Happy Birthday, Maxie!

Three years ago today, this little guy decided to come earlier than expected, at 38 weeks!  (His actual third birthday is tomorrow.)

Today Daddy assembled the ladder to the pool.

It's still not full yet!  The kids have been swimming, even though the water's ice cold!

Happy birthday, Maxie!

He prefers chocolate cake.  He calls it "black cake."

Maya "wrapped" a present for Max inside this lunchbox.

It was a flower!

Everyone was in a hurry for cake and ice cream!

Lighting the candles.

Max required prompting ...

... but successfully blew out the candles!  (Or, the only candle that was still lit by the time the song was finished).

Max was telling everyone, "Happy birthday!"

Feeding the turtles bread ...

... and other snacks?

Time to open presents!

Gabe bought Max a Mario figure.

Lots of great clothes and toys!

Happy 3rd birthday to our special little guy!!

Soccer and the new pool.

Soccer game at noon today was pretty brutal!

Staying out of the sun ...

Pretzels to entertain Max.  ("I don't want to see the soccer.")

Love to watch Gabe and Joe play.  They are so good!

"Mario is fat, Daddy."

Gabe and Joe are very good ... but let's say that otherwise, we are not on the dream team this year.

"I wanna go home!"

The pool is not set up yet, but the kids are already in their suits and ready to swim!

Max slipped a couple of times, then was ready to get out.

Maybe it will look more like a pool tomorrow.

We are all excited about swimming!

Max is Mario, part 3.

Max's birthday is coming up on Monday ...

So it feels like an excuse to buy him stuff!

Now he can be the real Mario!

Fixing his hat ...

... to go show Grandma and Buddy.

Guess what came in the mail today!

My swimming pool!

Maybe Maxie could have a pool party.

Here's Gabe, doing what he usually does ...

Goodnight!

Maya's hungry giraffe.

Here's Maya today ...

... and here's the picture she drew.  (The giraffe is eating the girl's hair.)

Cute!

Gabe got a much-needed haircut today!

Tomorrow we are going to try to get Joe a Cub Scout uniform ...

... and Gabe goes to Book Club at his friend's house.

Goodnight!

Max's birthday present.

I took Max shopping today, and he found what he wanted for his birthday.  I let him carry it around, then laughed when he said, "Mama, I love this."  (And then he kissed it!)  Had to pull out the camera and try to get him to give a repeat performance.

Here he was, playing with his new toys while Gabe and Joe did scouts tonight.  

They had to talk about an ancestor, so I had both boys talk about a mutual ancestor.  This is Dr. Conway Nutt, Gabe & Joe's great-great-great grandfather, whose first cousin was President James Madison!  One day Dr. Nutt was called to a saloon to treat a broken leg.  When he arrived, he discovered that it was a broken chair leg.  Without a word, he splinted and bandaged the chair leg, then walked over to the gambling table to collect his fee.

Maxie's toys.

I didn't plan a big party for Max, but I think we'll just have a cake on Sunday night.

Next Thursday I have an interview with St. Luke's at The Vintage.  

Some bites.

I haven't been blogging as much, because I am nervous ...

I am a little nervous about the job thing, but mostly about the CA 125 thing ... and waiting another month to find out if I'm fine, or the opposite of it ...  Thinking I will schedule my surgeries earlier than I had previously planned.  This is no way to live.

Gabe, headed to soccer practice tonight ...

Mom watched Gabe and Max today while I went in for an interview with an agency that pays per visit, for home health ...

I took a long test, but then they didn't grade it.  Don't know how I did, because some questions were specifically about home health stuff (with which I have no prior experience)!    During the interview, I emphasized to the guy that although I have 7 years experience in med/surg, I would need to be trained to do the home health thing ...

They never graded my test, but they did send me to give a urine specimen for drug testing ...

Still not sure.  POSITIVES:  Pay is very good, mileage reimbursement for travel, different learning experience, choose my own hours and area to work in.  NEGATIVES:  Not sure how good the training will be, have to drive around to unfamiliar places, no support staff nearby to answer questions or help handle difficult situations or tasks.

When I got home, I saw an e-mail in the box from St. Luke's at The Vintage, stating that someone will call me to schedule an interview.  POSITIVES:  Smaller learning curve, working with lots of support staff, more certain of hours, fancy new hospital.  NEGATIVES:  12 hour shifts, no job offer yet ... Other than that I don't know.  Not sure what will happen with all this ...