Lengthy and rambly. No apologies.

After just 2 weeks on the market our house sold. We got to pick our favorite offer of 3. So our personal experience is that the market is recovering, but the banks hate our guts anyway. We sold because we couldn't refinance because AJ is a 1099 employee instead of W2 . . . grrr. Anyway, marvelous blessings amidst trials, so let's just focus on those.

Apartment shopping was almost fun with the boys, because it's so fun to run around in empty rooms and hide in kitchen cabinets and stuff. I was still relieved when the search was over. H still enjoys shutting E into closets these days. Sometimes E enjoys it for a few seconds, too.

We moved about 5 miles away. It's been hectic enough that I (obviously) haven't blogged in ages, but that doesn't mean the cuteness or the stories have stopped. If only life would stop for a week so I can get all the moving done and over with, but it just has to be fit in somehow.

Just this morning, AJ was asleep on the couch and I came in to find E sitting on his daddy's chest, reading him a story about farm animals.

With the nice weather, we've been doing a lot of park hopping. There are so many good ones in the area we can pick and choose. Sometimes I'll even take 4 kids in diapers all by myself to the park (my 2 plus Bells' 2). Once I took all 4 to the library. ONCE.

H turned 3 and it was the best time of his life. The cupcakes, the singing, the presents . . . magical. He still talks gleefully about it.

E is 18 months and an absolute hoot. He's learning to communicate a bit, he loves walking backwards and climbing up everything, and he's enthusiastic about everything.

What is this, a family Christmas letter? But it really has been a long time since I blogged, and everyone says to treasure these years of cuteness and I already don't remember hardly anything. Also, I think the people telling me to treasure all this don't remember the fits that get thrown at every diaper change, the blatant disobedience, the unwelcome early mornings and that nothing is safe unless it's at the top of the fridge, and only so much will fit up there. But it is kind of funny that when H is being naughty and he knows it he'll close his eyes. You know, so we can't see him being naughty.

Jack in the best outfit I've ever seen.

E wearing H's baseball helmet backwards, looking like a storm trooper in jammies, riding on his "motorcycle"