The Adventure Continues

Our newest adventure is progressing whether we want it to or not. We have our house on the market as of last Thursday and I'm slowly working my way through the list of repairs that our relocation company wants done before they will accept the house. I'm spending a couple of days a week in Decatur where my new job is and working from my office here the rest of the time and Andrea is trying to do some organizing and re-boxing in preparation for a May or June move date. And we've looked at every house surrounding Decatur and don't like any of them. Except one in Argenta, but someone else is already making an offer on that one. Phooey.

I should be more specific - we've looked at every three and four bedroom house that has a main level bedroom and bathroom and has at least half an acre. And that's colored blue. Just kidding. Well, April is supposed to be prime housing season, so I guess we'll just have to be patient.

Work is crazy busy. And challenging. I'm enjoying it very much. I'm working on a project with some of the best engineers in the company on one of the highest profile products we make. Unfortunately, it's going to require a fair amount of time in Tucson this summer for testing. Like, up to a couple of months worth. Starting in May. Great timing, huh? We should be able to break up the testing so that I won't have to spend much more than three weeks at a time away from home, but still - I'm not looking forward to being away. Maybe the Pandemonium Family can take a summer trip to visit me during one of those stays!

The kids had Spring Break this week.We spent the weekend and the first couple of days in Decatur visiting friends and looking at houses. Then, Andrea took the whole crew up to Shaumburg today to go to Legoland. She met up with Sandra and her kids (also Lego lovers) and they didn't get home until after supper. Everyone is pretty beat tonight.

Is it Friday yet?

Three for Three

A couple of belated pictures from Number Three's big number three.

Any question about how old Paxton is?

 Mommy knows that sometimes little boys just need their own little frog-shaped table and chair set.

 A bean-bag game from Grandma. Thanks Grandma!

Paxton had his birthday planned months in advance and every baking event in the kitchen brought new questions about whether this was his birthday yet, so when mommy finally put together his special "twinkle star" cupcakes he was mighty proud.

Our little fireball is three. May your enthusiasm never diminish, Paxton! Happy birthday.

Happy 10th Kenrick

In the middle of all the hullabaloo I seem to have forgotten to post pictures of both Paxton and Kenrick's birthdays. Oh well, better late than never.

Kenrick turned 10. Really. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did.  Here's proof.

Andrea made the ice cream cake.

We just had a small party for the new double-digit boy. Dig in, buddy!

Joy! Or maybe just silly.

Anya can't resist. Let me help, let me help! Ooooh, pretty paper.

Here's the crew, checking out the new Lego train set. Anya thinks it makes a fine place to sit.

When I look at my growing little boy with his big feet and long skinny limbs it's hard to remember the tiny little baby that swept into our lives and changed us forever, that little baby boy who cried and cried at night, who wanted to be held and bounced and walked back and forth across our little living room in Peoria. As the first of the clan you endured our inexperience and often overeager attempts to raise the perfect child, you survived our full attention for two years and then you became a big brother and a big helper and unique member of our funny little family. You've grown so fast and have made us so proud. Happy birthday Kenrick, you'll always be my little boy.

Just a couple more pictures. The other day everyone was tired of being inside and the temperature was hovering just above bearable, so Kenrick got his bike out and hooked up the trailer.

Who do you think is inside? Little Sister, of course! She seems to be enjoying her first ride.

It was fun while it lasted...

Now that the snow and ice and howling winds have mostly given way to spring, I have to say; it was fun while it lasted but good riddance to winter.

Happy First Birthday, Anya!

Anya turns one whole year old today. Wow.

She's the cutest little girl ever.

So what did little Anya learn this year? I mean, besides everything she knows. Well, she learned how to walk and how to squawk. She learned about bottles and blankies and cute little shoes, about grandpas and grandmas and kitties and spoons. She learned about bath time and hugs and jammies with feet, about grapes and bananas, how to sleep in a car seat.  And she learned about big brothers. Who love having a little sister.

Anthony gives her a push.

An early birthday present generates much interest among the boys.

Andrea finally gets to put pink on a cake.

 The birthday girl gets her own.

 Which, after some hesitation, gets devoured with gusto.

Presents are always special, but a giant card from Anthony is especially so. "I even put some pink in it" he proudly proclaimed.

If Anya could talk she would say "Thanks to everyone who made my first big day a bunch of big fun!"

"Now, see ya later..."

Miss Mischief

All was quiet this morning . That's usually not good. Where's Anya?

Andrea found her in our bathroom with the toilet brush in the toilet, toilet paper spread across the floor and a guilty look on her face.

Yesterday she threw Paxton's shoes in the garbage...

Help Wanted

Seriously. The two littlest chaos makers seem to be getting the best of Mommy lately. Anyone got a day or a week to spare?

Yes, those are the chairs in the front room, flipped onto their noses for perfect little hideouts for Pajama Girl and her sidekick Stinky.

Blizzard 2011

That's what all the TV networks called it: BLIZZARD 2011! Often accompanied by dramatic music.

I generally don't have much patience with media hype, but I'll give them a pass - this one was a doozy.  It started snowing on Tuesday afternoon with the wind howling out of the north-east and it didn't stop until this afternoon. Here's what we saw out the front window this morning.

The boys and I went for a short walkabout, but it was pretty miserable with the wind blowing. Check out the drift against the back fence.

I started shoveling. Kenrick and Anthony started tunneling. Here they are against the drift at the front walk. By the time the wind stopped blowing, the peak of that drift stood as high as my chest.

The wind made some pretty wild looking shapes with the snow.

The drift in the driveway was so deep that I had to cut through it one block at a time. The kids took advantage of the abundance of building materials to make a strong fort - complete with a tunnel entrance!

I don't think we'll get the trailer out any time soon.

I spent pretty much all day shoveling, but I finally cut a slot to the road. The sixty foot drive had four feet of snow at one end and about two feet at the other end - a total of about 20 cubic yards of not-so-fluffy fluff that I had to heave into the air.  My back is shot.

To Do List

To Do:

1. Finish writing about our Epic Winter Vacation
2. Take more pictures of Anya with her lopsided toothy grin and her flyaway hair
3. Paint the kitchen
4. Start packing up our house again

Packing up you say? Yes, I'm afraid it's true - we're moving again!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the machine program at work that I moved us up here for got suspended. At that time, our hope was that we could work on temporary assignments for a few months until the acquisition of Bucyrus International was finalized. We were instructed a few weeks after that, however, to start looking for permanent positions within Caterpillar and to assume that the Mining Shovels program would not be back any time soon.

Long story short: today I accepted a position in Decatur (Illinois) with the Large Mining Trucks division.

We don't know for sure what the timeline for moving looks like, but shouldn't have to go anywhere until school is out. In the mean time ... where did I put all those boxes that we had around here a few months ago?

Paxtonspeak Chicken

Andrea was telling me the other day that Paxton was having a hard time saying the word 'kitchen'

"He keeps saying 'chicken' instead", she said.

We were all standing in the kitchen, so I decided to test him out.

"Paxton, where are we?"

"We're right here!"

All right, I guess I'll have to be smarter than the average three year old.

"Where are we standing right now? Where do we eat lunch?"

"Bedroom!" "Hee-hee!"

"No! What room are we in? Right now! Are we in the basement?"

"Nooooo!"

"Are we in the kitchen?"

"Yes. Chicken!"

"Say kitchen. Kitchen. Ki - Chen."

"Chi - Ken!"

(Everyone rolls on the floor laughing)

Epic Journey 2010, Part 3: Winterland Adventures

The weather in McCall was delightful during our time there - snow, snow, and more snow!

The first order of business was to build an epic snow fort. Matt, Sally, Shanna, and the kids are on it. The middle of the fairway in front of the house is the prime spot, naturally.

The golf course next to the house has a network of trails that are kept open in the winter for hiking and cross-country skiing, so we took advantage of that while we were there. Our condo is on the left, epic fort on the right.

Once the perimeter defenses have been set up, the troops can relax. Good job guys!

The first of a few family pics. It was nice to have the whole crew together.

Matt brought his bongos, much to the kids delight. Anthony keeps the beat.

We checked out a local tubing hill. It wasn't near steep or dangerous enough, but the kids enjoyed it. It was nice to have a rope tow for getting to the top of the hill. Shanna kicks back.

A Sunday Morning Picture with Grandma and her grand's.

Sunday afternoon dinner at the local (only) Chinese restaurant. Paxton approves.

Next up, ice skating. McCall has a great little rink right downtown with a view of the lake and the mountains in the background. Everyone except mom and Anya skated. Paxton enjoyed pushing a stack of buckets around the rink.

Sunday evening brought a few more inches of white stuff to the area, just in time for Monday's much-anticipated visit to the local ski hill, Brundage Mountain. Kenrick, Anthony, and Cooper tried out the snowboards again. Mia decided to try skiing. The adults tried to keep up.

A couple of times that day I looked over at my two boys with their snowboards and big smiles and my heart got all up in my throat and I thought, "This is really cool." It was cool.

The conditions were perfect and the kids did really well. They fell a lot, which is normal for a snowboard, but they kept getting up again and by the end of the day Kenrick was linking turns and Anthony was getting down the hill without catching his edge and I was tremendously proud of them. Here we are taking a break before heading down the hill. Sally and Matt hung with us for a few runs - Matt's on the far right and Sally's standing - and offered much encouragement to the budding boarders.

Mom took a nap with her youngest grandkid.

We didn't sit around too much during our time in McCall; many of our evenings were spent doing some kind of epic event or crazy contest. One such contest was the more-difficult-than-it-sounds Transfer The Cookie From Your Forehead To Your Mouth Without Touching It Challenge. Only two of us got it on our first try (including yours truly). Paxton demonstrates.

On our last day in McCall, we all gathered for one more picture in the snow. The epic fort served us well and we left it with warm memories and with hopes that it would provide the same for the next group of intrepid explorers.

The last day also brought another foot of snow in the mountains, so Sam, Sally, Matt, and I altered our plans slightly and went back up to Brundage to take advantage. It was some of the best powder I've ever boarded in, a fantastic day that I won't soon forget. My cheeks were sore from the big dumb smile that was plastered on my face all day long.

Sally floats through the trees. Whooo hoooooo!

So from McCall we returned to Boise, gathered up our luggage and headed back to Idaho Falls to spend New Year's with Andrea's family - the last leg of our journey and the last gasp of 2010. 

Say Again?

I was just sitting down in my comfy chair this evening after supper when Kenrick hollered from the kitchen,

"Dad! Paxton just stuck a cup-cake in his eye!"

Ship Mates

Let's head home, Captn' Anya, there's no intelligent life here! 

Gut Check

There's nothing like an emotional roller-coaster ride to start your year out right. A week that began with the warm glow of family in Grandpa and Grandma's house and the anticipation of getting settled in to our new house and new job, and that favored us with a relatively uneventful drive home from Idaho, quickly turned to mush. We got a decent night's rest on Monday, but Tuesday morning dawned way too early in a time zone that's an hour ahead of what we'd become accustom to and so I threw down some coffee and made sure the kids were upright before heading into work. Andrea got Kenrick and Anthony ready for school, hoping to get a nap before going in to pick up some groceries, but the bus didn't come when it was supposed to. So, she scrambled to get Paxton and Anya dressed and took the boys in to school herself. It's only a few miles, no big deal, and there's a small grocery in town, so she stopped off there, but when she got home she realized that her key was still with the house sitter and she'd locked herself out. To make matters worse, she'd left her cell phone in the kitchen in her rush to get the kids to school. So she tried to get in one of the windows. Fortunately, she chose one that I was going to replace anyway. After lunch, she was just putting P & A down for a nap when the phone rang. Kenrick isn't feeling well, could you please come pick him up? Great.

So she calls me on her way home from the school to tell me all this, just when I'm about to call her to tell her that we've just learned that our machine program has been suspended. As in, wrap up the work you've been doing for the last three or six or nine months, forget about the work you were thinking about doing for the next six months and get ready to start looking for a temporary position to keep you busy while we wait for the largest acquisition that Caterpillar has ever made to be finalized and figure out how these overlapping product lines are going to play together. Ah come on! Seriously!?

Then Anthony hit his head on Thursday and came home with a headache and an upset stomach. He seemed to be doing okay by that evening, so no harm done. I spent Thursday and Friday working on wrap-up planning, making sure that a few contractors could get their work finished in the next couple of weeks, and fielding calls from concerned colleagues and various managers offering potential positions. I'm very grateful to be working for a company that has the size to allow so many options and that takes care of it's people the way it does.

We slept in this morning.

Things were looking up today. The boys are both fine, the broken window can be fixed, the house is just going to be a mess for a while, and we'll catch up on our sleep and our exercise eventually. And all is not doom and gloom at work - we're proud of what we've accomplished in so short a time, and although we're all tremendously disappointed that we won't be able see our new machines take shape this year, we're optimistic that we'll be working on shovels again. We understand the business reasons for the decision and are thankful that the direction is to 'suspend' not 'cancel' the program. With challenge and uncertainty comes strength of character. If we have many more weeks like this you'll be able to see our character oozing out of our ears. Only 51 more weeks in the 2011...