Twelve

What a difference a year makes!  

If there is anything I have learned over the past twelve months it is that there's nothing we can't conquer if we do it together.  

Here's to taking a chance.  To chasing a dream.  To walking the road less traveled in order to experience the beauty on the other side.  

Life isn't nearly as scary with you beside me holding my hand.  And I promise I won't ever let go.

Happy Twelfth Anniversary Babe.  

Busy Making Memories

While browsing one of my favorite blogs recently, Adventures in Babywearing, something Stephanie wrote really struck a cord with me.  

She said, "I think in the past what I've written was true, but writing about it shined up my life, what really happened. At the time it made me feel better, less crazy, happier. Saved me. I don't know how long this will last, but it seems I've arrived at a spot of time where the days move easier without the need to write myself a lifeline."

I totally get it.  And I think I've reached a similar spot in my own blogging.  At least for the time being.  There was a time when writing was therapeutic for me.  Then it became more like a journal - simply a place to record the memories.  I absolutely cherish the annual books I've printed from this blog and I know their importance to me will only grow as the years go by.  For that reason alone I will not give up on it.  But recently blogging has taken a backseat to...well, living.

This is my view as I sit at my computer.

I know you can't read all the entries on the calendar, but you can see that nearly every day has something.  And this is our household activities only - work commitments are elsewhere.  Our lives are so full - in more ways than one - that I'm doing my very best to just take it all in and enjoy the ride.

By no means is this goodbye to The Elser 411.  There are still many stories to tell and memories to capture.  But my focus has shifted.  

To making memories instead of writing about them. 

It's Official...I'm a Soccer Mom

First, let it be known that my husband hates soccer.  I'm not sure when or why this hatred developed, but it may very well be his least favorite sport of all time.  I could go on, but suffice it to say, he's not a fan.

Jackson, on the other hand, loves anything and everything that involves balls and sticks - including soccer - and has been playing sports (from golf to basketball to baseball to football) with his Dad since he learned to walk.  This is his mother talking, but the kid is athletic.  He can throw a spiral, hit a golf ball, run faster than most his age and has pretty awesome hand-eye coordination.  But we've never had him participate in any organized sports. We neglected to put him in soccer while living in Lawrence (see above). Tee Ball would have been an option this summer but since we were temporarily in Castle Rock, and somewhat unsure how long we would be there, we didn't pursue that either.  Once we got settled in Fort Collins getting him enrolled in some sort of fall sports was a top priority.

After some research, we decided that the programs the Parks & Rec Department offered were probably not the best fit.  They were mostly basic skills classes which we thought would be a little boring for Jack.  He's still a bit young for any football or basketball leagues and with tee ball season behind us the only real option at Jacks' age, much to his father's chagrin, is soccer.  Enter the Fort Collins Soccer Club.  

I discovered FCSC less than 1 week before the season's first game.  Based on the registration policies (teams are formed by geographic location on a first-come, first-served basis beginning in June and based on date and time of application, etc.) getting a spot less than a week before the season seemed like a long shot to say the least.  I'm pretty sure that's why Drew went along with it and we agreed to give them a call.  Long story short, while Jack's elementary school team was full there was one other team with a spot left (a private Catholic school in town) that happened to be using our neighborhood school as their practice facility.  He was in!

Reluctantly, Drew agreed that it would be great for Jack (although I think he secretly hopes that after playing it for a bit Jack will decide it's not his favorite either) and that very day we hit up the sporting goods store to buy shin guards, socks and a soccer ball.  

When Jackson learned we had found him a team he was absolutely overjoyed.

First Soccer Practice

Warming Up

Dribbling Drills

Flirting?  There's no flirting in soccer!

Go team!

I have to admit, soccer at this age is absolutely adorable.  One little girl declared, about 1.5 minutes into practice, "Coach...I think I'm done with soccer now."  A few minutes later 2 kids disappeared from the field to go pet a dog that was being walked in the park.  It's like herding cats.  And to top it off, Coach Chris let the kids vote on their team name this year.  The winner...Giraffes.

And so it begins.  Our calendar is now booked with soccer practice on Wednesdays and soccer games on Saturdays.  Jackson absolutely loves it.  He practices almost every night (at his own request) and despite knowing absolutely nothing about the game until last week, he's already getting the hang of it.

Drew and I laughed our way through the first game.  I should have kept a tally of how many times a coach or parent yelled "Wrong way!  Go the other way!"  There was a giant stuffed unicorn (or as Drew thought, a giant My Little Pony) in one of the goals to help the kids remember which was theirs.  There were snack breaks at halftime and following the game.  And while we were chuckling at being called Team Giraffes, our opponent was Team Mickey Mouse Club.  So there's that.

Pre-Game Warm Ups

Game Time!

Getting some pointers from Coach Chris.

Who knows if Jack will stick with it or not, but for now it's fun for all of us.  

Here's a video (from my phone - sorry for the poor quality) of the Giraffe's in action.  And yes, that's Drew, Mr. Anti-Soccer himself, you hear cheering in the background!

House Tour, Part II

Here is Part II of our house tour - the upstairs.

I have to mention, there is a LOT of work to do upstairs.  The walls are essentially bare.  While blinds have been ordered, the windows are currently covered in temporary paper shades and in desperate need of some fabric and color.  All of the bathrooms need accessorizing and new towels.  So, things will (hopefully) change quite a bit over the coming weeks and months, but at least this will give you the lay of the land.

Special shout out to my "tech girl" friend who clued me in on how to get videos to play on the iPad.  Thanks Laura!

House Tour, Part I

As promised, I finally got around to taking a quick video of the house, or half of it anyway.  My apologies for the shaky camera.  Hopefully you won't get motion sickness trying to keep up with me.

And without further adieu...welcome to our home!

{Another} First Day of School

Last Wednesday, August 7, Jackson started school at Primrose Fort Collins.  His third school in 6 months.

I have to admit, while the consistency of transferring from one Primrose to another made it a little less scary, I was worried about him.  While it's hard to believe for those that know Jack, he's actually a pretty shy and timid kid at first.  It takes him a while to find his comfort zone when he doesn't have Drew or I to rely on.  I was bracing myself for tears (his and mine).

Just before we headed out the door I decided I needed to find him some sort of good luck charm.  Just a little token from home that he could keep in his pocket for the moments that he was feeling lonely or scared.  Of course, with no advanced planning and most of our belongings scattered about in boxes my options were slim to none.  That's when I happened to spot 2 yellow Livestrong bracelets at the bottom of my jewelry box.  I gave one to Jack and wore one myself. I explained to him that we had special matching bracelets on so that if either of us ever started missing one another we could just look down at our bracelet and know that we were thinking of each other.  He loved it.

When we got to school he was clinging to me pretty tight.  We went through the motions of finding his hook, hanging up his backpack and meeting his teachers and then it was time to go play.  He clung tighter.  I reminded him about his bracelet and then asked his teacher if we could draw pictures together for a few minutes before I left.  I was sketching a picture of Mickey Mouse (I can draw absolutely nothing...but I do a mean Mickey Mouse!) when another little boy came to sit by us.  I asked him his name and he replied, "Jackson".  Of course, my Jack's face just lit up and it totally broke the ice.  After drawing each Jackson a Mickey Mouse I asked them if they could try to draw one for me and I would pick them up after school when I returned.  They were all for it.  My Jack gave me a high five and a wave and off I went without even a whimper.

He had a great first day and told me that evening he only had to look at his bracelet one or two times.  He wanted to wear it again the next morning, but by day 3 the bracelet was old news and no longer necessary.

The other factor that turned out to be a huge stroke of lucky timing is that this Primrose is still in summer school mode, otherwise known as Camp Primrose.  All summer long the Pre-K and school aged kids have field trips every single day.  Most are educational and some are just purely fun.  Camp Primrose ends on August 16 so Jack's first week and a half included the last batch of field trips as they wrap up their summer fun.  In addition to getting to ride the bus (which he thinks is totally cool), he has gone rollerskating, to a ballet, splash park, inflatables gym, gymnastics center, miniature golfing and several picnics at a different park each day (if there's one thing that's plentiful here in the front range, it's parks)  Needless to say, getting him out the door in the morning is not hard with such fun activities on the agenda!

Monday morning they're back to the regular school year.  With a week and a half under his belt, I'm sure that transition will be totally painless.  Jack is thrilled because that means they get to wear uniforms again.

And so we've conquered yet another first day of school.  The next one will be Kindergarten.  But I'm not ready for that yet.

Closing Day

Eek...I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post.  Time flies when you're moving into a new house!

In the last batch of pictures I shared we had walls and a few bathroom fixtures inside, but not much more.  We were two weeks from closing and I didn't go back to the house until our final walk through on August 1.  It was hard to stay away, but I was so busy getting everything ready for the move the time flew.  Logistically there was a lot to work through: packing, moving trucks to reserve (and village covenants that limited their access to the neighborhood), hired help to schedule, loading and unloading, walk through with the builder and closing.  To add a layer of planning, Jackson's school was closed for teacher in-service on our closing day (yay Aunt Nikki for planning a fun-filled day with Jack at the water park, bowling alley and movie theater while Drew & I were occupied).  And, of course, being 90 miles away every trip required 1.5 - 2 hours of drive time each way.  The entire process needed to be a well-oiled machine and I had it choreographed down to the minute.

Our walk through on August 1 was fabulous.  The house looked great and we were so excited to finally be homeowners again the next day.

Unfortunately, even the best laid plans often go awry.

The first snag came Thursday afternoon.  We were expecting to get the final closing statement from the lender so that we could pick up a cashiers check for the proper amount and have that item checked off the list before closing day (we're still banking at our Kansas bank and there are only 2 branches in the Denver metro area - not exactly a quick trip).  Those numbers never came.  Not a huge deal, but Friday's to do list got a bit longer.

The first item of business Friday morning was picking up the Penske at 8 am.  We had exactly 4 hours to pick up the truck and fill it with load #1 before needing to head to the bank and then the title company for closing.  Except it wasn't ready.  An hour delay turned into two hours by which point our blood was boiling and my perfectly planned schedule was history.  Several angry phone calls later we had a truck (and a significant discount).  Somehow, Mom, Dad, Drew & I managed to load all of our furniture on the truck in about an hour.  I dashed off to the bank (the numbers had come through first thing that morning) while Drew finished loading and we met at the title company 2 hours later.  Where we learned that the Certificate of Occupancy had not yet been issued.  Turned out they were waiting on a city engineer to approve the sidewalks in front of the house.  After signing all of the loan documents and going over the warranties with the builder we sat in the conference room of the title company with our Realtor for an hour waiting for the Certificate of Occupancy to come through. Thank goodness it did.  Just as we were getting ready to head to the house...our house...we remembered that the title company was to reimburse us our $1,000 escrow deposit.  Except they had no record of that.  Several more minutes of scrambling...and waiting...resolved the issue and finally we were headed out the door, check and house keys in hand!

We went straight to the house but had no plans of moving anything Friday evening.  We had hired help on Saturday morning and planned on bringing 2 truck loads from Castle Rock to Fort Collins while Jackson spent the day and overnight with Nana & Papa, giving us a chance to get things somewhat put together before throwing Jack into the mix.  

Walking through that door was such a relief.  We were exhausted from all of the emotions of the day - the packing, the loading, the excitement and the waiting, waiting, waiting through one snafu after another.  I knew it was going to happen (I even told Cortney so earlier that day) but I couldn't hold back the tears.  We had finally reached the moment that was put into motion nearly 9 months ago when Drew dusted off his resume.  I could hardly believe it.  Once the tears slowed, we cracked open a beer and toasted to new beginnings.

The straw that broke the camel's back happened on the way back to Castle Rock.  We had picked up a pizza off the interstate and were 5-10 minutes from Mom & Dad's house when we got caught up in some mysterious police barricade.  Once again...we waited.  Eventually we were forced to travel about 20 miles out of our way and finally got back to the house 40 minutes late with cold pizza.

Thinking back now, the series of events that day almost sound comical.  Except it wasn't.

Although, despite being frustrated and exhausted, we went to bed happy.  The next morning we were headed home!

Here are the "before" pictures that I snapped on Friday afternoon just after we took possession.

Home Sweet Home

Kitchen

I've been dreaming about this pantry!

Gas stove.  My other favorite part about the kitchen.

Living/Dining area.

Entry

View of the main floor

TV Room

Upstairs hallway to laundry and all bedrooms.

Laundry room.  So excited for a room instead of a closet and love that it's on the same floor as the bedrooms.

Master. 

Master Bath.  Walk-in closet to the left, toilet nook straight ahead, soaker tub and walk-in shower to the right. 

3 car tandem garage.  Drew's favorite part of the house!

Despite planning to do all of the moving on Saturday without Jack, we decided to bring him along for one of the trips.  He was so excited to see the house and really wanted to be part of the process. I'm so glad we did.  Here's the little guy headed back to his room for the first time.  He insisted on bringing his Jayhawk pillow - his first item in the new house.

 

Here we are just over a week later and things look quite a bit different.  In fact, dare I say, it feels like home. I'll be sure to share the progress as we get each room closer and closer to done.  In the meantime, we're enjoying a more normal schedule as Jack gets settled into his school routine, I'm back at work and Drew gets 3 hours of his life back each day instead of spending them stuck on I-25!

If you would have told me last Fall that this is where we would be I'm not sure I would have believed you.  But we did it.  And we couldn't be happier!