If It's Not One Thing, It's Certainly Another

I thought I would take some time tonight to actually sit down and type out my thoughts on job and house-hunting. Alan and I have to move back to our hometown-area by the end of summer 2009. He's hoping to have a new job secured by the end of October (2008). This means that as soon as we're back from our honeymoon, the dreaded job of house-hunting begins! Now, being the anal type-A personality that I am, I have already contacted our realtor and asked him to pull up prospects in the desired areas. I was just trying to plan ahead, right? You would think that that would be a good thing, right? Au, contrare..... because now not only am I scrambling to finish last minute wedding projects, I am also trying to field all sorts of questions and issues that have come up with Marissa's father (because he would like nothing better than to determine where I will live for the rest of my life), worry about which town we should ultimately live in and which school system the kids should be enrolled in, and try to keep my focus on the wedding without the cute little houses that are on the market NOW weasling their way into my thoughts. ugh. I suppose I should have let the house-hunting wait until after our return from Boston.

But the house-hunting issue brings up another issue, one that is much bigger. Our ideal location would be a city with the best school district in the area. However, in order to live in said city and be able to afford the property taxes there, I would have to give serious consideration to selling my plasma on a monthly basis. :P All kidding aside, Alan and I now are faced with the choices of either 1) living in our ideal school district and trying to absorb the financial costs or 2) living in another school district that Marissa's father does not approve of and then trying to absorb the emotional risks of having our children enrolled in separate school districts. (Marissa in one, Jake + future children in another.)

This decision may be a no-brainer for some, but it's a very difficult one for us - the school district that is another option for us would be in a private school system. The kids would get an excellent education, but getting Marissa's father to see past the "religion issue" is about next to impossible. How do we make a decision that will have a definite impact our family's future and our children's lives? I just pray that we make the right one.....

During the aftermath of a milestone and on the eve of a new beginning....

When Alan and I first began this blog we had planned on keeping it updated with witty, intellectual comments and journal entries..... well, like a lot of things that we "plan" to do, that hasn't turned out exactly how we thought it would. "Life" has seemed to happen to us this summer. In the midst of all that normally goes on, we have also been planning our wedding.... plus....the summer of '08 has been the summer of the baby boom! While our little Jacob turned one this August, we've also welcomed four beautiful babies into the world - now there's only two more to go!

With so many new little people in my life, it really makes me stop and think about how quickly time goes by. I think all too often we live our llives waiting around for the "next big thing" to come along. Just last week I was thinking to myself - "Okay, once we get Jake's party out of the way then we'll have Alan's bachelor party, then my bachelorette party, then the rehearsal dinner, then the wedding........" Life isn't supposed to be about crossing the days off of a calendar....... Jake's party has come and gone, and I feel a little let down. My little baby boy is one year old already! Where did the last year go? I look back at some of the snapshots from his few first months and can't even remember him looking the way he does in them! How pathetic is that? I suddenly find myself wishing I could stay home with my children each and every day, so as not to miss one single moment. Marissa will also be starting preschool next month, which also has me trying to reach back into the past to steal a precious few minutes back from when she was little. Why do they have to grow up so fast? I fear that after this "aha moment" I may end up having 12 children in order to keep a young child close to my side at all times...... :P

So I'm going to try my hardest to live life for the EVERDAY MOMENTS that I will surely miss six months, one year, and especially ten years from now. I find myself paying more attention to Marissa's singing, Jake's laugh, and the remarkably beautiful way Alan interacts with them everyday.

...............I'm not sure I know of three things more worth living for :)

Jake Turned The Big #1!

Our little Jakey Boy turned 1 on August 16th! His party went rather well - I thought I would share some photos from his big day and some shots from his 1st birthday photo shoot too! :)

Wedding Update!

Alan and I were finally able to make it to Barclay's to pick out what the guys will be wearing on our wedding day! We (mutually) decided that black tuxes would look the best, although not before we considered Alan wearing all ivory or even the guys wearing khaki suits. But we did decide on black after some brainstorming and also decided on powder blue vests and striped ties with white shirts for the groomsmen. Al will wear a white shirt, ivory striped tie, and ivory vest to match my dress.

In true Alan fashion, his original plan was to have all the groomsmen sport matching baby-blue ruffled suits (i.e. Dumb and Dumber) but I quickly voted against it. hehe!

Yay! One more item off of our "to-do" list! :)

Bridal Shower

Here are some photos from our bridal shower. Thanks to everyone involved in the planning and preparation and thanks also to everyone who was able to make it! Alan and I really appreciate the wonderful gifts we've received! :)

The big day is getting closer - it will be here before we know it! :)