Northwestbound for Fargo

Have you been watching the TV series, Fargo? OHMYGODITISSOGOOD!! It's probably too late to just tune in and hope to understand what's happening. But, if they rerun it, you should definitely DVR it for future watching. Seriously, very good.

Tomorrow at 7 a.m. I will hop in a minivan and begin a booooorrrrriiiiinnnnngggggg 8 or 9 hour drive to Fargo for a work trip. Good ol' Shawn will be home alone with the kids for three full days and nights. I'm going to owe him big. I'm hoping to help him out today by preparing most of what he'll need for three suppers. He did all the grocery shopping today (as he does every weekend) so it's really the least I could do. :)

So, let's catch you all up on the Wirt/Hanson household. Well, for starters, we're still in our house in Des Moines.... The For Sale sign has been removed from the yard. That Catholic saint thing we buried is still buried, and for all I care, he can stay there for life -- a lot of good he did me.... (Sorry if that is sacrilegious to you -- I probably shouldn't have anything to do with Catholic saint statues). After nearly five months on the market without a single offer, we decided to pull the sign, take it off the market and start fresh early next spring. What a pain in the butt.

We had a very enjoyable October -- lots of fun Halloween and autumn activities. The boys are about to have another week off for Thanksgiving. I'm taking a couple days off to do some fun things with them. I haven't decided yet if Violet the Terrible will join us. That girl is on a tantrum rampage lately and frankly, she's about screamed herself out of any fun outings for awhile.

We have a really good start on our Christmas shopping. At least with the house off the market, we will be free to decorate for the holidays. Shawn says we cannot decorate until after Thanksgiving. What a scrooge! So the boys and I plan to do it the weekend after -- I love how excited they get about putting up the tree and decorating the house. It's so fun to have them in the holiday spirit. It goes without saying that Violet gets excited about decorating, the holidays, shopping, doing anything her brothers are doing, doing anything I am doing, breathing, walking, etc. She is a very sweet and happy girl MOST of the time.

Today was a big day in our house -- we dismantled the baby crib for the last time. Sniff, sniff. It makes me a little sad that those baby days are officially behind us. We're not going to keep the crib. We polished it up and will put it on Craig's List for someone else to use. It's a nice crib -- we got it for free from a friend of my mom's whose daughter is a doctor. The bottom of it it says it was made in Italy. Oh la la!

With the crib gone, the kids' room suddenly has a lot more space in it. So much that I think we're going to move the little play kitchen in for a month or so for Violet and Bo to play with. It's been out in the garage for a year and Violet is right at that age where she would play kitchen for hours...

Well friends, that's about it. I'll be on more frequently from now on. I forget how much I enjoy reflecting on this crazy life of ours and appreciating the little things we do. Have a great week ahead!