(Almost) All Grown Up!

I can't get motivated to do much today.  Right now we are waiting for some friends to stop in and share a glass of wine (or a beer) and catch up on our lives.  We SO wish that these friends lived next door. Sadly they are only 40 minutes away, but we don't get to see each other near enough!  So while I am waiting for some of our favorite people to arrive, I thought I might do a little updating.

Today is one of those awesome crisp fall days.  I woke up this morning and it was foggy.  You know the kind of fog?  That fall fog where the air is just cold enough to cling to the spider webs.  Usually I see all those webs outside and I feel the urge to go and sweep them all away, but this morning, I just peered out and looked at all the intricate designs that our spider friends had made.  Then I crawled back in bed for a little more sleep.  The rest of the day has been like that.  Nap a little, run the Saturday errands, nap a little more.  I feel guilty, but then Dean keeps reminding me that my body needs a little rest.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  We successfully moved Josh and Kirsten to Seattle Pacific University.  I can't believe they have already finished their first 2 weeks of classes!  Josh is loving his campus housing pick this year.  He is living on the main floor of a university owned house with 3 other guys.  The place is a college senior's dream.  In the middle of campus (directly across the street from Kirsten's dorm!), HUGE living room and dining room (perfect for having lots of people over to hang out), 3 bedrooms, basic kitchen and large picture windows that let the light flood in.  Oh and the view out the windows isn't so bad either.   Oh and he can even park in the house's driveway, another bonus!  I can hardly believe that he is a senior!  That's right, he will GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE this coming May.  I still can't get used to the fact that I have a child that can legally purchase beer!  When I was his age, I was married, owned a house and was thinking about having him!  He is managing to work at Gwinn and keep up with a busy class load.  Last week he told us he was spending 2-3 hours A DAY working on his French for class.  His dedication to learning is inspiring to me.

I wonder if Kirsten has managed to keep her bed made and her half of the room this clean.

Kirsten has definitely adapted to college life.  I love to stalk her Facebook page so that I can see all the fun she is having.  She survived her first biology test this week.  She tells me it was hard, but she got through it.  Oh how I wish that I had her same confidence when I was 18.  She amazes me!  She is taking Biology, Chemistry, Calculus and then another 'USEM' class.  She and her roommate seem to be getting along very well so we are thankful for that.  We were thankful when we helped her unpack and set up her dorm room and she was able to fit everything in.  For a child to go from having a 12 foot walk-in closet to a small dorm room armoire, we were a little concerned, but she did it!  And she had a little room to spare!  People have asked us if it is weird to send the second one off to college--if we were sad.  Honestly, we can answer 'no' to that question.  We definitely miss having her around on a daily basis, but when we finally arrived at moving to college day and we saw her absolute joy and excitement over moving into this next stage of life, how could we be sad? 

Kirsten and some of her new college friends--how can you not smile when you look at these girls?

While moving into this phase where we have 2 kids in college has been a wide range of emotions, probably the biggest joy we have had the last 2 weeks is seeing how well Annika is doing with this change.  All year we have been a little geared up in anticipation of how these big changes were going to be weathered.  First, she started high school.  Guess what?  SHE.LOVES.IT.  Her classes are going well, she is confident in several friendships, and she greets each school day WITHOUT DREAD.  Then, we had to go through the 'my brother AND my sister are going away to college' step.  Again, we have been overwhelmed with thanksgiving at how that transition has gone.  I think we are almost ready to say that the tens of thousands of dollars we have spent on her care and therapy the last 7 years have all been well spent and all worth it.  Almost.  Ask me when we are done paying off our last loan!  In all seriousness, Dean and I have spent a lot of time talking about it lately.  We have come to the consensus that for the first time in 7 years, we can honestly say that Annika and her 'issues' are the least of our concerns these days.  There was a time when we didn't know if we would ever be able to say that.  It is pretty amazing.

Yup, I think I like this stage of parenting.  Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.