So this last week was my dad's birthday. The big 55. Unfortunately it coincided with a tragic event that left it difficult to celebrate on his actual birthday. March 10, 2012 my Aunt Tracy passed away from cancer. She had been fighting it for years and was suffering a lot, so we are glad that she is happier where she is now and isn't in any more pain. I only have good memories of Aunt Tracy. She was a bright, bubbly person who could honestly light up a room just by being there. My heart goes out to her husband and her three kids, who are all still at home. My parents flew out for the funeral (I really wish we could have gone, but we had just bought tickets to go out to my brother's wedding in June) and my dad was out there on his birthday. They went to IHOP for the senior citizens discount. He was excited.
Anyway, we had originally decided to go down and celebrate this last weekend, but my parents weren't getting home until Saturday morning. So we weren't going to go. Then I decided that we were going to go and try to make the best of it and cheer up my mom and dad. So we drove down Thursday night and spent Friday cleaning up the house and spending some quality time together. And hanging out with Jenni, Ashlynne and baby Ethan. He's so cute I can barely stand it.
I really wish I had been better about taking pictures. Saturday morning I got up with Ellie and made green chocolate chip pancakes (since it was St. Paddy's day) for my parents, who arrived home in time to have warm pancakes, but to miss the smoke detector going off and being dismantled. (No comment). We also had green milk. My dad used to always do things like that for us when we were little, so I decided it would help cheer things up.
(In fact, I remember one year on my birthday my dad made purple eggs and pancakes, because my favorite color was purple. Except they turned out kind of brownish purple and nasty looking. I ate them anyway. It's the thought that counts.)
Then they went to sleep (they had taken a red-eye flight home) and I ran three miles while Will and Ellie watched TV. I was very proud of myself, since I haven't actually run for several months. That morning I had also made a gluten free angel food cake (without a mix). My dad always has an angel food cake on his birthday, and my sister-in-law is allergic to gluten. So I made it. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.
That afternoon we had a bbq and birthday party.
Not shown: Ryan and Ashlynne, because they were running around in the other room, and Jenni because she was picking up her mom from the airport. And Ellie. She was probably running around too.
The cake. It fell a bit, but it was still good. Also, I used trick candles. When I was little I had trick candles on one of my cakes and I cried when I couldn't blow them out. I was just going to get normal candles, but Will found trick ones. It was good payback.
Also I made green whipped cream to go on the cake. It was really appetizing.
They showed up right before the candles got blown out.
Unfortunately those are all the pictures I have for the trip. Lame, I know. Sunday we all went to church, but Ellie didn't stay in nursery. Which is crazy because usually she cries when we try to take her out of nursery. Will had to leave church a little early because...
Well, because of our big news.
No, I'm not pregnant, so stop asking! Just kidding. About the stop asking part. Not about the preggo part.
I'm not pregnant.
Yet.
Flashback: Several months ago Will got an email from a buddy who used to work at Lockheed. This guy had moved to a smaller company that worked on government contracts. He offered Will a job at the company, which only has a handful of guys working on it. Will mentioned it to me and we laughed, but I told him that he could go ahead and ask questions if he wanted. Will asked a few questions and said it sounded interesting, but it was so out of the blue that we weren't really considering it. So he set up a chat with the boss and we made a list of deal breakers and said that we would consider it if everything fit (we were pretty sure it wouldn't).
Well, Will came home and said that not only had all our deal breakers passed, but that the job actually sounded really cool and they all went rock climbing once a week after work. (Will loves rock climbing but hasn't really been able to do much of it for the last few years). So we started to think seriously about it. We fasted and prayed and decided to go with it.
Last Sunday Will had an interview with his future boss. Well, it wasn't really an interview. It was more like a welcome-to-the-team chat. We have about a month (hopefully not much more than that) before all the government paperwork goes through and we get a start date and then probably another month for Will to give notice to Lockheed and get us all packed. So we're about 95% sure it's all going through.
So we're going to try and sell our cute little house after only living here... not quite a year. The job is in Franconia, Virginia, (only half an hour or so north of my parents) so we will be able to crash with them for a bit until we find a new house. A much more expensive house. Luckily our pay will be increasing quite a bit. We will probably be living in the Alexandria area. Which is ridiculously expensive.
So yeah, I'm trying to get our house ready to sell. It's a full-time, and rather exhausting, job. Also, we really have no idea what we're doing. About the house. And some other things. Don't ask about the job details, because I don't really know them.
The other day Will pointed out something funny. He remembered back to before Ellie was born, when he first brought up moving to West Virginia. I laughed in his face and told him I would never do that.
Here we are.
Then he brought up about 6 months ago when he mentioned maybe moving back to the D.C. area after our 5 or so years were up here. I laughed in his face and told him I was never going back.
Here we go.
This summer is going to be crazy. We will probably get moved out and be crashing with my parents by the time my brother gets married at the beginning of June (in Seattle), only to come back and house hunt and move all our crap again.
Anyway, so we had lots to talk and think about on the drive home from VA. Luckily Ellie actually slept this time.
Snuggles with Hop Hop the bunny.
Anyway, that's been the latest. This post is a novel, but I'll finish up with the promised bonus.
Honestly, I put them away with her right before I got out the camera and I couldn't believe how many she knew. I blame it on the preschool shows I let her watch sometimes. She's so stinking smart and she's getting so big. I can't even believe it.
Also I made green whipped cream to go on the cake. It was really appetizing.
They showed up right before the candles got blown out.
Unfortunately those are all the pictures I have for the trip. Lame, I know. Sunday we all went to church, but Ellie didn't stay in nursery. Which is crazy because usually she cries when we try to take her out of nursery. Will had to leave church a little early because...
Well, because of our big news.
No, I'm not pregnant, so stop asking! Just kidding. About the stop asking part. Not about the preggo part.
I'm not pregnant.
Yet.
Flashback: Several months ago Will got an email from a buddy who used to work at Lockheed. This guy had moved to a smaller company that worked on government contracts. He offered Will a job at the company, which only has a handful of guys working on it. Will mentioned it to me and we laughed, but I told him that he could go ahead and ask questions if he wanted. Will asked a few questions and said it sounded interesting, but it was so out of the blue that we weren't really considering it. So he set up a chat with the boss and we made a list of deal breakers and said that we would consider it if everything fit (we were pretty sure it wouldn't).
Well, Will came home and said that not only had all our deal breakers passed, but that the job actually sounded really cool and they all went rock climbing once a week after work. (Will loves rock climbing but hasn't really been able to do much of it for the last few years). So we started to think seriously about it. We fasted and prayed and decided to go with it.
Last Sunday Will had an interview with his future boss. Well, it wasn't really an interview. It was more like a welcome-to-the-team chat. We have about a month (hopefully not much more than that) before all the government paperwork goes through and we get a start date and then probably another month for Will to give notice to Lockheed and get us all packed. So we're about 95% sure it's all going through.
So we're going to try and sell our cute little house after only living here... not quite a year. The job is in Franconia, Virginia, (only half an hour or so north of my parents) so we will be able to crash with them for a bit until we find a new house. A much more expensive house. Luckily our pay will be increasing quite a bit. We will probably be living in the Alexandria area. Which is ridiculously expensive.
So yeah, I'm trying to get our house ready to sell. It's a full-time, and rather exhausting, job. Also, we really have no idea what we're doing. About the house. And some other things. Don't ask about the job details, because I don't really know them.
The other day Will pointed out something funny. He remembered back to before Ellie was born, when he first brought up moving to West Virginia. I laughed in his face and told him I would never do that.
Here we are.
Then he brought up about 6 months ago when he mentioned maybe moving back to the D.C. area after our 5 or so years were up here. I laughed in his face and told him I was never going back.
Here we go.
This summer is going to be crazy. We will probably get moved out and be crashing with my parents by the time my brother gets married at the beginning of June (in Seattle), only to come back and house hunt and move all our crap again.
Anyway, so we had lots to talk and think about on the drive home from VA. Luckily Ellie actually slept this time.
Anyway, that's been the latest. This post is a novel, but I'll finish up with the promised bonus.
Honestly, I put them away with her right before I got out the camera and I couldn't believe how many she knew. I blame it on the preschool shows I let her watch sometimes. She's so stinking smart and she's getting so big. I can't even believe it.
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