....I'm back?!

I've not written in forever.... life has been crazy and being a working mom is HARD work, friends!!! Then I think of the SINGLE full time working moms out there, and my heart just bleeds for you. I just can't fathom how you do it. I have extreme mommy guilt sometimes and finding an appropriate family/work/housework balance is tough. I still have high hopes for this blog, I love writing and I think if I can ever reliably blog, it would be an awesome way to record memories for our family to look back on and enjoy one day.

Besides work and family, one thing new and exciting is we have been planning a Europe trip this May!! Super excited for this, Chris and I have had this in the works since pre-preggly with Greyson! Finally we are (God willing) going to make this trip finally happen in a few short months! We are going to Paris for a week, Santorini Greece for a week, and then London for a few days before we fly home. Best part?! We twisted my sister Emilee's arm into coming with us to help babysit (you know i'm too big of a weenie to leave G for this long!). Then my mom and dad decided they couldn't be left out of the fun, and then my sis Amanda and her hubby Jordon decided to carpe diem and come with as well! :) We are staying in apartments in all 3 places with kitchens and washer/dryer. Should be one fantastic trip. I have spent umpteen hours researching everything, where to stay, where to eat, what to do... trip advisor is my best freaking friend. Chris however, I know, is tired of seeing a laptop in front of my face. We finally have everything at least all booked so finalizing an itinerary of sorts is pretty much all I have left. I have been listening to Greek language CDs from the library every morning on my 40 min drive to work, so I'm excited to test out my skill :) (or lack there of, HA!) I've learned in my french speaking background that even after almost completing my major in French, once you get there and attempt to speak with native speakers it's a whole new world :)
Here is a view from where we are staying in Santorini:

So the famous question, Are we completely loco taking a toddler to Santorini Greece?? An island famous for cliffs, stairs, it's volcano caldera, and water? Well..... maybe. LOL, I anticipate that there will be some challenges, but everything in life worth anything comes with it's own set of challenges, right?! I swore up and down before we had G that I wouldn't let kids dictate my every life choice. Santorini is on my bucket list, and I figure pretty much every experience in life is what you make of it. If it's too rough, we can always take a boat and explore a new island for a day, or three;)

So besides our trip, another exciting happening is my sis Katie is pregnant with baby Mercer #3!!!! Due at the end of March, I can hardly wait, I will have another snuggly nephew SO SOON! I am throwing her a baby shower on the 10th and am pumped to celebrate the bebe with everyone!

 I LOVE throwing showers and parties because it always makes the best incentive to clean and work on the house! We hit the one year mark of being in our house 1/16. I can't believe a year has gone by since we moved in! We are slowly but surely still making our way through the house repainting, redecorating and making the home "ours". This fall we had our deck power washed and restained. It looks much better. We also repainted the banister, the entry, kitchen, dining and living, hallways of first floor, and finally furnished whole first floor! Next on the list I believe will be our bedroom. I would LOVE to redo our master bath too but that expensive project will have to wait until we hit the lottery or finish paying off our student loans! I will post pictures of all our updates soon!

Greyson update in my next post, I am getting carpal tunnel as I type and my computer is about to set a small brush fire on my bed! Peace out blog world!