Dear 2011...

Well, its been a year.  Micah turned 1, to start the year. And then we hummed along - Mark working, Kristen and Micah hanging at home, Naomi in her preschool two days a week.  We visited Alli and Chad in California.  We made plans to go to Colorado in the summer.  Naomi turned 5.  Mark lost his job.  We went on vacation.  Kristen started work part time.  Naomi started Kindergarten.  Micah started daycare.  Mark started a new job.  And then it was Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and now we are here, at New Year's Eve.  We are thankful for provision, and new experiences, and family and friends.  We are grateful to be reminded of how we are cared for.  This is a year full of small family memories not summed up in the big changes - like sitting around the dinner table together.  Micah and Naomi really starting to play together.  An unexpected summer of family time.  A week of holiday time at home.  We are also aware of both relief to be somewhat past those changes and curiosity and anticipation about the next year - because we are still adjusting to the newness those changes brought.  

For now, we remember we are cared for, and provided for, and we are grateful for our family.  Happy New Year! 

Queenie and the Four Cinnamon Princesses

 We have some new ladies at the house... Chickens!  And they are quite popular around here. Mark built a chicken tractor for them (you can see Micah helping below with the hammer!), and I am looking forward to eggs when they start laying in January or so.

We decided it was time for a new set, and thanks to some friends who were willing to trade some seedlings for some accidental layers in their batch of broilers, these ladies have come to live with us.  There is one white Brahma - with pretty feathers on her feet - and four Cinnamon Queens.  Naomi has named them Queenie and the Four Cinnamon Princesses, which sort of sounds like a band.

Micah loves them, and the first thing he wanted to do when I got home today from being gone all weekend was show them to me - and he has a good combo clucking/wing gesture happening right now to communicate "chickens".

McKinney Falls State Park

Weekend

This past weekend we were in great need of vacation...so we played in Austin.
After the downtown Farmer's Market we went to the Botanical Gardens.

Then we went to the State History Museum, and saw the cows outside after an IMAX movie - Born to Be Wild, about elephants and orangatangs. Both kids loved it, the cows and the movie.

First Days of School

The Naomi girl started school last week....

A Kindergartener. She loves it. And we like it too. She is in a dual language class, so sits with native English speakers and native Spanish speakers, all learning to speak the same languages together.

And Micah started school today...

Big guy is a Dancing Bear, and he liked parts of it all right - like the painting part...

and the necessary bath after school...

But not so much the being dropped off and the beginning of group nap part. We'll be learning a few things.

In Which Mark is RIFed and Life Changes

This summer has been a ride, and I've been avoiding this. The post where I mention that Mark was laid off a month and a half ago. RIF=reduction in force. His whole team. I couldn't even really put it into words until now, it just sucked too much, to be honest. The day it happened, we knew some people were being let go, but he felt good about his job, and his position. I had taken the train with the kids and some friends downtown to the Children's Museum. We had a great morning - and when Mark called, I assumed he was at lunch, wanting to chat. He called from outside the museum - knowing we were there, he walked the 12 blocks to come find us. I won't forget that moment, so thankful I was with my friends that I could leave the kids to run outside and be with him, wishing he didn't have to go through this, feeling so sad for him, and so glad that we could be together right at that moment. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting lunch and riding the train home.

And then we went on vacation.

There have been some lovely ways that the timing of all this has worked, the first being that afternoon Mark was let go, the second being that we went on vacation two days later. Road trip to Colorado (those pictures will come later)! So, the plus? We've had a lot more time with Mark! The kids are enjoying him (even though there was a stretch where everyday felt like Saturday). The not-so-plus? We are still very much in limbo, and Mark is ready to get back to work.

Near the end of our time in Colorado, however, I applied for a part-time position at UT, in sort of an angsty place of wondering what comes next for us and the unknown. Three weeks later they offered me the job. So this past week I find myself back at work! At the counseling center, part-time during Naomi's school day, 4 days out of the week and will be 9 months out of the year. Ideal. Right now, I'm seeing the positives in timing: Mark can be with the kids while I'm starting this new gig. I'm working a little more now at the beginning than I will be regularly, and that will be helpful to be paid more. Micah has a spot at Naomi's old school in September. This is a job I would have wanted even if Mark hadn't been laid off, I just would not have been looking for it. I see these things and believe that God has a plan for us. Even though it is still unknown.

Naomi Turns Five!!

I cannot believe my little girl turned five this year! Happy Birthday Naomi! Due to family travels and our travels her celebration lasted a few weeks - beginning with a surprise cake and presents from her Nana and Pop Pop and Aunt Christa, 2 weeks before her birthday.The weekend before her birthday we celbrated with friends...the requisite Carrot Cake - with chocolate cream cheese icing this year (Mark came home, saw this, and said it was time to start telling Naomi "no". Hey, when its your birthday you can choose whatever cake/icing combination you want.)There was a pinata, decorating fairy wings and crowns, and......a Teepee!!Naomi's actual birthday was the following weekend, after we arrived in Colorado. Here's the birthday girl opening her present from us - a real necklace with a dragonfly.

I am excited to think back on how wonderful it has been to be with her at home the last year and a half, and think about what a big girl she is now and all the things she will learn in the next year. We are leaving baby, toddler, and pre-school Naomi and have a Kindergarten-ready school girl.

Last California Pictures - Muir Woods, Fisherman's Warf, Home

From Point Reyes we drove an amazing drive down the coast to Muir Woods. We had a small side adventure looking for the nearest gas station (and finding a random little town on a point literally in the middle of nowhere). Muir Woods was incredible, and I hope to go back and do more hiking in the future.

The kids loved running through the woods and looking at the trees...On the way home we found ourselves driving through San Francisco at dinner time. So, Fisherman's Warf it was...After food, a walk along the warf, and almost losing three of four children, we headed out.A very tired bunch of kiddos.Last picture from the plane ride home. Wonderful travelers.

California, part 7 - Point Reyes

Our road trip Day Two sent us to Point Reyes, on the coast. And just, wow. If I thought the other parts of California I had seen were beautiful, this was incredible.

The point juts out into the ocean, there is a lighthouse (which I'll have to make the trek to another day - it was not really kid-friendly) and a place where you can watch for the tiny white specs way out in the ocean that mean WHALES are migrating by. There are some old ranches there, quite a few grazing cattle. We loved walking on the beach.