Birthday for Hope

I kept telling Hope she couldn't have a birthday because I didn't want her to be any older than six. But she had one anyway. She had to wear most of the jewelry she owns to daycare, and took cookies so they could celebrate her birthday.


For dinner she wanted to go to Red Robin, mainly because she knows she'll get a sundae if she tells them it's her birthday. Joel found a half-inflated balloon floating around our table, so he played with that most of the evening and actually behaved himself! Poor Hope's sundae was forgotten about, but she wasn't too disappointed because she knew she had cake and ice cream waiting for her at home. A month ago Hope was grocery shopping with me and wanted to look at the cakes in the bakery. She found a Belle cake that she said she wanted for her birthday, so I ordered it for her and had David pick it up on his way home from work. During dinner he 'whispered' to me that they'd forgotten to make her cake and all they had left was a big football cake. Hope said that was fine- she didn't care what kind of cake she had. But she was awfully excited when we got home and she saw the Belle cake!

I've been buying her a hardback Little House on the Prarie book for her birthday and Christmas for the last two years, so she got the next Prarie book. Since she finally got her hair cut off last weekend, she got some cute headbands and hair clips to keep her hair back out of her face. And David wanted to get her a movie, but most of the disney movies we already had. So David got her E.T.- now maybe I'll finally watch that movie. The one thing I remember about it is that dad promised us he'd take us to see it when we lived in Coulee Dam and he never did. Pathetic thing to remember, isn't it:)

And silly Joel- on the way to Red Robin, he started saying "Key-no" as we passed the casino that's right off the freeway. I thought he was saying casino, but I had no idea how he'd know that word. Then on the way back, as we passed the casino again, he said "Key-no, right dere." Who knows how he knew it was a casino, except that there's a big Orca whale statue that Hope always wants to see, but usually we say to look at the whale, not look at the casino. Who knows. And during dinner he got chocolate milk with his meal, and when it was gone he handed me his cup and said "Want more chocolate please". Alrighty Joel.

Old dresses

The girls both wore one of my old dresses to church today.

The material on the top of Naomi's is some weird polyester, and while I'm sure it was cute enough 30 years ago, I don't think we'll be wearing it again.

Hope's dress is still nice enough although completely out of style, but she's six- who cares about what's in style. That one I think we may keep in the closet for Naomi to wear. And check out my wicked awesome braiding skills! Mom wouldn't be impressed, but I am:)

Manners

Joel has become such a polite little man. Everything is 'Please' and 'Thank you'. We've always made him say those, but lately something has clicked and he remembers to say them by himself. When we get him a drink of water, he says thank you. Even when we put his food on the table, he'll say thank you. Yesterday he was into something he knew he wasn't suppposed to play with, and I asked him if he wanted to get spanked. His reply? "No, thank you".

Bad Timing

I just found an echo job in Tucson, at what I would consider the best place there for David to work. It's at the university's hospital, so I'd assume it would be a good learning environment, and he'd see more than just post-heart-surgery patients that are genenrally boring and routine. When I showed him the posting, he told me to fill out the application for it, so I guess that means he'd be interested in the job. But he didn't seem to care much, and I'm sure I can guess why. Right now would be about the worst timing in the world to move. In January or February, his old job at Swedish was open, sort of, and we discussed the same thing then. Of all the times to move, now really stinks.

First is the house. I hate to even look anymore at what houses around us are listed for. In order for us to have a chance of selling, we'd have to list it so low that we'd lose about $150K. That's almost what I paid for my house in Spokane. I cannot imagine purposely selling a house, knowing you'd lose that kind of money. Especially when it isn't the hypothetical, 'my house was worth this three years ago and I could've sold it for that much' type of loss. We'd lose $150K off what we paid- cash that for a few days in 2006 graced my savings account.

And then there's my job. Todd has finally mellowed some, at least most of the time. I actually don't dread going to work most days. I hate it when I take the kids to daycare, but once that's over I don't mind. Todd still has his days where he's a pain to be around- a few weeks ago I got lectured for putting my gloves on too loudly- but the days he's fine far outnumber the bad ones lately. And our daycare- I actually really like this place, and I'd hate to start looking all over again. The lady who owns it looks just like David's stepmom, and she's about as nice. Naomi comes home singing songs that they sang during worship time; at their old daycare, Hope would get in trouble for talking about God, and now they have organized time to worship! Although I'd love to find Mary Poppins to deal with Joel, I think this is a great place for them to be.

And Zachary. He really wants to go to UW. I don't know that he'll get in, but maybe at the Bothell campus he'll have a better shot. Part of me would want him to live on campus and get the "freshman experience", but he could also live here and save everyone a wad of money. The kids all love it when he's here, and if he'd just learn the purpose of a laundry basket and dresser, I'd enjoy having him around too. It wouldn't be very nice of us to move away right before he moves here, especially since he was the main reason I finally said we definitely should move back to Washington.

The other day David asked me if we won the lottery and could live anywhere we wanted and didn't have to worry about jobs, where I'd want to live. Four years ago I would've said Tucson. Even two years ago I would've said Tucson. Now I don't know. I would love to move back to Rockford. Barring any big changes at Swedish, David would be happy working there indefinitely. Rockford doesn't have everything in the world to offer, but being an hour from one of the largest cities in the world provides most anything we'd need. But winter..........how I loathe thee. And humidity- I'm not a fan of sticky, sweaty, can't-cool-off heat. I don't know that I'm a fan of blazing-hot dry heat either, but I think it would be preferrable to Illinois summers. But in Tucson, we have the same problem we have here- we basically don't have anyone around. David's mom, I'm afraid, would be hit and miss. Depending on her mood, she could be a huge asset or completely absent as a grandmother. David said he wouldn't mind moving back to Spokane, mostly because of the amount of family we have there. Again, we have the winter issue, but I agree that other than snow Spokane is a nice place. What makes me sick is that, when David took this job, there was a job at some cardiology practice in Spokane too. He didn't even consider applying because he'd heard the practice was having problems and he didn't want to get involved in a practice that was going to have all sorts of changes in the near future. Given what he's working for now, we both would've put up with a crappy practice in Spokane versus a crappy practice in Everett. So many hypothetical options, such bad timing for any of them. Except staying put. The one thing neither of us really want, the one thing that makes the most sense.

Gracker!!!

Right now, Joel loves anything that is big and moves. He announces "Oh-Oh-ome" anytime he sees a camper/trailer/motorhome. He tells us Gruck if he sees a semi or larger truck on the freeway. Recently there were three big tractors parked at the fire station by our house. He started saying Gracker whenever we'd go by them. I realized after a couple times that he was trying to say tractor. The past week or two they've been gone, and now when we drive by, he says "Gracker gone".

The other night on the way to Hope's dance class, we drove by a spot where five big tractors were parked. We also drive by a big bus parking lot for the school district. I figured he'd notice the buses, because there's a whole bunch of them right off the road. But the tractors were just off in a field, and off a highway where we were driving 55mph, so I didn't think he'd even have time to see them. But holy cow, he noticed! "Gracker, gracker, mommy, gracker!!!"