Maggie turned 4! (in April, and I am now writing about it)

Maggie, I love you dearly. We celebrated your birthday with a pinata at the park. This is what you most wanted to do for you birthday. You requested that your cake be strawberry pink (fresh strawberry frosting--yum!) with sprinkles, and you sprinkled it yourself. You also really, really wanted a training wheel bike. I loved going on rides with you on your new bike around our quiet Ithaca neighborhood. You are very sweet and strong willed. I think we say strong willed to describe children because we are trying to direct their will, but what I think strong willed really means is that you are strong. That is a very good thing to be. You are also very loving. You are the composer of many original songs. I hear a new one almost every day. Today you sang about Mister Potato Head. You love developing friendships and strike up conversations with strangers often (e.g. in the elevator, at stores, etc.). This year you attended and loved preschool and learned how to swim. You have been trying to learn how to skip and practicing for a few weeks, and I think you finally have it figured out. You love being outside, especially if sand and water are allowed. You love twirly dresses and princesses. You love to be silly. You love little Jackie-boy and we all love you.

Here are a few of your favorites (in your own words):

Favorite food: noodles
Favorite color: all the colors
Favorite toy: elephant (teeny beany from a kid's meal)
Favorite Show: a little bit of Frozen, Calliou, but I have lot's of shows that are my favorite, and the dragon one because it has some scary parts and I like all of them
Favorite outfit: go-up dresses and being a ballet. I just love to be ballerinas.
Favorite snack: apples and goldfishes
Favorite thing to eat for lunch: PB sandwich
Favorite game: Candyland and hide n seek cause I can hide, but I have lots of favorites of games
Favorite animal: dogs
Favorite song: Heavenly Father (A Child's Prayer) and I am a Child of God
Favorite book: princesses books
Best friend: Opal, Ethan, Stuart, Mrs. S. I have a lot of best friends
Favorite cereal: the cereal with cheerios and strawberries (Trader Joe's), oatmeal, raisin bran, oatmeal squares, I have a lot of favorite cereals
Favorite thing to do outside: play with my brother, like we can play tag and I like playing tag with my brother
Favorite drink: spicy drink and juice and water and milk
Favorite holiday: Easter and all kinds of ones because they give me all kinds of treats
What do you like to take to bed with you at night: stuffed animals and blankies
Favorite thing to eat for breakfast: oatmeal and cereal
Favorite treat: lollipops, suckers, and treats I give her
What do you want to be when you grow up?: a mom
Favorite flavor of ice cream: all kinds of flavors. I want to tell you four: blueberry, chocolate mint, white mint and strawberry mix
What do you want to do before your next birthday: go on a trip to see Jeff and Sam
Favorite sport: I have lots of them. How bout if I do 5? I like to dance, do workouts, play soccer, basketball, and I like to play softball. I like to do gymnastics.

Where we are now (Seattle), what we left behind, and what we brought with us

Here I am. I am going to continue telling our story even though it has been awhile. I won't try to pick up where I left off, but will just move forward.

Joe graduated from Cornell with his MBA (woo hoo!), and at the Dean's Brunch of graduation, he was given the award for the student who most contributed to Johnson, making it a better place for all. I was very appreciative when the award was given; I watched him over the last two years serving other students and the school (sometimes selfishly wishing he wasn't quite such a service-giving human, even while recognizing that his charitable nature is one of the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place). It was validating to see that others also appreciated his efforts. I have seen so much growth in Joe. I really admire him and I am very proud of him (in a wifey kind of way), and as challenging as the last two years have been at times, I am grateful for the experiences we had and the friends we made. I have a hard time seeing my own growth as I see Joe's, and sometimes I feel like I am standing still, or at the very most treading water. I hope that I am moving forward too. 

Well, at least I have moved in one way. We moved our little family to Seattle for the beginning of Joe's career as an MBA. He is working for Amazon.com. The first couple weeks seem to have gone pretty well, for which I am very grateful. 

Moving is hard. There are many, many good things about Seattle, and I am not unhappy to be here. But, moving is just hard. We are currently living in temporary housing. We'll move into our home-to-be on August 1. The kids and I go out and have fun each day (parks, beaches, library, soon the zoo and museums), but we are missing home, missing structure, and missing friends. So many things are still unsettled. The worst part for me is that I haven't been handling the stress well. With this stress, I have been more short tempered with my children. I made the choice to move them across the country and take them away from everything that they know to be home; I should be especially loving and understanding, even of their increases in misbehavior. Instead, I am quick to anger, impatient, edgy, distracted. I am trying to calm myself. 

Here is a list to help us remember the home we left behind.

1. Friends made all the difference. Moving to Ithaca wasn't easy either.

2. Visits with Jeff and Sam

3. 34 flavors of soft serve

4. Exploring the beautiful northeast--Boston, NYC, DC, Niagra Falls, Cooperstown, Charleston, Skaneateles, Rochester, Syracuse

5. White tailed deer in my neighborhood every day

6. Autumn

7. Fall festivals and Hollenbeck's cider press, pumpkin regatta and Keene, NH

8. Grisamore Farms (possibly the best apple, blueberry, and raspberry picking in the world), Iron Kettle Farms

9. Historical, beautiful Cornell Campus, red cobble stone roads, Sage Hall, the White Library

10. Sapsucker Woods

11. My running buddies

12. Red Barns and green farm fields, rolling hills covered with grass and trees

13. Winding country roads and charming little towns

14. Did I mention that Ithaca is gorges?

15. Waterfalls, waterfalls, waterfalls

16. Quite streets

17. The Sciencenter, YMCA (Maggie's first real swim with big arms and my first triathlon), Wegmanns

18. Killer icicles

19. Maggie's first snowman

20. Walking to and from BOCES ("Maggie is very popular") with friends, Tareyton Park, Mrs. S

21. Cinnamon Rolls and hot chocolate after trick-or-treating

22. Having a friend outside my building to chat with always (as long as it is like 20 degrees outside)

23. Bike rides and scooter rides along quite, pretty streets with Maggie

24. Groceries from the Hanks when we first moved in

25. Dropcam babysitting, fire pits, and parties at Winston Court

26. Trina, a lifesaver and practically a stranger at the time, babysitting Maggie so that Joe could be there for Jack's birth

27. Joe and Ray moving our huge armoire desk onto all 4 walls of the apartment, finally putting back where it started

28. Sage Socials, riding the bus, and Joe's fellow students acting like Maggie and Jack are the only 2 kids in the world

29. Fireflies and Flat Rock

30. Sunday walks (sometimes with flashlights and lots of clothes)

31. Playgroup helping us visit every park in town

32. Visits to the mall pet shop, cat annex, and doggie shampoo parlor at the weirdest mall in the world

33. Intramurals--Soccer for me and football for Joe

34.  Second year students giving us the low down, and their friendship
35. Driving past Cayuga Lake and watching it as the seasons change

I will always remember Ithaca fondly. I am going to add it to the list of places that I have lived and loved (along with every other place I have lived). In other words, I am looking forward to the time that I feel so fondly in love with Seattle as I do Ithaca. Goodbye Ithaca.