Any day now!

I just looked at this blog and realized that we haven’t updated since July. Oops! In our defense, when this family does big things, we do a lot of big things, all at once! Bullet point lists seem to be the best option in times like this…but beware, following the bullet point list...a long baby blog!

• ·         Schlaich Family Camping at Lake Chelan at the end of August
• ·         Started school in the beginning of September (this includes Sam starting his new job at Reardan, which he loves!)
• ·         Closed on our new house (we love it…it is almost put together except for hanging stuff on walls and the garage…)

·         And of course Baby is well on his or her way!!!

Baby brings me to the meat and potatoes of this post. I know that with Baby coming, this blog may be put on the backburner yet again, so I wanted to take some time to go through the pregnancy a little bit.

My pregnancy has been easy in terms of not having any morning sickness, no major issues except for the one brief scare in the beginning (due to my being overconfident and moving risers by myself), and then my diagnosis of gestational diabetes at the beginning/middle of summer. I always thought my blood pressure would be an issue as my blood sugar was always great before pregnancy, but that turned out to not be the case.

I was tested for gestational diabetes around 24 weeks, much like every other pregnant woman. My mom had always warned me to make sure I fasted and to do the test in the morning. When my doctor told me I needed to take the test without any warning, I had already had a big glass of milk and a nice filling bowl of Chex Rice Cereal (FYI – rice has some of the highest sugar content of any carb…). I mentioned this to the doctor and she told me that it was fine…this was a non-fasting test. Guess what? My sugars came back abnormally high. I still have not figured out why we didn’t redo the test, or at least do a longer length test. In my gut, I still feel that I would have tested fine had I fasted before the melted otter pop drink like most people. But, alas, my opinion didn’t matter and it was off to the races for us with SO MANY extra doctor’s appointments and specialists and…and…and…

The past 15 weeks I have seen a diabetic educator, nutritionist/dietician, endocrinologist, perinatologist, and had more tests than I can count on my fingers and toes combined. I have learned a lot. Some of the most important things I have learned are about food. I am a carb eater. Big time. You don’t really know what all has carbs in it until you have to pay attention for medical purposes. Milk? Really? 15 grams of carbs??? Oh yea. Not. Fun. But…on the food thing…I have also established a habit of portion control, something Sam and I struggle with because we love food so much. I have also learned very recently to trust my instincts about my own health. I was put on insulin at night because my morning numbers were reading “high.” High for a pregnant person apparently…but not high for a normal person. The insulin made me feel sick to my stomach in the middle of the night regularly, and even after adjusting it 12 different times, each to a higher amount, still didn’t change my morning sugars. I took myself off of the insulin a week ago, feel much better throughout the night, and my morning numbers are lower than they were on the insulin. And Baby is not getting any “extras,” which I feel much better about. I am so glad to know that I followed doctors orders and Baby did not get too big too fast and we did not have to deliver early. My mind set about taking care of myself shifted from doing it for me, to doing for this other living thing relying on me. It wasn’t about me, but it is shifting back as I am becoming more motivated to lose “baby weight” after the pregnancy is done…more on this later.

Every week for the past 7 weeks I have had to see the perinatologist (a high risk pregnancy doctor) due to the gestational diabetes and the risk of Baby getting too big. I get an ultrasound and two non-stress tests every week. This was really cool at first. I got to hear the heart beat all of the time, and we (quite literally) have a photo album FULL of ultra sound pictures. So need to get to see our baby so often. I can officially say the novelty has worn off and the sheer number of appointments is overwhelming and time consuming. I am ready to be done. I know most pregnant women say that at the end of their pregnancy…but really…reporting blood sugar numbers once a week, seeing MY doctor once or twice a week, and seeing the perinatologist twice a week is adding up to a lot of copays and time in the car and offices. I am happy to report that Baby is DEFINITELY not too big and is coming in between the 35^th and 50^th percentile in size and appears to be very healthy. And super cute J.

Now onto the baby weight…I am VERY proud of the minimal amount of weight I have gained throughout this pregnancy. Because I did not start at a healthy weight, I was told that I could only gain 9 pounds. In my head I was thinking “But I weighed 9 pounds when I was born…that is impossible!!!” Well folks…never say never. I am happy to report that I have gained…nothing. Not a single pound. At my last weigh in at the doctor’s office, I had gained 4 pounds in a week, but my hands and feet were also balloons. I reweighed this morning as the swelling is down a bit, and I am even a pound less than where I started. And the last pair of maternity pants I bought? Those are a size down from the first pair. So in my head I am thinking that means I have actually lost about 25 pounds (the amount healthy sized people gain during a pregnancy) and within a few weeks of giving birth I can expect to weigh a bit less than when I started. I don’t know for sure that it will go that way, but I am very happy and proud of what I was able to accomplish with mostly healthy eating during the pregnancy. I am SO motivated to get healthy knowing that I can! Whenever I try a diet or exercise program I usually don’t see result right away. This is frustrating and I always end up quitting when I don’t see something working. Having to do this for 9 whole months has shown me that it takes time, effort, and that I CAN do it.

Baby is due in just over a week…I have had contractions off and on, some regular, some intermittent…Sam and I cannot wait to meet our son or daughter and welcome him or her into the world with our family and friends at our side. Thank you to everyone who has supported us these past nine months. We’ve certainly needed it! Next post…Baby!!!

~Cheers! Heather

It has been quite a while since our last blog and so much has happened! So, here is our list.

• Sold our house in late June
• Eagle Lake vacation with the Wisswell's
• New position...in Washington!
• 2nd anniversary
• In the process of buying a house (should be mid August)
• started working out again!
• I can feel baby...finally!
• Seattle trip to visit family
• Camping trip to Hayburn State Park, ID.

As of now, that is about it. Selling the house was a huge relief. When selling, until it was legally not ours anymore, we felt the deal could fall through at any time. It was nice to get that to go through. The house went to a young military couple who wanted the house for their growing family. Ironically, this is exactly why we moved out of the house. But, to each his own. We are happy, and they are happy.

Staying with the house theme, we are looking at purchasing our second home in mid-August. We CANNOT wait! There are many reasons for this, but mostly because we are excited. We actually plan on living here for more that a year, so it is exciting to know that we can really put some work into the yard and make this place our own, and know that we get to enjoy the fruit of our labors.

We went to Eagle Lake in northern California with the Wisswell's in late June. It was oh so nice to get out of town after what seemed like a never-ending last month of school. This year I was incredibly exhausted from school and really needed a break, so this vacation was very welcome. While down there, we fished a bit (fun fish to catch!) and Heather, Dawg and I visited Lassen National Park. Cool place, but Lassen does not have the majestic qualities of Rainier.

We celebrated our second anniversary (yes! already!) by going camping at Hayburn State Park near the southern end of CDA Lake in Idaho. It was 95 degrees the whole time, bugs literally sucked, and the whole campsite was located on a 30 degree slope that made doing anything a pain in the neck...somewhat literally. We had to belay down a cliff just to get to some water to cool off and, as Heather will gladly let you know, there was a bird nesting in the women's outhouse that "dive-bombed you every time you had to " take care of business (I'm not sure how she worded the last part). Needless to say, we cut off that camp trip after the first night. We capped it off the next night by going out to a nice dinner at The Melting Pot. Mmmmmmm....

So, baby news. I have been able to feel baby quite a bit, especially when we go to bed. Yes, it wakes up when we go to sleep. Sign of things to come? Anyway, feeling the baby is awesome! It makes me so excited! Heather and I, although we really have no idea, are thinking it will be a boy. This is based strictly off of the fact that most kids between the Schlaich's and Wisswell's are boys (5 boys, 2 girls). Really, we are just excited to have a baby:) So, related to baby is our new workout routine. It's more of a, "when I have some time to work out I do," sort of routine, but much better than my, "I should work out....ooooh! Beer!" routine. But I have been doing it everyday. I am starting this for three reasons:

• Heather has to, so I am supporting her efforts by joining in
• I need to ramp up energy for my new position
• I want to be in shape so I can run around with baby

Hopefully these reasons will keep me engaged.

And most recently, our trip to Seattle. We spent a few days with my sis and her husband. It is always a great time with them! We visited my brother, sis-in-law, and nephews. Miss them always! And, we met up with Heather's parents and some old Wisswell family friends who are always a good conversation:)

I think I might be caught up. Later this summer we are headed to the annual Schlaich Reunion in central Washington. And we start school at the end of August. Right now we are planning and prepping for the school year. With the new job I have there is quite a bit to do to get ready. I am very excited for this opportunity and look to make the most of it!

Enjoy the sunshine~!
Sam

Along for the Ride!

Sam and I are such planners (as evidenced by just about everything we write in this blog!). It has been really difficult for us to just sit back and enjoy the ride of life without putting too much planning into things. This afternoon I have had the chance to reflect on the last "semester" - January through now - and really look at how we are doing with NOT planning.

Back in January we PLANNED on refinancing the house. Things went a very different direction and we ended up putting it on the market because numbers were favorable and...why not? We can upgrade, we are making more money - and on continuing contracts finally! - so we figured we might as well try.

Deciding to put our house in the market seemed like an answer to unspoken prayers a week later when we found out that I was pregnant. While we had left it mostly to chance, we didn't really PLAN on starting a family just yet, with the expectation that it COULD happen any time. It happened! And who knew how overjoyed and excited we would be?! Thinking back, I am glad we never went through the "trying" phase of getting pregnant. It feels like so much pressure and well...just not fun. God has a plan...and in both of these instances, we did not! And it felt amazing to not have planned these things.

In keeping with our planning personalities, one would think that we would plan to find out the gender of our baby so we can better ready ourselves in the "proper" color scheme. No way jose! Last week we could have found out, and everyone else around us is just dying of curiosity, but not us my friends! We have decided to go the old fashioned route - no finding out the gender ahead of time. And you know what? It feels amazing to know that it doesn't matter. Healthy and happy are all we could ever hope for. I always said - in my life plan - that I wanted a girl. Period. The end. But since finding out I was pregnant...I haven't cared at all! What a relief!

The months have dragged on a bit and nothing on the house. We were ready to pull it off the market as soon as we get back from Eagle Lake, or even sooner. Our plan was to make that call very soon because I am ready to start preparing for this baby! We are getting tired of having to hurry up and clean and get out of the house for people to see it. Today, really out of nowhere, we received an offer. It was kind of a low ball offer, but the couple understood that we would be making a counter. After several phone calls back and forth...back and forth...back and forth...back and forth...(get it yet?) we settled on a price and all parties accepted. Oh man. I am almost 5 months pregnant, we are getting ready for a huge vacation for the grandparents 60th anniversary, and it is the end of the school year and NOW our house is selling. What in the world?! Oh yea...God has a plan. Now they have to schedule their inspection and bing bang BOOM! We are homeless again!

NOTHING has gone according to plan since the new year, but...we are totally okay with it. We know there is a plan somewhere and as long as all goes according to that plan...we are happy. I am so excited to move into a house that will be big enough for a growing family. And one with a yard for poor Dawg. Could be a busy and stressful summer...but I am kind of liking this no plan thing.

If you are a planner, I suggest doing something out of character and try to NOT plan something for once. It really feels good and is quite the weight lifted off. If you don't have a plan...it can't fail! :)

Cheers!
-Heather

All is well, but what a scare!

I've debated about whether or not to do a post about our recent baby scare. I've decided that it might be good for me.

To begin, let me assure everyone that the baby is okay and the prognosis for a normal outcome is good. But boy did this little one ever give us a fright last week! A warning: though I will try to avoid anyhting graphic, I am learning that this baby making thing is not exactly the *prettiest* process.

On Wednesday night, as we were getting ready for Sam's saxophone student to come over for a lesson, I was straightening up the bedroom and BAM! I had to pee. This is not really uncommon for me at this point. I went to the bathroom and noticed blook on the toilet paper. Not just a little. A lot. There was bloo don the toilet paper, blood in the toilet...I took a deep breath and called Sam into the room and told him that we had to go to the hospital. Now. What a great husband I have. Before even asking why, he immediately got on his phone to cancel his lesson, all the while putting on shoes and grabbing keys. I cleaned up and then sat down. What just happened? Why was I bleeding? It seemed like it stopped...what should we do? I took some deep breaths and told Sam what happened. I remembered the doctor giving me an after hours OB number, so I called it and a different doctor from the clinic responded. She told me to get to the ER. Usually I am okay as long as everyone around me is calm, but she sounded worried. I lost it. Be it hormones, being scared shitless, or just plain overwhelmed, I was crying and I couldn't stop. We got in the car and drove to the ER.

Once at the ER, it took about 45 minutes to get into a room. Sam and I were silent. I didn't want to talk about it. I knew what COULD be happening, and I didn't have the words anyhow, so why bother trying to talk? When we finally got into the room, the nurses put an IV in, told me to drink a TON of water, and then sent me off for an ultrasound. I was relieved that we would know, instantly, whether or not the baby was okay. I think I was shaking the enire way to radiology. At first the ultrasound tech seemed really nice, but as we got into the actual ultrasound, I did not care for her much. Obviously we were in the ER, and obviously I was sent to ultraosund to see if our baby was still alive. At the very least, as you are taking the pictures, SAY SOMETHING! Tell us if the baby is moving, tell us there is a heartbeat...something! Anything! The picture was much more fuzzy than the first we got at twelved weeks, so I began to get frustrated that I couldn't see anything at 16. When she brought up the heart beat screen (which we recognized from the first time), there were no spikes. Sam grabbed my hand and we just held tight. Eventuall she told us that Baby's heartbeat was strong at 149 beats per minute. What a sigh of relief. However, after having endured ten minutes of NOTHING, Sam finally asked if we could hear it. Her response was less than kind, but she relented and turned the sound up...a little...for about 5 seconds. We ehard it, thank goodness. After the ultrasound we went back to the ER room and waiting to hear from the oncall OB about what was happening.

45 minutes later, the nurse comes back in and tells us that the doctor said my placenta is low-lying and he wanted to keep me overnight for observation. What?! I have never been hospitalized in my life! But...anything for Baby. At this point we had been at the ER for almost 4 hours and had not called our parents. If nothing was wrong and the bleeding was just a fluke, we did not want to worry anyone. Since I was being hospitalized we assumed that this was serious and finally made the called at about 10:30 pm. Couldn't get ahold of Sam's parents because our phones were dead and we couldn't remember their cell numbers (they were out of town helping with our new niece!), but we did talk to my mom and set up a plan for Dawg (poor Dawg...). I was transferred to Family Care for the night, Sam went home to get a few things and let Dawg out, and I was checked in by the nurse. This process took about two hours. I was so tired. The nurse explained everything (I have a marginal placenta previa...no space between the placenta and my cervix - trauma of any kind...stretching, bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, etc....can cause bleeding). We KIND of slept off and on for about 5 and a half hours and then woke up to 6 nurses in the room for the shift change. We were told that the doctor would see us early and that I would probably be home by 8 am. 7...8...9...10...FINALLY at 10:30 the doctor came in.

He was kind of a strange dude, but explained everything again and said that I was basically not allowed to do anything but go to work. No moving risers into place, no heavy cleaning at home...if I wasn't teaching at work (and I had better find help for most tasks), and I was to be chillin' out at home. Sam was to do the cleaning, etc. Not. Fun. But, I am allowed to go to work. That is a huge relief. Had I been put on full bed rest, we would be in biiiiiiig trouble! With no more bleeding, I was released to go home at 11. I couldn't wait.

We got settled in and took a really long nap before heading to church choir practice and Sam teaching a lesson. The show must go on, folks! I was so tired and relieved that Baby was okay, I was fairly happy and just wanted things to be normal and happy.

Friday I had a concert at school during the day. Friday morning and I SEVERAL breakdowns. I think everything hit me after I had gotten some rest...this could have been, and still COULD be...quite bad. If I don't take care of myself, we could lose this Baby. Not a good feeling. Quite the gut check. The staff here at school are great. My principal, having had twins just last year, was not a good patient herself when it came to rest and not doing dumb things, so she was adament that I follow doctors orders and ask for help when I need it. Note to the world: Heather does NOT like asking for help. Better if you just jump in! Needless to say, Friday morning I was a wreck. The afternoon and the concert were fine.

This weekend, Sam got to do a lot of the lifting and cleaning. I feel horrible not contributing, but know that we are doing this for the sake of Baby. I have a doctor's appointment Thursday with MY doctor, to hopefully find out more and see what all we have to do now to moniter my silly misplaced placenta. My mom always did call me the experimental child. Here we are experimenting again! Supposedly as my uterus grows, the palcenta should be pulled up and out of the way. Maybe in a few months we won't have to worry anymore about what I can and cannot do that might cause it to tear. That would be fantastic.

Thank you family, friends, and coworkers for your support. This was probably one of the scariest things that has ever happened to us. It showed us just how much we love this baby already. So...so much. Sam has been awesome and so supportive. I love that he is so involved in this process and is with me every step of the way.

Just to reiterate, everything is basically fine now. I may (and probably will) bleed again, but at least this time I know what it is and can to a better job of keeping myself calm. I will continue to keep everyone posted! In th meantime, prayers would be greatly appreciated!

~Heather

Where does the time go?

A wise woman once said that I should slow down and enjoy life where it was because before I knew it, time would pass faster than I could ever imagine. I would be married, have bills, have children, all before I could blink and then those children would grow up way too fast. That wise woman is my mother. Mom - you were right! (I find myself saying that more and more as I get older...hmmm...).

Sunday marked the passing of my first trimester carrying our first child. It already seems like just yesterday when we found out I was pregnant. What I truly can't believe is that some women don't find out until about two weeks ago (12 weeks along!) and I figure dit all out at 4 weeks. That has given us a lot of time (and yet so little!) to comprehend this new life forming. It is exciting, scary, happy, nerve wracking, and such a blessing. We couldn't be happier. Both of us have always wanted a family and now our dream is coming true. Here is my concept of time at the moment:

* In 2 weeks, I have my 4 month doctor appointment. I was just at the doctor two weeks ago for my 3 month! Holy moly!

* In just 6 short weeks, I will be half way through pregnancy.

*In 10 weeks, school will be out.

*Summer ALWAYS flies by of course, so that too shall pass faster than I can imagine.

*Then I have one month once school starts back up again and we should be welcoming our little bundle of joy in the world.

WHAT?! You are telling me that I ONLY have THAT long to get ready??? Whoa. Really puts things in perspective. Thanks Mom! ;-)

In the meantime though...an update on how things are going. I feel great for the most part! No morning sickness at all = score 1 for me! I got woosy in the beginning with the pre-natals and with lack of food at regular intervals, but other than that no sickness. Woohoo! I was EXHAUSTED for about 8 weeks, but that is waning now, thankfully. I have 12 concerts in the next 10 weeks, so hopefully that second trimester energy will kick in!

At my 12 week appointment we were supposed to get to hear the heartbeat for the first time, but our doctor could not find it with just the portable doppler machine. She said it could still be a little early, but offered us an ultra-sound to make us feel better. I jumped at the opportunity since  I was only supposed to get one at 20 weeks. Not only were we able to hear the heartbeat (158 beats per minute!), but our little cherub was jumping like a bouncing bean! That is why the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. We have a bundle of energy!!! And a very healthy one so far. Such a blessing! It was really cool to see our baby...and...he or she has a face! SO awesome and amazing to see!

So....onward we go. Things are going well, we are excited, and blessed! Please continue to pray for us as we journey forward! And...I will try to do better at updating :D

~Heather

New Years Resolution Fail...

Well friends...I did not keep up with my post a week. I tried, I promise! But I have an excuse! I have been sooo tired lately. All because...

Sam and I are expecting! I plan on posting a long version of this news but for now that will have to do. We are so very excited and can't wait for our new life with children!

More soon!

Heather

NAfME All-Northwest- Portland, OR 2013

Here we are at the bi-annual All Northwest Music Conference in Portland, OR. We are lucky to have a wonderful friend that is letting us crash at her spot for the next few days. Thanks, Mel!

For the next three days we will be cramming our heads with new ways to inspire, encourage and teach our students. These are long,  physically sedentary days, but exciting. It is always refreshing to get new ideas, especially at this time of the year with things are lagging a little and students are tired.

I am always excited to get new ideas to bring back to my classroom. This year I am finding myself yearning for a new way to reach my choir students. Band is my bread and butter, so figuring out ways to get them going is pretty natural. I am instrumental first, and choral second. I am continually searching for ways to establish choral routines while creating new approaches to warm-ups. One thing I always am frustrated with is how to effectively teach choir students to read music. They check out so quickly when I begin to teach them how to read. I need a fun and engaging way to do this.

When at this conference, I always like to discover new approaches to instrumental ed. This is fun because I am just discovering new ways to put the "sugar on top," so to speak. My secondary goal is to discover this. 

Teaching choral and instrumental at the same time is tough because I find myself spending much more time trying to develop my choral teaching methods because I feel I am much more inadequate in this department. This takes away from my improvement as a band director. Hopefully, I will be able to really establish an effective choral routine so I can return to a more aggressive approach to my first love, instrumental instruction.

This should be a very busy and tiring weekend, but I am definitely looking foreword to it!

Sam

Here we go again!

A fresh coat of paint really spruces a place up! We just finished painting the office (LATE) last night and moved all of the furniture back in today. We love the color, but wish we would have picked a shade darker. You just never can tell with just a swatch of color. It looks great though and we are really happy with how around $250 we made this room functional, welcoming, and modern looking.

Maybe the plant is a bit too much, but I will keep tweaking things until I like it more :)

The house saga continues...we called our Realtor from before to get a market analysis of our house and also called a second one. This new Realtor seems more aggressive than the last one and I think we already click with her better. She seems to understand that we are looking more for guidance and advice, and don't just want to do this ourselves. We did a walk through of our house with her and she pointed out that it would be great for someone who might not be able to handle stairs anymore (it is wheelchair accessible) and for a live-in person who might be helping. Or young childless people such as ourselves who aren't in a hurry to start a family. She thinks we can make a decent amount on the house to get all of our must-haves in a new house. I am still skeptical, but am starting to get excited none-the-less. Looking at houses again online I am reminded of why we liked this one so much (and still do if it weren't for the size), and why I didn't like looking at houses! It is so overwhelming and you just know that what you see online is NOT what you get in a house. That being said, she explained to us that land and a house might be an option in our new price range if we are willing to look at foreclosed homes. I instantly said no, but she asked me to hear her out. She explained that many banks are now completely redoing these foreclosed homes because they really want to get rid of them and - surprise! - people won't buy a trashed house. So I suppose that if she finds our dream house, with land, in our desired location, that is completely fixed up and fault free, and is semi-new construction, we will be considering a foreclosed home, but I am DEFINITELY not holding my breath on THAT one! All in all, we are saying "here we go again" and holding our breath to take the plunge once more into the sea of real estate  Eeeek!

Anyhow, things are moving forward with that, Sam and I joined an additional church choir (just for this month) that will perform at the Food Bank Benefit Concert that our church holds every year. It was a little bit more of a time commitment than we bargained for, but it is just for a few more weeks. Sam has jazz band tonight and I will indulge in watching the Bachelor. Silly me!

Hope everyone is doing well and keeping warm!

Cheers!

~Heather

Home Sweet Home!

This is the front of our house last January when we moved in. It actually looks about the same now. Buying this house was such a roller coaster experience and looking back, I don't really know if I am ready to do that again anytime soon. I mean, we love our house, but we know it is not our forever home. We could probably have one child here no problem, but the more I think about wanting to start a family, the more I think - we don't have enough space!

Awhile back we spoke with our mortgage broker about refinancing the house since the interest rates are even lower and because we did a short sale...the property value is obviously more than what we paid for it. We could get rid of the mortgage insurance and have a cheaper monthly payment. BUT, since it hadn't been a year since our last appraisal, we had to wait until this month to look into things further. I called Mark today. My initial reaction? Let the roller coaster begin!

Mark explains things very well. It is part of what we like about he and his wife and their awesome business. Here is what he said: in order to refi, our house needs to be valued at at least $191,000. We did NOT pay that for this house, but upon looking at the county assessors page, our house appraised at $189,900 LAST year, AFTER we paid significantly less for it. We are in the pocket of the market where home prices are back on the rise. This is great news. Then he explained that if our house is worth that much, it probably would be in our better interest to SELL, and use the extra funds as a down payment on a more long-term investment, rather than refi. Let's break down the numbers.

Let's say we can sell our house for $200,000 (as a nice round number), we would be able to take the money we earn from the sale, put down 25% on a new construction home in a little bit more rural area (which we eventually want anyhow), and our payment would be LESS than what it is now...for a bigger more permanent investment. So as Mark said, why wouldn't we do that?

Well, let the list begin! We are just now able to start putting our own touches on this house. In front of me on the wall in the office...paint swatches.

 In the living room... new shelves and picture frames to finally hang after a year of living here. We LIKE our house. We are tired of moving. SO many reasons. The list could go on.

BUT, then comes our budget conscious selves...pay less...more house...house we like more...house we can GROW in...

Hmph. So, tomorrow we find our if the roller coaster begins again...and of course, this thought could all be completely unfounded. Tomorrow we could find out it isn't worth what it needs to be. And then we may find out that the buyer market may not support the price. That would certainly make life EASIER.

In the meantime, Sam and I will be working on putting more personal touches on the house! :) After all, it is our HOME! <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

Climb every mountain!

This was our view this weekend on our way through Steven's Pass! I must have taken at least 20 pictures just of this group of peaks while Sam was driving. So beautiful, and I wish I could stand on the very top. Climbing of course would be the hard part.

And that is exactly what we feel like we are doing having to go back to school after such an awesome break for the holidays. Climbing that mountain! The reward will be great - student successes, concerts, programs, and of course summer - but man - climbing is such a challenge!

My break was actually over on Wednesday, and Sam had two more days. I remembered that I have Thursdays off, so we decided I should take a vacation day on Friday and we head out of town for a couple days (and for the last time for fun for awhile). We had a gorgeous drive to Seattle on Thursday (4 degrees when we left, 45 when we got there!) and were able to stop and catch up with some friends before continuing on to Riss and Danny's for a couple nights (thanks guys!). One of our friends is a band director and his wife told us about his very rough fall while he went to pick up their daughter. He had some stupid issues as well as a crazy schedule and ended up have a complete mental break down and had to spend some time in the hospital, as well as two weeks out of work. This made me think a bit since I wanted to be a high school director originally and Sam still does. Crazy what stress does to people. Since our first year of teaching we have made a very deliberate effort to not stress out as much about work at home and it has worked wonders. Let's just hope this trend can continue and that once Sam does get to teach high school we can keep things under control!

While in Seattle we made the obligatory trip to Ikea, mostly with Mom in mind as she had wanted a few things she picked out in the catelogue. But, alas, they didn't have those things and we bought more than our share instead! I am really excited, though, because while most things we bought were "little," I think they will make a big difference in our home. For example, we eliminated the giant trash can and got two small ones for under the kitchen sink. Looks cleaner, and Dawg can't demolish them! We also got some decorating shelves for the bedroom. All of this home decor stuff prompted us to buy paint for the office this weekend. Yay! Now we just have about 15 different projects going all at once - and we are headed back to school! We'll see what actually gets done before summer, but for now, I think it is safe to say that I am motivated!

Wish us luck tomorrow as we journey back to school. The mountain awaits!

~Heather

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year! Wow! 2013 is already here and soon we will be leaving 2012 in the dust!

As is tradition, Heather and I have made our resolutions for the new year. I will post my resolution on here in hopes that people will hold me to it and maybe even help me out. I will let Heather post her own if she wishes (yes, I dare you!).

In the past I have been actually pretty good about keeping my resolutions. I typically will only resolve to keep them for a few months. This serves a few purposes. One, I don't overwhelm myself with an unrealistic expectation,; two, if I can keep it up for a few months, it will become habit...right?; three, I allow myself somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel, a reward if you will, for maintaining my practice. Of course, what my goal is depends on my resolution. For example, a few years ago I made a resolution to stop drinking my beloved adult beverages until after Easter. After Easter, I rewarded myself. Easy, peasy. (Ha! I'm a teacher. There's no way that was going to go on for a year!) I view a resoltion as a sort of challenge to myself.

This year my wife and I talked about doing something a little deeper, more meaningful. I interpret this as something that will help my life become less self-centered, something that will expand my life and make it better for the long run. I thought about many things that I suck at, but had a hard time pinpointing something that doesn't just affect me, but also has an impact on other people. So....

I tend to close myself off to other people over time and let relationships fall out of...practice. Friendships need to be kept up, and I am horrible about being the person who helps keep it up. I tend to feel that other people don't do a very good job at this either, but I am resolving to do my best to keep up my end.

So there you have it. My resolution is to keep up contact with friends.

So, here is to old friends, new friends, and friends I have yet to meet.

Heather and I also have a joint resolution (we sound like the UN!). We both despise house work and are bad about keeping up being so busy. Our resolution is spend 10 minutes each cleaning the house every day. That isn't a lot, but again, start small so that you can accomplish your goals. We will probably spend a little more time during the weekend to tidy up a bit too.

So there you have it! Welcome to Earth, 2013. I hope we learn to like eachother!

Sam

New year, new goals, new post!

Once again it has been awhile...I feel like we always start our posts this way. More on that later...

Quick update - As Sam said we are trying hard to get loans, etc., paid off so that we can live the debt free life. We still have a long way to go, but we're making progress. To help with that, I got an extra part-time job at Sears for the holidays. I learned a ton - like...I am grateful for my day job, professionalism, and a supportive family. I quit after a month and a half. Working a second full time job was not in my plan, and management seemed inflexible, so it seemed like it just wasn't worth the strife. SO, I had Christmas break off in its entirety, which was such a relief, though over much too fast.

We had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. Sam's entire family was here this year, all siblings, spouses, and nephews. It was a blast getting to hang out with everyone! The second half of Christmas day was spent with my family. We had a quiet afternoon in the winter wonderland we call Pandora (Cheney) and also spent last night with them ringing in the New Year. As always, we feel totally spoiled!

Like I said - quick update! Now on to the new year. We have lots of things already planned out for the year, but I think we are most excited about getting to do more camping this summer once school is out. We leave just two days after my last day of school for Eagle Lake, CA for Grandma and Grandpa's (on the Wisswell side) 60th anniversary. Amazing. Of course we also have the third annual Schlaich family camping the weekend before Labor Day weekend, this year at lake Chelan. By then we will also have a new nephew (my vote!) or niece!

I don't usually come up with New Year's Resolutions because history says I wont keep them, but Sam is insisting. While getting healthy, losing weight, eating better, etc. are always on the list, we talked about how that is just setting ourselves up for failure. So this year we are setting different kinds of goals for ourselves. That's where I get back to the immense amount of time between posts on this blog. My resolution is going to be to try and write a post each week. Now, sometimes exciting things don't happen for us to write about, but that means that we need to create more exciting, or meaningful, experiences. Sam and I have gotten into this habitual routine...get up, go to work, come home, VEG. And we can come up with the best excuses, but usually it has to do with being tired. So, in order to create more meaningful experiences each week, whether it be hanging out with a friend, going for a hike, working out, etc., we will cut the crap and get past that excuse. And then my goal will be achievable :-).

Tomorrow I go back to school, and then Sam goes back on Monday. Go figure, the last day of break I have come down with a bug, but hopefully I feel better tomorrow and can get the ball rollin' in the classroom.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and has a blessed New Year. Cheers to new goals!

~Heather