Going Away

A couple friends planned a going away picnic for me and Emma, another friend moving away. Cailean always does great decorations, as you can see.

There were several who were out of town or had sick kids that day, but it was great to see all who could come! I didn't want to say good-bye, and I still had a few days left, so I just kept telling people I'd see them again soon. It was hard to believe we were really leaving.

Wendy and Cailean - thanks so much for doing this!


Katelyn and her friend Stephanie



He he - they didn't know I was taking pictures.

Some last Seattle adventures

Pacific Science Center



This room is why my kids call this place "the dinosaur museum."




Katelyn waving hello to the butterflies.



Olivia flying like an acrobat in the circus exhibit. If I would of known it would take 45 min. just to get through the 4 people in front of her, she might of missed out on getting to do this. She felt pretty brave, I think.



Jackson shaking his bum for the funny mirrors.

Mt. Rainier

Playing in snow in June.



My kids have been a little afraid to go here since hearing about a friend who got close-up to a bear on a hike. But the only wildlife we saw was a marmot, and Olivia found a ladybug with it's eggs laying on a rock - they talked about both long afterwards.

A Fabulous Day!

The last day of residency. Done! Yesterday was the long-awaited day.
I took the kids to visit him at work (as a surprise) with some chocolate and cards they made.

They got some cool sunglasses in return. (And took some of his chocolate back for themselves).

We were all ready for this day, even though it was hard to believe it really would come! We haven't seen much of him the last few months. Whenever John got paged to go to the hospital, the kids called it "going to the monster." I grew immune to him not being home before bedtime. When he'd tell me it might be a late night, I'd just say, "that's what I'm planning on." It was easier that way, since that's how it usually was lately. When talking to Katelyn about who lives at our house, she named everyone except Dad. When I asked if he lives here, too, she said, "No, work."
I've probably complained about it on here before. But to anyone who has a husband going into residency, it's not all so bad. All the rotations haven't been as bad as this last one, and there is life outside of work. Sometimes. (:
I found a card among the things he brought home yesterday. He didn't want me to put it on here, but I'll just put some of it. It's from the daughter of a patient he operated on, thanking him for "a miracle for my family. She went from blind to clearly seeing. She is safer in her home. She can see the joy and wonder of her grandsons growing up . . . . " And she even says at the end, "thank you to your family for thier support of your work and training."

I think it's pretty awesome. In the end, it's all been worth it! I'm just glad we don't have to do it again.

Jackson's Turn

We're not always in chronological order here on this blog. So going back a few weeks . . .
After lots of hard work and dedication, Jackson has achieved the status of a preschool graduate! Don't these graduates look proud? I think they're wondering why everyone's taking so many pictures of them.

Here's Jackson with his good friend Esther. We all think she is one cool kid - and will miss her whole family! Jackson wishes he could have lots more playdates with her, and I'll miss seeing her choice of outfits and accessories every day, including seasonal footwear like sandals in winter.

With Mrs. Rogers, the favorite preschool teacher for both Jackson and Olivia.

And finally, in Ducky Dance attire. They practiced for this part of graduation for a while, and Jackson made a great ducky - obviously.

I wanted some time just with Jackson before school got out. So we dropped Katelyn off at babysitting co-op, and the two of us headed to the zoo. He got to pick all the animals he wanted to see, like the elephants that Olivia says are too stinky, and Bug World where the spiders remind her of the huge one that was on her bed one night, thus keeping her awake many nights . . .

We even saw an elephant painting! And stinky or not, Olivia was pretty jealous to miss that.

And for the last picture - "Mom, take a picture of me doing this cool trick!" If you're not impressed with his half-sit on the bookshelf, at least Katelyn was. There she is ready to attempt her own bookshelf stunt.

School's Out!

I didn't get a picture of just Olivia on the last day of school, but this one is from Sunday. I needed one before those front teeth come in.

Here she is at field day last week. It was supposed to be at the park but it was rainy (again) so they stayed at the school and had some inside and some outside.

I helped with the face painting, and Olivia wanted a marmot - her school's new mascot. Jackson cried when she washed it off - I guess he liked it. We even got to see a marmot at Mt. Rainier last weekend.



Hooray for summer break! 2nd grade sounds so old, though!
And now that school's out, it's starting to set in that we're leaving soon (two weeks!) and lots to do. So I guess I have to get to work instead of going on too much about how much she's grown up this year. She'll be 7 in a couple weeks - just after we arrive in Pinetop, and she's sad to leave her friends here.

Dancing at T-ball

There wasn't much action going on in the outfield at O's last t-ball game, so I took pictures of this girl instead.

I think she likes the camera.

A change of pants is always a good idea with her still. Especially when there's wet grass and mud, and the park's port-a-potty is locked. Successful peeing behind the bushes is a little trickier for her than for her brother.

She looks a lot like Olivia did at this age. How did she get so big?

I think the word is mostly out that we are moving to Pinetop, AZ in a few weeks.
I will miss:
this in our backyard;

This in our front yard;


(and neighbors yards we get to admire on our walk to school):



But not so much this:

This is the "hallway" kitchen I've lived with for 3 years. You have to walk through it to get from one part of the house to the other. Many times a day. If there's a pan of brownies sitting on the counter as I walk back and forth, well, it's bad for me. This house was built in the 50's. Notice the built-in wooden cutting board on the countertop. How sanitary can that be after 50 years?

There's lots more I will miss, too, of course. But I just want to say that soon, I get a new kitchen!!!!!!!!!

Do the Macarena

There's been lots of boring stuff going on here lately. Like looking at rentals and places to live, choosing a moving company, etc.
But, good news. Friday, me and the kids went to the Spring Dance at Olivia's school. I got to break out my moves with a bunch of kids and some mom's in mom jeans. And do the macarena. After a long absence, me and the macarena were re-united.
Okay, most of the mom's there probably dress better than me, I just like to say mom jeans.
Also, most of them (moms and dads) were sitting in chairs along the sides. I guess all the 5th graders there didn't want to be dancing with their mama's like the few kindergartners and 1st graders did. Or maybe they just can't do the macarena as good as me.
Sorry you don't get to see a video. And sorry you couldn't participate. But, maybe now you can have the song stuck in your head like it was in mine for a couple days.
Heeeyyyyyyyyy Macarena.
You're welcome.

Temple and Tulips Trip

A couple weeks ago, I took the kids on a little road trip up to Canada to go to the open house at the new Vancouver temple. They were excited to go to a different country for the first time. But when we crossed the border, Olivia wanted to know, "Why doesn't it look different?"

We also stopped at the tulip festival on the way up.

The temple was beautiful! I'm glad we got to go and that the kids got to see how pretty it is inside. But I am also glad I don't have to take kids with me every time I go to the temple. Katelyn didn't want to stay by me and listen to the tour - she did want to go swimming in the baptismal font - and tried to.

We had to be back in Seattle that night to pick up John from the airport, so we didn't have a lot of extra time to explore Vancouver. We made a potty stop at a gas station, and saw that a lot of the candy in Canada is different than at home, so they picked out some for a souvenir for Dad - and some for us. Had to keep up our strength for the trip home, you know. Then we found a park with some cool triple-decker stuff and played for just a little while, until we had to get back in the car, with kicking-and-screaming-Kate in tow.

And headed back to our own country. Oh yeah, and we took lots of pictures, in case you were wondering (that's why Jackson wouldn't turn around for our picture in front of the temple).

These are some of my favorites:

Olivia likes to pose for the camera, especially with all the pretty flowers around. I would point the camera at Katelyn, and Olivia would jump in next to her, smiling for the shot. Or, I'd say, "Look at these pretty ones, " and she'd strike a pose in front of them. We got lots of Olivia.
But we like Olivia.

The other two weren't so into pictures. Here's Kate giving a dirty look to some other tourists pointing at her, laughing at her scowl, and saying "cute!" Or maybe they were just talking about the flowers around her.

And here's the one picture Jackson posed for, with a fake smile. I think he was thinking, "I don't really know why I'm doing this, but everyone else is, so let's get it over with." But he told me those were "cool dragon flowers, not pretty ones."

One still scowling, one still smiling, one ready to go half hour ago.