Ahhh! The Sweet Sound of.......Opera

This afternoon we met Rick at Dell for his company family Halloween Party. And, Dell is not small. I absolutely adore little people in costumes and it is fun for our kids, too, but after 2 1/2 hours of trying not to trip anyone with my crutches and trying not to get pushed over by little people looking for their parents (or by the parents just pushing by people), I was a quivering bundle of nerves inside.

Rick decided to take the kids to Subway to give me a break (I fell in love with him all over again for that) and I drove home ALONE!!!!!!!!!! Alone, alone, alone, alone. As I drove, I realized that it has been 2 weeks since I have been absolutely all alone. No kids, no husband, no one but me.

I put a Renee Fleming CD in the stereo (even people who don't love opera could like her, I think) and felt the anxiety start to melt away. I was so in the zone -- not good when you are driving -- I missed my exit, enjoying the strains of "O Mio Bambino, Caro". So, I ended up taking the long way home and getting a little more alone music time. It was worth it, even though taking that way landed me in a traffic pile-up. I was enjoying my alone time so much I even let several people go in front of me. :)



I do not zone out to opera often enough. I am determined to do it more often - not driving of course.

OOPS

oops. Somehow I deleted the kitchen picture (my favorite part of the house, so far). The plastic is still on the granite, and there are no appliances in yet (they will be black), but I think you can get the idea.

Our New Nest

We started our loan process this week for our new house. How crazy are we trying to do all of this house-stuff with what is going on in the economy? We feel very watched out for. We have really been taken care of through all of this. It is fun to see our house done a little more each time we go to see it. These pictures don't really do it justice. Without the electricity on in the house yet, the colors seem a little off. The cabinets are maple, not nearly as red as the they look in the pictures. But the view out of our family room window (I can see it from the kitchen and dining room and it is the same view from the Master Bedroom), is really beautiful. It is only a little smaller than the house we are in now, has a ton of closets and has NO STAIRS!!! After being home for a few weeks, I am soooooo done with the stairs!! We back to a green belt, so there will be no neighbors back there. And I will love having a more formal room/piano room with french doors so the piano won't seem so loud. We love the location and we won't be far from the new cannery they are building in our area. Yay!

We are going to try a charter school. We are enrolling the kids this week to start, hopefully, next week. It is very strong academically and is only 4 hours/day. I just kept playing with them instead of getting all the work done that we needed to do. And I have enjoyed hearing/seeing them play together. When we were in Arizona, they played with cousins so much, they didn't play with each other and got kind of stinky to each other. We will see how this works out....

A Finger-lickin' Good Life

Being back home has its advantages. Like HEB (our favorite grocery store), the beautiful hill country, Round Rock Donuts and great barbecue. We don't go out to get it, though there are some great places here. Why, when the kids think there is something special about the way their Dad fixes barbecued chicken wings? Especially Emma, who is not afraid to get her fingers dirty. I think Caleb would like it more if he could eat it without getting messy. :)

The kids are back in piano, which has been great. Caleb will humor me occasionally by playing duets with me. I love it when he does, but usually it takes a lot of begging with a "fine, but just ONE." Emma, on the other hand, begs me and so hopefully one day soon I will have a willing partner. A dream of mine is to hear them play a duet together someday. Wouldn't that be great?

Life is pretty great these days. The days are breezy and warm, the nights are cool, we are together again as a family and I actually got 4 hours of school out of the kids today with almost NO whining. AND they have been playing for several hours this afternoon with no squabbles. I really should check for fevers, but I am having way too much fun listening to them to interupt. Days like today should last at least 72 hours. 24 hours is not enough.

We are home!! It has been super to be home. I hit the ground running and am paying for it a bit now -- I am tired. So, now the kids are doing a little more. I am trying to tell myself that it is really ok for the kids to clean bathrooms and swiffer the floor, etc. It won't hurt them to fix their own sandwiches. :) I know this in my mind, but I hate to hear the whining, so it seems easier to do it myself. All moms know this. We are closing on our house on November 30, it looks like, so a bit longer of living with things packed up, but I don't want to unpack it all. The time will go fast. I keep telling myself that. And it is a good excuse to use paper plates. And I am just so grateful that we have a buyer and that it didn't take months and months. I keep praying that it will all work out.

We are back to piano lessons and school work and going to the library. My brother Barry came to see us. That was so very fun. I hadn't seen him in over 2 years! Yikes. We took him to the Round Rock and to Round Rock Donuts. The kids had fun with that, too. They both thought they had discovered gold in the water by the Round Rock. Caleb and Emma were convinced they were starting another gold rush.

Dobby has adjusted well to his new home. At first he was terrified of the stairs. He got up the first 2 and started to cry - too scared to go up or down. Now he runs up and down them constantly. He LOVES his kids He follows them around all day long. And after they go to bed, we have to shut their doors, because he won't leave them alone. If they shut their doors he stands outside them and howls. Other than that, he is a quiet dog. We were surprised, as we heard that chihuahuas were yippie.

It has been nice to see people; although we haven't gotten to see everyone we want to, yet. And it was weird at Church on Sunday, now that our ward is soooo much smaller. But we are adjusting and having a great time doing it.