Ready for Takeoff

For as long as I've known Brian he has been flying, one of our first dates was in a small airplane.  He has worked hard over the years to move his career forward, he was a flight instructor, flew freight out of Boeing Field and for the last eight years has flown for SkyWest.  While at SkyWest, Brian was been based in Fresno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland and Minneapolis, always commuting to his base to support our desire to live in the Northwest.  When Georgia was in the hospital Brian was able to take leave but given the length of her treatment and recovery he was working during much of it.  Brian is an incredible pilot, patient, focused and safe, he loves flying, but to be able to do his job and do it well during such a stressful time is a true testament to his ability.
In March, Brian was called to interview with Alaska Airlines, the chance to move to a major airline had arrived and we knew this was a big deal.  He studied and prepped, organized his letters of recommendation and went through two days of interviews.  The kids and I were at Costco when he called, I said, "So?" and after a pause he said, "I got it!"  On Monday Brian started the nearly three months of training that Alaska requires.  We knew that he would find out where he would be based within the first day or two.  He'd heard that most new hires are based in Anchorage but were keeping our fingers crossed for something a little closer.  Shortly after training started on the first day I got a text, I got Seattle!  Brian being base in Seattle is huge for our family, it means more time together, more normalcy all while continuing to move his career forward.
Cheers to you Brian, your hard work has paid off and we are so proud of you!

 Early on I had faith in Brian's piloting skills... 

or must have been really smitten to have gotten in that tiny airplane!

 Shortly after he'd been offered the First Officer position with Alaska

The picture we sent to daddy to say congrats!

 Leo sporting his new Alaska Airlines t-shirt and playing with his new airplane

Georgia woke up right after Brian left for his first day of training, she wanted to send him a video...

Little Surfer

Brian has always had a love of surfing, he's the die-hard who will brave the Washington waters just to catch a wave.  We aren't close to surfable waters and with busy schedules surfing doesn't happen very often.  Brian is always trying to convince me that we should move to po-dunk-nowhere in Washington to be near the surf.. I'm not very excited about this idea.  He recently borrowed a friends stand up paddle board when he came home he was rinsing it off and you'd never guess who was interested... I think Brian is already planning future surf adventures.

Beauty

In the last 10 days Brian has been home for exactly 27 hours.  Last week it was raining, I was out of ideas and I was tired.  Georgia kept asking, "what are we going to do now????"  In that moment I thought of a great idea, one where she would be busy and I would be sitting down and occasionally closing my eyes.. it was perfect!  This was the result...

A very proud make-up artist

 She said I was ready for the parade... the clown parade I think

The Hello Kitty clip was a nice finishing touch

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter, celebrating throughout the day with friends and family and both kids went on their first Easter egg hunt!

The Easter Bunny left some surprises

 Leo liked his little dog

 Georgia & Nevaeh ready for the Easter egg hunt!

 My little bunnies

 The Deckon Family

 Georgia, Leo, Ryker, Nevaeh

 

  Blake showing Leo all about the tractor

Springtime Fun

We have been busy, between Georgia's growing list of activities and Leo's speed I'm going all day and fall into bed at night, exhausted and happy.  Having a life where we can do what we choose and watching both kids learn and discover new things is pretty incredible, there's not a day that goes by that I don't recognize this.  Of course this doesn't mean I don't have my moments where I want to pull my hair out or shed a tear when I think of how little sleep I've had in the last several years but I always come back to being grateful.
Luckily the lack of posts has nothing to do with lack of fun, here are a bunch of pictures and videos of the latest with Georgia and Leo...

First off, Georgia has been growing! This isn't a great picture but she has grown as much

 between February and March as she did between November and February!

 Leo has been hard at work doing some building.. clothing optional

 Leo and Georgia have been enjoying Leo's new watertable... 

warm weather not required

 60 degrees shirt off guy 

The kids have been loving the new wagon Grammy & Grandpa gave Leo for his birthday

  I love these two!! 

Swinging serious business

Over spring break we took a quick trip to Arizona to see Nana and Bawdy.  It was really special to see Great Grandma Betty, this was Leo's first time meeting her, Georgia hadn't seen her since she was three months old.  We also got to catch up with some of Brian's cousins and aunts and uncles.  The trip was too fast but well worth it.

Arizona sun brought on some pool time!

Roaming free

Brian took Georgia up for some spring skiing a few weeks ago, she has continued to gain skills and speed.  When Brian told her to slow down, she said, "dad, I like to go fast!"

Leo is also gaining speed, he walks most of the time now..

Ballerina

When Georgia was two and a half I signed her up for ballet, I was so nervous and we only ended up attending a couple of classes as she was still coming off of immune suppression.
She recently expressed interest in trying ballet again so I said I'd look into it.  I asked around and found a great ballet studio that she now loves!  Georgia does not like to wear her hair back but each week she willingly lets me put it back, gets into her ballet gear and is thrilled to go to class.

Here are some of the old and new pictures of my little ballerina...

Walker

Just in the last week or so, Leo has gone from mostly crawling to mostly walking.  He is so proud of his new mobility and it has been so fun to watch this development.  This kid is going to give me a run for my money, the other day he was standing in his kid chair and when I told him to sit down, he smiled, sat down then let out a mischievous laugh, almost saying, this is nothing mom, you just wait!