Conversations

Aleks is out of town this weekend and so I've been with the girls. Alone. Having lots of 2 year old driven conversation. Here are some of the gems from this weekend.

In the car backing out of our driveway.
Maia: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: Driving.
Now out of the driveway and turning out of our cul-de-sac.
Maia: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: Driving.
Now heading down the hill, driving past the park.
Maia: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: Driving.
Turning at the stop light at the end of the hill.
Maia: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: Maia, all done asking that question. Let's have some quiet time.
10 seconds later.
Maia: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: (silence)


We went to the park yesterday during the farmer's market and it was super busy. I was standing off to the side holding Ruby and keeping an eye on Maia. I saw Maia head towards the ladder, which she has never climbed by herself. She started climbing and by the time I got to her, she was at the top not sure how to get down.
Me: Maia, I don't think you should climb the ladder unless I'm here to help.
Maia: No mommy, I'm just holding on!


We went to different park that afternoon and had to leave because it started to rain. Maia was telling me about it today in the car.
Maia: Mommy I was crying yesterday at the park with the train.
Me: Why were you crying Maia?
Maia: Well, I was so sad.

Listening to jazz in the car.

Maia: Mommy, that's a trumpet!

Me: Actually Maia, that's a saxophone.

Maia: No mommy, a trumpet!
Me.: No, a saxophone.
Maia: No, a trumpet!
Silence, then I realize I can't bear to have her thinking that a saxophone is a trumpet.
Me: Maia, that's a saxophone.
Maia: No mommy, that's a trumpet!
I let it go.


I'm having a friend over tonight and wanted to make margaritas. However I needed to get tequila which meant taking both girls into the store and  crossing my fingers that, in this small town, no one I knew would be there. (Unfortunately, everything was closed today because of Memorial Day.)
In the car-
Maia: We're not going to the grocery store, we're going to the liquor store!

A taste of the goodbyes to come

Tonight I was reminded of the bitter part of my bittersweet feelings about moving.

Keri, Andy, and Alden have been dear friends of ours since we've been in Pullman these last 3 years.

(Old picture from Dec. 2009)

They are all going to Thailand for 4 months on Monday because Keri was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship! (We're so excited for her. And her tenure binder!)

This means that I had to say goodbye tonight.

It's funny how having kids can really connect you to a place.

Being pregnant at the same time as a friend has the same effect. I don't know if we would have been as close to Keri and Andy if we hadn't had our kids around the same time, but I'm sure glad we did.

It was so great to have a friend like Keri with whom I could be a first-time mom. The summer after Maia and Alden were born will always be filled with golden memories of sitting together, nursing our babies, and talking about sleep, poop, spit up, or other baby related topics.

Among other things, Andy can always be counted on for his dry sense of humor and delicious meals. He passed on an amazing bagel recipe, which is the only way to get a decent bagel in the Palouse.

We are going to miss their friendship so very much.

But Aleks and I aren't the only ones who will be leaving dear friends behind.

Maia loves her Alden.

Especially in the last couple of months, Maia and Alden have really been playing together. Several times we've caught them hugging in Maia's room.

(Now that I think about it, maybe it's the perfect time for us to be leaving...)

Saying goodbye tonight really caught me off-guard. I'm no stranger to moving and all that it involves. However, this place and the people here seem to have gotten under my skin a bit more than usual.

Maybe that's why lately all I've wanted to do is lay on the couch and eat cookies.

But, I try to remind myself that it doesn't have to be goodbye forever. Life is funny and who knows when we'll be together again.

Until then, safe travels to our dear friends as they head to Thailand! We'll be thinking of you.

Swimming

Visiting Phoenix in May is a great time. 

It's not too hot, but warm enough for swimming. 

At least for my family from Pullman, where we've broken 60 degrees twice this spring.

Maia quickly learned to love jumping off the side of the pool into a waiting pair of arms.

In the pool or not, this is how we usually are. Staring at Maia waiting to see what she's going to do next. Or listening to her adorable, non-stop chatter.

This was Ruby's first time in the pool and she loved it!

And of course, bubbles are always a crowd pleaser.

Updates

The last 6 days have been absolutely chaotic.

Friday:

Aleks finds out he has a job offer from Wichita State University and he accepts.

Saturday:

We call the realtor and arrange for her to come by on Monday.

Sunday:

Mother's Day! We had a nice day and an early dinner with some friends.

There happened to be a purple drum set and pink drumsticks at their house.

Maia made herself right at home.

Monday:

The realtor came over and told us what we needed to do to get the house ready before we put it on the market.

On Wednesday. In 2 days.

I immediately went into super focus mode and packed about 20 boxes, Aleks took apart furniture, and we moved it all to the garage.

Ruby turned 8 months on Monday as well.

She loves the bath. As soon as she hears the water she starts squealing and waving her arms in excitement. She mostly loves to splash.

She's still sitting up like a champ.

Ruby is starting to think about crawling, you can tell that she's interested in things across the room. I'll bet she figures out how to get there pretty soon. Ruby loves her sister and spends lots of time watching her in fascination. I get glimpses every now and then of how much fun they are going to have playing together and (fingers crossed) how much easier things will be for me.

Tuesday:

I paint the railing on the front steps and the front door. I painted the railing white and the door green. It actually looked pretty good. Thankfully Pullman finally broke 60 degrees, so the weather was perfect for outside painting and Maia could be occupied with her water table.

I also do touch-up paint on various holes in the walls throughout the house. (I think is probably one of my least enjoyable house projects)

Wednesday (today):

Aleks had to go to Seattle to do a presentation/discussion of his music.

The girls and I put finishing touches on the house. By this, I mean that Maia took out everything that I put away and Ruby cried every time I set her down, so I ended up doing everything with one hand while carrying her.

The realtor came over, took pictures and put a sign in front of our house. I feel like it's the beginning of the end. Tomorrow, the realtors in the area will tour new homes on the market, so we'll need to be out of the house all morning.

Oh, and when I opened the front door this morning (remember, the one I painted green?), I discovered that the paint had bubbled. So now I have a pretty, forest green door with bubbles all over it. Thankfully our realtor didn't scold me too badly, but now I'm going to have to strip off the paint and figure out how to do it again so it doesn't bubble. Maybe prime it? I guess I'm going to make some new friends at ACE Hardware.

The house went on the market around noon today. At 3:00 I got a phone call from another realtor wanting to show our house this evening. I'm encouraged that we've already had someone look at it! Maybe things will move quickly...

Friday we leave for Phoenix to visit my family. I'm really excited to see them. I'm also very excited to get away from all this house stuff.

I'll leave you with my gorgeous girls. We hope you've had a great week!

Phoenix Children's Museum

Today we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum.

It was awesome.

There was this amazing tree fort thingy in the middle of the entire museum. You could look at it from all three floors of the building. As soon as Maia saw it she said "ooooh, amazing." Followed by lots of high pitched shrieking and maniacal laughing.

There were so many cool exhibits and things to do.

Of course Aleks found all the musical exhibits and treated the other museum patrons to his compositions. I don't know if everyone else liked it as much as Maia did.

There should be some kind of index that children's attractions are required to post.

1 indicates that your child will be asking you to go home.

10 indicates that you will have to use all methods of bribery and perhaps some force to get your child to vacate the premises.

Phoenix Children's Museum= 11+

I had to carry Maia out, promise her ice cream, and still the workers at the museum asked if she was ok. She was scream/crying so loudly they thought she had hurt herself.

Needless to say, both my bunnies were pretty tired by nap time.

Trip to the Phoenix Zoo

We've been soaking up as much sun as possible while we are here visiting family. On Monday we decided to go to the zoo!

(Wichita has a zoo, I'm already planning on buying a membership)

There were lots of beautiful animals to look at.

This horse's name is Jack.

Maia loved to look at him and talk about him, but didn't really want to touch him.

But my favorite animals are named Maia and Ruby!

Ruby got her first taste of a snow cone and just loved it.

We found a part of the zoo that had a water feature.

I think that this was Maia's favorite part of the zoo visit.

Ruby liked the water too...

But Maia like it so much that she ended the day naked!

We love the zoo!

P.S. Thanks to Cydney Kyhn (check out her blog here) and Kim Grover (look at her blog here) for helping me to make my blog more hip with photo editing ideas. You girls are the best!

WSU

The Middle.

Not just a sitcom on ABC.

It is where the Sternfeld-Dunn family will be moving this summer.

Today Aleks was offered and accepted a tenure track position teaching music theory/composition at Wichita State University in Wichita, KS.

We are very excited and a bit overwhelmed.

Mostly, I'm just tired thinking of all that has to happen in a short time.

There will be lots more to come in the next few months...