Mustaches

About two weeks into the month, Tim decided he would participate in No-Shave November. Thing is, though, he grows very little facial hair. No sideburns, no hair on his cheek. Some on his chin. However his mustache did not get the memo. It grew in so fast and so thick and he got asked more than once if he colored it in with mascara. It was a little like having a new husband and I actually didn't mind it. :) But, mustaches. Can anyone take them seriously?

Yesterday he turned 31. He had a kind of, once-you're-thirty-you're-in-your-thirties attititude about it. Like most of his birthdays it was just a low key event. Went to dinner, opened some presents. Didn't eat any cake. I hope it was good for him. He's amazing. The man can do anything. I really feel like I won when I married him.

This is where we are

Lately it is all art projects all the time with Mason. First thing he asks for in the morning (after chocolate milk, of course) is paper and scissors. Then markers, then crayons, then tape and glue. It is game on. My aunt gave him a few crafts-for-kids books a while ago and we plowed through those in no time. It is really amazing watching him improve as he draws the things he sees or creates things from his imagination. I am not the craftiest person alive either, so I've really had to up my game.

He likes his sisters. He really loves little things, like babies, so Ava gets the preferential treatment and Brielle gets a lot of abuse. But he is always sure to protect both sisters from the Daddy Monster's nightly attacks. The other night he was cooing over Ava, trying to keep her attention and said "Oh Ava, you crack my heart, you cutie-pie."

Mason got tickets from his Nana to go to the high school production of Tarzan. So he got a date night with me, Nana and Pop, and Granny. He loved the first half and several minutes after the intermission. Then he turned to me and said," I'm supposed to be asleep, mom." So I cuddled him up and he slept through the rest. The next morning he told his dad all about the gorillas and the butterflys, but had absolutely no opinion on Tarzan himself.

Since then Brielle has been asking if it's her turn to go to a play yet. Every night before she goes to bed (and several times throughout the day) she asks, "What we doing when I wake up?" Once she has an answer that satisfies, she asks for a specific book, we close the door to a crack, and she reads to herself until she falls asleep. I love hearing her little voice telling stories, alone in her dark room.

She finally, finally learned how to kiss this week. We are a family of kissers and maybe she was just sticking it to the man and refusing to cooperate because she felt smothered with affection. But this week she leaned in, lips pursed, and layed one on me. Smacked her lips and everything. Then she gave me about ten more perfect little kisses. After the final one on the cheek, she looked at me and said, "I break your heart!" And then I died. (I guess we do a lot of heart breaking around here.)

I thought Brielle was a handful when she started walking around 10 to 11 months old. I kind of forget the exact ages that each of my kids have started doing different things, but I feel like Ava has been at least a month ahead in everything. She was walking by nine months. Now she is just barely ten months and she is holding the phone up to her ear, pulling out the drawers to hang from them like a gymnast, climbing everything she can. She does everything with a giant grin and complete determination.

The last few weeks we have been tyring to soak up all the last bits of warm weather to store for the winter ahead. Basically that means the kids play on the playground while I chase Ava around, taking things out of her mouth. What a rough life.

October was pretty fun

Halloween seemed to start on October 1st and run right through the entire month. We did about four million Halloween themed art projects. We visited Scarecrow Alley at the train depot museum. We went to the Fright Lights at Willard Bay. We carved pumpkins! The list goes on.

Of course we also had Halloween parties with each side of the family. They are always the best. I tell ya, this holiday just gets better every year that my kids get older. I'm sure that will only be the case for a few years, so I am just soaking this up. This year we had an Iron Man (he's never seen the movie), a Snow White (she's never seen the movie), and a giraffe. For one party, I went as Mary Poppins (I've never seen the movie), and Tim was a vampire. The vampire was per Mason's request, but then the teeth were a little too scary for Bri, so they lasted about five minutes.

Mason has been asking for stories before bed lately and Tim is just the best story-teller around, I swear it. This month they have been scary stories about witches, mostly. Little boys getting turned into frogs or shoes because they drank the witch's brew. The mildly-scarier, the better. He has just loved all things creepy this month. He was not so sure about things when he saw his Nana dressed as a witch and stiring her brew in a cauldron, though.

It was inevitable

I've decided to make this family blog a private affair. If you would like to be added to the list, comment with your e-mail address, or e-mail it to me at cearbon[at]aol[dot]com.

Home again, home again

Oh, where to begin.

We sold our house. But then we didn't. This is a long story.

On a Thursday afternoon I showed the house to a nice couple who made a point of telling me twice that they had cash and were in a hurry to find a place. On Friday night around 10:00 PM we got an offer. We countered, they countered back - Saturday the deal was in place. They weren't kidding when they said they were in a hurry because they wanted to close the following Friday. Like, in six days.

So we made the mad dash to find a place to buy quickly or rent. We started trying to make new plans for the future. I cried some because I love this place, but then I came to terms with the change and got excited about making those new plans. Tim handled everything.

On Thursday afternoon they told us they would be ready to close the next day, so we started packing. We had it in the contract that we got 48 hours after closing to move out, but what could a head start of a few hours hurt? On Friday morning we moved most of our furniture and several tupperwares of things we use only seasonally into the fully-enclosed trailer that we bought for the move. About two hours into moving stuff, the title company called to say that the buyers couldn't close until the following Wednesday.

Well, nope, not OK. We told them if they were going to amend the contract then they were going to give us more than $100 earnest money (guys, always get more earnest money up-front, that was our mistake) and we would make a few other changes. A few hours later they were ready to close.

So we closed! We signed the papers! Signed, sealed.....

Then they never paid us. Every day for the next week it was, "First thing in the morning." "Today by 3:00." (Here we packed the kids stuff and kitchen stuff and moved the furniture into a storage unit) "First thing tomorrow morning." "Today by 3:00." No one ever seemed to know what was going on. It was so secretive and confusing. Finally, on Friday, a WEEK after we closed, they said "Oh sorry, we didn't really have cash and our hard lender won't give us enough money to buy your house." We tried to work out a last minute deal to lend them the difference but they never called back and in the end it all fell through.

We moved back into our house over the weekend and I think today I am finished unpacking. It is our new house again! Other than a very stressful two weeks of weird deals (and furloughs) everything turned out just fine. Neither of us were exactly happy to leave, so we are happy to stay. For a little while longer, if nothing else.

In between we have had three perfectly adorable kids, as usual. Mason is still asking when we are moving and where the new people are going to put all their stuff. What a confusing deal for a four-year-old. He started preschool last month and he just loves it. Brielle really wants to join him for "pittyschool" but she gets to hang out with me instead and I like that.

Ava has been taking a few steps here and there for several weeks, but in the last couple of days she has really just buckled down and learned to walk. It is so wonderful and terrifying to watch. She is so proud of herself every time she stands up on her own and takes a few steps. I love the look on her pleased little face.

Here are a bunch of pictures of my kids because they never get old to me.

 

A great big end of summer post

It generally stays really warm for several weeks after the kids all go back to school, but it just doesn't really feel like summer anymore, does it?

This was the Most Blistering Summer From Hades Twenty Thirteen. It was so great. Mason took two rounds of swimming lessons. He graduated Level 1 and then did Level 2 and now he can put is head under water AND blow air out of his nose so, progress! He loved it. We to some aquatic centers and went down some slides and that is always a personal favorite of mine. Brigham pool, only once. Sorry, Brigham pool.

We did some big projects on the house, including rocking the front exterior and a fireplace. Those are pictures I'm saving up for another before and after post. Finished basement!

We bought year passes to The Treehouse Museum and I imagine that as soon as it is too cold to spend all our free time at various parks, you'll find us there... letting Ava stuff strange toys into her mouth.

My sister-in-law Betsey had a very cute baby shower, and then a week a later she had a baby. His name is Friedrich and he is adorable and I don't have a single picture of him.

Over the weekend we went to the Box Elder vs. Syracuse football game. Tim's niece Haley is a cheerleader for BE and his nephew Riley plays for Syracuse, so win/win! Except, win/loss, because we wanted to see Box Elder win and they lost.

By the way, when I met Tim, Haley and Riley were, like, babies. Now they drive actual cars on the street and it just blows my mind. I remember when I was that age and people would tell me things like, "Wow, I remember when you were just a little girl, I can't believe you are driving," and I seriously thought they were old people. Now that is me. The weird old person, constantly reminding them that they were just barely kids.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Hyrum Reservoir. It was really low and really muddy. A little girl that was trying to make friends with Mason mentioned that she was waiting for her turn on the boat and when she found out that we didn't have a boat she asked why were even there, then? I've never been and I thought it was beautiful there (a Willard Bay upgrade, for sure) and the kids loved playing in the sand and mud.

Speaking of sand, we put sand box under the bottom deck, and this is my view while they play.

After the reservoir we went to the final night of the Golden Spike Rodeo. Neither Tim or I had been to a rodeo since high school which is sad because it was great. We took Mason and Brielle on a few rides before it started and they just went nuts with hapiness. Kids are the best.

And now a few more random pictures because this just hasn't gone on long enough, yet.