boyfriend. Not too bad considering its only week three!

Ryan is adjusting to our crazy new schedule as well. His once doting wife has been replaced by a zombie whose only function in the world is to make power point presentations. The house? Its a mess. The fridge? Its empty. The laundry? Its in two piles, dirty on the floor and clean in the basket. Poor guy can't win. He's been really sweet though, helping me make Excel sheets, keeping the printer running, making dinner out of thin air, etc.

I feel like I'm on a different planet. I never thought I'd be a working mom. Some days I'm so in love with teaching, other days, as I drag my butt home, I wonder what the hell I got myself into. I miss sleep, that is for sure! I miss cooking too. But my plan has always been to work more once Emily started kindergarten, and she starts in the fall. I really had no choice but to take this opportunity; otherwise I would have had to beg Starbucks for a job. And even though a master's in art history makes me the perfect candidate for 'Bucks, I do prefer teaching. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. I'm hoping the extra work now pays off, so in the future I can simply work when I'm at work, and return to my regularly scheduled life as Mom in the evenings and on weekends.

Underwear Head Strikes Again!

Lately Emily has decided that there is nothing funnier in all the world than underwear. She just can't stop talking about it, laughing about it, running around in nothing but underwear. Ok, the last part isn't actually anything new; anyone that has spent a few days around our girls know they just don't like clothes all that much. But Emily has taken it to a new level.

Can I even say anything as funny as this? On Halloween she kept talking about underwear head, underwear head, and then she decided that underwear head was going to carve the pumpkin. She really gets into it too, shoving her face through the leg hole like that. Underwear head means business! Whenever she's in a silly mood, the talk turns to underwear. The other day she asked for a peanut butter and underwear sandwich. She calls me her underwear mommy. She wants to buy Nora underwear for Christmas. At the end of our grace before meals, she says "underwear hum" instead of "om ah hum". And she laughs and laughs and laughs.

I'm glad she's so jolly. It's nice to see that after all the changes and moves and what-not, she's found that inner joy once again. I just hope she doesn't tell her teacher that I gave her peanut butter and underwear for lunch.

Our New Home: The White House

Seven weeks after the fact I can happily report that our second move of 2011 was a success despite some pretty big odds. I didn't know how we would accomplish it, but luckily, since we hadn't finished unpacking from move number 1, it wasn't all that bad (notwithstanding my back injury. Note to self: No more dragging furniture up staircases alone! No more lifting file cabinets out of car trunks either, got it?)

The kids, Ryan, and I are nicely settled in a newly built townhouse located about 6 minutes away from my sister. Emily has dubbed it the "White House", and it has become a nice home. It is cozy in many aspects; the downstairs is like a great room, so the living room, kitchen, and dining room are all open. Its very modern, something I never thought I'd like, but who doesn't like shiny chrome and granite? While it seems small upon entering the house, there is a family room over the garage that now functions as the world's biggest toy room and the kids are thrilled! We are next to the train tracks, so six times a day Metra flies past to Emily's delight. There is an awesome playground at the end of our circle as well as a dog park for Lacey. Their Dad splurged and got the girls bunk beds, so with a few odds and ends from IKEA plus the stuff we bought from the landlord for next to nothing, we've managed to create a livable space that reflects who we are in less than two months.

For me, I think the nicest part about being here is that we will get to enjoy the holidays together as a little family. The one thing I cried about on several occasions in DeKalb was leaving behind our beautiful fireplace, and the memories of all the lovely Christmases we had had there. The smell of the fresh cut tree, the sound of the pine sap popping as the logs burned, the sight of the kids opening up their presents; it seemed impossible to enjoy the holidays anywhere else. It was the one thing that was so hard to give up, so watching Ryan lug the world's biggest Christmas tree through our new front door and decorating the tree with the girls was especially sweet. While moving in the winter isn't normally considered ideal here in Northern Illinois, for us, the timing couldn't have been better.

Here are some pics of our new place as several of you have requested. Click the box below to open up the album. Yep, this place is posh! Watch it morph from rooms filled with boxes to a home. But please don't think it looks this clean all of the time, believe me, it doesn't!!!

Fun, Fish, and Friends at the Shedd

DeKalb might be a lifetime ago, but some of our dearest friends still reside out in the corn. Since Emily is still asking for the green house, and cries because she misses home now and again, I've decided we can't go back to see our friends out there until we are nicely settled into our new home. In the meantime, our best friends Tim and Rachel and their cutie-pie daughter Anna met us downtown for a day at the Shedd. Tim and Rach very generously paid the admission for Emily and I as her birthday present, so I'd like to say thank you very much!

Ryan and I haven't been to the aquarium since we were kids, and let me tell you, the place has been remodeled into the coolest museum this family has ever enjoyed, hands down. The price tag is hefty, don't get me wrong, but its actually worth every penny. The adults felt like kids again as we marveled at creatures both large and small that we had no idea existed. The kids were in awe, seeing sharks and whales for their first time in their lives.

Emily really enjoyed the animals in the Amazon exhibit, which included fish (duh), snakes, even monkeys! Nora and I recounted Jack and Annie's adventures in the Amazon as we strolled that wing of the aquarium.

Since we didn't get to see Anna this summer, it was really amazing to see how much she has grown up over the past six months. Baby Anna has been replaced by a talking, intelligent, and engaging little girl! She was so excited by everything she saw, and it was really cool to see how comfortable Tim and Rachel have become in their roles as Dad and Mom.

I didn't take too many fish pics, because if you weren't there they'd be boring, but this thing is alive! Cool!

Nora correctly identified the Macaroni penguins at the Shedd from her penguin project last January. The girl has my father's memory.

Nora and Emily spent hours playing in the Yellow Submarine in the lower level of the aquarium. It was impossible to get Emily to leave without a tantrum, she loved it so much. Ryan and I are considering getting a membership to the Shedd because we've never seen Emily have more fun at an exhibit before. On the car ride home, we played Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, and Nora was amazed at the coincidence.

I didn't get any pics from the dolphin show, but I'm happy to report it didn't stink, and Nora didn't leave in tears. So thank you again to Tim, Rachel, and Anna, and hope to see you all again very soon!

Getting you all up to speed...

Hello one and all. For those of you that have been keeping up with us on Facebook, you know its been one hell of a roller coaster ride. Has it really been four months since I've blogged? Yes. Absolutely. And an awful lot can change in four months. I can say with certainty that our family is a very different family than the one that left DeKalb. But the butterfly is also very different from the caterpillar, and the changes we've experienced will help us learn to fly.

It is my intention to start blogging again on a regular basis, but before I do that, I'd like to do a blog montage of the summer to get you all caught up. As time goes on I may add some photo albums of these individual events, but this is what I can do in the meantime.

But enough of that (cue fast-paced montage music here)....

We moved in to our in-laws the first week of June. I would say the first six weeks are a blur in my mind. Unpacking, organizing, donating, throwing stuff away, reassembling furniture, painting the playroom, etc etc etc. This was a big time of transition for everyone. It was hard for the girls to differentiate between "Grandma's House", place of fun and lack of rules, and "home", a place where Mom and Dad do actually insist on both a bedtime and eating veggies. We adults also had a hard time figuring out how to run a home with two sets of parents. To be honest, we never did figure it out

Ryan settled in nicely to his new job as a consultant. Actually, he LOVES it. I am over the moon to see him so happy and productive. I had a hard time getting used to the fact that he wasn't home for lunch everyday, but now that he's fully trained he works from home some days, and has shortened hours on others (to make-up for the 12 hour days), so I feel like we spend a good amount of time together. The kids have noticed he's gone a lot more than he used to be, so the time they do spend together is more precious for all three of them. Bedtime stories are especially sweet (when the kids stay in bed LOL). Here is a pic of Ryan and Emily taken at Choo Choo Johnny's, a train themed restaurant that is a family favorite.

I traveled to Toronto this summer with my cousin Sierra and I met my newest best-friend, Rhondda Smiley. I feel like I've known her since forever. She welcomed me into her home, and we spent and amazing weekend listening to the teachings of Buddhist master Geshe Michael Roach and doing yoga. Sierra and I had a blast driving out to Canada, eh? I even made it into the Toronto Star! (OK, its the back of my head but that is still cool...millions of readers saw me looking at Geshe Michael! What they didn't see was my face, and the dippy-stupid-I-love-this-man grin).

Wednesday evenings in the summer were spent with my best friend of 23 years Lisa and her two children. Nora learned to play baseball, Emily didn't but had fun trying, and it has been great watching our children grow up together and form friendships that, hopefully, will be as strong as the friendship Lisa and I have. In this pic, we are at the zoo, a favorite hangout for the girls!

Although we miss our DeKalb friends terribly, it has been great being so close to our families again. The girls have spent more time with their aunts and cousins in the last four months than they have in the last four years combined. I'm not sure if we will ever be able to move much further from this area. I love my family so much, of course, but there is a closeness now that I didn't realize was missing until we came back. Here are Emily and Layla causing a bit of trouble...something those two are very good at!

Nora and Emily started at their new schools and love every second of it. I will have a separate post on their schooling, as there is so much to share. Both girls are natural learners, and it brings me so much joy to see them thrive in what is truly one of the best schools in the entire state.

We got an offer on the house. A lousy offer by some standards, but an offer is an offer! We are still waiting to see if we will be approved for the HAFA program through Citimortgage. If we are approved, the bank will likely accept the offer, and our credit will be bad but not for long. If the bank doesn't approve, we are still hoping to complete a deed-in-lieu. I personally hope that the offer is approved, because the man hoping to purchase owns a construction company. He builds neighborhoods for a living, and has all of the tools and the capital needed to turn my little falling apart bungalow into a really cute home for someone else. I think that would be good for the neighborhood, which needs all the help it can get. Ryan and I put our hearts into that place, and that effort should show, even if its not for us.

The biggest news which is best for last, is that Ryan and I officially converted to Buddhism. We took several sets of vows that have changed who we are forever. Some of the vows were administered here at home by Lama Claire and Lama Darin, and the last set we took were given in LA by Lama Cliff Spencer, the most amazing individual I've ever had the privilege of meeting. I am not going to say too much more here, because this blog is about the kids, and not our religious views per se. However, if you would like to know more about that aspect of our life, you can click the link for ACI-LA which is at the bottom of this page. Also note that I am the editor of the ACI-LA newsletter, so you can read some of my articles there. (And come on, it was LA!!! Do I really need to tell you we loved it????)

That is the summer in a nutshell. I should say, that is my happy version of the summer. Because in addition to the good times, there were some terrible times as well. As you know its my policy on here to not discuss health issues my parents or in-laws are facing, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Days of happiness were clouded with worry, fear, and anxiety. I've struggled, and continue to struggle, with how to explain to the girls what is going on a manner that is age appropriate, that is truthful, and I've failed in a lot of respects. I'm beginning to think I haven't even been honest with myself. Other issues have arisen here in this very close living arrangement, and as of last night Ryan and I signed a lease to rent a townhouse in the neighboring town.

And a new chapter unfolds....

Operation Dump the House: A progress report

Well folks, I've been packing for what seems like ages, but its only been a few weeks. I am physically and emotionally spent. All of the stuff I've been combing through has brought up memories and pulled the heart strings, and I'm finding that getting rid of all one's possessions is a full time job. A difficult full time job.

The first step was, of course, getting in touch with an awesome lawyer, which we did. He got us in touch with a realtor, who came over, snapped pictures, and got the house on the market in 36 hours. Yes, 36 hours. The rapidity of this process continues to boggle my mind. My parents live in the same home I grew up in, meaning they've been there for 34 years. We've been here for 6 1/2 years. I suppose I thought that implied letting it go would also take a long time. Wronggggg (said in future teenager Nora's voice).

I had a hard time when the realtor was here, telling me how cute and darling our home was, how salable it was, how if the roof didn't leak it would be worth as much as we paid for it. Ugh. She sold me on my own house, and I didn't want to put it on the market! Then, I realized I was dealing with a professional, and upon re-examining the collapsing garage roof, decided to let her try to make a buck.

Of course having it on the market means showing it, and people want to see it! After about a week of showings, I told Ryan I needed to take it off the market for a week so I could get us out. You also read that right. I have decided I want to pack up the entire house this week an empty it out. Why the crazy rush? Well, trying to keep a house in company clean condition with two very active girls is, for me, impossible. To top it off, I don't have a car, and where are we supposed to go during the showing if its raining?

So I'm packing, I'm purging, I'm donating, I'm doing everything in my power to get this job done, so the girls and I can have a normal summer. I've made good progress in some respects. I can say with pride that the basement, which 2 months ago could only be traversed through narrow, winding paths lined with construction equipment, is almost bare. A dozen contractor bags and many trips to Goodwill took care of that. The living room is almost bare, as are all the kitchen cabinets. All of Ryan's clothes are hanging up in our new closet, and 75% of the kids toys are installed in their new toy room.

We plan on moving the majority of the things we want to keep over the first weekend in June. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. Will do my best to keep you updated....

Graduation Follow-Up: An Interview with Miss Nora

Here is an artwork Nora did on her last day of school showing her favorite kindergarten memory. She drew several things she loved, including the red brick building, her classroom with the easel used for Spanish (that's the picture by the words I love my school), her cap and gown, and the bookshelves. I asked her to talk about the picture a little more, and typed her responses as she gave them. Enjoy!

Momma: On your last day of school you did an art project called "My favorite kindergarten memory". What is your favorite memory from the school year?

Nora: I liked doing cursive a lot.

Momma: Why?

Nora: Because I liked doing my journal in cursive, like that.

Momma: What subject did you learn the most about?

Nora: Well, I would say reading, because we do it in patterns. Monday is reading, and Wednesday is reading, and Friday. There's only two math days, so I learned more reading.

Momma: What was your favorite story from the whole year to read?

Nora: I don't really know. I liked them all.

Momma: Pick one.

Nora: I think my favorite one was the one that the title was "Dogs Can Save People".

Momma: What was it about?

Nora: On all the pages it showed different things that dogs can do to save people.

Momma: Who were your best friends at school?

Nora: I had a lot of best friends. Illiana, Ashely, Ian, Ivan, and I think that's it.

Momma: In addition to cursive, what else did you like to do in your classroom?

Nora: I liked to count money, and I like adding money. And art. I liked the spoon art, and it bleeds onto the piece of paper, and you use a black crayon to trace the thing you saw on the other side.

Momma: What was your favorite game outside?

Nora: Sometimes on really hot days, they turn on the sprinkler.

Momma: If you had one thing to tell Emily to help her get ready for kindergarten, what would you tell her?

Nora: I would tell her to start reading some easy books off her shelf. I do think we should help her count some money too.

Momma: What would you like to say to your teachers?

Nora: I miss you a lot, and have fun with the new students because new students come every new year. I put hearts on my art too, because I like doing hearts a lot.

Momma: Is there anything else you want to tell me about?

Nora: I don't think so.

Momma: Thank you Nora!

Nora: Can I leave now?