Friends and House - 1st Month Back in Portland

I have had a lot more time with all 3 kids together all day alone than my routine in Munich.  Yeah, you guessed right, it's been really trying and annoying at times but I have caught some incredibly sweet and hilarious moments too.




I do miss getting more chances to have one-on-one time with my kids but those really good moments I get trump the "stop whining, stop screaming, stop crying, stop pulling hair, stop biting, no hitting, give that back to her, sharing is caring, can't understand you when you're whining, talk in a normal voice" moments.  Overall, it's good.  It's crazy and loud and getting an adult conversation in whether it's over Skype, phone, or before bedtime is about as possible as me ever going camping alone in the wilderness by choice, but I'm good.

The Beast (our new house) is progressing nicely.  It's not easy getting through appointments with blinds guys, painters, cabinetry installers, shades installers, contractor, and a carpenter while my kids annoy the heck out of me (stuffing an entire half sandwich in your mouth and then proceeding to cry/choke while mommy fishes the yucky guck out in soggy chunks with her fingers while trying to flip through sample books and talk through samples is a good example of that) but what really shines through is a combination of good old friendly US customer service and the promise of getting paid a lot of money by us equals some really nice patient people tolerating my children.

I am really excited about moving into our new house.  It reminds me of our move to Munich a little bit.  We don't want any what if's, only o wells, in our life.  It feels so crazy but also so right to stay in the city in this neighborhood we know and love in this quirky old house raising our kids.

Looking back at January, I have had such a blast reuniting with good friends and feeling so comfortable, welcome, and at home so quickly as well as becoming a Pinterest and Houzz junkie working on turning our beast into our beauty is what I'll remember.  It feels like the to do list has just kept on going since we started the process of buying the house back in November.  I hope I'll also remember that even though I strongly miss some of the day to day routine of Munich (like walking and biking as the norm,  feeling safe, and the friends I adore there) I'm proud of Lily for being such an easy going independent Lily recently going to her new preschool with no reservations, only excitement.  I'm thrilled to see Paul and Elise having more moments of playing, giggling, and really talking to each other.  Even though Paul is the talker, singer, and general noise maker of the two, Elise is starting to noise it up a bit more and it makes me want to hug her even more than I usually do.

Hopefully we get to move into our new house in another week.  We're definitely ready.

Friends crew out for dinner

 Monday Night Girls Night 10+ year strong.  Missed you there Katie.

 Lily with our oldest buddy Sammy.

 Fun visit with my sister's mother in law and her sister in law.  Love that they are only in Seattle.

 Lily with her preschool buddy Liana and German-speaking buddy Maja

 Eric and Christy regular get togethers picked up as easy as pie.

 Fun visit with our old Munich neighbors who now live in Seattle.

Park time in beautiful January weather.

 Heading to Family Friday get together with Paul's hopefully soon to be good buddy Milo.  In the background is Lily's Kindergarten as of this Fall.

 Paul is my very particular little boy demanding a specific color bowl, a fork and a spoon for his cereal, and only the best wine glass temporary housing has to offer for his OJ.

Hello Portland

We made it.  The story of our travel back is far from boring.  The story has both heroes and villains, moments of laughter,  struggle, and stress.  It has enough tears of sadness to make you almost want to stop listening (as well as everyone else on our 2nd flight) but then tears of joy to make it all ok again.  Most important are that our 3 kids and 2 cats are accounted for and our luggage made it as well.  We will miss all our friendly overseas flight neighbors that played with our kids and offered up their iPad but will not miss the dramatic self centered neighbor on our domestic flight that needed to change seats, wanted our cats checked, and stated loudly enough times to make me want to punch her in the face "WHO DOES THIS?  TRAVEL WITH THESE KIDS AND 2 CATS?  I CANNOT TAKE THIS." Paul's crying was one of his worst episodes ever, so bad that we had a flight attendant come up to us kneel down and so sweetly ask us if there was anyone waiting for us in Portland to help us and if she could somehow help.   My tears of joy came from such a wonderful surprise by some of our dearest friends welcoming us back at the airport.  One of life's moments I will vividly remember and helps me already dull the pain from the journey.  Thank you friends.

Jet lag was the final part of our journey that left us a week after arrival.  Our first week back was thankfully full of seeing friends and we loved every second of it. I love Portland but I LOVE my friends here so much.  Seeing them easily made up for the crap sleep schedule the first week….easily.

Saw the house we bought for the first time today.  It's such a beast of a house.  This beautiful old beast that's rough around the edges but with so much potential, it's overwhelming.  We close tomorrow and plan to celebrate by eating take out on the floor of our empty house.

Our temporary apartment is working well enough.  Twins are sharing a room and is working out fine so far.  We are living it up suburb style - lots of driving with the single perk of being able to walk to a strip mall. woo hoo.  I've driven more in the last week than I have in the last few months in Munich.

This was our last family pic in Munich before flying out.  I have a feeling our next family pic will be in front of our new house.

Going through customs in Las Vegas.  This is one of 3 luggage carts.

Kids passed out in Vegas while jazz flute and slot machines play non-stop on our 7 hour layover.