Back to Normal??

I'm not really sure what normal is anymore, but I'm ready to get back to it. Eric has 6 more weeks of training with BMW and then we are finished!! Anxious to know where we're going???

I am too.
Eric has a handful of interviews scheduled this week so we'll see what kind of offers we receive. It would be nice if they paid him a large amount of money, didn't make him work on weekends-- maybe even a 4-day work week, gave us tremendous medical benefits, bought him more tools and paid our moving costs... but we'll take whatever is right for us. It's been very interesting to see how certain places have popped into our heads that were never on our "list" and other places which are not. I am very excited to figure things out as well as anxious to start searching for a home. Eric is still working very hard-- much harder than we anticipated when he started this training. We will all be very happy when it's over and Eric doesn't have to do homework anymore. When he's not doing homework, though, we do have to share him with his busy church calling with the youth.

Savannah has been taking a gymnastics class for the past few months which she loves, but it will come to an end this week since we will move before another session is completed. She has been walking around for two days singing, "Oh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary," after watching Mary Poppins for the first time this weekend. It seems that music is her thing, or at least one of her things. She can memorize lyrics like nobody's business. I'll sing a song to her once and two weeks later it'll pop into her head and she'll sing every word. She sings a lot when she's overwhelmed or in her own little "la la land." She's a pro in the pool even though she doesn't love getting her face wet. She dreams of princesses and dogs and horses. She loves horses. She loves horses so much that we're having a green horse birthday party for her in a month. Not necessarily 'green horses,' but a birthday bash full of horses and green decorations. And I was sure not to forget the horse candles she requested (thanks to her daddy's suggestion). Yes, horse candles do exist... I already ordered them online. I did finally find a friend who can provide a horse ride on a real horse for her but that will be a birthday surprise. Savvy's latest thing to do is tell me what I should say. She comes up to me and asks a question, and then also tells me the response. Mom, can we play together? Now you say, "Sure, Savvy. I would love to play with you. Let's go get a puzzle." Can you say that mom?

Vanessa is very hard to describe. When we start counting to 3 for the girls to do something, Vanessa chimes in with number 2, vigorously pointing her finger at her sister. Her latest thing is counting and putting me in time-out (I should probably just comply... I may get a few seconds to myself). She is obsessed with her "pink one dress." It's an old dress that Savvy used to wear. Vanessa screams, throws fits and refuses to put any clothes on besides this silly dress. This evening she even searched it out of the laundry basket, where I had strategically hidden it at the bottom, and begged grandma to put it on her. Vanessa also loves to sing and knows a lot more songs than you would expect. "I know you" from Sleeping Beauty is still a favorite, but she can belt out a number of primary songs-- that is if you know what she's singing. Her speech patterns are very interesting, so you need a translator most of the time until you've gotten used to them. She doesn't say the first consonant of most words. Some of my favorite words are Favvy (Savvy), rink (drink), moomie (movie), nack (snack), ress (dress), tars pup (Cars cup), ya welpup (you're welcome), teh deh (sister), dan du (thank you) and Bef-fa-fee (Stephanie). Vanessa is a thinker. She is way smarter than me and can usually reason or talk her way into whatever she wants. She loves to do puzzles more than anything, which has led to a surge of puzzle purchases. She's really good at them unless she is in her destructive mode, in which every puzzle piece is scattered around the room. She does have a destructive side... she just walks up to things and dumps them, breaks them, smashes them, etc. Sometimes I just don't understand why she feels the need to be that way, but she does. On Sunday she decided that she would outsmart us. We don't usually swim on Sundays, but she was outside in the backyard with grandpa when the sprinklers turned on for a few minutes... she marched right out to the sprinklers and stood in front of them, enjoying her water in her church clothes. She was drenched and all she could do was giggle about it.I'm not sure why I have two beds for the girls. Vanessa has never gotten out of her bed at night since moving out of her crib, but she never actually sleeps on her pillow, under her blankets in her own bed. Every night it's funny to check on the girls and find them in a different spot. Usually they are on the same bed, completely turned around, or tangled up. I guess we only need one bed for them when we move.I'm still being a mom-- well, I am getting really good at being a teenager at home with her parents again. I have had a huge case of laziness that I keep deciding I will conquer tomorrow. I've done a few projects here and there (10 calendars, scrapbooking) but nothing too strenuous. I keep thinking, "when we move and settle down somewhere, I'll do this and that, etc." All of this thinking has led to even more thinking about what I do and why I do it. I'm totally over being cool, liked by everyone, trying to be perfect on the outside. I guess some of my priorities have changed. I keep searching out homes, schools and neighborhoods that will be suitable for our family, but there are a lot of those in the U.S. and so far we've only completely axed a few states from our list of choices so I try not to dwell on the future too much. Any suggestions?