Halloween 2014

Stopping in quick to share a few (several) pictures from our Halloween week.  It was Mila's first one and it was a cold one!  I had been planning their costumes for months and when the seven-day forecast showed chilly temps. and windy conditions for our trick-or-treat night, we took advantage of the beautiful weather the weekend before and did some practicing.  The farmer's market in downtown Waterloo hosted a Halloween event for kiddos, followed with trick-or-treating at all the downtown businesses.  I got the firetruck wagon ready, thankfully found Cruz's orange pumpkin before it got packed, and dressed the kids in their fireman best before strolling down fourth street and filling their pumpkin with oodles of candy.

  

It was gorgeous outside and I was practically skipping down the sidewalk watching the two of them dressed in their matching costumes, convinced I will dress them alike for as long as they'll let me.  This was the first year Cruz completely understood the concept of trick-or-treating.  He pranced from one door to the next, proclaiming, "trick-or-treat-Halloween" to anyone holding a bowl of candy.  Mila sat happy as a clam in her wagon, smiling at strangers and causing quite the stir.  We walked over the bridge and all the way down Fourth Street, stopping for a coffee and a sticky bun at Cottonwood Canyon and attempting to stop Cruz from eating every Tootsie Roll in his bucket.  

Cruz had two Halloween parties at school this year, one on Thursday afternoon with his preschool class and one on Friday morning with his daycare buddies.  He wanted to wear his Spiderman costume and match his friends, who all dressed as superheros, ninja turtles, or, and this may surprise you, characters from Frozen.  Mila dressed as a character, too, and I threw together a Minnie Mouse costume using her sweet Minnie sweatshirt all the way from Disney.  I hung at a daycare for the morning, played with Mila and her baby friends and watched Cruz march with his class at the Halloween parade.  

Friday night, we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for the very last time.  Jordan and Kelli, Charly and Hayes, and my Mom and Dad came over and we bundled the littles up for a quick stroll to some nearby houses.  As always, our neighborhood lit up the night sky with porch lights and the kids had a ball scooting from house to house.  Our intentions of just one block turned into a good hour of tricks and treats and for the most part, the kids did it all by themselves.  It's been such a joy to watch them grow from year to year, to remember their sweet costumes, and to celebrate this simple holiday in such a storybook way.  This night has always made me feel as if I live within the pages of a children's book.  I love it all.

Afterwards, we removed layers, handed out candy to other trick-or-treaters, and attempted to monitor the candy consumption of our costumed creatures.  It was bittersweet to be there, all crammed in our house, the walls lined with packed boxes, knowing it would likely be the last time we were all there together.  We ended the night with Pablos' tacos, chip and rice sandwiches, and kiddos up well past their bedtimes.  

When we returned home, though, there was one last thing to do with Cruz.  All day, I had been explaining the art of candy sorting, a ritual I always did when I was a child.  Cruz was intrigued, so while Beau put Mila to bed, we piled on our bed, dumped his pumpkin out, and sorted piece by piece while Casper played on TV.  Cozy under covers, we ended our Halloween with monster books and ghost stories, fit for a fireman, a spiderman, or my own little monster who is so fun to share these holidays with.        

SOLD! And a little about our next chapter...

That's right, the Jorgensens are jumping ship!  Back in June, I wrote a post about our plans to dig a hole and build a house in Cedar Falls.  We've been dreaming up plans to build for, well, a long time, and the new development we will soon call our home has been a slow, unyielding process getting started.  It's been a blessing, really, as it's given us time to get settled as a family of four and figure out what we really want and need in a floor plan, but it's come with more challenges that I could have ever foreseen, even though every one under the sun warned me about it!  The biggest blessing, though, has been this charming pile of bricks behind me.  We put our house on the market at the beginning of September, not knowing how long it would take to sell and wanting to avoid the slow market of the winter and holiday season.  Well, our house sold within a week of sticking that sign in the ground.  We enjoyed a week's worth of sparkly clean, show-ready status and were floored when we got a call from our realtor so soon, especially after we were told time and time again how slow the market is right now.  We were prepared for it to sit, but were not prepared for it to sell so quickly!  The offer was hard to pass up, even though when we got the call our basement was just being dug!  The timing was not ideal, but, we praised God for a speedy sale and moved on to climbing the next mountain.  

Fast forward two months later and we finally have that SOLD sign in our front yard.  The months between our initial offer and all the rigamarole that goes into financing, inspections, appraisals, etc. was definitely a test of our patience and our desire to control what's around us, but we learned to let go and focus on what we could control.  We continued to move forward on our house, projected to be move-in ready early 2015, and did our best to maintain normalcy for our kiddos.  Now, with just two nights left in this place we've called home for eight years, it's all starting to sink in.  It hits me at weird times, like when I pull the garage door opener off my car mirror and realize very soon, someone else will push the exact same button and pull their car into the exact same place I have for the past eight years.  It hits me when I look at our backyard, the leftover leaves and summer toys scattered throughout and realize we won't ever again lay under that shade tree and read books while we wait for Beau to get home from work.  It's the weirdest thing, handing over a piece of your identity by signing a paper, knowing you will likely never see it again.  So much of us exists inside these walls and it's hard to think that soon someone else will make a life here.  It's been just what we've needed, the perfect refuge to build our marriage on, bring our babies home to, and create our family's story.  Our roots are strong under this foundation, but we're taking the fruits of our labors with us, to plant new seeds and water new stories for our family in a house with lots of room to grow.  It's the most bittersweet feeling in the world, leaving behind something so dear to us, knowing that so much good lies ahead of it.

So now where are we going?  Well, as of this Thursday night, we will be taking up residence with my parents while we await our new house to be completed.  It's going to be quite the transition for all of us, but I am excited to spend the holidays close to family and take advantage of an extra set of hands or two while we finish up the decisions that go into building a house.  We've packed most of our belongings into storage and have plans to live simply this holiday season, giving our kids a different take on the holidays.  We've had our fair share of hustle and bustle this fall and I'm more than ready to slow down as much as we're afforded through the remainder of 2014.  It's a bit of thrill thinking of making a temporary nest in our soon-to-be close quarters, to have lots of time to drink tea and talk with my mom, and to give Cruz lots of Papa time for a few months.  It's going to be an adventure indeed, one we will soak up and make the most of.  My parents have been working so hard readying their house to make room for our family and we are so grateful.  It's truly taken a village and we are so thankful to have a good one.  

So, here we go.  It seems we've been packing for days and are finally seeing the end.  We're looking forward to one last night on Fleur Drive tomorrow.  We're planning on doing it right.  Takeout on the living room floor, mixed drinks with whatever's left from the pantry, and piling on mattresses for one last sleep in our rooms.  It doesn't get any better than that. :)    

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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2014"

Cruz: A handsome fireman this year.  He loved trick-or-treating and marched with his cousins up and down the street, saying, "trick or treat Halloween" at every doorstep.  Afterwards, Daddy put Mila to bed and I taught Cruz how to sort his candy.  We sorted the Hersheys from the Reeses, the suckers from the Skittles, and watched Casper snuggled up in our bed.  

Mila: Had three costumes this year.  Blame it on a mom who is spent on making housing decisions!  "Can't decide?  Might as well!" has been our approach as of late.  Mila was a fire doggie with her fireman brother for trick-or-treating, but I dressed her up in this Minnie Mouse ensemble for the Halloween parade at daycare.  The sweatshirt comes all the way from Disney World and made the perfect fashion statement with this little skirt I scored on a clearance rack at Kohls for 99 cents!  Kayla said she blew kisses during the parade and made everyone swoon. :)