Hooray for clean toilets and soap.....on the next adventure.

I commend Idaho for their excellent rest stop facilities. I, yes even I, approve of their cleanliness. That says a lot.

Montana, on the other hand.......not so much. One of the facilities we stopped at didn't even have soap dispensers let alone soap.

Coincidentally we changed two poopy diapers and had a #2 accident at this rest stop. Joy!

Three baby wipes and five rounds of hand sanitizer later, I considered my hands somewhat clean and we left.

On to the next adventure!

We move in 2 days! Crazy!

I guess I should get off the computer and go pack!

A testament that the sun DOES come out tomorrow!

So....I am feeling a lot better. Whew!

We found a house to rent. Actually it was the first house Rob and I looked at when we went rental hunting last week. We just didn't think we could afford it. We were discouraged by what we COULD afford (aka slummy, scary, not so nice neighborhood stuff) so we decided to take a chance and Rob counter-offered his original offer of employment. We were worried they would think we were greedy but they came back and offered him more money. Yeay!

Nice house in the nice neighborhood here we come. We are just waiting for the landlord/manager to fax us the contract to sign and then it will all be done. Again.......whew!

So.......two unknowns are now not so unknown. We were granted the raise and we now have some place to live.

We will be leaving for Utah (for my brother's wedding) tomorrow (granted none of the other children start vomiting (Cael was sick yesterday)), we will drive home on Wednesday of next week and move Saturday. It's a good thing we are already 3/4 way packed.

So....about the IRS. I am just not worrying about it right now. We will cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks for all the good advice and encouragement y'all. I needed it.

The Lord has blessed us immensely. I KNOW that he cares about us and must be looking down on me thinking......"Why wont she just trust me." The truth is....I do. I just forget I do sometimes.

So.....here we go......on to the next adventure.

The winds of change (a.k.a. Rob got a job). Our lives caught up in a whirlwind!

This last week and a half has been both exciting and exhausting and the truth is....I really don't want to blog about it...but I am going to anyway. I should be happy but instead I am stressed.....very stressed.

For starters.....Rob got a job. That's right.......A JOB. Finally! It's in Richland (the Tri-Cities area about 2 1/2 hours south-west of Spokane). We are very grateful for everyone's prayers on our behalf. Very grateful. We went to Tri-Cities on Monday/Tuesday last week to try to find housing and unfortunately came home empty handed and thoroughly disappointed. Rob starts work on the 26th of this month and we have no idea whether or not we will be going with him. Sigh.......

He also passed the IRS tests which means that he is in a pool of possible hiree's. We should know in the next few weeks whether or not he will be receiving a tentative job offer....followed by background checks. What this means is that in 6 months (if he is offered the job and passes the background check) he could quite possibly be quitting his new job in Richland and going to Georgia for 6 months leaving me and the kids behind.

More uncertainty....more instability. Again, sigh.

I just want to be settled and have a bit of security and stability for a few years......is that TOO MUCH TO ASK? HUH! IS IT?

On to other news!

Rob had the opportunity to walk in his Gonzaga University commencement ceremony on Saturday. He is the proud recipient of a Master of Accountancy Degree (he actually got his diploma in the mail in January). Yeay.....I am so proud of him. He put in SOOOOOO much hard work, got good grades, worked full time for one year and went to school double full-time the next, AND on top of all that, came home to a crazy wife and three very active children. Way to go honey......you deserve the the UTMOST respect. I love you!

Sunday was Mother's Day and our anniversary (7 years!) Unfortunately I spent most of the day in tears. Go figure. Did I mention that I am just a little stressed out! My own mother stayed up into the wee hours of the night trying to console me while Rob slept by my side (Happy Anniversary Honey!). Just goes to show you what an awesome support system I have surrounding me. I love you both! Thanks for putting up with me (mom for 28 years, rob for 8 1/2).

Here are some pics....including our long awaited trip to Chuck E Cheese. Yeay! Gabe said, "Mom....Heavenly Father answered my prayers....now we get to go to Chuck E Cheese." So cute! The simple faith of a child. I could use a bit of that....seriously!

(Ignore the haze on all the pictures....turns out my camera lens was covered in fingerprints...I wonder where those came from!

Gabe boggien' down with Chuck E (on the blue screen).

Cael


Isaac....cheese!

The graduate himself.....waiting offstage to get shake hands with the "Father" Spitzer (The President of Gonzaga U). You would not believe what it took to get Rob to pose for this picture. He's not really one for being the center of attention.

Rob posing on top of the school mascot. By the way, this took very little convinsing.....go figure.

Were Rob and I meant to be or what? We both ended up getting each other the SAME anniversary card. Just goes to show you how perfect we are together. :)

Sorry the details are a little vague......okay, NON-EXISTENT. That's because they are for us as well. When we know something......I will let you know.......that is if I am not already committed to the looney bin.

Fizzgig and Katie Kaboom...our family in a nutshell!

The character Fizzgig (from "The Dark Crystal") reminds me so much of my children. Seriously....one minute they are content and hopeful. Within seconds they are throwing the HUGEST tantrum....all because of one simple work...."NO"! It drives me NUTS! Head back, gnashing of teeth, the whole works (although this position IS useful for something....it gives a REALLY clear view of those darned boogies that have been evading "the picker"...just don't try to go after them during the meltdown.....it doesn't stand to improve their mood. Believe me...I have tried). I, however, DO NOT give into their little tantrums....okay, most of the time. Enjoy! Katie Kaboom.....or should we say.....Melanie Kaboom (real original, I know). For quite some time I have seen a resemblance to this over-reactive teenager in myself. After showing Rob this clip and inquiring whether or not he saw the resemblance too I said, "Huh? What do you think?" To which he replied, "Um.....no.....not really......you don't cool down that easily." Thanks Rob....thanks a lot. (So...the scenario isn't right but the reaction is quite similar most of the time...minus the cool down I guess). Y'know....maybe the children's reaction is genetic. Humph!

$$$ makes me cranky!

I know that we have been HUGELY blessed $$$$ wise even though Rob is unemployed. We truly have. That doesn't mean that I am not completely cranky when month after month money comes out of our savings account. I hate that! I thought that somehow we would be the lucky ones. That each month we would somehow miraculously be putting money INTO our account what with collecting unemployment, living with the parents (y'know........huge rental/utility discounts), and the "large" sums of money I pull in each month teaching. Well...............not so much.

Could it be that we have taken two trips in the last month (and have another one scheduled for May), or that we have had numerous repairs to our Altima and 5 new tires between the two cars, or that Rob flew to Philly (for IRS testing) this week and although they paid for the plane tickets, Rob had to pay for hotel accommodations ($130 bucks one night...he slept in the airport last night), and food.

Not that I am complaining.......(cough, cough). My mom always tells me that we should be grateful we have the money to take care of those kinds of things. I am grateful.....I am. But, it still totally stinks.

Just this morning I made an Excel spreadsheet (I LOVE making speadsheets....I know I am such a geek) calculating my income/expenses from my job CTD (career to date). I have now made $30.00 (unless you count my $80 aerobics shoes....then I am in the red $50.00)! That's right. Nothing like a bit of number crunching to ruin ones day! I totally thought I was a couple hundred dollars in the black until I remember that I paid $235.00 for a plane ticket to go to my PGE certification in Utah. UGH! At least I have a paycheck to pick up today. It will ALMOST put me in the black again....ALMOST (It's going to be tinier than usual. I had to sub out some classes because of above mentioned vacations). On top of this....... GOLD'S WANTS ME TO FORK ANOTHER $150 into a new certification to teach BODY PUMP at the end of May (which is actually a discount....they are going half-sies with me. It's normally $300). It will ONLY (cough, cough) take me a MONTH of teaching the class to make up the expenses.........ONLY!).

When they told me that aerobics instructors aren't in it for the money I thought they were joking. Now I know just how naive I was. It's a good thing I like doing it (even LOVE it most days). Well...I guess I WON'T be buying a new step cd today. Bummer!