As If Waiting For Christmas Wasn't Hard Enough

According to my Christmas Countdown App... hold it right there.... you don't have one?  You know they're free right?  And 2 year olds la-hove them.  At least my Christmas-obsessed two year old does.  Every morning while we're eating breakfast Kole says, "It's Cwismas today!"  And I say, "It is?  We haven't even put the tree up!  Oh rats!"  And he laughs and laughs and then asks for hot chocolate.  I tell him no way jose and he starts in again with "But... It's Cwismas today."

(Side note:  I say 'No Way Jose' a lot to Kole.  He tries to repeat it in similar situations but always leaves out the "way."  So it sounds like he's just always angry at our gardener.  "No Jose!  No Jose!")

According to my Christmas Countdown App there are 97 days until Christmas.  I'm dyyyyyying!  I can't take it anymore!  I wish Christmas were here today.  But even more than I want December 25th to be here....

.... I want October 13th to be here!
Because (I think it's my brother in laws birthday) WE'RE MOVING!

To a house.
Ahhhhhhhh.  Exhale.
We've been in our townhouse for 1 year 1 month and 29 days.
It has served it's purpose.  But with the arrival of Josie (<---- I call Joey Josie sometimes.  I think it's okay since he is a baby.) our place seems so much smaller.  I think it's the crying.  The crying that fills the entire house.  Every hour and a half.  All night long.  Which is friggin' bizarre because during the day he is Mr. Sunshine and at night he is El Diablo.
I'd been begging Ken to move into one of the 3 bedroom apartments here.  That way it will be really super easy to let Joey cry it out. Oh, yeah.  I let my babies cry it out.  I'm heartless, cruel, and callous.  Ken didn't see how having an extra room would make that much of a difference (really?) but our rent went up.  WAH WAH!  And I happen to be cruising the local papes and found a gem of a house right in our price range.

It wasn't a hard sell:

I mean let's compare here...

Current Back Yard

Oh wait... let me give you a better angle... to make it look bigger.

Hmph.  No use.  Oh well.

Here's the future back yard:

Hello!  Come to mama!

 A few things I'd like to point out.  1.) There's grass.  Like enough for us to have a picnic on.  2.)  Those trees!  Look how big they are!  3.)  Is that a patio I see?  Are those burgers grilling I smell?  I hope someones bringing potato salad cuz we're having a cook out!

Here is the front yard where we live now:

Front yard fail. 
We are lucky we have the handicap spot in front of us so no one can park their junky car there.

Here's the front yard where we are moving:

Run Koley!  Enjoy the freedom of not having to dodge cars!
Run with wreck-less abandon, my son!
(Did you get the pun there?  Clever girl, that Patty.)

It's a great house.  (And for only $25 more than we'd be paying in rent here.)  I am obviously most excited about the yard.  And the land.  Oh, my dear.  Had I forgot to mention?  It sits on 2 acres.  Totally ours.

It's unbelievable.  I'm beyond excited.  Beyond grateful.

Now.  In fairness to Ken.  He picked the townhouse where we live now.  There are things I will miss.  The island in the kitchen.  The cute cubbie under the stairs we turned into a playroom for Kole.  The... the... Hmmm.  I won't miss the weird smell the downstairs bathroom always resonates.  Or the rotten kids playing di-RECTly outside my window.  Or the multiple daily walks to the dumpster.
But this place had some wonderful memories.

Kole and Ken became inseparable.

 

Kole learned to walk here.

...and eat on his own.

He got his first hair cut here. 

Kole switched to a big bed.
Okay... that wasn't the happiest memory.
But it's better now.

I got pregnant with Joey.

And this is where we brought him home...

...To be a family.

But don't think for one second that all that sentimentality is going to stop me from leaving this place in the dust.  Well.  Literally spotless... so we get our deposit back... but metaphorically... in the dust.

Bring On The Champagne

I would like to ask you to, please, hold your applause until the end.

First off, I had my yard sale this weekend.  Ken referred to it as the Red Neck Extravaganza.  It was a little white trash for his liking I suppose.  That is until it was all over and we were sitting around counting our piles of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck.  (You know... the rich uncle from Ducktales?)  My mom and Ken's parents donated tons of items to increase the size of the sale and therefore the bounty.  And, my dearies, it was bountious.  So a very special public thank you to our parents.  And a regular special thank you to our friends, our neighbors (who pre-shopped the sale for days ahead of time), the crazy early bird dickering yard salers of Idaho Falls, and the Mexicans who make this country run.... we made enough to buy over 1,000 junior bacon cheeseburgers.
Ka.  Ching! Ching!  Ching!  Ching!  Ching!  Ching!  Ching!

Second.  We are moving on Saturday, the 20th.  I can't add anymore to that glorious sentence.  We've been a part for over a year and it's time.  Amen.

Third.  Remember when I said I submitted some work to be published?  Well...... IT HAPPENED!!  Both pieces I have submitted are going to be published in a book coming out in a couple months.  And... Yes, I will sign your copy.  I'm going to go out and buy a special pen just for that purpose and practice my fancy loopy celebrity signature.  And daydream about when me and Jo...that would be JK as in JK Rowling to you.. can sit in peace and chat about our successes and poke fun of Stephanie Meyers.  *sigh*  This is the big leagues.

Fourth and finally, tomorrow I turn 27.  I enter my late twenties.  I am very excited to be 27.  It sounds mature and experienced and suave.

Alive and Well

Sorry.
Have I told you we're moving?
Or having a huge yard sale?
Or celebrating my entrance into the late twenties of my life?
Or raising a baby?
Or moving?

Yeah.  All those a happening.  And my leetle blog has plummeted to the bottom of my priority list.  My blog stats have followed suit.  *frowny face*  But I think of you guys everyday.  I wonder how Wallene is enjoying summer break and if Ru and Spence are getting enough quality time together.  Or if he is potty trained yet.  I think about all the Poulsen's and figure they are having one family reunion or party after the other.  And Chris and Court in Georgia... are you guys ok?  I think of my sisters everyday and KNOW they are thriving.  It's in their blood.  I think about Rory the Scot and wonder if his hand is better and what the heck happened to it anyway?  I think of my old youth leaders and their families and all the summer fun they are planning.  I think of my neighbors whose blogs I read and how much I'm going to miss them in person. Even if I don't see them that much now.
I think of you blog world people.  A lot.
You are all in my thoughts (and sometimes my prayers).
Keep me in yours these next few weeks.

We'll be back to normal in no time.