in which I talk about Christmas in February.

I haven't been in this space much lately. My fingertips {and my heart} are aching to release my thoughts, feelings and emotions, even if it only makes sense to me.

Shall I catch you up??


We officially moved. We were in a five year lease at our old house, at which time we had plans to buy that home. However, the owner of our house, declared bankruptcy and allowed the house to go into foreclosure. We had no idea this was happening, until a random woman knocked on our door one day at the end of October telling me she had to put a foreclosure sign on our house and take video proof that it was there.  We were not thrilled to find this out, to say the least.

However, we had been unhappy with certain aspects of the house- there were so many projects in such an old place. That, along with the almost 1 acre lot that needed hours of lawn care began to overwhelm both Matt and I. And the mice problems?? ICK.

We had a few months until we had to be out of our old house but we were ready to find a new home and get settled. We found a house we liked and moved, 9 days before Christmas. Which leads me to my next stress factor:

We hosted Christmas. Matt and I were eager to have our new house feel like a home, and what better way to do that than to create Christmas memories there?! So, we unpacked, cleaned and decorated like mad and hosted our 7 plus 7 other people. It was a lot of work but I am so thankful we made the choice to celebrate in our new home.

We potty-trained one of our children. I mentioned the topic briefly back in November. The first two days of potty training Will were HORRIBLE. I thought my son would live out the rest of his days in diapers. Miraculously, on the third day, it started to click in that noggin of his. We have conquered one beast at a time: first- staying dry all night, then- potty-ing in public bathrooms. Now using the restroom is second nature to Will, and we only have one little boy in diapers. It has also saved us about $50 a month just with the use of less diapers and wipes.

I made the decision to go part time for school. Actually, the school made that decision for me, as each class is a prerequisite for the next one. I am getting down to the last classes I need before applying to nursing school and so I can only go part time- there are no other classes to take to equal full time. I found I was usually dropping a class each semester anyway while going full time. It was too much. Part time fits our lives perfectly right now. Of course, once I am accepted to a nursing school, I will be full time. At that point my babies will all be in school, so it will be good timing for our family.

It has taken me until now to really catch up from everything that has been going on. I found I was missing a piece. I finally realized that piece was the writing I do here- as insignificant as it is.

It's good to be back.

refreshed love.

He called me at home and asked me if I would want to come to Philadelphia with him next week.

"Next week?!"

"Yep. I talked to my parents and they can keep the babies."
It somehow all worked out (Daph and Jack were with their mom for the weekend, Mason's dad had Monday off to stay with Mas)

And so we were off.

We have walked and explored the streets of Philadelphia, eaten tons of yummy vegetarian goodness, and just spent time together-talking and laughing. In fact, I don't think we have spent this much time together, alone, in YEARS.

It is too easy to get lost in the raising of kids together, the bustle of everyday life, to forget one another, to lose sight of the two of you that started it all.

But you know what?

I am still madly in love with this man who gave me my sweet babies, my wonderful family. 

Madly, deeply in love and I plan to keep it that way, for you know-


FOREVER.

:)