Ally's Big Girl Room

Ally is so excited about her "Big Girl Room." She has been sleeping in the twin bed (no safety net) since the day my dad brought the furniture down. This white bedroom set was mine and also my aunt's before that so its fun to see it in another room. Ally had spotted some decorations on previous trips to Hobby Lobby so she pretty much had her mind made up on what she wanted with zero help from me. She picked out the dresses, hanging flowers and tea party picture. The letters we just updated from her old room to match. Its cute and very pink without being cluttered so hopefully we can get her to keep it fairly organized between the toy box and window seat storage. This is the most decor we have put up in either of our last two houses so its nice to make things feel like a home for us all.

Long Overdue: Our Big Move

I am going to assume that anyone that actually reads this blog already knows that we have been through some big changes over the last few months. The number of changes and how fast it all happened is also the reason why I have not had any time to write about it. Its all a very long and complicated story but the bottom line is that Karl and I both accepted new jobs in Indianapolis and we moved our family back to Indiana all in a matter of weeks. 
This process actually started way back over the summer when I applied for a random job opening at the NCAA. I have always wanted to work there and felt that it was the right place for me both because of my skill set and because it would give me the career/family balance I want at this point in my life. I didn't really think much of it because hundreds of people apply for each opening and months went by with no movement on it. We had committed ourselves to staying put and growing our family but things at work were less than ideal for me and I got a call to interview at the NCAA before Thanksgiving.  Karl knew if something came of this, I would be very serious about it so he started looking in the Indy area just to see what his options might be. As luck would have it, a position was waiting for him at IU Health in Indianapolis and they called him within hours of receiving his application.
Karl received a formal offer from IU Health on Thanksgiving while I was still in the (very slow) process with the NCAA so we had some big decisions to make. Again, the help of our industry connections led to me reach out to a colleague who I didn't know had recently taken a position at the NCAA. He asked me if I would consider working for him rather than holding out for the position I was already waiting on. It was all getting too good to be true and our perfect storm started coming together. We thought hard and weighed a lot of issues- most important being that I was quickly approaching the "very pregnant" stage.  In the end we just felt like everything had aligned perfectly for a reason and we couldn't afford to pass these opportunities up. High risk but high reward for us as a family and for each as individual professionals.
Here is how it happened:
Thanksgiving- Karl offered job with IU Health
Christmas- Make official decision to move, put house on market. Both give notice to our jobs. Erin Accept position at NCAA.
New Years Eve- Close on new house in Brownsburg
Jan 7- Karl starts new job in Indy
Jan 18- Erin's last day at Bradley, Ally's last day of school in EP
MLK Day- NCAA pays for our entire relocation including packing, moving and unpacking
Jan. 28- Ally's first day at her new school at IUPUI and Erin's first day at NCAA

We are so very lucky that this has worked out and we know that a situation like this may never come again. The only detail left is to sell our house in Peoria. Ally loves her new big girl room and we have been getting things set up for the new baby. The house is great and jobs are better than we even expected. Thanks to everyone that has helped make this possible for us! There is a lot to get used to but we are beyond blessed with the opportunities we have to make a great life for ourselves in a place we can grow in more ways than one.

The Obsession with Dress Up

We have a glitter problem! Ally is obsessed with playing dress up and this is what she does from the moment we wake up or get home from school to the moment she has to go to bed.

Tinker Bell for Christmas from Uncle Corey



 

Married Rapunzel from Grandma Sharon and Princess Tiana from Aunt Kristen and Megan at Disney World
 



She even dresses up our friends: Tiana, Ally as Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Butterfly and Strawberry Shortcake. AKA: Ashley, Andy, Alayna and Tessi. Not pictured is Tinker Bell (Emily) and Butterfly (Cris)
 

Baby Moon in NY

 

 

Since I am so far behind on the blogging, I sort of skipped over our trip to New York back in November. We knew it was going to be our last chance to do something just the two of us before baby comes so we took a few days off while basketball teams were on the road and went to NYC with the Benders. It was a quick but nice adults-only get away for the 4 of us. We had great seats for the Purdue basketball games at Madison Square Garden (yes, my vacations include going to sporting events which makes no sense) and ate nice meals. It was a litle rough with all that walking around being pregnant but we got to see the city getting ready for the holidays. I found this picture on my camera and thought it was worth sharing. We hardly ever get any pictures together!

Holiday Recap

We had a very busy but relaxing holiday break. We spent the weekend before Christmas in West Lafayette to celebrate with the Kraebbers then took a full week in WI.  My game schedule worked out great this year so we got to spend a lot more time with family than normal. Ally was so excited, not specifically for Santa to come but to see everyone and get to play with her beloved Uncle CoCo. We picked him up at the airport in Madison on our way up and Ally got to boss him around and annoy him for a full week.  She was not really interested in having Santa come but she was very interested in opening presents!
There was a ton of snow on the ground when we got to my parents so Ally got to use her snowsuit and get pulled in the sled a little bit. She got to have Christmas Eve dinner at Grandpa Joel's with great grandma and grandpa then play all day on Christmas with a whole bunch of family. We even got to hang out at the YMCA water park one day. She had no complaints about all of the wonderful gifts she got and we left each house we stayed at a sparkly, glittery mess!
We took Corey back to the airport on Friday then headed home to see what Santa left at our house while we were gone.  Ally was a pretty good traveler considering it was just the two of us and we had a little messy weather to deal with both ways.  Karl had to drive separately since he wasn't able to stay as long.  We have wonderful family and are very thankful for all of the Christmas gifts and time we were able to spend with them. Unfortunately I didn't take hardly any pictures, not even a family shot but here are a few.


Tearing into presents in Lafayette



Christmas Day- and yes, that is a scene from Vacation on in the background

Ella getting into the holiday spirit

Going down the water slide at the YMCA with Grandpa Dew. Over and over!



Finding presents Santa left at home in Peoria while we were gone