thirty

So, I'm a few weeks into this whole "being 30" gig and it feels...well, it feels....the same. How anti-climactic.  I will be honest though, I was worried about it. Leaving my twenties just makes me feel different. Not physcially, or even emotionally. Mentally, it's a new chapter. Twenties have signified a lot for me: marriage, new homes, a first born, second, and third, jobs and career changes.  Thirty came at a time when I already felt like the most important things in my life were already changing so much (and getting older..hello children who aren't babies), and then to enter a new decade just gave me a new feeling. I haven't quite put a finger on it though. I guess I have another nine years to figure it out.

This is what makes it. The happiness, the joy, the contentment. It comes from this.

Kate came in from Chicago, so that was a special treat for everyone. Declan still insists that Aunt Kate lives 'downtown' and can't be convinced that it takes a plane ride to see her, not a 15 minute car ride. They miss her deeply, but luckily she makes such an impression that she's tough to forget.

Isabella (mom) got me (herself) the new Taylor Swift CD because dance parties can't ever occur too much around here. And we are never, ever, ever getting back together is so permanantly engrained in my brain that it hurts. Declan loves a girl who can sing and his request for "John Smith, no...I mean Taylor Smith, no....Taylor Swift, and she's a girl! Because Taylor can be a girl name too!" is never ending.
I will say though, dancing around the living room is something that we grew up doing. We didn't do tv as kids. We did music. So many nights after dinner, I remember moving the coffee table, picking out a tape and twirling around the living room. Girls fighting over who could stand on my dad's feet and Taylor trying to act like he wasn't into it (he was definitly into it).  These kids love to dance and the memories that it evokes for me are strong ones. I want that for them.

It's really quite hilarious. When we turn on the music, Quinn's hands immediatly go to her hips (she learned this from Isabella's ballet class). Even in the car, all strapped into her carseat, if the music is on, the hands are on the hips.

I don't even know...I'm pretty sure Declan and Eleanor were playing babies prio to this picture being taken. He was clearly the baby.

In the midst of Halloween, Isabella being sick, THE birthday, election day excitement and a hellacious transition back to school after being out sick for a week, we also got a contract on our house.
It's been exciting. More than that, it's been stressful. Closing time is right around the corner and a ball of nerves sits center stage on our kitchen island until this is all over (or just beginning I should say...). We have been really lucky in that Ryan's parents are letting us stay in their basement apartment until we find somewhere to call home. The pickings are slim in the location we are trying to get into, so we will see. The kids are beyond excited and although we tried to keep it all low key until we "sealed the deal," they are smart and figured it all out before we even told them what was going on. Declan is our packing master and we can make him happy by simply letting him pack a box. He seriously loves it...maybe too much. I always get deeply emotional when we move and it has already begun. I know this is the right decision for us. It is what we want and what we have really been working towards. We are very happy about this new step (whatever it may be...).

Election day was a big build up this year too. I remember the elections, four years ago when Declan was a little baby. Isabella tagged along with Mia and had her first voting experience and this year I braved the lines and took all three kids to the tiny church down the road.  We had a pretty decent wait and the kids were a little confused. One man asked Declan who he was voting for and he confidently told him. When we walked in to the voting area Declan called out "where's Obama?"  I picked him up and gave him a quick explanation as to why the candidates weren't actually there and then Isabella said "this is not what I thought it would be like...I thought Obama and ORomney were going to be on stage and we would get to go up and vote...like point to the one we want."  We had a little voting lesson and left with our little stickers that they were oh so proud of.

As I mentioned before, Quinn is in ballerina mode. Eleanor passed down her old ballet shoes and Quinn hasn't taken them off since. Well, that's not true. When I put her footie pjs on, she tries to squeeze them on and they just don't fit so she cries for a little bit and then agrees to just holding onto them. Girl is obsessed. From the moment her little feet hit the floor and her mop of a bed head comes out into the kitchen, she is already asking where her "ballerina stuff" is. She tells me "I need my ballerina clothes and my tap shoes (really, her ballet shoes) and you put my hair in a hair tie (a 'bun') and put music on. I do ballerina dancing."  And during any transition where we leave ballerina mode, she restates the same phrases only adding on "When I am done taking my nap/eating lunch/going to the library, I need my ballerina clothes, and my tap shoes......"

If ballet classes didn't cost an arm and a leg, we might have just put all three in the class. It's not uncommon to see Declan sporting the leotard and ballet shoes as well. Sometimes he'll mix it up with a pirate costume or a dress shirt and pants, but it all depends on who's in "charge."

It's going to be a big year, yet I'm pretty sure I say that every year. We are in a smooth routine and the kids are content with where they fall. If there is one thing that public school has given us, it's a schedule like we've never had and routines like we never expected. Too bad disruptions never cease to exist...