While looking at the blog, I realized that I haven't actually written a post in months. A snippet here or there with pictures (which are the best part), but really no actual post with what is going on in our lives.
So, let's start with the Lord of the land, the king of the house, the head honcho...the MAN... :)
Louis is doing really well. He is still just as busy as ever, if not more so. I don't think I even know how that is possible, but it seems like he gets busier and busier every year. The company he works for, which was already worldwide and quite large, was acquired by another company called Xylem at the end of last 2016. Now that we are in to the 2017 days, the actual transition is being made and it is going super smoothly. Xylem brings with it a couple different paths of opportunity for Louis, so we will see how those start playing out.
He is also still sculpting. He is working on a piece right now that is going to be phenomenal when it is done. I was partial to my Robin costume he sculpted, but this is actually even better. Tons of detail, and just different than any of his other pieces. He is working on it for an underground MC, that he coincidentally has been a fan of for a while, but then gained popularity and has since worked with people like Dan the Automator and the Gorillaz. I'm not sure I'm supposed to be giving out his name yet, but I'm sure when it is all done and stuff I'll be able to talk more about it. :)
And that about sums up Louis specifically. :)
As for Rachel she is also busy as ever. She started sixth grade this year, and in her school district, that put her in middle school. Bella and Zoe wont go to junior high until 7th grade, but Rachel's school does it a bit different. She is still doing violin lessons on her own as well as piano and is also in the orchestra at school. She seems to be really enjoying her new school and the transition was smooth. She is leaving on Wednesday for a quick trip to California over the weekend so she is looking forward to that. She also was on the honor roll at school for the first semester, so we are all super happy and proud of her for that.
Bella also did great on her grades last quarter so once again we are all extremely happy and proud of her for that. She has been playing the clarinet in her school since the fall. She likes it OK, but I'm not sure it is something she will continue to pursue next fall, but I suppose we will see. She played basketball on her school team and then also as you all know competitively on AAU league. I have to once again give a shout out, because the Boise Braves 5th grade girls varsity team is still NUMBER ONE in the league! Get em girls! Her 11th (oh my gawd!) birthday is one month away so she is super excited for that.
Zoe also got good grades. We are all very proud and happy for that. Zoe is in girl scouts so she has been knee deep in cookie sales recently. She plans on taking golf lessons this spring, but opted out of gymnastics this fall because it gives her 'migraines'. Sadly, she really does get migraines. She's had them since she was five. Her pediatrician says its unfortunate but not that uncommon, especially in children who have parents with migraines and I get headaches ALL THE TIME, so poor kid gets the gene honestly I guess. Her 9th birthday is the beginning of March, so she is really excited for that.
Bella and Zoe are leaving for 12 days in Hawaii tomorrow! They are super stoked. Who can blame them? Their dad is getting married over there so there is going to be tons of family, plus Nana and papa (my parents) are going so the girls can NOT wait to get over there and see them! They were in Florida for three weeks, came home for 5 days and then left for Hawaii for three weeks, so the girlies are feeling low on the Nana and papa dosage.
As for me specifically there is really not a ton to report as I'm sure you all can imagine. I usually get asked something along the lines of "What do you do all day?" "Are you going crazy yet?" etc. The answer is I do lots of nothing. Little of this little of that. I volunteer in the girls classes a couple days a week. I have crafts and stuff I like to do. I plan things in my planner. I clean and organize. A lot. I cook and stuff. When you have 2-3 girls and a husband and three dogs, there is never a shortage of things to clean or laundry to do. I've never worked a traditional Monday-Friday 8-5 type job. I've pretty much always worked in medicine where I only worked 3 days a week but worked long days, but I still had 4 days off every week, so really, I was used to having long periods of time off. Less culture shock to someone like me than someone who has always worked 5 days.
My biggest task at the moment is the house buying process. We had no intention of moving last fall, but the owner of the house we were renting decided he wanted to take advantage of the ridiculously high house prices and sale it. So 2 months before our wedding, in a shitty (pardon my language) rental market, we had to find a house and spend tons of money moving. Lame. We just weren't ready to buy right then, so we had the option to either force it and make it happen and turn me into an absolute raving lunatic trying to buy a house and do our wedding, or wait and push it for a year. We opted to wait and push it for a bit. We were planning to be buying, like, right now, but after that and me quitting my job, we have decided to wait until fall or even beginning of 2018. We are in a lease until the fall anyways and NOT to talk politics AT ALL, but the fact of the matter is the with our new president, our financial markets are teetering and already in decline. We are hoping to give it time to really fall and then take advantage. Now, if all that takes too long, we will still be a go within a 6-9ish month period, but I don't think it will take too long, we seem to be well on our way...thank you Mr. Trump.....
We also had to go back to the drawing board a bit on the financials of home buying. Of course, without me working the loan amount we are qualified for is changing. Good news is, since I refuse to be a slave to our mortgage and we have always had the intention of me quitting my job, we are still looking at houses well under what we are prequalified for with only Louis' income. We are wanting to stay within the 250-300k range. In that range you can get a decent house, needing little to no immediate improvements and can choose almost anywhere in the Boise and Meridian area to live. Granted you're not going to have a golf course home probably, but I'm OK with that. I still want to be able to go buy new furniture for it and go on vacations and live. Honestly, if we could come in at the 200$ range it would be awesome, but I'm not counting on it. I am definitely starting to keep my eyes open on various neighborhoods and what houses in my preferred locations are going for.
That about sums up the Provost/Martin household. :)
