Christmas and New Years

I sat down to blog and journal tonight and realized I haven't written a thing about Christmas or New Years or really much of anything we did the whole month of December. It turned into a social media rollback sort of a month for me as I was busy with other things. I looked at Facebook, but not regularly. I posted occasionally but not a lot because I was doing other things. I found myself realizing hours later that I didn't have my phone anywhere near me. Truly it was delightful. I have to figure out the right balance because I do like keeping up with the goings on of my friends and family on Facebook, but not feeling tied to devices was a remarkably freeing experience and I really enjoyed it. I read not one but four thick books this month. I created. I played with my kids. It was lovely.

But anyway, Christmas. New Years. Christmas Break. This year was great. I've mentioned it before of late but I'm really feeling a simplify kick. We're coming to the end of grad school. May is the goal. And then August so we can start the kids at their new school. Then next Christmas so we can participate in that graduation ceremony. Basically Bill is hard at work writing his dissertation as well as prepping to teach and doing a multitude of other things. He will finish when he finishes and it is very hard to know how long it will take. But we see the finish line and he's working as hard as he can to get there.

Chloe at six months

How that relates to Christmas is I didn't feel a strong drive to give a jillion things and add to our stuff list. We went with new nightstands and lights for the kids as well as a Lego table and stools and some new Legos. They got a few miscellaneous clothes and games and things from grandparents and cousins. All in all it felt just about perfect. Lots to open, but not too much. The kids were so excited. This is really the first year they've truly gotten the magic of Christmas time. They were excited to see Santa. They loved the parties and the advent calendars. We did our annual 25 Days of Christ thing with scriptures and movies about the Savior. They remembered that from last year and really enjoyed it. They were so incredibly excited for Christmas Eve and to wake up Christmas morning. Bill and I had a delightful time creating all the magic. It was awesome.

Christmas morning the three older ones got up and Chloe actually slept way in. We opened most of our gifts before she woke up and we brought her in. She's even old enough to be excited by the others' excitement and that was fun. Truly, this was the best Christmas we've had since having kids. It really was magical.

By the time New Years rolled around I was honestly beat. Chloe has slept through the night since day one, but just the last few weeks she seems to have forgotten how. Her crib is in my bedroom because there's nowhere else to put it if we want to preserve some of the good things that work right now with our other kids. So I can't really do anything but get her and take care of her multiple times a night and I'm dragging. We watched a lot of movies and shows throughout the day. We had promised the kids they could stay up until midnight but in actuality I was dreading it. It went well though. We watched the Clemson game, which was super fun. The kids watched the Jungle Book. When both wound down we found a New Years countdown on demand on Netflix and danced around until "midnight." It ended up being about 10:30PM. Then the older two went to sleep. Aaron was his crazy self until about 11PM and Chloe was up and down all night because hey, why not! I can't say it was the best New Years I've had, but for a first time even celebrating it with our kids, not bad. It can't help but get better when we get our effort on and do more fun things, lol.

So anyway, now Christmas Break is winding down. Genevieve started back today. Spencer goes back Wednesday. I kind of feel like shouting "I survived!" and doing a few fist pumps. I'm still figuring out this whole vacation, all four kids are at home thing. We'll get there. It's all good. This holiday season is in the books and onward and upward to an awesome 2017.

Lots of Pictures

Most of my photos end up on my cell phone, and it's hard to take cell phone shots of moving kids, so some of these are a tad fuzzy, but this is real life around my house. Lots of no clothes days, lots of cut Chloe, lots of treats this Christmas season. It's been a good month so far. 

She rolled over a few times when she turned five months old. Now she seems to have forgotten she knows how to do that, but she's also very close to sitting up on her own. Baby development is weird.

Ice cream cones! I'd say that's probably my kids' favorite treat at the moment.

Reading with dad, sitting in his lap. Pretty much Aaron's favorite thing. The sitting in his lap part at least. Bill doesn't love it because they wallow around too much and it is uncomfortable, so when Aaron gets a chance he always looks like a cat that caught a mouse, so content. 

This girl. She is so cute. It's ridiculous. And that hat is also ridiculous and I love it. 

Got Genevieve some new leggings. She's in heaven. So many crazy pattern mixing days of late. She was so excited she wouldn't stand still to take a picture, but oh well.

Saturday morning cartoons. Genevieve was thrilled we let her hold Chloe for a few minutes.

Sometimes we watch a movie while we eat. Not very often, but when the littles are asleep sometimes the biggies get to do cool things.

New outfit from Grammy Becky. So adorable. 

She's sitting so well in her high chair.

Those cheeks!

Spencer was ecstatic to go see Santa. And these are the best pictures with Santa I've ever gotten.

Genevieve loved the idea of Santa but the bounce house next to him was way more exciting. We had to convince her to come over and then she only wanted to sit with Bill. I'm betting this will be here last year of being skittish of Santa, but we shall see.

Aaron wanted nothing to do with sitting on Santa's lap. I have no idea how we got even this decent of a picture. Magical photographer right there. He liked the candy cane though.

Boys, oh boys

This is a parenting post if ever I've written one. My apologies but it's the only thing on my mind right now so either I write a random gross parenting story or don't blog, lol. You can see which one I picked, obviously.

I'm drowning in pee I tell you. My oldest is quite fastidious and he hasn't done me any favors to be prepared for the two year-old being potty trained but overly confident about his aiming abilities, which are in fact quite poor. I swear I wipe up messes five times a day and my bathroom still reeks of pee. The real problem here is his height. Aaron potty trained so young that he's not tall enough to aim right. So give it a year and we'll be fine, but in the meantime I can't find the source of the stench.

Let's talk about how bathrooms in old homes aren't helpful at all in the cleaning efforts either. And living in a humid climate. That's three strikes against me, right? The fight is real and constant y'all. I appreciate the lack of diapers. I'll appreciate more the lack of puddles and stench and don't even knock my hopes out with comments about how it's never going to get better. Hahaha! I'm not going to accept that. I have one example to prove that boys can use the bathroom without being disgusting.

Christmas Tree Hunting

We did our annual Christmas tree farm trip this evening. It never disappoints. Big poles to carry around, trees to find and cut down, candy canes and hot chocolate to enjoy, beautiful weather. It was a great little trip and we finished it with dinner at Chick fil A, so the kids were in heaven. I'll miss this place. I'm sure wherever we move will have great options for cutting down trees though, so I'm not worried. But this is our fourth trip here and it's great.

Highlights included Spencer helping actually cut down the tree.  Genevieve was in a bad mood, super tired, and she only wanted to frown for a picture, so Bill helped her out. Spencer and Aaron were in stitches. Here's a bunch of photos. Good times.



And for a fun comparison, Christmas 2015



Christmas 2014



Christmas 2013

5 Months Old

This sweet girl is five months old and gets cuter and cuter every day. Here's a fun comparison to Genevieve in the same outfit at about the same age. Genevieve is in the flower headband. The resemblance continues to be so strong.

Chloe is delightful. She sleeps through the night. She goes to bed as early as 6:30 some nights and as late as 8PM. If she goes to sleep early she does wake up in the early hours of the morning, but she still does a good 9-10 hour stretch. No complaints at all.

She just rolled over for the first time three days ago from front to back. She is so close to going back the other way too but she doesn't seem to want it yet.

She also just discovered her hands and that she can hold things and now they're everywhere grabbing everything. She likes to play with my face when I'm nursing her, which is pretty cute until she sticks her finger up my nose. Hahaha!

She still loves cloth. Her favorite blanket to sleep with hands down is her white one from Grandma Barbara. She will not sleep for any length of time without it. No substitutions allowed. This is how she sleeps, fingers wrapped through it, legs uncovered. She kicks off any blankets I put on her legs. It's pretty funny actually. She's still in our bedroom as she sleeps really well there, so when we come in at night she stirs a bit, lifts her legs up, and repeatedly womps them down on her mattress. It's like geez parents, can you quiet down a bit?? We chuckle every time.

I discovered just this week that she's well on her way to sitting up on her own. We started the era of the IKEA high chair again. it's been in storage for six or eight months but she's rocking it now. This is a good thing because she's officially done with her swing. This is how I found her in it this morning. She's got some serious core strength.

We went walking a couple times this week and she's hit the stage where she's comfy in the front pack again. Her legs are big enough to stretch out now and it's the best. That means I can front carry her again and free up my hands and she even fell asleep the other night. I love this stage.

I'm just relishing this sweet baby of mine. Everything seems extra sweet because unless something crazy happens, she's our last and that makes it special.

Fingers crossed, hitting final milestones

I just paid for Bill's Spring semester tuition and our health insurance through August. If all goes as planned that is the last payment of both of those to Clemson that we will ever make. I'm super excited, but mostly a tad nervous because there is A LOT of work to be done between now and May for Bill to pull this off. We're hopeful and cautiously optimistic that he can do it and that is a wonderful place to be. So one more baby step to the end of grad school hopefully crossed off.

Car Troubles

We are in the eleventh hour of this whole college experience. Our stuff is wearing out. We're bursting at the seams of our house. Our cars are old. I basically pray that everything will last just a little longer so we can get through this last year, get moved, get established into job and home and all the expenses that come with that before we have to replace anything major.

Yesterday was quite the day. I had plenty of opportunity to think about the possibility of replacing a vehicle, which would definitely not fulfill my prayer for everything to work just a little longer. Thankfully it looks like that won't be necessary, but I definitely thought about it as the afternoon unfolded.

I took the girls with me to a baby shower about an hour away yesterday morning. On the way back the Jeep went haywire. All the electrical systems turned off including all lights, flashers, the radio, and as I rolled to a stoplight, the Jeep itself cut out completely. It was pretty awesome. Traffic was super heavy as everyone headed to Clemson for the football game. There was an accident about half a block ahead, so everyone was stopped right where I was, which was helpful. I got out and waved to the guy behind me that I was dead. He immediately pulled off the side and helped me get off the road. We were going to push it forward but then realized I was on a slight hill, so I just let it roll backwards and pulled off. I told him Bill was on the way, thanked him for his help, and he headed out. Genevieve chowed down on the leftover treats from the baby shower while we waited and Chloe slept. It got pretty warm, so thankfully Bill and the boys got there pretty quick. He pulled in beside me and jump started the Jeep and we headed on what we hoped was our merry way.

No such luck. We got about a mile down the road when it died again. Thankfully Bill saw it happen and was able to pull into a parking lot with me behind him. We went to jump it again and lo and behold, the van died instead. Woohoo! All six of us stranded with both vehicles dead, half an hour from home! We called probably ten people before finally getting a hold of my dear friend Becky, who has taken us on as her grandkids ever since we moved to South Carolina four years ago. She and husband Ed came and saved the day. They helped us get both batteries over to an auto parts store and tested. We discovered the van's battery was the original to the vehicle, ten years old. It was totally dead. The Jeep's one was good as it's only a few months old. We determined the alternator is shot on the Jeep. We got a new battery for the van, got it going, and then said a quick prayer as we turned the Jeep on with absolutely no systems running, even air, and Bill started home. Becky and Ed followed us and what felt miraculous at the time, the Jeep worked and we got both cars home.

While I'd just as soon not have car problems, Bill and I agreed we are very grateful it all happened at the same time yesterday. He'll be able to replace the alternator himself. It won't cost an arm and a leg. We didn't have any afternoon plans. He'll miss just one morning of work to fix it. Not bad. The kids did great. They got to play around helping "fix" the Jeep and eat at Burger King and play in the Christmas trees at Walmart where we got the replacement battery. It was an unplanned five-hour setback, but we made it through and everyone was happy when we got home. I couldn't ask for a better result.

Job hunting

Bill is nearing the end of his PhD program and he's in the thick of dissertation writing, planning a class he's teaching next semester, and job hunting. It's all very exciting and stressful and exhilarating. He's in the process of finding places to reach out to and we've had some fun conversations of late about what and where those opportunities are.

Things such as this: the priority is to get a job. It would be nice to find something out west nearer to family. Second choice is in the United States. Third choice is getting a job. This is especially relevant to us because a significant chunk of his industry is outside of the U.S., so there's a very real possibility of international opportunities, if we choose to seek them out. The thought of moving abroad, albeit not high on our list just at the moment, is still adrenaline-inducing. It's something we very well may do later on.

Wind engineering firms seem to gravitate towards out of the way places. Fort Collins, CO. Burlington, VT. Ontario, Canada. Great Britain. Dubai. Australia. Germany. Not all of those are out of the way of course. People ask us where we want to end up. I'm at a bit of a loss to answer. It's like well, we've been in school for ten years. We have four kids. At this point the idea of a steady, well paid job is a much bigger goal than a specific place. We could enjoy lots of places.

We spend many an evening dreaming about what it would be like to live in one of these places. Most recently it was the Vermont option. Totally remote. It's on a beautiful lake. Very close to Canada. Closest temple is Montreal. Passports for everyone! Quite expensive coming from the South, but that goes for everywhere we move. Talk about a switch in climate, as we're still in the 80s here on Halloween. Back to real winter! Cross country skiing from our back door. Time to pull out all those bins of winter clothes and start supplementing for the two more kids we've had since using them regularly. And hello, everyone will want to come visit us. Think the movie White Christmas, lololol.

Fort Collins, CO. Close to family! Brand new temple in the city. IKEA an hour away versus three in the Vermont option. Because of course, proximity to IKEA is of utmost importance. Hint, not really, but fun to look at. Also expensive compared to where we live now. Again, not much of a factor. Big mountains. Snow. Lakes. Actually have some friends that live there already.

So definitely some fun evening, after the kids are in bed, sort of conversations and dreaming. You better believe we'll be pulling out the old decision analysis tools as Bill talks to folks and opportunities start to emerge. For now, lots of butterflies in my stomach, deep breaths as I contemplate the end of an era and beginning of post college life. I've been dreaming of that for years. Here's to this last push to the finish.

School Events

Kindergarten is fun. Spencer does all sorts of new things. We get to participate in tons of stuff and it's all new and shiny and maybe when it's the fourth time going through it I'll get bored, but for now, it's all fun. Yesterday was our first fall festival. I didn't really know what to expect, so I didn't pre-buy any tickets for anything. That turned out to be a good choice. We just bought a bunch of tickets and ended up sending the kids on repeat through the bouncy toys to get rid of them at the end.

There was an extra event that you paid for separately, bubbleball. Let me tell you, that $3 was worth every penny for five minutes of sheer joy on Spencer's part. I got a couple of videos and they're golden. It was a great afternoon.

Another milestone reached

Bill hit a major milestone this week in his research. He finished the data collection portion of his dissertation. With that done what he has left is to analyze and write the majority of his dissertation that he hasn't done yet. As anyone who has completed a PhD knows, or if you are close to someone that has completed a PhD, dates of graduation are exceptionally fuzzy and have no guarantee. He'll graduate when he finishes and defends his dissertation. But, that being said, the goal is to graduate in May and he's working very hard to make that a reality. He'll also start job hunting this week, looking for wind engineering jobs or possibly teaching positions. Exciting times around here. He's been in school continuously for nine years, so this is feeling really nice.