Biting the gift horse...

The joy of Michigan winters (at the ski/tubing resort). Sean didn't like tubing, but he enjoyed the snowbank in the parking lot. Sophie likes the outdoors, but she wasn't prepared to be out for long.

Sophie at Chuck-E-Cheese, and Sean with SpongeBob. Just some pics of "fun" we've had recently.

Now onto the story...

We have an offer on the house, and it's even half-decent. Yeah!!!! Oh no!!!!!
We've accepted the offer, and now it's just up to the bank. They want to give us 30 days from the date of closing to get out. So...assuming the bank is smart and accepts the offer soon (because what else do we have to give them?!?), we will be looking at moving before the end of March. Which puts us in a quandry. Where should we even LOOK for a place to live? Our current city would be a smart choice for now to keep Sean in the same school for the last couple of months, but there aren't a whole lot of choices - especially choices that don't make us sign a year-long lease. The nearby Big City would be nice if we wanted to rent a house, since there are several options; however, to move so close and yet make Sean go to a different school seems cruel and silly.
Florida could possibly be an option, but with as many job prospects there as here (read: none), it seems like an awfully big jump and a lot to ask of my employer, even though they seem open to the idea of people moving around and keeping their jobs. Plus we know nothing about housing down there. What if we can't afford anything [decent] on what I make? There's the big question. And I guess it fits, no matter where we look.
Mom says we can go there, and NY seems like not a bad option (free rent and such), but again the issues of the school and my work. Plus she doesn't have any emotional strength to help us deal with any of our problems, and actually seems to be trying to create some discord (sorry, Mom, but it's true) and will not be very supportive. I love her, and I even want to be there, but I don't know of it would be best for our family.
And I'm tired of making the wrong choices. There are so many options and none of them seem terrible, how am I to know which one will be best?
And I don't really want to leave this house, this neighborhood. I know that's selfish. But this house has been a comfort lately, and I don't especially want to leave. Or pack. Or have to make another decision.
But I will. And y'all can tell me "I told you so" later.

Missing you, Fred

This started out as an email response to a friend. I decided it got too deep and sounded too depressing to send, but it's so much of how I've been feeling, I decided I should share it somewhere (why not share the depression?)

Fred's death threw us all for a loop; even though he was sick, it was so crazy to happen when it did. I see God's hand in the timing in so many ways, but I'm really pretty mad at God about it, too. We kinda thought for a while that we might end up living out there with them, and I feel cheated that I didn't get more time with him. I'm learning to accept it, but it's just...weird. And I feel like there aren't a whole lot of people I can talk about him to. I don't want to depress my mom more, Chip's already majorly depressed by the rest of our sad life, and talking to my dad about missing my stepdad is just too weird. It's depressing that I don't have more options of who to talk to, but I pretty much alienated everyone who cared about us years ago on accident. But there aren't many people who knew him well, and even though I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him the past few years, I feel the time we did spend together was quality time - even if it was just watching TV in the same room together. He was a great conversationalist. I say that about his son all the time: "David can talk to anyone" "David knows all the right questions to ask and he appears genuinely interested in the answers".... and it wasn't until after Fred died that I realized he was the same way - if you were talking about something he had an interest in, too.
He could tell great stories. He would laugh at his own stories and his own jokes, and get that cute half-smile.
Some of his quirks were things I probably shouldn't put in print, but he was lovable, and funny, and dare I say, a smartass? I'm fairly certain that's one of the main reasons he and Chip got along so well. :)
Fred was a good teacher, and even though he seldom came right out and said it, I think he enjoyed teaching me some things about photography and Photoshop. I think he enjoyed when I played his daughter in "The Music Man" at Civic (Zaneeta to his Mayor Shinn). Once he was watching a tv show and Patty Loveless was singing. He said something to the effect of, "You can sing that song better" and I don't think I'd ever been more complimented. He's quite the critic, as most who knew him would tell you, so it felt good for him to say it, knowing he didn't have any obligation to do so (not that I don't appreciate familial compliments). I liked being his photog sidekick and helping him at photo shoots that one year. He probably never knew that I needed that gig for my life to get back on track as much as he needed extra arms and someone to move around the reflector.
I don't remember him crying often, or really ever, but I remember him tearing up when we hugged goodbye the day they left for NY. I hugged him hard, and after a few seconds he backed off, blinking hard, and said "it's not forever!".
And now it is.
And it sucks.
I'll get used to it, because I have to, but not tonight.

Boo!

These pictures are from my cell phone, so the quality could be better (haha), but I couldn't resist sharing them anyway. We (well, mostly just me) call her "Boo", as in the cute kid from Monsters Inc. With these pigtails in, and her constant chatter, she just fits the part well.


The pics above are from Gramma's new house in NY. We miss being there.



This (above) was yesterday. Sophie got this outfit for Christmas. She had only worn it once, and it's already a "belly" shirt. Oh well, it looks cute on babies. :)
She wasn't too happy with her hair at first - she likes to play with it - so she had a bit of a fit, but she eventually learned to live with it.

I think this is from our Chicago trip in December. Looks like the hotel room. Too bad Sophie isn't really happy and is really out of focus - Sean actually looks good and happy and isn't hamming it up too badly.

Catching up

So...for those of you who still check here periodically, I still exist. It's been a crazy-busy month. We put up the tree, I started a new job (same place, mostly same work, more hours), we all went to Chicago for my training, we had family photos taken (http://www.krolphotography.com/, group photos, Wibert family), got a tiny bit of Christmas shopping done, had a bunch of Christmas parties, went to NY, took down the tree...and that doesn't sound very exciting at all when I write it, but I am totally whipped.

I work a lot now. In fact, I should be working now, but I could no longer resist sharing some photos.

Sean's getting harder to capture...at least his front side. He's discovered how to get a "Full Moon" shot. Yep. That's my son. If you visit the photography site above, you'll see he even hammed it up for Elizabeth's camera. Cute, huh?

Sophie's hair is getting long enough to put in pigtails, or as one lady in NY said, "What cute palm trees!", and that really is a more apt description...see?

And here are some pictures of our new and comfy friends with the kids:

With the cousins (that's the best shot we could get with Sophia!)


Some of our new NY friends: Mary and Sophie; Joe and Sophie

And the New Year's Eve crew, Andy, Dan, Marge, Mom; Jes and Sophie having a tea party with the new toys

And unfortunately, that's all I have time for. Sophie's been crying for the past 10 minutes while I tried to get this much done, so it's time to get her to bed.

Until next time (which hopefully won't be as long as last time)...