screams and sales

Garage Sale & Auction
My fund raising Garage Sale for the Christian School was very successful! Friday was very busy and a lot of our bigger stuff sold. Saturday was an additional day we did this year and it wasn't necessarily worth it. We only made $700 that day and it was pretty slow. Overall, we made $2500.00 for the school so I was pretty proud about that. It wasn't quite my goal but I usually have a way of overshooting my goals. The family that donated the use of the storefront for our garage sale also started inquiring about our ultimate goal of building a new Christian School. He, needless to say, could be a very big financial gain to our goal so I think that was a very good connection to make.

I was pretty tired today - I think it all caught up to me. Papa and Sherrill are in town and they came to watch Maysen in gymnastics tonight. He did great - completing his hand-stands with his arms, not head. He's doing really well at listening and following directions. For a smaller, strong boy this has proven to be the perfect thing for him and he's enjoying it.

Dad and Jo will be in town on Saturday. I'm excited to have them in town. It's been almost a year since we've seen them and Maysen is excited to say the least. They'll only be in town for a few days but I'll take what I can get!

Friday is my sister-in-law, Danielle's, fund-raising AUCTION for the Christian School. She takes months to prepare for this so we're pretty excited. They usually will pull in $15,000+ at the auctions and this is the 4th annual auction. With the economy the way it is, I'm hoping that it will continue to be a success even this year. We have a new caterer this year who is fabulous.

First School Incident
I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago we had our first "incident" at school with Maysen. I picked him up from school and his teacher pulled me aside. Apparently she walked down the hall and while she was gone, Maysen jumped up, turned off the light (basement classroom-no windows) then SLAMMED the door and started screaming. THREE. TIMES. It scared the crap out of his classmates and woke some babies in the baby room across the wall. He got grounded from his snack and show time after bath that night and the next day he apologized on his own to Miss N. Something tells me that won't be the last time that happens ....

YAY!

In an update about this post, Laith got a new heart!! You can read about it here.

job

Nathan accepted FT's offer on Monday. He officially told Weyerhaeuser he was leaving. They took it well; mainly that they were sad to see him go because he was such a big asset to them, but at the same time they understood that this was a job promotion for him and how do you refuse that? They agreed to meet in the middle with salary requirement so Nate accepted and signed his Acceptance Letter yesterday. He's going to lunch tomorrow with the guys from FT again just to get to know them. This is a good thing, I think.

Learned that my dad and stepmom Jo from California are coming for a few days to visit starting May 2nd. I haven't seen them in months so I was excited. They are buying a new car and since they're Oregon residents they will be coming back here to buy it. I'm looking forward to spending a few days with them. Lord knows when the next time I'll see them will be.

I booked tickets tonight for Nate, me, and my sister to see comedian Dane Cook in Portland on June 6th. He is hysterical, you can see some of his acts on YouTube.com. One of the best I've seen so I'm pretty excited about that. We'll be going childless so I'm not sure what I'm more excited about :0)

Heading to bed. Tomorrow starts 3 days straight of Fund Raising Garage Sale FUN! Tomorrow is set up/finish price and then Fri/Sat are the sale days. Pray for good return! Last year we raised $1900 in about 7hrs. Since we're doing 2 days this year, it's hard not to set expectations but I hope we do around $3500. We'll see. Night.

Easter 2009 & Backyard

Finally Easter pictures have emerged. See post below for all that we did but we had a great time. I still can’t believe how much Maysen looks like Nate and Maysen looks like me. I guess in a way that’s sorta how it’s supposed to go.

Bunny Tracks CAUGHT! And what a loot!!

Mmmmm Chocolate for Breakfast!! Does Chocolate Bunny count as protein?

Dad helping Fin find eggs at Aunt Danielle's house. He's the one who hid all 50+ some of them. Ahh, his mind is slippin...

There is one left ... and he "thinks" it is in the kitchen so the kids are on the hunt!

We’ve been working long and hard this weekend, thank goodness the weather has been beautiful (70s). Friday was spent hauling/loading donations for the garage sale I’m doing for Maysen’s school. It was the last day of parental donation-pick-ups so as you can imagine there was a ton! I had 4 van-loads plus 1 trailer full (Thanks to the guy who was unloading a chair). The rest of Friday was spent sanding our original deck so when the new deck was stained they matched. Saturday Nate and I spent 4hrs sorting donations with volunteers and I think we about got it sorted out. This week I’ll spend one more day pricing non-bulk items, Thursday setting up, then open on Friday. I still don’t have childcare figured out for Friday but I’m sure Lord-Willing it’ll happen. The rest of Saturday Nate stained our decks and I got the van washed up and back to pre-donation pickup.

Today was our shopping and planting day. We’d anticipated this day so it was fun. Nate got his Father’s Day gift (his new grill) and I got all my new flowers/chairs/plants and planters for Mother’s Day. The boys played in a bucket of water and water gun fights with the neighborhood kids so they were entertained. Now? We’re pooped. Nate should hear tomorrow whether they FT accepted his salary requirement. He took a vacation day tomorrow so he’ll be home. We plan on relaxing and maybe heading to Dorena Lake tomorrow.

So, with that said, here are the end result of our projects thus far. We still want to do some more planting and lay down mulch but you get the idea...

BEFORE: May, 2008 (last year)

Before, February 2009...

AFTER, Today.

Cement slab, BEFORE May 2008

Thanks to George and Dad for all the ears lent to Nate for his questions and frustrations. I'm sure proud of my Mr Handiman.

developments

It was another sugary Easter Success in our household this weekend. On Saturday night we put out the infamous secret “Bunny Track Catcher Powder” (flour) in hopes of catching the tracks. We previously had dyed our eggs, put them in a basket in the center of the table, only to be switched out with Easter Baskets from Mr Bunny. Maysen got an array of Curious George paraphernalia while Griffin scored a few new balls and plastic tractor (all of which Maysen thinks are his as well). We searched for eggs at our house and then headed over to Danielle’s where MIL Sherrill is watching her kids while they are on a mission trip. They have a huge house so Nate had gone over previously and hid all 50+ eggs around. After all eggs had been accounted for we started dinner and it was very yummy. Great time was had by all…

Another happening occurred Easter morning. Ever since Nathan graduated he’s had a “mentor” if you will, Mel, who has helped him out along the way in just about every job Nathan has had as a software developer. A couple of weeks ago, Mel retired. It was a sad day and on Sunday Mel actually called him yesterday morning to tell him that although he had retired from Weyerhaeuser, he hadn’t retired for very long. He had accepted a Director of Developing position of a software company here in Eugene and he wanted to “entice” Nathan to leave Weyerhaeuser and offer him a promotion as a Senior Developer with more $. It seems so weird to think of Nate as a Senior Developer because usually that requires 5-8yrs of experience. Nathan has 2. So this has been a great honor. Today he had lunch with the company guys and Friday he is having a final interview with everyone including their satellite counterparts in the UK (Scotland). I’m so proud of that man and the progression of his career!

I had to take Maysen in to the doctor today. Oddly there was a strange bulge that developed in the back of his left knee. Although I was pretty sure it was just a cyst, I didn’t want to take the chance of any other developing tendonitis/fibrosis. It turned out to be what I expected: A Baker’s Cyst. Although not usually seen this young, they’re very common and shouldn’t be of an issue.

I promise to post pictures next time …

Happy Easter!! More to come ...