A Change of State

Mark is starting a new job tomorrow morning... in Duluth, MN. He just got the job offer on September 5th, packed up all his clothes and necessities this past week and headed to my parents in Wisconsin on Saturday. I'll be staying with the kids in Gaylord for another 4-5 weeks to finish up a project at work and then we'll be heading to my parents as well. We have managed to sell our house here (but not anywhere near our asking price...) and should be closing before October 13th.

Mark's new job is in the Transmission Main Design Group at Minnesota Power. It will be something totally new for him, but a very welcome change. He will be working with a mentor in the same position who has been doing this job for 35 years. The salary offer was incredible, they are paying our moving expenses and the benefit package looks great in general. I'll be looking for a job eventually, but want to have some time to look for a house and get settled first.

Olivia is excited so far. When we told her about the move she said, "I've always wanted to live in Minnesota!!" I think she'll go back and forth between excitement and loss as she realizes that she is leaving her friends and school... Jonah is non-committal. :) He's a very laid back guy and will adjust easily wherever we go.

Mark and I are also back and forth between excited and sad. We are excited to be turning over a new leaf and for Mark to have a job that he might actually like. But we are also sad to be leaving Mark's family, all our friends here, and our church, preschool and daycare.

We both have new email addresses:
amyjwolcott at gmail.com
markjameswolcott at gmail.com

I'll update as the move progresses...

Liv's first day of Pre-K

Liv's first day of Pre-K
Originally uploaded by Wolcotts

Olivia started Pre-K yesterday at St. Mary's in Gaylord. She went right in, no clinging to my leg like last year. When we picked her up 3 hours later, she was beaming ear-to-ear and was so excited to tell us all about her day. She made friends with a little girl named Nora. When I asked if she made any other friends, she informed me that "it will take me a couple weeks to make everyone in my class my friend"... like, duh!

I also enjoyed hearing about the school bell ringing - "that means it is time for snack" and that her teacher has a whistle that she blows when it's time to go in from playing outside.

Today she was even more excited when I picked her up. She just loves her teacher so much!