Happy 7th Birthday Isaac!!!

Here is Isaac at his seventh birthday party with two siblings and a cousin. His Dad made him a Ben Ten Cake and a Hand Puppet Theatre. I really love our low key family parties.

James and the Giant Peach

This afternoon I got to do something with the kids I had been hoping to do for a long time. We went to see James and the Giant Peach performed by the new Olympia Family Theatre. I have really wanted to try taking the kids before, but had been prohibited by the cost of the Seattle Children's Theatre (30$ a ticket as opposed to the OFT's 8$). They did a wonderful job and the kids were transfixed for about 80% of the show. I can't wait until their season next year. 

 Elias has been doing the funniest thing the last few days. When he is trying to get away with something naughty, he irately "Mom, Stop Looking at Me"..as if that would be enough for me to not notice he was climbing the refrigerator to get to Easter Candy. Tomorrow we are going to Blintzapalooza in the morning. I have never been, but it sounds very promising - a fundraiser Blintz and used booksale at the Jewish Temple in Olympia.

 A true Olympia moment; while browsing Craigslist, I saw an add for wanted housing that read, "Clean, quiet anarchist $350.oo" 

Aaahhhh...

I finished my last final on Tuesday and passed..so I can let a bit of a sigh of relief out. I was actually able to read a book. It wasn't a great book, and it only took me the better part of four hours to read, but it was a book and it made me happy. I was planning on taking my final today, but sped it up because the kids had their school conferences today and would be home. I am glad I did, because last night at work was rather hellish and I had two hours overtime. They are all doing quite well in school; Hamda is starting to catch up to her classmates in Kindergarten and both Isaac and Shkuri are at or better than grade level in their classes. It was fun talking to I and S's teacher; I tends to run through his work without following directions and gets very mad when he has to do it over again, while S is a major perfectionist and is furious if she get's anything wrong. They are such polar opposites, and it will be a major duty of my life to help them channel their strengths and weaknesses for good. After conferences today we went swimming - it actually snowed last night and they have to get out of the house for awhile every day.
This morning I had a chat with my friend Rene that was really applicable to a choice that is looming ahead in the near future. Rene and I are both rather pathologically compelled to always be changing something; for me that has meant going to grad school and having so many kids and always planning some trip. She has changed careers, made several exciting moves, and has just returned from a trip to launch her career in Europe. While I absolutely love this about us, it also has a major impact on those around us. For example, I have been ogling a house that I happened to see for sale for almost nine months ago. Most people would say, huh, I like that house. Not me. I call the real estate agent and get a tour. Then I don't do much of anything, because the property is way, way out of our price range, and we are always remodeling something. Right now we need a new roof and don't have any trim in our house, making it almost impossible to sell. Well, the real estate agent contacted me and said "if you still like the house, the owner wants all offers, since they have moved and the house is empty". So I wrote him back, telling him the ridiculously low bid that we could afford - and that there was no guarantee we could sell our house. He wrote back and said the owner wanted to meet with us and "see if we could work something out" and was interested in just trading our house to him so he could rent it out. We are going to meet with him on Sunday. I am more than a little freaked out about this - I thought there was no way we would ever hear from him again once I offered 250,000$ less than the asking price on the house.
We have a lot of things to work out if we do move (like do all the grandparents want to move with us??) but this house and property may be worth it. The house is older and a little beat up, but is twice as big as ours and it is on five acres with an orchard, two acres of woods, a large garden with a green house and a tiny sliver of muddy puget sound waterfront. It is also only ten minutes from downtown Olympia in a really beautiful area that Ariel and I have always loved. Luckily, Ariel is rather used to me, and even though he would never be nuts enough to go and make offers on a house when he wasn't really ready to move, he is happy to accompany me. We will see what happens.
Now that school is finished for the quarter, I am working on getting stuff ready for our California trip next week. At the moment, that involves me musing on what books I want to take. I am decided on Lolita and Better by Atul Gawande (he is a surgeon and an amazing medical writer for the New Yorker), and we have Tom Sawyer and Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck on CD. By Sunday, I will probably start thinking about things like maps and first aid kits and clothes.

Easter Day

I am certainly glad it is Sunday night, because this weekend has been quite the whirlwind. On the sly Ariel bought tickets to see Henry Rollins at the capital theatre downtown. While I knew a little bit about him (he is the former lead singer of the punk band Black Flag and now tours the world talking/ performing spoken word) I wasn't that excited to go.  Aimee owed us some babysitting, so I went and I am very glad we did. He was really incredible - he spoke for three hours non stop and he is a very intense guy. Ariel and I and our friends Jacob and Catherine all really enjoyed his talk. He told stories of his travels (he was in Islamabad when Benazair Bhutto was assasinated and basically travels to the most dangerous places in the world and walks around to meet people), his thoughts on politics (pretty standard liberal), and Iraq (he has spent extended periods of time on USO tours both in the country and with veterans in hospitals). Anyway, it was a very enjoyable, exciting, and thought provoking way to spend an evening.

 

 The rest of our weekend was spent getting ready for Easter dinner - we host Ariel's family for Easter every year, and it basically takes us all weekend to get ready and clean up after all 26 people come and go.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves and the Easter Egg hunt is always a pretty big hit. Luckily, the torrential rain let up enough for us to spend ten minutes running around. It was especially fun to help dress the girls up in the Easter dresses....there was something very special about the process that made me feel even more like the girl's Mother. Now all is said and done I am quite beat, and I am really looking forward to finishing my last final on Thursday. 

Caden Free

Here is a link to my BIL's website with pictures of baby Caden. http://www.jonbiggerstaff.com/photogallery/photogallery2.html We drove up last night to Kirkland only to find that the labor was probably going to last a lot longer than we thought, so we loaded back in the car to go home. After about ten minutes on the freeway, we got a call that the Dr. decided to do a C-section because of cord compressions, so we headed back to the hospital in time to meet Caden after all.
It was a little strange, because the circumstances of the delivery were very similiar to when I had Isaac and ended up having a c-section because of fetal distress. Although it was nice for Jon and Ranae that she already had an epidural and he was able to go into the OR with her. In my case, I was attempting to go natural and things started to go bad quickly - there was a great deal of rushing around, they wouldn't let Ar in the OR and the anesthesiologist was running late, so they had to do part of the operation before they put me out (I feel my great claim to toughness is having had part of a surgery without any anesthesia). In the end, everything turned out great in both cases and beautiful healthy boys joined the Biggerstaff clan.

After getting back this morning around 4 am, I slept for a few hours, got the kids to school and somehow managed to score a good grade on my Care of the Childbearing Woman Final (Thank God for Coffee!!). At some point tonight, I know I am going to collapse in a heap, but it was all worth it. Tomorrow we are driving the kids up to meet their new baby cousin, and they are very excited.

Shiny, Happy Person

Today has just been the most wonderful day - After taking most of the kids to school, I was able to go swimming with my Dad at the Y. I have been trying to get him to go for awhile. Then I was able to ride my bike to work in the sun...only to get there and find out they didn't need me and get to ride my bike back. With the extra hours, I was able to be a good mother - I somehow had reserves of good will to make a mocha-walnut bundt cake with all four of the kids and maintain some control. I got to read books with all of them and helped Isaac clean up his room. Now I am headed up to Kirkland with my in-laws because baby Caden's arrival is imminent tonight! (My SIL is in serious labor at the hospital and Ar is good with seeing the baby this weekend)....which is kind of a little funny, because I am taking a final in care of the childbearing woman tomorrow. I am planning that the car ride up and waiting at the hospital will provide lots of extra studying time :). After a rather long and challenging winter it is great to have such a wonderful day!

4 Biggerstaffs and a Bison

We took advantage of some decent weather and our annual pass and went to NW Trek for the first time this year. NW Trek is a zoo/animal park that focuses on Northwest animals like Cougars, Bears, and Moose. For me, it was an excuse to let the kids run around outside. The above pictures is Isaac and Hamda on the tram tour, the picture below is the Bison that they are staring at. NW Trek is pretty standard Field Trip fare for local school kids, but it was pretty empty on this Winter Sunday. The hour ride out was also a great time for me to get some studying done - the kids mostly conk out in the car. 

At home, Shkuri and I finally made spring rolls - the rolling could use some perfecting - but I think they turned out great! Everyone but Elias liked them. He kept on saying "I don't want dinner, I want food".  I am going to try and tackle Sushi soon. 

 

The kids are watching one episode of The Muppets before they go to bed, and I settle down into study. I was hoping to go until midnight, but I am out of sugar, so I am not sure if I will make it. I am also going to have to turn off the internet, as the blog, Stuff White People Like is way too addictive and a wee bit humiliating.  I was thinking of posting some thoughts about religion, but I think I will leave that to another time. A friend from church, who tends to be a bit into religious fads, has spent a lot of time talking about Ekhart Tolle - and I can tell you I am definitely not impressed with a couple of interviews I have seen. 

Flight of the Conchords

Because it is coming to finals week. Because I am too lazy and tired to come up with a real blog post - but too tired and lazy to stop watching You tube

Sushi & Spring Rolls

Today, the kids and I are going to hang out in the morning while Ariel goes Mountain Biking. On Saturdays, the get to eat cold cereal and play video games for one hour - then I think we will go to the park and the library.  I am coming upon my finals weeks - and I am going to have to start digging out some major reserves of time from somewhere. I have kind of been squeeking through this quarter, which won't fly for the finals. Usually, I just stay up late, which has been failing me of late. Even with coffee, I find myself just staring at the pages and not retaining anything. Yesterday Ar took the kids for a walk at the nature trail while I studied at a coffee shop for two hours - I really got a lot done outside of the house. 

 Another thing I accomplished this week was putting together a menu for the week. I have been working towards a weekly menu for awhile.  Trying to feed our family with healthy, decent food for a week is quite the art. I splurged on a new cookbook that has had a bunch of great ideas;  How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.  We aren't vegetarians by any stretch, but I really like trying vegetarianish meals. When my finals are over, I am going to make a major effort to make spring rolls and sushi. I love both of these dishes, but have a major defect in my ability to wrap foods, so haven't successfully made them before.  

hematocrit & hemoglobin

My co-workers and I have often joked that as oncology nurses, at least we have job security. Something weird has happened lately, though. People have stopped gettting cancer in Olympia. In my infusion department - we used to have an average of 20-25 patients a day. Tomorrow we have six. We are also affected by the a change in medicare that lowers the threshold hematocrit & hemoglobin when they will pay for a blood transfustion, which also cuts into our business. It isn't just us, though, I am told that our local oncology practice is hurting for patients. It is certainly good news for all of those people not getting cancer, but still it is a little weird. I am also getting a little nervous for my job security. I happen to have one of the nicest nursing jobs in the hospital and I would really, really hate to see it go away.
On Sunday, we went and bought a 95 Jayco Tent Trailer. It is big and cozy and more than a little beat up, but it cost only a bit more than it would cost to rent one for the week, so it will work. We are starting to plan our summer camping trips already. I think we are going to reserve a week at the family campground in July and make it open to any friends that live nearby to come and hang out with us. Fishy met an untimely death yesterday - the circumstances were suspicious, although nothing could be proven.

Potager

Today we got out and actually did a small bit of gardening - Hamda, Isaac, and I weeded one raised bed that is going to be Isaac's this summer. I also sent in the deposit to do a CSA. I haven't done one for two years, but I was looking forward to joining again this summer. One of my great dreams in life is to have a potager (the French word for Kitchen Garden). I know exactly what it would look like; lots of raised vegetable beds, an orchard, and a fruit garden. I have absolutely been in love with them since visiting the Hamlet at Versailles (even though we went in January). 

The first three years we lived at our house, I did my darndest to turn our little 1/4 acre plot into a replica of a potager. Now I know that that was really stupid of me. My garden of my dreams requires a full time gardener who knows something about pruning, and mulching, and composting -which I don't.  Now I wish I had a gardener to do about 90% of the work, and I would be thrilled to pitch in the last 10%. Until then, I am going to keep the garden simple this year, and not stress about what it isn't. I want to enjoy doing it with the kids, too.  They each have one bed, and I am going to let them pick and plant what they would like.  

Baby Shower

My sister and brother in law are about two weeks away from having their first baby, Caden Free, and last night we went to their baby shower. I am very excited about a new cousin in the family, but I was a little aprehensive about spending the evening with people from their church home group in a weathly suburb of Seattle. I actually almost had heart failure when we walked into the house where the party was - facing three hours in a completely white house with lots of glass and my five and six year old (Elias and Shkuri stayed home with a grandma) made me very nervous.
Despite being a little anxious - everything went great, and I really enjoyed myself and Hamda loved all the attention she got (Isaac spent most of the night playing with his yo yo behind the couch). Ariel and I spent awhile talking to a couple that have just started the process to adopt children from Africa. I even really enjoyed the long group prayer session that they had for Jon, Ranae, and baby Caden - it was obvious people really cared about them and were happy for this time in their life. We are all so excited to meet baby Caden and can't wait for his safe arrival.