margo says...

With Margo's ever expanding vocabulary, I don't want to forget what and how she says some of her more quirky sayings and words. Here are a few of her latest statements:

"Waples" = pretzels, but waffles = waffles. Try not to get them confused...

She motions with her hands for us to "come here" or "come on".  She also will point to the ground or a seat and tell us to "sit down" and badger us until we comply.

From going to BSF she has learned to pray by folding her hands sweetly and at the end of a prayer she'll say a long, drawn out "AMEN". She has also learned the song "Holy, Holy, Holy" and will happily belt it at the top of her lungs.

Anytime there is an unfamiliar noise and she associates it with me being hurt she gasps and asks (from wherever she is- usually in another room by shouting), "Mama ok?" "I'm ok Margo." "Ok mama". The other day I jumped to reach something and her reaction was sweet, but very concerned.

She's obsessed with puppies and babies so anytime we see one, she gets very excited and won't stop discussing her sighting. The best is when our 7 month old neighbor/best friend Linus comes over to play. We think that she thinks he's her real, live baby doll.

"Snat" (snack) is the first thing she says to me most mornings when I get her out of bed. Somedays she asks for a "snat" before I can fully open her door and turn her sound machine off.

She has so many phrases and ways that she says things that make us laugh every day, it's been really fun to watch her turn into a true toddler. So far, this is my favorite age with Margo, but I've said that at every age and stage so far...

life update

I think I've previously eluded to our big changes in 2017, but now I get to further clarify. In October (right around the time we started the process of selling our house and moving into the blue house) Alex became increasingly aware of how dissatisfied and burnt out he felt at the office. 

While we know that it is a privilege to work for ourselves and to run our own business, there is also a lot of weight and stress that comes along with it.  We had always known there could be a point that we'd want to sell the office, but neither of us had a firm timeframe of when that could be. Cue Alex's extreme burnout. After a lot of prayer, discussion and council, we decided that it was the right time to start looking for a buyer for the office. 

After talking with several different buying prospects, Alex narrowed it down to two different agencies and the one we landed on made the best offer and seemed like the most natural (read: seemingly easy) fit. 

While the sale details and plans emerged very quickly, the actual buyout took longer than expected due to some financing hiccups. But in the mean time, the other agency took over managing our office (in early November), leaving Alex free to work on other projects. 

For the last 3+ years he has had his hand in some type of web development projects and gets the most enjoyment and is most challenged when he's working on a development project. So, that's what he threw himself into November-January. It made for a bit more challenging adjustment to the new house since he was home all day, I had a broken foot and we didn't have a normal, but slowly having him home became our normal. 

In late December he started sending his resume for different developer positions in the area and had several phone interviews and an in person interview at a small firm. But, the general consensus was that he was a little "too green" for the available positions. To say that he was discouraged would be an understatement, so he threw himself into learning and practicing even more. 

Out of the blue he received a phone call in mid January (the office sale was still pending) for a Marketing Technologist position at Concordia Publishing House. He'd forgotten he'd applied for it, but was pleasantly surprised to hear from them and even more so after his in person interview. The job was a blend of what he'd been doing for 5+ years with our business and with his new web development/tech skills. They offered him the job and he accepted with a start date of February 5th. 

I know he's excited for a new challenge and opportunity and we both look forward to seeing if this is the fit and job he's been looking for. God has been good and has provided for us beyond what we could have ever imagined and the office sale was finally complete the Friday before he started the new job on Monday! 🎊

yellow chair

Since we moved into our new house I've thought that we needed a comfy chair in the corner. But when we got the Christmas tree, it took up more than it's fair share of space so my chair had to wait. But after the tree came down, I was on the hunt. We found this beaut at World Market and convinced them to sell us the floor display since it was the only one they had left and it was on sale that day only. I love it and it makes me smile every time I see it. Yellow is my favorite.

christmas 2017

Christmas is always a busy season, but I look forward to it every year. This year as Alex and I processed our high and lowlights our unanimous highlight was picking out our Christmas tree with Margo. She was so excited to run through the fields and "help" find a tree. When Alex cut the tree down she shouted, in her sweet chipmunk voice, "oh-no!". 

Our other highlights were spending time with family and the cliche seeing her face on Christmas morning. But she really was so excited and cute! There aren't really any lows from this year except everywhere we looked someone was getting sick, sick or getting over being sick. Somehow we managed to avoid getting sick and had a great holiday season.