Let It Snow...

When we first got back to Montana, there was a lot of snow on the ground, but everyone told us that was really unusual for this time of year. Sure enough, it eventually all melted. This morning there was NO snow on the ground. I was really starting to get a little ticked. There wasn't any snow on the ground and there wasn't any snow in the forecast and I just feel like if it's going to be EIGHT stinkin' degrees at night on a regular basis, my kids should at least get a white Christmas.

But if there's one thing I should've figured out by now, it's that the forecast here is never right. The forecast will change drastically throughout the day and still manage to be off. They predicted snow yesterday, but said there would be little to no new accumulation. I'd say there were a good 4 inches of snow piled up out there during the day and it was still snowing hard when we went to bed. The forecast (which, of course, may or may not be accurate) is also calling for another 2-4 inches of accumulation tonight. I'm hoping that the chance of rain and above freezing temperatures predicted for later in the week don't pan out. I'd really like to spend Christmas day building a snowman and sledding.

Just in case it doesn't hang around though, we took the girls out to play after lunch yesterday. This was about an hour or two after the snow started.

And by the time we went to bed, all this had piled up I realize it's not all that much in the big scheme of things, but we're Texans...we're only used to seeing that much of the white fluffy stuff about once every 10 years.

Juggling Three

Totally candid shot...moments like this make me wonder if I'm going to end up with 20 grandkids one day

In my group of mommy friends, there are quite a few women who just had or will soon have their third baby, so I've had a few questions lately about how it's going juggling three kids. I had a feeling number 3 was going to be the easiest and, so far, that's held true for me. With the 1st baby, I was so out of my element that every day felt like a struggle. As soon as I felt confident, a new developmental milestone came along and I had to adapt to this "new" child I was parenting. With the 2nd baby, I had another young child around that was used to having my undivided attention, so even if she was being helpful, she was still always right there so there was a lot of juggling to keep everyone happy. With the 3rd baby though, the first 2 kids can go off and play together, which leaves me the time to just sit and cuddle the baby again. Only this time around, I have the confidence to enjoy it without worrying over every little thing.

Of course, I still have to make lunches and read stories and clean up the kitchen, but I'm better at multi-tasking too so it still seems easier to get that stuff done now than it did with the 1st or 2nd baby. If Sierra was in school, I think that might make it harder too. Not only is she a constant playmate for Sedona, she also sets a good example of how to act around/handle the baby.

The exception is getting out of the house...that is definitely harder. The girls and I have always done better when we are out doing something. They don't act up as much and I don't get as frustrated with them. I'm not sure if the difficulty with getting out of the house is just because there are 3 kids, or because it looks like this outside my kitchen window and has been a pretty steady 15-20 degrees around here
Which means I have to spend what seems like an eternity getting everyone decked out in all of this to go anywhereFor now, I spend an hour getting everyone ready. Then I change Secora, nurse her, check that the diaper bag is packed and put her in her carseat. I threaten the older girls with their life if they touch the carseat and run out to start the van so it begins to warm up. Then I come back in and help with snow boots and jackets and get my own jacket on. Then I herd everyone through the mudroom and out to the van. Sierra buckles herself in and Sedona gets in her seat while I put in Secora's carseat. Then I buckle Sedona. Then I scrape the ice off the windows of the van. THEN we can go. The reverse process is even more fun because the mudroom is small and I haven't figured out the best way to set it up to allow me to get in and unlock the door while the girls take their boots off without sitting in a puddle of slush they just tracked in. I don't have anywhere to go that's more than 2 miles away (literally, it's a small town), but I have to plan on leaving 30 minutes before I want to be anywhere because it takes so long to get in the car (again, literally).

Look! The Sun!

The sun came out today and it was almost warm. Reminded me of early Spring in Texas (except that it's June, but whatever). We had a busy day outdoors.

First, we walked down to the farmer's market, which is getting bigger every week There isn't a ton of produce available yet, but it's still fun to look at all the booths and check out the huge assortment of handmade goods There has been a little bit more produce each week though and today we picked up some carrots and sweet onions Once we were at the farmer's market, it was only two more blocks to get to main street, so we continued up that way to browse at the book store and to stop in at The Paperclip, which is a mash up of office, homeschool and art supplies.

We came home for lunch, and then struck out again to go explore Blodgett Canyon. We were told the Blodgett Canyon Overlook would be a good trail to take the kids on, so we tried it out.

At the trail head
We found wild strawberries! (I think, anyway, still need to look them up and double check and then, of course, see if they set fruit) (Update: I'm going out on a limb and saying, yes, we found strawberries)
A pretty butterfly that crossed our path
I think Sedona's destined to be a geologist. Everywhere we go, she's picking up rocks
The first look out point, that's the city of Hamilton below
An interesting flower we saw periodically. Any ideas on what it is? (Update: My mother-in-law let me know this looks like a trillium of some sort and after a little research, I agree the flower looks very much like one, except it didn't have "leaves" up by the flower and it looks like trilliums don't really grow around here. Trilliums are in the same Order as Lilies though and I found an entry on the Montana Plant Life website suggesting it may be a Gunnison's mariposa lily, or something similar. The picture isn't an exact match, but everything about the description matches.)
This whole area had a large forest fire ten years ago
We made it to the top!
The canyon (glacier carved)
We happened to have cell service, so we let Sierra call grandma and tell her she was on a mountain
And we watched all the chipmunks darting around

Fun times. Between me and the kids and the occasional narrow trail with steep drop-offs, we had to take it slow, but we made it up in about 2 hours and down in 45 minutes. We didn't even run out of water (which Josh and I seem to have a talent for). When we made it back to town, we went out and gorged ourselves on pizza--everyone was starved.

Quick baby update: I'm 16 weeks today. Started up with the contractions this week (not unusual for me), but they're very very infrequent and not yet worrisome. Lots of kicks and flip-flops and I've occasionally felt kicks with my hand too, but no one else has caught it yet.

P.S. I changed the blog design again. I like this one a lot better, but I'm still not sure. What do you think?

Here I Am!

Blogger finally let me upload pictures! Let's start with more unpacking....

The girls found their "cowboy bandannas" they got at graduation and had daddy tie them on:

And we discovered that banana boxes work as well (or better) for playing as they do for packing: But then, we already knew a box was a great toy.

Angel found herself a nice little cushion in the midst of the unpacking

We also did a large stock-piling grocery trip and worked on filling the freezer with meals. Most of the meals were from Fix, Freeze, Feast with a pizza recipe thrown in from Cook's Country (I wish they had more of their recipes on their site, but I promise the magazine is a worthwhile subscription!!) What I love about Fix, Freeze, Feast is all the recipes are based on "warehouse sizing"--one recipe will use the big 105oz can of tomato sauce, for instance--which saves money. Also, a lot of them require no or minimal cooking while you prepare, you just set up an assembly line and assemble all the ingredients and pop it in the freezer. When you're ready to have that particular meal, you thaw it out and either throw it in the oven, or for some things you have your meat marinated and veggies chopped, so you just pull out the package and spend a few quick minutes doing the actual cooking without any prep work. It's great! So, in this particular instance, I was looking to fill the freezer after the move. We don't have a Sam's Club here and I didn't want to buy a Costco membership (on the website it says they're $50!! I just didn't want to spend that much, plus Costco is an hour away...I wasn't sure it'd even be worth it), so all of my ingredients were purchased at regular grocery stores (which cost me a little extra). Also, some things I bought (parmesan, yeast, garlic, ketchup, vinegar, etc...) are pantry staples that I didn't completely use up in the recipes. I spent about $230 and made 41 meals. That's roughly $5.50 per meal (to feed all of us, sometimes with leftovers for lunch the next day). Not the best I've ever done, but you also have to factor in the convenience of a home cooked meal with no actual cooking involved on those days the kids are fussy and I'm tired. The only thing I managed to take a picture of was the veggie lasagna assembly (and yes, those are regular noodles, NOT oven ready, and you don't have to cook them--just put 'em in dry! The manicotti recipe is the same way and stuffing dry manicotti shells is a lot easier than stuffing cooked ones!). I ended up with 4 lasagnas, 8 bags of chili, 8 bags of mozzarella stuffed meatballs with sauce, 4 bags of chicken parmigiana, 4 bags of curry chicken, 2 garlic studded pork loins, 4 packets of raging garlic pork stir fry, 3 pans of cheesy chilada bake, and 4 cheese pizzas


Last, but not least, we recently visited the Bitterroot river for the first time:


And found the playground I'm sure we'll be pretty much living at this summer:





Oh, and Baby #3 is doing well. Flip-flopping like crazy at the moment, actually. I am hardly ever nauseous anymore, but still have a hard time eating much food in a sitting and I'm still losing weight. I've started eating a regular snack of cheese, raisins and almonds and my meals have been healthy, so I've added in a daily helping of fudge and drumsticks....If I'm gonna get in trouble for losing weight, I might as well enjoy myself, huh?

One More Week

All the moms at a going away party that was thrown for us this weekend

I know, the blog updates are few and far between. That would be because we are moving across the country in one more week. I'm infinitely better than I was, but still sick (and very nervous about this whole "3 (or 4?) days in the car" thing), and our to-do list is shrinking, but still mind-boggling long.

There have been lots of tears over us leaving, which I get, I really do, because I'm not exactly eager to move either. But as much as I complain about leaving EVERYONE I know and the hot, humid Texas weather (who's going to love the weather for me when I leave?? I seem to be the only one who appreciates it!), there is an awful lot to be thankful for with this move. In the middle of an uncertain economy, my newly graduated husband has been offered a fabulous, well paying, great benefits post-doc position at a highly regarded lab. Since it IS a post-doc position, it is by definition temporary, but in a flexible sense--he will have a chance to take time looking for a "real" job when he's done while he's still on the payroll up there. And with any luck at all, that "real" job will be right back here where we started. All because I just happened to make a facebook status update at an opportune time, we have lined up friends to rent our house here so we don't have to worry about it being trashed and we still get to keep it. Most importantly, we're all healthy (well, okay, I'm healthy aside from my baby induced tummy troubles) and we're setting out on a short-term adventure that will give all of us the opportunity to get out of our rut and see parts of the country none of us have ever seen before.

We will most definitely miss everyone, but in this age of technology and internet, we know we will be able to keep in touch and we know it won't be too long before we see everyone again.

Okay, A little Excited

We went shopping last night for winter outerwear. I'll admit, that was fun and exciting. Especially since I've already budgeted money, so I wasn't stressing over every price tag. I've planned on $750 initially to outfit us for Montana winters. The girls will need more as they get bigger, but I figured if I shopped for ski clothes in Texas in the spring, I'd be able to find some really good deals and avoid scrambling at the last minute, and paying a lot more, once our first winter hits. I've been watching online sales, but things were selling out a lot sooner than I anticipated. So yesterday, I looked up the stores at our closest outlet mall and there's a Columbia there. I spent some time checking out Columbia prices on different websites (because outlet stores aren't always cheaper), and after dinner last night, we made the drive to the store. As a background, the cheapest I've been seeing kid's snowbibs (on clearance) was $20 and kid's jackets were typically $40 and up. I wasn't finding any adult jackets available for less than $100. So here's what we got:

Men's 3 in 1 jacket (fleece liner that zips in and out of a breathable, waterproof shell, with hood) $56
Women's long sleeve thermal (I just had to have it because it's cute and the sleeves are LONG and usually sleeves are too short for me) $20
Two Women's hats (for the girls, they have big heads) $7.50/each
Neck gaiter (I know, easy to make, but it was cheaper than my time) $5
Women's ski gloves with fleece liners $20
Men's ski gloves with fleece liners $20
Women's 3 in 1 jacket $45
Girl's ski jacket and snow-bib matching set $35
Toddler's ski jacket and snow-bib matching set $17.50

We ended up paying $233. The suggested retail price on the tags totaled $865 and the outlet price on the tags totaled $590. Even if you assume outlet prices are artificially jacked up (and yes they are, a lot of times) we saved several hundred dollars based on the prices I had been seeing while shopping online. Not to mention the fact that the act of going to the store and trying on new things and building a large pile of purchases (which we just don't do in this family) got all of us a little more excited about moving, and that's priceless.

I think this is a pretty good start on our outerwear. Josh and I already have down jackets and Sierra has another heavy Columbia jacket that was passed down from a cousin. Both girls have Montana-worthy gloves. Josh has some ski pants already and Sedona will be growing into some of Sierra's stuff while we're there. For outerwear, I think we need at least one more set of pants or bibs for each of the girls, snow boots for everyone (maybe? Josh and I both have gortex hiking boots already), and a pair of snow pants for me. We'll all definitely want a few sets of long underwear too.

The Cold Hard Truth

image from utexas.edu I added a circle around the town we're moving to

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited to move to Montana. It's a little socially awkward when I answer truthfully (no, I'm not). It seems everyone is waiting for it to "click", for me to get excited. The truth is that I'm not, it doesn't look like that's going to change, and more importantly, I don't have to be. For one thing, it's temporary. This is a post-doc, not a long-term job, so we will only be there for a few years. I don't have to feel the same way about it as I'd feel about going somewhere for a "real" job. Second, it's a fabulous post-doc offer. No one else would be able to match the pay, benefits and research resources available--it's too good to pass up, no matter the location.

So am I excited? No. Am I willing and able to make the best of it? Absolutely. I just have to put in a little more effort to do so.

And for the record, if you ask me the other big question ("So, you ready to move?!") the answer is also likely to be "nope". I will move, and it will be fine, and we'll make the most of it and experience as many new things as possible while there, but I just can't mentally psych myself up to the point of being excited and ready for a place as far away and cold as Montana. So unless you want that honest conversation, you're better off waiting until I've actually been IN Montana for a couple of months (but before winter hits) and then asking me how I like it.

Montana, eh?

Yeah, 'cause Montana's close enough to Canada that I can throw around "eh", right? FYI, right now it's 68 here and 39 in Montana. Forecast to get down to 29 tonight up there and they'll be having snow later this week. We enjoyed a snowy Christmas when we were in Utah and that was cool and all, but a snowy Thanksgiving is pushing it. There's a silver lining to everything, right? And there are two very specific silver linings to this whole weather scenario: First, the girls can build real snowmen Second, I get to buy them entire winter wardrobes. Too bad I also have to pay for those wardrobes, but I'm hoping to find some good sales next spring on clothes and a down comforter for them. Josh also pointed out that I could finally have a use for flannel lined jeans, which I have ALWAYS wanted....they just seem so comfy. In all fairness, I did get a pair one year, but they didn't quite fit and had to be returned, now that I've had kids and therefore have hips, maybe they'll fit (see? silver lining...pretty good, eh?)

So how's this for trust and faith in your spouse? Josh is going to head up to Montana at the end of March and get settled and started on the job. Then he'll come back mid-May sometime and the rest of us will go up. That's right, I've never even set foot in Montana and will be moving there based solely on his opinion of the town and whatever living arrangements he comes up with. That's love.

At the end of the day, it's all just a grand adventure--new place, new people, new things to see and learn. If we could just do something about all that cold weather...

Hey, I have a blog!

Wow, been a few days. Let's see, everyone's healthy and we're moving.

Huh, what? Moving?

Yup, Josh was offered a post-doc position at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Let me repeat that---this Texas girl (born and raised, y'all) is expected to move to Montana. It was 22 degrees in Hamilton this morning, we hit 79 here at home this afternoon. Largely because of the weather and partly because of the shortage of major airports and 28 hour drive time to get back home, I'm floatin' down a big ol' river in Egypt (you may know it as "de nile"). I've got several months to adjust to the idea and we're toying with the idea of the girls and I doing some extensive road trips since this means they will both be homeschooled starting next fall and we will be free to set our own schedule of events. A post-doc is, by definition, a temporary thing (kind of like a continuation of your schooling, with MUCH better pay), so the plan is to come back here when he's done. In the meantime, I gotta survive 2 or 3 Montana winters...brrrrrrrr