random happiness (August 12-18)

In between big adventures we had lots of little adventures. 

Grace, Gwenevere and I attended a glow in the dark skating party.  And now I want to go to the skating rink everyday.

 When I was a teenager I'd daydream about my future family.  I always imagined i'd adopt an african american boy.  Growing up changed me.  I'm worried about cultural barriers, the difficulties of adopting an older child, the impact it might have on my family and the whole white privilege part.  But the longing and dream is still rooted deep in my heart.   McKay has given me a chance to see what my life could include.   I love her family as my own.  There are moments in our play that still my heart and make me hope I may someday overcome my fears and follow my dreams.

Having a 6 year old again is pretty awesome.  One day I was overwhelmed and trying to get the house put back together before James got home.  Grace walked in from playing outside and asked to help me do the dishes.  She was so excited to help.  

Sometimes you just want to play in peace and quiet.  

My moment of inner peace

On Wednesday we decided to take a trip to home depot and pick up a few things we needed for the siding project.  Going to Home Depot with kids can be stressful but we try to make it fun for them so they aren't complaining the whole time.  

 It was going so smoothly until Everett got his finger stuck under the cart wheel.  We ended up going to the Seattle Children's Urgent care across the street from home depot.  Two hours later we found out Everett had broken his middle finger.  They cauterized two of his finger nails to help relieve the pressure from underneath.  And it helped as soon as the pressure was released his pain went down dramatically.

The day before Grace's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa Cox took Grace on a birthday date.  This was a big deal because last year Grace decided she didn't want a date.  When I first brought up the idea Grace said no, but then she thought about it for a while and decided she'd go.

While Grace was with Grandma and Grandpa I had an extra seat in my car and Everett had been asking for weeks to go to the zoo.  We called up Everett's friend Huco and headed off to the zoo.  Watching these two together is just so fun.  Gwenevere tagged along and we all had a good time.

I just love how big Everett is getting.  I can't believe he'll be 4 in a few weeks

Even though we celebrated Grace's birthday a week before we saved some of her birthday gifts for her actual birthday.  but after a fun day with Grandparents and a cousin birthday party to go to the actual day of her birthday.  We decided to open her presents a day early.  

New ballet shoes and a leotard. 

I had my camera on the wrong settings but I just had to keep these pictures anyway. 

"A ballerina bun, please."

tiptoes and dreams of real ballerina shoes someday.  

It turns out something happened to Grace while she was on her Grandparents date.  She came home and clang to me.  When I asked her about her date she immediately closed up and refused to talk.   Grandma and Grandpa shared their version of the day's events.  It sounded perfect.  I wonder what happened that made it so she wouldn't talk to me about her day.    I gave it a few days and asked again.  Still no comment.  Then it occurred to me to me to ask if she would want another Grandparent date.  Maybe it wasn't the date maybe something else was making her shut down and not talk.  Maybe I was asking the wrong questions.

It hurt a little bit to hear her response.  

"Do you want to go on another Date with Grandma and Grandpa sometime?"

"No".  and then a quick change of subject by her part to move forward.

She still won't talk about it but I hope to someday hear her side of the story.  It may just be a little thing what was said but whatever it was I wish I knew.  

But I don't want to end on a sad note so one more note.  

All week I tossed and debated where and when I'd go to central Oregon for the eclipse.  I had made plans to visit Stephanie and her family (James cousin) but a week before the eclipse she told me that they would be staying at their house (10 minutes from totality) because traffic would be a nightmare.  She was right I-5 would be a nightmare.  but I couldn't put my heart into driving 3 hours two days before the eclipse to just be 10 minutes short of totality.  James told me to go to Idaho Falls.  My parents live there and i'd be in the line of totality.  I loved this idea but I had plans to meet my sister on the Oregon coast the day after the eclipse and if I was going to make the drive to Idaho I wanted to stay for longer than a weekend.

Then while visiting my brother Will for Taylor's birthday party he told me his plans.  He was going to drive down Sunday night in the middle of the night.  He was going to go through central washington and take the back roads.  He wasn't going to go as south as madrid where most of central Oregon congestion was.  I thought he was brilliant and asked to tag along.  He said I could and gave me his detail maps to the forest service road and all.

I came home and told James about my plans.  He suggested I contact Rebecca and find out if she'd be in central Oregon that way if worse came to worse I could meet up with her and sleep for a few hours before driving to the coast.

I contact Rebecca and she said she'd be south of Madrid we where welcomed to contact her if we needed anything.

When I told James the good news he suggested I just go stay with her.  That way I could go down earlier and not do 24 hours awake.  Besides he had a siding project he wanted to work on and if I was gone with the kids it would be easier.

I asked Rebecca if we could stay with her.  She said yes and James ready to send me out the door.  but  I wasn't ready to leave just yet.  I ended up spending all friday and Saturday at home.

I found a daybed I wanted for the kids room and contacted the guy.  It was still available so James went with me to get a new bed for the kids.  We also contacted a person about taking our bunkbeds.  She was super excited for the offer and had her husband come pick it up.
 It turned out to be a good thing I stayed home an extra day, in between all the bed swapping, James ended up needing my help to put the new siding on the house.   I was so happy I could help him with the project.  I wish we got a picture of us working together but, alas.


The siding went up fast and smoothly.  We ended up being two boards short for finishing. But we needed to put new windows in the bathrooms so we had time to look for more siding.  Around 4 pm James put away his tools and helped me load up my car.  He packed all my camping stuff and helped me go grocery shopping.  (more on the eclipse adventure to come)

The beginning stage.  I never got a picture of the all we had accomplished. 

 Friday also became a friend swap day.  Benjamin came to play with Gwenevere and Grace went to play with Adelaide.

I just love their friendship.  

 Before driving away off on our eclipse adventure, I took a picture of our house.   Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be painting our little home and bringing new life to her appearance.  I wanted to capture her beauty as is, and to thank her for the blessings that have come from living here.

She's beautiful just the way she is