Worlds Apart

Nine Days in Africa.

 

Returning to Nine Days of Snow in Chicago.

Soccer Mom

I am not.
Daddy signed them up.
Daddy left town the day after Labor Day for four days, on eight hours notice.
Mom figured out where to get them, what they needed, and what time to arrive.
Mom did not figure out that the shin guards go inside of the socks...
Soccer Mommy Fail. But, they are so crazy cute and proud not knowing their faux paus. And I am constantly looking for other Pee Wee players that are similarly dressed, hoping that we're just setting a trend... We're not.

The Day We Became Cannibals

Dear Everyone I know, who all decided to text me last Thursday around 7 pm, except for the folks I work with, which may have actually been useful this one time,

I'm so sorry I didn't respond.  I had just sliced off the tip of my finger.

Sincerely, Susan

We never found the tip of my finger, which went missing while I was slicing cheese for the children's dinner.  Um, they wound up eating all of the cheese. 

That evening for prayers, Nicholas closed his eyes and prayed the following: "Dear God, please help mommy's finger to heal by next week."  Ben followed quickly, "Dear God, please help mommy's finger to heal by tomorrow."  Not to be outdone, Nicholas responded dutifully, "Dear God, please help mommy's finger to heal right now!"

Everything a competition, even prayer.

Try Again

Our birthday herb garden grew Basil, the other kind of never made it along.

So we tried again this past weekend.

Here Alida is giving them some light so they'll grow. 

Back in the Saddle

Wondering why the posting has slowed?

Peaches here got himself mobilized the end of May through June, right after getting the kids on the swim team.

Morning practice, evening practice, Saturday morning 6 am wakeups are all mine for the month of June.

Love this man.

Him? Don't worry about him.  He mobilized to Fort Hood, so he didn't escape the state this time.

Beginning in July, he got himself mobilized for a year. 

This time I threw a bit of a fit, which turned out to work this once, since he wound up mobilized to Houston with intermittent tours to Fort Hood. 

Here We Go

Overheard on the phone last night,

"I'll stay and help Susan get the kids off to school, then I'll drive to Texas."

Seems surreal.

Ceremony

On Saturday, we all went to watching Patric's Change of Command Ceremony in Crossville.

He's been troop commander in this town for five years, which is nearly unprecedented.

And he enjoyed most every minute of command I think, right down to the end.

I love seeing this smile in the midst of all the serious faces. It helps me pick out Patric in all that drab finery.

We were late. And when they saw us all roll in together, the soldiers very quietly and very quickly lined up more chairs at the front for me and the brood, even though I tried to plop us all down in a corner in the back. The men would have none of it. I love that they have a huge banner in the armory with a prominently situated heart that says "love." That whole banner is filled with pictures of these soldiers with the members of the local community. This place loves their troops, and we love them back for their unceasing support.

Then they started doing this.

And he handed it to him.

And then they had to exchange words.

And then the thing got handed off again to another guy.

They all look the same...

We started getting antsy.

So I took a moment to click a photo of why the latest scissor ban is in effect. Alida was the stylist this time, trying out her skills on Elaine.

Then this.

This was the moment that Patric was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

This was a complete surprise, even though we know he deserves it.

Then they let him talk.

And he talked.

Then he talked with his hands.

And I realized that the soldiers wanted us at the front so they would have some entertainment to watch.

And we all listened to him talk.

And then he finished talking.

And everyone cheered for him. Perhaps because he was done talking, but likely because those men love him almost as much as we love him.

And finally, the most important adoring crowd was released to mob the man who had just wrapped up a very successful command.

Saying good-bye to his tanks is bittersweet I think.

We are proud of him.

Now we're just excited that he'll continue serving when we move, but finally in the same town we live in and not a five hour drive away from us.

More on the final tank ride with the brood and commentary on the cleanest armory in Tennessee tomorrow.

For Sale

We began a journey last September, when Patric took the kids to their grandparents for Labor Day weekend while I dealt with this. It was time to deal with that. He greeted every person who came in our house through the front door. Him and whatever else that other mess was. Him and that frown. So menacing.

So my three days began.

Because everyone likes a personal touch in their decorating, but this wasn't what I'd been going for.

And over that weekend, I wound up with this.

And this!

And we thought to ourselves, that perhaps we could sell this house one day next year. Because now that all Stubers were potty-trained as of 2010, we were busting at the seams of our two bathrooms.

So I started to look at this about the time I was asked to consider re-locating for my job.

And I taught myself how to fix it.

And one of the realtor's said flatly we should tear it all down.

That is a good idea--for someone else.

Because we had spent our time instead dealing with the more yucky, very lived in, we've-brought-four-babies-home-and-raised-them-to-be-pre-schoolers-here carpet that if we were to sell this house would not fly.

And we turned it into this with the help of a friend who works at a construction supply warehouse.

This, by the way, is not nearly as ferocious as it appears.

In fact it was useless.

And around the time we started hauling things out of the house to a storage facility, we said yes, let's relocate.

Because the only thing holding us back, is this house. Our kids are still young. There will be great schools. The job is great. His job will transfer him. We'll be closer to part of my family. We loved it there before.

So we really dug in, and we cleaned the remaining carpets.

Then we had someone come in and re-clean the carpets.

Then I painted the rest of downstairs.

Then we had an electrician come by.

I painted the ceilings.

I painted the trim.

The evening that Benjamin flushed his own Superman down the toilet because Nicholas had fatefully swung at just the right moment and hit Superman out of Ben's hand, I just laughed.

Because why not call a plumber too?

(And it really was just a horrible, tragic-for-Superman accident. You can't really get mad at that.)

So we had the oustide cleaned and painted and re-caulked by other people because we were tired now.

And we listed it on the market.

One day as I cleaned up after dinner, Alida walked by with the dustpan exclaiming:

"All I do around here is clean!"

I think they are picking up on our stress.

Now we live in a house,

that we must have in tip-top shape every time we walk out the door.

Because you never know, when they're coming really.

Except that in the beginning there was a stampede of people.

And now, not-so-much.

And I hate selling a house.

Surprising to me--this is the hardest room to keep clean even though the room is all about keeping things clean.

Little known fact: I don't really like store-bought cut flowers as a gift. They make me a little sad.

Here Patric got me some in a pot, so that I would at least have the bulbs to plant when we get somewhere new. Yes, I don't say it enough, but the man is thoughtful.

So maybe, maybe in the end, we won't have to live in this because that fire isn't too warm, but we do own it out-right...

Mommy Away

Last week I had to be out of town for a few days, and it appears that video game playing was allowed at the table.

The kids were given food, so that's at least good.

And they seemed to like it.
And I would bet money that Alida lived in her Valentine's Day gift from grandma the entire time.

They were clothed, so that's at least good.


And there was bad weather, so they had to retreat to the storm center/laundry room at one point.

They were safe, so that's good.

And there was art time.

So their little minds were expanded, way to go Patric.

I love that Patric is so good with the kids and that I have no worries when I leave for a few days. He is an incredible father to these four, and we are so lucky to have him.

Vacation

We were huddled up in a cabin with no heat trying to get it fixed when we were reunited with daddy. But even that wasn't enough to warm the room really.

So after playing musical cabins: this one is too cold; this one is too small with no bedrooms; this one is just right, we settled in for the week.

Princess Alida didn't mind nature walks in her dress, so we didn't either.

And we took a lot of walking adventures.

We went to the zoo.

We found a playground.

We marched around the entire lake it felt like.

We fed the ducks, who were a little too tame for my tastes.

And when they saw this, they zeroed in on the way to break in without missing a beat. We had to run to keep them from actually getting through. Well their dad had to run; I had to take pictures I guess.

It was as I was taking this picture that I realized that Alida's costume did not mix well with marshmallow roasting and it came off for the evening.

Ben was sweet enough to play horse for Elaine.

We had ice cream.

And on the last day it rained all day.

It seemed fitting really.

So we settled in and dried off and prepared for the good-bye ceremony the next day.