Some people say that the holiday season is stressful.  This one takes the cake for me.  So. Much. Happening.  I have to admit that the week of Christmas pretty much flew by, and many details of the festive season are lost somewhere in my memory.  But the overwhelming theme of the week has been gratitude.  I have been touched by the outpouring of support, love, friendship, and family.  I have caught myself on several occasions sitting there thinking about how grateful I am to be home for the holidays.  Like when my kids got to build a gingerbread house, and got to go sledding during a white Christmas, and stood in line waiting to see if Santa came to the farm, saw everyone’s amazing Christmas decorations, and got to actually hug the people that gave them gifts instead of just saying thank you through the phone screen.  Best. Christmas. Ever.

So here’s the recap, as best as my memory can retrieve amidst all of the chaos.

Shopping.

Thankfully I had done the majority of my Christmas shopping online a month or so ago and had everything shipped to the farm.  But we still had a few things to pick up in the US.  I hate procrastinating on things, especially Christmas shopping, but I didn’t have much of a choice in this case. I was dreading going to the mall and Costco – turns out it really wasn’t too bad. After a mild panic moment when we realized that we aren’t sure what people want/need/like since we haven’t been around them for 2 years (insert tears), we pulled ourselves together and found some great gifts.  Phew.

Riley.

Jay’s nephew, Riley, turned 21 on Dec 23.  His mom organized a surprise party for him at the Farragut tavern (which I almost ruined because I didn’t realize it was a surprise…).  Aunt Jekka and Uncle Jason watched the kids so Jay and I could go to Farragut to celebrate.  The jet lag got the best of me so I didn’t whoop it up too much, but it was nice to see a bunch of the southwest Iowa folks.  And it was fun to see Riley surrounded by so many people that think the world of him.  Didn’t see much of him the next day…  :).  We loved the fact that we could pop over to Farragut for a night instead of having to make the trip over a 3-day weekend (or longer).  So nice!!

Christmas Eve.

The next morning was Christmas Eve, so we headed back to the farm.  Excitement was in the air!  Not only was Santa coming, but so was Brianna, and Rickey (and Chris), and Brooke and Dana.  It has been years since we were all together on Christmas.  We set out cookies, milk, carrots, and a thank you note for Santa, then put the kiddos to bed.  We stayed up long enough to wait for Brianna, and then we all went to sleep so that Santa could stop by.  

Christmas Morning.

Somehow I was the first one awake on Christmas morning.  When the kids FINALLY woke up, we all got lined up in the kitchen, youngest to oldest, and waited for Nana and Papa to let us go into the living room.  SANTA CAME!!!!  He brought all sorts of awesome things – a zebra buggy, Legos, Octonauts, Star Wars guys, a bicycle, games, books, a gymnastics mat and leotards, and a weight set (for Bri).  They must have been really good this year! The kids played with their new toys, we ate breakfast, and waited for everyone else to arrive.  Rick and his friend Chris showed up, and then Brooke and Dana made it.  Uncle Tom and Aunt Melinda, Ray and Rudy stopped over.  It was a packed living room, full of laughter and happiness.  Home.  It took us a couple hours for everyone to get through opening their gifts.  Thanks again to everyone for the great prezzies!!!  Once we finished with the presents, we all rushed around to pack up our sleighs so that some of us could head to our next Christmas party.  We were heading back to Farragut, this time with the kids.   

    
    
 Farragut.

Ty has not been in Memaw and Papa’s house for over a year – when we were home last August – but he remembered what their house was like.  He was looking forward to playing with the toys at Memaw’s house and watching movies.  He got his fill of that!  When we arrived we had a yummy dinner and then opened presents.  So many nice things!  There were a couple times when I realized that I wasn’t aware of that new thing -for example Keurig has some new models of their coffee makers.  Such a weird feeling but makes sense because we haven’t been immersed in US shopping or advertisements for 2 years.  

Toys.

The next day, Kirk and Jay crawled up into the attic and pulled down all of Jay’s old toys – I’m not sure what they all were (I know there were some Star Wars toys), but oh man was Ty excited.  I didn’t see him for the next 2 days.  I think Jay was just as excited as he relived his childhood memories.  

Relax.

The girls debated whether or not to go shopping, but decided to avoid the crowds and just relax at home.  I’m glad we took the trackies route.  There is something therapeutic about sitting in the sunroom, fireplace on, nowhere to go.  It is what I needed.  While I was lounging around, getting much needed rest, the farm was hoppin’ – heaps of people showed up to see Rick and Em, and listen to the boys play guitar in the kitchen.  I was totally jealous as kitchen concerts are my absolute fave, but I was also glad that I woke up Sunday without a headache.  🙂

Grandma.

Sunday morning we packed up the sleigh again and headed back to the farm (about 2.5 hours) so that we could go to Grandma’s Christmas party.  I hadn’t seen some of the family on that side for 2 years, but it felt like I never left.  So good to be home!

Leaf Lake.

Jay had to head straight to Davenport after Grandma’s to get ahead of the snow storm that was heading our way.  He had to meet with the movers to figure out how many boxes to bring when they pack us up.  He was in the basement in his computer when he heard a tap on the window.  And then another.  He went to the sliding glass door and a dog came running inside. You can imagine his panic until he realized that the dog belonged to his friend JR.  He had heard that Jay was headed to Davenport for one last beer in the Leaf Lake Lounge and couldn’t resist the temptation to join.  I am so thankful that he was there to give Jay a helping hand.  They removed the temporary storage room  from the garage, loaded up the 4-wheeler and mini-bike in the car, and drank some beer.  :). 

Lunch.

On Tuesday, Em and I and the kids went to Des Moines to meet Mike, Ashley, and Brooks for lunch before they headed back to Tennessee.  Ty and Brooks giggled their way through the meal – reminded me of Ash and I.  They were anxious to get on the road, and the kids were about to get us kicked out of the Mexican restaurant, so it was a short reunion but a great one.  It is going to be strange to not have them 20 minutes away, but I am looking forward to a trip down south to visit them.

Rental.

We moved into our rental home in Grimes on Wednesday.  While we have very much appreciated all of the hospitality from family, we were excited to get settled into our own space and get some routine back into our lives.  We have been referring to the house as “the dorm room” because it is such a hodge lodge of furniture and stuff.  Let me tell you, they don’t build things like they used to.  I’m pretty sure this house was built in 30 days or less…despite all of the flaws of the home, we are thankful and appreciative to have a roof over our heads.

Timber.

We took a break from unpacking in the afternoon to go look at a house on the market, and then we all went to the house in Timberbrooke that Jay and I really liked.  It was a little stressful having the kids there – I was certain that they would break something.  Or get lost.  But everyone wanted to see it because we had shown them pictures.  Jay and I stayed a while longer after they left and decided to put in a really low offer on the house.  We said we had one offer and one offer only.  Take it or leave it.  We weren’t willing to go up in price at all, and they had until 11:00 that night to decide.  I talked to our realtor around 7:30 and they had come down quite a bit but not the whole way.  I repeated our number and said we weren’t budging.  We were all tired so we put the kids to bed and fell asleep.  I woke up at 10:30 and saw I had a text message from our realtor.  I couldn’t call him because Jay and Lily were asleep, but he sent me a text saying that we got the house.  OMG.  Holy moly.  I wasn’t expecting them to accept it!!!  So then I had to wake up Jay to share in the excitement, and we were wide awake, both in shock.  So, pending a successful inspection on Thursday, we will be moving in on February 19!!!  The house is beautiful – I am a little worried it is too fancy for this country gal, but am hopeful that I can tone it down a bit.  It sits on 2 acres with lots of trees, has heaps of garage/shed space for all of Jay’s toys, and has plenty of bedrooms for all of us and guests.  I have always loved the Timberbrooke neighborhood, for as long as I can remember because we drove by it on our way to Des Moines from the farm, and have dreamed about living there someday. So blessed.   

 2016.

So yeah, 2015 went out with a bang for us!  We sold a house, moved into a rental, bought a house.  You know, no big deal… 

Court and Jeremy were headed to a party in Grimes for New Years so they stopped over for a bit.  I love that we can meet up for short periods of time now that we are living so close.  Happy.

 Jess’s neighbors invited us over for a low-key NYE party (we all were in our trackies).  They have 2 kids close to Ty and Lily’s age, so the kids had fun in the basement while the adults played Cards Against Humanity upstairs.  Oh boy.  Now that game…that game is wrong on so many levels, but so hilarious.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

Catching up.

So the first part of this blog was written just after the new year, and then I got swept away with life and haven’t had a chance to sit down and write.  I will do my best to summarize the last month, unfortunately not to my usual level of detail.  Sorry!!

Work.

The reason for my lack of blogging has been caused by work.  I have a love-hate relationship with starting a new job.  I love the chance to learn heaps of new things, but I hate the feeling that I don’t know what the hell i am doing.  I spent a week in Moline getting a crash course in ALM.  Unfortunately for me, I started the job on an ALCO quarter end.  This means we have to process SO MUCH work in a condensed period of time.  And it makes it really bad when I don’t know what the processed are.  And then add on all sorts of system issues.  Made for a REaLLY rough couple of weeks.  I held back tears on multiple occasions while in Moline, but couldn’t hold them back when I was back in Des Moines.  I was sitting there on the phone, talking to my boss (who is great), and feeling so incredibly stupid.  I had no idea what to do or how to do it, and I felt a wave of heat come over my whole body, and then the tears just started streaming down my face.  I don’t think he knew what was happening.  I certainly didn’t want him to know.  It was simply an “I’m so overwhelmed and frustrated and lost and confused” cry, that only time in the job can make go away.  I am confident I will get there eventually.  And I will probably love this job when I do figure out what I’m doing. 

 I did manage to make some time to have dinner with a few friends and coworkers in the Quad Cities.  It was strange being in the Quad Cities, staying at our house alone.  I basically got home, crawled into Ty’s bed (no sheets on mine), woke up, went to work, rinse, repeat.  I am going to miss that house.  And I also managed to get Jay’s wedding ring replaced from the QC jeweler that made his first ring!  Hooray!  He is married again. 

 Jay is fully immersed in his new job.  He is learning a lot and doing well.  I think he really likes it!

Ty is in school – he is in kindergarten at Timber Ridge Elementary in Mrs. Newberg’s class.  Next year he will go to Horizon but they were full.  So far he seems to be doing OK.  I am a little worried that he might get bored and lazy, so we are doing “homework” at night to keep pushing him along.   

 Lily and Em go to gymnastics twice a week.  The rest of the week they try to find things to do, but it isn’t as easy as on the Gold Coast because, hello, it is freaking freezing outside here.  They have gone to indoor parks, shopping, and the farm a few times. 

 We all went to Omaha one weekend.  We needed to find some new furniture, and had the added benefits of hanging out with family and going to an indoor water park.

The hardest thing to deal with over the past month is that we are stuck in between.  We have our own space, but it isn’t our space.  Still living the rental life, so it is hard to get settled.  We are all really looking forward to moving in to the new house on Feb 19!!!

The best thing so far has been living so close to family and dear friends.  I cannot count the number of times that we have hung out at the farm, or Jess’s, or had people over for dinner, or to watch a game.  We got to babysit Bandit for a night (can’t have him full time in our rental), and even had a baby lamb come visit.  Just doing every day things.  This is what we were all missing in our lives.  This is why we left paradise.  No regrets.  (Even though it is bloody cold here.) Here are some of the random pics I have of the past month.  I haven’t been great about taking photos – I aim to do a better job.  🙂

    
    
     

 
That pretty much sums up Christmas through January.  Some people have wondered if I will continue to write blogs, and I think I will.  If nothing else, it gives my kiddos something to read when hey are older.  I can’t promise that they will be very exciting, probably a whole lot less exciting than the Australia posts…it is just life.  A damn good one.

Not sure how to end this.  G’day mates doesn’t seem appropriate anymore…so I’m just going to stop writing…