With the way life has gone lately...updates have been slow.  Obviously.  Sorry, folks (sorry myself!  This is the only way I remember anything that's happened!!  Have used my blog as a reference for my scrapbooks often...sad).  This may be the only update I get to write in the next couple of weeks...I'll try to get to everything I've missed.

Did I mention Bryson started karate the beginning of February?  He absolutely loves it.  And he's hysterical about it...won't practice any of his "moves" in front of us...closes his bedroom door and works on punches and stances and so on...a little bit at a time...until he has them just right...so adorable.  And though I actually sit and (mostly) watch each of his practices, he has to fill me in on all of the details of what happened each time he's there..."Mom, did you see what Max did?  And I learned a new move today!!"  :)  He catches on pretty quickly, and though I would have told you two months ago that he didn't have fabulous coordination when it came to things like this...he's proving me wrong.  And somehow...he has convinced me that I should join him.  Honestly, I have wanted to do something class-oriented for a long time, and since I officially can't do gymnastics anymore (duh), and I already have to attend his practices, joining his class (especially with the family discount!) makes a lot more sense than trying to come on the alternate nights for cardio kick boxing...which also sounds fun.  :)  Especially now, when we drive into town 4 days a week...and it will be five as of next week, because Reasa starts horse lessons twice a week to gear up for showing season...I can't justify going all the way into town those days when we only have to go to her lessons. 

Reasa starts showing the horse in May.  Any of you considering putting your kids in horseback riding...let me warn you...this is no small venture.  I suppose if your child just wanted to ride...and just to go slowly...and not show any time soon...hey, knock yourself out.  But if you child suddenly shows promise, and your husband thinks he'd like her to learn English and show English instead of Western, and you need to purchase a saddle (for a horse you don't own), and then you have to outfit her...run.  Run fast.  She loves it.  And she is progressing quickly.  Sigh.

In the meantime, we got a call a couple of weeks ago that Reasa had another Miss Colonial Days responsibility coming up...she is there right now...with Seth.  I took Lainie to her meet in Carlisle this morning, and he took Reasa to her pageant this afternoon--she helps host the step before Miss NY pageant at "home" tonight.  Seth keeps texting me, telling me how pitiful it is, and that some day, Reasa could mop up this competition... :)  Funny.  He's interested to see if we can get her involved in another pageant down here if it's something she would like to do.  Oy.  We'll see.  I want to talk to her about it...she's a talented, beautiful little girl (and I know every mother thinks her of her daughter as that...definitely biased)...but she doesn't have a ton of confidence...and if she didn't win...which she might not (just being realistic...we never expected her to win the one she won, just because we didn't know anything about the process or the pageant or anything else), it might wreck her.  If she really wants to do it...of course I'll encourage her...I don't know.  Hard call.  Maybe she won't want to do it, and it won't be an issue.  Maybe Seth won't say anything to her about it.  Maybe.

So...Bryson gets to hang out with MeMe and Ompy while Reasa helps with the pageant, and Seth sends me text messages. :)  He was so excited to be able to have them all to himself...and Lainie and I have had such a blast together all by ourselves.  We left at 8:20 this morning, and headed for Carlisle.  The directions worked out beautifully on the way down (the last time we went, Seth drove, and I paid absolutely no attention), and we arrived about half an hour ahead of schedule...as an invitational competition rather than a league meet, apparently, the judges score tougher...but Lainie scored better all-around, and competed on bars for the first time...even falling off the bars, and leaving having a spot for two of her skills, she scored a 5.3...not too shabby for her first time.  She scored a 28.5 all around--which is a 5.4 point increase over her last meet, and she scored .4 lower on her vault this time (which was equally as good as her last meet's vault)...so, basically, she did better.  A lot better.  So proud of her.  She definitely was disappointed in not receiving any medals, but medals were given to the top six places in her age group...and the lowest all-around score which medaled was a 34.  She's set some goals for herself...we talked about getting a practice mat for home and working on conditioning on her non-practice days.  We'll see what happens.  I think she's serious about improving.  I love watching her.  We left the competition at about 2:45, and headed to Red Robin for...hmm...linner?  dunch?  Just the two of us...we never get time like that.  We finally left at about 4, and despite taking several "wrong" turns on the way home...there are enough ways to actually get home that it didn't matter (I think we took the shorter route, mile-wise, but the longer route, time-wise).  I found that I know my way around Central PA pretty well.  And Lainie and I sang so loud and for so long on the way down and on the way back, that my voice is SHOT!  :)  So much fun.  I giggle so often at the similarities and differences between my girls and me...Lainie and I have so much in common, in some ways...and so many differences in other ways...but the same applies to Reasa.  Loud, fun music, I definitely share with Lainie.  Gymnastics, giggling, clumsiness, looks--Lainie.  Perfectionism, type A personality, writing, reading, crafting, story-telling...those are mine and Reasa's.  But today, loud, fun music for 5-6 hours...whew.  We're both beat.  So, when we got home...after making chocolate chip cookies to fill with ice cream, we popped in Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses (a movie the other two despise, and argue not to watch if Laine suggests it), and here we sit.  She won't be happy when I tell her it's time for bed when it's over...especially since she knows Reasa and Bryson haven't even left for home yet...ah, well. 

House news:  our closing date should happen...March 13 looks pretty firm.  We wait now for our commitment letter, and further word about the possibility of early entry to take care of some of the things we can't wait to change...paint, mostly...before we move in.  A small thing, really...we just look so forward to getting in there.  And in the meantime, all of the bugs keep waking up around here and our yard has turned to mud.  It sucked my car up yesterday, and I shredded what we use as our parking area in an attempt to free the car from its clutches (my car had a mud bath!).  We have missed warm weather...but we won't miss this place when we move.  We love the view...everything else can go away forever.  I'm only mildly terrified of a 15-year mortgage and paying down 3 points... :)  It is fine.  It's just scary.  I suppose everyone feels that way to some extent when buying a house?

K.  I think that's mostly it.  Sheesh.  Sorry, friends.  If you have made it this far, I'm impressed.  The next two weeks could be scarce...I haven't packed a thing thus far, as I think maybe denial has set in.  Seth will bring boxes in from the shed tomorrow, and I'll get started.  Books, and some dishes, I guess.  Really, so much stayed packed, I don't feel huge stress about doing it all over (though the process does not necessarily sound appealing right now...another cause for denial).  The kids's rooms...yeah.  No fun.  Ah, well.  Here goes nothing!  And for the sake of my brown house...soooooo much more worth it than here.  And we chose the school room.  The girls are knee-deep in their room design plans.  :)  Thought that might happen.

In the course of my life, God has blessed me with wonderful friends.  We have grown over the years...sometimes we have grown apart, sometimes we have grown together...sometimes we have just grown in general, because we've been friends since 7th grade (hi, Jenn!) and, though I know it may be difficult to believe, we were shorter then than we are now.  About 11 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Stacy, followed about 3 years later by Amy, and around the same time frame (I can't remember how that all went...), by Kendra.  God tossed us together, and life worked out the details.  Time has changed each of us...we've had children, tragedy, dilemmas, job changes, health issues, celebrations, and we've all moved away from where we met (Amy completes this process for us in 3 weeks), but we have held on to our friendship, and our need for each other.  This past weekend, we took what has now become our annual Girl's Weekend in Grove City, PA (in years past we have done Erie and Dubois...but I think we have found "our spot" now--it has an Outlet Center across the street, for Pete's sake!), and we did what we do together:  talked.  Cried.  Talked.  Scrapbooked.  Talked.  Shopped.  Talked.  Watched movies.  Stayed up until 4 in the morning talking.  We stayed up late, got up late, checked out a little late, ate late, shopped some more, and came home on Sunday afternoon, ready to face another year of life without each other physically present.  Goodbye's are bittersweet when you know it's probably for a year...but we're talking about making this a semi-annual event... :)  We'll see.

When we got home and got settled and everyone had done their initial maul-mommy-because-we've-missed-her-so-much, and settled back into Wii-playing and picture-drawing and dinner-eating, Seth told me about his experience of the weekend with the kids.  They all had a great time...something about being out of the "mommy is with us as usual" routine...it makes for everyone being relatively happy now that they've gotten old enough that they don't need constant maintenance.  Seth worked really hard to have the house picked up when I got home...the girls and I giggled throughout the weekend that it was a toss-up what we would find when we returned:  we agreed that things could have gone really well and they could have all done beautifully keeping up with dishes and toys and clutter, or things could have gone really well and they could have completely ignored the houses because they were having so much fun...or things could have gone pretty badly and we could come home to complete disasters to boot.  The house looked pretty good when I walked in.  Seth had even done laundry throughout the weekend (partly to be ready to go back out of town this morning, but he did throw some of the kids' stuff in along the way), and had bribed the children to do the dishes.  When the kids went to bed, we had this conversation, though, that just struck me.  As he filled the wood stove, I commented on how great the house looked.  He said something to the effect of, "You know, we spent half the weekend just picking up!!  I couldn't believe how I would work so hard at having them take care of their things, or I would wander around putting stuff back where it went, and they would just follow right behind me making it absolutely disastrous again!  I couldn't stay ahead of it!"  It took every ounce of self-control not to laugh hysterically.  I'm sure I had the most ridiculous smirk on my face, but all I said was, "Welcome to my world, hon."  He went into more detail...and I only giggled a little...but seriously...I think maybe every stay-at-home mom needs to go away for a couple of days every few months, leaving Daddy to attempt what she does (or even a small part of it--he didn't cook any actual meals or take kids to multiple practices or grocery shop or teach school...).  I know I have explained this phenomenon to him before, and I am sure he has listened to me as I've said it, but I think maybe he just thought I was making excuses for the clutter he would find when he got home.  Or that I truly do sit on the couch eating bon bons and watching soap operas while the children wreak havoc in the house.  K.  First off, I prefer truffles to bon bons.  Second, who needs soaps when you have Facebook??  :) 

It was a great weekend.  I look forward to having a weekend like that when none of the four of us are facing impending stress or transition in our lives, but I'm not sure that will ever happen.  And that's OK.  In the meantime, I'm so thankful for the friends God has given me.  Amy, Stacy, Kendra...and others.  :)  If you're one of those friends...thanks for being in my life.

I don't listen well anymore. 

I say "anymore" because I think at different times in my life, I have been a very good listener.  Now just isn't one of those times.  This isn't something I'm proud of,  please understand me here.  Junior year of college, I learned an amazing lesson in really listening.  In a class preparing us for a year as Resident Assistants, the leader challenged us to stop thinking about the next thing we planned to say while the person opposite us talked...even in response to something we had asked.  I sat there shocked.  Shocked at the realization that she had read my mind.  I wanted to argue...I don't do that.  Really, I don't.  Wait.  Do I do that?  And the more I argued with myself, the more I realized I did do that.  Out of complete embarrassment, I became extremely aware of how I listened.  Suddenly, something clicked.  I stopped trying to think up something interesting or impressive, stopped trying to second guess how someone would respond to me so that I could have a great comeback, stopped barely letting someone get a sentence out before interrupting them to get my two cents in.  Because, frankly, my two cents weren't always that necessary.  Or interesting.  Or impressive.  I spoke too often to hear myself speak.

I've gotten lazy over time.  I spend my days now "listening" to my children.  While cooking.  Sweeping.  Trying to think.  Reading a recipe.  Reading an email.  Writing a message.  Watching a sermon online.  I "listen" to my husband talk about a frac pit.  A contractor.  Dinner with a coworker.  Half the time, I have to ask them to repeat themselves because my level of distraction...well, it's embarrassing.  I can't always shut my brain off long enough to listen with attention...and they know that. 

I even do it to God.  There have been times in my life where I've heard him so clearly...have listened so attentively to what he has had to say...have felt his direction, his prodding...have heard his heart.  Those times have been my most peaceful moments.  Some of them were uncomfortable, I'll admit, but there is peace that comes with listening to his prompting and following through.   You would think that at the moments where I lack peace, I would seek it where I know it can be found.  Nope.  I can't shut myself up long enough to listen.  I get busy...fill my days...do stuff that doesn't matter...sleep later...think less.  Don't listen at all.  Don't even give myself--or him--an opportunity.  Those moments...those are my hardest moments.  The ones where I can't figure out what is wrong with me...and then suddenly, it hits me.

Shut up.

If I would just shut up and listen...close my mouth, take a breath...take several breaths...in a row...and listen, I might hear something other than my own ramblings.  I might hear my friends.  My husband.  My kids.  God.  Shut up, Mindy.

It went beautifully.  Seth was at the house for 5 hours, with the current homeowners present.  When I talked to him, you would have thought he had known them for months.  They talked about everything...their utility bills, things they had done to improve the house, problems they had had, what internet they have and that they'd love to just sign their plan/router/whatever over to us, changes they would make, and so on.  They gave him a verbal agreement that they knew they would be out of the house on the 27th, and they want us to come in and get started as soon as they're out.  We'll, of course, let the realtors/lawyers in on that, but it's nice to know...especially with all of the stenciling/pink paint/borders/actually finishing the basement we need to deal with before we can live there (such a house snob...).  We're expecting a closing date of somewhere between the 6th and the 13th of March...and hoping for before that, especially since my parents leave for their vacation the week of the 15th... :)  We'll see what happens.  I still don't completely have my hopes up about anything, but we're really hopeful, none-the-less.  Everything looks great.  No concerns, basically, when it comes to the house itself.  A few cosmetic things we knew needed to be dealt with, but it's solid.  It's nothing like what we just came from.  And with the perks...it all seems pretty unreal right now.  Another reason I don't have my hopes up.  I never used to be this pessimistic...

Would you pray with us about something?  In my requests to God about all of this house-buying stuff...and I had many...a very, very detailed list...one of my biggest "needs" was that we would find a house with a room that could specifically become a school room/playroom.  Somewhere along the way in this process, my girls got it in their minds that they needed their own bedrooms, and we kind of humored that while we all dreamed.  That tiny bit of humoring led to them truly believing that if we got a four-bedroom home, they would have their own rooms--period.  I have never been of the belief that children should absolutely have their own rooms if the possibility existed.  I think there is value in sharing a room, and especially if a need, such as the need for an office, or the need for a school room, or some similar need exists.  My goal in having a school room is that we would have something permanent for us to set up so that we didn't take over every living space in the house with school...we could hang stuff on walls, set up displays, we could leave things out (within reason), and we could have something formal-ish set up just for school...and rescue Seth from romper room in the kitchen or dining room.  There is a perfect room for this purpose in this house.  However, the girls (especially Reasa) are really upset that we would consider making them share again.  We are at a point where we have told them we will be making the decision, like it or not.  We just want to be sure we're making the right decision.  We would appreciate your prayers.  We're weighing all the pros and cons right now.  I'm definitely leaning toward schoolroom/playroom next to the kitchen. We'll see.  Will, as usual, keep you posted.  :)

What a weekend...Lainie's party was a smashing success (I think, anyway).  5 crazy nine-year-olds awake until 1:30 in the morning...all deposited safely in their homes by 11:30 Saturday morning...with their spa-goody-filled gift baskets in hand.  And one very happy nine-year-old who napped for an hour and a half and still fell asleep by 9 on Saturday evening on Valentine's day...pictures to follow, when I figure out what's wrong with my computer.  :)  It's always something, right? 

...on our busiest day of the week...i slowed down and realized that my baby girl came into my life nine years ago today.  we giggled yesterday about how nine years ago yesterday...she was still just a (very large, uncomfortable) dream ...but that nine years ago today...she made her way into my heart.  she celebrated with a quick trip to claire's to get her ears pierced...her second holes...and we giggled about how God made her with different shaped ears, and a left earlobe that's just a tiny bit bigger than her right...but that He made her perfect.  she giggled her way through her three-hour gymnastics practice, as she always does, while Bryson had his karate class, and then we finished the grocery part of shopping for her friend sleepover/spa party on friday...and when we picked her up, she giggled her way through 6 phone calls to and from grandparents, uncles, cousins and daddy, wishing her a happy birthday.  she even giggled through dinner at wendy's at 8:00 on our way home...

she's 9.  she giggles.  pretty constantly.  i cherish that. 

i cherish her.  every moment. 

...we have an accepted offer.  And it's exactly what we were hoping for. 

Holy Heck.

Now we wait on the inspections...hopefully we should know for sure on Friday, but we could close as soon as March 13.

Did I say Holy Heck yet?  Oh, yeah.  But Holy Heck.

Time to slow down my brain for a few minutes.  Spinning...

...the only game your children play is "restaurant." And they all fight over who gets to be the waitress.  And the person who winds up the waitress uses all the correct terminology and conducts him/herself in a most waitress-like manner.

...your children become experts at balancing cookie sheets with empty cups on them from the kitchen to the card table they have set in the family room.

...you find random "receipts" laying around the house...all with hand-written items like "chicken fingers," "side salad," "ranch, no tomatoes," "very cherry coke," and "tartar sauce on the side."

...the kids ask you to print off 30 of the same line-drawn picture, and when you ask why, they say, "We want to use them as placemats, and the kids can color them while they wait for their food."

...you find, inside their math text, two pieces of paper taped to the pages with "MENU" in bold print at the top...and scribble marks on all of the lines.

...deciding where you're going to eat dinner on Friday night becomes a contest to see where the wait is the shortest on a Friday night and the food is the quickest...and you can actually decide where that is going to be in the one minute drive from the gym to the strip of restaurants....because you've been to every restaurant on that strip...in the past month...and you've learned their schedules.

...your kids remind you on that Friday night that you can't eat at Haywoods on a weekend without reservations.

...deciding where you're going to eat dinner on Friday night gets this response from your children:  "I don't WANT to eat out tonight!!  Can't we just GO
 HOME and eat something??"  What??!

...you actually don't want to eat out either, but you can't bring yourself to figure out what you're going to make at 7:00 at night after co-op, library, two hours of gymnastics, and errand running, and a meet two hours away in the morning.

I can't wait to live 20 minutes closer to town. 

No more looking for now.  We keep looking, and comparing, and walking out of places shaking our heads...they just don't measure up to "The Brown House" as we now lovingly refer to it.  The house we saw today just...didn't cut it.  Great lot, nice location, nice enough house...but at the point where you look through the house and get a headache thinking about all of the updating you would have to do (including a completely new kitchen...ugh...and tearing wallpaper out of every single room in the house (except the horrible dark brown paneling in the family room)) and STILL pay way more than you really wanted to budget for a house that needs fixing...it's time to reconsider.  And no pool, no hot tub, no deck, no view, in town, less property, same price tag, farther from where most of your "living" is..."The Brown House" just has it all over this one.  Oh...and built in 1982 versus the mid-70's...may not seem like it makes a difference...but it does. 

So, we're going to put an offer on the house tomorrow, and ask for a home inspection.  We'll see what happens.  I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up...but hoping so hard that we can get the ball rolling and get into a place where I don't feel like I want to rip my hair out every day.  And where the kids can stop saying, "Do we have to go anyplace today, Mom?  I just want to stay home," because every trip into town takes half the day.  Their Nintendos are getting plenty of use that's for sure.  Those may have been one of our most intelligent purchases EVER. 

Lainie did so well at her meet yesterday...I'll upload pictures later.  She improved on every event she competed...Floor-6.5, Beam-7.9, and Vault-8.7.  She was so discouraged...the way they hand out ribbons is VERY confusing...she was convinced that because she got the same color ribbons on each event, she hadn't actually done any better at this meet than the last meet...that was quite the tearful conversation.  The whole competition thing, when you've never done it before...tough stuff.  She's looking forward to her next competition the beginning of March.  I just love that she enjoys it.  And I look forward to when Reasa starts showing in March.  Poor kid...sitting through all of Lainie's practices and meets...and now that Bryson is doing Karate...:)  Life gets busier and busier every day.  Might just join Bryson in his karate venture.  We'll see.

Nothing.  Not today anyway.  And it's fine.  I'm still excited about the house we saw Monday.  Seth wants to wait to do anything until we have a home inspection, and I'm fine with that.  The house is 27 years old, after all (no sarcasm here.  none).  In the meantime, there are three more houses, I guess, that we are going to try to see.  We just don't want to leave any stones unturned.

I still want that house.  We'll see what happens. 

Gymnastics meet in Carlisle tomorrow.  Woo hoo!!  You can imagine how excited Bryson and Reasa are about the whole thing...especially considering it's two hours away...but Lainie...Lainie can hardly contain herself.  I love that she's not even remotely nervous about it.  She will be in the morning, once we get there, but for right now, she just can't wait to get there.  I love watching her get geared up and ready for her meets.  I remember that feeling.  I loved that feeling.  And tomorrow, I won't forget the camera.  And I'll have the video camera too.  I'm sure I've forgotten other things I told myself not to forget...but one of them won't be the camera.  :)

Looking at four houses starting at 2:30 tomorrow (if I can find the first house!!)...then gymnastics, dinner someplace, bed and a meet in Carlisle.  Lainie can't wait. 

I can't think.

Actually, I think I need a vacation.  And that house we saw on Monday.  And a couple of sappy movies.

I don't know.

More to follow...

For the mortgage we would need to get that house if they accept what we think we might offer for it. 

:)

Now to look at a few more houses and make sure that's the one we want.

We'll see. 

...has so many features I've been praying for.  Almost all of them, for that matter.  There are a couple of things that are making me say, "Weeeellllllll..." but they're pretty petty...small...and the huge advantages outweigh those smaller things.  Now.  The price.  That's the sticking point for me.  After crunching the numbers, it's not a matter of not being able to afford the payments/taxes/insurance.  It's more a matter of oh my gosh, that's so much more than our last mortgage! and I can't believe how much it costs to get what you really want in a place where you're not sure you want to be!!  It's tricky. 

We're waiting to hear from the bank, and thinking it would be wise to look at a few more houses, and praying about it all in the meantime...will you pray with us?