Portland

Are pigs flying? Has hell frozen over? What could possibly warrant a blog post that is MORE FREQUENT than my monthly updates on how Karolina has grown? Big news, folks, BIG news.

After five years, Martin has finally won the argument about moving to Portland. With the fate of his current position looking quite dire, he managed to secure a job offer at a start-up (!?!) in Portland, Oregon. And so, we will move.

Martin's first day on the job is February 18, and the rest of the family will follow some months later, after we find a house to buy, Erika transitions her school food job to the next lucky person, and Peter celebrates his 5th birthday with the little preschool buddies that he has spent the last two and a half years running around the playground with.

We will certainly miss all the folks we have been lucky enough to hang out with in Nevada City -- the neighbors and farmers, all the mommy mentors with older children who have taught me so much and passed down SO many goodies, and, of course, the Johnstons:

That was us, this morning, practicing for Portland by hiking in the drizzle.

There is a long list of other stuff we will miss (don't even get me started on our Bay Area clan), but here are five good things about Oregon:

1. We can afford to buy a house that is a short public transportation ride from Martin's job.
2. The food scene really is outstanding, and has gotten even better in the last five years.
3. Good bread.

   Ok, ok, non-food related things. Thanks to Amy for these two reminders:

4. They pump your gas for you.
5. No sales tax!

One request: PLEASE don't mention "Portlandia" to me. Yes, I have seen clips from it. Yes, it is hilarious and very accurate.

That's all she wrote.

14 Months, Leaps and Bounds

While Karolina (14 months old today!) is growing up just as fast as she can, Peter, who has been sadly neglected in this blog as of late, is making his OWN cognitive leaps!

This photo (and all photos in the last two blog posts) courtesy of Martin's iPhone, since our camera finally bit the dust and we have not yet replaced it. Sigh.

Peter now attends preschool five mornings a week, and he LOVES it. Phew! Those of you who were kind enough to send him a Christmas gift should have hopefully received a thank you note by now with his trademark signature -- Yes! He can write his name! It's all very exciting.

He is still obsessed with all things cars and trucks, but has progressed into the Lego phase. That kid LOVES his Legos. So does his dad, but that's another story. He builds amazing wheeled contraptions, all with an elaborate story to go with them. We still butt heads on a near daily basis, but he really is a sweet kid. He loves his little sister more than anything.

Yep, that's Karolina, on her first trip to the snow (the jury is still out on whether or not the white stuff is really worth all the trouble of bundling up). At least she likes her snow boots (not pictured). When I first tried them on her to see if they fit, and then took them off to replace them with a pair of shoes more appropriate for gallivanting around the library, she immediately went and got the boots, brought them back to me, and waited until I put them back on her feet.

Her other new interest is cleaning. This must be the Jana gene -- she looks more and more like Jana every day. Give her a cloth, and she wipes down her high chair tray. A broom, and she starts sweeping. She loves to clean! And speaking of clean, she actually *asked* to have her diaper changed the other day. She walked to the stairs, pointed up (where her diapers are kept), and once upstairs, handed me the wipes. This bodes well for potty training.

In other news, Peter lost his tonsils and adenoids this morning. He was an excellent patient, and is currently enjoying a DVD marathon and his 4th popsicle of the day (Thanks, Amy!). We are hoping this surgery will help with the snoring/drooling/nasal dripping/other associated general unpleasantness. His tonsils were SO large, the anesthesiologist joked about having no space to intubate the poor little guy. Now we have to figure out how to keep him "still" for 10 days. He will really miss soccer on Wednesdays -- it's been great for him to have a chance to just RUN for 45 minutes once a week. Luckily, he starts juggling lessons in an "Art of Silliness" class a week from Thursday -- that should distract him.

The rest of us are just trying to keep up with a host of exciting job-related changes in our lives. Erika was just promoted to Program Director of School Food at the nonprofit where she has been working for the past year, just in time for Karolina's babysitter to quit (and thankfully replace herself in the same breath). One of the job perks is emceeing the "Food" Film Session at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival this Friday night. Woo hoo!

Martin's job changes are still top secret (and TBD), but look for big changes in the Kosina household some time in the next month or two.

Pawlene is still holding steady, looking for the sunny spots, sleeping a lot, ignoring the deer (who recently decimated our winter garden when Peter left the garden gate open), neighbor cats, and any other invaders of our yard until the weather warms up. No snow at our house yet, but not for lack of low temperatures. Our next house is going to have a more efficient heating system, but for now we have all gotten used to sleeping in a pretty chilly environment (no heat in the bedrooms of this dear old house) and paying a ridiculous amount for heating oil each year (our heater runs on diesel). At least we are warm and dry, and have a phenomenal new cafe within walking distance. The Curly Wolf's "lavender flat white" (my new favorite drink) ROCKS. That, in addition to Polly's Paladar, an underground supper club (in tiny Nevada City!) that I recently discovered, have GREATLY improved the food scene here.

Happy New Year!