The Last Month in Review
So much for writing an update every week. Lots has happened since last time I wrote. We took trips home to visit family which is always fun. The kids love to be spoiled by grandparents with lots of attention and yummy treats!
Mason turned one on March 18th. As seen by the pictures already posted, he had a tractor/farm themed party. He most certainly did not disappoint when it came to tearing into his cake. It was fun for the family to see him after such a long time since our previous visit. He is walking everywhere and loves to jibber-jabber.
Easter was really fun this year for Corinne. Tony and I took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt given by the city. There were eggs all over the ground. When the siren rang, Corinne entered the circle daintily and was just looking over the eggs. I had the camera rolling and had expected her to go crazy over the candy-filled eggs! When I told her she could pick them up and put them in her pail, she said she only wanted the pink ones! Ha! Later we hid the eggs in the yard and decorated some hard-boiled eggs. Tony’s parents came down to spend the day with us. It was a nice holiday together.
Yesterday we worked in the yard. I tore out a bush that was on its last leg and trimmed the others back. Then we spread ten bags of mulch across the front beds while the kids sat on a blanket and ate frozen pops. We’ll get to the backyard eventually. We are still in the planning stages for a new flower bed with a stone wall and a garden back there.
Summer is on the way! The kids have been enjoying playing at the park and being outside. We just renewed our zoo membership so we are ready to roll! Hope you are all having nice weather in your corner of the world!
Not on Target
So Target was not on target with pictures this time around. We always have gone there for two reasons: 1) cheap but nice pictures and 2) we own stock in the store and try to do everything possible there. Tony and I had decided on jeans with white shirts for everyone. I bathed the kids and let them wear their pjs all day so as to not get anything on their clothes. I slaved over an ironing board to make sure no creases were visible on the shirts. For once it my life, I actaully entertained the idea of not wearing a seat belt on the way to the store so as to not wrinkle my shirt. After dinner, the family got dressed and beautified. Somewhere in the shuffle, Corinne was playing with our toothpaste and got blue gel on her shirt. Tony lovingly washed it out, and I dried it with the blowdryer. Crisis averted. If only I knew what lay ahead. The taking of the pictures was a challenge. They had just switched to an all digital system the day before and were still unsure of their skills. Corinne went first and loved every second of it. Mason is now mobile which spelled disaster. He just didn’t want to sit there and smile. Then we did the family picture. Throw four people together and try to have them all smiling and looking in the same direction is hard to do. We made it through and were told to shop/browse for approximately 15 minutes while they downloaded the images. Two hours later, we were finally seeing the pictures. I actually cried. They were not what I had hoped for, and I told the lady. I felt horrible. I am the type of person who would rather eat the food with a hair in it than send it back. The lady felt so bad that she gave us multiple sheets of pictures for free. Unfortunately they are not digitally available so you will just have to take my word on this one. You know me. I never exaggerate.
The rest of the week was heavenly by comparison. I took Corinne to see her first movie in the theater. ‘Chicken Little’ was playing at the dollar theater. Her nap was longer than usual so the movie had already started when we got there. I guess I am desensitized to the whole theater experience (darkness, loud volume, huge screen, etc) because while I was walking to our seats, Corinne froze in place. Her eyes were huge! I had to physically pick her up and carry her to her seat. She wasn’t heavy enough for the seat to unfold so her feet were pointing at the ceiling. Glued to the screen, she asked me where we were and what was happening. She eventually loosened up and enjoyed herself. That is until someone came in and tried to sit in front of her. Corinne screamed, “NOOOO!” The lady jumped out of her skin but graciously moved down a few seats. Overall, I think Corinne enjoyed it. She is already asking when we can go again.
Saturday was Mason’s first birthday! Bizarre! It just doesn’t seem like a year could have possibly elapsed. The little guy is cute as ever. He is trying his hardest to walk and babbles nonstop. His latest thing is to pick up the phone and pretend to talk to people. Stephanie was down for the day and played with the kids. It was great to have a member of the family here on his special day. The party will actually be this weekend. We chose tractors as a theme. I’m really hoping he digs into the cake. Knowing Mason, he won’t disappoint!
Four months and growing!
Here we are with the monthly update! Mason is now four months old and cute as ever. He’s doing well, almost sleeping through the night now! Corinne loves playing with him and tending to his every need. She’s a great big sister. Greta and I are doing well, too. Now onto the pictures!
First we have what I like to call “Bill and Tony’s Excellent Tree Adventure.” We took down the big tree from the side of the house and it was quite an undertaking. Here’s the procession of events:
Corinne was very patriotic at the Dublin Fourth of July Parade:
Here’s Mason’s four month shots
Corinne posing with Mason
Bummer!
I don’t have any good news to post, as everyone probably already knows, I didn’t get the job at Battelle. I haven’t given up, I’m still pursuing a couple of possibilities there, so we’ll see what happens.
I’ll have the eight month pictures up soon. Hopefully tomorrow, so check in for those!
Job offer update
We still haven’t decided 100% what we are going to do about the job at LM. To both Greta and I, Virginia just doesn’t feel right. I finally got a little more information about the job from one of my (would be) managers and his description just doesn’t really excite me. My title would be “Systems Engineer” which sounds cool but it just doesn’t seem to be my idea of engineering. One thing he said was “We do not build hardware” This was kind of a buzz kill because that’s one thing I would like to be involved with. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t enjoy being a systems engineer, it just seems like moving to another state to take a job that I don’t find interesting would be a mistake. Another hang up I have is that I didn’t actively pursue this job, they sought me out. While that is a great ego boost, I went into the interview knowing next to nothing about the job. It just doesn’t seem to be what I want, even if it is a job in a jobless market right now.
I would probably take this type of job if it wasn’t out of the state. As far as my pros and cons go, location trumps a job I’m not excited about. We are thinking that we’ll stay here while I continue to look for a “better” job. That might still be out of state, but it would be something I really like. I’ve also tossed around the idea of law school for the past few years, so I may pursue that idea. I am also going to get some information about taking a course to be a patent agent. They don’t make as much as patent/IP lawyers, so that is also an option.
We shall see!
