The xmas run down

Dec. 25. It came and it went too fast. I am one of those crazy holiday lovers. I have plastic bins for each holiday and Xmas has its own 10+ collection of bins. From xmas tree to holiday swag, I love Xmas. My favorite thing to do is wear holiday gear. Sometimes fashionable, and sometimes tacky. I'm still trying to find that right balance between too much and right on. Even Rosa, my Rav4, got into the Christmas spirit  dressing up as Rudolph. Couldn't miss her in any parking lot.

I love holidays I think because it represents so much about what is good in the world, represents our dreams, and have lots of glitter. Yes I love the holidays and I want so much to have my kids have wonderful memories of holidays, not just Christmas. We have movie marathons (really only one movie a night with these young kids, craft projects, dressing up in the holiday spirit (I as an elf), going to see lights, and of course getting pictures taken with Santa. But it seems so much harder now with kids to make everything magical. I think the stress of ending my job and starting a new one got to me, or that I've gained all my weight back (too much Xmas cookie baking) but I didn't get all my holiday gear and hats on this year. We hardly got to listen to all the Xmas CDs and I only got to see one adult Xmas movie (White Christmas). But something magically happened on Xmas this year - it snowed!. It really did which just made it all so better. So as I was rushing around the week leading up to Xmas I was hoping and wishing for snow to do its magic and it did.

Christmas this year was spent here in Delaware. Usually we go out to Oregon either for the holiday or New Year's but with a new job starting next week and moving, it was just too much stress for us to handle and I'm glad we stayed here. I couldn't imagine traveling with the kids during this time and coming back here to only enjoy a few moments of private family time before a new routine is set.

So Xmas eve we went to church service, Carlita danced, and the kids struggled through it - Luke and Karl ended u playing in the Great Hall and Carlita was doing flips all over the place. Then we got home and put the kids to sleep and Santa arrived with his reindeers. He was very glad to see oats and carrots for the reindeer (they traveled fast) and was thankful that we put glitter out in the yard in order to find us (there's not exactly a chimney here in Ray St. for him to come down through). The cookies I baked he enjoyed and flash he was gone.

Xmas day was fun - kids woke up at 7am and opened a present that was left under the kids' tree and then Carlita found the rest of the presents under the big tree in the living room. She went crazy opening presents and helping Luke do the same. Clothes, games, and art supplies were the highlights. But what Carlita wanted the most was a Barbie doll in a pink glittery dress with a crown and princess shoes. It wasn't left at our place but I got word from Santa that it might be at Sandra's (my sister's).

So after a morning of pancakes and presents, we headed to Maryland to my sister's. She was hosting her in-law family and when we arrived, their tree was bursting at the seams with presents. After a quick lunch, the gift opening extravandaza occurred. Carlita was intense with opening presents and helping others in finding their gifts. The highlight was Carlita getting not just one Barbie but 7 Disney Princess dolls from Santa. With her cousin Sofia, they got a total of 14 princesses, and we're not including all those other dolls they got each (baby dolls and Barbie).

Luke got a Hot wheels carrying case, a train set, and other great things. My favorite part of the opening of presents is the kids's reaction to the present, even though they don't know what it is. Finally the adults got to open presents and got a lovely house warming present from my sister, a welcome mat with "Kaliher" imprinted on it. The kids really enjoyed walking all over it, which was interesting considering it's rough.

After the present blitz, we had a lovely dinner made by my sister - pork shoulder. Yummy!!!! and then we left to stay over at my mother's in Frederick, MD. Unfortunately as we got to bed we got news of the incoming snow storm and made a decision to return to Delaware in the morning of the 26th, which was my sister's birthday. We had huge plans for her - she was going to re-new her wedding vows with the same priest that married her and Mike, and then Mike's family and I would decorate the house and surprise Sandra with a party. I already had the cake (Carvel ice cream cake - a tradition for our family) planned out. But with the snow storm coming in, we had to get the cake and balloons and set up this party right away in the morning at her house and leave by 10am, which we did. Sandra was surprised by the party and the thoughtfulness that went into planning a "surprised" party.

So we drove back to Delaware in hopes to be snowed in. We barely got one inch of snow but Carlita and Karl had a blast in the snow. It was really windy so when Luke went out, they didn't last too long. We spent the next 24 hours playing and watching Xmas Children special. What a great way to enjoy the holidays! I'm so glad we stayed here in Delaware to enjoy our Ray St. apartment for the last time and make some good holiday memories. Thank you Santa for the glitter (aka snow and presents)!

The last month of the year

I can't believe 2010 is over. It seems like it sped all the way the last month. It was almost impossible to get on this blog to talk about all the happenings because there were just so much.

First, my professional career is coming to a close at the University of Delaware. I've been here for 8 years and am excited for a new adventure. I will miss my students and staff the most. I received great gifts from each group I advise (RSA gave me a scrapbook, RSAC thank you cards, and SIH an engraved picture frame). I spent alot of time "downloading" my brain to individuals who need information to keep Ray St. afloat. Actually, Ray St. and RSA and SIH will be fine. I have a great staff and student leaders who have stepped up since my announcement in late Oct. to leave this job. As tradition, I had the "last supper" with my staff on Friday evening (the day the halls closed). Gifts, stories, and tears were exchanged. Though I don't start my new job at temple until Jan. 6th, it really was an ending now in Dec. for all my relationships at UD. I had last lunches with UD friends and individuals who have supported me through the past years. It's been a long journey, to say the less. One of my colleagues stated "You did it your way!". You can say that again. I really never imagined myself being at UD this long, and never imagined that I would be Dr. Lulu now. Though I believe you can have a 5-10 year goal/plan, really you can't. You can't forecast the future and the possibilities that await you. It is bitter-sweet leaving UD. I wished certain things were different in my department but I have learned alot and will take alot from this experience. Thank you UD for pushing me to my potential, and helping me make lifelong friends.

Click here to see my last Ray St. staff photos

Second, the month of Dec. was packed with family activities, mostly related to church events and Carlita performing. We had Carlita singing in her chorus, being an angel in the Xmas Pageant, and dancing at the Xmas eve mass.  Then we had Xmas parties at Luke's Daycare and at Carlita's school where I dressed up as an elf (yes that's my own costume).

I also had a going away party for Carlita on her last day at the Early Learning Center, since we will be taking her out of there to stay home for a month in order for us to start saving money for a house. Carlita actually wasn't too upset about this. If she could, she would stay home all the time. So when the week of Dec. 20th came with no students around you would think I had plenty of time to wrap things up here but I was on speed to get Xmas and everything ready for the holidays. Xmas cards were finally sent out (over 150 cards made). Presents finally purchased and more packing done. Unfortunately, I lost my keys in the Toys-r-us parking lot so I had to get a new driver's license and keys. Not the way I wanted to be spending my week.

Third, I'm transitioning into a new lifestyle - where my work will be seperate from my homelife. For most of the world, this is true but for me the past 18 years I've only known campus life and living in the residence halls. I get what it's going to be like having to get up early in the morning to travel to Philly and get back home late. I'm in mourning of losing a lifestyle that is flexible and adjustable. I can do whatever I want, whenever I need to at any hour of the day. Now I have to pack in work from 8 to 4:30pm. People at work won't know me as a mother and my homelife (other than they reading my blog and me talking about it which I will). It will just be different. Karl is excited about it and I think the kids (at least Carlita) is excited but for me I'm sad. I'm sad that I won't be able to work out in the morning, take a shower and eat lunch in my apartment, and get to work in the afternoon and do meetings at night. I'm going to be sad learning about my students at all hours of the night, and getting to bond with them over the little things. Now I'm seperate from them more and will need to work alot harder to make those connections, but my job is different and I will need to do different things as the job requires.

So thank you 2010 for a wonderful year. It's been intense and exciting. I've achieved all my goals and you have been good to me. I hope 2011 brings more of the same.

See you all in 2011.

raystaff-dec (92 photos), by Licinia kaliher

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Days 4-12 of Cookies - Lulu style

Sorry I haven't gotten back to telling you how my 12 days of cookies. Before I give you the run-down, I have to say this was lots of fun (and work to do). I think this will be a new tradition for me to make the 12 days of cookies, no matter what type of cookie it is. It really challenged me in my baking skills and my ideas of what is tasty as a cookie.  I also realized I need a better mixer, something like a KitchenAid stand mixer would have made the time go faster and make all the dough quicker. Here's the final run-down from Day 4-12 the cookie adventure. For Day 1 and my favorite cookie to make from this adventure, click here and for day 2-3, click here to read that blog post.

Day 4: Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti
When I saw the picture and read the recipe to this "cookie", I was convinced I couldn't make it. No way I could make a biscotti, which I didn't consider a cookie. Boy was I wrong. I did change the main ingredient, dried cherry to dried cranberries, which I think helped me like the recipe better. It did take some time to make the dough (I have a hand mixer which started smoking due to all the mixing I was doing). My main issue was how to make the shape of a biscotti. What I did was put the dough on a cookie sheet and spread it out with a rolling pin. that helped with the shape and size. Once the cookies were baked, I set up a dipping station with melted chocolate chips and different types of sprinkles to put on the biscotti. Carlita and Karl got very involved in the making of these cookies. I must say that I was highly impressed by my own skills with the end product. They were so tasty and better than those in the stores or Starbucks. Will definitely make them again next year to give away as gifts.

Day 5: Giada's Lemon Ricotta Cookies With Lemon Glaze
OMG! These cookies melt in your mouth. when people ate these cookies, they wanted the recipe so badly. I can't tell you how easy and delicious these cookies are. With ricotta as one of the ingredients, you can't go wrong. I followed the recipe and the cookies came out perfect. They didn't last long in the house either.
This will become of one of my holiday cookies for years to come.

Day 6: Claire Robinson's Turtle Graham Bars
This was very fun and easy to make. My only issue is the syrup/sauce isn't thick enough. It kinda made the cookies moister than they should have been. The concept is great but not truly a favorite for everyone. you definitely have to like the "non-cookie concept of this recipe.

Day 7: Sandra's Raspberry Cake Bar
 Yummy!!! This was so easy to make (Thanks Sandra!). A total of 5 ingredients. Amazing! and fast to do. Instead of raspberry I used strawberry jam for the filling. It was more moist than it should have been but again it was worth it. Loved making these cookies due to the layering of the filling. Definitely a recipe I will used to impress the office or company.

Day 8: Sunny's Holiday PB&J Thumbprints 
Tasty, easy, delicious, tasty. And did I say easy! Make the dough, put in the filling (I used strawberry jam and chocolate chips melted for the middle), and bake. Cookies were a big hit and something I will make over and over again for years to come!

Day 9: Melissa's Fruit and Nut Shortbread
When I saw this recipe, I was excited to see how the chocolate chips and fruit would mix. This recipe was a grand FAILURE. The shortbread mix was wrong, and the topping taste gross. Really - I threw these away within one night. It definitely wasn't my errors in making these cookies - it's just a bad recipe. Maybe you need to have a certain taste buds to like the combination of orange orange marmalade, pecans dried cranberries, and chocolate chips.

Day 10: Alton's Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
 When I saw the picture and video for these cookies, I was so excited to make them. But I quickly learned to hate this recipe. I made two batches of these cookies, both times they didn't work out well. The first time I used pre-made sugar cookie dry ingredients. I messed up on the order of the cooling times for the dough. But I did everything by the book. the final product was too thin and the cookies got overcooked. There was also way too much candy cane/peppermint in the cookies so I tried a second time, determined to get this right. This time I made the sugar cookie from scratch, following Alton's directions. I did put less peppermint in. I cut the cookies bigger but immediately I could see I had issues with my dough - it was cracking. I baked them - looked better but still cooked too long. So in the end these cookies took way too long for the little satisfaction they gave us.

Day 11: Marcela Valladolid’s Polvorones (Walnut Meltaways)
These cookies, otherwise known as mexican wedding cookies, are amazing!!! I didn't change anything from the recipe and they came out so good. They do include walnuts so I think you can take those out if you have someone who's allergic to nuts (like I do).

Day 12: Guy's Craisy Oatmeal Cookies
Great cookie to make. I stayed true to the recipe, even though I'm not a big oats eater but these cookies were goners! Carlita enjoyed making these and made one huge cookie for herself. Very easy to make and tasty. Definitely going to make these every year.

Snow Day of fun

Finally snow fell onto Delaware. Here's a video of Karl and Carlita's fun in the snow.

Holidays videos and pictures

Quick post of all the videos and pictures from Xmas. More stories to come later once we recover.

Dance at Xmas Eve mass: Carlita the littlest one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj4Z1jJuyJ8

14 princesses: Carlita gets disney princesses : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1dwLLC3pho

Carlita and her dolls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuiEeDYa2LU

Carlita finding presents under the tree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfE4XA4H6e8

Luka kids open more presents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lecU1EIsL34

Angels fliying : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BafElkye9so

opening first presents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPM6mulqwPk

opening presents at sandra's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1jGKff1Nho


Grown ups open presents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0KhZZCTXY

xmas day pictures: http://photo2.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=10888108006/a=5280473006_5280473006/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

Carlita sings

Carlita singing in the St. Thomas  Little lights group. She's the loudest one - just in case you couldn't hear her.

Day 2 and 3 Food Network 12 days of cookies

I was so excited with day 1 cookies by Paula Deen that I couldn't wait for the rest of the days.

Day 2: Aarti's Ginger Cookie With Garam Masala

Aarti is one of my favorite cooks on the Food Network. We watched her win the "next Food Network star" contest and have watched her new show, Aarti's Party. She would definitely be a friend of mine. So when I saw these cookies, I was excited to try them. We skipped only one ingredient, the indian spice, which I believe might make these cookies taste better. It was a bit of hard work to make these cookies, from the mixing to cooling them. They basically came out to be basic gingerbread cookies. Nothing fancy about them. Carlita did enjoy decorating them. Maybe next time we should add the indian spice!

Day 3: Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Macaroons

Now I don't like coconut but I had committed myself to make every cookie that came into my email inbox. These are my LEAST favorite cookies due to my personal dislike of cookie but they were easy to make and took very little time to bake. Coconut shavings, 1 can of condensed milk, vanilla abstract, and 2 egg. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes and that's it. Fortunately other people liked  coconut and the cookies were gone but they did take several days to disappear out of my house.

12 days of Cookies - Food Network style

So I started on a new kick to bake every cookie that came out of the 12 days of cookies by the Food Network. I was a cookie making machine the past days. So I'll be writing up posts on each cookie, giving info on how I did making each cookie and my review on the recipe.


Day 1: Paula Deen's chocolate Gooey cookies
This woman knows how to to cook. These cookies ARE MY FAVORITE of all the 12 days. Really... I'm making them again and again and again. It can't get easier than this: A block of cream cheese, a stick of butter, an egg, a dash of vanilla abstract, and one box of cake mix (chocolate). Then make into a ball, roll them around in confectioner's sugarput on cookie sheet, cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, and that's it! These cookies lasted maybe 2 days in our apartment, with all my staff stopping by to eat them. I even sent a batch off to Carlita's daycare!  Make them yourselves!

Holiday family shots

We had our friend, Jimmy, come over to take our annual holiday family pictures. With our place all decorated for the holidays, I really wanted pictures done right in our Ray St. apartment. I think the pictures came out great and we have a great holiday card for you all to see. Enjoy the pictures.

Visiting Santa

Our church has a crafts bazaar last weekend and who showed up but Santa!!! The kids got pictures taken with him and Carlita couldn't stop bugging him. that Santa really knew how to handle her. She must have been a very good girl this year. Luke got a little Santa but he was a bit scared by the big man in red. Maybe next year he "gets it".

o Baby!

Our dear friends, Tara and mike (the godparents to Carlita) are having a baby girl (Emma). She will be born sometime in Jan.

So the planning for the baby shower started in Sept. under wraps. Mike was in on it the whole time but somehow Tara never found out! Good job for us. Nikki, Tara's co-worker, really was the mastermind behind the planning and decorating ideas. Really, she outdid herself (and definitely bets me in the energy arena). She made these amazing snowglobe favors with Emma's ultrasound picture with pink booties and hat. In a winter wonderland theme, the colors were silver, blue, and and a splash of pink. Cindy, another co-worker, loaned out her house (thank you!) and the party decorating started in the afternoon. A Xmas tree was brought in and decoration sprung up like weeds. Lights, balloons, ornaments, favors, and table linens cut as snowflakes.

The plan was to have everyone arrived at 4pm and Tara and Mike arrive at 5pm for a "work dinner with friends". This included Tara's family from Georgia. I haven't seen them in 6 years since the wedding. It was so great to see them. so we turned off the lights and hide in rooms. Tara came in talking about her milkshake and boom she surprised her. then she entered the decorated room and BOOM she was surprised by her family. Overwhelming tears and happiness was everywhere.

So Mike was sent away for the ladies-only party. Food and drinks were served (very good meatballs and dip) and then it was cake time. Finally PRESENTS!!!! Always the best part of the party. Tara and Mike got great items for little Emma.

So enjoy the pictures and videos of our great friends, Tara and Mike. We can't wait til Emma gets here.





Pics

First weekend of Dec.

It seems like every weekend is packed of adventures. The first Friday of Dec. we always participate in the reindeer run, an annual 5k race in downtown Newark to raise funds for the Special Olympics. this year we didn't run but went out for the fun and a chance to see Santa. Enjoy the pics!

Carlita in paper

You know this is becoming such a norm in our house when Carlita says as I point her out in the paper " yeah I'm always in the newspaper". This time she was at the Xmas tree lighting in town last week. She's the one wearing the pink jacket and antlers in the first paper. In the second picture, she's sitting on Santa's lap (pic at bottom left). She's so popular!

 

5 Turkeys, 4 meals, and unlimited left-over: Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year will go down as the year of too much turkey. We had 4 turkey dinners to attend. FOUR!!! Here's the break-down of the Turkey eat-off.

Dinner #1: Early Learning Center Turkey Luncheon. Carlita's pre-school had a turkey lunch for us parents. Very cute. We got our food and got to eat along side Carlita in her classroom. Very fun. '

Dinner #2: Creative Beginnings Learning Center dinner. Luke's daycare hosted its 2nd annual turkey dinner in the Great Hall of our church. We all brought a dish (I brought salad) and had a lovely time with the kids and the other families.


Dinner #3: Turkey Dinner fun at Ray St.
It was that time of year for the grand Turkey Dinner, hosted by my complex and Special Interest housing. I went shopping with the Cuisine community for 5 turkeys, bread, and endless amount of potatoes and cranberry. Yes you read it right ... 5 Turkeys. We were suppose to get 6 but we decided we didn't need it. So on Sunday, Nov. 17th we got up early at 8am to start the turkey cooking. The turkeys had a nice cold bath the night before. They got cleaned up, seasoned, and into the ovens for several hours. Cooking for all the side dishes started in the afternoon. The dinner was suppose to start at 6pm but we moved it up to 5pm because the food was ready to go. 4:45pm there was a line of over 50 people waiting for the food. Check out the pictures of the event but it rocked!!! I'm very proud of the Cuisine community for their hard work and dedication to putting this event on.



Dinner #4: Our own Thanksgiving happenings
So Thanksgiving finally came and we went to my sister's in Maryland for Thanksgiving. The weather was okay (raining heavily for most of it) so Karl and Mike (my BIL) worked on Sofia's new play castle (yes Mike is making it a fancy -drawn out castle). We had a good family time at Sandra's. Then it came time to go over to my mother's place for some manual labor ( on Saturday). You see, Sandra (my sister) brought a new shed for the backyard to replace the rusty, aged, animal invested shed. Karl and I arrived first at Mother's. Luke wasn't feel so good so he went to bed while Carlita watched Dora videos. But the real adventure was outside where Karl and I with our bare hands took down this rusty-tin roof shed. We had to remove all the boxes within the shed first. Unfortunately as we did, we found mice in boxes. YIKES!!!! Once everything was removed, it was time for demolition.  I kicked, pulled, and unscrewed metal panels. Karl and I had a blast taking down this yucky shed!

Mike and Sandra arrived and got to work on the new base for the new shed they purchased for Mother. the day was complete and we went back to Sandra's for the night. Then Sunday we were back to Mother's with determination to get the shed up and down by night fall, which it did. It really took several people to get it all together but now no more animals will come in and destroy our stuff.




So that was our adventures in Turkey eating. We have so much left-overs frozen, it really can feed a whole floor. At least we have meals to invent.

Oct./Nov. Family fun

Boy have we been missing in action on our blog. Sorry everyone. It really fell to the side with all the job searching, getting a job, housing considerations, etc. decisions we have been making. So this post will highlight last month's family events.

 Kelly and Michelle's Maui Wedding, Oct. 16
Karl's sister got married over the weekend of Oct. 16th in Maui, Hawaii. Though we all would have loved to have gone, we couldn't so Karl went in our honor. Karl started traveling on Thursday, getting to Maui by Friday. Wedding was on Saturday and he flew back out Sunday night to arrive in Philly by Monday afternoon. The wedding was beautiful and perfect for Kelly and Michelle.  So excited for them and their new live together as a married couple. Congrats to you two!!!


Click here to view photos


Dare to be fit 5k, Oct. 21
I participated in a fitness program on campus through our Employee Wellness Center and had a 5k race as part of it. It was a bit dark but a fun event to do. I ended up in 2nd place for my age group. Very exciting.
Click on picture to go to album.


Halloween: Oct. 28-30
O halloween fun. We had a very busy week with Halloween events. First my residential complex had a Freak Week, with events each night. Then everyday the kids got dressed in halloween costumes. There were princesses, fairies, lady bug, cowboy, and just halloween gear. Finally halloween arrived. We went treat-or-tricking at Katja's house, an annual event we have done for the past three years. The girls were so cute in their outfits. Our family dresses in themes so this year's theme was Toy Story. Carlita was Jesse, which I made her costume from stretch. Luke was Woody (so cute), Karl was Ken and I was work-out latina Barbie. We had a blast and collected too much candy.

We also enjoyed the last weekends of apple picking at our favorite orchard, Milburn's. I baked like crazy apple pies left and right and apples for every meal. I was rather inventive with the use of apples.

Click here to view photos


Duty Weekend: Nov. 4-6 
This was important to highlight since it was my last weekend of duty at UD and boy was it active. I barely got any sleep with phone calls almost every hour. I know it'll be just the same at Temple but I really wished the concept of duty wasn't in our job description.


CAACURH conference: Nov. 12-14
Some of you know I am very passionate about advising and have had some drama in the past year with my current group, RSA (a residential student leader group). But this year ha been a different story. With new leadership and talent, the group has stepped it up and at a regional conference, they won 3 major awards. Click on Udaily article that I wrote on the win. I am extremely proud of them and their hard work. Shout out to my last RSA group to advise.





Newark turkey Trot 5k, Nov. 21
 Since I got to run a 5k in Oct, it was Karl's turn to run a 5k. This time it was for the annual Turkey Trot. Once of us every year runs this race. We love it but it's a tough course. With little training, Karl placed 4th in his age group by only 30 seconds. Go Karl! Very proud of him!

A New Beginning - life is about to get VERY interesting

So many of you may or may not know (or guessed) that I have been job searching since I graduate in May. Wanting to stay local near my family, I applied to over 55 jobs regionally. I did applied for jobs in the Chicago area and even had an offer (which I turned down). Finally after all the resume and coverletter revisions, HR applications, phone interviews, and 3 on-campus interviews, I have been offered and accepted a wonderful position at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA as their Asst. Director of Residence Life for Staff Recruitment and Development. Read about my journey on this blog posting, http://thesabloggers.org/2010/11/blind-date/ . This is very exciting and life-changing for us, since it will require us to move OFF-CAMPUS. More than that, it's a whole culture swift for me since I've been living on campus since 1992 (that's right for 18 years). Where will all my midnight knocks come from? Where's my instant community? All will be gone. But this is good for our family. Karl immediately started packing our place and the stress of finding a new place began.

After letting my current work and staff that I was leaving (I'm starting the new job Jan. 6th), Karl and I started the stressful process of deciding where to live. We went up to N. Philly where one of my new colleagues lives. Had a wonderful tour up there. Really loved the area but it would be a hike for Karl everyday (roughly one hour). Then we contacted some real estate agents and went neighborhood shopping with the kids in the car (bad choice). They struggled being in the car for so long just driving up and down streets in N. Wilmington. But we started getting ideas of where we would want to live.

Meanwhile, we were working on figuring out how to pre-approved/qualified. As the following week came, we discovered we can't get pre-approved right now due to our finances. So the next thing we needed to figure out renting. Quickly, we decided that we rather rent in Newark, DE where we currently are than a new area in N. Wilmington. Number 1 reason: kids. Really...to try to find daycare in Nov. for both kids in Jan is almost impossible. Every place we called wouldn't take both of them due to space and potty training (Luke is still only 2 years old). With Carlita starting kindergarten in the fall, I wanted to get into a good school district but really there's already going to be a huge change moving into an apartment after being in the halls. Plus finding babysitters will be hard in a new area. Staying in Newark allows us to use the college students and my staff as needed. We can drop them off or get sitters to our place in a snap. Number #2 reason: Community needs. I need my local community support. To try to establish new friendships, systems of operations for the family (i.e. grocery shopping), and learn a new area while I'm learning a new job will be an overload. Staying in Newark will allow us to be close to all our friends, the university, and my students. This will also be essential if in case Karl or I couldn't get to one of the kids in town of emergencies or if we're running late. One of my staff or Samanta can go get them.

So we decided to rent locally - close enough to the university so students can come babysit and Karl can get to the kids in time since he works right in town. I would be the one traveling like crazy (1 hour plus each way f I take the train in/out everyday) but I'm okay with that.

So off apartment hunting we went. We wanted to stay over $1000 in order to maximize our monthly savings for a house (or to reduce our debt). But as we discovered, apartments won't be big enough for us and the quality ...well they were less to be desirable. So we started looking at townhouses. Much better for space and the type of communal living we were looking for but it did up our budget.

Then on a Thursday I decided to post an ad on the university classifieds explaining we were looking for housing. Next thing I know I got a response from a professor I know through pilates class, explaining she was going on sabbatical in the spring and looking for someone to take care of her home. So off we went to see her home, only 4 miles from campus, right over the PA border. And we had a lease all drawn up and signed!!!! It's a great house with land and two cats to take care of. It's really the most perfect situation. We're only renting for 6 months which is what we wanted - we want to save up enough money to reduce our debt and start looking for a new home starting in March. If we can have it purchased by June/July, that would be great.

alot!).

Thank you everyone who has supported us through this endeavor. We really will need you all for this change to be successful.