Moving South!

We are putting our house up for sale and moving south! Ok, so not really but damn....I hate cold weather! The lovely winter weather we have been having has been messing with our basketball schedule, our school schedule, our winter programs, our last minute Christmas shopping, and our mood in general! We have had 1 early out, 2 snow days, and 3 basketball games postponed. We have really been hunkered down here.

I was lazy in getting a post done last week so I will do my best to catch you up. We are still enjoying our "quality time" together. Dana has been doing all the school and preschool drop offs and pick ups. He has also been doing all the grocery shopping. We tackled the painting of our entry, front room and office area this last week. Hope to tackle a bathroom or two, the stairwell and the toy room in the next month. Have a few last minute Christmas things to do but am feeling really good about that too.

The kids are in major countdown mode to the holiday break (the older two) and Christmas Day (the little two). Jordan has been busy with basketball, semester test prep, work, and Kelli. Abbey has occupied her time with show choir, home work, movies, reading, and babysitting. Carson and Emma are busy keeping up. Sure have been glad that a few events have been postponed. Don't like having them out when it is so cold! They are both looking forward to this week. Emma has pajama day at preschool tomorrow for their holiday party. Carson gets to celebrate his birthday tomorrow with his classmates and then on Tuesday Dad gets to join him for lunch and his holiday party.

Dana and I have been rearranging schedules, painting, bowling, celebrating, and shopping. Cut out the cold and life is darn good!

We hope that everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will do my best at posting over the next two weeks. Lots of family time planned! Wishing you all the best!


Dana and I celebrating a friend's 30th birthday!


Jordan before a home JV game.


Abbey reading on a wintery day.


Carson and Emma watching a movie together.

Santa visits

Wednesday evening The Sump Family was going about their normal business....when from their front door there arose such a clatter, we sprang from our positions to see what was the matter. : ) A visitor on a weeknight just never happens at our home so the little two are always intrigued by who might be at our door. The sounds of delight that erupted when Dana opened the door told me that the only person it could be was Santa Claus. Carson and Emma were so excited that they forgot to tell him what they were hoping for this Christmas. Santa asked them if they were being good and told them there was still lots of time left for them to be on their best behavior. Each got a Christmas ornament with their name on it and a candy cane. Santa was kind enough to let us snap one picture.



As I told you in the last post, Jordan was injured in the first game of the season last week. He did not suit for the JV game on Thursday which allowed him time to rest. He is feeling much better and back at 100%. We are thankful that he recovered quickly and can get back in it. Today the weather has halted the JV/V boys games. School was canceled due to icy conditions so all events are subsequently canceled. Another quiet night in our house. Abbey has been busy with the show choir preparing for the winter concert next week.

Dana is really enjoying his time off!

No...this isn't what he has been doing the whole time! He has really been working on getting some things organized. Hoping to start a painting project next week. He is smiling so much more and joking all the time. I have been wondering where this guy went. Kum & Go was sucking the life from him! : )

I am just enjoying everything! With Dana home I have been able to focus on a few small projects that are in need of some attention. One being my office area. Those of you that are here frequently know that my desk is a pig sty! I have actually been able to do some organizing in that area. I just feel that we are making great strides towards starting the New Year off in a very good place! So.....yes, it's all still good!

Thanksgiving and It's All Good!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We here in the Sump house enjoyed a quiet day together. Dana grilled a yummy turkey on the weber and I handled the rest. Your usual Thanksgiving turkey accompaniments. We all went around the table and said what we were thankful for.
Carson and Emma: "my family"
Abbey: "Thanksgiving break"
Jordan: "Singulair and my inhaler"
Dana: "a happy and healthy family"
Jamie: "that nobody said yuck when they sat down at the table"
We spent the afternoon putting up the Christmas tree and the kids played outside for a little bit. The wind was a little brisk so we lured them back in the house with decorating the tree.

Dana and I joined many others on a very early Friday morning for a little economic stimulus. I spend more time watching the other crazy people than I do getting what I need. It really is a spectacle. Dana and I usually go without the cart and carry our stuff. So much easier to maneuver around. I do feel we have a good handle on the shopping though.

Saturday was spent just doing stuff around the house. That is a never ending job. And then on Sunday we went over to Panora for a Thanksgiving celebration with Uncle Bill and Aunt Karen. The food was fabulous, as always! We spent the afternoon visiting and playing Uno Spin. My sister and her family were able to join us so the kids got to play together which doesn't happen often enough.

Several blogs back I eluded to a very exciting meeting that Dana was attending. Well, I can finally divulge that it involved a second interview and subsequent job offer with Casey's General Stores. (yes....the competition) Dana has accepted the offer of employment with their company and is scheduled to start on January 5th. He gave Kum & Go his 2 week notice last Wednesday and in a matter of 1 hour the email went out company wide that he was no longer with the company, his pass key had been taken away, and an exit interview completed. So....Dana is now enjoying some time off. 39 days to be exact. When he called and told me they were letting him go right away I immediately had to add things to my Honey Do list! Oh the things I am going to get done around here! : ) Many people have said this could be lead to the demise of our marriage. He has been a business traveler since the day we got married. Now we have lots of together time. I just tell people, if we could build this house together without it ending I think that 39 days will be a breeze.

All kidding aside, this is a great opportunity for him! Way more room for professional and personal growth with Casey's, 8:00 - 4:30 business hours, and very little, if any, travel. He will be working in their marketing department and will oversee everything in the cooler. Dana did a lot of different things for Kum & Go and now he just has the cooler to worry about. No equipment, no openings, no acquisitions or divestitures.

So right now he is enjoying taking the kids to school and catching up on some reading and things that need to be done here. Today he had the snowblower out and took care of a few driveways. I say, Great!! I was tired of "going all out". Now I say...."it's all good!"

Jordan started basketball this week. During his first game he was going for a loose ball and ended up having someone land on top of him. Right in his right clavicle area. He really looked like he was in pain. Said he heard a pop but everything looked ok and he had pretty good range of motion. He thought he would be ok and went ahead and suited last night for the varsity game. He only played a few minutes and looked like he was in quite a bit a pain. When he came home he thought maybe he should take a few days off. Not what you normally hear coming from his mouth. Dana took him in this morning for an x-ray and it was read as negative. Great news. Badly bruised and he is clear to play as he is comfortable. So, I think he is going to rest a few days and then try to get back into it. Doesn't like being on the bench needs to be in on the action.

I started a new little one this week. A 3 month old little guy from our neighborhood. Really fun having a little one in the house again. Kinda glad Dana is around to help out. Also enjoy the adult conversation!

So for right now....."it's all good!" Ask me again in a few more days! : )

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com