Wildlife

After moving to the PNW (Pacific North West) I knew I would see lots of wildlife.  Little did I realize just how many different animals I would see in the short 3 1/2 months I've lived here.

There are the South Hill Turkeys that meander from yard to yard from August-October.

I've seen several deer and even a buck on separate occasions and locations.  On an early morning walk, we saw a skunk (I've never seen one alive before) and both parties decided to leave the other one alone.  A fox trotted through the front yard of a house next to where I parked outside Allie's school.

I think an elk was casually chewing grass next to the yoga studio parking lot.

Jake even got a video of a mommy moose and calf as they were walking out of the dog park.  Luckily the dogs didn't notice!

Lucy

Last December, we got a Golden Retriever puppy and named her Lucy.  She is the missing part to our complete family.  The kids adore her.  Jake LOVES her.  Yawkey has learned to like her.  I've ALWAYS wanted her.

In moving here, we have been able to do more outdoor activities with the dogs.  One of our treasure spots is the South Hill Dog Park.  There are so many people with dogs at any given day/time.  We have nicknamed Lucy, "Prom Queen" because she goes to every person and dog to get attention as if she is campaigning for Prom Queen.  Yawkey has even opened up to meeting other dogs, but he still sticks pretty close to Jake.

Well now we have some snow!  And it's like the park is a canine "Winter Wonderland".  I'm still trying to decide who has more fun.  But as you can see from the pics and video, it's a special place for all of us.

Thanksgiving 2018

This year I hosted Thanksgiving in Spokane.  I'm no stranger to making a killer spread for the feast, but we normally have more guests.  We were joined by my aunt Di and uncle Dan from Kennewick, WA (my mom's older brother).  They came on Wednesday and left on Friday, Di gave me a teddy bear to thank me for hosting.  The food came out great and we didn't have a ton of leftovers.  Weather pending, they may come at Christmas time as well.

Newspring Church

There are some things in our life that can't be replaced.  Especially when you find that PERFECT thing.  Like pizza.  My family LOVES Minsky's Pizza.  It's been a part of my life for 20 years, so much so that we would drive 3 hours one way just to have some.  (We are even flying out of KC over spring break, just to have Minsky's Pizza one time.)

The same is true for us and our church home.  We knew it was the perfect fit for our family, by how much we would miss attending services when we traveled.  I found a close competitor here in Spokane, but it has it's differences.  And unfortunately, those differences are making regular attending a challenge.

I know that I am the church and that I can worship anywhere.  But slight nuances can make it challenging to be present.  For example, this new church has you open your bibles to follow along.  A great idea, but the speaker waits for people to find the address before talking.  This time tends to make the service go around 10-15 minutes longer than the scheduled hour.  At Newspring they would just show it typed up on the big screens.  I would make note of the address and go back at a later time to read alone.  This church could do this better by taking a page from Newspring.  They have the big screens and will show the words to songs.  Just need to have someone type up the scripture during the sermon.

This may sound small, but I think it's the small things that make a difference.  Like the children's department.  They have these colorful rooms for the younger kids.  But as soon as you go to the Kindergarten room, they are all beige.  I think an splash of color makes the environment that much more inviting.

There are so many suggestions myself or one of my kids have mentioned in conversation that I think would make this place more better, more like Newspring.  But I know there can only be one Newspring.  And God brought us here.  So I will continue to seek a church home.  But for now, watching it on line was a good substitute.  I know God has a plan, and I trust Him.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Normally we decorate the day before Thanksgiving, but this year is a new chapter for us in a new house and we are doing it a little different.  We decided to decorate the weekend before, since my aunt and uncle will be with us on Thanksgiving.

The music is playing, the kids are remember how old they were when we picked out certain ornaments.  They have discussed the future plan for when they come home for the holidays, I'm to wait and let them do the tree.  Good thing I'm not picky (anymore) as to how the tree looks.

We don't have snow on the ground and the sun is shining, but my heart is very full of Christmas joy.  I am one very blessed mom.

First One...

In everyone's life, you will experience MILLIONS of "firsts".  Last night, my son got to have one of those moments and I got to be lucky to experience it with him.

My son is a gamer.  And a very talented one at that.  His knowledge on character bios, attack skills and evolution of the consoles is astounding.  Even last December he and I BUILT a gaming PC from parts.  I'm confident he will use these gifts for some career in the future.  But until then, Jake and I continue to encourage his passion.

Last night, was a Pre-release Release of a long anticipated game.  I wasn't completely sure as to what I was getting myself into, but with Owen by my side I knew it would be good.  I had gone to the GameStop store on Wednesday to try and order Pokemon, Evee "Bundle Package" (it came with a cool Pokemon Ball controller).  The guy at the counter told me they had ONE left in the store and I could buy it on Thursday after 3:00, get a number and then show up at 9:00 that night to get the purchase before it was available to the public on Friday.  Owen's eyes LIT UP when he heard this.  So I agreed to all the above.

At 3:15 yesterday, I took the kids after pick up from school to GameStop and we paid for the game.  They put a special sticker on our receipt that indicated we were in group 1 and were told to show up slightly before 9:00 that night to get a spot in line.

At 8:30, Owen and I left the house to go to the store.  There weren't many cars there, so we went inside.  Apparently, the store closes at 9:00 to the public.  But at 9:01 they were handing out the merchandise that people had bought if they had their receipt and sticker.

Owen made a few bonds with the fellow gamers in line with him.  He kept telling me he could feel the adrenaline buzzing around his ears.  It was so fun to see him in his element.  By 9:04, we were back in the car driving home with a 14 year old boy grinning ear to ear.  He even got a limited edition 2-sided poster with the game.

As we drove home in the dark, he told me how thankful he was I did this and that it was AWESOME being his "first" game release event.  I smiled, my heart very full and knowing that this probably won't be his last.  But I'm thankful I got to be there for the first.

Creativity meets vintage

My little girl has recently displayed a knack for writing.  She has been writing poems, short stories and various journaling.  So to encourage her passion and to give it some spice, I took her to the vintage store and we purchased a typewriter.

It brought back so many memories for me.  When I was 10, I asked and got one from Santa.  I don't recall being as creative as she is, but having the tools at my finger tips didn't stop me from trying.  I told her I had been secretly looking for one for her to be a Christmas present.  But at the vintage store it's not guaranteed to always be there.  So when we saw it, we bought it!  The cool thing is it types in cursive.  That's right!  The soon to be forgotten language.  I can't wait to see what she is able to do with this.  And who knows, what this gift will spark in her.

Be like children

Lately I've been thinking about faith.  And a thought struck me the other day and I jotted down my words.  Here they are.

In Matthew 18:3; Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you change and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

We are to be like children.

We are to love unconditionally and without bias, as if our heart will never be broken.

We are to trust earnestly and completely sincere, as if lies didn't exist.

We are to forgive completely and no recollection, as if each day was new.

We are to believe undoubtedly and without hesitation, as if anything is possible.

We are to be like children.

Good Company

This is what good company looks like.  Ages don't matter, religion doesn't impact and the fact that we've only known this family for less than 6 months the company was perfect.  The Aarons is the family that encouraged us to pick Spokane as our new home.  We are forever grateful to them for that.  The best part is our families as a whole get along every time we get together.  Plus, this picture is missing the littlest one, who is playing with dolls while watching a movie with Pops.

SNOW

We had no idea that this was even in the forecast for today, but what a way to start a 3 day weekend!  The kids got out of school early, for Early Release.  We had just walked into the house and I started making dinner (a post for tomorrow) and happened to look out the window to see these HUGE flakes falling.  It was so beautiful.  The kids are outside playing in the snow in the dark, while I finish dinner and our guests are on their way.  It's the PERFECT day!

Jazz Band Field Trip

Today I got the opportunity to chaperone Owen's ALL DAY Jazz Festival Field trip at Whitworth University.  It was myself and another mom, we each road a bus with around 21 high school students.  I had to take attendance for my bus every time we boarded it (3 different times) to make sure no one got left behind.  It was a fun experience, but my butt got sore sitting for so long.  And it was a LONG day!  But like Ice Cube says, "It was a good day".

Vet ER

Last night was an eventful time with our dog Lucy.  Apparently she ingested something that was not good for her system.  The best way I can describe it, was she appeared to be drunk.  She was wobbly and every now and then would collapse in a heap.  Periodically she would have bursts of high energy or aggression.  She even peed on herself, which ended up being a good thing.  The vet was able to take a sample to test for THC.  He thought based on her symptoms, she may have eaten some.  But it came back non-conclusive.

On the bright side, this ER was AMAZING!  The people were really friendly.  They gave us time to just hang out with her in the room to see if she improved over time.  They even called us today to check up on her.

I'm happy to report, she is back to her "normal" self.  She even went to the dog park with Yawkey this morning.  She is a little more lovey, but that may be her way of thanking us for taking care of her.

Volleyball Tryouts

Allie put herself out there, and I am so PROUD of her!  Sunday she had Club Volleyball tryouts from 1-4.  Unfortunately, she woke up that morning at 4:00 and was really tired by the time tryouts started.  But she gave it her best.

I'm not going to lie, it was intimidating...even for me.  There were around 35 girls trying out for the U-12 league.  At the most, they were going to accept 20 girls divided into two teams.  Most of the girls had friends that they immediately clung to and practiced with.  Even the moms had their posè they would stand around with and chat.  So Allie and I paired up along the edge of the gym and practiced bumping and setting the ball.

Then they dismissed the parents so the coaches could run drills and evaluate in the next 2 hours which girls they wanted to have on their team.  I know I overheard one coach ask Allie what her number was and wrote something down on her clip board.  I was so nervous for her.  After the tryouts, they said they would call in the next 24 hours and let the girls know if they made the team.

U-12 girls had a second chance to play if they didn't make the team.  They could join the Youth League.  It's 4th-6th graders who make up a team and practice once a week for an hour and a half.  They also play in 2 tournaments.  The Youth League still affiliates with the Club South Volleyball, they even have uniforms and fees.  It's just a less rigorous schedule.

To relax after dinner, Allie and I watched "Miracle Season" (it's a true story about a high school volleyball team) and ate ice cream.  During the ending of the movie, the coaches called me to let me know Allie didn't make the cut for the club teams.  But they strongly encouraged that she should sign up for the Youth League.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, we were both a little disappointed.  But we know this is God's plan.  On November 15th, I will be signing her up for the Youth League.  She's excited to be playing this winter either way.  But with the lighter schedule, I think we might be able to explore an art class as well!!!

This is Halloween

Being in a new place, certain traditions are changing.

Allie's school doesn't have a Halloween Party.  Next month they have the Harvest Party, but no costumes.  The PTO did host a Monster Mash Party/Book Drive at the school on Friday evening.  Allie dressed up and I took her, we dropped off 2 boxes of books that we no longer wanted.

Pops lives with us, so we have a person to pass out candy from our front door while we have different plans.

And lastly, we don't know that many people to host our "Family Halloween Party".  So we've decided that will be a tradition that was special to Wichita.

So what did the Arnett's do?

On Saturday, a surgeon friend invited us to her house for her party.  We ALL dressed up!  I'm glad we did too.  EVERYONE was in costume at this gala.  This might become our annual thing.

Then yesterday, both kids put on their costumes and I took them over to a busy neighborhood for door to door begging.  One of Jake's partners invited us over to his house for drinks, so when we took Allie to her youth group Halloween Party we popped in for a chat.  It was fun, they have two little kids that were a hopped up on the Halloween Spirit, or sugar.

By the time we got back to the house, Pops had passed out ALL of the candy.  The kids changed into sleep clothes and we hung out in our bed watching a stand up comedian.

If this is our new tradition, I'm very ok with it.  After all, that's part of the adventure.