Got Some Time?

A preview of our winter vacation...several showings of Sofia's new favorite movie: Tinkerbell. She especially likes to watch the movie wearing her fairy wings. :)

Thank HEAVEN for winter vacation! Last week, was so incredibly crazy for both Chris and I. Let's just put it this way: between my servers crashing at school and Chris's bid days, we were exhausted come Friday night. Despite the fatigue, Chris and I put on our holiday smiles and made an appearance...err, night out, at my school's holiday party. We were able to have a sitter come an watch Sofia and have a date night. It was a blast and such a fantastic way to kick off the holiday season. :) Now that we have some time off, I feel like I can make up for some of our lack of posting. In lieu of writing tons, I have put a few pictures and videos below. This should sum of the last few weeks of our lives.

Cookie time!

mmmmm. frosting.

Can't forget this spot!

He's bringin' sexy back. Yeah! All you sweater haters don't know how to act... (this year's ugly sweater contest winner at MYC)

The Many Faces of Little Missy

smooches at Chris's X-mas Party

Cheese! No seriously, pass the gouda.

Chris built us a beautiful new closet!

Sofia's A Genius!

Watch Out Travolta: THIS Is America's Next Best Dance Crew!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yup.

I took Sofia to the doctor this afternoon. The diagnosis: ear infection. Let the season begin!

Normal

When Chris and I were dating, one of the things that I always loved about his courtship was his ability to surprise. He used to show up and surprise me in the strangest places...everywhere from the library at MSU to my house. Obviously, being married, it is a little hard to make an arrival unannounced. That is, until last Thursday night.


I had attended a Festival of Lights rehearsal at church and had just gotten Sofia into bed. It was about 9:30 and I was partaking in one of my SSB's (strictly single behaviors): standing in the corner of the kitchen, all lights out, typing on my computer. The phone rang - it was Chris.

Me: Hey!
C: Hey yourself.
Me: What are you up to?
C: Not much. Pretty bored, actually.
Idle chit chat followed.
C: Sigh. I need a hug.
Me: Yeah, me too.
C: Well, why don't you come down the stairs and give me one!
Me: WHAT?!?!?!?!

Chris was officially home! What a fun surprise! We stayed up late chatting, laughing and hugging. I felt like a school girl again. It was hilarious! Chris definitely earned some brownie points on that early, surprise arrival!


We had such a fun weekend to celebrate the end of Chris's project. On Friday, we met after work and picked up our Christmas tree. I met up with my girlfriends on Friday night to attend the Santa Fe Art Walk downtown (a really cool opening of galleries with wine, cheese, music - all free!) and have a late dinner. Chris enjoyed his Daddy-Sofia time and when I came home was snuggled in bed with her. They had both fallen asleep during storytime. So cute!


Saturday, we got up to decorate our Christmas tree and have some much needed family time. We played Christmas music all morning long and spirited up the house. So fun! Around 4, it was time to leave. Matt and Stacey offered to watch Sofia overnight so that we could attend Chris's company Christmas party and stay at the hotel where it was being hosted. It was the first time we had ever handed Sofia off for an entire night with dinner and breakfast being taken care of by someone else. We were nervous, but ready. :) The party was great! We, of course, forgot our camera, but managed to get one photo from my phone. As soon as we get more from friends, we'll be sure to post. We felt like such grown-ups, enjoying great food, great company and staying up late. Blackjack and poker followed the dinner party making it so we didn't make our way back to our room until 3 a.m.!

The next morning, we couldn't wait to see Sofia. We gathered our stuff and were out of hotel by 8:25. :) We picked up Sofia and had a nice, relaxing Sunday. She was such a doll all day: snuggly, calm, and loving. She even went to bed without a peep!


Those should have been clues...I am sitting at home with her now. Sofia woke up this morning with a temp of 1o1 and tugging at her ears. :( She has a doctor's appointment in just a few hours, so we should get all squared away. Poor baby!!


That's all for now. Long post, but definitely one of the best weekends we've had in months. We're so happy to have Chris home now. :) We will certainly cherish this holiday season in a whole new way.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!

Just got a call from Chris: HE IS COMING HOME ON FRIDAY FOR GOOD! Aside from a day or two of wrap-up work in a week or so, his project in Gunnison is COMPLETE!

Not sure if you can tell, but I'm pretty FREAKING excited!

**On a side note, I was so excited when I wrote this last night that I spelled "hallelujah" wrong! Haha! I just changed it. :)

Doin' It And Done

Tonight, I read Sofia a story, said goodnight and walked out of her room at 7:59 p.m. She has been crying off and on for 56 minutes. I haven't gone into her room. I know she is safe, not hungry, wet, or poopy. She's simply mad. She is starting to get tired - there are longer breaks of silence in between cries. I wonder if she is going to fall asleep in her bed or somewhere else in her room.

Better day. Better night. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support today. I felt everyone's love.
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I went into her room at 9:00. 1 hour was long enough for me. I picked Sofia up, turned off all the lights and took her to the living room where we swayed to Diana Kroll's Christmas Album. Head on my shoulder, she was asleep by the end of the first song. She's a doll. ;)

Honesty

Today was a hard day. Tonight was a hard night. I miss my husband. Sofia misses her daddy.

I know that this time of Chris being gone is nearing to an end and that we are so fortunate for the many blessings that have come along with this promotion, but the end of this project just seems so far away. I have tried so hard to look at the postive side of things during these past two months. Tonight I just couldn't muster up the positivity. Sofia wouldn't fall asleep and after an hour of tossing and turning, getting up and getting down, and "Momma?" I finally got up and left the room. She cried, no screamed for 15 minutes. I opened her door. Sofia flew past me and ran straight to our bed pointing to where Chris usually sleeps and saying "Daaaaaaa-deeeeeee" over and over again in her tired cry. I picked her up, held her on our bed and cried too.

72 Hours in Review

Whoa. Where are we? In the last 72 hours, we have flown on a plane, driven from Minneapolis to Redwood Falls, Had Thanksgiving Dinner, visited with family, driven from RWF to Omaha, visited with friends in Omaha and then made the final trek to Denver. I'm exhausted just from writing that! Get ready...it's a long one...

Despite the craziness of the past few days, we had quite a good time. :) We decided to make the last minute trip to RWF for Thanksgiving and to pick up our new minivan. We are SO glad that we did! Flying on Turkey Day morn turned out to be a great way to go...first flight out, departure on time, early arrival, hardly any delays at either airport. Couldn't get any better! Sofia was a champ through it all, sleeping the ENTIRE flight and not waking up until we taxied into the gate. People kept commenting on "what a great 2-year-old" she was. Yeah, we know. :) It was wonderful spending time with the family cooking, laughing and catching up. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family to spend time with. Sofia especially enjoyed playing with her one-year-old cousin, Addison. She and Addie were like two peas in a pod. So cute!

Friday morning, we made the appropriate exchanges and the van was ours! We packed up, had some lunch with the fam and got on the road at 4. We drove the 5 hours to Omaha where we got a room for the night. This is when the real adventure began...

Chris woke up in the night absolutely sick to his stomach. Sofia was unbelievabley constipated and my stomach was just beginning to rumble. Something we had eaten just didn't sit right. We were all teary. When morning rolled around, we were one sorry trio. Nonetheless, we gathered our things, and made our way to my friend, Angie's house for breakfast and to see her new baby, Drew. He was adorable and it was so great to spend time with our friends. Almost as soon as we were on the road, we were off again. It was my turn to have a rocking and rolling stomach. At one point, I was on my hands and knees on the side of the highway. It was quite a pathetic site! I can't even imagine what people thought as they roared by in their vehicles.

We finally rolled into Denver about 8:30 p.m. We were exhausted, to say the least. While I got Sofia into bed, Chris started in on getting the laundry done and gathering his stuff to go for his trek to Gunnison the next day. I fell asleep in bed with Sofia.

**************************************

This morning, we headed off to church for the first Sunday of Advent. I have been singing in a Gospel trio and I am so looking forward to this time of the year. There is so much going on at church musically that I will get to be involved in and I am so excited about it all. :) After church, we were invited to Matt and Stacey's to have some lunch and hang out. We have all been so busy lately, that it has been difficult to actually have some time to catch up and chill. After we were full on tomato soup and grilled cheese, it was time for some serious naps. We didn't even make it home before Sofia was out. In fact, we were hardly to the end of the block!

Once she was up, it was time for a haircut! This summer, my cousin Trish had given Sofia her first haircut. Lately, she has been in desperate need of cut #2. So, this time, I decided that I could do it. I went for a bob. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! :)

Before:

During:

After:

Chris left this afternoon around 4 for Gunnison after finding out that his typical mountain route had been closed due to adverse weather conditions. It typically takes him about 4 hours to get there. It is now 10:08 p.m and he still has another hour to go due to the combination of weather and the alternate route that was required tonight. I feel so bad for him. He is such a trooper though and I'm so glad that he has Layla to accompany him on his journies each week. It looks like he will only have about 2 weeks left of traveling. Keep your fingers crossed! We're ready to have our man of the house back!

That's about it for now. Honestly, you must be asking yourself "how on Earth could there be anything else for her to talk about?"

Time to cash it in. Love to you all!

Would You Like To Ride, Shotgun In My...

Town and Country? (The song that this line is from ends in Escalade.) We are officially making the switch to a FAMILY car! Last weekend, we said goodbye to Chris's beloved Nissan Frontier and in two weeks we will say goodbye to my Saturn Vue. What will we do?

The answer to that is simple: Ride in style in our new (to us) Chrysler Town and Country Touring Minivan! After Chris's grandpa passed away this summer, he left behind his wonderful, trusted van. He took impecable care of it and hardly drove it at all in 4 years. So, after a few chats with Chris's grandma, we made it official...we are going to buy the van from her! We will be flying to Minneapolis on Thanksgiving Day morning, staying the night in Redwood Falls and then driving our new car back on Friday evening.

It is all very surreal. I'm looking forward to the extra room that we'll have when we are riding together as a family AND no longer having to stuff Chris in the trunk when we have visitors. :) While the van in the pic below isn't our actual one, this is an almost exact replica of what we will be getting.

So, I ask you again: Would you like to ride shotgun in my Town and Country?

Wishful Thinking

Oh dear. So the chart worked for two days. I feel beaten down. I am worn out. I actually cried last night when my neighbor called "just to check in" and I had to say, at 8:45 p.m., Sofia still hadn't gone to bed. Luckily, Jen came to the rescue, and popped over to read Sofia some stories and helped to get her to sleep. It was such a nice break. I sat on the couch and booked our plane tickets for Thanksgiving for a quick, last minute visit to Minnesota and picked up the house.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn't get my own child to sleep. Jen was gracious and supportive and stayed for a glass of wine. It was nice to have another adult in the house.

Sofia woke up later that night around 11:30 and then was up from 2:30-4 a.m. Poor thing. She just is in a funky place for some reason. Work has been crazy the last few days and we have our first school dance tomorrow night. My Give-o-Meter is running on empty and it is definitely time for some refreshing. I am very much looking forward to the long Thanksgiving weekend to spend with some major cuddling and family time.

I am so thankful that I have such a wonderful friend and listener in Chris. Despite his distance from Sofia and I, he has done nothing but be as supportive as he possibly can. We love him!

The agenda for tonight: Lots of Momma and Sofia hugs, bath time, story time, and bed time....for both of us. :)

Desperate Measures

Bedtime has been quite a battle time lately for Sofia and I. Sunday night I got an idea. I made a chart. Yes, it was a defining moment of being a parent for me. So, together at the kitchen table, Sofia colored and so did I...

We looked at and talked about our "Bedtime Routine" about 15 times before we actually began the process. AND, I was sure to point out each phase of the process we were in during the actual routine. The result? Sofia was asleep in 15 minutes! Success! night number two went just as smooth. With stickers as a reward, I may not have found the cure for the bedtime blues, but I sure have found some pretty good remedies in the meantime!

Team Momma: 1

Even Dolly and Bear Bear Need To Cuddle

Just Like Her Daddy

It is a well-known fact that Chris is the cook in our family. Every Saturday morning, he fills our home with the sweet smell of pancakes, waffles, eggs, cinnamon rolls, or toast as Sofia and I play (or sleep) in the background. It is such a delightful way to begin the weekend! Well, this past weekend, Sofia decided enough was enough - no more sideline watching for her! It was time to be part of the cooking action! She, and we, had a blast. She is clearly a natural and hardly spilled at all. I think we may have a new Saturday morning tradition on our hands!

Technical Difficulties Part 2

Someone hacked into my Yahoo! account AGAIN! An era is coming to an end as I will have to shut down my account after having it for nearly 10 years. I'm a little sad. Mege18 was my first dip into the giant pool that is cyberspace. Oh well.

If I have missed you in my email update, IGNORE anything that comes from my Yahoo! address from this point on...it isn't me sending you a message. Simply DELETE it. If you are interested in new email address, just post a comment and I will send it to you. :)

By the way, we took some great pictures of Sofia and Chris cooking pancakes last weekend. I will be sure to get them up ASAP!

xoxo

Technical Difficulties

Irony at it's best: Someone hacked into my email account - me, who works with computers FOR A LIVING!- and now I can't send emails. I am so mad! Stupid hackers.

O Mama!

This morning's breakfast conversation...

"Sofia, can you say, go Obama?"
"Goooo O-Mama!"

Gotta love the enthusiam! Be sure to get out and vote today!

Oh Blessed Daylight Savings

Alright. I admit it. I was secretly counting down the days until daylight savings arrived. It isn't just the glorious extra hour of sleep and the feeling that I got to go on a mini-vacation for one night. No. It is something much, much more. Daylight savings meant a "do-over" for Sofia's bedtime. 

Bedtime has been renamed "battle time" since Chris left for Gunnison. The two of us used to put her to bed each night tag-team style: one person read a story, the other got her settled and to sleep. Well, now that Mama's the only sheriff in town during the week, Sofia hasn't been as much of a fan of the bedtime routine. She definitely misses her Daddy! There have been several nights in the last 3 weeks where she hasn't fallen asleep until after 9. When her usual bedtime is 7/7:30, this makes Mama tired. Very tired. 

Sunday, November 2. This day meant a psychological revival for me and a chance to reset Sofia's body clock. I started prepping her for bed with a big dinner, long bath, tons of stories, and soft lighting around 6. I figured that she might start getting tired around 7 and asleep soon after because it would look like and feel like 8. I was right! For two nights in a row, Sofia has gone down to sleep by 7:45! Not only does she wake up much happier, but I know she will be healthier and stronger as a result of a really good night's rest each night. 

The extra few minutes of quiet time in the evening has allowed me to actually stay on top of things in the house. I have friends coming over tomorrow night to watch election results and my house is not just picked up, but clean. I even have dinner planned! It's nice to feel like I am semi-on top of things...we'll see how long it actually lasts. :) 

That being said, I'm going to go and peak in on Sofia sleeping and head to bed myself. 

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! 

GO OBAMA!

Video Journal

Our little Sofia keeps us very busy these days. She turned "boo" two weeks ago and has been making strides in every aspect of her little life that would surpass any 25 year old. Finding time to write has been a little bit more difficult than I anticipated, so the video camera has come in extremely handy these last few weeks. Here are just a few snipetts of our time together...

Happy Birthday! (October 16th)

Mittens made with parents in mind. :)

White girls CAN jump!

The ABC's of Bedtime. Listen closely for L and W. :)

Happy Halloween!

There is no way that this cutie patootie Little Red Riding Hood was going to get gobbled up by the Big Bad Wolf!

Getting ready for the big Halloween Event at my friend Amber's house.

Peek-a-Boo!

" This is the pumpkin that I want, Mom!"

Shoes: Check! Dress: Check! Cape: Check! Trick or Treat!

The Odds

We moved 1200 miles away from Michigan. With that move, I brought my Spartan pride with me and displayed my flag at school and now on our porch. When we got new neighbors a few months ago, who would have guessed our Saturdays would look like this...

GO STATE!

Confessions of a Semi-Single Mom

First, let me preface this post by saying that I am SO greatful that Chris is able to come home on the weekends and help out, be a husband, father and friend. :) However, in the last two and a half weeks, I have discovered a few things about being a semi-single. Here are my ramblings...

• I hear the heater. I've never really noticed it (or the air conditioning) before.
• I don't make the bed in the morning, but instead do it about 10 minutes before I get back into it at night. It's my way of tucking myself in. :)
• Jack is completely territorial. When Chris isn't here, he sleeps at the end of the bed...when he is here, Jack sleeps right next to my head in between Chris and I. Hilarious!
• I stink at cooking. I try and try to be creative and plan out my meals for the week but I often end up eating like a toddler...hotdogs, mac 'n cheese, and peanut butter and jelly. I really want a steak!
• Waking up is hard. I like my bed...no, I LOVE my bed!
• This is the first time in my life that I have ever lived by myself (kind of). I know, I know, Sofia is here and Chris comes home on the weekend, but when Sofia goes to bed during the week, it's just me.
• I like quiet. More often than not, the tv stays off at night after Bug goes to bed. With such busy days and non-stop toddler evenings, the lack of stimuli feels nice.
• I miss Chris. He is the love of my life and the one person who truly understands me. He makes me laugh, think and dream. He inspires me in more ways than are even measureable.
• My friends are invaluable and have been so supportive. All my neighbors offered to help when my rear window was smashed on Sunday night. Sofia and I have been to numerous homes for dinner and I have had several cups of coffee delievered to my office on many a tired morning. The way people have just dropped by or called to say hello has meant so much. I am truly blessed.

And I guess that is where I am being led in all of this...I am blessed. Blessed to have a wonderful home, job, husband, daughter and friends. Blessed to come from a strong family. Blessed to be able to take on each day as it comes. Below is a picture that I took on Saturday night at sunset standing in front of my house. THIS is being blessed!

Great Visit

Chris's dad just left this morning after a GREAT visit for the weekend. Our time was spent playing golf, eating tons of good food and some good ole' fashion hangin' out. It was fantastic. I think that Chris and I are so lucky...it is nice to have family that isn't work to be around. I'll be sure to post pics soon.

xoxo

Seriously?

My rear windshield was shattered during the night! So bizarre! The good thing is that nothing was stolen. :)

She's DEFINITELY Two!

Boo!

This morning I had quite a laugh...

Me: Sofia, do you know how old you are today?
Sofia: Boo!

Well, at least she's got the right holiday season down. :)

Off He Goes

As you can tell by the previous post, Chris had a very successful project in Lafyette. As a result, Chris earned a wonderful promotion - full-time superintendent. I am SO proud of him!! There are some definite bonuses to the promotion - company truck and gas card best of all. :) And so, this past Saturday, we drove up to his office to pick up his new truck. He looked so proud.

The news of the promotion was followed by what needed to be a very quick site change. With Lafyette essentially completed, the company needed Chris's help on a jobsite in Gunnison, CO and FAST. We got the news of the promotion on Friday, Sept 26 and Chris left for Gunnison yesterday. Left? You ask? Yes, Gunnison is 4 hours southwest of Denver meaning that Chris will be staying there in a small cabin that his company has rented for him during the week and then home on the weekends. Smack dab in the middle of the mountains (1 hr south of Aspen!), Gunnison is a beautiful area that is filled with TONS of stuff to do as a family. When Sofia and I get to go up, there will surely be lots to do and lots of memories to be made.

Luckily, it looks like the project will be completed by Thanksgiving and then our Daddio will be home with us again. :) In the meantime, Sofia and I will be having some serious girl time.

Maybe I'll teach her the art of shopping...

Lafayette Elementary School Remodel/Addition

What a great project. I have had the privilege to work on this project since the bidding phase back at MYC headquarters in January. I help put together pricing for many divisions of construction from foundation to finishes. We submitted our "total price" for construction and were the low bidder by a only a few % points. I took on a new role for MYC as the project engineer and the superintendent in charge of all subcontractors. I put together all of the 3-week look ahead schedules, cost coded all of the receipts and field tickets, balanced the budget each month, created all change orders, verified that all material was what the architect and engineers specified, and made sure that all material were on site on time. I was also in charge of project safety/orientation and all coordination of construction activities with the teachers, students, and general public. I am very proud to say we have had no lost time accidents or recordable injuries on this job site since its ground breaking in early February! Constructing a new office building is one thing, and building a retail building is another, but constructing a new school for students to learn, develop, and grow in is on a whole different plane. This project took out taxes to great use by remodeling and adding to an elementary school that has gone through its fifth remodel since first opening its doors in 1963.

This school enrollees the largest amount of special need students in the entire Boulder Valley School District. We began this project with a presentation during a school assembly on Construction Safety. Since then I have been known as Construction Chris, cousin of Bob the Builder from The Disney Channel. These kids would stop and thank us for "fixing their school" while walking the hallways. If I could, I would only do school jobs from here on out. The sense of helping the community was very fulfilling and motivation to make the school the best project I have ever worked on in detail and in safety. I gave a tour to a class of 5th graders and introduced them to the office tools (paperwork and computer work) used to track schedules, material, and budget. I asked them on how many of the received an allowance for doing chores around the house. I then asked how many of them would like more money for extra work they did or were asked to do. I then explained that is how change orders work, and they really understood!
Each students was given a hard had for the site tour and guided through the school's new classrooms.
Here is a picture of a finished classroom. We self performed all of the steel erection and glue-laminated beam (big wood beams) installation on this project. We also self performs the hot water heating (hydronics), all foundation and sidewalk/site concrete, rough carpentry, door frame, door and hardware installation, and miscellaneous specialty item installation (i.e. marker boards, tack boards, fire extinguisher cabinets, etc.).
Here is a nice candid shot of one of our drywall finishers who I continually tried to talk to in my broken Spanish only to get the response of "ok senior" with a big smile. Great finisher and a even greater person.

Painters, what a group of characters. Anyone ever sniffed too much paint? Theses guys loved to chat, paint, and forge their hard hats in their truck. I never gave in and made them go get their lids while working in side the building.

Here is a before shot. Notice the two temporary classrooms on the north side.

Side view of the four new classrooms. We had to keep the playground to the west (right in the picture) and one on the east open as it was part of the community park on the entire north side. The kids loved to climb up the slide and look into the construction site. Their favorite question by far was, "what are you doing?".

North profile of the classroom addition.

Underneath the south overhang are the translucent panels. These were a pain in the butt to get on site and installed by a specialty contractor, but provide great natural light and opens up the space of each four classroom.

Here is the Multipurpose Room addition we added on while school was in session. One weekend we came in and cut a 7'x7' opening into the library, providing access to this 30'x30' room used for story time, multimedia presentations, and entire staff meetings.

Here is a great shot of the steel erection and glue laminated beam installation of the front entry remodel and addition. Once school was out (June 3rd), we gutted the interior offices and and added on this strucrture. The administration staff was relocated into a temp office trailer just to the right of this picture for August and part of September. We had them back into the new offices by September 22nd, over a month ahead of schedule!

This addition ties into the existing front entrance overhang and includes three new restrooms, a new two section clinic, large teachers lounge, work room, councilors office, community liaison office, conference room, principals office, a large new entrance vestibule, and a new reception area. We also added windows and new vinyl flooring to the cafeteria, new AC to the computer room, remodeled the old teachers lounge to a conference room, added a preschool restroom, and installed a fire sprinkler system and new fire alarm devices thought the entire school. Whew! There is still some landscaping outstanding in front of the lower windows, but that is coming soon.

Hope you enjoyed this recap as much as I enjoyed this project and community improvement. So many parents shared their excitement with us while picking up their little students. It is now almost 1:45am and I only fell asleep once while writing this post. I'm out!

Vail Vacation

So I was asked to join my Manager of Job Procurement Deb to a conference in Vail for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We participated as Exhibitors at the conference with our booth set up along with other Colorado general contractors, engineers, and subcontractor all advertising our products and services. We left friday morning and stayed in town until Sunday afternoon. Meg and Sofia were able to join me on a little getaway. I worked the crowed with Deb on Friday night and Saturday Morning while the girls enjoyed some fresh mountain air. On Satrday afternoon, we went to Vail Village for shopping and dinner. Most of the shops were closing so we had to stop back Sunday morning. We left Sunday afternoon and did some outlet shopping on the way back. It was a beautiful time and enjoyed by all.

"My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades..."

Hey Daddio, can I have my crayons back?

"At this age, I will climb anything and everything!'
We loved the architecture of all the shops in Vail Village...