Remember that time we listed our house the weekend before Thanksgiving and sold it two days later with the buyers wanting to close and be in the house on December 30, sending us into a sudden panic and potential homelessness?  

This will be the funny story I tell with a gleeful giggle this time next year.  At this moment, it's not so much funny as it is terrifying.  And stressful.

We officially listed our house last Thursday and by Saturday we had three showings scheduled and an open house.  We received an offer Saturday night and countered on Sunday, with the buyers accepting our counter offer.  Though we've been looking for a new house, we have yet to find one that we like.  So, we don't have a house lined up to live in by December 30.

Instead of freaking the eff out, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm going to list everything that I'm thankful for in this current situation:

I am thankful that our house sold as quickly as it did and for more than asking price.

I am thankful that I completely cleaned out and packed up the entire basement months ago.  That decision has saved my life.

I am thankful that we don't have to move the washer and dryer out of the house because the buyers wanted it.  (And I get to buy a new ones!)

I am thankful that my parents moved north to be near where we live and bought a big house, and are willing to let all of us move in with them at the end of December.

I am thankful that it will not be hot outside when we move.  (We've always seemed to move in August.  This will be a nice change.  Assuming there are no ice or snow storms.)

I am thankful that storage units exist.



We truly do have so much to be thankful for and I can't wait to see what adventures are ahead for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Toddlers ask a lot of questions (at least mine does).  My entire day is an endless game of 25 questions.  Plus 25 more questions.  Sometimes the same questions, just rephrased three different ways.  All day long I answer a plethora of random questions brought to my attention by my two-year-old.  Here are 25 questions I'm asked every single day.  I'm not even kidding:

1.  Is Daddy sleeping?
2.  Is Daddy at work?
3.  Did Daddy put on his work shirt to go to work?
4.  Did Daddy go get in his work car to go to work?
5.  So Daddy is done sleeping?
6.  Is our garage open or closed?
7.  Can I open our garage?
8.  Can my toys eat with us at the table?
9.  Is their (points to neighbors' houses) garages open?
10.  Can I watch Sesame Street?
11.  Can I watch Little Einsteins?
12.  Can I watch Inside Out?
13.  Is Mimi at work?
14.  Did Mimi open her garage when she went to work?
15.  Is Grandpa at his house?
16.  Is Grandpa's garage open?
17.  Can you help me with this puzzle?
18.  Is Daddy done working?
19.  Will Daddy take off his work shirt when he is done working?
20.  Who is that?
21.  What is that?
22.  What are you doing?
23.  Why are you doing that?
24.  What are you making?
25.  Why are you making that?

I might add that Katherine has an obsession with garage doors.  I don't know why or how this happened.  I'm not even sure when this started, but for months she's had to comment on garage doors that she sees.  It's baffling.    
By the time Katherine goes to bed at night, I just want to sit without talking or answering any questions.  Once she's asleep, I miss her.  And her questions.

After an almost three week hiatus, I'm back.  I didn't actually go anywhere.  Each day I had every intention of posting to the blog, but one day ran in to another and before I knew it weeks had passed.  Our house is officially on the market, and if you've ever tried to sell your house (and buy another one....with a child(ren) at home), you know that it is both time consuming and mentally exhausting.  Que the violins.  While I didn't want to try to sell our house over the holidays, it is what it is.  Speaking of which...

Where has the year gone?  It's already time for Thanksgiving!  As the holiday season approaches, I'm happy to share some of my favorite things about this time of year, starting with November favorites.






Topping my list of favorites this time of year, are the holiday movies on The Hallmark Channel.  With Christmas movies playing all day, every day, it's always easy to find something Christmasy to watch while we bake cookies or decorate for Christmas.





November is also Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection month.  This is our second year to pack and send a shoebox with Katherine.  Last year, she "helped," but only being 21 months old, she wasn't really sure what she was doing.  This year, I showed her a video from the Samaritan's Purse website and explained to her that some kids in other countries don't get Christmas gifts, and we can help them have a nice Christmas by filling a shoebox with goodies and sending it to them.  She immediately got on board with the project and decided she would send a shoebox to a little girl.  So off to Target we went, filling our basket with lots of goodies.  She helped pack the shoebox once we got back home, and proudly dropped it off at church on Sunday.




Can I say that I'm super excited about Adele's new album coming out today?  Love her.  Love her new album.  Love it all.




And last but certainly not least, since November is officially the month of thankfulness, being thankful is obviously a favorite thing this month.  While I try to be thankful every single day of the year, I'm reminded of how blessed I really am around this time of year.  We are so very blessed and I'm so thankful for that.

The idea for our Halloween costumes this year was actually Jason's, and he had this idea back before Katherine's first Halloween (which she ended up being a Rockford Peach).  Since birth (literally), Jason would show Katherine YouTube videos of the Three Amigos singing "My Little Buttercup" and "Blue Shadows."  The two of them actually sing the songs together to this day.   Jason has wanted us to be the Three Amigos for the past two years, and I finally decided to make the costumes this year, only if he promised to go out in public wearing them.  He agreed.  So I spent the next 8 weeks creating costumes that would transform us into Lucky, Dusty, and Ned.  (For the record: I was "Dusty," Jason was "Lucky," and Katherine was "Ned.")

I found our jackets and pants at Goodwill, then shortened them and added hand painted designs.  My mom found our hats online, and Katherine's hat was a kid's size cowboy hat that I deconstructed and painted.  I made ties and cummerbunds out of red fabric.  Easy as that.  Actually, it wasn't easy at all.  I'm exhausted.  Next year we're going as "Dad, Mom, and Kid."


It was a busy week for these amigos.  On Tuesday we headed out for the Fall (Halloween) Festival at a local middle school, where there was a craft show, a spooky Halloween band concert, and trick or treating.  I brought some things from my etsy shop for the craft show portion and Katherine enjoyed the music and trick or treating.  This was "Little Neddy's" first outing of the week.


The next morning, "Little Neddy" went to story time for spooky Halloween stories, more candy, and fun.

On Friday afternoon, we headed back to Main Street for more trick or treating.  We brought Katherine here last year to trick or treat and it was so fun and neat to see the old Main Street lined with glowing Jack-o-Lanterns and kids in costume.  It's become one of our favorite Halloween traditions.  She got lots of candy, a whipped cream filled ice cream cone, and got to meet Minnie Mouse.  Girlfriend would not leave Minnie's side.  I finally had to drag her away before she got in Minnie's car to go home with her.  "Little Neddy" even made the local news, when a camera man saw her in her costume and filmed her up close.  She waved at the camera like a pro, and we saw her on the news later that night.







Saturday was Halloween (and my birthday), so we spent the day as a family doing birthday things until it was time to go trick or treating, yet again.  Because you have to trick or treat on Halloween, we headed to trunk or treat at my brother's church, where he decorated his trunk with Minions and dressed as Gru.  This was the debut of all three amigos, and I was actually giddy on the drive over.  All of my hard work would finally be on display.  Katherine also met Elsa, but it wasn't as magical as meeting Minnie Mouse herself the night before.  





While our costumes were a big hit, we were constantly referred to as a mariachi band.  I guess there's an entire generation who hasn't seen the Three Amigos movie.  Katherine loved trick or treating, which is why we did it 3 different times.  We have more candy than we know what to do with, but it was all worth it to see her hold up her little bucket and say "trick or treat."

I'm so glad we were the Three Amigos this year.  It's better to go ahead and be them this year, just in case our family ever grows.  Then we would have to be the Three Amigos....plus El Guapo.