School is Back!

After a very fun summer our three children have started a new school year! Grace is now in the 8th grade, Abby is in the 4th grade and Orin is now a big 1st grader!

This summer was a lot of fun for our whole family! It was the least stressful summer we've ever had.
Chad works from home when he isn't traveling for business. This has always been difficult during the summer because young kids don't understand that Dad needs quiet and for them to be calm so he can focus on his task at hand. It's their home and they are allowed to be kids. This summer everyone was pretty chill and old enough to understand that when Dad is on the computer or on a call not to be too loud and let him get his work done. It was really great and a smooth summer break.

We took a trip to Hunt, TX, we love it out there! It is in the middle of the beautiful Texas Hill country. The rest of the summer we did some fun activities and focused on spending time with a few friends and having a lot of quality family time together. It was really the best summer break ever!

Now that our children are back in school we are all in an adjustment period getting back into the swing of things. The kids are happy with their teachers and I'm now trying to remember what I need to do to fill my time and be productive. It is so quiet in the house again, which is nice, but always eerie at first.

I've accepted my first substitute teaching assignment of the school year that will happen in a couple of weeks, I've got a coffee meeting scheduled, my hair and nail appointments scheduled and a few lunch dates coming up.

The beginning of a new school year is always bittersweet for me. I'm elated that our kids are so excited about school and feel very lucky that getting them pumped and eager to learn isn't a fight. But every new year is a very sobering reminder that my time with my children is limited. Next year Grace will start high school, in five years she will be moving into a dorm starting college and transitioning into her own life's journey. They will always be my babies, but my goodness time is flying by! I tell my friends time never moved so fast until I became a Mother, it is so true!

I am making an effort to truly enjoy each day with our kids and create the best memories with them. I am trying to stop worrying about things, like time moving so fast, that I have no control of and to make the best of our time. We have created three amazing little people and they are so much fun to raise! I'm such a lucky woman!

I hope everyone is feeling as lucky and loved as I am! For parents and students, I hope it is a great school year for you all!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Blessings in a Broken Refrigerator

Yesterday our freezer went out, we noticed when our ice cream was liquid, gross. We quickly shut the freezer door and put it on a lower temperature setting to hopefully get something working again. Of course, that didn't work. I also noticed that the fridge wasn't cooling anymore either. No bueno. As usual when something breaks Chad is traveling for business.
As I sat back planning my game plan to get things back up and running I couldn't help but feel really lucky. I know it is a weird feeling to have when a major necessary appliance stops working but I couldn't help it.
I felt incredibly lucky that I have another full size refrigerator and a separate deep freezer in our mud room. I started moving things out of our kitchen fridge/freezer and into our other two perfectly functioning appliances. After that I once again felt lucky (and smart!) that to fix my fridge all I had to do was log into our home warranty website and put in a service request. Our technician just left our home (almost exactly 24 hours after I asked for help) and at a minimum he will have to replace the computer in our fridge, probably the compressor too and at the worst the entire fridge. No matter the damage all I will pay is $75. I am so glad that Chad and I kept up with a home warranty after our first year in our home. When we closed on our house our awesome Realtor team (http://www.shepherdnelsonrealty.com) bought us a home warranty for a year as a gift, Chad and I decided to continue purchasing a warranty and it has already paid for itself.
So, as I sit waiting for a few more days for my fridge parts to come in to be fixed all I see are blessings and know that it will all be ok!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

New Adventure

We have some big exciting changes happening in our world! Chad has left his former employer and has accepted a new position with another company. He is going back into contract sales but now in the healthcare sector. He is going back to doing what he loves and is so good at. I'm beyond thrilled for him and so incredibly proud!

It is no secret that Chad had been unhappy for sometime working with Boston Market. He wasn't feeling fulfilled and most of his time was spent "putting out fires" and doing things that were out of his scope along with his true job functions. He is a trooper and always gave his all, but I knew he wasn't happy. A couple of months ago his boss resigned from the company after being with them for 20+ years. That was a big red flag and after having a long discussion Chad and I agreed that he should start looking around for a new job/company. After several interviews and offers that we decided not to pursue one came across that was a perfect fit for Chad and our family. Every single aspect of the new position/company is exactly what we were looking for and we couldn't be happier! It is even better for us financially, we don't have to move and so much more that make this a perfect fit for our family. Chad's last day with his former company was May 2 which is also the same day that he signed an offer letter and accepted his new job.

Chad and I decided that he needed some time to decompress from the stress he had been under with his former company, we mutually decided that he would take a three week break. From Monday, May 2 until today, May 22 we have spent the entire time together having a blast while our kids have been at school and after school and weekends having a great time with our kids. I've posted a few of our outings on Facebook and know that many have been wondering how Chad was able to get out and about with me so much, here is your answer!

In the past three weeks during our "vacation" we've gone to breakfast and lunch together almost every single day, surprised our kids at their school lunches, gone to happy hour with friends, seen a few movies, played golf, spent the day at the lake with friends, volunteered at our kids school, gone to yoga, done plenty of shopping, bought a BMW, strolled the Domain and downtown Austin, took the kids to Schlitterbahn on a school/weekday and so much more. This past Wednesday was our 14th wedding anniversary, we loved having the chance to reminisce and spend the entire day together. Chad was able to 100% decompress and truly relax during his break. He has enjoyed living "the Sara life" for three weeks and is now rested, eager and excited to start fresh with a new company and a new position. We made many memories in the past three weeks and had the most incredible time enjoying each others' company without a single stress in our world. It was priceless!

Here are just a few pics and highlights of our time:

Please join me in wishing Chad a great first day tomorrow and sending him a big congratulations!

Best of luck my love, I'm so proud and happy for you!! xoxo 

Until next time, count your blessings :)

Sara

16 years

It has been a while since my last blog post, we've been busy as usual. My days have been filled with substitute teaching, lunches with friends, family time and laundry...lots and lots of never-ending laundry, among other things.

On April 18 Chad and I celebrated meeting and becoming a couple for 16 years. This anniversary is significant to me because I was 16 when I met Chad, we've now been together for half of my life! It feels impossible. Time is flying by faster than I could have ever imagined! When I was 16, I was a junior at Leander High School and working at Fazoli's. Chad came in one evening with three other mutual friends who wanted to say hi to me and it was love at first sight. I never would have dreamed that our lives would be forever changed from that first meeting. In our 16 years we have had many ups and downs and a lot of sacrifice. The first 10 years of our relationship was full of hard work, school and sacrifice. They were not easy, they were not always happy. Totally worth it, but hard. The hard work, dedication and sacrifice have started paying off in the past few years, we are so thankful! We love being able to spend so much time together and watching our kids grow together. We are both very active in our kids lives and we are able to have so much freedom thanks to those first 10+ years of school, work and sacrifice. I appreciate what Chad has done to make our lives so great and wake up everyday stress free and excited about all of our futures.

I know I've written a few times about how we have made a very conscious choice to eliminate negative people from our lives (regardless if they are friends or family) and keep company in people who add something positive to our lives, no drama or expectations. We have some pretty incredible friends and family and we appreciate each and every one of them! I am certain that life is so great for us in large part due to the people we surround ourselves with. I am just as confident that we are better people, happier people due to the tough choices we have made to remove certain people from our lives. We have removed people that were negative, stressful and not good for our family. For some it was difficult at first but very liberating and freeing, for some it was very easy. Our family and friends that we surround ourselves with say a lot about us and we couldn't be happier with the group that we have, they are all seriously great, authentic people who we have a lot in common with.

Recently more than ever I've noticed the ebb and flow of friendships that mean a lot to me. I still love these friends immensely but we don't seem to get much time together due to what is going on in our individual lives. It is important to me that they know that even if we can't get together as often as we would like to or used to, they still mean so much to me. Friendships change and that is ok, it doesn't mean I feel any different or care for them any less but life happens and circumstances change. We will all get together when it works out!

Since my last post I've had so much fun re-connecting with a high school friend, going to birthday celebrations, going to concerts and making memories with my family! I was lucky enough to go to the Bryan Adams concert with one of my very best friends, Janine, for her birthday and just last night I took my daughters to see the Ellie Goulding concert. Both were such a great time and fantastic music!

My life this week consisted of Chad taking Monday off to spend with me for our 16 year "together" anniversary, Tuesday I went to a yoga class, met with my sweet friend Kim for lunch and then took my daughters to the EG concert. Today (Wednesday) Chad and I had an early breakfast at Torchy's,  I'm (currently) getting my mani/pedi and then I'll start baking treats for a festival for our elementary school this weekend. Tomorrow I'll finish baking and spend part of the day with my friend Jessica and then on Friday I'll be spending the day with my son and his Kindergarten class on his field trip. 

My life is always busy but in the best ways, I am so lucky to be spending my time doing things that make me feel fulfilled and happy.

If I knew 16 years ago when I met Chad how my life would be now I wouldn't have believed it. My 18 year old raver, purpled hair boyfriend has become the best man I could have ever dreamed of. I'm very proud of what we have accomplished in our first 16 years and am so excited to find out what the next 60 hold!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

We Survived #sb2016!

Spring Break is over and we all survived! Our Spring Break (#sp2016) was both fun and lazy. We took our kids to Fiesta Texas where we all had a really great time! It was a very memorable family day and we're looking forward to going back soon. The kids and I spent a day at one of my close friends house where Orin decided to be a typical little boy and hurt his head (It was pretty bad at the time it happened but after a couple of days of rest he is now doing much better and we luckily narrowly avoided stitches/staples). We were able to get out for a little bit on the evening of St. Patrick's Day with our close family friend, Dave. Chad and Dave hanging out on St. Patrick's Day is a tradition that I know they both look forward to every year. We had an impossible time finding the beer that they wanted but they were at least able to toast with some Jameson. We got a few things done around the house and the girls spent an afternoon prepping our garden for planting. We also were able to watch some March Madness and are cheering on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who are still in it! We also met some great new people who turned out to be neighbors! All in all it was a pretty great break. 

We have a few projects coming up in the next few days that I'm pretty excited about! My canvases came in (the family portraits that I had ordered) but they don't look right where I had originally wanted them. Soon my living room and kitchen will look a little different. I'm eager to get everything in its final spot as soon as Chad can take the time to hang it all. I'm not being too pushy but I want it done, yesterday. 

We're about to have some yard work done to really make our lawn pop again and prep it for summer. I'm about to start doing some research on Pinterest on which flowers I want to plant and what to plant in our garden this season. I'm not a good gardener, yet, but I'm trying. It is definitely satisfying to know that we're consuming something that we grew. My family really loves it and I am happy that our kids are seeing the value in having a garden.

Directly after Spring Break I start planning summer activities. I think this is the first summer that we will be skipping on Vacation Bible School. Grace is too old, Abby isn't all that into it and last year Orin had a meltdown not wanting to stay. Looks like I've got a decent amount of research and planning to do! We've got one trip booked and are starting to plan an at least two week road trip. I'm a little anxious about a road trip with our crew, but if we plan it right, it will be absolutely incredible and something our family will remember forever. I'll let you all know more as we really get it set up!

I hope everyone reading this has a great day and week ahead!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Conscious Decisions

I know it's been a while but I guess no news is good news.

We have decided to scratch the idea of selling our house for the time being. We are going to make the conscious decision to be happy where we are. We always keep our eyes open to new opportunities no matter if that is a new car, house or whatever, but for now we will be happy where we are. Luckily, there isn't anything wrong at all with where we are and the itch to move has come and gone.

We have started to make decisions on improvements and re-decorating for our house. It is already pretty satisfying and I'm glad we didn't jump too fast. We have purchased new coach lights for the front of our house and I've ordered a new duvet for our bed. I'm most excited for my new canvases to arrive! I finally ordered some great canvases of the family portraits that we took a few months ago and will start to re-do our living room once those arrive. The new pictures will be displayed above our fireplace and the painting that is currently there will find a new permanent place in our home. The only part of this process that I really don't like is that everything I want to do is expensive and that I can't do it all at once, I'm not a patient person. Doing things piece by piece is another thing that I am going to have to tell myself to be happy with, and remind myself that I really am lucky to be able to do almost everything I want in our home even if it is a slow process.

(This is our current mantle, stay tuned for the update!)

I'm looking forward to getting to so many projects in our home! I'll keep you all posted on the progress as I get to each project! There are so many parts that I'm excited about but there are also plenty that I'm excited to get over with, like organizing our garage. The garage is a top priority for Chad and while I want it done, I don't want to waste my weekends getting it completed. Same with our garden, I'll be very happy once clearing it out and the plating is over. Wish us luck!

Abby will be starting her second season of volleyball this evening, she is very excited! She is a natural athlete and loves being active, I hope she keeps that passion her entire life!

Grace has her UIL competition for band next week, she is looking forward to it! Chad is taking the day off and we will be watching her competition, we're confident she will do great!

Orin had a nasty fall about two weeks ago at school, where he scraped his face pretty badly and broke his glasses on his face. I was able to replace his glasses the same day and he is almost completely healed.

Chad is doing great things, kicking butt and taking names. I'm so proud of him!

I've been keeping busy with our kids, spending time with friends while the kids are at school and occasionally teaching. I'm teaching two full days this week and I'm really looking forward to it!

I hope everyone reading this has a great leap day and a fantastic week ahead! xoxo

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Best Days

Last night Chad and I went to the "I Love The 90's!" concert, it was SO much fun!! We got to see Young MC, Rob Base, All 4 One, Kid N Play, Coolio, Salt N Peppa with Spinderella and Vanilla Ice. It was a blast! Dinner was great and our company was even better, we met up with our friends Janine, Ken, Sommer and John for dinner and had fun talking and getting amped up for the concert.

Our friends that we ate with had purchased their tickets together a while back so we were in different sections but after the first intermission we snuck to their area and were able to finish the concert with them. The show was pretty much everything we hoped it would be! Some of our favorite songs of our youth with Salt N Peppa stealing the show! Words can't do justice to describe the great time we had! I danced my booty off (I do NOT dance, I have zero rhythm) and had the best time! 

After the show we were thinking of going out to a local karaoke bar but decided to go home instead. When we woke up we were so thankful we made that decision! We were already sore and still tired so we were happy to not wake up hung over too.

When we woke up we realized that we had nothing planned for the day. Not a bad thing by any means but pretty rare for us. We stay very busy most of the time. The thought of having nothing down in the planner and all chores done was kind of exciting! Before we got out of bed Orin crawled in with us and we snuggled him and decided that we would go downtown today. We live in a suburb of Austin so it isn't far but we don't venture downtown very often, especially with all of our kids in tow. As long as we've lived here (24 years total, moving away for college and to Florida for a few years-other than that I've been here pretty much all of my life) I've never driven to see some of the murals and art work that is part of what makes Austin so unique and the incredible city that it is and today sounded like a great day to do it. The weather was beautiful and there was no way we wanted to spend the day inside. Everyone got ready for the day and we were on our way. 

We left the house at about 10:45am and started driving south toward Austin knowing that we needed to stop for lunch first. We decided to eat at Chuy's, which fit the theme for the day because Chuy's is an Austin staple. It was a perfect way to start what would turn out to be such an amazing family day!

After lunch we ventured into downtown Austin and found a place to park off of Congress, which was a small victory. Parking was a little nuts! After we unloaded our clan we found the "I Love You So Much" mural and took some pictures. Orin didn't want to cooperate at first but eventually got on board. After our first photo op we walked around for a while and eventually found the "Austin" mural. We again took some pictures that Orin again didn't want to participate in. We still were able to sneak him in some of the pictures thanks to the generosity of some strangers willing to take the shot for us. One of the things I love about Austin are the locals who are almost always willing to lend a hand for a quick favor and expect nothing in return. We of course offered to take pics for those who helped us out and were more than happy to help if they took us up on the offer.

After we took pictures the house/business next to the "Austin" mural caught Chad's eye. It was a Patisserie and something sweet sounded good to all of us! We went inside where each of us ordered one small treat. Chad bought an eclair while each of the kids and I ordered a different macaroon. They were delectable! Seriously, the best macaroon I've ever had! I had an almond one, Grace strawberry, Abby lavender and Orin had a chocolate one. They were perfect! 

After our sweet treats we started to walk back to our car stopping in some classically Austin stores and farmer's markets along the way. We were in no rush and spent over an hour walking half of a mile and enjoying our time together. When we made it back to the car we decided to seek out the Austin Graffiti Park. We drove the less than three miles to our destination and spent a good ten minutes finding somewhere to park. We finally did and made our way over to the park. I've seen pictures of it before and the pictures have never done it justice. It was so cool! There was some scary climbing involved with no stairs but we all made it. When we got to the highest level I was a total nervous wreck because Orin wanted to get too close to the drop off and Abby was wearing boots that I didn't trust her not to fall in. Chad kept his hands on them both and we were able to sit back and enjoy the view of the Austin skyline. It was an experience that we will all treasure. We all sat down on the ground (another kind stranger offered to take a few pictures of us) and we all actually enjoyed sitting quietly together just admiring the view. It was really special. 

After a while we made our way down the hills and back to our car. We decided to pay the capitol of Texas a visit. When we got to the capitol I was so happy to see how excited my kids were to read plaques and listen to what we had to say about Texas history and our personal connections to people who have served our great state. We all enjoyed taking our time and walking around the building and looking at all of the pictures of our Governors and elected officials. Again I was pretty nervous about Orin wanting to run around, I was scared that somehow he would lean too far and fall over the ledge down into the rotunda. He had to hold mine or Chad's hand the entire time, he wasn't too happy about that but had to get over it. We all had a great time exploring the capitol! When we left the inside we walked around the grounds for a little while, the kids were happy to be able to run around for a while and we discussed how old some of the trees on the grounds are, they were interested and we were happy to teach. 

We made our way back to the car with 13 minutes to spare on our car meter, score! We headed home and started talking about our favorite parts of our adventures for the day. We all agreed that we were so happy with how our day went and are eager to do it again. I love that our kids enjoyed the day all together and are more excited about our family days together than anything else, even Grace, our teenager. 

Days like today make me even more appreciative of the life we have worked so hard to have and they make me appreciate my husband and our kids individually, even more than I already do. I'm thrilled to have these experiences and that our kids tell us that "today was the best day ever!" every single time that we get to spend time together like this. We are so blessed to have so many Best Days!

I Love The 90's Concert!     February 5, 2016

Family Day <3     February 6, 2016

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Family Trip, Feb 2015

The To me there are two types of trips, a family trip which is where we bring our kids and a vacation, which doesn't include any children. We love both! As our children get older we are enjoying family trips more and more. We no longer have a baby which makes these trips so much less stressful and we all have an opportunity to do a lot of fun things together and strengthen our bond as a family. We are able to create incredible memories that are so precious to us all.

In our school district there is a "February break" where the kids have a long weekend (no school on Monday or Tuesday) and this year we decided to take advantage of it! We spent the weekend in the Dallas, TX area and took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. This was our second adventure at GWL and this trip was even better than our first. Within reason we stopped caring about the expense and bought our kids each a Wolf Pass and stayed in a fun suite. A Wolf Pass lets the kids do a ton of extra activities that without the pass would cost almost double. Along with having a great time at the indoor water park we all did the awesome ropes course, the 3D movie, had extra sweets, played in the Arcade, played the super cool Magic Quest game (we also had the Compass game loaded on their magic wands that are needed for the games), the kids got to create a stuffed animal (similar to Build A Bear), play laser tag and so much more! We had a blast together and each of us walked away happier than we went in and so thankful for the fun time we had together.

Because we were in the area that Chad's sister, our BIL and nephew live we were able to visit with them twice. We really enjoy getting to spend time with them and loving on our perfect baby nephew! They came to visit us when we arrived at GWL and then we spent part of the late afternoon at their house on Monday.

Chad and I have decided to invest more in memories and experiences rather than things for our children, we have not regretted that decision once. I'm so thrilled with the experience we all just had together and it makes me eager to plan another family trip soon!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Confrontation

Today I had a confrontation with someone that I really, really don't like. I have spent most of my life being a non-confrontational person and letting more go than I should, but there have been a small handful of times that I have to let someone (deserving) have it.
Let me tell you a little story about my relationship with this person that I find so despicable, lets call her K.
We move back from Florida in June 2013 and we are introduced. She had been dating Chad's little brother for several months (not sure exactly how many, less than a year I'm sure). I was polite and so was she but there was something off. She came off as very fake and it was obvious to me. I still did my best to get along with her, she hadn't done anything to me or my family so if she is fake, whatever.
Several weeks after we met Chad had asked me if K was planning on taking our daughter Grace out to play volleyball and practice like she had told Grace she would do. I said that I wasn't sure so Chad asked me to text her and find out.
I sent her a text that she came back sounding pretty rude saying something along the lines of that she hadn't told Grace that. She had, we were all there. (There was another incident that she said she didn't say something that she had said to me, which she did, to me with a friend standing right next to me who heard the conversation too) I said something to the tune of, no worries but going forward please don't promise my kids something if you don't intend on following through. If you're free to play volleyball with Grace please let me know.
She went OFF. This was about two years ago and I deleted the texts that we sent back and forth a long time ago. She was so nasty and rude. When K texts you she comes off as talking down to you, like she is better than everyone. Other family members have told me she texts them the same way, she must have some complex, not too sure.
I ended up blocking her from my phone and deleting her and her boyfriend from our Facebook account. I don't see a reason for them to be able to "check in on us" when she can't be tactful and civil.
Several months pass by, maybe even a year I'm not sure and I sent K a message apologizing for my part of the argument and asking if we could meet to talk things out. We did just that about a week later. She started off being pretty nasty and I was sitting with a smile on my face letting her know that I let it all go a long time ago and deleted the texts. She told me she hadn't and re-read them several times. I guess she likes to fester on arguments, who knows. Either way the 2+ hour "meeting" ended on a good note and I thought things were happy again.
At this time in our lives we had a pretty rocky relationship with Chad's parents and his sister. (Things have since been worked out and we all get along great, thank God!) Chad's brother and K decided to make our relationships with Chad's other family their business and got in the middle of it all despite how well our individual relationships were going up to that point. We had them over for dinner and to spend time together several times, but they started getting nasty with us over things that were none of their business. Again, things are sour. Again, several months later we reach out to fix things. Again, we apologize for whatever it was they were annoyed with and things started to be okay again.
I don't even remember why they were mad at us the last time, they are very sensitive people and seem to like to be mad at us.
Anyway, things were worked out which was important to us because they were engaged and Chad was hoping to be part of his brother's upcoming wedding. His brother was a groomsman in our wedding when he was 14.
At some point in-between I'm not sure which argument and soon after Orin's Autism diagnosis she agreed to meet up with me for a dinner to discuss Orin. She works in the Autism field (even though her degree has nothing to do with it...) and I was hopeful for some opinions and help on how to handle my son's new diagnosis and where I should look to to get him the help he needs. She had been around Orin some but not much. During the dinner she never once smiled at me and treated this as a business meeting. She was sweet and smiled at our waiter but then went back to being serious with me. She diagnosed him (she used that phrase to Chad in a text "Her diagnosis") as needing 40 hours per week of ABA therapy and probably PT and OT. I was terrified. Our insurance wouldn't cover that and she made it sound like Orin was destitute. She also asked me why I waited so long to have Orin diagnosed...he was three, I fought for a diagnosis for a year before I finally got it, what do you mean why did I wait so long? I have since discussed her diagnosis with Orin's teachers, therapists and pediatric neurologist (people that are actually around my son and work with him and a doctor) who have all said she is WAY off base and that would be the complete opposite of helpful for Orin's situation. It would be a shame if anyone she works with found out that she is diagnosing, even worse, mis-diagnosing patients. Yes, she called my son her patient. She also refused to associate herself with Orin for Autism Awareness, she sent me another gem of a text letting me know that.
A couple of weeks after we "made up" the last time I had talked to Chad about hoping that I was going to be invited to K's bridal shower, seeing that we are about to be related and our relationship was much better. Chad had mentioned it to his brother during a golf game. His brother told K about the inquiry, as a result she sent me another nasty series of texts. It was clear that she was trying to draw me into an argument, but I just wouldn't do it. It ended as it began with a message to me of basically "who do you think you are, you can't attend, we aren't there yet". I was clearly NOT invited. Whatever, it was her shower, if she didn't want me there then fine.
A little after the bridal shower incident I was set to host my sister-in-law's (SIL-Chad's sister) baby shower. I was so excited! It was important to my SIL that K be involved in the shower. I swallowed my pride, again, and reached out to K. We hosted a great shower along with my mother-in-law. I reached out to them both for input and agreed that I would do all of the work (my MIL lives out of country) and that because K is so busy with work she would just bring the flowers.
The morning of the baby shower K sent me a text telling me she was confused on what time the shower started (what? we planned this together!) and that she would be there and hour later than anticipated, about 20 minutes before the beginning of the shower.
The plan was for Chad, my SIL's husband and Chad's brother to play a round of golf while the shower was going on.
Chad's brother and K showed up late with the flowers. Chad's brother realized that a mis-communication resulted in Chad and my other BIL already being at the golf course, he would have to meet them there. Nobody thought this was an issue because Chad's brother had done this to Chad before, not a big deal. Just drive the 7.2 minutes to the course. Chad's brother lost it. He started yelling at all of us ladies getting ready for the party. He was yelling and cussing at us and in front of my daughters (Orin was with Chad). I told him to knock it off, it isn't our faults, just go to the golf course. Meanwhile K starts dealing with the flowers acting like his behavior was totally fine. As he was leaving I sent Chad a text that said "You brother is throwing a tantrum because y'all are already at the course. What a prick." I hit send...and then realized that I had accidentally sent the text to K. Great. I tried to figure any way out to delete it before she saw it. I was mortified. As soon as the reality set in that there was no way for me to undo the damage (remember that she is still being short with me because of the bridal shower stuff) I discreetly pulled her into my laundry room and told her what happened. I told her that I was so sorry and very embarrassed. She was of course nasty to me and was awful to me the entire rest of the shower, but that was totally my fault so I dealt with it.
I was certain that we would lose our invitation to their wedding, but we didn't.
Less than two weeks before the wedding my SIL had her son. I was so happy to be in the room while she delivered him, it was such an amazing experience and I'm eternally grateful for her wanting me to be there. A day or so after she delivered K came to visit her and my nephew. Again, she was nasty to me. When she left she said goodbye very lovingly and nice to my SIL and then turned to me, who was in the same room, rolled her eyes and mumbled "bye" to me.
I also think it is important to let you all know that while she is treating me (and sometimes Chad) like this she then goes to our children and tries to be the sweetest, fakest person I've ever seen. That will not be happening ever again.
As their wedding got closer it was apparent that Chad's brother wasn't going to invite him to be part of his wedding party. Chad was so hurt. There were 8 groomsmen and 3 ushers and Chad wasn't asked to be in even the smallest part of the wedding. We're confident it is because of her. Chad and his brother had such an amazing relationship until K came along. It's pretty sad.
At the rehearsal and wedding we just sat and went along with the motions. We were not happy to be there and left both events early so that what we were thinking didn't come out of our mouths and ruin their event. It was a depressing event for us. They avoided us the entire time and that was fine.
About two months after the wedding I got a letter in the mail with no return address. I opened it, it was a Thank You card. I opened it and read the nastiest grouping of words that someone of her mental capacity can write. Chad wasn't home so I took a picture of it and sent it to him. He and his brother ended up getting in a screaming match for almost two hours on the phone that evening. His brother apologized for not including Chad in the wedding, but of course it was too late and the damage from that can not be undone. I went to send K a text thanking her for her letter and putting on paper who she really is, but by then she had deleted and blocked us from Facebook (an act that she told us we were trash and childish for doing when the first argument happened) and blocked my cell number. So I then typed out my response to her letter and easily found her address to send it to. However, I again took the high road and never printed or sent the letter. No need, we all know who she really is.
That brings us to today. I had just ordered my coffee at Starbucks and sat with my friends. I was talking with them when I saw her walk in. I was shocked, she doesn't live in our area. I looked at my friend Amanda who instantly knew why that look was on my face. I was shaking. As I'm deciding not to say anything and just let her leave and leave me in peace one of my friends I was there with said that she took my picture on her phone and was giggling. I had hoped up until that point that she hadn't seen me and there would be no need for a confrontation. At that point (after the giggling and picture) my name was called for my coffee. I stood up to grab it and there she was looking right at me with a snide grin. That was it. I said "Hi K!" She responded and I said "I got your letter, that was great!" and proceeded to tell her how I feel about her. At that point her eyes got pretty wide and she said that this wasn't the time and that I should have some class about myself. I told her that this was the perfect time and continued letting her know in very very clear terms how much of a trashy, hypocritical coward I think she is. As her name was being called for her coffee I noticed that she was looking me straight in the eyes and I ended the conversation reiterating exactly what kind of person I think she is. She then turned around and left with her drink.
I was very quiet and discreet this entire time and I had a smile on my face. I'm not sure why I did but I'm sure it was because I was so happy to be getting everything off of my chest that she never gave me the opportunity to before.
K is a control freak, I'm sure that it "wasn't the time" because it was out of her control. She comes off as pretentious, arrogant and fake. I don't want another opportunity to be around her so this was going to be the right time.
I'm actually really surprised that she didn't have anything to say back. I know she was caught off guard, as was I, but she has always seemed to come off so tough in her texts and letter.
I'm sure her version of how things happened will be very different and exaggerated, but it is a good thing there were SO many people there that saw the truth. I had three friends with me that had no idea of what I was saying because I was so quiet (they were literally less than three feet from me) and thought I was being pleasant with her because of my smile, along with a woman that we don't know that was right there too and stated she thought everything was ok. There was no scene and it was over in less than a minute.
I'm not proud of how things went today and I wish they never happened but I'm not sorry that it did.
She told me to have some "class", I'm sure I handled myself tactfully in a situation that could have gone much worse very fast.
I'm not saying I've been perfect in this relationship. I got nasty back during the first series of texts and didn't use any kind of nice language today. It is all a reaction to how I feel she is treating me, which isn't ok.
To me having class means handling yourself in a tactful way and being a lady. It also means sticking up for yourself when it is necessary. I have let everything go over and over with her for the sake of family, I felt that today with how she has treated me and taking a picture for no good reason that it was time to behave exactly like I did, classy.

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

PS-K&C, I know you're reading this, I'm so flattered that you care so much about what I have to say! But, why are you so concerned with what I have to say? Why are you so concerned with what I do with my time? You said you want nothing to do with us but you keep reading my blog, that makes no sense. We don't search you out, we don't care. Please know that if you try to send any more letters or anything like that it will not be read and it will be saved to show the rest of the family, just like the first letter. We don't have time for your drama and want nothing to do with any of it. Worry about yourselves, there seems to be plenty to be concerned with there.

My Friend J

Recently I've made a new friend, lets call her "J".

My daughter Abby and her daughter are in class together and have become close friends this year. Abby kept begging me to reach out to her friend's Mom so they could hang out outside of school. After asking many times I decided to write a quick note to Abby's friend's Mom just explaining that our girls are friends and that it would probably be a good idea for us to meet so they can spend more time together. 

I'm a little bit of a "Hover Mother" and I don't allow my kids to go to a friends house if I haven't met their parents.

I gave Abby the note and told her to give it to her friend and ask her to give it to her Mom. I really didn't think about it much after that. I kind of expected one of the girls to lose track of it or forget. 

About a week later Abby handed me a note, it was a response to mine. She had sent her phone number so I text her and we set up lunch together. 

I really didn't expect much from our lunch other than to meet her and make sure she was normal enough to let my daughter potentially spend time at her home and visa versa. 

We had a pleasant lunch that didn't seem "hard" if that even makes sense. She was easy to talk to and it didn't feel like we had any awkward pauses where we were trying to figure out what to say next to someone you really know nothing about. 

After lunch I made sure to text her and let her know that I enjoyed our time together and would like to do it again soon.

A couple of weeks later it was the Christmas Break for our school district. We had decided to meet for lunch with all of our kids at Chick-Fil-A. I was excited to see J again and happy that Abby and her friend would see each other but kind of nervous about bringing all three of my kids, all of them together can be a little overwhelming all at once. Despite my anxiousness our lunch went well, our kids seemed to get along very well and Orin did his thing in the play area. I was happy that J and her three daughters left before we did because Orin had a total meltdown when it was time to leave the play area. It was one that only an Autistic kid can have and I was the Mom carrying my son out holding him sideways while he kicked and screamed. When this happens to me all I can do is smile at everyone staring. Most of them totally get it but some don't, yet. As J and her kids were leaving she invited my family over to her home that evening so that we could introduce our husbands to the friendship. J met Chad and I met her husband K. We all hit it off and got along great! I was so thankful! As I'm sure so many people can relate to, I have girlfriends and our husbands don't hit it off. I was SO happy that we all got along so well. Chad and K have so much in common its kind of scary, and so do J and I. Our kids are getting along and Orin has become J's little boy to play with, her part time "adopted" son. 

We've all hung out several times since that first initial invitation over to their home and have made plans together for the coming weeks and months.

J and I have so much in common. I lost my Mom almost 5 years ago and she lost her Dad recently. Not that it is a good thing to have in common, but we both understand that horrible loss. Our Mom's are (were) very similar. We are both just starting to experience raising a teenager with our oldest daughters, we have common interests and have just really enjoyed spending time together. 

I'm so lucky to have a big handful of ladies that I'm close with and I'm thrilled to include J in that exclusive group. Girlfriends are such a blessing and bring so much joy into my everyday life. I don't know who I would be without these incredible ladies being on this journey with me! I love each of you!

Melody, Sally, Amanda M, Amanda B, Amanda V, Kim, Brandy, Andrea, Molly, Renee, Janine, Donna, Jessica, Lauren, Beth M, My Bunco Ladies, Jennifer, Aitza, Katja, and Aimee (I have a feeling Abbey will join this list soon), I love you ladies! I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for each of you! Thank you for being so important in my life!  I also have many friends who I know a little more casually but are so important to me too, too many to list but I'm lucky to know each of them!

J, if you read this, I'm SO happy to have met you! I'm excited for our game night this Friday and everything else we're already planning! You have a place in my heart, I'm looking forward to our friendship growing even stronger! xoxo

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Plans on Hold

We have decided to wait a couple of months to put our house on the market. We still intend to sell it and buy something else but we have a few big events on the horizon that we need to get more information on and wait for before we move forward with the process. I'm not a patient person so this is pretty hard for me, but I know it is what we need to do. I'm very excited to get the process going again hopefully sooner than later! We received some positive feedback from having a "Coming Soon" sign in our yard which gives us pretty high hopes for selling in a few months.
While we wait to get every detail figured out that we need to before we list our house again I'll be throwing a lot of things out and getting everything ready to be packed up and moved again.
Thankfully we weren't in a rush to begin with so deciding to wait isn't too disappointing even though I wish now were the right time.
We're confident we are making the best decision and praying that the information we're waiting on comes sooner than later and that when it is time we find the house of our dreams!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Disappointment

I have been looking forward to meeting Chad in Boston this coming Friday while he is there for work. We bought Celtics tickets and had plans to explore the city and eat some amazing food. The person that encouraged me to take this trip and gave me the go ahead on buying my plane tickets now is unable to watch our kids. We're in the process of canceling my trip and adjusting all of Chad's travel arrangements (rental car, hotel and flights). What a pain in the butt and such a massive disappointment.
At the moment I'm pretty angry and hurt by the person that I trusted to follow through. But, I'm trying to focus on the good. We've already started to make plans with some good friends and will definitely have a great weekend regardless.
I'm looking forward to our upcoming trip to Great Wolf Lodge with our kids and planning another get away with Chad where I will hire a nanny to be with our kids.
Through this experience I've learned another hard lesson about who to rely on and what not to do next time. I will not make the same mistake twice.
To all of our friends who have family near by that enjoy being with your kids and have no issue babysitting, please don't take that for granted. We would give anything to have that.

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Big Decision!

Chad and I have decided to sell our house. We absolutely love the floor plan of our house and only bought it in August 2014 but have always been on the fence about the neighborhood. I'm not saying anything bad about the neighborhood at all, it is nice and a great place to raise a family! It just isn't a good fit for us.
We were so happy when we found this house and won the bidding war, we wanted to get settled into a house before Grace started middle school. Due to that circumstance we feel like we rushed and settled a little and now want to remedy that. I don't have an actual timeline of when things will happen yet. It could all happen in a couple of months or a little over a year. We literally decided to sell yesterday. We have a lot of factors to decide for selling and buying, mainly being where we will go next. I have decided that regardless we will stay somewhat close, I will not change my children's schools. We love the schools and the faculty and our kids are happy where they attend, we won't make them change again.
I'm just starting to do my own bits of research but I'm really leaning toward building again. I would love a smaller, one story house. I have a vision of what I want and building is pretty much the only way to get that. Plus this way I will not get in a bidding war in such a tight real estate market and I will not be rushed.
I'm very excited but exhausted already about thinking about it all! I'm so thankful that Chad 100% supports how I feel and is pushing me to do what will make me the happiest. :)
Time to continue my research to buy house #4!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara