Goodbye to Datascaler, Hello to Oracle

After many months of uncertainty for Derek's company, Datascaler, an offer of acquisition came through from Oracle. Oracle saw some value in the product that Datascaler had been working on and decided they needed to add that to their company. The offer came in September, and by early October, the Datascaler office was in shut down mode and finishing up any final paperwork for the purchase. Most of the employees were offered jobs at Oracle and those began mid October. It is nice to have a good conclusion to the three year run of Datascaler. It's unfortunate that lack of funds ended a good thing, but it was a great experience for Derek and his coworkers . There is definite relief at getting a full salary again, but there is some adjustment for Derek at going from a very small company to a very large company. The commute is now very long and our nice schedule is taking a hit as a result. But on the whole, the change is good and Derek is looking forward to helping get their product to customers through Oracle.

Haircuts

Laurel's hair has always grown slow. It's been that way from day one. So at her 3 year old birthday her hair was still thin and somewhat meager, but showing signs of growth. Even the sides of her hair were starting to pass her ears. (see below)


Then Samantha decided she wanted to cut Laurel's hair (Why did she need a haircut? She didn't!)

So I had to trim up both sides to match, which brought the side lengths to the top of her ears.
Shorter, but still cute. (see below)


Then Laurel somehow got a hold of some scissors and thought some more trimming was in order. She chopped away at the top and front. (see below)


So I had to trim again, but much more this time to give a more even look all over. (see below)


Let's just say we're back to square one. How long will it take to catch up to the original 3 years growth? There's no telling, but maybe it will grow in a little thicker this time? Thankfully she still has a beautiful smile that lights up her face, with or without hair.

Just too tired

Katelyn has been gradually shifting from two naps a day to one. Sometimes it's tough for her to make it to that one nap. This day, I guess I delayed too much in getting lunch to her, because she just couldn't wait anymore to begin her nap. I had stepped away while she ate a sandwich, and came back to her snoozing away. I was able to wipe off jam without her waking up. She was tired!

Mother Daughter Date

Every year our church's Activity Day Group (weekly meeting for girls 8-11 years old) has a Mother Daughter Night. This year the theme was Garden Party. We had a really fun activity of putting together a flower bouquet in a pumpkin. We worked together on it and though we had no previous flower arranging skills, we were quite pleased with the results. We enjoyed a dessert afterward and some visiting. It was a nice evening and a joy to get some special one on one time with Mackenzie.

Cathy and Mackenzie

our pumpkin bouquet

view from the top

Samantha turned 5

Samantha was so excited for her birthday this year, since she would get her first friends birthday party! And she actually got two parties, one was the birthday dinner with the family and then a princess party with her friends.

chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. Yum!

Samantha was so excited to finally get her own 18" doll. She named her Emily

Lots of princesses came to Sammie's party

Samantha enjoyed many princess gifts

Since she already had cake and ice cream at her birthday dinner, she chose ice cream treats for her party

We sure love having Samantha in our family. She has a ready smile and loves to learn new things. She has a sensitive heart and is a bit timid at times, but when she is happy and comfortable, she has an infectious laugh. Happy Birthday Samantha! We love you!

sweet 5 year old

One year old

Our baby turned 1 year old! It's so hard to stop these little one's from growing up!

On Katelyn's birthday a nice dinner with some friends from church. And instead of cake and ice cream we had a tasty jello dessert. Then her siblings helped her open her presents. She was fascinated with a musical birthday card which she received from one of her Grandma's. You'll see her playing with it in a video below.

Katelyn has been a pretty easy going child and we've loved having her in our family. She gives hugs so willingly and makes us smile and laugh. She is already moving into a stage of quickly learning new things. She's more of a mimicker than some of our other children, so it will be interesting to see what she picks up and she copies things we say or do. Happy Birthday Katelyn!

Katelyn waiting for her dessert to be dished up

getting some loves from her friend, Carloline

sweet one year old

Irony

When driving by a middle school, their billboard was announcing some upcoming dates. One of them said,

Learning Day, No School.