.01% chance obliterated

Well, it's official. We're going. More on our fun weekend later.

Moving

Yes, well some of you already know this, but chances are 99.99% that we are moving to Seattle. In a week and a half. Why the .01% doubt, you ask? Well, this all hinges on a "technicality". We are waiting on a signature from some guy in upper management who has no idea he holds our (very near) future hanging in the balance. Stephen got a call from King County Metro (Seattle's department of transportation) last Monday. They offered him a job as a Transportation Planner II. Which just means he's supposed to know more than a Planner I. The job is in downtown Seattle, so we are going to try and live a little more urban this go-around. Mostly so that Stephen doesn't have to commute 1 hr each day and we can get some of this urban thing out of our systems. ha ha
I am not going to go into detail how much I will miss Chicago and a lot of the people here. Basically, I have like 3 days to move since I will be in Boise this Thurs to Monday. Stephen and Odessa will head up the packing and we'll load when I get back. Stephen graduated Friday, his parents have been here this weekend, we went to a live performance of A Prairie Home Companion in Milwaukee on Saturday, but all this will have to go undocumented for the most part. There just isn't time. Well, in Boise I will have some down time and maybe blogging will keep me from going crazy as I worry about Stephen having to decide what things in my kitchen should be packed and which should be tossed. But if you don't hear from us for a few weeks, now you know why. And if I get back on here in a few days and sheepishly have to report that the .01% chance was the one we got, well- I just won't report that and if I never post again, you'll know why.

10 things I love about Stephen

Cheese, sigh. So my friend "tagged" me to do this and since I, like her, don't want anyone to think I don't love my husband, I will do it. But that doesn't mean I have to pass it on or anything because there was no promise that I would have my greatest wish come true if I tagged 5 more people. And I really do believe in those promises, by the way. (hear the sarcasm drip, drip, drip.)


1. I love that I have to literally boot him out the door some mornings because he just wants to stay five more minutes with the girls. He loves spending time with them so much.
2. I love that he's willing to learn new things, like how to be romantic in the ways I like romance.
3. I love that he is very righteous without being self-righteous and lets me play devil's advocate sometimes just to try and bug him.
4. I love that he's really organized and likes to do jobs really thoroughly and will spontaneously clean or organize something in the house. (this usually offends me, but inwardly I am glad).
5. I love that the girls look like him.
6. I love that he uses bigger words than me and knows more about computers than me (I used to not think this was the case, but it probably has always been that way.)
7. I love that people think he has an accent and he blames it on a slight speech impediment when he was a child (I think it's because he's trilingual).
8. I love that we seem to like almost everything the same! We want to do the same things, we believe in most of the same values. However, he likes to debate emotionally charged topics and once completely turned my opinion around and then back again to the original!
9. (You are going to hate me for saying this) but I love it that he doesn't watch sports or actually any TV. Yes, this makes it hard for me to want to watch any TV, but the perks are definitely better than the fact that we are two CLUELESS pop culture failures. (ps- it's mostly b/c he has no time since being in school).
10. I love that sometimes he has to do things the hard way. I can't believe I am saying that, because I think that trait has been the source of a lot of frustration for me (starting with our 5 1/2 yr friendship when we both knew we could probably be a great couple) but it makes him an individual and that's something I love best about him!

Isn't it romantic?

Ten years ago this week, Stephen gave me these blossoms from a tree for my birthday. He got them on the BSU campus where we were going to school. We had met that previous fall and by spring were good friends (but I had a big crush on him). There were 3 of us girls that had birthdays all within about a week, and he gave us each some, but it was on my birthday that he did it. I went home and pressed them in a seldom used text book. After a couple of months, I pulled them out and they were so pretty, I put them in a frame I had. I've had them up on my wall ever since. He never knew until years and years later when we were finally dating. Since then, he has given me lots more flowers that he picks on his way home and some we have pressed. I have some little blue wildflowers that were growing in Grant Park. The fun part is that he picked them while I was on my mission and he was here visiting Nathan and Beth- years before we moved here.
This year's birthday (Wednesday) did not disappoint. Even though Stephen had to defend his thesis that day and had night class, it was still a special day. There were blossoms from the tree outside on the table when I came down- they were from the girls. I got a delivery later that day of this flower arrangement from Stephen. Then later that night when I was waiting for Stephen to get home, I got sad that I hadn't had cake on my birthday. My sis-in-law Beth had tried and tried to convince me to let her bring me a cake she would bake, but I had wanted to celebrate all together sometime when all the kids could help me blow out the candles and enjoy the cake. Just then, Stephen came home with Nathan and a cake! Beth had determined to surprise me after all. I was so happy! We lit the candles again the next morning for Odie and Ada. Now Odessa thinks she had a birthday and all the cards from my sisters and parents are for her, etc, etc. Thanks to Beth for surprising me with my cake and thanks for the many phone calls and emails, it was a special day.

Feeling Wicked

The best thing happened Saturday! Yes, we went to Wicked, but that is not even the best thing. The best thing was that Ada didn't cry at all while we were gone! Hooray. You know you are too much into being Mom when a Broadway musical takes second to the fact that your children were happy while you left them with someone else. No, for real- the play was awesome, we really enjoyed it and the theater was beautiful. It was so fun to be on a special date with Stephen and on our own. The Christensons watched Ada and Beth and Nathan watched Odessa. One kid instead of 2 means half the work for the poor people we leave them with! ha ha Did I mention Ada didn't cry? Oh, just checking. We were so glad we took the opportunity while we are in Chicago to see one of the big shows they have here. I think it's actually leaving in July, so we are doubly glad. Thank you, thank you to our babysitters, especially Beth and Nathan whom we had to call last minute when Odie's babysitter got sick. And a huge thank you to Danica for teaching my lesson on Sunday. Going to Wicked seems like a lame reason to not be able to prepare a lesson, but it was actually the crazy week of kid sickness and Stephen's thesis that tipped me over the edge. Wicked is a great musical, if you get the chance, go see it (just not on a weekend you need to prepare a church lesson)!

Around the Town

Last Thursday we went down to Stephen's building at UIC, where he works for the Urban Transportation Center and has some classes as well. They were having a Diversity Luncheon and the "diverse" group that week was grad students with kids. It was also a kind of end of the year potluck and mostly a bring your kid to school and show them off day. One administrator brought her dog and it sounds like that dog has more control over that family than most kids have over theirs.
After the lunch, I wasted some time while Ada napped in the car by driving around downtown. I really enjoy the big city. You have to drive completely defensively, you have to watch every stray pedestrian and every deviant taxi driver, but it's exciting. The buildings and the river are just so beautiful, and the energy is appealing. We wanted to go visit the Chicago Public Library, but Ada needed a nap too badly, so we had to settle for driving around it instead. Isn't is a beautiful building? After a while, I went back and picked up Stephen and headed out of town a little ways to the Irving Park area to Noon-a-kabob to meet our friends the Dubiels and Herreras. What a fun dinner! Noon-a is a Persian restaurant, so we were excited to add another ethnicity that we've sampled to our list. The Dubiels were still thinking we were moving in the next couple of weeks, and so they popped out a farewell cake! So nice! Thankfully, we'll still be around when they get back from Florida and so we'll get to hang out again. This time they insist we go to the Cuban sandwich place they love. Add another one to our list! We had so many of those great belly laughs that night, but one of the best was when Stephen ran out into the pouring rain to bring the car around for me and the girls, got there and had to come back to the restaurant to get the keys from me!! It was so funny, we were all dying watching from the entry way. Poor guy, no coat or umbrella. The rain comes on all-of-a-sudden. All together, it was one of those days that makes me want to stay in Chicago forever.

Double Trouble

I hate taking my kids to the doctor. Kids are really miserable when they are sick and you just want them to get better, but usually a Dr's visit goes like this: "well, just give them Tylenol and keep the humidifier on at night, there's nothing else you can really do. that's $100 by-the-way."
However, Odessa's 3-day fever spiked at 103.9 last night and I decided we had better suck it up and go in. When the Dr came in the room, I told her "thank goodness you're here, Odessa just turned down a teddy gram. SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG."
Double ear infections- I think "rabid" is the word the Dr used, but I was a little unclear on that. Poor kid. Tortured for days while her mother refused to consult higher medical expertise than the back of the Robitussin bottle. Which, by the way, I guess I should not give my kids any cold medicines at all. Turns out they have found them to be pretty useless in kids that little. I say it's because of the level of medicine they deem safe for kids that little is just useless, but that still renders my 5 different children's cold medicines as a complete waste of money.
On a happier note, I have to tell SOMEONE about these cookies- Maurice Lenell cookies. You may ask: why is a dietitian blogging about fat-ladden, sugar-infested cookies?? Well, first and foremost, I am a human and second, a mom. A mom that has had 2 very sick kids on her hands for the last 4 days and a hubby who is pounding out a thesis. Third, I am a dietitian and that third person wouldn't recommend these, at least not at the rate I have been eating them. Cookies are a stressed out woman's best friend. These are made in a little factory a couple of miles from here and they have a little shop in front where you can buy discounted boxes. They are like little Christmas butter cookies, but in like 20 flavors and absolutely HEAVENLY, crisp and melt in your mouth. If you want me to ship you a box, I'd be willing. I guess they are quite the popular corporate gift. "Sorry Larry, no raise this year, but you and your family can enjoy this delicious box of Maurice Lenell cookies!" I'd take that any day.