Bad week

It's been a terrible, no good, very bad, horrible few days. Murphy's law is in full effect on my life- if it's a bad thing, then it will happen to me. Perspective: no one I love is injured or dead, although I probably may lose my job, we don't count on it for anything but a little spending money and though currently my calling ("church job" for those of you that are not LDS) is more than challenging me, I still believe in Christ. Health: check. Breadwinner: check. Faith: check.

Thankfully, my kids give me lots of perspective and keep me for wailing "woe is me" for very long. (although sometimes they add to my woe!)
During Ada's nap, Odessa is supposed to have quiet time on the couch with library books. Yesterday she informed me she wasn't going to do any such thing. When I got done explaining to her that yes, she was going to have quiet time, she stomped over to the couch with huffy "Fine!"

Odessa: (from the couch) Who gave me to you anyway??

Me: (ignoring comment)

Odessa: Yer crazy, mom. Mom! You are crazy!

Me: (feeling crazy) no I'm not, don't call me crazy.

Odessa: (hopping down from the couch) I need some chapstick.

Me: Don't you go into your room, Ada is asleep.

Odessa: I'm not, I'm getting yours.

Needless to say, there was some discussion about borrowing my things before asking, respecting her mother and the consequences of not staying in quiet time. Sheesh.

Today she was painting and I was again in the kitchen (am I always there??) I bumped her fridge toy and it started singing its' song about a letter (about 10 seconds long) "A says ahhh and A says Ay! Every letter makes a sound and A says ahhhh and Ay!"

Odessa: Mo--om, I can't paint with all that loud music! I just can't concentrate!

Apparently I am living with a 3 yr old turning 14 next month.

Leavenworth Oktoberfest

As before mentioned, Stephen is really into anything German. We've always wanted to visit Leavenworth, a little village done all in Bavarian style. It's about 2 1/2 hours+ Northwest from Seattle. Last weekend we took off early to enjoy Leavenworth's annual Oktoberfest, held each weekend in October. The town is filled with cute shops, but they were jammed with people and even if they hadn't been, they were not kid-friendly. It's the kind of place you want to go with your hubby on a long weekend. The Oktoberfest included access to 3 stages of German polka type music among other kinds and the opportunity to buy lots of beer and really bad bratwurst meals. We decided they probably don't get quality food because after you've had enough beers, it tastes good anyway. Needless to say, since we don't drink, the experience left quite a bit to be desired. We had a good time listening to the music and watching the dancers, but their craft and vendor booths were pitiful. I would never pay to get in again, but that's experience. Later we did the river walk and saw the spawning salmon jumping around in the water! We also ate dinner at a great German place before we left, so some good German food was had all around.

I would love to go back around Christmas time when I understand the whole place is decorated.The drive up there was beautiful, and this was just through the car window

Every shop is in the Bavarian style, even banks and hotels!

Too bad Ada ducked out at the last second, this would have made a great Christmas card- LOL

Bringing in the kegs

Watching the Leavenworth dancers

Doing their own version

Taking the slide upside down

Salmon splashing in the river

One more for the road

We were reading bedtime books and one had Mortie and Ferdie on a farm, then swimming in a lake.

Odessa: We eat pigs and chickens, do we eat lambs?

Me: Well, some people do, but not us.

Odessa: Why not?

Me: It's too expensive. (we're not going to go into my history with 4-H lambs)

Odessa: Do we eat horses?

Me: No! Now, let's finish this story.

later~

Odessa (looking at Mortie and Ferdie swimming): Are there sharks and whales and fishes that eat people in the water?

Me: Well, maybe some fish, but none that eat people.

Odessa: Well, do sharks eat us?

Me: No, not very often.

Odessa: Are we too expensive?

Odessa (and Ada) isms

Odessa learned all about signs from Curious George. She makes "no dinosaurs allowed" signs to go on all our doors (good thing too). She loudly announces that no dogs are allowed in the stores we go to when she sees the signs and asks about any red circle with a line through it that she doesn't recognize.

Odessa frequently asks to play on the computer when I am emailing or doing some other "important" stuff. I sometimes use the fact that I am using it to encourage other activities besides "media time". After one such incident, I came into the room and she showed me some pictures she had been working on post it notes.

Odessa: See this? (Sticking her note on the computer). It means: "moms aren't allowed to use the computer so much".

Me: I see.

Odessa: See this? (sticking the next picture on the computer). This means: "little girls are allowed to use the computer whenever they want to."

(I'm the figure on the left with a line through me)

The other day Stephen was in the shower and Odessa had to use the bathroom. She went in and "Dad" asked her to turn on the ceiling fan. It's a little tough to crank on, so we were both surprised she got it by herself. When Stephen thanked her, she replied "if you need anything else, just let me know!" She also explained to him the other day "Dad, if you have any kind of troubles, you can count on me. And if I have troubles, I can count on you!" We have no idea where she heard these sayings.

Odessa got in trouble for putting stickers on the sofa- it leaves marks. A few days later, Ada did the same thing. She also got in trouble and sent to her room for time out (wailing quite loudly). I went to get her a few minutes later.

Me: Do you know why you are in time out?
Ada: (still wailing) 'cause I put stickers on the co---ou---ch.
Me: Remember when Odessa got in trouble for putting stickers on the couch?
Ada: uh---huuh!
Me: Then why did you do it?
Ada: (wailing) 'cause I a ge-ge-nius!

I asked Odessa the other day what she wanted for her birthday.

Odessa: I want a horse cake.
Me: Ok, but what would you like for a present?
Odessa: A new camera that works (her old one takes terrible pictures and the batteries are always dead).
Me: Well, those are pretty expensive.
Odessa: Well Mom, I'm an expensive kind of girl!

Family Pics

In the last few weeks, we have done 2 photo shoots at Golden Gardens. The first was late in the day after a "downpour" on Seattle levels. So we tried a few more photos last Saturday in the a.m. when the girls were supposed to be much better behaved. Ha.

Our friend Tysha Carter shot the pictures. Her company is called Little Red Wagon Photography. She was great and I love how they turned out (it's impossible to get everyone smiling at once!).
Check out our photos at http://littleredwagonphotography.com/
click on "enter site"
click on "client log-in"
enter the password: rainboots
make sure your audio is turned on- love the songs she has on her site.
Enjoy!

Mixed bag

Our housing decision was made for us. We put in a very low offer to a bank on a duplex one street over. (kind of a short sale, kind of a foreclosure, not officially either.) We were hoping since they were anxious to get the property "off the books" they would just take the offer. Not. It probably didn't help that they just dropped the price by $100,000! They came back with a full price counter-offer and we really can't afford ANY counter offer. We offered only what we could afford if 1) we couldn't rent the lower level and 2) we wanted to take over the bottom and use it as a 4 bedroom house (which we would have to do eventually). They agreed to our absurdly low interest rate which they actually would have had to buy down, costing them money. We know that interest rates will probably increase in the next year and we will be priced out of the city market all together. So that means if we want to stay in the city, we will rent. If we want to buy, we move out. That's pretty much the deal unless something amazingly cheap comes along again.
It was a great learning process for us. Most of the housing market terms used above I never knew the meaning to before last week. The duplex was not our dream home, it was an opportunity to get into some real estate at a really, really low interest rate and actually affordable price for a 4 bedroom "house" in exactly the location we wanted. But I think we are relieved as well. It would have been a scary thing to have a mortgage we could barely make if we didn't rent out the bottom.
It was fun to see Stephen's excitement about the improvement possibilities around the house. Our "agent"(friend of the family) said young couples never want to buy anything that's not perfect. When Stephen pointed out how a closet could be fixed just by re-hanging the door, she looked at him like he had horns growing out of his head. Pretty funny. I guess she hasn't shown too many houses to Hunt boys : ).
Meanwhile, I am glad for my little apartment and the fact that my budget still allows for a cupcakes royale now and then! I was working next to one last night and when I dropped by, it was happy hour! Buy 3, get 3 free. Now THAT is exciting.

Crossroads

I feel like change is coming, but maybe that's just because things have been the same for awhile. I also felt like I was going to win some major prize and that never happened, so I wouldn't put too much into my premonitions. Upheaval seems to be par for the course, maybe I just get restless after awhile.
This week we've dabbled with the idea of entering the housing market (the upheaval issue came before this). Not really looking to move again(!!), but when an opportunity shoves itself into your face, it's hard to keep looking away.
It's the perfect storm of circumstances, but we are cautionary people at best and so this risk will likely pass us by.
What are you willing to sacrifice? These are questions that come up in the housing market. You might sacrifice your cushy budget, the location, the size, the layout or condition. You have to pick and choose what's most important to you, and this has prompted many lengthy midnight discussions and more than one anxious mood on my part. Many couples we know trade living in the city to get a much bigger, more affordable house in the suburbs. It's a weighing game that's constantly shifting and it's hard to decide which side of the fence we want to be on.