The Evergreen State

Phew. We made it. It was a bit iffy at different points along our journey here if we were going to or not...but I can confidently say now that we did.

And it's been good.

The good is showing up in little ways and big ways, and leading me to the conclusion that for whatever reason, this is where God wants us right now. And I am very thankful for that.

We've packed a lot in since we have arrived just about a month ago- celebrating Easter, both sets of parents visiting, many park excursions, library story times, train rides into Vancouver and Portland, expeditions into the city, two (!) date nights, a hike to Multnomah Falls. More importantly than all that, is we have had a our fill of family time, each night, during the week. This is something that had been missing from our life in Michigan (in a general sense) and I am glad to have found it here. Now that life has started to settle down a bit, hopefully the more peaceful pace and schedule that is now my life will lend itself to more writing on here.

In parting, some pictures from our first weekend as a family here, hiking up to the top of Multnomah Falls.

Googolplex

In case you didn't know,

1. A googolplex is the number 10^googol, or equivalently, 10⁽¹⁰¹⁰⁰). Written out in ordinary decimal notation, it is 1 followed by 10¹⁰⁰ zeroes.

and that is about how many changes I feel have occurred in my life in the past three months. To go through and discuss each one in detail and how it affects my family and me could challenge the length of War and Peace, so I won't. I will, however, give a brief update.

We are moving! To Washington State. Vancouver, Washington.

Just in case you needed clarification. Dave got a new job out there, and we are pretty excited for the move. But sad to leave our home here. But pumped to explore new trails out there. But nostalgic for the places we've discovered here. As you can see, it's a giant mixed bag of emotions. I would say, that the overwhelming feeling of the bag though is positive, and this is a path that we clearly feel God taking us down, which is tremendously comforting. He started this new job in December, and since then, life has been a whirlwind. We've had the holidays, packing, putting our house up on the market, saying goodbye to people, and the general goings on of a family of six. 

Last weekend Dave and I (and Ben) flew out to WA to scout out the place. We checked out schools, looked at houses, and just drove around to get a lay of the land. It is so beautiful there. I'll be honest, there is a part of me that is super excited to be back on the West Coast. At the same time, there is a part of me that is sad to leave the Midwest, which in it's own way, grew on this Californian girl and became home. I'm pretty much a basket full of polar opposites at any given moment. 

That's about it! Dave takes the computer with him when he works, and I don't like typing on the iPad, so that means a lot less blogging opportunities for me. Hopefully, when we are all moved and settled out there, I'll be a good little blogger again!

Pooh Sticks

(Today Clara was sitting on the ground. In an instant, she was crying sad, hard tears. I asked her what happened? She replied, sobbing, "My face fell on the ground!" How does this happen? When one is sitting, on the ground? I'm speechless). 

So let's call this a #tbt post, even though it's not Thursday, and this day only happened a week or so ago, not decades. It's obviously not from today, because in these pictures you can see lovely green grass and leaves on the ground, where if you looked outside my house today, you would see a depressingly white winter wonderland. In November. Ugh. 

We picked James up from school and headed straight to the Kellogg Forest. The forest might be my most favorite place on earth. You can sprinkle my ashes here when I die. I just love this forest-y place. The trees and quiet bring peace to my soul. We went on a hike, and on our way home picked up McDonalds for dinner (#winning) and watched Planes: Fire and Rescue while eating that totally healthy and well-balanced dinner since it had just come out on DVD (#evenmorewinning). It was a day that I want to mentally "pin" in my mind for a very long time. (P.S. how many more technological references could one paragraph have?)

Seconds after this picture was snapped, James fell in the water. Awesome. 

Wet pants. And shoes. And I still made him walk in them. 

Benny Ben Ben!

These shoes make me smile. 

Pooh Stick Bridge 

We upped our Pooh Stick game this round. Don't mess with us. We will destroy you. 

The end!

Tricks and Treats

"It's time to go trick or treating...

It's time to go trick or treating...

It's time to go trick or treating....

for Halloween is here!"

That's a little Wee Sing song that has been in my head this whole month of October. It's also the song that Bethy likes to sing all the time, in her sweet, little angel voice. And yesterday, Halloween was here! 

It was a busy but fun filled day. We took James to school (and then took the trip to his school two other times that morning, one, to bring him his backpack which he had left at home, and two, to bring him  his costume, which (you guessed it!) he had left at home) and then went to story time at the library. The girls dressed up in their costumes and did some cute little crafts. Story time is good for my soul. After our time at the library, we had a quick lunch, got Clara to preschool, and dropped the two littles off at a friend's house for naptime so I was able to go to the kid's schools for their Halloween festivities. James' school had a Halloween parade and Clara's preschool did trunk or treating. Once all the running around was done, it was finally time for trick or treating! Though it snowed in the afternoon and was so so so so cold, it was a fun-filled, candy coming out of our ears night. 

Ben the Golfer, Clara the Witch, James the TMNT, and Bethy the Squirrel

This one house down the road from us goes ALL. OUT. 

Seriously, they rocked the casbah with their costumes and decorations!

It doesn't look as cold as it actually was, I promise! 

Clara and James are here trick or treating with their buddy Andrew, a shark. 

On Kindess

Yesterday I was talking to Clara about different parts of preschool. I was asking who she played, what she played, things she learns, etc. I was ending our talk with what I normally tell our kids when they are at school, to always be kind to everyone, all the time. I said that kindness is the most important thing that you need to do and remember when you are at school.

She replied, "Yes, that. And to always push your chair into the table so no one trips over the legs."

So in Clara's mind,  being to kind to all the dear children God created in your classroom is on the same playing field as making sure you take care of your chair once you are done sitting in it. Basically.