Two days left

Until I'm at home with the boys full time. Granted, I will be working 15-20 hours a week, from home. But the boys will not be in day care or staying with dad at all from now on. I'm pretty sure dad is ready to really enjoy his retirement now as he said "I'm just thinking of when I can go fishing." when I told him of my plan to stay at home with the boys. He'll probably still even come and take one of them away every now and then. I'm sure that will be good for everyone involved.

This won't be that much different from before when I was working part-time. The only difference is that now I don't have to go in to the office at all. Back to getting up when Tim leaves in the morning to get a few hours of work in before the fun with the boys starts. I'm excited. I've missed my boys tremendously the past few months.

I've become one of them :(

When I was younger, the best time of year started in October. The excitement of Halloween, then the buzz of Thanksgiving and best of all, the family and smell of Christmas. Each one getting their due respect and time in the stores, in our minds and in our hearts. Each one had their own day, not over shadowed by the next but enjoyed thoroughly before the next one began to gear up.

It's much different now. They have Christmas decorations out before Halloween costumes hit the shelves these days. It's like "the man" doesn't want us to enjoy Halloween and Thanksgiving. Or maybe they think that the extra time in the store with Christmas stuff will mean more money for them because kids have more time to look. I don't know. But I despise it! I want them each, separately and completely.

But this year was different. I found myself last week getting Christmas decorations out. I've already put up things in the house, hung the wreath and garland, and figurines. The only thing we're missing are the tree, lights outside and the stockings. Part of me felt obligated to dress the house up for Thanksgiving since everyone is coming over to our house this year, but part of me just wanted the boys to be able to enjoy it all before we leave for Christmas.

We are going to Gonzales Louisiana for Christmas to spend time with Tim's dad's family. It's actually the first time I'm going to get to meet most of them. Only two of his uncles were able to make it to the wedding and since then there's just been one reason or another that we haven't gotten down there. But I'm excited. I'm excited for myself about meeting more family, I'm excited for Tim to get to see family that he hasn't seen in such a long time, but I'm most excited that the boys will be able to meet their aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandma Gautreau.

Now, if the next 5 weeks would pass quickly we can get the 15 hour car ride out of the way and have some fun.

My time off

1. From sport has been great for the past 2 weeks. The first week after B2B 1/2 IM, I did absolutely nothing except eat. I started running again this week but otherwise, I'm enjoying the rest and family time.

2. From work is about to get more abundant....in that I have quit my job. Completely quit. December 4th is officially my last day and as of Monday December 7th, I will be at home full time with the boys. I'm excited. Many things led to this decision, but ultimately it came down to the boys and what's best for them.

3. From blogging has been a direct result of being torn in too many directions over the last month with training, racing, family, work, and rest. So now, I need the cliff notes for every one's blogs. Wow I missed a ton.

4. Is getting me excited about the reality of planning for my first IM race next season and working with Marty and/or Bri!

5. May turn into well needed time as we may get busier than we anticipated this holiday season...more to come, maybe??