Bailey has a bad back!

My poor little baby has degenerative disc disease! He wasn't able to walk today and just whimpered and whined. An emergency trip to the vet discovered his back issues. The little guy has a birth defect and has an extra vertabrae. That, combined with being overweight (a common problem in our house with the exception of skinny Kaitlyn), his disc issues caused all sorts of problems. After x-rays, a shot, and 2 different prescriptions, the bill totaled $320. Yikes!
He is now on a strict diet to lose some weight, and has to be confined for the next 30 days. No running, no jumping, no stairs. He's going to have to be carried out to go potty. This will be so fun! At least the weather is getting better so hopefully we won't be carrying him out in the rain! If we don't take care of it and keep him confined, he could go paralyzed and heaven forbid, be put down. That is not an option!!! So he'll be treated like a little baby and carried around and his food intake will be kept to a minimum (he only gets 395 calories a day). Hopefully this will work and he'll get better and stay that way for a long long time. I'm expecting my 15 year life span for my sweet Bailey Boo!

Missing Dad

This photo dates WAY BACK. That's my sister and me hiding behind our Dad at Niagra Falls in the 70s.
I was just thinking about him this weekend and found this old photo and decided to try out the scanner again.
I sure wish I could hang out with him again! I miss him every day, but the pain is getting more bearable, which I guess is how time heals. Obviously, I will never forget him, but the remembering isn't as painful, which is a good thing!

Spring Break - Victoria

Kaitlyn in front of the Parliment Building Gram & Kaitlyn in front of the Empress Hotel
Mom & Kaitlyn at Craigdarroch Castle (we climbed all 87 stairs to the top!)
Kaitlyn doing cartwheels on the lawn in front of the Empress Hotel. Classy!

High Tea at the Empress Hotel (pricey, bad food, but worth it anyway just for the experience!) The tea itself was mighty tasty!

My Mom, Kaitlyn and I spent 4 days in beautiful Victoria last week for Spring Break. We took the Victoria Clipper and stayed at the Hotel Grand Pacific. Our activities included the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour, Tea at the Empress, the Museum, and Tour to Buchart Gardens. Of course, there was shopping involved! Kaitlyn got a new sweatshirt, new jacket, and new shoes, plus she created a beautiful bracelet when we visited Bead World. It was a very relaxing vacation that was just what was needed to relieve the self induced stress of work and school.

My Seattle Office

My name and title were added to my office window this week. That's progress. Someone told me that it looked "pretty permanent" but unfortunately, it takes about 30 seconds with a straight edge to scratch it right off. The longevity of my time in Seattle is still unknown and frustrating as all get out, but for now, at least I look like I belong and am one of the "official" management team.

The other photo is the view out my window. I am on the top floor

of the Financial building on 4th & Seneca. My office faces the water, but the darn Washington Mutual Tower is directly behind me. If you look to the left or right of the WaMu tower, you can see water. This view is looking to the left. If you look closely you can see the ferry. Of course, the window is BEHIND me, so since I don't have eyes in the back of my head, I very rarely get to look out the window.

Katie & Her Friends

Ambra, Amy, Mackenna, Kaitlyn

What Bad Economy???

I am single handidly keeping the economy going these days. A few weeks ago we got new carpet for the main level of our house, then Saturday, I got a new car.
I am the CRAZIEST person that I know!
I went to the dealership Saturday to have the oil changed in my Acura and 6+ hours later, I drove away in my brand new 2009 Acura TSX.
Basically, its the same car that I had before, just a newer model (and different colore). Acura restyled the TSX for 2009 and made it bigger and better. The navigation system has a back-up camera. Tim is sure this will help me not back into anything! The sound system is incredible - even the bluetooth phone sounds better than in my old car. No more road noise! Sheer joy!
I realize it is really really REALLY dumb to buy a new car in my current unsecure job predicament, but what the heck. As Tim said, if I can't afford this car payment, I couldn't afford my old car payment either, so what's the difference? I actually leased my old car and this new one too. So, basically I just rolled over my lease and started fresh for the next 3 years with this totally cute new car.
Now.... knock on wood....I can not, and WILL not, get rear-ended or in any type of accident in this car!!!!!!!! Remember this?

St. Patrick's Day....early.....

What is St. Patty's Day without the annual McGavick Graves St. Patrick's Day party? Well, it just wouldn't be St. Patty's Day! This year the event was held on Friday, the 13th...ominous! As has become the norm, it is held at the Tacoma Lawn & Tennis Club. There is food, wine, of course Green Beer, and plenty of catching up with old friends and new ones. Each year the law firm (McGavick Graves) creates a new logo for their beer mug, that each attendee gets to not only enjoy their beer of choice in all evening, but they get to take home too. This years mug was very cute, if I weren't so lazy, I would have taken a photo of it and uploaded it, but nope! Anyway, Tim and I have a collection of beer mugs from over the years with the ever-changing logo. It's really fun and something we look forward to every year. I even took Friday off so I'd be sure to be home in time to go to the shindig. Fridays on the bus are very unpredictable and I wouldn't want to have missed the party!

We picked up Aimee along the way and headed over. We saw Sub-Committee-Joe himself, also known as Joe Zehnder, one of the law firm's attorneys and our annual ticket into the event. We ran in to lots of Relay faces: Karen & Wain Miller, Cissy Gustafson and her husband who are about to take home a brand new 28 foot boat (tim was jealous!), Sandy from Columbia, Christopher Algeo, formerly of KeyBank, Merrill Lynch and now Sterling Bank, met one of the owners of the new Hub restaurant in Tacoma and got a "free lunch" out of him, it never hurts to mingle at these things. I even made some contacts for potential jobs....hmmmm....after 4 or 5 glasses of wine, I wonder if that was a good thing? Anyway, also caught up with Dani, who I haven't seen in ages!

It was a truly enjoyable evening. I can't wait for next year! I think I'm going to need bigger cupboards though, because I'm running out of room for the beer mugs!

Oh...almost forgot....on the way home, Tim got stopped for speeding on Pioneer just past the Emerald Queen casino area. It was a 35 mile/hour zone and he was clocked at 49 mph. Whoops! Good thing we had stopped for dinner before we made the drive home and all Tim had was water. There was no leftover beer smells anywhere. I did quickly have to hide the beer mugs on the floor under my coat....just as a precaution. Tim apologized so sweetly to the FEMALE officer, that he got off with a warning of "slow down Mr. Babbitt". Lucky dog!

"I will like it as much as I WANT to"

Thought for the day and every day!

I rode the bus....and survived!

This week I tried taking the bus to work in downtown Seattle. I drive to the Tacoma Dome Station in the morning, wait in line for about 5 minutes, then catch the 590 Sound Transit Seattle Express bus into the city. It drops me off directly across the street from the office, which is very convenient. In the afternoons, I have to walk down hill 3 blocks to 2nd & University to catch the return bus home. I am leaving home at 5:10 in the morning and catching the bus about 5:30. The morning commute is basically professionals heading into the city for work. The afternoon commute is a little more interesting. The passengers range from homeless people (complete with their begging bucket clutched in their hands) to construction workers to me in my business suit and everything in between. It is quite the eclectic group of people. The entire round trip process is about 2 hours and 45 minutes. So far I've been leaving the city pretty early. If I have to work later into the evening, then I'm sure the return trip will get longer.
Although I really don't think I was born to be a bus-person, it sure as heck beats adding the miles to my car, paying for gas, and $25/day for parking!!! The bus pass was provided by my employer, at no cost to me. Can't beat that deal!
Wish me luck as I continue my trek into the city.

The Semester is Over!

Kaitlyn finished the first semester of her Junior year with finals this week.

Her lowest semester grade was 96.7% and her highest grade was 101.2%. The poor child really needs to try harder, don't you think? I don't know how she is ever going to get into a good college with those grades!

No news yet on Rose & Derek's scholastic achievements. Their schedule is different than Kaitlyn's.

I love my new computer and the ability to post these old photos of the kids. Weren't they cute??? They were so little. This photo was the year before Tim and I got married.

Guess Who??

What a cute baby!!

Do you recognize that sweet smile?

It's Baby Kaitlyn!

I just bought a new all-in-one printer and it has scan capabilities. Yay! I can now upload her baby photos. Oh she is going to love this!!!!

Catch - Up

Wow! I haven't blogged in a really really long time. There's lots going on so let's catch-up.....

Christmas 2008
We had a white Christmas, which was much more annoying that you would expect. It made driving to work and to the mall for shopping quite challenging. Poor Kaitlyn had her keys taken away for a week until the roads cleared. You would have thought we were torturing her!
My Mom came over for Christmas. Because of the snow she couldn't drive here, so Tim and his handy-dandy Ford F250 4x4 went to pick her up. He also picked up Rose & Derek and they all spent the night here on Christmas Eve. We had a relaxing Christmas day all together and a freaking fabulous dinner (if I do say so myself!).

New Years 2009
I was sick and had stayed home from work for 2 days, so our New Years Eve consisted of me sleeping and Tim complaining that his life sucked because he was stuck home with a sick Kris. I would like to point out that he had the option of going out with friends and doing something, and that it was his choice to sit here like a bump on a log! Kaitlyn spent New Years Eve at Mackenna's house hanging out with her friends. She truly loves the freedom of a car and a job that provides cash!

Work Update
My boss took a job in Indiana and with the current state of the Merrill and Bank of America merger, there are cuts happening every where. Since our Director left and we are a relatively small complex, they decided to fold our complex into 2 other complexes. Unfortunately for me, that meant my job was eliminated - which totally sucks! The Seattle complex does not currently have a Client Relationship Manager, so I am going to go there and help out for awhile. The Director there made it clear that he was looking for a permanent CRM with more experience than I have, which he is actively searching for. That means that my job in Seattle could last a week, a month, or 6 months. Who knows? Of course, this is a little stressful! I have updated my resume and know that something good will come out of this eventually. The transition was supposed to take place this week, but has been delayed. The Tacoma office threw me a "going away" party last Friday. Everyone has been walking by my office with a peculiar look wondering why I am still there. I think I will be there for 2 more weeks, but things change at a moments notice these days.
I will admit I had a few melt-down days from the stress of it all, but am getting to acceptance. I had zero control over the circumstances, so I will just roll with it the best I can and hopefully find the perfect job.
In the meantime, I will do my best in Seattle and knock their socks off. However, I am not looking forward to the 3-hour commute that it will take to get to and from the Seattle office every day.
Luckily Tim's job is very secure at the moment. Whew!

Kids
Kaitlyn, Rose & Derek are all doing well. Rose is still working at Starbucks and Kaitlyn is working at Target. Derek turns 16 here in a few months and is hoping to get a job too.
Tim and Derek are planning a trip to Whistler for Derek's birthday for snowboarding. Tim has a tendancy to run into trees while he's boarding, so hopefully they will make it home in one piece!
Rose is getting excited for graduation this June. She's not decided on what her plans are for after graduation.
Kaitlyn is 1/2 way through her Junior year and sits for the SAT exams in March. It's the first big step in the college application process and the scholarship applications!

The Great Northwest

This was the sight out of the office windows yesterday afternoon. The clouds above Mt. Rainier were incredible.
Luckily someone was prepared and had their camera phone handy to grab this shot. Thanks Stacey!

Going to the Chapel......

It wasn't exactly a chapel, but the outcome was just the same: Terri Stafford and Jay Stein are now

Mr & Mrs Stein

After being together for almost 18 years, these two decided to make it official on Friday evening. It was a very pretty and private ceremony at their home. Terri's best friend for 22 years (me!) and Jay's long time friend Don from Oregon were the witnesses. Tim and Don's wife Angela were also there. Jay's first friend in Washington and long time co-worker Doug performed the ceremony and his wife Rainey took the photos. It was a very intimate group of close friends to share this special moment. Following the ceremony was the cake cutting and champagne toasts. The toasts that Terri and Jay gave to each other were so touching that there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Then it was off to dinner at a Japanese steak house. Yummy!

Congratulations Terri & Jay. I wish you many more years of happiness together! Love you both!

Thanksgiving 08

As we do on most Thanksgivings, we headed up to Sequim to have dinner at my cousin Karen's house. She has the perfect Holiday house up on the hill overlooking the Dungeness Spit. The kids are in the backyard showcasing the amazing view.

While the adults are chatting downstairs and getting dinner ready, the kids are upstairs challenging their spelling skills with a game of scrabble.