kiddos were back at school on monday, january 8th with a new playground and ella's shadow up on the wall!
on thursday, january 11th, after 101+ amazing years, mimi passed away peacefully. i'm so grateful for getting to know her - during the time we spent in cinci, ella and i would make it our thursday afternoon ritual to go hang out with mimi in her den - chatting and encouraging ella to roll over. i admire her strength, grace, humor, and, of course, style. the last time i facetimed with her, she didn't know who i was, but said i was cute and adorable - the highest compliment coming from her! we will miss you mimi - thanks for the memories and love.
the two above are from our wedding day
ella's baptism
christmas 2011 - two days before we moved to tucson
meeting max - we returned to cinci for his baptism
loved the sweet moments between mimi and ella at jeanne and marc's wedding
at evan's baptism
her 100th birthday celebration
on friday, the 12th, roger sent me on a little field trip to take a casual look at a house that had just gone up on the market. we are always passively looking and said we would love to find a house on some land that we could fix up. this, surprisingly, fit the bill. we had 8 days before we could submit an offer, so bring on the waiting game.
in the meantime, i headed up to phoenix for the rock n roll arizona race, while roger, the amazing daddy that he is, took the kids to 'jurassic quest,' a pop-up dinosaur exhibit. they had a blast!!
on sunday, i ran the rock n roll arizona half marathon. ok, "ran" might be an overstatement. i believe at no point did we actually run, nor did we ever have any sense of urgency. it was a beautiful 13.1 mile jog. 2:35:55 coming in 5380/8552. yup. an easy sunday morning jog.
at the start line with steph and her aunt, sherry, who ran the 10K.
we spent the following week getting random things done and our offer was submitted late in the week. on tuesday, the 16th, i joined ella at art and she stared her sketch of her watercolor swan:
beautiful job, els!!!
our "best and final" offer was submitted on friday afternoon. over lunch and cocktails, roger and i called our realtor with our offer. literally, at that exact moment, as i was contemplating whether or not it was the right number, whether or not this was the right move, john/sir paul/ringo/george's song "let it be" started playing in the restaurant. crazy timing. now more waiting.
we spent the weekend hosting the nonakas for dinner and hailey, el's BFF, stayed for their very first sleepover!!!
the girls had a blast and actually slept - yay!!!
we FINALLY heard back on tuesday and the bank accepted our offer and we are on our way to moving!!!! crazy. it's only about 2 miles from our current home, but the kids are so excited about their new rooms and a pool in the backyard. it will require quite a bit of renovation so here we go!
i forgot to take a picture, but max also earned his first stripe on his yellow belt on tuesday afternoon.
the home inspection was on thursday and went well. max even got a tutorial in scoping plumbing lines. thanks for your help, mom and dad!!
i spent friday grading spell-a-thon tests at the school, then joined a few girls to hike up tumamoc hill...which incidentally looks DOWN on a-mountain. but it was worth it because there were tacos at the end of the hike.
we spent the weekend being sick (me) and prepping our house to go up on the market. this will be a crazy next few months but the challenge will be worth it and i'm looking forward to these exciting times with our little family.
