April 22, 2012

Time is slipping away from me.

Lately Mierae reminds me of something I told her I learned on my mission: days are long, but weeks are short.  We're finding it to be as true now as it was then.  Even though I feel like there isn't much to document as the weeks fly by, I will be sad down the road that I didn't write anything about how Henrik said his first word "ball" at 15 months, or how proud I was of Mierae bringing home another report card where she is doing fabulously at school and was chosen again to be a Winterset Winner, or how Jolie, as sweet and mild as ever, is still having potty issues!

Eric and I cherish the times, few and far between, when we get to sit down together as a family for meals.  It's not that we don't DO it; but it's very rare when the girls will actually sit, eat, and talk, versus messing around and running away from the table, etc.  We've had some neat conversations about life, school, Church, and the future.  The girls have reacted so well to the news of our move to Canton this August.  I was so worried they would be sad and not want to leave their schools and friends.  But they are excited, and they are looking forward to all that the summer will bring to our family.

I've been feeling well during this part of my pregnancy--just bigger than I really am, and tired most of the time.  Over spring break when both girls were home, it was tough!  I was happy that they got to relax and take it easy, but they were fighting so often, and it was hard to keep up with them getting all their toys out everywhere and going in and out of the house at will.  I tried to make it fun for them by planning activities, but they mostly wanted to stay home and play!  For Jolie's birthday we went to Target for her to choose some make-up (eye shadow and fingernail polish) and then met Eric at Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  Jolie requested a rainbow Hello Kitty cake.  The morning was spent making it, as Henrik cried and the girls got neglected, but we got through it, and the cake was worth it (even though Jolie announced it wasn't exactly what she had wanted!).  We managed to go to COSI with Eric on Wednesday afternoon, since I was also on spring break and didn't have to teach!  Since Mierae is too old to play in the Little Kidspace, we avoided it altogether and visited the special water exhibit and some others that the girls wanted to do.  We also made it to Slate Run Historical Farm and met up with Tamara and the kids.  It was fun to get close to the baby animals: lambs and piglets, plus see the horses, chickens, and get chased by the geese. :)  The kids enjoyed it a lot, especially Henrik, which was so fun to see.

Most of my time has been consumed on the computer looking at houses in Canton.  I made a contact in the Canton ward, and I have spent so much time looking at homes, trying to figure out what will work best for our family, and where we want to be.  It's quite the process getting all the documents in to get pre-qualified, then try to decide how much we can really afford, and then try to determine what we can really get with the money we're willing to spend.  We spent Saturday afternoon in Canton looking at homes while my new friend Lindsey watched the girls.  It was frustrating, but informative.  What we really want, we can't get right now, having to wait to close on a home until Eric can submit two paystubs from his new job.  We're just stressed trying to figure out how it will all work, especially with the baby coming at the end of August.  We're excited, but we just don't know what is going to happen.

I've been busy at Church too.  They asked me to be the interim choir director now than Katrina and Kimber are both gone.  It took me a long time to decide what the choir should sing for a sacrament meeting in May, only to find out after our first rehearsal that the bishopric changed the theme and it no longer fits as well as it would have!  Oh, well.  Everyone learned it so well that we'll have time to learn another piece that we can sing on the following Sunday which just opened up for a musical number as well. :)

Things have been so busy, and the girls have gone to bed so late, that it feels like Eric and I haven't had much time together.  For our date a week ago, we ate dinner at home, and then went to Whit's for frozen custard.  We started reading the second "Fablehaven" together then, and continued it when we could in the evenings and on our road trip to Canton.  I love spending time with Eric.  It's been fun to look at homes together, but it's also been a growing experience for us together to move forward into something big like this.  I'm so grateful for Eric's counsel, support, forgiveness, grateful recognition, and his respect.  He is very good to me.