Friday, August 30, 2013

The Last of Our Moving Entertainment




Elaine playing the Game of Life.

We made the mistake of driving by our old house in Memphis somewhere along the way. With the trees dead at the sides of the door, I have no idea where the cops are going to hide when they arrive for screaming 911 calls any more.

Boys playing with moving boxes we had along with us. This entertained them for an hour of the week that we had no stuff.

Our new water park at the swimming pool entertained them a little bit longer.
And a freshly painted bed for the ladies. Back to work.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Getting Ready for School

Manicures for the ladies, pre first grade. 
Heaven for them.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Spooning Lizards

They looked so cozy, I couldn't bring myself to disturb them to finish cleaning up the back porch.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Grandma and Grandpa Airplane







And so it was that grandma and grandpa airplane braved yet another well-placed week with the kids while Patric and I went through the moves of moving. It was cut short by school starting a week earlier than we anticipated, and on the day that I had to leave town for two days for work. But we moved through, and all the kids want to do is head back to Kansas.

Monday, August 26, 2013

We've Got Another Twirler!


First day of First and First day of Second, last Monday. Uniformed up, obscene amounts of school supplies dropped, and day two on the bus and home nearly without flaw.
Turns out, Alabamians like twirling in line about as much as Texans do. This time the perp is Alida. Hoping this doesn't mean a year like Ben's Kindergarten year is to come...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Wishing I Had This Compulsion

Seriously.  He said he wanted a snack, so I told him to get himself something.
He was in heaven, and he ate the whole thing.  I've been asked to keep more croutons around.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Fairy Gardens

Alida's design.  So cute.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Why didn't you just get a hotel room?



Because every day was just one more day.
And, when we get a hotel room, this happens.  And then I wind up on the pull out bed in the suite that only has a King and a pull out.  A fate worse than the floor.  That's after lying about how many people will be in the room.  When we book online, we just start with three kids now because we know four doesn't work in a room...

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Our New Lawn Furniture

Saturday: We arrived to an empty, new home.  Excited to get our stuff on Monday, but prepared for it to be delayed to Tuesday.  We were fresh, and ready, and excited.

Sunday: Hurt a little getting up out of the air mattress in the morning, but the thought that our stuff  might arrive tomorrow kept us going!  So we took advantage of our free day to go shop lawn furniture sales. 

Monday: Morning sprung, but we hadn't heard that our stuff would arrive.  No worries, we put up our lawn furniture in the sun room.  A cute, multi-purpose lounging and eating/gathering room for the next day--just till our stuff arrived.  The Internet was connected, so who needed anything else?  A pan to cook, please--we had some frozen meals.  My back hurt a little from the air mattress, so I opted for sleeping on the floor.

Tuesday: The moving company called yesterday, and the truck was still in Houston on Monday for routine maintenance.  We'd get our stuff on Wednesday.  We decided to pass the time at a local home and garden store.  I bought a tree, and added it to our little furniture collection. One more night on the floor, no problem.

Wednesday: I awoke to my daily double Alleve, thanked Patric for insisting that we take the coffee pot with us in the car, and then I threw a little sarcastic thank you at him for moving us here.  No worries, our stuff would come today!  Then the moving company called: the truck was broken down, in Houston.  After a few words flung here and there and everywhere, I went for a drive because I love my family, and I didn't want to kill them.  I bought the candle and added it to our little furniture collection/everything thing we own. Oh, no they didn't have a date yet when we would actually get our stuff.  After my calming drive, I suggested to Patric that he try pulling the cushions from our lawn furniture and sleeping on them.  We put a Transformer twin sheet around three of them to hold them together, and his snoring kept me awake on the floor.

Thursday: I clawed the Alleve from the bottle before attempting to sit up. Drank two pots of coffee.  Took the kids to register for school, where we found out they wouldn't accept our records, started a week earlier than we thought, and have to wear uniforms.  Then we got kicked out of an on-post laundry facility, went to the airbase, snuck into another laundry facility, washed our collective five pieces of clothing, and may have eaten popcorn for dinner.  We huddled around the computer on our lawn furniture after figuring out how to watch DirectTV online out of desperation. The moving company called that day, they may be there Friday, probably Saturday, don't be surprised if it is Monday.  Whatever.  As we drug our lawn furniture cushions to the bedroom, Patric suggested that I give them a try.  It may have been the wild look in my eye at this point.

Friday: I awoke with no hope, but I had slept.  We put our lawn furniture back together, ate breakfast around it, watched the news, watered our plant, lit and blew out a candle, swept up the floor around our lawn furniture and cleaned it up. And then Patric took the children out to buy them stuff to make their own fairy gardens, because we were running out of ideas and our lawn furniture was not that exciting anymore.  The moving company called.  They would be there at 8:00 am the next morning.  Whatever.

Saturday: Not really excited, but at least rested, I hugged my lawn furniture cushions before rolling out of bed.  We didn't bother to wake the children, because we didn't really believe our stuff was arriving.  So when it did arrive, we were pretty much still in our pajamas with skeptical looks in our eyes.  As things rolled off the truck, we realized it really was our stuff, and so started three days of unpacking and rearranging.  The lawn furniture is now where it belongs, on the patio, getting soaked in the rain.  Hallelujah

Friday, August 2, 2013

You Two

Ben and Alida July 2012

Ben and Alida June 2011

I love it.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Build a Bear

The lady didn't seem terribly excited to have all four on her building equipment at once.  They all took rubbing their bears' hearts for love very seriously.