Updates

Well today is the day. It has been really weird...I haven’t felt an ounce of anxiety over this house that I have never seen. Yes, we have wanted to hear back, yes, we have been just giddy about it, but it has just been a calm and peaceful feeling.

Our realtor called with an update……They have not decided yet. She asked what she should tell her clients......"Hang in there, you are definitely one of the stronger candidates."

I hate to get my hopes up too high but it’s a little late for that. I know that if it is meant to be, it will be our home. Up to this point I feel like we have been led to it. It seems like a puzzle and all the pieces have fallen together just beautifully. I am still not worried...one more thing to lower my stress levels!!

Will I be sad and disappointed if we don’t get it? You bet I will be! In fact Alan said to me today, “I look at other houses and they just don’t compare.” And it’s true. When you look at what you deem to be close to perfect, it’s hard to look at something and not compare.

I know the right house for us is in Bothell we just have to find it! Hopefully we already have!!

What have we done??!!

Alan and I have done the craziest thing that we have ever done and we both feel good about it. Maybe that’s the crazy part.

Alan and I were talking Monday night after tucking the kids into bed. There is never a lack of conversation lately with so many decisions to make. Alan had email open and the subject of looking for a house in WA came up. He clicked on a link that brought up a home our real estate agent had sent us on our virtual house hunt. I told him that I loved the house and the way that it looked but that there is just not enough of a backyard to even own a lawn mower! He continued to scroll down and we saw a list of houses for sale in close proximity. I saw one that I hadn’t seen before, and it was in our price range. I had him click on it.

That was the end. From the moment we saw it we knew this was our house. We read all the stats, looked at all the pictures, and we were sold. We immediately called our realtor. After telling her that we found our house, she said that she had emailed it to us. But somehow it never came, we had never seen it before. She called the agent for the house and found out that he was gathering all the offers tonight and presenting them to the bank at 10 a.m. the next morning. So far there were 5 other offers, so ours would make 6. The bank wants to close quickly and said that they would take the best offer. We sent her over to look at the house and to take pictures. We got an audio tour as she and her husband were describing it over the phone. We decided to put our bid in with the others. Both Alan and I were sold on this house, and we felt like there was a divine guidance involved. We both felt really good about this decision. We stayed up until 5:00a.m. filling out paperwork and writing up the offer.

The best thing about this house is that it meets all of our "needs," and all of our "gee, that would be nice," and even most of our "WOW, that would be great" characteristics. In fact, the only thing it doesn’t have is skylights. And heck, I can live without skylights, especially in this house! Another thing we really like about this house is that both the Elementary School and Jr. High School is 2 houses away. I will have my kids within arms reach for another 5 years (for Hannah) to 10 years (for Joseph, Eden, Miriam)!! That makes me very happy!

The next morning we still felt good about our decision. We are suppose to hear by Friday whether or not we got it.

Last day of School

This was a hard day. As Hannah put it, “I already don’t like the last day of school...but moving makes it worse.” It was a very mixed emotions day. The last day of 4th, 1st, and Pre-K. But also the last day at Bond Mill Elementary. I went in to take pictures of the kids with their friends and teachers.

Joseph has loved school this year, especially his teachers and friends! Joseph decided he wanted to go home with me. So I told him that after I went to Hannah's and Peter’s classes I would come back for him. He gave Mrs. Scepura a great big hug and said good bye. As we walked out hand in hand he was kind of quiet. I asked him if he was sad. He said, "Yeah, kind of." "Do you want to give your teacher one last hug?" He just shook his head yes. I watched as he ran back in and threw his little arms around her legs. Of course I was trying to wipe away the tears as quickly as they came so he wouldn’t be embarrassed.

Peter is such a quiet child who doesn’t share many emotions. He didn’t really want a picture of anyone except his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Moran, and Matthew, his best friend. Unfortunately Matthew had already left. But we did get a picture of him with Mrs. Hunter, his old Kindergarten teacher. He had a huge crush on her last year and I think it has remained this year. He loves her! She was sad that he was leaving because she wanted him to be in her 2nd grade class next year! I would of loved that and so would have Peter!

Hannah was hard. She wanted a picture of everyone!! I don’t blame her in the least bit. She has had the same little group of friends for 5 years. What a great group of girls, I have been so grateful for them, for making Hannah feel loved and included. I am sure it has only increased the talking problems that she has had throughout her school career but I wouldn’t trade it.
Hannah wanted to ride the bus home one last time. When she got home she was sobbing, and just cried for a long time telling me that she just can’t hold the tears in any more. It broke my heart in two. I remember moving from Washington to Utah as a kid about her age feeling the same way. It’s ironic that we are now moving to Washington with my daughter feeling the same way that I did. My hope is that because of modern technology she will be able to keep in touch with the friends that she has made in Maryland a lot easier than I could when I moved. One thing that I didn’t think about was how upset her friends would be. I knew Hannah would be sad but it didn’t hit me about her friends until I talked to a mom who said that they would be planning her daughter's birthday party around Hannah so she could come one last time. Or when Hannah got a special invitation to a going away BBQ where she would be the guest of honor. Both of these mom’s said that their girls came home from school crying and upset that Hannah was moving. It breaks my heart that they have to feel the sting as well...that it is not just us. The unfortunate thing is that this is just the beginning. So many goodbyes. So many tears. So much heartache when it comes to leaving a place and people you love.

Happy BIRTHDAY!!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY PETER!!!
I sure love you! What a wonderful little, I mean BIG, boy you are! I worry that it won’t be too long until you are looking down at me. What happened to my little Peter? At least you are still as sweet as you have always been.

For Peter’s Birthday this year we started the day right: with donuts and chocolate milk!! We decided that since his cousins on the Boss side were here we would have a cousin Star Wars party! After breakfast all the kids became Padawan Learners. We learned how to use our light sabers. Then we got to try it out on Darth Vader. It was awesome! David, Alan’s younger brother, dressed up as Vader and the kids all attacked him!! Fun times. We then played a game and opened presents. We waited to have more sugar (cake and ice cream) until after lunch! It was a lot of fun. Peter loved it!

Boss Family Reunion 2009

This week we had the Boss Family Reunion here in DC. We rented a very large house in Silver Spring (only 15 minutes from our house) that we fit 21 people in comfortably. We tried to only do one outing per day so that kids could still possibly take naps or run around and play with their cousins.

On Thursday, June 11th we went to Great Falls, VA after an unintentional tour of downtown DC! We had a picnic lunch and then walked around a bit.

That evening some of the group went to the Baltimore Orioles game...it was against the Seattle Mariners...who to cheer for??On Friday we had a devotional and talked about the Book of Revelations. Then that afternoon we had two brave college girls from our ward (Jen Lougee and Marissa Neilsen...thanks gals!) come and watch the 11 children ranging from age 9 to 3 months, with all but 2 of them under the age of 5. They did quite well considering we were a lot longer than we expected to be. We went to the Washington DC Temple, and then out to dinner at Sukura’s. It was fun to be able to sit down as adults and talk and enjoy one another without kids constantly need something. Saturday we went up to Baltimore to Fort McHenry (this is one of my favorite pictures from the reunion) and then walked around the Inner Harbor for a bit and had dinner. Sunday we went to church and then took the day off!!

Monday most of the family took a trolley tour around DC. I happily stayed at home and watched the three youngest (two of the three being my own).

Tuesday we split up. Some stayed home and played with the kids while others went to the National Cryptologic Museum. Those that went really enjoyed it!! That afternoon we had a relaxed photo shoot for the whole group!

I love this last one....the only one missing is Eden, she was being a little turkey!! We will have to find another one for Alan's office.

Tuesday evening we had a FHE where grandma and grandpa got to tell stories from their past and we got to sing and enjoy everyone’s company. Wednesday we had Peter’s Birthday Party (Happy Birthday PETER!!), packed up and bid each other good bye. What a fabulous time we had!!

Miriam's getting....

...older and wiser!

She is now 3 months old. I can't believe it, but at the same time so much has happened in our lives since she was born. About a week ago she started sleeping through the night! (Always a plus.) She seems to become more and more content as the world opens up to her. She is full of smiles and little happy sounds. She loves her brothers and sisters and enjoys getting their attention. Miriam has continued to be Eden's baby! Eden is always concerned about or wants to be with Miriam.Miriam is always looking at her Daddy when he is close. The other day Alan got her to laugh when he was tickling her. It was so cute! What a precious little girl!

This week we also got to meet our Aunt Erin, who she was named after: Miriam Erin. The picture couldn't be more perfect!!

Quote of the day

This is how I feel as we are trying to get this house ready to sell or rent and move.

You don't get anything clean

without getting something else dirty.

- Cecil Baxter

Blonde Moment

Today Joseph and Peter went to a birthday party at a park near our home. We had brought our wagon for one of the games. When we left I set my keys down so that I could put the wagon in the trunk. After I shut the trunk and got into the car with the boys, I realized that my keys were inside the trunk.

I humbly walked back to the party and asked if someone could give me a ride home to get another key.

While walking to a friend's car, he mentioned that in some cars it is possible to get into the trunk through the back seat. I thought, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?!?" We opened the secret compartment in the back seat and I had Peter digging around in the trunk to try to find my keys. Peter, of course, came out the hero with the keys. Then my friend asked, "Don't you have a lever inside the car to open the trunk?"

I just started to laugh as I turned very red and couldn't believe what I had just done. I have only been driving that car for 9 years!! I have never done anything that blonde before.

It reminded me of the Blonde Star commercial. The last part is cut off. It says, "BlondeStar. Always on. 'Cause you're always Blonde."

We're moving....

to the Seattle area, Bothell to be exact. Alan got an excellent offer at the University of Washington Bothell. He will be teaching and doing research. Out of everywhere that Alan applied to we could not be more happy with the end result. We wanted somewhere were we could live close to campus to cut out a long commute. We wanted to live in a destination, more visitors that way. (You are all welcome to come stay with us!!) We wanted to be close to a Temple so that we could attend regularly. We have been spoiled here and will continue to be there! We wanted a place where we could raise our family and create many fun memories. I lived south of Seattle for a while as a kid and have so many happy memories that take place there. I can't wait to share that with my kids! It was also important to live close to an airport since we don't live close to family, we have to live close to the mode of transportation to see them. Alan really liked it while he was there interviewing. He really enjoyed the area and how beautiful it is, he thought highly of the people he will be working with, and felt that he could be happy there. It's amazing how every desire that we had for the area we wanted to live was met. Even down to being close to the ocean....not that it is the type that you can go soak up some sun but it is still the ocean.

The only thing is........this will be the hardest of the 9 moves that we have made in our 12 1/2 years together. I am excited but at times I think my heart will burst because of the hurt that is associated with moving away from my home. Not that Washington couldn't be my home. But from the moment I crossed the state line, I felt that Maryland was home. And that was before I saw my house, met my neighbors, sent my oldest daughter to school, and grew to love the people here. Thanks to all of you who have made a difference in our lives. So much has happened over the last 5 years and I will be forever happy that, as my neighbor said, "that we came to Gales Street."

Beautiful Morning

Miriam gave me quite the treat last night.....I fed her at about 9:45 we played and talked until about 11:15 then we climbed into bed. She started groaning and squirming about 4:15 I put a binky in (I love those things!) thinking that might hold her off for 1/2 hour or so, but to my surprise she didn't wake up until

........drum roll please.........

6:40!!!! Oh happy day!!

She must of talked to everyone else as well because no one else woke me up either. I feel like singing!! Thanks my little friends, Mom needed that!

Blest Day

Surrounded by friends and family we blessed Miriam in our home today. We had originally planned to bless there in Sacrament meeting but with our recent hospital stay and her immune system down we asked permission to bless her at home.

It always touches me to see a circle of neatly dressed men who hold the priesthood surounding a little baby who is dressed in white. It was a beautiful blessing with many wonderful promises.

(I had to add this photo of my beautiful creation)

Afterwards we had a little luncheon with fruit, salads, shrimp, and bbq chicken sandwiches. It couldn't have gone better.

Side note: Eden (age 18 months) slept through the whole thing!!

Worst week of Miriam's short life

On Wednesday April 22, I brought Miriam in to the doctor because she had caught the "cold" that the other kids had and it just seemed like it was getting worse instead of better. Here eyes were goopy and she was having coughing spells. It just broke my heart. I felt somewhat silly taking her to the doctor over a silly little cold, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't something worse.

As it turned out, she ended up having Pertussis (whooping cough) which is the "P" in DTaP, a vaccination that they don't get until they are 8 weeks. We went in again to the doctors on Thursday to check her blood oxygen level and then again on Friday. On Friday her levels were at about a 90% so they checked us in to Holy Cross Hospital. Humph...I honestly had thought she was doing better because we actually slept the night before.

She couldn't have gone into the hospital on a worse week, but emergencies never seem to be convenient. Alan, who is usually working from home, had something going on every single day including going out of town on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday for a job interview. Lucky for us we have such wonderful friends who were more than willing to shoulder the burden of our 4 other kids. Plus all of the people who brought in meals so that those who were watching my kids wouldn't have to worry about making dinner. Grandma Boss was able to come a couple of days early from what she was already planning to, to help out. How blessed we are, and what a comfort it was to know that our children were well taken care of. It makes me feel very loved!!

On Tuesday, April 28. We were going to be going home. Miriam was doing great. She had been able to keep her stats up when she was off of oxygen and everything was going perfect. The doctor thought it would be good to get an x-ray just to make sure that everything was getting better. Shortly after that the doctor informed me that we wouldn't be going home because she now had a viral pneumonia that is sometimes caused from pertussis and she wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to get worse, which would make it so that we would have to go back in. About an hour later she was back on the 1/8th liter of oxygen, just to make it so she wasn't having to work so hard while sleeping, when she made a funny sound. She had stopped breathing. I looked over and she went from a normal color to a deep red. I jumped up, picked her up and began to pat her on the back and jump up and down trying to will her to breath. It was the scariest moment of my life that seemed to last much longer than it did. Come to find out that apnea is another side effect of pertussis. They transferred us to Children's Hospital in DC so that she could be more closely monitored and if needed have an ICU within the hospital. It gave me purpose to being in the hospital. It would have been a lot worse had I not been there to immediately respond. Our nurse and doctor were in with other patients at the time and came as quickly as they could but it was a couple of minutes before they got there.

At Children's we ended up having the same doctor that I had when Eden was there a 1.5 years ago. It was kind of fun that he recognized me and remembered that my husband was a doctoral student. He was just as wonderful this time as he was last time. I really like doctors who will listen to me as a parent, instead of thinking that I don't know anything. We stayed another 3 days and if you would have talked to me on Friday morning I would have told you that we were going to be staying at least another day maybe two. Every time they would try to take her off of her .1 liter of oxygen, Miriam's blood oxygen level would drop. Around 1 p.m. on Friday we tried again and she was able to keep her levels up. We then moved the blood oxygen probe to her ear, which is really hard on babies, but it is a more accurate reading. What a difference it made.

She was able to keep her stats up while eating and sleeping. I knew what that meant!!! We were going home!! It was a very long week but there is always a positive side;

• She can now sleep at night in her own bed without being snuggled up to me,
• She gave me her first real smile,
• We had much needed quiet time so that we could bond,
• and I felt completely loved by all of the prayers that were spoken in our behalf.

The kids were thrilled, some more than others, to have us home. It was so wonderful to sleep in my own bed, and to take a shower in my shower, and to have all of my clothes readily available.

Thank you for all of those who transported, cared for, and fed my children and family. Thanks for all of your support and prayers. I really appreciated all of the phone calls and visits. How wonderful it is to be so loved by so many!