New Job!

Well it seems that we just did this update not even a year ago which is true.  Yes you all heard and or read about my employment snafu a few weeks ago and the outlook was initially very grim and stressful!  God brought me to my knees for a couple of days as the hopeless feeling of the unknown was lurking.  But after praying, and thinking ALOT I got back up on my feet and started to network.  There were several opportunities that presented themselves and God continued to open and close doors as they days went by.  After the first two weeks I probably had 10 different interviews between 5 different companies so life was crazy and very draining.  After the smoke cleared my search was narrowed down to two companies, Avago Technologies and Dyson.  Both jobs were completely different and after thinking through each one and having the TIMING factor play in I decided to sign on with Dyson.  I will be the Western Regional Sales Manager for their commercial division managing the entire West Coast sales team and overseeing the sales activities for the Dyson Airblade (commercial hand dryers).  It's exciting to think that I will be entering into an entirely new industry with new faces and new products that are way outside the norm.  Another great perk is that my office is now my home.  I don't have to make the commute and the flexibility of my schedule will be great.  I thank all of you for your prayers and thank God for his gracious heart and looking out for me and my family.  If any of you want Dyson vacuums or fans just let me know and I can get you a deal.  RW

Rain, rain, go away!!!

We were hoping the rain would go away for the grandparents visit, but no luck.  They left Portland in the snow and then came here to the rain.  I guess that is some improvement!  We did have a few nice days and they took advantage whenever the sun peeked out.

The kids had school, so we didn’t get to go and do a bunch of fun stuff, but grandma and grandpa did get to see the Reggie do piano, swimming and Ainsley gymnastics.  We also visited the library where the Ainsley read to service dogs and later in the week, we enjoyed watching the egg drop at Rancho (every year the 3^rd graders build a contraption to keep an egg from breaking when thrown off the top of the school building).

We spent lots of time getting Ainsley's hat ready for the hat parade.  Grandma made flowers out of kleenex and we made bugs out of various craft supplies.  This wind caught it just as I took the picture.

Grandma and Ainsley working on pie crust..

 Relaxing with Grandpa

 Reggie got a lesson on checkers (the real rules) and was not so happy with grandpa.  When grandpa was a kid, he used to play all the time and it is his game!  Reggie has gotten a lot more competitive and frustrated when he doesn’t win, so it was a learning experience for him.  The Shuffleboard table was also a huge hit.  The grandparents played the kids a lot and the adults finally played and it was quite obvious that grandpa needed a bit more practice!

When grandpa wasn’t chatting with the locals and buying donuts, he was busy in the yard and made a huge improvement trimming the trees. It feels so much brighter and bigger and the sun shines in the window in the afternoon and it is awesome! I’m very glad he didn’t hurt himself or knock over the fragile fence.

We celebrated my birthday while mom and dad were here, so that was a nice treat. Apple pie and stew/pork. We had a bit of trouble deciding on meat, so she cooked two and the beef won out! It was delicious :o). Ryan and I had bought tickets to Ray Ramono and Kevin James and it happened to be that weekend, so we had a date night with the Williams. It is always fun to laugh!! The neighbor even remembered my birthday and brought over some tempura vegetables and whole fish. The kids eyes were as big as golf balls. Ainsley wanted to see the fish head, so mom tore it off and then dissected it to show them the eye ball. I’m thinking they won’t be eating any whole fish in the near future.

Painting pottery at Cafe Art when we played hookey from school!

Getting ready to eat pie :o)!!

Did she really bite the head off the fish?

Sorry for the crazy format....blogger changed everything and I didn't take the time to figure out how to make it work for me....maybe next time

Spring break

Ryan and I are sitting in the Vegas airport, waiting yet again for our flight. I think this might be our last Allegiant flight ever! We arrived at the Stockton Airport for our 1 o'clock flight on Monday and boarded the plane, but noticed we were sitting for quite awhile. They announced that something was hanging from the wing and we had to deboard. Stockton is a tiny airport, so there are no extra planes and not really anyone to fix them. So, 5 hours later, we finally got a new plane! That really changed our Monday plans and was a total bummer. We didn't get to our hotel until 8:30. So much for laying out in the sun! Thankfully, the trip got much better and we spent lots of time relaxing by the pool and floating around the lazy river, playing ping pong and eating. We also saw the Hunger Games and went bowling on Tues. and then made a trip to the strip on Wed. to walk around, go to Pawn Stars and see Cirque Du Soleil's "O". We even ran into our old high school Washington State History teacher! It was a nice break from reality and we definitely relaxed a whole lot :o).

First time seeing the water show from the inside....very cool (too bad the one drink cost $18!):

The new Cosmopolitan Hotel:

One conversation....

will change our lives forever. Ryan has been courted by a company for about 5 months and they finally gave the green light to hire him. They came to an agreement on salary, start date, stock options, etc., but they wanted him to resign first due to politics between his current company and the new one. He felt confident they would come through, so he did it and they backed out. His current company was very upset with him, so, as it stands now, Ryan will be unemployed on April 11th. He is trying to get that date extended, so he can scramble to find another job.

We've had a lot of emotions in our house the last few days and we are settling into the unkown and feeling much better about it, but unemployment is a scary thought. We've been praying a lot and I know God has a plan for us and it is better than the plan we have for ourselves, so we just have to trust that he'll provide. Lots of lessons learned and probably more to learn and right now we are just trying to focus on the positive. Ryan has a lot of contacts and already has an interview tomorrow and we'll just take it day by day. I have also looked at the job market, but there's not much in human resources and with a gap of 8 years, I've realized I might not be that employable.

Funny how our lives have changed in one day and it makes you realize that all you had is all you ever wanted, but you can't get it back. God must have something better in mind....
P.S.  Unfortunately, this is not an April fool's joke :o(

Dad weekend

Well the kids and I were left to fend for ourselves this last weekend as Trina attended the women’s conference for our church in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Friday evening we had to prep for the Pinewood Derby the following day. We weighed our cars (Reggie, Ainsley, and myself all entered a car) to get them ready for the big race. The legal weight is 5oz and because we shaped Reggie’s car the way we did we could only get the car up to 4.5 oz’s. Our cars weighed in right around 5 oz. but we could have weighted the car at 8 oz. each because parents and siblings have different rules. The next morning we got up played a little in the morning and then made our way to the derby. Reggie’s car was in the middle of the pack, holding his own. I truly feel if we found a way to add the half ounce we might have had a shot but still we had fun. We also finished in the middle of the pack and and that was without an extra 3 ounces of weight. Even though we didn’t take home the gold this year (Reggie won the entire thing last year) Reggie did get a trophy. He won 3^rd prize for best design for his Mario Car. Admiring the trophies: Happy to get a trophy:
After we finished we came home and the kids played for a couple of hours while I mowed the lawn in our beautiful weather… Reggie found a couple of scrap pieces of wood outside and decided he wanted to make the American Flag out of them. I gave him a box of nails and my hammer and he did the rest. We did have a meltdown however, during this project. When painting it he ran the colors together on an accident and because of this he absolutely lost it. He’s a perfectionist like his daddy and when things don’t go how he expects them to go he has a hard time, like his daddy. Anyway, we had to take a break from building the flag to head to the movies. We went and saw the Lorax from Dr. Suess. What a great movie! Good message about how important it is to take care of our environment and especially our trees and how we shouldn’t cut
them all down because they help our air quality. The kids managed to eat two full boxes of popcorn each and were asking for more. They must get their appetite from their mother. After the show we headed to Menchies (frozen yogurt) and pounded some treats before heading home for the evening. Back to the flag – Reggie wanted to show Ainsley his beautiful flag. He showed her and then roughly 20 minutes later I heard frantic screaming and crying. When I went to check, Reggie told me that Ainsley had ruined his flay because she rubbed the white stars into the blue backing and smeared it. After asking Ainsley, she told me she had nothing to do with it. Later that night as Reggie was still having a breakdown I began to take off his jacket and noticed that he had white paint smeared all down the front of it. I found the evidence to convict. I took his coat off and showed it to him and asked him who messed up his flag? In a weeping response he admitted to it (I truly don’t think he knew that he did it as his jacket brushed up against it when he was moving it around to show his sister). We learned a lesson that night that he can’t blame his sister for everything that goes wrong and that he has to take responsibility.

Sunday morning we got a late start because of the time change but still managed to make it to the 9AM service. After that we headed home and spent the next hour cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the house straightened up for Mommy’s arrival. We had a lot of fun but missed Trina and were happy to see her Sunday afternoon.

Fun times with the cousins

The countdown was happening on both ends for the arrival of Maggie, Spencer and Liha. We learned a lot about tomorrow vs. this day-not sure why Ainsley couldn’t grasp it. Anyway, the weather was awesome when they arrived, high 70’s! The kids played a bit outside until Ainsley had to go to gymnastics. Maggie tagged along and was giving her thumbs up whenever she could :o). Reggie and Spencer had some good play time. We got out the trains and car track and I think Spencer was in heaven!

Reggie
was a bit bummed because he had to go to school while everyone else got to play. We headed out on our bikes to the park. It was slow going because Ainsley was riding her bike. We finally made it and had a nice time running around. I think Maggie and Spencer were just so excited to be outside! Maggie kept saying how nice and warm it was :o). We didn’t do anything too exciting….I
think everyone was just so happy to be outside. I think Wade and Liha are going to have to invest in a bike trailer and IBert:

Friday
we had a play date that was surprisingly smooth. 3 five year old could have been a disaster,
but they did great. And Spencer had a little buddy to play cars and trains with. Sophia still asks about Spencer…she really had fun too. Later that day I took Maggie on another bike ride. We had a great time while Spencer napped. Poor guy had a nasty cold. He sure is a happy guy, even when he is sick and sleepless.
Sat. we went to the Oakland Zoo. The kids ate the entire time….I think they ate the entire time Maggie and Spencer were here! The highlight was the train for Reggie and Spencer and the gondola for Ainsley and Maggie. We had never done the gondola before, so it was new for all of us and a really cool thing. It has been a couple years since we went and there were some new
exhibits and a baby giraffe :o).

Spencer curled up for a nice nap. No that isn't BO in my arm pit-it is Spencer's drool and snot!Playing at the zoo:

Maggie on the gondola:

The train gang:Merry-go-round at the zoo:

At some point, we put up the bounce house and even Spencer enjoyed that! It has been awhile since we took it out, so they were jumping like crazy! Sat. night we had a cub scout dinner for Reggie. We ended up leaving before the meeting because Reggie thought he was going to die...doubled over because his stomach hurt. We got home and he bounced his tummy on the ball and he was good to go, thankfully it was only gas.

Sunday was our last day for fun. We went to church and then for another bike ride, but the weather really took a turn. It was cold and windy and we were frozen by the time we got back. Amazing what a few degrees can do. I’m pretty sure they left with their vitamin D levels at a much more normal place :o)!

Ainsley girl

Gymnastics

We’ve been doing pre-team for a little over a month now and it is quite a jump from the recreational class. My eyebrows were raised during the warm-up when they were doing burpees and push-ups, along with pike sit-ups. Whenever she looks over, she has a big smile on her face, so she is really liking the pain! She has a bit of catching up to do, especially in the flexibility department, but has made huge strides already. She practices at home all the time and overdid it a few weeks ago. Too many backbends will give you a back-ache, so we took it easy and it healed quickly. The doctor said to try and moderate her at home and maybe that will keep her from overdoing it. I hope so! It is not a good feeling to know your child is having back pain :o(. She goes 2 days a week for 2 hours per time and it absolutely starving when she’s finished. We quickly learned to snack on the way and have part of dinner on the ride home. It is amazing that a 5 year old can do what she does and have the attention span for that long. It is really fun to watch her and I am glad she loves the sport :o).

She does this all over the house, every single day.As you can see from her attire, Ainsley is quite into fashion (usuallly her own fashion). Skinny jeans are her favorite and her latest interest is belts. She had to go to the bathroom yesterday and put her belt over her shirt (not even attached to her pants) and came running to me with her underwear and pants around her ankles...."Mom, I can't get this belt off and I have to go to the bathroom." I tried explaining that she had a bare bottom, but it wasn't clicking, so I had to quickly take the belt off :o). Did I mention she is very stubborn???? We go round and round with hair on gymnastic days but I think she has finally figured it out (she had to learn the hard way that a pony tail really hurts when you are doing backward rolls and handstand forward rolls).
We babysat a friends’ 2 month old the other night and Ainsley was very excited. Unfortunately, the baby was pretty fussy, so Ryan and I had her most of the time, but Ainsley fed her and was happy to entertain her with cartwheels!

Gymnastics video (go to www.arrtwade.blogspot.com to view):

Fun Times....

Before braces: After braces:

We picked Reggie up from school early yesterday to get his braces! We finally get to retire the dreaded retainer :o). We saw his original molds and his mouth has widened a good 1/3 of an inch, but he still has a crossbite on one side and if we didn't do the braces, his top teeth would hit the bottom and cause problems. He was very nervous and complaining about his ear when we got him. Poor thing looked like he was going to cry. We stopped at home and gave him some Advil. He was much better after the braces were on and was great the rest of the night...happy that his teeth didn't even hurt.

At 5 a.m., he crawled into our bed and Ryan noticed he felt warm. Sure enough he had a fever and was still complaining about his ear. First thing in the morning, I made an appt. and we headed out to get in the car. As I was grabbing for my keys, I remembered I left them in Ryan's car, but since we had a spare, I just got that. The car turned over and started a couple times, but would die immediately. I knew I had to get him in because he was complaining of his stomach and just looked terrible. My friend Laura came to the rescue and we were only about 15 minutes late. The doctor said there was a virus going around with ear ache, cough and fever and I was so hoping that wasn't what he had. Luckily, it was a double ear infection that gets better quickly with antibiotics. It was a pretty nasty one and Reggie never complained about his right ear, which was much worse than the one he was complaining about. It was already deformed due to the bulging (not sure what this means because we've never had ear infections before, but it didn't sound good at all!). It is strange because he had one last year or the year before and it came out of the blue like this one. The kids have had colds, but nothing major, so it was a bit of a surprise. He never had a single ear infection as a baby, so it seems even more strange to me.

We finally got back to the house just in time to send Ainsley off to school. Once she was off, I had to figure out what to do about my dead car. I called Ryan and he was wondering if it was the key. A quick call to Honda and sure enough if the key isn't programmed the car won't run. Only $160 to solve that problem!

Once Reggie started feeling better, he noticed his teeth really hurt. Thank God for Advil!!! I looked at his teeth tonight and I can see why they were hurting....the gap in the first picture is completely gone and the tooth is pulled forward, matching the other side. So, I guess we can get them off now???? I'm actually not sure how long we are going to be able to keep this up with the braces because Reggie has the perfect space in his back molars to collect anything and everything. We have always flossed because he has a second meal sitting back there almost every night. We've been spending a good 20 minutes the past 2 nights trying to floss the 2 upper back molars and we haven't been all that successful. So, we might have to decide, good bite or rotten molars....such fun we've had since yesterday.

Weekend Away-Clear Lake, CA

Ryan gets a few more Holidays off with his new company and we decided to take advantage of MLK day and have some good family time! It isn’t often that we get to stay in a hotel and we were all looking forward to it.
We started out early Sat. morning to get to the Petrified Forest by 11 for the walking tour. It was a bit close, but we made it and we are so very glad we had a guide to give us all kinds of information that we wouldn’t have otherwise known. At first glance, you would have thought the trees were regular trees, but upon closer inspection, they were rocks! She explained how it happened with the ash, water and perfect climate, but I still can’t quite comprehend how a tree can turn into rock, with such detail (you could see the bark and knots from where branches grew). These trees just happened to be 3.5 million years old. They were very cold and heavy and the kids were pretty amazed. We took a path up to the meadow where we saw an ash mound and the kids found ash rock and petrified wood. Of course Reggie wanted to keep it and is getting a bit more confident and went right to the guide to ask if he could keep it and reluctantly she agreed. Those are the kind of things that make Reggie REALLY happy.

From there we headed to California’s Old Faithful Geyser. None of us had ever seen a Geyser before and it was quite spectacular. Again, seems like the environment needs to be perfect for this type of natural phenomenon. It went off about every 15 minutes, so we got to see it a few times. They also had a little Bamboo trail and Reggie found a Bamboo lightsaber and couldn’t have been happier.
After that, it was time to go to the hotel. We punched in the address and followed the GPS instructions. Sometimes, I think it is a good idea to have an idea of where you are going or to have a back-up map. It told us to turn onto a very narrow, windy road, so narrow it wasn’t meant for 2 cars. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, but 4 super long miles later we saw the highway and I was so happy! When we pulled onto the highway, the GPS picture was just too funny not to take a picture. I have never seen a road look more windy and we were all cracking up (not to mention I high centered the car trying to get off that crazy road). Thankfully, we made it to the hotel without anyone getting sick.

We checked out the place and the kids wanted to go for a swim. Ryan went with them….I put my feet in the hot tub. The weather warmed up to about 65 during our adventures, but Clear Lake was not quite so warm (in the upper 40’s). The next morning we woke up and went for another swim. The water was actually very nice and we went back and forth from the pool to the hot tub. Ainsley took her training vest off and swam the width of the pool!!! She has to work on her stamina a bit, but it is nice to know that both the kids can swim. Once she has her mind set on something, she is quite determined to perfect it. They had a kiddie pool that was one foot deep that was a little warmer than the big pool and she would practice and practice swimming (the tops of her feet were red from smacking the bottom). The kids were a bit grumpy after our swim, Reggie hungry and Ainsley tired. She fell asleep on the way to our nature walk destination. It was cold, but nice to get out and see the lake and some nature. The next morning, we swam again and then made the 3 hour trek home. Ainsley slept at least 2 ½ hours!

Ryan playing in the pool... Clear Lake is the biggest fresh water lake in California, with over 100 miles of shoreline. Feeding the ducks from our room!

Enjoying the hot tub.

Christmas break

Santa pic courtesy of Southwest Airlines! How great that we got our pictures at the airport for free :o). The kids were counting down the days and were so very excited for our trip. They had some fun classroom parties on Friday and we pulled Reggie out of school a bit early to go to the airport. Ainsley had been complaining of a sore throat the day before, but seemed to be o.k. until we got to the airport, complaining of a stomach ache and her throat. Ryan bought some Ibuprofin (since it was all packed) and she seemed to be o.k. There was a bit of turbulence on the plane and both the kids were complaining of their ears hurting, which has never happened. As soon as we landed we rushed to grab our bags and meet Aunt Pam. Ainsley had to go to the bathroom and they were in there forever. When they came out, Ryan said she tried to throw up! GREAT! So, I called Aunt Pam to see if she had a barf bag in her car and she said she’d work on that. Ryan headed out to the car, while I got the bags. Just as they could see the car, Ainsley said she had to throw up. She held it back and as Ryan was telling Aunt Pam to get the bag, she turned around with it and Ainsley threw up. I’m sure she was so happy to see us! She wasn’t feeling all that well either and I’m sure that didn’t help. We got loaded up and headed to the lake, Ainsley throwing up most of the way. She was also starting to get warm and her fever was at least 103 in the middle of the night. I called her doctor and she said strep was going around, so we took her in and sure enough she was VERY positive. Unfortunately, the earliest appt. was at 4, so she was miserable all day, but thankfully, it was strep and not the flu because she was better the next day! She did miss cookie day and the Children’s Museum (Grandpa and Wade took the kids while we were busy in the kitchen). We baked and baked….ginger snaps, butter cookies, shortbread, almond cookies, etc. It was a long day of baking and tasting. I’m glad we only do it once a year because I would have problems fitting into my clothes!

Monday, we went to get Santa pictures and eat at the Spaghetti Factory. We have to hit our favorites when we visit :o). Ryan worked the first week, so we hung out with grandma, grandpa and the Rinehardt’s and didn’t do too much. The medication was bothering Ainsley’s stomach, so she wasn’t her usual self. We did visit the Warm Beach Christmas Lights. Lots and lots of lights, decorations, festivities and fresh, warm donuts. It was fun, but cold. Spencer was absolutely fascinated by the train and the girls got up on stage and sang and dance in a little show.

The next day, we had a sleepover at Liha and Wade’s, although I’m not sure that anyone slept much. Seemed like someone was up all the time. It would have been fun to have one of those delayed cameras to see all the foot traffic and who went where in the middle of the night. The next day they went to a jump place, while I met up with Ryan to drop his rental car and check on the Kirkland house. They had a lot of outside play time in the yard and it was freezing. I guess when you are having fun, you don’t notice.
The second day that Ryan had the car my dad noticed that there was a dent along the entire front driver side door, along with a big black stripe. Someone had hit the car while it was parked at the Lynwood mall during the Christmas shopping craziness. How could someone hit and run and not even leave a note?? So Ryan filed an online police report, called his boss to let him know what had happened and dreaded explaining this to the rental car company and his own company as he declined all of the coverages when he rented the car. He returned the car and explained what had happened and it seemed everything would be taken care of. A half an hour after he left he received a call from the rental company explaining that the car had already been damaged prior to him renting it and not to worry as they weren’t going to report anything as it didn’t happen under his watch. Relieved, although frustrated that he had to worry about it all week, everything worked out. It’s a good lesson learned to always walk around the rental car before you drive off the lot.
Christmas Eve came quick and we went over to Kim and Shane’s for an awesome dinner and good company. It was good to see everyone and get caught up. The kids were with grandma all night and were happy to have Lemon Lush and then a second desert of ice cream, thanks to Aunt Kim! Ainsley got her DS from grandma and was very excited about that (now she can be just like her big brother!). I guess that’s what the holidays are all about :o).

Reggie hates his hair spiked and we bribed him to let us take a picture.

Christmas morning was early, as usual. The kids crawled in bed with grandma and grandpa every morning between 5:30 and 6:30, but I think deep down they enjoyed it. I’m sure they had some sleep to catch up on when we left. Ryan and I were very well rested-thank you!!! The kids opened their presents and then we just chilled for a bit until the Rinehart’s came. Then, we had round two of presents. Had a little more chill time until all the relatives arrived. Ryan and Ainsley had fun trying out Just Dance For Kids on the Wii. It was busy and loud, with lots of kids, but wine always helps keep the adults happy :o). All the girls were hanging out together and it was pretty cute, until Maggie said there was something on the bathroom floor. Cadia had thrown up all over and had caught the stomach flu that Aunt Jana and Charlie had. This cut the party short for them and it was a bummer they had to go. My cousin Mike flew in from Florida and missed all the fun, but we got to hang out and it was fun to finally meet Daffney and their son Shawn.

You know you're a mom when you cry over a new washer/dryer! Enjoy them...

Cute picture, but terrible shirts!

So fun cleaning up puke!

We did all kinds of rainy day activities, due to the fact that it rained 8 inches the last week we were there….we could actually see the lake water rising! We decorated and ate cookies, built foam Christmas houses, Wii dancing and Reggie and grandma built a cardboard castle and an erector bicycle (this was a few hour project with Ryan and Grandma-not exactly for an 8 year old, even though that is what the box said).

Ryan went skiing with Anthony and Eric (a California friend who was also visiting family) and got rained on all day. It did not sounds like much fun. The kids spent a good part of the day with grandma Peggy. They went to Chuck E. Cheese, McDonald’s and then played at the Big Lake gym. They had a blast-Grandma Peggy needs to get a camera so we can see all the fun they had! While they were having all their fun, I was returning and shopping with dad.

It was another great trip with lots of fun memories, so thanks to my family for putting up with us!

Opening our goodies at home:

Reggie was very excited about his pop-up book.

Enjoying her hula hoop from Reggie.