Life As We Know It

Has changed.
We've graduated both Kindergarten and Seminary, gone to the beach, packed our home, said good-bye to so many wonderful friends, moved, set up a new home, and have started a new life in Charlotte, NC. It's weird and exciting and sad and promising and frustrating and fulfilling. We're starting to meet people at the church and in our new neighborhood, but it's nothing like Sewanee. In Sewanee, everyone naturally comes together because we have nothing else. Either you're all in the same boat or you've been in the boat before and want to make it a better experience for others. In the "real world", as we like to call it, you have to find where you fit all over again and people have their own lives established and don't naturally reach out to pull you into their lives. People in the church have been wonderful of course and we're getting offers from young families to come to dinner or go swimming, but it's hard to go from having this 3 year built-in community to starting from scratch.

One nice thing is that we have been able to re-establish what it means to be a family. In seminary we had constant friends around, the kids' friends and ours, which is wonderful, but it can be hard to be a family. There were times when extroverted *A* would crave other people so badly and not understand why we were having a meal with just the 4 of us. It has been just the 4 of us for almost 2 weeks now (with occasional meals or playdates but nothing like in Sewanee) and it's starting to feel like we have our own routine again. Moving has done a number on the kids' behavior and we're having to re-learn a lot of manners and rules. If we didn't have this time together, it would not be as easy to reinforce those things to the kids. We're trying to get into a summer routine because we don't have constant activity like we used to with no time at home. We have LOTS of time at home now (with fancy cable tv) so we have to set some parameters and stick so some kind of schedule.

This week they have really gotten into the swing of things, especially *A* who seems to thrive on routine and rules lately, and it has helped with behavior. My favorite part of the day is right now, rest time, where we all go to our rooms and rest for an hour or so. Sometimes they sleep, and if they do we get to stay up late and do fun stuff like catch lightening bugs or have a movie night, but if they don't we all get a quiet break and they play better in the afternoon.

So, it's going well and it's getting easier. We still have boxes around but we're slowly unpacking and getting things organized. We try to take a break in the late mornings or afternoons to explore the city. The kids and I found these "spraygrounds" around town that are free cooling-off fun. And summer starts today for public schools here so I'm sure we'll start seeing more kids around the neighborhood and such. We have a huge YMCA next to us and we hope to join so we can add swimming to our daily routine. Library summer programs start next week too, so that will give us some fun things to do too. Another thing I've learned is that in the "real world" you kind of need a paycheck (which we haven't had in oh so long), so once that starts, we can breathe a little easier and keep finding fun things to do. This city is full of family-friendly places and activities so we're excited to be able to explore all summer long. But in the meantime, we'll keep running through the sprinklers, riding our bikes in the evenings, catching lightening bugs, drawing, reading library books, and making yummy treats that don't involve turning the oven on.

Enjoying the Latta Park sprayground!

And now that I have rest time, hopefully I'll be able to share more here. I've missed this space and I apologize for the long absence and the fact that I probably won't be able to catch up on all the great events that have happened to us in the past months. Hopefully I'll be able to throw in a few catch-up posts about the big events that I actually have pictures from like graduation and such.

Under the Weather

I've declared today to be movies and pajamas day; ^J^ is super-sick, *A* has her cough, we've been on Spring Break with busy schedules, and we have the thickest fog I've ever seen in almost 3 years. In Sewanee, the fog is famous. We have shirts with "Fog Happens" written on them. When I mentioned the fog this morning to (H), he reminded me that it's really the inside of a cloud. I guess he's been paying attention. The reason we have such thick fog is because we're so high above everything else, so we end up actually being in the clouds. It's probably raining down the mountain, but here we're just getting the cold dampness of the cloud. Some people hate it, it does put a weird white haze on the world and it's pretty much impossible to drive in, but I think it's great. Especially if we don't have to go anywhere. I'm really going to miss the fog when we leave.

Sorry for the words-only post, I have lots of pictures to share from Spring Break and whatnot, but I'm not motivated to get them downloaded right now. Maybe later today I'll get to it. Or maybe not.

We're all perfectly content snuggling under the blanket, eating chocolate chip pancakes, and watching old movies. I think The Sound of Music is in order today, and maybe Singing in the Rain since it's done nothing but storm for the past 2 days. But for today we'll enjoy being wrapped in the cloud and avoid the rest of the world (since we can't see it anyway).

This boy

I've been spending a lot of quality time alone with my boy lately. This past weekend when ^J^ was out of town, *A* got invited to a sleep-over so (H) and I had lots of quality time together. Also, with him no longer taking naps most days, we have a few hours together in the afternoon. We take trips to the pond, read books, go grocery shopping, cook, and of course, play pirates. Pirates are (H)'s newest obsession.

It's awesome. Except when he wants to constantly bring his arsenal of weapons with him wherever we go. Sometimes we allow it, but often I find myself saying "No, weapons aren't allowed at school".

My favorite times lately have been playing outside during the in-between time when (H) gets out of school but before *A*'s out. It's been sunny and warm so we're rarely inside; we play t-ball, ride bikes,

eat a secret chocolatey snack (the 2nd child gets so many privileges the 1st doesn't get), and soak up the sunshine, hoping it will stick around so we can do this everyday.

And we're back!

Um, hi. I'm sorry. Did you forget about us? Will you forgive us? You see we've had a lot going on:

First it was snowy, for a LONG time and I was tired of posting snow-related stuff.

Then we got sick, not too bad, just one of the many nasty bugs going on around this mountain lately.

Then the sun came out. Ahhhh, warm glorious sun!
So for the past week we've been outside at every possible moment. After school all the kids want to do is be out, we go to the park, we go to the pond, we play t-ball (or a version of it that *A* made up called "high-five, really cool game" where you slap hands at each base and then everyone rotates spots to get a turn). When the sun starts to set, we head home, but I still can't get them to come in. They continue to play in the yard, feed the birds, ride bikes, and play with the dogs. One day they decided to "organize" the back porch while I started dinner. Our back porch is a mess, it's dirty, and neglected. It's where the dogs live. Well they got the broom and got to work. They pulled out the toys and put them in a separate spot, they dusted things off. Apparently Spring Cleaning affects 4 and 6 year olds too.

So we've been busy. And it's about to get worse. This weekend is kind of the calm before the storm. ^J^ is gone to a bachelor party weekend for his best friend (Otherwise known as a bad joke: a deacon, a biologist, and a librarian walk into a comic book convention), so the kids and I are hanging out and doing more of that Spring Cleaning. Next weekend we're off to the wedding (^J^ is basically running the show as much as he is able) and celebrating our nephew's b-day. Then the next weekend we're off to visit a church that ^J^ has interviewed with.
That's the other thing that's been occupying all available brain-space: what comes next. ^J^ has had 3 interviews and will have another one in a week or so, plus has his name in for 2-3 more positions. We found out we might not be going back to Atlanta because no positions are open right now, so we were given permission to look elsewhere. We've tried to focus on a few positions in the Southeast but suddenly people are randomly contacting ^J^ from places we didn't instigate and it's kind of overwhelming. It's all good and it will all work out somehow, but if I think about it beyond this beginning stage, I get kinda frazzled. There is just SO much that needs to be decided in the next 3, yes 3, months and getting a job is actually only the beginning. So, I'm not thinking about it too much, at least not about much beyond the interview stage. It's just too much to try and deal with when there are still so many variables in the air.
But it's exciting stuff too! So, I promise to be better and keep this updated (really Melissa!). And maybe next time I'll even have pictures.

Snow Week...again

It snowed last Sunday, probably the biggest snow the South has had in a long time. We think we had about 10inches total. It didn't really stop flurry-ing until Thursday. I know it was a big pain for much of the South, but in Sewanee, it's beautiful. It's fun. It's kept us home all week. Pretty much.
Our car got stuck in the driveway so ^J^ moved it to the gravel parking spot in front of the house. Then the plow came by and we had a big hunk of snow to try to drive over. It was fluffy and soft so we didn't think it would be a problem but when ^J^ tried, the car rebelled and slid the other direction into our yard. About a foot from the base of a large tree. So it stayed there, we used our generous neighbor's car when we needed to. Finally, yesterday, after lots of shovelling, pushing, and revving, we got out and it was just in time to avoid a total cabin fever meltdown. A trip to our local Piggly Wiggly seemed like a major adventure out into the world. We stocked up on a few essentials (you know, milk, cheese, dill pickle chips), got some movies at the library and came back home to settle in for the weekend. Sledding has been our one sanity-saver. As soon as the kids start to get stir-crazy, we don all our layers (it takes a good 15 minutes to get ready) and head down to the pond behind our house where we've finally discovered an awesome hill within walking distance. Both kids now love sledding and it's super-fun to watch them race and come up with new ways of sledding: backwards, on their knees, on their bellies(superman-style), etc.
Tomorrow it's finally supposed to be in the 40s but I think this snow will be here a while still. Probably just melt in time for the next system to come through, and Winter really has just begun...sigh.

All bundled up and ready to go!

Lots of snow!

Sledding is so fun!

Don't you love the hand-knitted items for a snowgirl?

Our street

Helping Daddy shovel the car out

Shovelling is kinda fun!

That's one way to make a snowball!

Dogs love snow too!



So much fun!



Christmas Recap

Christmas was magical this year to the kids. Santa is a BIG deal now and the magic of all that is so fun to watch. Scooters were the big requests this year and they've been such a hit! How are scooters a hit in the winter you might ask (especially with close to 10 inches of snow currently on the ground)? Well, we've discovered they are actually great indoors too because of the hardwood floors and the "loop" around the house. Yesterday, at a peak of cabin fever, the kids had a scooter race around the loop while ^J^ and I sat on the couch and acted as spectators and announcers. On Christmas morning, the kids just had to take a scooter ride outside so we headed down to the pond which was barely iced over and they had a blast playing with the paper thin sheets of ice. Later that day we headed to Atlanta to do Christmas with my family which was fun and relaxing because we got to spend the whole day there. It also snowed which is a rare event anytime in Atlanta, but especially on Christmas. I think I was in middle school the last time that happened. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Christmas Eve

Reading The Night Before Christmas

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Santa came!

Christmas Morning

Discovering her scooter

He was so sleepy but *A* lured him out of bed with presents.

Vroom!

(H) would fish them out and *A* would throw the ice on the iced pond and watch it shatter.

The Recap Begins...

It's been a really great Christmas break so far, and it's still going, at least for me. This week the kids are back in school, ^J^ is taking his BIG ordination exams, and I'm off for 2 more weeks. Next week ^J^ and I will have off together which will be nice, we can get some things done and organized for the upcoming semester, the LAST semester here. Oh my goodness. Perhaps we'll start packing boxes. glup.
The week before break we had a pretty big snow so school was actually cancelled for 4 days, the last day we had planned to not send the kids because we needed to be in Atlanta to prepare for ^J^'s ordination to the diaconate. So they basically have had 3 weeks off school instead of 2.

Speaking of Ordination, it was a great day and a beautiful service followed by a ton of pictures. We joked that it was like getting married again and being tired of smiling. There were so many people there from all parts of our lives, college friends, extended family, Sewanee friends. It was so fun to have all that support and share the day with everyone. Afterwards we went across the street for pizza and beer with family and friends and it was a perfect way to end the day. Here are some photos:

The 7 ordinands from Atlanta

^J^ and our bishop

With the priests who have helped us along the way.



 

More holiday recap coming soon...