Change

Sorry for the lack of reading material.

I have been desperate to spend as much time with Kevin as possible now that I know the end of this partial second honeymoon (you can't call it a full honeymoon because there were children around) is very near.

He starts his new job on Monday. While this is very happy and a complete answer to our prayers, I am a bit sad for this change to happen. I've LOVED having him home during the day. It has been so relaxing and freeing to have so much time to spend with each other and our children. We've become very good at finding Free Family Field Trip activities and have truly created some cherished memories that would otherwise not have happened. We are grateful for such a blessing.

And yet I know he must work. For his own man-hood to feel complete he needs to contribute financially........or so he says. I want him to feel complete, but I want him here.

Sigh

So the change must come and with it the excitement and anticipation that such events bring. It is for the best. And we will still be happy. But I'll tell you what, now that I've had a taste of what retired life brings you can bet I'll be dreaming about it at night.

IT'S OVER!!!!

Kevin was offered a job with the Department of Financial Institutions for the State of Utah!!!!!!!!

The wait is over! No more applying for jobs, searching for leads, eating beans as a nessescity (I actually quite like them and will continue to make them, but that's beside the point.) No more waiting for an answer!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for keeping us in your prayers. This has been a wonderful time for our little family and we fully acknowledge it is because of the prayers on our behalf. Thank you for your love and your support.

Now, if you please, everyone let's all do the happy dance and celebrate together!!!!!

1, 2, 3........Dance!


WAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blessings

We were blessed with this tonight:

In addition to the kind words, a generous gift was also included in the envelope. Our name was typed on the outside of the envelope to ensure the identity of our angels remains a curiosity.

We don't know who you are, but our hearts are bursting and we long for you to feel of our gratitude.
Thank you. Thank you.

We feel very loved and watched over and blessed.

Thank you whoever you are. May your kindness be returned in ways beyond measure!

Aligning of the stars....in a bad way

As you know, we have been on the hunt for a new job since the end of December. Kevin's done a marvelous job at applying for every job possible and has had quite a few good interviews only to have it snatched away at the last.possible.second.

But this one, this one takes the cake!!! Stampin' Up has called Kevin to come in 3 times. 3 times! He's done so well every time that they have called him immediately after to schedule for the next round. They called today to let him know that they have reevaluated the need for the position and have postponed it indefinitely. They aren't going to hire anyone!

I am beyond speechless.

Who does that? Am I the only one that thinks it's common practice to make sure there is a need for the position BEFORE interviewing for it?

Now tell me, do we have a big "please do not give these people a job" sign posted on our backs that someone mean and sinister placed there because they were bored one day? Do we emit some rare pheromone that causes HR to be unable to give us a job? Are we secretly getting punked and Ashton Kutcher is giggling somewhere in the bushes?

It's pretty clear that the stars are aligned in the worst order possible for us and some lucky schmo on the other side of the Earth has now just had the best two months of their lives.

Magic

Holidays were always magical around my house growing up. Even Valentine's Day. I strive to recreate similar memories for my little ones.

This morning I had their valentines, cereal straws....they saw them on T.V. and really wanted them, and their cards laid by their breakfast seats. I had strung construction hearts on a string and wrapped them around each seat and around the banister to surprise them when they woke up. Nothing fancy. Just a hint of magic.

We had friends drop by all afternoon to give Karaia and Beckham wishes of a good day, cards of friendship, and to ensure a pretty good sugar buzz by the evening.

For dinner I made these.

Simple yet exciting. It's not every day you get pancakes made into shapes combined with a festive shade of food color pink.

The best part of the day was this card.

A nice night out was not in the picture for us this year as we are still awaiting a job. But the inside of this card stopped my heart as no romantic date could.


He loves me and he thinks I'm perfect....despite the obvious fault in that thought.

Sigh.

I think I'm in love.

The Plan

We've planned a trip to England and France........in the year 2010.........since we're pretty sure Kevin will have a job by then.

I have never been over seas. And as it is a life goal of mine to see both London and Paris we decided that for our 10 year anniversary we will hop the pond, or is it cross the pond. See these are the things I must learn if I am to avoid looking completely like a tourist once there.

We've already decided it will be best to go in September (our anniversary is the end of August) in order to catch a football (soccer to you Yankees) match but be here for Beckham's first day of Kindergarten. We've also concluded that we'll need about two weeks to really appreciate it. Two weeks with no children. It's sad and glorious all in the same moment.

I am highly aware that this little excursion is more than two years away. But the more often I talk about it, the more likely it is to happen. It's best to prepare yourselves now for Europe 2010 updates......'cause they're goin' happen.

Colombian night

On Friday, Kevin decided to cook us an authentic-as-possible Colombian meal. He had stopped off at a Latin shop after one of his interviews last week and picked all the necessary spices and side dishes.

The menu consisted of Lentil soup, buñuelos, and maracuyá to drink. Now let's stop and take a moment to think about that menu. Have any of your children tried anything like that? For that matter, have you?

Neither had our kids.

Something about the spices, while making it very tasty, turned the soup, and every ingredient in it, kind of a greenish-brown color. Karaia looked at it, took a bite in the true spirit of at least trying everything once, winced, and followed it by the slightly disgusted announcement, "It's so green..."

Beckham, on the other hand, usually likes everything he tastes, but it's getting him to actually take the first bite that's the challenge. Having already made up his mind that this "food" we had placed in front of him somehow contained poison he started grasping for straws. He started wailing "The potatoes are SOOO green."

"Beckham, you'll be fine."

"But they're sooooooooooooooooooo greeeeeeeeen!!!!!"

After taking one bite of the buñelos, (a type of really stinky cheese bread) Karaia looked very concerned and asked me to, "taste that really quick"

She was sure it had gone sour.

The juice came with no instruction resulting in an super sonic sour effect encouraging the unfortunate judgment of, "It tastes like pucker" from Beckham.

Sigh.

The night was not a total loss. We walked away with a few choice lessons obtained after striving to culturally educate our children. Despite the less then encouraging results:

::Always have lunch meat and cheese on hand to reward them for putting their lives at risk by tasting new foods.

::And what was good 9 years ago on your mission is not necessarily going to receive the same warm reception from an American 3 year old.

We think it's a sign

I teach my kids American Sign Language. Karaia has hearing loss in her right ear. Her left is just fine. We found this out before we left the hospital when she was born. Learning some ASL and teaching it to her was a natural decision for us. Because of that, I have taught all my kids to sign. They have all been able to "voice" their wants, frustrations, and desires to me LONG before they could verbalize them.

Why this walk down memory lane?

On Tues, February 5th, for historical purposes, Tennyson signed his first word at 7 1/2 months. As with the other two children, "more" was his first sign. I did not immediately run to blog this all too important milestone as one would assume a proud mother to do because I had to be sure. Was he just learning to clap? Was it perhaps mere coincidence meaning nothing? Am I reading too much into this?

Happily, he continues to use it at the appropriate time and place. He also learned to clap when we say, "yeah!!!" due to the fact that more and yeah are the same palm to palm gesture right now. But he reserves the right to clap yeah for exciting, mom is letting me play with the remote, moments. I have also seen evidence of the "all done" sign. But we must run more tests before we can commit to anything conclusive.

This is the absolute best part, pay-day moments, of raising a child. To see them learn something you have so diligently taught for months (Day one for this kid-o). It makes every hard day seem fuzzy and unimportant.

Conundrum

I have this situation. I am in love with all things sweet....as of late. That and cob salad. (But that is beside the point as I do not have immediate access to The Best of All Salads on a daily basis.) Anyway, so as I said I'm sort of head over heals for sugary things lately. However, I also am in love with losing the last bit of weight left over from Tennyson. Do you see the problem.

I have started running/walking daily, again. Which I adore. But then I think, "It's OK to have some cheese cake today. Because I'm running again." So anything I burned off I put right back on at some point in the day. Obviously, I am more enamored with sugary highs than looser jeans. But in my brain, that causes fights.

I try, try, try to be strong. Eventually turning off my brain so I can't listen to it make logical arguments as to why carrot cake should not be considered a highlight of the day. I tell my brain that I am a mother of three who deserves some "me" time. If I chose to have cake in said time, then I will have cake.

I also make the counter argument that there is a very good chance that I will lose some of those calories later on as I am running from a monster Spiderman is trying to save me from. Or from princess ballerina dance festivals. "The possibilities of caloric loss are endless", I insist.

And so my sweets induced reasoning wins out and I snuggle down in my couch determined to enjoy every last bite. All the while reflecting that if I eat it all, it won't be here to tempt me tomorrow. Then I won't even have this struggle.......hmmmm.....sounds tempting doesn't it?

Would you like some logic with that dessert?

Karaia has play group every Monday at 10 am. It was snowing quite heavily when it was time to leave, yesterday, so Kevin offered to drive her because the house was located on a very steep hill.

Kevin opted to take the longer, less steep way around. This however, did not exclude the slipperiness of the roads as he had hoped. Trying to navigate up a steeper portion of the course, the wheels began to spin very fast without moving the car forward. He began to resort to using his great mental prowess to will the car up and forward when Karaia asked, "Did the car run out of gas?"

"No. " (Now focusing intently on wielding the fast turning wheels to grip. the. road.)

"But, then why aren't we moving?"

There's nothing like being caught off guard by a 5 year old's logic.

Later in the day, I noticed Karaia opening and shutting the pantry followed by periods of intense concentration stirring something in a bowl. I asked her what she was doing. She announced she was making dessert for tonight so I was not allowed to have any just yet. But could she please put her "dessert" in the fridge so it wouldn't get old before dinner. Sure.

Fast forward to the end of dinner. She presents dessert to us and and with the pride of a great internationally known chef, begins dishing everyone up. As I am looking at my plate I recognize most of what has been placed there. It's the fact that I don't recognize it ALL that has me worried.

Me: What ingredients did you use?

K: Oh, crackers, raisins, popcorn......

Me: Wait. Popcorn. We didn't have popcorn today. Where did you get popcorn?

K: It was the yummy popcorn.

Me: Where did you get the yummy popcorn?

K: Behind the pink chair downstairs.

Me: Oh....MMMMM.

At which point I quickly utilized any slight of hand skills I possessed and made my, um, dessert disappear being careful to avoid any proximity to my mouth as I desired to live through out the night.