Job prospect in ... DSM

Well, I told myself I was not going to lose sight of my dream and would give it 6 months to find a job in Western Iowa. Then tonight, a friend sent me a job at another ad agency that specializes in ag. They want someone with an ag background, someone who understands production agriculture, the food value chain, etc. You know, someone exactly like me...

Sigh.

I am totally qualified for this. It's not exactly what I want to do for a living, but if I shot them a dream salary and they went for it... Well, that would be pretty sweet. I sent an email to a friend who I think works there. It's another ad agency, which is kind of disheartening. But, if it meant making significantly more money for a few years so we could actually start saving some money while I continue to look for my dream job, well, it's tempting.

I'll see what my friend has to say about it. It's in Johnston. So presumably we could move there and get the boys into Johnston's ultra great school district for elementary school. They have an elementary school named after Henry Wallace -- my all-time favorite American!

I talked to Mazy today. Twice. I can't resist! He's having a fabulous time with his cousins in KC. Today he got to eat sushi at the food court, go to the library and get two books (one on dinosaurs and one on sea creatures), listen to a Cajun story teller who taught them how to do an alligator dance, get a gummy worm ice cream blizzard, AND get a new pair of flip-flops. He was bummed b/c the boy flip-flops don't come with jewels and sparkles. I don't blame him. It's not fair that only the girls get those sparkly shoes! I told Heidi to give him some glue and sequins and let him bedazzle his flip-flops! I miss you, Mazy. Enjoy your week! And Heidi, thank you for making it such a fun summer vacation for him!

Speaking of summer vacations, I booked our hotel and bus fare (yes, we're taking the bus.. I'm a bit scared) for our Chicago vacation at the end of July. Mom, Mazy and I are going. We're staying at the Wyndham Chicago on the Magnificent Mile. I can't wait!

Also, Bo is loving being an only child. It is very rare for him to be alone at the house with us. We're letting him play with almost all of Mazy's toys -- don't tell Mazy! As I suspected, he has very little interest in them when his brother is not here to yell at him for touching them. He's in such a sweet stage right now -- a total chatterbox! He loves Curious George, which he calls George Hat (George's friend is the man with the yellow hat). He is still getting into trouble every day at daycare though. His report always says: aggressive with friends. This is a very nice way of saying, "Bo kicked and scratched the hell out of everyone today throwing one of his colossal tantrums." The good ladies at the Baptist church cannot say anything bad about him. But he really is a little terror when he's mad. Oh and I love that ornery little boy!

Well, Shawn wants on the computer. Until tomorrow.

Today's left photo is from Cousin Camp 2010 that was held last Saturday at the farm. Here Kael (my nephew), Mazy and Theron (my niece in KC) were posing in front of the log cabin at the Panora Historical Village. What a great day! Today's right photo is Bo at the Blank Park Zoo last Friday. It was his first trip.

Just sent Mazy to KC for a week

And I miss him already! Oh Mazy, what will I do without you for six long days?! It will be fun to have Bo as an "only child" for a week and see how he behaves differently w/o his big bro around. But I am going to miss my little chatterbox and artist.

So much has been happening lately! Nothing on the job front or the new house, but lots of fun! I had Friday off. It was Mazy's last day of preschool. The school was having lunch at 11:30 for parents and I told him I'd take him home with me afterward. That morning, I decorated the inside of the van with streamers, summertime signs and some graduation clings. He's going to miss his preschool graduation b/c he'll be in KC with Heidi and her gang, but I knew he'd love seeing the van all decorated for him. After lunch, he was walking out with a friend and wasn't paying attention when he opened the door. In fact, he wasn't even looking inside it b/c he was so busy talking. But his little friend noticed right away and said, "Is your car always like this!" She was very excited, Mazy turned around and his mouth dropped open. He was speechless, which is rare. Needless to say, he enjoyed it very much.

We had planned on picking strawberries with Bo and Shawn's parents, but the strawberry patch closed at noon. So instead I took the boys to Blank Zoo, it was Bo's first zoo trip. He was so cute and so impressed with all the animals! He was very excited by the monkeys, the giraffes and lions. We rode the train, and had a great time.

Saturday was the 2010 Cousin Camp at Grandma Katy's farm. Everybody, except my brother Bandy and his daughter Irelyn, showed up for a day of crafts, games, food, four-wheeler rides, swimming, water balloons, ice cream, etc. While Bo and my nephew Hudson were sleeping in the afternoon, my brother Troy and I took the four oldest kids into Panora to the Century Museum. It's such a neat little museum. I haven't been there since Shawn and I were married in the church back in 2000. It was a perfect afternoon -- the kids had a blast looking at all the "old-timey" stuff. We took lots of pictures and showed them all their Great-Great-Grandpa Wine's F20 Case tractor that was on display.

After supper, we took the older kids to Arganbright's farm for my great uncle Jim's 80th birthday. It was a blast -- lots and lots of relatives that I don't see often and Panora locals who I haven't seen in years. We were only going to stay for an hour, but it turned into over 2 hours. The kids had a ball playing in a hammock in the yard and checking out all the guineas, peacocks, geese, ducks, rabbits, etc. that roam the farm. It's a beautiful century farm and always so much fun to be there.

The boys and I didn't return to DSM until nearly 11 p.m.! Shawn missed all the fun. He stayed home and cleaned the house and did a bunch of laundry for me. I told him if he's not careful, I'll let him stay home every time we go to the farm!

And that brings us to today. Bo is napping and probably will sleep until 6 or later. Mazy is on his way to Overland Park, and Shawn and I are just relaxing in a clean, quiet house. Bo is going to spend next weekend on the farm, and Shawn and I are taking Friday off to go to a big flea market in Missouri on our way to pickup Mazy. I can't wait! We love outdoor flea markets and this one promises to be a good one!

That's all for now. Hope you all enjoyed your weekends. Heidi if you read this on Monday, give Mazy a kiss for me and tell him he can call me anytime! Oh, today's photo is from our Memorial Day fishing trip with Grandpa Pud. We didn't catch any fish, but I have some wonderful photos of Mazy and Grandpa. As Mazy said, "We didn't catch any fish, but we did catch a lot of seaweed!"