Moving Day…or is it a Snow Day??

A blizzard? in April? C’mon, who’s playing a late April Fools Day joke on me?  But alas, it was no joke! The Historic April Blizzard of 2018 had in fact found its way to Minneapolis on a trajectory that would do nothing but wreak havoc on our move.

The storm hit Minneapolis on Saturday, the day we were originally scheduled to leave. We thought for sure by the time Sunday rolled around we would be in the clear. But somehow, we were still wrong! You seriously cant make this @#$# up.

But, it was on like donkey kong. We were off. Sleet, ice, snow and wind. Anyone who has driven across the midwest knows how interesting it can be driving down a highway where there is nothing between you and the wind besides the flatlands. Hold onto your britches because this is gonna be a bumpy ride!

But off we went. Me driving the car with the girls, Jim driving my car with the trailer, Evan and the pups. Slow and steady wins the race. We went like a herd of turtles! (My grandpa would always say that:))

I love our kiddos so much. They rocked this move like no one’s business.

Emma, you were so helpful to me during the drive. So attentive to your sister and extremely helpful the entire way! Lily bug, you did so phenomenal on such a long trek! Ev’man, you had a great little spot in the back with the pups! Way to go bud!

Through snow ice and sleet, slowly our fleet made its way to its destination…

State. By State. By State.

The snowy weather didnt let up until we got into Western NY on the third day. It was then that we got a chance to observe some of the interesting ice sculptures that formed on the back of the bike wheels from our travels.

But in the end, we arrived at 11 pm at night. At our version of a tiny house. A sweet, little 3 BR Ranch on 41 Mayfield Drive. This house is small, but its all that we need. And in a world where life can become so material, its a fantastic lesson of life to learn what we really need, and that every thing we need is right in front of us. We are richer than we could ever imagine. We work together to make our home work. If there is a problem, we work together to solve it. I LOVE this home. I love it for what it represents, what it provides to us, and who we are as a family because of it.

Its absolute chaos at times, but its our chaos, and its fun. Its a blessing. And we welcome every bit of it with open arms.

Love –

Jess and Jim

Our Adventure Begins…

I don’t think anything can ever prepare you fully for something like moving halfway across the country. With three kids, two dogs and more stuff than you could even imagine you had, it can cause months of utter chaos. For a mom with ADHD and Anxiety Disorder, it can thrust you into a bout of analysis paralysis. Throw in a couple of medical episodes, and tax headaches, and well, you get the point 👍

Planning only allows you so much preparation. Choosing a realtor, getting repairs done, choosing a moving company; these are all tangible tasks that are completeable.

It’s the intangible things that cause you the most stress. And you have to allow yourself the time to process that stress, that fear. Be mindful of your feelings, acknowledge all the thoughts going through your mind. It will help you understand how to manage the intangibles.

Nothing prepares you for the tears from your son when he realizes that he won’t be there to celebrate with his fourth grade class for winning the trophy for best behavior; the sadness in your daughters eyes when her friend asks you if this is the last time she will see her; the look of confusion in your toddlers face when she asks why the people are taking her dining table, as you sell it to the next needing family.

”it’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday”… So how do you say goodbye?

Well, you don’t.

Its not goodbye, it’s see you later. I don’t know the next time I will see you, my friends but I know you are only a memory away. Everything in life is what you make it. And I have made more wonderful memories than I can ever begin to express.

It was very hard for me to think about us leaving our beloved Home, and picture another family living there. But the more time I thought about it, and took to process it, the more I began to see my memories played back in my head like an old movie 🎥. I love our Guthrie Avenue house. But it’s my soulmate ( I know it’s sappy, but Its true!!), my children that make it a home. And I am so excited to see where our next adventure takes us as a family.

I used to fear change to the point of avoiding it. Jim has taught me to welcome change to the point of embracing it.   Accept the fear, and all of the experiences that come with it. You only get one life to live; make the best of it. If you are as lucky as me, you will have the one that completes you ❤️ to live that life with.

”and I’ll take with me the memories to be the ☀️  after the 🌧. It’s too hard to say goodbye to yesterday.”

Here’ to seeing you soon, my friends. You are in my hearts no matter where I am. And our door is always open on Mayfield Drive.

Love Always, Jess

Adventure Awaits…

Change is scary. Change is good. Change is an opportunity for growth and change is an opportunity for adventure. Life is full of change. You can choose to live in fear of the unknown, or choose to embrace it and learn as you go.

I embraced change in the biggest way 13 years ago, almost to the day. It all started when someone in my online class emailed me “by accident”. But on September 1, 2004, my new life adventure began. I left the only home I had ever known to move halfway across the country to the Twin Cities. Chance opportunities had introduced me to the Twin Cities a couple of years prior, but never did I imagine it would open up the door to a life changing decision. But that’s a story for another day….

Here we are, and we have come full circle. 13 years later, and another adventure awaits. Three kids, two homes, countless friendships. Jim knew before I did. But I didn’t want to admit that I missed the mountains as much as I did. I convinced myself that the distance was ok. And it was, it is. But there’s also a lot to be missed. There has been a lot that has been missed. Every year, when we would cross into Vermont on our yearly trek to see family, we would comment on the beauty of the White Mountains. How it brought us peace. How it brought me home….How it brought joy to our children to swim in Lake Fairlee. How seeing the distance was bridged between my nephews and my kids as if no time had passed at all.

But this year, something was different. This year, I was ready.

This time, I was ready to come home.

“Coming home, I’m coming home. Tell the world I’m coming home.”

On June 5, 2018, after the kids finish out the school year, we will officially start our move back east!

Boston, Here We Come!

A Letter To My Two Year Old…❤️

I find humor in my day, even if at the time I wanted to cry. I try tontake time after all the dust has settled to look back at the day and laugh. Not only to stop myself from crying, but because I want to remember those moments. Savor the memories. And remember that even if I didn’t think so at the time, I am a good mom who loves her children ten times more than the sum total of every millisecond I have ever worried about being a bad one. Today had one of those moments. So, I’m writing a letter addressed to my two year old daughter so some day we can look back and read this together, and laugh together. 😁
To My Dearest Two Year Old…

I want to take a quick moment to thank you for a few moments from today.

I love to wake before dawn with you to share some quiet time together before our day begins. So thank you sweetheart for waking me extra early this morning. Maybe though, we can plan it so on the mornings we get up early to share together, that we get a hours of sleep to enjoy the sunrise so I can view it with my eyes as bright as yours! 

I am so proud of the progress you are making towards being able to wear your big girl Poppy underpants! While I know you are excited to be helpful, I think it best for you to leave your diaper on until I am awake to help you change, just to make sure we can learn together! You may understand my reaction to awaking to see your tiny hiney bare after doing the poo! And I  so proud of your throwing your diaper away on your own! Maybe next time though we can work together to make sure happens in the diaper stays in the diaper, and not on the floor 🤷‍♀️.

Oh and my sweet sweet girl, thank you for  letting me sleep while you attempted to feed yourself and the puppies. The puppies only need one scoop of food- not ten each. That may actually explain the dogs recent weight gain….

One last thing baby. Keep doing the things you do. Keep being spontaneous. Keep asking why and what’s that. Keep trying new things and keep tryin again whether it’s the 20th or 200th time. Keep smiling.

Keep teaching me. Because when you learn, so do I. Everyday is an opportunity to learn, and a blessing to be able to call you my daughter. Every moment like today are equally treasured even if at the time it didn’t seem like it. 

Paint your hand and give the paper a high five. Read me one extra book. Kiss me goodnight some extra time. Ask me to do more just one extra turn. 

Everyday with you is a blessing, each smile opens my heart to love you and your brother and sister more than I ever imagined.

So thank you. Thank you for every laughter. Every tear. Ever kiss. Every please and thank you. Because of you I am who I am today. 

I love you tons of tons. 

How It All Began…Fall into Burches

You only turn 40 once, right? I had always wanted to try the paint and sip parties that I saw so many of my friends doing, but like anything else, never took the time to look into further. So when it got closer to November , and my impending 40th birthday, I figured it was a good time to start! And who better to spend it with then my closest friends!

So at Lou’s recommendation, I chose to try out Pinot Palette in St Louis Park. Looking through the list of paintings, the birch painting seemed like a relatively simple place to start?!

Jim always told me I needed a hobby. I dont think he ever could have realized what he was getting himself into once I started painting…:)

So off we went! Jess, Kathy, Barb, Rachel, Emily and I headed off to the place that I would realize a hidden joy. At first it was very intimidating. I couldnt paint straight lines. I couldnt get the tree branch thickness right. Crap, this was gonna look like a 5 year old did it. Then I started looking at everyone else’s pictures. CRAP, theirs looks better. Man, look at their trees. WTF am I doing wrong! I wanted to get it right! But slowly, I realized there was no “right”. I started having fun when i stopped worrying about what it looked like and started enjoying what I was doing. By the end, I had a picture that I was pretty shocked at. It wasnt a Picasso, but it WAS a Solger. And thats all it needed to be!

Best of all, I had FUN. I couldnt wait to do it again. And the folks at Pinots Palette in Saint Louis Park made it SO awesome! Mila and her staff were funny, engaging, and made us all feel like we COULD do it!

So my 40th birthday to myself was, well, happiness :). I spend so much time with the kids, and working and doing other daily things, its very easy to forget to spend some time on ourselves. This allowed me to do that.

Painting has become an outlet for me to realize somewhere I can find joy. Not only for myself, but for time with the kids, and for providing joy to others. I may never be great, but for me its all it needs to be 🙂

 

37 and Pregnant….

Heaven knows, if you asked me three years ago where I would see myself in 3 years, it definitely wouldnt be 37 and pregnant. Jim and I have had a long standing rule since before we got married. We wanted two kids: if after two kids we didnt have one of each, we would try one more time, but regardless we would max our family at three children.  So after Emma was born, we seemed to be “all set”. Perfect little suburban family. And we WERE perfect. Married to my soulmate, two of THE BEST kids in the world, how much sweeter could life be?

But after Emma, and after life got back to “normal” it seemed that something was missing. A few of my friends were having a third child, And I started missing that stage of the kids lives. And then, almost simultaneously, Jim agreed.

We wanted to have a third child 🙂

While we discussed whether to adopt or have our own, we started getting excited about the idea of having a baby again. So this past February, we learned our Joy had come true. But our joy turned quickly to sorry as we learned that it wasn’t to be. It hit pretty hard, but we got through it.

So when our joy quickly rose again with the news in June, we were cautiously optimistic. But alas, here we are and happy to report that Baby Will Make 3 in February 2015! At 10 weeks, I am feeling great. This trip to New York is his/her first road trip. But so far seems to be holding its own!

I also joyously learned that I would have a friend to join me in my excitement in our own little “37 and Pregnant” journey. Out of respect for her, I wont mention who, but Friend you know who you are and I am so grateful to go through this with you and I love you!

We waited until about 7 weeks to tell the kids. And their reactions were priceless! At first, Emma was a bit puzzled. Then she decided we were going to name the baby Felicia. LOL.

Evan’s questions included, who was going to babysit him and Emma when we had the baby, and he just didnt know how he could handle taking care of two sisters, so he hopes its a boy. He insists that they can share a room together, because he loves company (which is true). He said he can put the baby to bed. I asked about changingpoopy diapers and he looked at me puzzled and quickly decided I could do that part. He also asked how the baby got in and out. I chose the safe route to say God blessed us and put a baby in our belly, and somehow safely skirted the delivery question for now.

Emma is instistent that the baby is a girl, although we dont actually know yet. She likes to rub my belly (though im not really showing yet) and tell me she “likes my baby” and that the baby is always sleeping and that we should be quiet. 🙂 Oh, and if its a boy, Daddy and Evan have to take care of it. Im down with that 🙂

So here we go again on this crazy and wild ride through parent hood, that I wouldnt change for the world. Every opportunity to be a mother is an opporutnity from God. And i’ll take it! I admit im a bit scared being 37 and doing it all over again, but many people have insistend that we are still young and not at any other than normal risks, which is great! So bring it on. And thanks for taking this crazy ride with us!

Love, Jess and Baby S.

Day 93…Man Am I Behind!

You know I love writing on my blog. I may not be a great writer, but I like writing about the things that are happening in life. S much has happened in two months however if I don’t stop to remember the small stuff, My canned response to someone asking me how things are is “everything is the same. Nothing new.” But the truth is I don’t remember half the things that are new! So what are the things I want to remember?

1. We have been blessed with a new nephew, Dominick Geonni! (And I’m sure Jason will correct me if I spelled it wrong!)
2. In 8 days I get to MEET my nephew!!! ❤ oh and smother my entire family with kisses!
3. We have had the opportunity to connect with a wonderful family after 30 years, George and Deb Lovstad and their children, Tina and Craig, and we will be able to meet them in just about a week as well!
4. Evan is READING and has been invited to join the boys gymnastics team!
5. Emma has her first ballet recital in May!

I think the post that touched my heart ad of late is the one below about a mom and the thoughtfulness of a stranger. This post says a lot about the world we live in, about how quickly life can change, and about how much good there is in this world. So often all we hear about is the bad. Some times it's more intruding to hear the good, no the great. I've done the pay it forward in line at Caribou before. But nothing quite like this.

http://truestoriesofamidwestyankee.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/to-the-woman-behind-me-in-line-at-the-grocery-store/comment-page-7/#comment-592

Day 3: It Only Takes A Little to Make A Big Difference

So I am obviously missing out on my opportunities (days) but I have found that while I might not right all my thoughts down, I can say that I am trying to stay focused on what I can do to make a difference everyday this year. And maybe some opportunities will be three days worthy!

Today, I was awestruck by the warmth and the kindness of one of my friends and team members. Going through her own personal medical difficulties at home with her teenage son, she has had to attend many doctors appointments, some on a very ad hoc basis. Never have I onced even thought that she should be worried about work. She should focus all of her energy on her son and making sure that she does everything she can for a speedy recovery! So in turn, I have tried to encourage her of that. Work will always be here. Take care of Ty (her son). I have told her, if all I can do is ensure that she feels safe in her work situation, then I will tell her that, ten times over, until I am blue in the face. Honestly, telling her to focus on her son was not even a big deal to me.

But to her it was.

And so this afternoon, I received a very beautiful bouquet of flowers from Karla, thanking me for understanding and for being patient with all the appointments that she has had to attend. I am humbled, floored, and utterly speechless (which trust me is hard to render) that in her families time of need, she would think of me. To bring light to my day.

So folks, today’s opportunity is that it doesnt take a lot to make a big difference. Its the extra minute you give your kids to let them finish their thought even if it doesnt come out quite right the first time. Its the extra hug that your kids give you when you dont expect it. Its the “I Love You” your husband gives you when you have been nothing but utterly cranky for the past three days (Yes Jim, im talking to you 🙂 <3). Its the little conversations that you have with loved ones to encourage them and gently push them along when they might be cautious about taking the next step. Its the unspoken thank you’s that you feel in the love of your friends. Its all the little things that you dont realize in a given day that you do, that make someone else’s day brighter.

While I want to be respectful of hers and her family’s privacy, I would like to request that you please say prayers for a speedy recovery for her son and that all comes out well in the coming weeks. I would also like to request prayers for one of my other team members and her husband who are also dealing with their own medical challenges right now.

Happy Wednesday 🙂

Day 2 – Dont Measure Your Wealth by the Money In Your Pocket…

The past two weeks have been such a whirlwind, it goes without saying that I did take some of the time that we had with our family and friends for granted. But I think for the first time in many months, if not years, we all slowed down long enough to remember the little things this Christmas. We stopped long enough for that extra hug, that extra I Love You, or that extra kiss. We slowed down to understand what the kids needed.

So often, Christmas can be thought of by what present to buy someone or whether you were able to get THE gift of the season for your kids. You know what my favorite gifts this year were? A homemade mug that Evan made for me at school, a picture for my office that has the verse to “You Are My Sunshine” from Jim, and the sewing kit that Mommy and Daddy got me for home. But I think the best gift both given and received this year is one that has no monetary value, no cost associated with it. Its the gift of being able to spend Christmas with my entire family. Seeing the joy on my mom and dad’s face when we arrived Sunday evening. Seeing the joy in Alex’s face when he saw us get out of the car at Myer School. (That was the “meeting place” before our arrival). The way mom and dad’s house was alive with giggling and play and love. The way Alex and Emma played together like they have seen each other everyday of their lives. The way Evan took pride in going with Grandpa Chuck to care for the geese and chickens while we were in Vermont. The way Emma randomly ran up to Gramma Joan and said I love you, or to Grandpa Chuck for a hug. What was that for, Grandpa asked. Her reply was simple. “Nothing Grandpa, I love you.” Love of all of us.

The best gift of Christmas was Love.

I told mom she was going to enjoy her christmas gift this year. She scolded me that I wasnt supposed to buy her anything this year. I told her not to worry. That the gift I got her was only being given with Love and Respect, and that she’d love it.

We had so much fun during our trip this Christmas. Christmas was full of joy and excitement. Between cookie making and gingerbread houses, homemade ravioli, visits to Nana’s house, and trips to the Fun E Farm there were activities to keep us busy everyday! The weeks always fly by when we visit, but usually we struggle to remember, what did we really do on this visit? This trip, memories were made. Time was cherished.

We were blessed enough to be able to participate in Aunt Angela’s baby shower, since the little guy is scheduled to arrive in a short 7 weeks! Emma, Mommy, Nana and I had a great time preparing all of the favors and the desserts for the shower.

And thank you Aunt Angela for your help too 🙂 After a few bumps in the road, we had an absolutely beautiful time at Olive Garden in Kingston. We had a wonderful turnout, and we all got to see family and friends that we haven’t seen so much of in the past year. It was wonderful to be able to share that time with the family. And for anyone wondering, they did a great job for our party at Olive Garden!!

I’m so thankful for the love and blessings of my husband and children, my parents, brother and sister, nephew, in laws, new found-in laws, everyone that has touched my life. I’m just so thankful and blessed. Like Grandpa used to tell is. Your wealth is not measured by the money in your pocket but by the love of your family. That makes me the meg million jackpot winner everyday.

I know it is a week or two past at this point, but Happy Holidays, whatever holiday it is that you celebrate with your family. Because it isn’t about the name of the holiday, but the time you celebrate with your family and friends. All the best in 2014 and may you be blessed with as many riches as our family has been.

Cheers.

PS If you would like to see all the photos from our trip this December, please visit the December 2013 Album on our Family Website.

Day 1: Learn To Relax!

OK so no doubt driving cross country with two kids and a dog, has its challenges built in. But throw in Winter Storm Hercules, a dose of sick kids, add in a dose of bowel challenged dog, and a hard stop for getting home and it makes any person’s nerves stretch to the max!

So today’s lesson (a day delayed) is reminding myself to relax. Its so easy to get hyped up about the things going on around you and you miss the goodness in front of you. Hercules is apparently sleeping through PA, because as soon as we got into NJ, the roads were clear. So at this point, other than the overcast skies and the freak out on The Weather Channel, my intelligent husband’s reroute has worked (so far). It adds some time onto our trip, but he, we have added another couple of states to our checklist! So see, there’s a plus! (nayk nayk).

OK So how do I relax. I have learned just to break down the scenario in front of me. Sick kids? Got tissues. Sick dog? Well, Pepto and frequent stops. Check. Winter storm, we have that covered for the time being. So now we’re back to just the normal hum drum 22 hour trip across the country! Soon, we’ll be able to recite Polar Express by heart, but at least it isnt Yo Gabba Gabba!! Soon we will stop for lunch, let Ubers out again, and then we will be on our way. Indianapolis is about 9 hours away. That puts us done today at 10 PM, with no more stops. So we will see how things go.

Now what is Day 2?…