Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit

Mom and Dad came out last week when the kids had a few days off school for teacher workshops. They spent a few days with the Amish before coming over. We went to Valley Forge:

And the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Constitution Center (my batteries failed that day, so these are of the Constitution Center, which we haven't visited before. It's a great museum with a live performance and great displays).

Apollo is sitting on the lap of a distant relative--Ben Franklin!

We also shopped for Christmas, so Mom wouldn't have to worry about shipping. Then we just decided the night before they left to go ahead and celebrate Christmas while they were here. We popped in a Sausage Casserole, made some hot chocolate and played Christmas music. The kids didn't have a chance to get anything for Grandma and Grandpa but it didn't stop them from presenting them with gifts--Paris and Tritan made an i-pad holder for Grandpa's i-pad from a granola bar box and a Union soccer team fan flag. Apollo made a stuffed animal from pom pom balls and Athena gave them coupons for free babysitting.

The i-pad holder


The kids got boots and earrings for Athena, and their favorite lego sets for the boys and I got a new camera, so look for better pictures in the future!

It was great to have some visitors with Brian gone. We loved re-visiting some of our favorite sites. And they were a great help--raking leaves and doing some deep cleaning. We loved having them!

Soccer friends

Apollo is playing soccer this fall. He's not quite as aggressive as Paris--he likes to spend his time on the field gabbing with the other players. Once, when he was playing defense, his goalie had to come break up his little tete-a-tete and tell him to help him out. Another time he ran off the field, had a drink, talked with us a while, then ran back to play. But today he played goalie and made a good save, ensuring his team the win at 1-0. He was pretty proud of himself. He and a neighbor boy are on the same team and have become fast friends. His friend pronounced that Apollo "was not his brother. But almost."

The great book race

This weekend, Brian and I were strolling around Target picking up miscellaneous things we needed. We were walking past the book section when we saw this:

This is the latest book in the Percy Jackson series. Or I should say the first book of a new series Riordan is writing about the next generation of Olympians. Whatever, we knew the kids would love it. "It's always a good idea to buy a book," Brian said and put it in the cart. "Maybe we should save it for Christmas," I mused, trying to be one of those people who are organized enough to have their Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. Brian gave me a confused look (we normally don't think about Christmas until December 1).

The kids promptly found the book as they were bringing in the bags from the car. (Why carry in bags when you have kids for that?) Paris and Athena both pounced on it, Paris diving to grab it, Athena chasing him upstairs. We could hear them yelling, spouting rushed logic as to who should get it first--"I saw it first!" "You got the last book first!" "I need a book for my reading log!" etc. There were quite a few grunts, too--so I took a moment to yell up the stairs "You better not rip that book!" before I rolled my eyes at Brian and sighed. Brian grinned at me. "Our kids are fighting over a book. We must have done something right." Well, it may have more to do with Rick Riordan than our great parenting, but I had to admit that if my kids are going to fight, it might as well be over a book.

Paris and Athena worked it out anyway. They each have a day to read the book--although they are not above sneaking a peek when it's not their day, or keeping it in secret places when it is their day. They compare how much they've read and have a competition to see who will finish it first. Athena even let Paris read it while she was at dance one day, because, she said with a wicked gleam in her eye, if he finishes it first than she will have the book all to herself. Tritan's not so competitive; he's quietly waiting til the flurry of book passing and obsessive reading is over. But I've caught him skimming through it during the odd moment of it being temporarily abandoned. Meanwhile there is a lot of reading with flashlights, reading on car drives, reading while trying to set the table. It's great.

A glass of apple juice

This weekend I flew down to Charlotte with Brian to look for houses. Mom offered to stay with the kids, but I know how hard it is to fly from Idaho to NJ and back in a weekend, and Alyssa, who lives in VA, was kind enough to put her plans on hold for the weekend and fly up to take care of the kids. She did such a great job! It can't be easy to be plopped down in someone else's house, and drive their kids around strange streets to get them to all their dance classes and soccer games. But of course, she did a great job, and the kids loved having her here.

Meanwhile, we were on our way to the airport at 3:30 in the morning to start a marathon 2 days of looking at design centers and existing homes. I was not in a good place as we zoomed around the nearly empty freeways--I was stressed with showing the house; felt overwhelmed with all the kids needed that I knew I couldn't get done; felt bad about all the times I yelled at them, mainly because I'm stressed; despaired that this trip would prove as fruitless as the last; worried that I had neglected to tell Alyssa something important. I was exhausted and I hadn't even showered in 3 days.

Brian led me through his carefully choreographed waltz through the airport. He's flown to Charlotte so many times, he has the timing down perfect. Print out boarding pass. Walk down to this security station that never has a line, pick up a bagel at Au Bon Pain, and then walk down to the gate just as they're boarding. Still, I was not impressed as he smoothly flew through security, pulling out his laptop while peeling off his shoes, while I struggled to pull out my zip-loc of liquids, and take off my jacket. I accused him of leaving me behind, when I finally stumbled my way through, several minutes later. I was irritated and resentful as I pulled out my book as the plane taxied off--we wouldn't even be moving AGAIN if it weren't for his stupid job. He offered me his neck pillow, which I acrimoniously declined, opened my book, and promptly fell asleep.

I woke up an hour later as we landed. I blinked, trying to sort out where I was, licking my dry lips and stretching. Brian, fully awake, handed me a full cup of apple juice. As I drank, I noticed he had put away my book and tucked the pillow up around me. I imagined him watching over me as I slept, anticipating my every need--perhaps he did. But somehow a glass of apple juice suddenly changed everything. We were going to be all right. We were going to find a house we loved and move to Charlotte where we could be together all the time and take care of each other.

And so the rest of the trip was wonderful. I watched with bemused awe as Brian navigated this life of rental cars, hotels, restaurants with finesse and ease. He made me feel like a princess all weekend--he even booked a suite at the hotel, which I made him change because I wanted a shower so badly after we flew in and the suite wasn't ready yet.

As for the house, well, we're still working on that. I imagine we'll have a choice made soon, though. Believe me when I say there are a lot of spread sheets, digital pics, and prayers made in behalf of this search.

And, Audra, I didn't forget about the pics you wanted to see of the house. If you know of any one looking for a deal in South Jersey, send them our way! .

House for sale

I'm sure everyone who reads this blog already knows we're planning on moving to NC ASAP. Which probably means Christmas, and more likely June. Work has been bugging Brian to move to Charlotte since we moved from AL, and slowly his job has become more and more centered there. The good news: Brian will get a promotion (yay Dad!) and it is a community that fits our needs a little better (no ballet rehearsals or soccer games on Sun.; TWO wards of our church in the community) PLUS Brian's work is located only 20 min. away from the community we're looking at and he promises travel will be severely cut back (since he spends 90% of his time in Charlotte now, I hope so). We're all looking forward to seeing a little more of Dad--in fact, that is the major reason we're putting our house up for sale in this horrible market. Brian scored a sweet deal from work so we won't actually get hurt by selling the house low, but we still have to sell it.

Which is why I haven't written. Getting a house ready to sell admist going back to school--getting supplies, 4 back to school nights, soccer games and practices, and ballet has almost done me in. My realtor, in regular blunt NJ fashion, gave me more and more to do to make my house acceptable. But between Bev coming over to help take painter's tape off the walls and hang curtains, and Br. Monts being my on-call handy-man to do all the things Brian would do if he were here, I think my house looks pretty awesome. Well, it looks the best it can, considering.

Meanwhile, Paris got his braces off:

And Apollo got a new set of ear tubes. This will be his fourth set. He has crummy eustacian tubes according to our dr. Hopefully, this will be his last set.

Apollo and Paris are home sick today so I decided to take it easy with them. Apollo really is sick. Paris I think is just trying to get out of math because he forgot his homework again. Meah, we all could use a day to recharge once in awhile.

First Days of School

These are the first few days of school outfits. Can you tell who plans all night what they are going to wear and who throws on the first thing they see? (There are 2 in each category.)

School preview

Apollo is going to a different school than our neighborhood elementary school so he can have more concentrated help with his speech and reading. So Paris will be going to one school and Apollo will go to another one, and for some reason (hello overprotective-of-her-last-child mom) it is freaking me out. Luckily, Apollo's new school had an open house today.
We walked through to where he would be let off the bus to where his home-room class is. "See you just walk straight til you get to the door with the smiley faces are." He told me he would draw a picture of smiley faces on a card to bring with him so he wouldn't forget. (Isn't he smart?)
Then we visited his speech room, his pull-out room, the gym, and library. I lifted him up to see into the cafeteria. "It's so big" he exclaimed, and when he I set him down he let his knees buckle in awe and fell down. A fellow student rushed to his side to ask if he was all right. I swear Apollo rolled his eyes as he tried to explain that he was just overcome by the bigness of the cafeteria. His new friend stood there confused--he either didn't understand or couldn't believe someone swoons over a cafeteria, and Apollo walked away muttering.
Outside another mom introduced her son to us. He and Apollo had the same home-room teacher. Apollo held out his hand and shook his new friends hand deliberately, "Hi, I'm Apollo. What's your name?" I was a little stunned and no longer worried about him making friends.
The whole tour took about 10 min. and that was going back to search for water fountains. So when we were climbing in the car, and Apollo spotted the playground equipment, he suggested I should let him play. "I can make new friends," he said, though I have an inkling he was less concerned about making friends than in manipulating me into letting him play.
It was about 100* outside and so (amazingly) there were relatively few "friends" playing, so I got elected to push down on the teeter totter opposite him and help him explore the balancing bridge. "When I come here with my new buddy, he'll have to stay with me because that's what buddies do. And I will play soccer on that field. And all the girls will chase me because I'm a boy. They'll say 'There's a boy! Agghhh!'" he holds his hands up, waving and hollering. "But I can run faster than them," he assures me.
Looks like he'll have a fun year.