A little chaos

Currently I am "attending" a 2 hour online phone conference seminar session for one of my nursing classes.  My tuition dollars are being well spent as I halfheartedly listen to what is going on while typing this. 

Now that I am officially a "working mom" things are busy around here.  P and I are mastering the art of the "kiddo-pass-off." It goes a little something like this - I run (seriously run) in the door after work, P hands me the baby, gives me the need-to-know info (like when he last ate, got a diaper change, and took a nap), grabs his stuff and heads off to work.  While it is ideal in the sense that our sweet boys get to be home with mommy or daddy, it leaves little time for P and I to spend together.  And I also forgot to mention that on top of working, P and I are also crazy, busy with school.  P is also still busy applying for jobs as well.  So yep...this is chaos, this is our life, and we are loving every minute of it (or trying to).


The good news...I am done with classes at OHSU on August 18th.  Yep, I will officially (finally) have my BSN.  5 long years of college education are quickly coming to an end, and so I am in crash mode attempting to get all my assignments done.  I sit here and think about how much I have to do, and wonder why I am spending the time to update this...perhaps my priorities are a little skewed.  Just hanging on for a couple more weeks, and then life will drastically settle down.

So with the chaos that the weekday brings, we try to soak up our time spent together as a family on the weekends.  This last weekend we were able to see everyone from both sides of the family, in one day...such a nice treat!  First we spent some time out at a farm for a birthday party, where R rode a horse for the first time.  P being the stellar daddy that he is, braved the horse so R could ride.  Notice his posture, all nervous and stiff like.  He is absolutely not a fan of horses whatsoever.  The things you do for your kids...and R's response after getting off the horse - the horse was just pooping everywhere, it was so disgusting!  He had no interest in riding again after his brief 2ish minute ride.  So it doesn't appear that we have a future farmer/cowboy/livestock lover on our hands 

K and I hung around and watched R and P. 

 While escaping the heat, we spent a little time in the car.  I snapped this pic of K and his teeth!  R had 2 teeth when he turned 1, and K is working on #8 at just 11 months old. 

We visited the library to cool down, and let K crawl around before making the 2 hour drive back home.

The sun was in R's eyes on the ride home, so he wore these (dollar store) sunglasses.

The boys are adjusting well to me not being home as much.  Finding pictures that P takes of things the boys do while I am working makes me smile.  K already loves racing R's cars around, and has even mastered making the "car noise" while driving them.  I love that when I uploaded the pictures, I noticed this picture was taken at 2pm, and K is still in PJ's : ).

 

Job hunt

Alabama.  Iowa.  Tennessee.  Colorado.


Those are the states that P has applied to jobs so far.  I am hoping the list of states keeps growing so we have more of a selection.  We are hoping something will turn up that is closer to home, but for now P is busy applying for every job that is within his area of interest.  Some have a start date as early as Jan. 2011, which would be ideal for our little (growing) family.  Not sure how ideal it would be for P and his dissertation work, but he is superman (trust me, I know, I wash his cape daily).

So here is to hoping:

• for a variety of more jobs to apply for
• for the perfect job for P
• in the perfect location for our family
• close to home
• with a decent salary to support our "party of 5" this upcoming March

On another note...

Here is what we have been up to lately to stay cool

 and after the fountain splashing, K was so tired he fell asleep all slouched in the stroller.  P took this sweet picture, he totally knows my weakness for little bitty baby feet.

and sometimes we splash it up,

all white trash style, with rolled over swim shorts (to keep em' up on "scrawny", not necessary for "squishy")

outside our apartment, in our K-Mart, blue-light-special, pool. 

Because when you are on a dual college student budget that is how you roll. 

other times we indulge in fruit popsicles.

 and throw a fit when they are all gone...but seriously how cute is this face?!

and just two more pictures, because I like them.  Don't think I favor squishy, he is just easier to take pictures of and doesn't constantly say "no pictures please"

 

4th of july in pictures...finally

After finally finalizing our plans for the 4th, the day of, which is so untypical for us it was time to hit up the firework booth to get some goods.

R went to pick the hugest, most expensive one (sorry son we left it there, $40 for one firework is just...) but his expression was priceless.

After our quick trip to the booth, we headed down to the local 4th of July festival.  R wanted to do this cool trampoline jump thing, which I totally encouraged (while P gave me this evil-what-in-the-world-are-you-thinking-glare for encouraging such craziness in our child.  We walked away with a pouty faced, 27lb three year old who didn't quite meet the 40lb requirement to jump.  P suggested that next year he might be able to jump, which is just outrageous since P finally weighed 50lbs in the 5th GRADE!  So yeah...moving on.

After exploring at the festival in the heat we were all tired.  P soaked up every moment of R snuggles as he carried the tired little guy to the car...

Because of tiredness, our firework festivities began at 6pm, not ideal for optimal firework viewing but when you are three that doesn't really matter.  And what really mattered was making the 4th great for that little three year old : ).  And great it was!

Every little boy needs a firework with this title, and a cheesy smile to go with it...

and the cheesy faces continue.  This one just cracks me up!

The wind combined with our lack of skills in using a lighter made the process of lighting fireworks so much fun.  R was so patient even though it took forever to start one sparkler. 

and the Pop-its we bought were mega duds.  R had to jump on them to make em' work, though he loved every moment of it.

K was not a fan the fireworks this year.  Not sure if it related to extreme exhaustion or being afraid of the noise.  So K and I headed home, he was in bed by 6:30pm and I had time to myself which was strange.  Both our boys were sleeping soundly at 8pm, through the noise of the fireworks, evidence of a day well spent!

a job

June 23rd I had my very first professional interview.  It was beyond intimidating, 3 nurses just grilling me for 90 minutes.  They gave me a tour of the place.  I departed the interview feeling pretty confident, and was told "we'll let you know of our decision super quickly."  Not wanting to be the annoying interviewee I refrained from calling...for 2 whole weeks! 

2 weeks!  I am not sure how this falls into the time frame of "super quick."

During these 2 weeks I am sure I drove P insane second guessing the interview and had decided that there is absolutely no way that I got the job.  Furthermore I was irritated that they didn't at least call to let me know they selected another candidate.  Then on the day I had decided that I was going to be "that" person who calls and bugs, I got a phone call at 8:15am telling me that they'd love to have me. 

So that is that. 

It is official, I am going to begin my first nursing job, in pediatrics. 

I am not sure how long I'll be working since P is busy applying to every position he qualifies for, and some of the positions have a start date of Jan 2011.  But this is the start to my journey in the nursing field.  So excited to see what it holds!  And so after almost 4 years of not working, I am going to be a "working mom" which has me feeling...strange, and emotional.

But then again those feelings I can also blame on hormones : ).

Now just waiting again for that phone call that lets me know of the start date.  Hopefully it doesn't take another 2 weeks...

Minivan

I always said I'd never own a minivan.  I had to rock out in a blue 1995 Plymouth Voyager minivan growing up.  

I hated it.  

I hated the way we had to use our foot to kick the sliding door shut, cause it was so dang hard to close.  I hated the way it looked.  I hated that the "way back" back seat was always so dang hot in the summertime, cause the A/C wasn't powerful enough to make it all the way back there, and with those awful windows that only push open a crack no outside air could help with the temperature either.  I hated that at 16 I had to learn to drive in it.  I especially hated that it wasn't automatic, making it even more difficult for me to learn to drive - the clutch, shifting the gear, driving the massive thing, blegh.  

But I also loved it.  

I loved that it was spacious enough for my 3 siblings and I.  I loved the many road trips we took in it.  I loved that my mom was able to be the "soccer mom" hauling a minivan full of girls to and from soccer games and practice.  

and now it looks like I'll be the owner of one.  Soon.  While I love Razzle, our lovely Red Nissan Sentra, she just isn't big enough for our family.  Especially with the need for 3 car seats...

            

Yep, it's official.  We need a minivan.  Not sure exactly when, more details to come later.

Bus stop picnic

Yesterday Ryker had his 2nd ever ice cream cone. There is something magical about the art of eating an ice-cream cone at 3.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.

This morning Ryker was busy at work creating a poster for Paul to hang in his new office - which Ryker refers to as "daddy's post office."  Of course it is necessary to make a trip to hand deliver the prized poster, so I packed a picnic lunch and headed to meet up with P, but not before capturing evidence that Ryker really loves his little brother...sometimes a little too much.

We foolishly allowed Ryker to pick our picnic spot, which landed us sitting on a bench at a bus stop.  Probably not the most clean or picnic-like place to choose, but it is similar to the deal with him wearing all red that one day...sometimes you just gotta let the good times roll, regardless if it is the ideal that I would have chosen.  And so we had our little picnic, rocked it at that bus stop.

 We came home for a low key rest of the day.  Kiplin is currently on my lap, while Ryker is all snuggled up on the couch watching Monsters Inc...we will join him soon.  It is the days like these that I love so very much.