Work

I work full time. I have been working full time since April and there are not enough hours in a week, let alone a day. I always thought I would be a stay-at-home-mom, or at least a part time stay-at-home-mom. And I loved it when I was part time. It was just enough time away to love my time at home, and just enough time at home to get everything done and have left over time for all the fun stuff (spending hours on walks, playing at the library, story time...).
We are hoping that Luke will find a full time teaching job soon (if anyone knows of one-let me know! He's really good!) I'm working full time right now so we can get stuff payed off (thanks York College) knowing that we might be moving to a small town when Luke finds a job. I most likely won't be able to find the same job, or one worth  paying for day care for two small kids, so we want to get a ton of stuff paid off now so we can live on one income soon.
I actually really love my job...most days! Sometimes I even think of going back to grad school. I work with incredible teams and families, my job is pretty flexible, and we have it worked out so the kids only go to another house 2 days a week (although I'm sure they would love to go more!). And Luke is fantastic at taking care of things at home while he's around so I don't have to do much when I get home from work. I get to be home with them most of Tuesday. I also get to see their fantastic smiles when I walk in the door after a long day at work. It's pretty great. But by the weekend I am totally exhausted and I mostly want to sit at home in sweats and cuddle with the babies. If only they were more into sitting on the couch all day cuddling.
So what about you guys. Do you stay at home moms find enough time in the day? Do you ever wish you had time away? Or do you work full time and love it? I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I 'll get to spend all my time at home with these babies soon. And I know that getting things paid off and being responsible is great, even if some days I'd rather not be responsible...

Halloween

This year was our first year trick-or-treating. Last year Judah was too tiny, I was too tired, and Eden didn't know what was going on, so we didn't go. I never went trick-or-treating growing up so it was fun to live vicariously through Eden! She was our little cowgirl, but we ended up adding a puffy vest to the outfit because it was getting cold. Judah was a kangaroo (passed down from Harper). 

They both ended up getting in on the action! Harper was a great cousin and stayed with Eden for the first few houses, but I think Eden was a little too slow so Vicki and Dale helped out.  The concept of trick-or-treating took a while for Eden. She practiced saying trick or treat in the car in a sweet little whisper. Once she was actually at the houses, she would ask to go inside after she got her candy "we go inside now?". Judah had fun watching for a little while, but for the last few houses, he wanted to get some candy too! He tried to follow the whole group of kids up a steep driveway but only made it a few steps! Next year buddy...

 On the way home, Judah is walking and Eden was too tired to walk! 

Ok, this isn't a great picture, but I just loved the tail on the costume!  

 Um, the best smile I could get....

"This need cap"

Eden LOVES coloring. Seriously loves it! Lately she has been obsessed with coloring the entire sheet of paper the same color. 

 This is what Luke found when he went to get her from napping in our bed a few days ago. When he walked in, she help up the marker and said "this need cap". Yep, it sure does. her left leg was completely covered-front and back.

Luke was so sweet and waited until I got home to give them a bath...

although I'm not sure how much the blue bath water helped. The marker on her forehead took the longest to come off, but I thought it really brought out the blue in her eyes...

I have a feeling....

Our wedding would have been about 1,000 times more amazing if etsy and pinterest had been around. I mean, our wedding was great because at the end of the day, we were married.
A few years ago we ordered all of our Christmas presents off of etsy and I got a little obsessed, even after the presents had been given (what if I had missed something amazing?).  After seeing a few different comments about pinterest pop up here and there, I decided to check it out. At first, I enjoyed just browsing. Then I started to book mark a lot of recipes and ideas for homemade presents for Christmas. After 3 bookmark folders and 30 or so bookmarks, I thought, why am I bookmarking all of this when it's probably way easier to just pin it?! So, I asked for an invite. The sent me an email telling me I was on the waiting list for an invite! What? I boycotted the entire website for about 2 hours, then a few hours later I got my invite. I don't like things that are exclusive or websites that try to make themselves more interesting by being by invite only, so I was going to continue my boycott, but I decided that waiting a few days to accept would really get my point across to pinterest. I think they really felt my absence and may be changing their ways in the future...

Judah is ONE!

Last Saturday we celebrated Judah's first birthday. A few years ago when we were wondering how we could manage another baby in 8 months, I had no idea how awesome this baby would be! He started walking a few weeks ago, and now mostly sticks to walking. He likes it so much that we are pretty sure he practices...and the smile on his face makes us think he's pretty proud of himself. He says dada, dog, done, down, ball, and he sometimes pulls out mama when he's really mad that we put him to bed (so sneaky). He loves a good dance party. If the music is on, he keeps the party going. He is so social...he loves to sing and get tickled and he's really into teasing us now. He thinks its hilarious to try to pull glasses off of your face. Over and over and over. I, um, love it too! He LOVES to play with cars and balls, and we're thinking he just might be left handed. He's also really into being a big guy lately. When I asked him about breakfast, he walked right to his highchair. When he heard Luke tell me about changing his diaper on the phone, he brought a diaper to Luke. He's also obsessed with silverware and he's getting pretty good at using it.
We started the day with some birthday donuts...delicious.

Then it was time for presents: cars and balls.

Followed by playtime with the new presents. Please pretend these children are wearing clothes...

We were going to go to a pumpkin patch, but Eden and I took a 4 hour nap and kindav ruined those plans...sorry Judah! We celebrated with Luke's family on Sunday and Judah got even more balls! And a great tricycle to grow into.
Anyways, it was a great birthday weekend. We love our guy and are so thankful for all of the joy he brings to our family. And all of the dance parties...

My favorite place...

Before we had kids, Luke and I dreamed of having a giant kitchen table. The kind with plenty of room to eat and play and a table that could fit all of your friends, should the need arise. One of my best goodwill finds was a giant Ikea table for 60 dollars! Seriously, this thing sits 8 without the 2 extensions it comes with. Ok, its Ikea, its definitely not real wood and it won't last forever, but when its covered in marker and baby goop and maybe a few scratches when your husband used it as a wood working table, its probably better that its not real wood and that we didn't spend a fortune on it. We figure the nice, expensive furniture can wait until after the kids are covered in snot and spilling milk on everything.
This table has turned into everything we hoped. We haven't had to break out the leaves yet, but its been surrounded by great friends for dinner. It has become Eden's spot to color and do puzzles, mostly because Judah can't reach it yet. Right now Luke is sitting here grading papers, Eden is coloring and entire sheet of paper red, and I've been doing really, really important things on the internet while sipping my coffee for too long. This table is usually a mess, and not in the cute blog way...You know,  piles of beautiful paper and matching jars with crayons organized by color with a sweet little sprinkle of glitter on top. Nope, its more the left over banana smear from breakfast, half empty coffee cups from the morning, markers without lids sort of mess. But somehow its still my favorite place...

Preschool?

Ok, I need some help...
My mother in law sent an email last winter asking if we had registered Eden for preschool...what? Send my sweet-little-tiny-baby girl to preschool? Because we had no idea what our work schedules would look like, or even where we would be living, we decided to wait on preschool until she was 3. Now that she really is 2 and (almost) a half and all the other kids are going to preschool, I'm seeing that she probably would love it. So, now we are looking for preschools for next year.
A few thoughts:
1. they are expensive!
2. sometimes, the hours are just crazy. 8:45-10:45...really? How do people get anything done with kids going to preschool?
3. There are a lot of options! One where you spend two hours playing with your kid, and you still have to pay an absurd amount of money. As fun as that sounds, we crossed that one off of the list...

So, we are down to a couple of options: the german immersion school and a preschool at a church in our neighborhood. We love the idea of a christian preschool, but I also love the idea of a little Eden running around speaking German. We are leaning towards the german immersion school because it is an option that we might not have in the future...if Luke gets a job at a smaller college, there likely won't be a german school (but we're pretty sure you can find a christian preschool in most towns). We also like the idea because we would love to live in Europe someday, and if Eden has some base of German, it would help her. Plus, it would be pretty cool to have a secret language with Eden that Luke can't understand! :)

Anyways, for those of you who have sent your sweet babies off to preschool...how old were they? How did they do? Where did you send them an why?

Glimpses

We were told by people who had done it before us, that having kids 1.5 years apart was great...after the first 6 months. I'm just starting to believe them.
I know people have been having babies close (and even closer) together for thousands of years, but it just caught me off guard and I wasn't sure that we would be able to make it and keep our sanity! We are just starting to catch these glimpses of the greatness that other parents told us about. I've been reading books....more than 1 page at a time! Sometimes, I realize 15 minutes have gone by without seeing either kid and when I look for them, they are both sitting quietly playing together. We went to Smashburger last week and sat at our table for 45 minutes! Without any melt-downs! This is amazing.
The best part about it is how sweet they are with each other. Eden started crying the other day when Judah rode in a different car, because she wanted him in the back seat with her. Judah laughs harder at Eden than anyone else. They are so sweet together-they are starting to share, Eden is enjoying it when Judah follows her around and watches her. It makes me so happy about the next few years and what good friends these two will be.
Life is good, and getting settled. So settled, that I just wrote this whole blog without any interruptions!

We're back....maybe

So, it's been a while! Ok, it's been since I went back to work...

Life got crazy for a few months there and we are just starting to feel like we have room to breathe. To catch you up:

-I went back to work full time (I haven't done that since Eden was born-yikes!)

-Luke worked a full time job, taught his first college level english class, did some tutoring, worked every weekend, and finished up his masters degree

-Eden turned 2-she is sweet, chatty, determined, and loves her baby brother

-Judah is almost 1...my sweet little baby just started to walk and he's turning into the coolest baby ever (well, at least to us)!

-We took a trip with 2 kids under 2 to Europe...more on that later...

Last week brought Luke starting his new job...he is a teacher! 4 english classes at a local University-he is completely in love with teaching. This also means he doesn't work on the weekend anymore! We will have TWO WHOLE DAYS off together...what will we do? I start my new work schedule next week. I will work until 5:30 every Friday. I know, I know, most people work till 5:30 on Fridays but I haven't since...well, maybe never. Good thing it will be cold out! The kids are just getting to that sweet age where they run off and play together and its just so very, very precious. We are feeling super blessed, and feeling like we can finally take some time to relax. Oh, and it's starting to feel like fall and if you know me, you know that fall's my favorite season...

Hopefully we will be back soon!