Celebration feast and lots of beauty!

Tonight we went out to dinner at our favorite local restaurant Heraldo's down in Lolo to celebrate the posting of the position at the Missoula Vet Center that Justin's applying for. I haven't kept this too up-to-date regarding Justin's job situation so here's the latest. It turned out that he wasn't qualified for the position he applied for in March at the Vet Center because he didn't have his Master's degree yet. Fortunately, they didn't hire anyone at that time and instead decided to re-post the position at a lower level which makes Justin even more qualified this time around. Plus, he's graduated and now has his MSW. The job closes on June 12 and they are looking to hire within 30 days of the closing date. We're praying things work out this time around and that they would find Justin to be the most qualified person for the position. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the latest as we find things out.

In the meantime, Justin's been enjoying his time off fishing and bike riding (when he hasn't been helping watch Madeleine while I've worked in the garden). He's even found a way to join the two activities by mountain biking 5 miles up a trail where he can then go fly fishing. It's a lot closer to home than his traditional fishing spot which makes it a lot easier to encourage and support.

When he's not spending time outside, he's been reading up on more theory and practice pertaining to trauma. I've also gotten him to start reading "Pontoon" by Garrison Keillor as a lighter before bed option. I have been reading a book called "The Highly Sensitive Child" which our pediatrician recommended based on her assessment of Madeleine's personality. Apparently 15-20% of the population can be categorized as "highly sensitive" which generally means they have a heightened nervous system that tends to influence how they perceive the world. These people tend to be more cautious, self-reflective, and reserved in unfamiliar situations or around unfamiliar people. In general, for those of you who have known me a long time, you could consider me a highly sensitive person. I'm fascinated by everything the author has said and how much of it is true for Madeleine, even with her being this young. The author gives good tips and helpful insights into how to help parent a child like this by nurturing their instincts without trying to change them. I'm even learning more about myself by reading it. I'm glad to get started early on this because it will take lots of practice for me to become consistent in the ways I parent Madeleine. And because this characteristic is genetic, there's a chance Junior might also fall into this category which means I'd be even more prepared to notice these characteristics in him.

I don't have any pertinent pictures to post with all of this text so I might as well show you some pictures I took on my hike yesterday with Madeleine. The local wildflowers are out in force and with every turn I found something new that took my breath away! Whether it was the pair of red-tail hawks that flew a few hundred feet from us calling to each other, the bees buzzing in the lupine, or the bald eagle that soared overhead, I finished the hike once again completely in love with Missoula. I'm glad we still have the opportunity to continue our family adventure here.

(The names of the flowers are as accurate as I can identify according to my guidebook.)

(Arrowleaf balsamroot and silvery lupine)

(Silvery lupine)

(Arrowleaf balsamroot)

(Cushion buckwheat)

(Bessey's crazyweed)

(Fuzzytongue penstemon)

(Leafy spurge)

(Meadow death camas)

(Silverleaf phacelia)

(Silvery groundsel)

(Western Gromwell)

(Wild hyacinth)

(Wilcox's penstemon)

Garden of Eating...eventually

We have finally finished planting in the garden we're sharing with friends Beth and Cody in their backyard. It's taken the better part of a week to get all of the starters in the ground. From start to finish, it's taken about 3 weeks to weed, dig up, turn, add nutrients, cover and plant this monstrosity. We approximated the space we're using to be over 400 sf., which is larger than some previous apartments I've had! The bounty you see includes yellow and white corn, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, basal, cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, garlic, spinach, green and red lettuce, sweet peppers, banana peppers, jalapenos, hot Hungarian hot wax peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, asparagus, raspberries, and strawberries! We are looking forward to some fun summer veggies and lots of salsa fixings to process and can this fall.

As you can see, Madeleine enjoyed helping me throughout the process. Usually she ended up eating and throwing dirt more than anything else but I'm glad she at least isn't afraid of getting dirty.

Madeleine vs. the kitty

A mutual appreciation is growing between Oreo our cat and Madeleine, although at times things get rough between them. A little tail-pulling here, a gentle swat there...you get the picture. Here is one of their latest encounters on a sunny morning in our kitchen.

Accessory Queen

Madeleine has started to take fashion into her own hands. Whenever she sees her (or my) sunglasses, she instantly wants them on. At times she has almost stuck herself in both eye and ear trying to get them on her head. Last week she found them and wore them much to our amusement. The song on the radio happened to be perfect for the moment.

Familiar again

Madeleine finally seems to be getting back into her normal routine. She took a 2 hour nap today and went down for both her nap and bedtime really easily. She even slept 12.5 hours last night. Unfortunately we suspect part of that is because she has a small cold but we're not complaining...it's a lot easier to wipe a runny nose than listen to her scream for over an hour at a time!

The weather here is currently unseasonably warm: high of 82 today, 89 tomorrow, 86 Sunday, and 86 Monday. Then it's supposed to cool down again but meanwhile the spring runoff from the snowpack has begun. That means lots of fast-moving water in our rivers and streams. We sometimes hike near a creek and it's already flooded the banks in less than 24 hours of heat. Everyone has to be more careful this time of year.

I figured since I had a dry spell this week I should post a video and some pictures. I'll get to the video later but here are a few pictures from our time together recently.

This is why we call her Mophead.

Madeleine LOVES to play in the dirt! Here we are at Beth and Cody's house working in the garden. Madeleine insisted on throwing fist-fulls of dirt around, sometimes resulting in it getting down both of our shirts. She also tried to eat a rock that evening but she apparently decided it was a little too hard to chew so she spit it out.

She's a goofy girl!

Madeleine crashed on a hike we took last week up Waterworks Hill. It doesn't look comfortable to me either!

Hiking up the Rattlesnake yesterday. As you can tell, Madeleine looks better in my sunglasses than I do!

Twerp

Madeleine has been quite the twerp as of late by refusing to sleep. Although exhaustion is written all over her body, she has refused to sleep for both naps and bedtime. Last night she screamed for 1.5 hours before crashing with exhaustion. Apparently she didn't get the memo that yesterday was mother's day. I hope to have happier news to report in the next few days but for now I'm really glad Justin isn't working yet and can help me weather this storm.

Cinco de Mayo and Wilco

We celebrated the end of the Justin's graduate school career with our friends Beth and Cody last night by eating enchiladas and going to a Wilco concert. It was the first date Justin and I had been on in over 7 weeks and it was long overdue. Our friends Jen and Ryan came over to babysit but they ended up more cat and dog sitting as Madeleine went to bed an hour before they came over.

The concert was great! I think I prefer Wilco's music live over their CDs but I guess that's true with most bands. Junior really enjoyed the concert too as he kept kicking and flipping around which regularly distracted me. It was a wonderful time for Justin and me to remember that in the midst of so many unknowns (Justin still doesn't have a job yet), we can still find security and confidence in our marriage. And if for no other reason the date was worth every cent!