AHA!

Ok so I figured out (sorta) why it wasn't letting me cut and paste yesterday (or whenever I last posted) so here is what I had written:

Dallas has been enjoying that almost constant companionship of his 4 year-old cousin, Braycen. Both of Braycen's parents work so he spend his days around Nana and Papa's house with us.Dallas has mastered the word "Brace."

He is enjoying palying outside on the trampoline, reading his leapfrog books and Jadon gave to him, going on walks, and watching the retro-cartoon channel (things like GI Joe and Fragglerock). It is nice to let him go outside and not have to worry about cars. I am learning very quickly about outside play-clothes, inside play-clothes,and nice clothes. Dallas is also sleeping on the top bunk of a bunk bed and isn't having any problems (it does have built-in rails on it).

I discovered Chelane is completely NOT adequatly outfitted for the cooler weather or being outside. At night and when she is outside (she likes being on the trampoline with the boys) She typically has babylegs on her arms and legs under her pants and coat. We only have one blanket sleeper for her current size (I think we are planning on doing a little clothes shopping now that Cam got his first check) so when it is dirty we put her in her cotton PJ's with leg warmers on her legs and arms as well. She is still happy as can be and climbing up on furniture and cruising (walking while holding onto furniture) there doesn't seem to be much progression towards walking alone, but we will see. She loves eating peas from the garden, playing with the big kids, cuddling, and making messes.

Cam got a temporary job that started the Wednesday after Labor Day. A man in the ward has a construction bursiness and due to college semesters starting and students leaving, he had some openings. For the last two weeks Cam has been working 11-15 hour days (mostly around 11-12) and making $20 an hour plus a lot of time-and-a-half. We know he will have work through tomorrow (Saturday), but nothing is definite after that.

Luckily he will make enough in those three weeks to have us set for a few months of car payments and other bills. Cam doesn't seem to mind the work or the long days (except yesterday went so long, he was out of the house before the kds got up, which is normal, but didn't get back until they were in bed so he missed the kids).

I made and canned some applesauce with apples from a friend's trees, have dug up potatoes and picked beans, and helped in the garden (I need to apologize to Dad here for not helping him that much in his garden this year). We went and saw "UP" again in the local theater last Tuesday and have spent a little time around town. So far it has been a good experience.

I will try to keep this blog updated fairly consistantly. There is only dial-up at Cam's parents' which makes the blogs take 5 minutes to load so I don't get on the internet too often. I have taken pictures but have no computer to put them on, so be prepared for a slough of pictures soon (which included a squeeky clean nekkid Dallas in the garden).

Vanderhoof

I had typed this big thing out on notepad prior to firing up the internet (because I didn't want to take lots of time on the internet since it ties up a phone line) but the computer won't let me cut and paste. So you will have to deal with a short update:

We are alive and the weather up here has been unseasonably warm until today.

Cam got a temp job shortly after arriving here that has kept him employed up til now making more money than either of us has in our married life. He knows he still has work through this weekend, we are not sure after that.

The kids are great, I have some pictures and stories to share but I don't have a computer to load the pictures onto so you will have to wait til a later date to get those.

I was doing this while the kids were napping but it sounds like they prematurely woke up (they only went to bed an hour ago) so I need to go. More to come later.

We Are Moving

So just to let everyone know that won't hear about it right away: Cam, the kids, and I are moving up to Vanderhoof tomorrow. We will be back later to get all our stuff from Mom and Dad's and we will be back for Christmas. There are job opportunities up there that would put it in a better situation (and I would like to live in the smaller-town sorta area anyway).

Well try to think/pray good thoughts for us rather than "man I hope they don't find anything so they have to come back to Washington with absolutely no employment"... I am sure no one is thinking the "... with absolutely no employment" part but that would be the reality of it since I resigned my post in the Auburn district.

Anyway, we aren't gone forever. I don't know if I will be able to post much up there since we will be staying with Cam's parents to start off with (which should only be for a few weeks, yes I know that is what I said about staying with my parents back in December) and his parents don't have great internet. I did do two other post before this (the 30th of August and the 1st of September) about the kids and things (before we knew we were going to move, yes it all really was that sudden) so please check those out.

Oh and Cam and I pulled all the little bushes around Mom and Dad's driveway on Thursday using a shovel and that heavy iron pole Dad has. I have nice blisters to prove it (because I was stupid and didn't use gloves, Cam used gloves and his hands are still as soft as a baby's bottom...) Dallas and Jadon were playing catch while the bushes were meeting their end (Dallas fished Cam's two old baseball gloves out of the garage and held one open with both hands in front of his chest and Jay tossed the ball into it... I am not sure how long that one lasted though). After the bushes were out Cam proceeded to play baseball with Jadon.

Today we went to a park and then to the children's museum in factoria (it is free from 5-8pm every Friday) which I HIGHLY reccommend, we will definitely take the time to go back there when we are in the area. Dallas and Chelane have had a good last few days playing with Jadon and the grandparents.

I Hope This Doesn't Hurt Your Head...

I caught this back in July. I was crouching just outside of the room with my arm around the dresser to catch the cuteness without being seen by the munchkins (and risk distraction).

I can't figure out how to turn the video... and maybe you can't... Although i bet you could with some video editing software, which I don't have... I really just don't know, SORRY!

FYI (and incase you can't tell) the squealing is Dallas and the laughing is Chelane.

Just Because I Couldn't Leave August Out...

I realized I hadn't posted yet in August and felt I couldn't not do this month it's justice (All you English majors are totally cringing at that sentence... I can feel it). So here it is, the fat and the skinny of it:

This month I got old(er).

I applied to school districts all around this area (we are talking Tacoma out to Snoqualmie) and only got one callback (to the job I think I wanted the most out of everything that I applied for; it was teaching math at an alternative school in North Bend with a student body of about 300), but they ended up not wanting me. Turn out schools like prior experience... Go figure. So, I am going back to the job I got last February. I am happy to have a job, just annoyed to not have made any progress in the getting-out-of-my-parent's-house-and-having-a-stable-life direction.

Chelane is 11 months today! She is a crawling fiend and is starting to lean out. She is still very happy, loves to play with her brother, and enjoys cleaning things up (or it might just be "putting things in" because, many times, she promptly takes them out again...). You know how people call kids "ankle-biters"? Well Chelane is a "knee-biter" and I am not saying that to allude to her height... she really is a knee biter.

I am sure there are cute pictures around here somewhere, but chances are my mom took them (since my camera SUCKS) and I haven't gotten them on my computer yet. She is following in her brother's footsteps as a curious, energy reserve of moving chaos (I like to call Dallas "Entropy in Motion" because I am a geek). She is still sweet as can be and we all love her to death, even when she is trying to eat the rocks in the bottom of Grandma's bamboo planter...

Dallas is getting more and more verbal. He is attempting words and yesterday when we were walking out of a store to the car, I was telling him we were looking for the "red car" (because our car is, you guessed it, red) and I asked him where it was. He was looking around with me and trying to say "red car" but he didn't have a strong 'r' or 'd' sound; so it was more like "eh co." I asked Cam if he could hear him (Cam was a few steps away with Chelane) and he couldn't. But I could tell what he was saying.

Wow, that was a very anti-climatic story. The point of it was that I can't recall Dallas doing spontaneous correct sounds before, many times he just mumbles and then you have to focus his attention on your mouth so he can get the visual cues and have him try again.

Anyway the kid is doing more compound wordage (more than one word at a time, so like two-word sentences?), mixing words in with his signs, and can be frequently caught babbling or singing to himself (and others). It is all very exciting for us since he didn't do that babbling or singing when he was younger. The language is coming!

I feel like I should write something about Cam... but he isn't doing anything nearly as exciting as the kids. Although, he did do chores yesterday (lots of them, in succession) without being asked; that is pretty major for him.