Out For Awhile

Rob and my brother-in-law have been hard at it today packing our moving truck. I've packed a few more boxes, but we ran out, so what's a pregnant girl to do, but go out to lunch with two of her closest friends here! Ah, that was nice; especially the part where I got away from the chaos in our house.

We close on our new house tomorrow early afternoon and I know I won't sleep tonight. It's funny, because it doesn't matter if I like where I'm going or not, I get so excited to move! It's happened with every PCS. Apparently, I thrive on change which happens to be a great characteristic for a military spouse to possess.

That being said, because the majority of our furniture (and computer) don't get packed and delivered by the movers until next week (I'll be at our new place), you probably won't be hearing from me for awhile. That works out, because in the meantime I'll be unpacking all the boxes I just packed!

When I questioned Rob this morning if all this work doing a partial ditty ourselves was worth it, he promptly got on-line and ordered the new LG steam washer and dryer that I've wanted now for two years. He then said, "I think so." There was nothing I could say to that. We've never had a brand new washer and dryer which is probably one more reason I'm so looking forward to getting into our new house.

See ya soon!

Besides..Little Boys Love Their Mamas

We all said it was a girl; except for Avery. He said, "Baby boy!" Turns out he was right. This morning's ultrasound left no doubt that we have a little boy on the way. I think we were secretly hoping for a girl, but I noticed we'd been referring to this baby as a "he" for several weeks now. It kind of works out anyway. Avery will have a roommate and buddy for years to come, I find boys easier to raise, and besides, little boys love their mamas!

Off to shop for a bunk bed!

Our Last Week Here

Well, I can't say we've been bored. We're very excited to get into our new home, and so time seems to be passing slowly in that respect, but we've had so much going on and to get done, that we've been busier than we like.

Rob's graduation went off without a hitch. He practically ran across the stage. I don't have any pictures, because I spent the time in the overflow room with the kids watching it all on a big screen. I managed to keep wiggly Avery on my lap the whole time, though not with out a lot of effort and diversions. Judging from what I could here, there were several other Moms that were less prudent inside the auditorium. There was much screaming and crying through it.

Friday we drove to our new home and had our walk through. We discovered that our property line actually goes pretty far back into a wooded area. Funny, because we thought it ended where the trees began. Now we can have the best of both worlds; our house on a wide open space like I need, and a little forest for the kids to play in like they've grown to love here. This has pretty much put our plans for a fence on hold. The lot is almost a half acre. It didn't look so big, but now with that extra part, we're not sure what we'll do.

Saturday we spent the morning at a track meet for kids. Yes, we forced our children to do it, but they simply don't seem to run around a lot on their own. Alayna did a 6yr old race (1 lap around the track). Alton and Alayna did a siblings race together (1 lap each) and Alton and Rob did a Father Son race (1 lap each). They ended up enjoying it, although Alayna was discouraged that she didn't win a trophy. I told her the food was all that mattered, which is why I race. I also told them they were winners because nobody walked and nobody cried (our main hope). The announcer said that the government or someone like that suggests that 9 year olds should be able to run a mile! Yikes. I don't think Alton could make it around more than twice. We didn't enter him in that race. There were about 30 kids and all of them ran it in under 8 minutes! The winner ran it in 6:25! That is amazing!

What else have the kids been up to, well here's a little snippet.
Lately, they use the video camera more than I do!

Finally, Some Free Time!

After all the accolades we'd heard about the course year being the best year in of a soldier's life because of all the family time, it finally rings true this week. Rob is done with classes and doesn't have graduation until Thursday. Three days of family time. Well, I won't complain, at least he's not deployed. Maybe that's how they meant it. Rob is so relieved to be done. It's crazy because with his occupation, he has to have 12 CLE credits each year. This semester alone he has 81.

Anyway, the kids wanted to celebrate by finally going to that Putt Putt course we've been driving past for a year. I was suprised to find that it was the exact same course as the one I played at as a kid in Oklahoma City on 39th St. I logged a lot of hours there. It's torn down now, so it felt kind of strange to be playing those very same holes, in the exact same set up that I had years ago.

The kids had a great time and actually did well. This was Avery's first time on the course instead of watching from his stroller. We had a few issues with him not waiting his turn, but it was cute to watch him hit it about two inches and then go put in the hole with his hands. On the last hole when the ball disappears, Avery was coming up with extra balls to put in there, until we realized he was opening the door to the bucket underneath to get more. He scream cried when it was time to leave. He was by far, the loudest customer at Putt-Putt.

Definitive Moments

For those of you that are moms or dads, and your kids are old enough to ask you questions, you will understand this blog perfectly. At least I hope you do because otherwise, it means that Rob and I really stink when it comes to defining words. With two kids proficiently reading, we get asked to do this daily. What surprises me, is that I get absolutely flummoxed with the difficulty of defining words that I have known or been familiar with most of my life.

Yesterday in fact, was a big day for having to explain words. Alton and Alayna have both been carrying around big chapter books wherever they go and reading every spare minute, so of course, I was getting asked all manner of questions. There were several words that frustrated me. Part of this is because I have come to the realization that I am unable to explain a word using intelligent words like a dictionary, but have noticed myself resorting to bizarre hand motions and strange sound effects. Take the word maneuver for instance. Alton asked me what that meant. Before I tell you how I explained it, try to think what you would tell your kid and see if that word wasn't a challenge. I started with "You know..." and then found myself using my hands like a fish swimming through water while making some strange pshew sound. Alton's blank stare told me I had to do better. I finally came up with, "To work your way around or through something." Not bad, but I still had to move my neck like an Egyptian to get those words out. What about the word clunky? How in the world do you explain that while in the car without using your hands like horse hooves and uttering a strange gutteral sound with the letter "C" in it.

Funnier still, is when both Rob and I are involved together in defining a word. I have noticed that my soul mate has completely different ideas about what certain words mean. When Alton asked what a ravine was, I immediately used my hand to swoop downwards and said, "You know, like a little canyon." Rob chimed in at the same time and said, "A little stream." A small argument ensued between us after this one. We never did think to get out the dictionary and clarify it to poor Alton. I remember verbatim, some of the definitions my Mom gave to me growing up (can't think of any specific right now), but Alton's memories will be well...confused.

Later on in the day, Alayna asked me to define awkward. I was tired and just said, "clumsy." Of course then she asked what clumsy meant. I said, "You know, you trip over things and fall down and break things a lot." The end of this day ended with me overhearing Alayna ask Rob what the horizon was. A sleepy Rob mumbled, "the sky." Hmmm...ordinarily I would added my own idea to that one, but it had been a long day and I decided someday Alayna would find out what a horizon really was.

Blogging on a Friday Night

Why you ask? Because Rob is out at a Dining In, which is actually a short name for many officers getting dressed up in their Blues, leaving their spouses behind, eating a large dinner, consuming copious amounts of alcohol and then doing ridiculous things such as body surfing across tables and who know what else and it is all a sanctioned and ceremonial event. Attendance is mandatory.

Was my husband looking forward to this event? No. He had to stress over his uniform for many hours until I pushed him out the door (his pins look straight don't they? He has to use a ruler and measure to the cm to make sure they're in the proper place). And frankly, he doesn't enjoy being around drunk people. Being loud and obnoxious and working a room, just aren't his thing. If we get to go to an event together, I work the room and that has always gone well. Tonight, he's on his own. I expect him home sometime after midnight where I'll get the full report.

In the meantime, I get some much appreciated alone time. I've endured a couple of ridiculous predicaments this week, one of which was today, when I totally bit it in a parking lot while holding Avery. The baby fared the best of the three of us. I stopped my fall with my one free hand and Avery. Poor guy got a nice bump on the concrete and I have some lovely skinned knees and hands like I haven't had since I was a kid, but the every enlarging belly didn't take a hit.

The other ridiculous thing that happened was at IHOP on "Kid's Eat Free" Night which is about the only way we can go out to eat. Anyway, for some insane reason, I've started drinking regular old coffee which I have never had the inclination to do. A Starbucks fluffed up something is usually my limit. I asked for decaf and they bring you the whole pitcher or whatever you call that thing, carafe, I don't know. Having gluttonous tendencies that night, I drank the whole thing. I am a trusting individual, and never did it occur to me that someone at IHOP could make a mistake and bring me regular caffienated coffee. At 4:30am that night when I was still bug eyed and wide awake having not slept a wink the entire night, it dawned on me, that I had had a little caffiene. Apparently, I had so much that after the 2 1/2 hours of sleep I did get that night, I was able to get up feeling fine and went the whole day without a nap until 11pm that night! Yikes! I can only hope baby is okay. He/she seemed to stay up the whole night with me kicking and wiggling. Maybe babies in utero just do that anyway.

You Want Me to Do What?

That was my first response when Rob told me that we would be packing up ourselves for this next move. We leave in less than 30 days and I'm ready to go, but asking a military spouse to pack her own boxes when she's always had it done for her, is a bit of a stretch. I mean, the packers are one of the reasons you stay sane through these moves. It's bad enough to have UN-pack all your boxes every two years or so, much less pack them!

Once I calmed down, I realize that there will be some definite benefit to doing a lot of the packing ourselves. The military will pay us 95% what they would pay a moving company. They save five percent and we can't file a claim on anything we break. We make a lot of money in return for our efforts.

Right now it's not bothering me. I do about 3 or 4 boxes a day, which so far, are mostly books. That is one area I have trouble downsizing. Every move, I get grossed out about having stuff. It's great, because we are always getting rid of things and it seems to make life simpler. I also find myself not buying things because I think, "I don't want that to take up space in my house."

Having to pack things up myself, I'm sure I'll be even more careful about what gets put in those boxes and moved.

Quote of the Day

Alayna: upon seeing that Avery had somehow gotten a hold of her prized Polly Pockets Convertible.

"Mom, please get that away from him. My nerves are not doing so well today."

Catepillar Infestation

They're everywhere! We find them covering our front door, on our clothes, in our clothes, and even, ...in our bed! I really hope they're the kind that turn into butterflies so that there will be some reward for what I consider a trial.

Just yesterday we were at an Army picnic with the students from Rob's school. It was at a park and everyone was on blankets and camp chairs. There were trees around and so every few minutes a catepillar would drop down on someone. Being squeamish no matter how friendly the bug, I found this to be very frustrating. When I felt a hundred tiny legs crawling up my leg as I ate my lunch, I closed my eyes and begged Rob to remove it. Another husband sitting nearby looked at me like I was crazy and said, "That catepillar is not going to hurt you." However, having dreams about catepillars climbing on you, is mentally painful. Perhaps this was more a result of the dead catepillar we found in our sheets this morning.

By the end of the picnic, we were all calmly removing them from each other as though it was completely normal to have them crawling all over us.

The kids had the best time. Perhaps God made catepillars so enticing to children to help with population control. The whole picnic, about 30 kids never left the sand volleyball court because there were so many catepillars to play with. They built sand castles to house them and collected enough of them to fill a whole sand village. What the catepillars thought of all this, I am not sure. On the one hand, they didn't seem to mind being held and petted and talked to, but several of them met an untimely demise from all the handling. Avery in particular played in that sand for two hours before even thinking about finding us. When he did finally come over, he had a fist full of catepillars, mostly of the dead squished variety, clutched in his chubby hand.

They continue to provide entertainment at our home. Everytime the kids go outside, all three of them have a catepillar pet within five minutes of being out there. They never seem to tire of letting them crawl all over their hands and arms. I can hardly watch! Does anyone know how long catepillar season lasts? A few butterflys would be a really welcome change!

Unique Question of the Day

This from Alton: "Mom, why do I think Chinese girls are so cute?"