Somebody out there please remind me that having a clean house is not the most important thing in life. I am making myself CRAZY! I spent almost the whole day cleaning yesterday and today you would never even know. The dishes are piled up, the floors are cluttered with stuff and laundry...let's not even go there. Brian says he is ready to go to paper plates and plastic utensils because he is so sick of the dishes needing to be washed. I think I may be close. I am pushing for budgeting for a cleaning service.

The newest "Emily-ism"

Probly...As in, "Emily, where is your diaper?" "Umm, probly in my crib." Hmmm...

i love my juicer

It's been a while since I plugged in the Jack Lalanne, (think apple orchard) but since I only worked 3 out of 5 days this week and the chores are (mostly) caught up, I needed to get some dishes dirty. I just made up a carrot, orange, celery, pineapple juice that tastes pretty good. I bought a 5 lb bag of carrots for this purpose last week, but am just now getting around to it. I am seriously starting to miss our garden. I used the last of my canned tomatoes this week.

I think I've got houses on the brain. Maybe it's because our future here is always a little up in the air, maybe it's early spring fever, maybe its because I have a few friends who are in the process of buying or selling a home, or maybe I need to just quit watching House Hunters. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking lately about our house and what it would take to sell it. I think living in an old home--a fixer upper, if you will, perhaps has more emotional strings attached when considering selling it. Like, how I would feel the need to write the listing--almost like to prove all the sweat equity that has gone into making this our home.

Here are the perks: Don't miss this charming three bedroom, one bathroom home, right in the heart of Lafayette. Close to everything--minutes from the mall, downtown, medical offices, restaurants and shopping. Walking distance to Columbian Park, Tropicanoe Cove, and Lafayette favorite, The Original Frozen Custard. Nine foot ceilings, hardwood floors, five panel doors with original hardware, and window tramsems help maintain an historic feel. Brand new maintenance free vinyl siding, new windows, completely remodeled kitchen with newer appliances, 6 year old high efficiency furnace and air conditioner, beautiful back porch and fenced yard with garden space. One and a half car garage. Basement. Bonus: second story attic space partially finished.

Sometimes it makes me want to stay forever.

But then I remember the cons: neighborhood not so great, really tiny backyard, crazy neighbor dogs on both sides that bark ALL. THE. TIME., close to everything, including car dealerships that I can hear who has a call on line 1 from my backyard, one bathroom, no fireplace, only three bedrooms, garage is really more like a glorified shed, laundry area is in the dark, scary basement. And my newest pet peeve: no 'landing space' at either door. I am convinced that the kitchen has no chance of ever staying clean because we live in it. It is the room you enter from the door we use the most with no place to drop your things except on the kitchen counter or table.

I know that we won't stay here forever, and I also know that there is no perfect place. But, I certainly like to dream about what could be. I am simultaneously excited about putting a gas fireplace in the attic and staying here for the next five years and the thought of finding a 4 bedroom two bathroom home on 5 acres where we could have chickens.

It's hard living inside my brain sometimes.

Why can't every weekend be a three day?

I know, I know, then I would just want it to be a "four day," but three days seems like just the right amount of time for working and relaxing. Saturday I took the girls to the Children's Museum (probably for the last time for a while since our membership is about to expire). Elijah was having a grandma day and Brian was having rehearsal for his big show on Saturday night, so I thought the girls and I would pop over for a quick visit. We went to the playscape first (fun preschool area with every fun activity you can think of--sand, water, train tables, slides, dress up, kitchen, etc.), rode the carousel twice and then hit up the Barbie fashion exhibit. I definitely like having the museum membership because I don't feel bad about spending only 3 hours at the museum on a Saturday morning. It was just a fun morning activity and we were back for naps. Sunday we did NOTHING! And I mean nothing. We watched TV all day. We never do that!!! EVER. I felt a little rebellious. We hooked up the dvd player to the tv in the attic and let the kids watch movies. Brian and I watched almost a whole season of The Office on the computer (Thank you, Netflix, We love you). We took naps. We ate nachos and french fries. It was awesome.

Today I am home with the kids for MLK Jr. day and it has been our day to clean the house. I am catching up on laundry, taking the last of the Christmas lights down, and trying to re-organize my life. We took Emily to the dr. this morning and she got some antibiotic for this cold that I am convinced is now an infection. She's been sick for 2 weeks and it's not getting that much better. So, hopefully she'll be back to her sunny self soon.

Elijah is ice skating with my dad today so I think Mary and I will make some chocolate chip cookies for when they return. I'm going to flip laundry and mop the floors. BIG FUN!!

"Chairs are for sitting"

I can just hear my old Child Development professors telling us how to phrase discipline in the positive--for what you want the child to do, not what you don't want them to do. Well, at our house chairs have become anything but a place to set your backside. We have this very cute little wooden table and chairs that I think we picked up at a garage sale. Emily has recently discovered that the chairs make a mighty nice stool to reach a whole world of items that never existed before. Like the bathroom sink. Now she can tote her little chair into the bathroom, reach the light switch, turn on the faucet and fill up her play tea pot and carry it back to her room for cooking. She can reach up to the kitchen counter, like I just found her a few minutes ago--attempting to cut her own oranges with the knife I left on the counter. YIPES. A few minutes ago she was inquiring about the wherabouts of her chair and I asked her what she needed it for. She doesn't know to be sneaky yet. She said, "I eat cookies." It's lucky for her she is the third child.

SLEDDING!

I always like sledding, but never seem to get the gumption to get out of the house and do it. One day over break a friend called to see if we wanted to go and I knew the kids would love to do it, so I said yes and off we went.
Elijah was so good at snowboarding. We were all shocked at how quickly he got on and was able to keep his balance. He liked it much better than the sled. Of course, on the sled he crashed into some sort of metal pole and bruised his leg (we had the conversation after about how you bail out if you're about to hit something!).

Mary sports her new hand knitted cap. Thanks Aunt Pattie!

I have got the bug

The travel bug, that is. I just don't want to sit still. There is so much to see and do. Why can't we be independently wealthy?!

Catching up

Elijah and Papa kickin' it old school on the N64
Mary and her friend, Penelope
Brian and Bob in a cut-throat game of Connect Four
Emily and Jonathan in an "almost as cut-throat" game of Air Hockey


I definitely feel like I've been filling Ein bits and pieces of our winter break, but I finally have a bit of time to sit down and reflect on all the coming and going. I thought I would hate having the first almost full week off before Christmas, but it turned out to be ok. We spent the first several days home doing what we normally do at the beginning of a break--trying to get into our "home rhythm" (which usually entails some knock down drag out type behavior as we get used to being together all the time). We did some shopping, I got the attic prepped for construction (GOT RID OF LOTS OF STUFF!), Brian did some of the electrical work up there, we spent the best 8.95 all year and got Netflix streaming. AWESOME. Christmas Eve night we attended divine liturgy at 9:30 p.m.. I was so tired afterwards that I didn't even put the presents out for Christmas morning. (It's a good thing we don't do Santa around here!) On Christmas morning we put out the presents while the kids begged from their room to come out and see, opened in a bit of a hurry, then packed up for Michigan. You can read about those events in a previous post.

When we returned home it was time to start prepping for the next big event: our 10 year anniversary crowning ceremony/New Year's Eve party. A crowning is part of an Orthodox wedding ceremony. Brian also bought me a new ring. My original ring was having some trouble and I quit wearing it a while ago. We used the stone from my ring along with a donated stone from his mom and an earring stone from my first mother's day to create the new one. It is beautiful! And we had the best time. The attic is totally fun--a recreational space that we will definitely be using this winter when we can't run around outside. We were surrounded by friends and family, playing games and listening to music--and many of us even made it till midnight, including my children for the first time. I only have a few pictures of the party-- the crowning pictures are on someone else's camera so I will post those when I get them.

New Year's Day was spent with Brian's family doing our last Christmas celebration and birthdays for his aunt and uncle who were visiting from Cleveland. Today I should be at work, but Mary is down with a fever so we are home. I think we'll be back in action tomorrow. She isn't 100 percent, but her fever seems to be done.

more Christmas pictures

Mary and Cousin Lily at Gram and Papa's house in Michigan. Lily is older by 2 years.
Mary and Emily taking a break at Gram and Papa's. This was Christmas number 3.
Elijah has decided to grow out his hair and it is getting pretty unruly (especially when we um don't bathe as frequently when we're home on vacation for 2 weeks) so he's been wearing more hats. Which is fine with him because he, like his father, likes accessories.
Mary shows off her new Christmas slipper boots.
Christmas morning at our house. These pajamas have been around since Elijah.