Adventures of Aim n Adam with R&R&R!!!

Up Close and Personal

2011-12-20T16:46:00.001-06:00

Nothing says get to know your neighbors like a 6:20pm fire alarm on a Thursday night. The buzzing sound is loud and then a woman's voice, "Attention in the building, attention in the building" and then she says something about a fire and to exit the building. So, imagine, if you will, Adam is gone (of course!) and the kids and I have just returned home from ballet, trying to get some sort of dinner put on the table. Then it starts. It is so loud it is startling. Rowan immediately starts crying, Rachel and Russell start panicking b/c they actually think there is a fire. I think Rachel was naked b/c she was changing out of her ballet clothes. You can imagine the chaos amongst the 4 of us. Down the stairs we finally go, me holding Rowan and trying to cover his ears, Rachel starts crying because now she is hungry and cold (she is no longer naked, we got her dressed!) and Russ is trying to hurry us down the stairs.

Everyone pours out of the building and the playground is off limits b/c they are replacing the ground cover. Well, that starts another round of tears for Rachel. I find us a curb near some friends and we plop down and wait. I am kicking myself for not grabbing snacks or ipods, anything to entertain and keep the Rs kind of happy? What do you do at that point? People watch of course. You all of sudden know whose kids go to bed earlier than yours b/c they are all in the pajamas. Whose kids do fine in a time of stress b/c they are not crying. In fact Rachel decided she needed to go over and talk to her pal Matthew and tell him why she was crying. She did and came back happy. So, thank you Matthew! You learn who has dogs and who has dogs that don't like other dogs. And you learn that the very smart people take their kids to their car and either hang out there or drive off.

Oh and add to that one broken elevator in your building, leaving only 2 elevators to take all the inhabitants back up to their respective floors. And when one elevator is broken, you pack in. Which leads me to my next up close and personal scenario – broken elevators.

This time imagine all the school children and escorting parents along with people trying to get downstairs to go to work and you are down an elevator or two. You really pack it in. Personal space is not an option. You all groan together as you stop to pick people up on every floor. Yes, even the 1^st and 2^nd floors. We have faced almost packed elevators where you see a friend's face poking out from the back of the elevator and she says "Pack the kids in, I'll walk them!!" And of course, you do the same for other friends, especially those with strollers for their little ones.

Okay, so one last thing about the fire alarm. Adam had called like six times while we were outside and calls again just as we are getting back into the apt. The alarm is still going off. The firemen have inspected the building and cleared us to return but they can't get the alarm off. Encouraging, I know. And what does Mr. Wonderful have to say while the kids are crying and hungry?? He was calling to share he made it back to Korea from Okinawa and he got bumped to 1^st Class and it was so awesome, he wants to fly 1^st Class as much as possible, blah blah blah blah blah. That was when I started to cry… just kidding!

My new plan for the fire alarm, which I have shared with my new neighbor – we grab snacks and earphones, we go down the stairs, we go directly to our minivans parked side by side, and we either watch movies in the vans or head to Burger King!!! OPf course now that I am so s-m-r-t we won't get the opportunity ; )

I’m the Map, I’m the Map, I am the MMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPP!

2011-09-21T06:43:00.001-05:00

My friend, Janise, reminded me that I have not shared very many stories lately. Okay, lately is an under exaggeration. Looking back at my last post in March (yikes!) is right around the time I started having all these weird symptoms and I had become a medical mystery!! While I won't get into all the symptoms, let me say that it has been terrible. The bottom line being that the very essence of Aim was slipping away and it was/is noticeable to many. We had to cancel our trip to Thailand over Spring Break and right before my big trip CA for the summer with the kids, I was sick again. I was sick in CA, debunking the rumor that it was a 'Korea Thing', and am now waiting on the results of yet another round of blood tests. This time for Celiac disease, this is an allergy to wheat and wheat protein (otherwise known as gluten). I have been trying to be gluten free over the last 4 weeks and have seen some improvement, but also had a medicine dosage increased, so the results of the blood test will really be the deciding factor in the Celiac diagnosis. This topic could be a whole other blog post.

Needless to say, blogging about Korea since March has not been a priority! But now that I am feeling better, I have thought about a story that I would like to share.

I have a really great map of Korea.

This map gets me everywhere. This map is so worn out that I have had to tape it pack together with clear packing tape. The best thing about my map is that was FREE, but it is worth $$$!

Case in point….. I actually corrected a taxi driver when he was going the WRONG way. When my friend, Beth, turned the big 4 -0, we took a little gals trip to Seoul. Just 4 gals going wild in Seoul! Not really, but we had plans and we needed to get around Seoul in the rain. Who came to the rescue, you know it, it was THE map. I navigated the streets of Seoul like it was nobody's business. My map has landmarks written in BOTH English and Korean. That may not seem important, but it is when you have a taxi driver that doesn't speak English. You just point to something on my map and they can read it in Korean. Brilliant! So, back to my 'case in point'. We are travelling from point A to B and the taxi driver is going the wrong way (I suspect maybe to rip us off). Not to this savvy map reader. I am saying to my cohorts, 'he is going the wrong way, he should be going this way' and gesturing to my map. Lo and behold, the driver flips a U and takes us in the correct direction. Yes, I'm the map, I'm the map, I am THE map.

The map also proved itself invaluable on a family trip to Busan over Memorial Day weekend. We decided to drive through the glorious countryside of Korea instead of taking the train. We are suckers for a road trip. Kim (remember her; the GPS?) was very good to us that weekend, but my map kept us one step ahead of Miss Kim. And then, while in Busan, we used MY map to communicate with taxi drivers. Once again, I will say, I'm the map, I'm the map, I am THE map.

A funny side note for the Busan trip…. We are cruising in a taxi and the Korean driver looks at me and says 'Espanol?' And I say no we are American. He goes on to tell us in broken English he lived in Mexico for 7 years. Oooooh, I figure it out. So I tell him that yes, I speak some Spanish. So we converse in Spanish for the rest of the ride. I mean honestly, what are the chances of getting a Korean taxi driver that speaks Spanish in Busan?? Once in a lifetime right there!

There are many more times that I have used my map, but I won't get into each time. I do like to know where I am going and how to get there, so I really value my map. Adam suggested that I get framed after we leave Korea. God, I love that guy!!! I will get it framed; holes, tape and all. I mean after all, I'm the map!!

Preheated Hot Water and Other Simple Things

2011-03-25T01:31:00.001-05:00

I was able to have lunch with Adam today. It was a fun little outing. Rowan and I walked over to his office and then we walked to lunch. It just got me thinking about how I should write about some of the little comforts of life here. There is a lot to complain about here, but there are some benefits too. These are just some of the simple pleasures amidst the oddities in no particular order…

Our water cooler… I am a little picky about drinking water, so we bought a water cooler and have the 5 gallon water jugs delivered as we need them. This water cooler has the hot water dispenser too. Hot tea? No problem. Oatmeal? Couldn't be easier. Hot chocolate all around? You got it. Can you tell how easy it is to please me these days? I know you must be thinking, I am thinking it too. Really? Preheated hot water makes you happy? It is a little sad, but I live in South Korea.

The medical clinic and hospital is literally across the street from our apartment building. We haven't had many appointments, but when we have, it is so nice to not have to think about getting everyone in the car and timing the traffic, parking, etc. It takes 2 minutes, if that, to get there. If we have to go to the ER, (fingers crossed we never have to), just cross the street. With the croup that goes around, this could be a major convenience for the Bright Fam.

Walking almost everywhere, if you want. I am liking the walking option and am sure I'll like it better when it is warmer. It would be a pain to walk everywhere on base, but the areas we use – the school, the commissary, BX, post office, movie theater, library – you know, the basics of life, we can walk there, if we want. (Do you like that? If you want. I can admit I don't always want to, but I like the option!!)) I have found the more I walk, the more likely I am to remember to use my reusable bags. And, if I have to carry everything I am buying, I am less likely to overbuy.

Consequently with all the walking, I only buy gas about once per month. Isn't that crazy?? When have you ever only bought gas one time per month?

The commissary is right next to the school. In the States, I prefer to grocery shop every couple of weeks and pick up milk when we run out kind of thing. Here that is impossible b/c the fridge and pantry aren't big enough. So, I have adapted to buying basically what we will need for a week at most. That being said, the commissary is next to the elementary school. I walk to school twice per day, so if we need milk or bread, it is so easy to pop over and grab it while going to get or drop off the kids.

Ajima Heaven. (Pronounce it "ah-jee-ma") I have a Korean cleaning lady, Mrs. Pyo. She comes once per week, is here for maybe 6 hours and she is awesome. She does everything and I LOVE her. Actually she does too much, but there is no telling her that. She cleaned the patio when it was 30degrees out and she was wearing a tank top and capris. She scrubbed the tile floor on the patio. I tried and tried to tell her not to do it, but she did. Then she took out buckets of water and rinsed the patio. Did I mention how I love her?

We have a nice view from our apartment of the flight line and one of the main streets on base. I swear every guy that comes in our apartment for the 1^st time goes straight for the view. I am sure during Spring and Fall the view will be even better. I can sit out on my 'freshly scrubbed' patio floor, have a glass of wine and watch the sun set. Who could complain about that?

7^th floor – I like all our neighbors. I think we really lucked out. I know have written about that before. A couple of other things about life on the 7^th floor… I never feel guilty about taking the elevator. If I lived on maybe the 3^rd floor or so, I might guilt myself into taking the stairs.

When it snows, someone else does all the work to shovel, salt and sand the roads, sidewalks, etc. to clear them. Plus, I really enjoy the view from the apartment while the snow is falling.

This is a funny one – the garbage chute! When the garbage has to go out, it goes down the garbage chute. No stinky garbage cans in the garage, no empty garbage cans being blown all over the street. Recycling gets bagged in clear bags and goes down the chute too. No overfilling recycling bins in this house! No having to remember if this is the week the recycling truck comes, just take it out when it's full.

I would never have learned about Graboid if we didn't live here. It is a website that you watch TV shows and movies or download and keep them if you like. We pay a nominal fee for it, but it is worth every cent. We hook up the laptop to the TV and voila! I know I have complained about the cable here, but Graboid really makes up for it. Adam and I got caught up on Top Chef in like two weeks. Some movies we have watched are being shown at the movie theater here. Some movies we question the copy, nod, nod, wink, wink, but how many of you have watched TRON and Harry Potter 7.1 at home????

I am sure there are plenty of simple things to list, but of course I am now thinking how sad it is to be excited over preheated hot water. Sounds like it is time for a cup of tea : )

Wait a Minute, Kim, You Want Me to Do What in 500 meters? How Long is 500 meters???

2011-02-28T06:44:00.001-06:00

I am getting to know the metric system. Kim will say "In 500 meters, to the right." What? What is to the right in 500 meters? Do I turn right, exit right, stay right? When is 500 meters? When is 200 meters? Kim, you are failing me. Kim, what exit am I taking? Can you say it? That's all I get, 'to the right in so many meters'?????? Help! Damn, I missed the turn. Time to recalculate, Kim.

That pretty much says it all, except who the heck is Kim? Kim is our Korean GPS. Yes, I named her Kim with the help of my friend, Sam. What can I say? Adam and I named our Garmin GPS in the States, Sheila, because we use the voice with the Australian accent. Ugh. Sheila. I have been known to talk to Sheila and on occasion even use a cuss word or two. OK. That is a big understatement right there. I talk to Sheila constantly, like she is sitting in the car, and I talk to her like I don't like her. I like to use Sheila to see where I am in relation to upcoming exits and if I need to search for a gas station, Starbucks, etc. However, I really prefer to use my own GPS system in my head that is called my brain. That can generally work in the States. I can read directions online, make a mental note and off I go with Sheila as my back up. That is not true here.

I think I said before that I feel disoriented here because addresses are written so differently. And THEN every brochure, website, map or tour book will give an address just a little bit differently. I think some things are lost in translation. So, you may think you have a correct address, try to program it into Kim and she may or not have that street, city or county spelled exactly the same way the website has spelled it. So, then you have to guess is it Jinwi-ro, Jinwi-ri, Jinwi-gi, Jinwi-go??? I just made those up as examples, but that is how it is. That example could easily be used for a street or city name. So, you could guess on the city and then look for the street and it is wrong. Go back and pick a different city section and then find you have 3 choices for streets. See what I mean? It is frustrating, confusing, irritating, the list could go on. One thing Kim does have in her many options is to search for a business or landmark name. She probably has millions programmed. So, that is how I start my search, with a name and then go from there.

Kim is quite the system. She is a Korean brand, Woori, which is in English. She can take and save notes, play music, pick up a TV signal, play movies, (she came with her own SD card for media), and I think she even has Bluetooth capabilities. I am sure there are more things she can do. Oh, if you attach a camera to the back of your car, she can help you see behind you when backing up etc. We picked Kim because she has lots of places preprogrammed and she comes with free updates. You can buy a Garmin here, but you have to have it updated with Korean maps, but then it doesn't always have as many places programmed and you can pay big bucks for updates, if you choose. It was a tough call. We liked the familiarity of the Garmin. However, the convenience of all the preprogrammed places in the Woori and the man that sold it to us has a booth on base offers technical support; we thought that was a better choice for us. We did try to buy a used GPS, any kind, but they sell fast and we weren't fast enough!

She has a fairly large screen and then she splits it with her guidance. So, a split side screen will show you the exit lanes and the larger part of the split screen will show you the main map. It is hard because, you need to watch the road, not Kim's fancy screens. And then where she shows how long until the next exit, turn or ' to the right' is confusing. It is all a matter of getting familiar with it and getting the settings just right. I guess I could take her in for some support, but I am stubborn and want to figure Kim out. A quick side note on being Kim's 'master'…. Sigh. My cell phone. I feel like such an idiot because I have a pay by the minute kind of phone and I can't add the minutes. You buy a calling card with 30 minutes to add to your phone and they are good for 30 days. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong! You have to have the Korean employees at the kiosk add the minutes of your card to your phone for you because the directions are all in Korean. If you want to know how many minutes you have left, you have to stop by and they call in for you to tell you when they expire and how much is left. I hate that dependence. I want to do it myself. Hence, why I want to figure out Kim and not have to take her in for help for easy stuff. Crazy? Yes. Stubborn? Absolutely. Controlling? You got it!!! At least I can admit it.

The bottom line is this: I am learning to trust Kim, but it is difficult. What I have decided to do is turn Kim on wherever I am going off base so I can get to know her better and just get used to her screens and prompts. I suppose I really do need to get on board with this whole metric system and figure out my meters too. That may be easier said than done.

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

2011-02-17T07:01:00.001-06:00

If you live in the States, you'll think this is a post about exercising. Wrong! This is about the Giant Voice on base. Are you totally confused? Let me tell you a story about a boy, a beanstalk and a giant. Just kidding! On base we have a Giant Voice and that is literally what it is called. You can't make that up. I want to meet the genius that said, what the hell, let's just call it the Giant Voice because that's what it is. The Giant Voice, or GV from this point, is like the loud speaker on base. You can hear it anywhere on base and a lot of times off base. On normal days it will tell you the road conditions on base. We have three in case you were wondering: green, amber and red. We can have 'amber' road conditions, not yellow (like that is too common?), but we have a Giant Voice. The GV also plays the Korean National Anthem and the American National Anthem at 5:30pm every day and Taps at 10:00pm. On non-normal days the GV is on and loud at any time 24/7. I should also note that the GV is an actual person talking with the exception of the songs played or sirens blared. Yes, I said sirens, more on that in a minute.

Right now we are in the middle of an exercise on base. A non-normal week. The base is prepping for an inspection and other things and exercises are part of the process. Each one is different, apparently. I am on my second exercise. The GV is really something during the week. Typically everything it says starts with "Exercise. (pause for the echo) Exercise. (pause) Exercise." Then it will state some kind of message that has some importance to the Exercise. The GV will announce at all hours of the day and night. It will blast siren warnings at all hours of the day AND night. During our first exercise, Rachel looked at me on the last day and asked "Why is that man always telling us to exercise?"

The people involved in the Exercise work all kinds of hours. Adam could work for a good 12-16 hours on any given day. They aren't sitting at their desks working; I won't bore you with what they do. They have to wear all kinds of gear while working depending on what the GV has instructed. That gear can be very heavy and I am glad I don't have to wear it. After work, Adam has to stay in the apartment. He can't go to the gym, the commissary, the post office, or even walk the kids to school. He is at work or at home and so is everyone else participating in the exercise. Think of some of the single folks here that live in dorms and can't go to the chow hall to get meals. They stock up on what they can b/c they are stuck in the dorm or at work with no kitchen. It is a crazy, weird week. Everyone's exhausted whether you are active duty or not.

When the first exercise ended, the GV played the song "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. It literally just blared out the song, not from the beginning, so you really only got the loud chorus parts. I was hanging pictures up in the living room thinking am I really listening to Lee Greenwood on the GV? That is so bizarre. I had to run across the hall and ask Leslie if she was hearing it too. When she first heard it, she thought maybe her phone was ringing and it had changed its own ringtone. (That, btw, would not be a surprise with Korean cell phones. You think you are doing one thing and it does another) I am wondering what the GV will play at the end of this exercise. Will it be Lee Greenwood? Could it be some other 4^th of July standard? I know you are all on the edge of your seat waiting to know. Until then I leave you with exercise, exercise, exercise……. Crazy loud annoying sirens ….. Exercise, exercise, exercise…… Why IS that man telling us to exercise???

It’s Good, for Korea

2011-02-15T05:54:00.001-06:00

My friend Beth said this to me the other day when we were talking about a restaurant. I spent a moment thinking about that comment. I came to the realization that you can use that phrase to describe anything here. In a lot of ways that statement can be a state of mind. If you don't get into this particular state of mind, your time here could be torture because you'd always be expecting better, more or different. I have embraced this 'state of mind' because there is no use in living abroad and expecting life to be like it was at home.

A couple of examples…

We were talking about a Thai food restaurant that we went to for Russ's birthday. It was decent, but our Thai food restaurant that we loved in Vegas was incredible in comparison. And it isn't that the food was bad at the restaurant here, it was good, for Korea. When you ask people about certain restaurants around here, very rarely do they say it was the best food they ever ate. The attitude is, you guessed it, good, well, you know…

Oh my Gosh… roads. You could really use that expression for describing roads or traffic. Roads here are narrow, there is typically quite a bit of traffic and a lot of Korean drivers don't choose to follow traffic laws. And boy, do they love their horns. Another quick thing, there are theses dummies on the side of the roads that look like people, Korean people of course. And the arm will move with a flag attached to it to draw attention to something that is written in Korean. The first time I saw one, it looked real to me, but random because we were on a country road with not a lot of traffic!!! Anyway, so when describing a route or a drive here, you could easily say………..

The smell on the trains. Sometimes it is bad and other times it is really bad. And really the smell is just because they eat different foods than we do. I will say on a long train ride you are hoping that the smell or the crowds will be good, for Korea.

Rowan has started a preschool at a church off base. It is an American school/church. Is it the greatest preschool any of my children have attended? Probably not. And don't get me wrong, I think it is a fine preschool and they do the best with the facilities that they have, but it could easily be described as good, for Korea. I think the location is its biggest and only problem. There is no outdoor play area. Picking up can be a nightmare due to the narrow streets and Koreans not following the no parking laws. Picture, if you will, a line of mainly American cars – minivans and smaller SUVs driving in a line up a narrow street where there is no parking designated on the street but Koreans park any way. Then more Koreans driving down the narrow street, maneuvering in between the illegally parked cars and the brigade of minivans lined up to pull up to the preschool for pick up. Or there are Koreans in cars behind the minivan pickup brigade and they are ticked to be waiting in line for preschool pick up at a school where their children do not attend!!! And then when they can't drive between the parked cars and the minivans, they honk, they get out of their cars and yell at you, or try to force their way through. It's crazy, but good, for Korea….

I don't think I have lived here long enough to really experience the full impact of "it's good, for Korea", but I am glad I have figured it out already. It is almost like the saying "take it with a grain of salt" in a lot of ways. Just knowing that things are a little 'off' and embracing it are all part of the experience. Of course, now I am thinking what something will be like if it is "bad, for Korea". Cringe. Let's hope we don't have to figure that one out!

Ummm. It's Cold Here

2011-01-16T06:06:00.002-06:00

This morning was an all new low for us, 1 degree. How often can you can degree without using its plural? The high was maybe 9. I am very glad I bought super warm coats on clearance last year at Lands End.

We seem to have adjusted to the cold weather and life on base. One new adjustment is living in an apartment building with interior hallways. Since we have no front yard, or backyard for that matter, the kids will play in the hallways and in the elevator lobbies on our floors. They bring out scooters, toys, DS's, games, whatever strikes their fancy. It is an adjustment as a parent because you typically stay in the apt. while the kids play out in the hallway. I like to hear what is going on, so I bought a door stop to keep our front door open. Typically it is Rachel that has some kind of drama. But, on the flipside, if your door is open, kids will coming running in to play. It is a learning process. And, we are not comfortable with Rowan out with the 'big' kids, so he has to have a parent go out with him.

Our apartment building has 3 hallways per floor and 3 apartments per hallway. When we first moved in, we were the only people in our hallway of 3 apartments. Now in our little hallway, we have a family across the hall with a boy for Russ, a girl for Rach and a mom for Aim! And at the end of our hallway, a girl for Rach, a boy for Row and a mom for Aim! Ha! On our floor, the Thomas family is in another hallway and more boys to play with!! Adam worked with Mike Thomas in OK, but I didn't have the opportunity to meet his wife, Beth. But now we are neighbors, in the same squadron and we all get along great, so that is such fun! We have met a few other neighbors on our floor with kids that all seem mix with ours. In a lot of ways, we couldn't have planned the ages of children on our floor. It is working out well. I am sure the kids will miss this playtime afetr we move. It is quite the difference from Vegas where noone is out in front of their houses.

I still need to blog about EMart. I took Adam and the kids there yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to a mall near here called AK Plaza. I feel like we should be getting out more, but it is really cold. Maybe when the weather warms up to a balmy 25.....

Haircut and A Cup of Coffee

2011-01-09T21:54:00.001-06:00

I recently went for a haircut and while childless, attempted to run an errand off base. First the haircut. In Vegas, I adored my guy, Matt, and was dreading a haircut here. Well, my bangs grew way too long and I don't cut my own, so my hand was forced! I just went to the Beauty Shop on base. It turned out all right. The trouble, of course, is the communication. I am hesitant to have them color my hair because Matt did such a great job giving me what I wanted although I wasn't exactly great at telling him what I wanted. I love the haircut chit chat and Matt and I had great chit chat!! However, when you have a Korean lady cutting your hair, she is having the Korean chit chat while cutting your hair with the other Koreans. So, it was lonely. I will venture off-base next time because I have heard there are a few good places. But, I look forward to being in the States and having a normal haircut. A quick funny about the experience on-base. There is one woman who washes hair and will come over and blow dry your hair while the stylist is working on someone else. Now, they don't tell you who is cutting your hair, they basically point to where you are supposed to sit or motion for you to go to the hair wash chair. Well, the hair wash lady has horrible hair. It is lopsided and messy. It looks like a child cut her hair and she decided to keep it. So, not knowing she doesn't cut hair, I had a minor freak-out to myself. OMG, this lady is cutting my hair? Over my dead body. You can imagine the relief I felt when she didn't cut my hair!!

Okay, so I am childless and want to run to this little art shop off base. I had been off base the day prior, but she was closed. Korean shop owners can keep funny hours and that is just fact. So, I thought, I'd pop over buy the piece I wanted and get on with life. She was closed, again. The shop owners across the alley said maybe she'd open at 11? It was 11:15. I decided to go get a coffee and come back. I went to this little coffee shop and ordered a hand drip coffee. What a process and experience! First, I had to pick my beans. The little Korean man asked me five times if I was sure, those are strong. I think he thought I was crazy. Then he ground the beans and put them in a filter over a small carafe. Next he heats up water in a small watering can thing. He motions me to come to the counter and watch him. He shows me the temperature of the water, it was too hot. We have to sit and watch the water cool 3 degrees. Then he pours only a bit of water in and lets it steep. He doesn't speak a lot of English, so we are just sitting there watching the steeping and I am not sure what he is doing, but enjoying the process nonetheless. Then he pours in the rest of the water in this artful way with the watering can thing and lets it drip. Next he takes out 2 small espresso cups and pours me a cup and a cup for himself! Ha! I didn't realize I was buying him a cup too. So we drink, exclaim good coffee and he pours what is left for me in a paper cup (I had originally asked for it to go). Here I thought I was getting a quick cup of coffee, but I just have to remember there is no quick anything around here. I decide to ask him what is the best Korean restaurant in the area. He scratches his head and tells me he 'call his wife.' They speak on the phone and they decide there are no good Korean food restaurants in the area! I teased him that his wife was the best cook and he agreed. I almost didn't want to leave after that, but I asked for it to go and I decided to leave. I venture back to the art shop which is still closed.

It was just kind of a funny day. Two extremes in a lot of ways. A lonely haircut where you are missing something, someone, somewhere normal or like home. Then a 'quick' cup of coffee which was quiet in a lot of ways, but not lonely at all or quick for that matter. Just when you think you are getting adjusted you experience something else….

Life in South Korea

2010-12-08T23:08:00.001-06:00

So, these are just some little observations about life in South Korea and living on base…

The apartment – I like the apartment and I am so grateful to have 4 bedrooms and all the storage space. This may sound weird, but everything seems lower. The kitchen counter is the prime example. It seems lower than in the states?? Which means the cabinets are lower and I have to bend over to get stuff out of the cabinets, all of them. The dishwasher seems lower too. I just don't remember having to reach so far down to put things in or take them out. I don't think it is lower by much, but enough to make a difference in that I feel it in my back. And the fridge. Ugh, we have had side by side fridges for 10+ years and this one is freezer on top, fridge on the bottom. But, my mom has that kind and I don't feel like I need to kneel on the ground to take food out or put it in. Maybe I am just the Jolly Green Giant in Korea? Ha! OH! No garbage disposal either. Why? I wish I knew. I take that back, I wish I could put one in!

TV- This is hard to explain. We get some current programs, like Survivor. But some programs we don't get at all. I am sure there are all kinds of reasons. We have a Sports Channel that can start with Fox Sports, then next is an ESPN program and then next up an even broadcast by NBC. You don't have to change the channel! We watch NFL on Monday mornings. By the time we get up, the 2^nd game is starting and we could have 3 different games to choose from. We do get to see the Today Show live in EST if we stay up late enough. For example with the Today Show, if you watch Friday night, you are watching live Friday morning.

Dining – When dining in a restaurant, they take your order, deliver your order and after that they don't have much to do with you. They don't come back to check in and see how everything is like you would expect in the states. A lot of restaurants don't have forks, just chopsticks and spoons. And those are kept in little boxes on the tables. Korean food is tasty and when we have dined at Korean restaurants, you get all these little side dishes to go with your meal. Kimchi is the most popular. We have had marinated bean sprouts, pickled veggies of all kind, egg dishes, and the strangest one we have had is acorn jelly/jello. I asked Adam for a Korean cookbook for Christmas so I too can make acorn jello, not. But, I would like to make bulgogi, which is a marinated beef dish.

Driving – I just got my Korean Driver's License through the AF. I haven't driven yet, but we pick up the car Friday morning in Seoul and Sunday I am already planning to drive to E-Mart with the Kinard girls and Rachel. I am sure this adventure could be a post all by itself. I do know that Koreans are crazy drivers and some freeways have these express lanes for buses only.

Telephones & Cell Phones – I feel like such an old fart complaining about this. The phone system is difficult. We have a VOIP phone for our home phone so we can have a CONUS number and a Korean number at the same time but, we have no voicemail. Our cell phones are the cheapy prepay minute phones, so we don't have VM on those either. We get tons of random texts in Korean. Oh and when you call a number and for example, it is no longer in service, that message is in Korean. So, you don't really know what message they just told you, but her voice is very pleasant.

McDonalds – They have different items on the menu. We like the bulgogi burger, which is like a hamburger, but the patties are marinated or dipped in this tasty sauce and then put in the buns with all the fixings. Yummmmmmm. They should make those in the States. We heard they have a shrimp sandwich much like a filet o fish, but shrimp. Oh, and the Koreans are stingy with the ketchup! That is a serious problem for us b/c Rachel could eat a bowl full of ketchup with a spoon. At the McD's in Seoul they pulled out a laminated card that had English, Korean and pictures on it so you could order. Do you want to know how to say Sprite in Korean??? It's Sprite. There, you know a word.

Koreans love Rowan – I wouldn't be surprised if Rowan has a thing for Asian women. They love him. And it isn't just Rowan. Last weekend we were on the Subway in Seoul with some friends that have 2 boys, so we had 5 kids on the train. This older woman missed her stop b/c she was watching the children and not paying attention to the subway stops.

OK, that is it for now…. We still haven't received our Household Goods from the States and we are anxious. This temp furniture is the pits. I tried to get the kids to ask Santa for our stuff, but they prefer to ask for new toys. My latest offering is that if I get our stuff before Christmas, I will no longer complain about the Dallas Cowboys being on every frickin' weekend in every place I live. This is a huge sacrifice for me….

“New Woman, U.S. Embassy”

2010-11-23T20:06:00.001-06:00

Back to the blog. I have been uninspired, busy and bored with my blog. Now that we have moved to South Korea, I am feeling a little inspired again. That and everyone wants to know what it is like and it is hard to email all our fans ; )

I recently went to Seoul for a girls' shopping trip. I had the pleasure of travelling with 5 other spouses from our squadron. We left on a Friday, stayed the night at the Army Base near Seoul that has a huge hotel and consequently a 'Shopette' type store at the lodge where I found Rachel's fave strawberry applesauce that I can't find here at Osan Air Base. We literally shopped all day on Saturday and didn't return home until almost 10pm. It was great fun and tiring. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

A taxi ride to remember…. We took a taxi from base to one shopping market. The driver spoke very good English and wanted to know all about us. Since I had only been in the country for a week, I became "New Woman". The driver took it upon himself to give us a quick tour of Seoul, aka the long way to the market. The first thing he asked us is do we know where the US Embassy is? Uh, no. Do you know the Blue House, the other girls do, I don't. Off we go on our private tour! The driver is weaving in and out of traffic, talking away, pointing out this, that and the other. Then at a stoplight, he pulls in front of the first car waiting at the red light. "New woman, I break driving law, but we have to be in front so you get best view!" (or something like that) Giggles ensue. Then we drive by the US Embassy. "New woman, here US Embassy. You know US Embassy. Learn US Embassy near City Hall and river!" And then we turn another corner, cut across lanes of traffic and he drops us off at the market. We get out of the car, giggling, and he insisted we that we did not pay him a tip. I don't think I'll ever have another taxi ride like it! It was a blast.

Markets in Seoul…. I am still learning geography, so I may describe places inaccurately. We went to 3 different shopping areas. One was Friday night, we didn't go to shop, we went for dinner. It was Western looking to me. A busy street, restaurants and shops packed in, but it was more upscale looking. I believe that was Itaewon. We had dinner at a pseudo-Italian kind of restaurant that was very good. Then we went to a NesCafe Café . My friend Beth had a sweet potato latte and yes, it tasted like sweet potatoes!!!

Saturday was 2 different markets. The first was Insadong (after the great cab ride). That has a main street with alleys off the main street and lots of shops. I think after seeing the 2nd market that Insadong is more touristy. Many shops sold similar things, but there were quite a few pottery shops and art galleries/shops too. There were also street vendors, but these vendors had carts and that kind of thing. At that market area I bought a scarf, some Korean tops (toy tops) for the kids, a key chain, chopsticks for Adam, that kind of stuff. Oh! We had delicious Korean food for lunch, yum!!

Now the 2^nd market is a whole different world. It is called Namdaemun. It was crazy. Seemed like it was never ending, no main street, lots of alleys that make no sense as to where they lead. Every 'street' jam packed full of shops and each shop jam packed with stuff. It is definitely a market area where the locals shop. Then behind some storefronts are indoor shopping buildings, probably 6 stories high and many vendors jam packed in the building and, you guessed it, each vendor has tons of items to sell. Each floor seemed to have a theme – general merchandise, housewares, etc. This is a market you can bargain with the vendors although, I didn't. The entire market had all types of things to buy – food (some more pungent than others), clothing, purses, fabric, shoes, toys, Christmas stuff, tailor shops, probably anything you can think of. Then in the middle of the 'streets' these vendors would have plastic taped to the ground and then pile up clothes or coats. Koreans would swarm to these vendors. I think these were typically secondhand items and they must have been cheap. It was crazy. At the Namdaemun market I bought gloves, boots for Rowan (fake Ugg type with Thomas the Train on them!! So Cute!) and a hat for Rachel that has mittens attached to it (the hat is one of Hello Kitty's friends and the whole thing is very soft and fuzzy. These hats are very popular here and they make all different types – wolf, rabbit, panda bear, teddy bears, etc.). I wasn't sure what to expect to find, but now that I know, I can plan better. The one thing I may splurge on there is a new set of dishes – there were tons of different choices and a lot of great sets in white, but in different shapes. I'll have to take more pictures next time I am there.

Crowds… when Koreans want to get by you in a crowd, they just push right by you and that isn't considered rude. Only a couple of times did I hear anyone say "excuse me". On the subway they just push right into the train. Even little old ladies will push you aside to get to a seat.

Okay, that is enough for now. My mind is filling up with all sorts of ideas for blog posts, stay tuned!

I am Done. Period. Dot.

2010-02-14T23:51:00.001-06:00

This is the last week of Adam's deployment. He comes home on Friday and Friday won't come soon enough. I think b/c I am so close to the end, my patience is gone. Most of you know that I am not a complainer, I take the bad with the good, take it in stride and move on. But today has been kind of a crummy day, so I am going to complain. I am sure I will reread this tomorrow and totally cringe.

The kids were whiny and not particularly good today. Rowan did not nap and now will not go to bed.

Russell broke this butterfly thing that Rachel made me for 'no good reason'. Normally, I'd think, hey at least he told me he did it and restrict him from whatever and move on. Today it really bothered me. I honestly wanted to take one of his new bday toys and snap it in half in front of him for 'no good reason'. I resisted and ignored him for a bit and he was appropriately apologetic. The whole really irritated me. That is so unlike him to do that, so that was troublesome too. It still pisses me off a bit.

I am tired of doing everything.

I don't want to take out the trash.

I don't want to change every single diaper.

I don't want to clean up after every frickin' meal and/or snack.

I am tired of making coffee, although it is a total necessity.

I am tired of telling little people to brush and floss their teeth. I am tired of inspecting teeth and reminding them about cavities.

I don't want to pick up after Rowan and think about my back while doing it.

I am completely done with battling a 2 year old alone. The other day he was struggling to not get in his car seat and I turned a certain way to get him in and there was my back. Not good.

Weekends can really suck. I miss reading the Sunday paper and drinking coffee without requests for this, that and everything else.

I am tired of consoling Rachel and all the tears. I am not a crier and she is. I have had to change the 'no crying' rule to 'quiet crying'. It isn't working. Today she cried b/c her helium balloon came off the ribbon after she played with it and I told her not to play with it for that very reason. AND, she didn't stop crying after I retied the damn ribbon on the balloon. Why???

I am tired of getting up every morning and not sleeping in at all. And, (bad wife moment, prepare yourselves) I just want to reach through the webcam and slap Adam when he complains to me how tired he is. Not that he has ever said he is more tired than me or anything like that. Part of my morning issue is that my old back is so stiff in the morning and picking Rowan up out of his crib is not pleasant.

I am so tired of tattling and endless requests. I LONG to say "Go tell Dad" or "Go complain to Dad" or even better, "Ask Dad".

I want to sit down to eat and not be asked to get someone something or watch Rowan throw something off his highchair the second I sit down.

I am tired of trying to help Russ get everything done – Scouts, homework, speech, and all the little things he needs to work on for school – math facts, reading comprehension. I am so thankful Rachel got that Tag Reader for xmas, b/c that way someone/something can read to her when I run out of time.

That's a good one. I am tired of running out of time.

That being said, it is time for bed. I am slightly cringing as I reread this now. Tomorrow I am sure I will have major complainer's regret!!!

Confessions During Deployment

2010-01-14T21:48:00.001-06:00

Okay, it's not like I have anything to bad to confess, I just thought I would own up to some of things I do while home alone with three kids for months. Adam does have a tentative date to return: February 19^th
J

I seem to watch A LOT chick flicks. And I watch the same ones over and over. We currently have HBO, gratis I'd like to add, and with that HBO comes HBO onDemand. So, you get a select list of movies and shows to watch whenever you want. I have to admit I have watched Bride Wars, 27 Dresses , and He's Just Not That Into You more than should be allowed. Especially Bride Wars. I am probably close to 10 or more times. Not that the movie is even that great. The more I see it, the more I like it. Hmmm….
I have not really cooked in ages. I did cook around the holidays and felt a little out of practice. Cooking right now is making a salad or roasting some veggies. Oh, I did make some soups and then froze the leftovers. That was pretty handy. It is amazing that the kids would eat some type of nugget and apple, applesauce or salad every night.
The kids have eaten almost every meal at the bar on bar stools. I can just hear Adam now, "I'm bringing manners back to this house!" (That was for you, Christine ; ) If anyone wants to hear a funny story about THAT, email me.) Sometimes, the TV is on while we eat.
I drink a glass of wine almost every night. On bad nights, it is two. Even worse nights like in-laws here, more than two: I won't confess the real number!!!
I am totally selfish – I have not enrolled Rachel in gymnastics or ballet so I can go to the gym more. I really love my gym too.
I let the kids watch more TV than they should and go to bed later than they should. Rachel will put herself to bed. Russ is a night owl, although a couple times he has looked at the clock and told he should really go to bed.
I let Rowan have his bink, aka the 'nink', whenever he wants. I don't even try to have him use it less during the day. Adam is all about the nink going away when he gets back. He can do it and brag about it too. More power to him!
When Rowan wakes up earlier than I want, I bring him to bed with me to try to get a few more winks in. I usually don't get any more sleep, but now I have created a BAD habit. It is almost every morning and sometimes it is more of a hassle, what's the point?
We have only picked up dog poop in the backyard like twice Adam left. He's a little dog.
I seem to never have time to take the kids out to the park or to ride bikes, so I helped Rachel set up her own bike track on the patio in the backyard to ease my pang of guilt.

Bucket List

2010-01-13T17:38:00.001-06:00

Tonja sent me the Bucket List email, so she must want me to do it. I thought I'd put it in my blog…

Things you have done during your lifetime.

(x) Gone on a blind date
(x ) Skipped school.

( ) Watched someone die

( )Been to Canada

( x) Been to Mexico

(x) Been to Florida

(x) Been to Hawaii

(X) Been on a plane

(x) Been lost

(x ) Gone to Washington , DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

(x ) Cried yourself to sleep

(x) Played cops and robbers

(x) Recently colored with crayons

( )Sang Karaoke

(x) Paid for a meal with coins only.

(x ) Been to the St. Louis Arch

(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.

(x) Made prank phone calls

( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans

(x ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(x) Danced in the rain

(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus

(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe

(x) Watched the sunrise with someone

(X) Blown bubbles

(x ) Gone ice-skating

( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors

( ) Been deep sea fishing

( x) Flown across the United States alone

( ) Been in a hot air balloon

( ) Been sky diving

( ) Gone snowmobiling

(_ ) Lived in more than one country - this summer…

(x) Laid outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets

(x) Seen a falling star and made a wish (they are actually meteors!)

( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Ole Faithful Geyser

( ) Seen the Statue of Liberty

(x ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle

( ) Been on a cruise

(x) Traveled by train

(x ) Traveled by motorcycle – short distance

(x) Been horseback riding

(x) Ridden on a San Francisco Trolley

(x ) Been to Disneyland

(x ) Been to Disney World

(x ) Been to the top of an active

volcano and seen hot lava (in a helicopter, so cool!)

(x) Been in a rain forest

(x ) Seen whales in the ocean

( ) Been to Niagara Falls

( ) Ridden on an elephant

( ) Swam with dolphins

(x) Eaten just cookies for dinner

( x) Been on TV

(x ) Stolen any traffic sign

(x) Been involved in a car accident

(x) Know how to drive a standard

shift car

( ) Gotten a ticket for speeding

( ) Played strip poker

( ) Danced on a bar or table in a

club Drunk

Favorite hot drink – coffee

Favorite Adult Beverage – Wine or vodka diet tonic, 2 limes

Favorite Fast food? Burger

Do you love your job? Yes

Favorite Vacation Spot? San Diego, today

How do you see yourself in 10 years? Without a diaper bag or purse full of snacks

Furthest place you will send this message. Hmmm….. You guys fill this one in!

Three Things

2010-01-05T22:56:00.001-06:00

One… over the holiday break, I laid Row down for a nap and he looked at his sheet and finally noticed that it has trains, cars, boats and trucks on it. He was pretty sleepy, but I put him down and he put out his arms to be on all fours in his crib and sleepily said "OOoooooh, choo-choos! Oooh, cars. Choo-choos." Just a precious little moment.

Two… Russell is a LEGO-MANIAC! He was blessed with many sets this year at Xmas and he has built all but one – saving the last one for this weekend. When he built them though, he really savored every moment of the process. It was awesome to watch. He had some pretty complicated sets to build and he did them all perfectly. Then he had to show them all to Adam on Skype, pointing out each detail, telling tales of the difficulty and then how fragile some sets are as opposed to others. Legos are so cool. He hasn't really even wanted to play any video games, even his new ones. He is also engrossed with a Lego Star Wars book, "Lego Star Wars The Visual Dictionary". He coveted the book at the book fair, I bought it and saved it for Xmas. He can't put it down.

And three… Rachel almost has the concept of adding. She got a Leapster 2 for Xmas and has been playing The Princess and the Frog game and has to add. She can do small numbers pretty well, but anything larger than 6 throws her off. She's so close, it is fun to listen to her try it 'all by herself!'

“Supermom, I’ve Always Wanted to Meet You…”

2009-12-29T21:50:00.001-06:00

I finally met my Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Kabins, who will now be referred to as Dr. K. It has been a long road, several cancellations on his part and hesitation on mine, but I am glad I went and am on a new path with my back.

I was hesitant to schedule with Dr. K. He has pleaded guilty to a federal indictment involving this lawyer and other doctors in the area and they are dubbed "The Medical Mafia". Yikes, I know. Dr. K is involved in one case that I really don't know too much about nor care to summarize the details of what I've read. It seemed from the paper that they are after the one lawyer. But, who really knows? All I know is that I wanted some answers on my back and if I didn't like him I didn't have to keep him. The fitness director at my gym loves him (but said he was odd) and has been going to him for several years and there are a few gals that I work out with that know him/know of him and they all say good things. So, like I said I planned to go and if I didn't like him I'd make a change.

Well, what can I say other than Dr. K and I hit it off?!? When I fill out forms that ask for my occupation, I always write something like Supermom or something like that just to see if anyone looks at it. Dr. K's paperwork was no exception. He walks in the exam room, introduces himself and starts looking through my file. Right off the bat he says, "Well, you're supermom. You know, I have always wanted to meet you and so does my wife!" Need I say more?

He gave me the run down on my back – 2 bad discs and the amount of the degeneration is uncommon for someone as young as me. (I like how he kept calling me young throughout my appt!! Ha!) I am not in need of surgery now, maybe in 10 or 20 years is his guess. I like that. He's going to send me to a good physical therapist off base. I like that. He changed my pain med to something else. Haven't tried it yet, but if I don't like it I can try something else. He does not want me on narcotics and I like that. I am going to do a nerve damage test to see where I am that. Fine with me. And then I am going to try some steroid type shot to see if that helps me any. I am open to that. He said I was going to really like the pain management doctor and the pain management was REALLY going to like me! Ha! In his little tape recorder he reminded himself to personally call the pain doctor to tell him about supermom.

Then we talked a lot about lifestyle changes and exercises that the physical therapist will recommend. He just kept stressing that if I feel pain or more pain in my back after doing something, even if the therapist said to do it, I should stop. Then all the things around the house like mowing the lawn, lifting heavy things, picking up the baby, all kinds of things I have to start readjusting. That will be the hard part. I think that my gardening days are limited and I am disappointed about that b/c I love to garden. That is kind of a bitter pill to swallow at my age, but hopefully I can find ways to do parts of things I enjoy without being in pain. For example, still prune and make a mess but not have to clean up the mess. Show Adam where I want things planted and then supervise! Maybe this isn't so bad after all! Seriously, that will be hard b/c I am so independent and like doing things.

The appt ended on a positive note – I have my youth working for me, I don't smoke (he said most of patients are smokers and how smokers almost always have bad backs), am healthy and in shape/not overweight (I beg to differ, but as he pointed out that all the people in the waiting room are very overweight and smell like smoke; I could see his point). I walked out feeling like it couldn't have gone much better and there really wasn't anything else I wanted to hear from him. Plus I can now legitimately tell Adam what to do b/c the Dr said ;)

Bah Humbug!

2009-12-29T00:03:00.001-06:00

I have to admit, I haven't been quite in the 'spirit of Christmas' this year. Adam and I were so focused on this being the first (and hopefully) Xmas away the kids, that we failed to realize it was our first Xmas away from each other too. Bummer. It was harder than I thought. I really felt like I went through the motions more than anything as far as decorating and doing all the things I like to do to get ready for the holidays. I just didn't get a lot of joy like I normally do. Plus, I had to lug all the crap out and put it all away. That's Adam's job. I just do the fun decorating!!! My whole back issue didn't help either, but that's my next blog entry.

One day Russell told me 'we need some Xmas spirit around here!" He then told me our outside lights didn't look that good. I had to agree. My outside lights were pathetic. Inside the house was great, a little less than last year, but I think less is more sometimes. Then he told me he'd like to have some lighted penguin because that is his fave Xmas decoration. So, off I went one day to find a penguin, a few more lights, found a few other things and we were in business.

Rachel on the other hand has been having a hard time with the deployment. Very moody, easily upset, whinier than she has ever been, it is a little sad. One day after school she was crying b/c she just wanted dad home for Xmas. How can that not tear at your heart, poor thing. So, I don't think that helps me either.

As it turned out, we had a pretty good Xmas. DPA (Dad, Pam, Adelle) came on the 20^th and left on the 28^th. They really helped bring in some Xmas cheer and Aim got a much needed break. Can I just say that Pam is seriously the most patient person on the planet?!? Wow. She was a lifesaver this week. I can't even begin to list everything she did, but she was amazing. She took the baby monitor as promised and didn't give it back until they left. I think she wanted to take it with her when they left. I really appreciated everything she did.

Adelle was a real sweetheart. She dutifully stayed home and helped and I got to go out and do Aim things – finish shopping, go to the gym, go to the Orthopedic surgeon, get my hair done (I met my gay guy's gay guy, he is so cute, but that's a whole other story!). Adelle is 14 and staying home at your sister's house to help with the kids is not high on any 14 yr old's to do list. But, she did it without complaint. We did go to the movies twice. We saw New Moon and Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed them both. New Moon was fun b/c that one actor has a hot bod and Adelle and I had fun making comments and adding to Bella's lines that referred to his hot bod. Holmes was a fun one. There wasn't a hot werewolf, but we lived. We did so some shopping together too and that is always fun. I have to record for the official record… I bought Adelle a shirt that she loved, but I bought the wrong size – her chest has grown and her shirt size has gone up. We had to exchange for another shirt that wasn't as cute. I felt good that I could pick out something that she actually really liked! Ha!! I also got her some make up brushes and new makeup bag that were apparently perfect. I was on a roll with the teenager this year! Just had to get that on the record ; )

My Dad helped with the kids too, but also did all the stupid things I don't like to do – lock the doors at night, take out the trash, pick up milk; he even took my car and got it detailed.

Santa was good to all at my house and I was apparently especially good this year! DPA spoiled me rotten with all their help, gifts and they took the kids out to shop for me. Russ bought me some latest version of Battleship b/c I told him HE couldn't have, but I guess in his mind that meant that I could have it! (He has like 3 Battleships already) He told DPA that I was going to 'freak out with happiness' when I opened that gift. I laughed of course and made a comment like "You are as good at buying gifts as your Dad!" If anyone knows my clipper story, you understand. If you don't, email me and I'll tell you. Rachel bought me a robe b/c I needed a soft one like hers. The one she picked out is turquoise, which I have been wearing a lot of turquoise lately. What made this robe so funny is that it is like Cookie Monster turquoise/blue and it is fuzzy, soft and kind of looks like Cookie Monster's fur. So, we call it my Cookie Monster robe and I have to sing "C is for Cookie" and say "Mommy want cookie, ararararararararrarr" when I wear it. Rowan got me a massage gift card and I can't wait to use that! Ha! Who knew that kid had such great taste??? I really got a kick out seeing what the kids picked out.

So, now they are gone and my next round of visitors comes on Weds. Adam's mom, stepdad and brother, Morgan, come for New Year's. I will miss Adam at New Year's too. He always gives me such a great kiss at midnight if we stay up that late….

Rowan Tidbits

2009-12-04T21:29:00.001-06:00

Okay, time to report on all the fun little things Rowan is doing now. Let's see, I guess he is 22 months old, actually today he is 22months. There ya go! I really stop counting months after 18. Anyway! He has really started some of the big 'twos' things. I think that I am really in for it with him….

He is a climber. He can climb anything, he tries to climb everything and has had a few decent spills in the process. He made it out of his crib once and when we went in his room to check on him, (we heard the thud), he was just lying there on his tummy looking up with this look on his face like what the Hell did I just do? We lowered his mattress and now he can't climb out. He will move things around to use as a step to get things he wants. This can be the laundry baskets, toy baskets, chairs, boxes, an ottoman (he moved that across the house to get one of Russell's toys). A couple of days before Thanksgiving he fell off a chair and hit his eyelid on a shelf. So, he had a little cut and black eye for Thanksgiving.

He has mastered saying the word No. He can say just like you'd expect a bratty 2 yr old to say. It is a little scary that he already has picked that up. On the flip side, maybe he'll stop it earlier than the other kids did??? I can hope right? Sometimes he'll say "No, mom" just like a little guy. That one is pretty cute.

His talking is really coming along. He is talking in some full sentences already. "Mom, I want my bink" "Mom, I want to get out. Out!" In the car sometimes he'll just say over and over "mommy" like he's calling to me. It is so cute. Oh, Russ and Rach are in to knock knock jokes right now. Rowan tries to get in on it too. All of sudden he'll start up with "knock knock" and wait for you to answer. That's as far as he gets. But Rachel will sometimes answer with a silly "No one's home go away!" kind of thing and Rowan will just crack up. Then they start all over again. While we are shopping, he'll point out things he sees and names them or tries to name them. He tries to count.

He is singing now too. He would sing Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" the oh oh part. Now he is trying to sing Twinkle Little Star, The ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, it is really sweet. He'll just start it up on his own too. You just wonder what is going through their minds.

He tries to train the dog. He will get a treat and tell the dog to sit, stay, stay, stay and good boy! Then gives him his treat. Or if Jagger is getting in his face, he'll tell him to get down!

He gets his jammies after bath time. He always gets two pieces, they aren't always a top and a bottom, but he is so pleased with himself.

Rowan really thinks he is entitled to everything everyone else has. This makes ice cream and pizza difficult, as he is lactose intolerant. If he feels like he is being denied his fair share, (which isn't always his 'fair' share), he will let you know. Have I said he can get REALLY loud??

Hitting – not a proud moment, but he has started this phase. We are working on it. Time out is still a challenge, actually getting him to stay in it.

He can jump up with two feet off the ground. He gallops around the house and the yard.

When we go to the gym, you walk in the big doors and there is a huge entry area and music is playing. He always goes in through the doors, stops on the mat, looks up at all the stuff and then gets his groove going to the music playing. The people working at the front desk love to watch him come in. He used to not like going to the gym, but now that he is old enough to play on the big kid side, he is a happy camper. When he was on the baby side, he would stand against the wall and give the girls the stink eye. Now, on the big kid side, he gets right into it.

He likes to play phone. He'll pick up anything that looks like a phone and say "Helwo" and then nod his head and say Yea a lot. But if yo get him on the actual phone, he clams up and wants to press buttons on the receiver.

His understanding of directions is really incredible. He can almost do simple 2 step directions. He is so proud of himself.

And, I'll end with that….

Bring It

2009-11-20T23:53:00.001-06:00

Well, Adam has been gone almost a month and let me review some of the fun I've had. The dog, (we got a dog in August), got into a 5lb chocolate bar that was a donation for Russell's school, the wind blew the storage container in the backyard completely apart, we had to decide whether or not to move to South Korea summer of 2010, the shower in the master bathroom had a slow leak that finally showed itself in the downstairs guest closet, and Rachel was jumping on the bed and had to have her front tooth pulled out by the dentist.

I'll start with the dog and end with Korea. We got a Morkie in August, he's a year old, Jagger, and he's as cute as can be. He's a little undisciplined as he came from a home that spoiled him. Well, he got into the chocolate and my wallet. He ate some money. I hardly ever have cash, but apparently he likes to eat $12 and chocolate. I was worried about him getting sick from the chocolate and then after the money thing, I thought, damn, if you are going to get sick and die, just die already, I don't need the stress of worrying. That sounds terrible and I didn't really want him to die, I was just fed UP. He didn't die and he's still just as naughty and cute as ever!

The wind blew apart a Rubbermaid storage container that houses our lawnmower and other backyard tools. I had to put that back together and hurt my back in the process. That was not a fun Saturday afternoon.

About 2 weeks ago, I walked into the guest closet to get out my wrapping paper. That closet is my total junk/storage closet. I opened the door and thought "Hmm, it is kinda humid and musty in here, that's weird." Then I felt something drip onto my head. That's not good. So, long, make that very long, story short; slow drip from the master shower finally shows up downstairs and involves a week of repair, restore and replace. I will say my landlord was awesome, came over the next day and dealt with the company fixing it and made sure that the kids and I were treated well by the crews coming in and out. I appreciated that.

Rachel. I went to a PTSO meeting to help plan out a fundraiser that I think is going to be a flop, but I am being supportive and helping. We were at a gal's house, where her kids rule the roost. Her boys convinced my daughter to jump on the bed, a "no-no" that never happens at my house. She bumped her head on the back of one of the boy's heads and knocked her front tooth loose and the one next to it loose. Mama calls the dentist and the dentist says get over here asap. It results in the dentist pulling the tooth out. It wasn't pleasant, Rachel screamed, we had to hold her down, even though she was numbed up and the whole thing. The result is that she still has a tiny piece of root still left up there. It could either absorb into the gum or become infected. The other loose tooth was not broken at the root like the front tooth, so it will either tighten back up or become loose and it will have to come out too. So, YOU KNOW since Adam is gone that a: the root piece will become infected and b: the other tooth will not tighten up. She will probably not have that front tooth grow in for at least year or two. The thing that makes me the most mad about the whole thing is that once we got over to the house and I saw how the kids just ruled the house, I had a bad feeling. I should have been more proactive with my own children. But the gal whose home we are at is so together, she really is smart, organized, helpful, etc. I just assumed it would be fine. I was more worried about Rowan than anything else. Never ignore the mom vibe. And, Christine, you are absolutely right, at least it wasn't a head injury. I cringe to think how bad that could have been.

South Korea. This could be a whole other blog entry. Basically the deal is this: Adam was promised a certain job when we moved to Vegas and it is not the job he is doing. It started out great; his Commander was terrific and gave Adam a lot to do and a lot of responsibility. Then that Commander left and new one came in. I won't sugar coat this, I think the new guy is a total douche and I thought this a long time ago. All of sudden, visions for the squadron change and Adam has nothing to do. And if you don't know Adam, you should know that Adam takes a lot of pride in his career and work ethic. He works hard and he likes it. An idle Adam is an unhappy Adam and therefore the unhappy Adam gets on Aim's nerves. Ha! When Adam was supposed to go to Afghanistan, the douche could have got Adam out of it if he really wanted to, but he didn't. It got cancelled and we lucked out. Adam really started looking down the line and realized that his career was starting to swirl down the toilet b/c the douche was hooking up his pilot guys. This meant that the nonpliots were getting squat. Adam is not the only person getting the short end of the stick. So, Adam just started working his contacts and a friend hooked him up.

South Korea is considered a remote tour, which is good to get people back on track, but not easy to get when you have a family that needs to move with you. At first, Ryan had nothing for Adam in Korea, but he kept working it an got Adam a 'command sponsored 2 yr remote' which means the AF will pay for us all to move to South Korea and ultimately means we would get the on base housing and the kids would have a secure spot at the school on base AND the services that Russell requires would be provided. (Would you believe that people move their families without it being paid for or guaranteed that their children could attend school??? I can't) The job offer came right before Adam left for Germany. Amazingly, the douche is going to let Adam leave Vegas early, (we are supposed to live here another school year). It takes a lot of paperwork and it doesn't look good on the douche if one of his guys goes early. But, he's going to do it. As we hunted details about South Korea, the school, the job, the lifestyle, we decided to go for it. So, yes, we are moving to South Korea in July/August 2010. I think I'll write more on the move and my feelings about it later. I am a 'glass is half full' kinda gal, so we'll make the best of it.

So, here I am at one month into this deployment and I think it has been a full month, relatively speaking. I have survived a tooth pulling, a plumbing leak, sleep deprivation (my only major complaint), dog poisoning, researched and decided upon a global move. What else can this deployment have on me? My answer is BRING IT.

Day One

2009-10-25T22:58:00.004-05:00

Okay, so Adam is officially in Stuttgart, Germany. I posted his time zone in my gadgets on the blogger site. It seems he is 8 hours ahead of PST. I am missing him today - the little things the kids did, the report on his family after he left, you know all those things you talk about! The pillow talk.

He officially left Friday night if you are in the PST. Nothing is ever simple here, Friday, was the date of Russell's school's Fall Festival. This is the PTSO's biggest fundraiser of the year. And I am on the board and it is the ONE day I am fully committed to. Which just figures, since these things can never be simple!!! One thing that made life much easier was Adam's mom, stepdad and 1/2 bro, Morgan came for the weekend. They left Sunday morning.

Let me say that my new friends on the Board of the PTSIO have been incredibly supportive. Women I don't really know all that well being generous with their offers of babysitting, thoughts and prayers, and helpfulness. All this time I have dedicated thus far to PTSO has earned me some points!! Ha! Seriously, most of these gals, whom I didn't know until August, have been so good to me; it warms my heart and makes Vegas more fun.

At Fall Festival, I intro'ed the Co-Pres of the PTSO to Adam and she was so sweet. She just basically told him how honored she was to meet him and thanked him for his service and then told him she was keeping her eye on me and told him to email her via the school website if he felt like I needed a break b/c she knows our kids and is happy to babysit anytime. Her husband told Adam the same thing separately. How nice is that? I am really flattered. When I first met her, Faith, I really misjudged her. It just goes to show you can't judge a book by the cover - that is a good lesson for me.

So, Fall Festival... I sort of put myself in charge of the Silent Auction and Raffle. I won't go into details, but I have experience with silent auctions when I lived in OK and worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Those were BIG auctions, like $60k auctions. I feel like when we are in a duty station and I can help community, it is my duty to help in areas in which I can help. So, I took over the the auction and raffe and we made over $3k, which is great when you think we had a total of 58 items. That's like $55 per item. In this economy, that's decent. I worked my tail off on it and told people to help or get lost if they were going to try to tell me what to do!!! Ha! I do feel like it is my responsibilty to pass on knowledge to groups before we move on to a new duty station and when I leave, I hope that I left making them better. And I think that I will make Russell's school's PTSO a better fundraising organization than before I was on the Board.

Okay, so Day One without Adam. His fam left about 10:30am. After they left we had a good day. I made Russ a list of all of the things he needed to do today and then at the end of the list wrote his reward for his accomplishments. He got it all done with pride. Note to self, make Russell a list every Sunday!! We actually have had a good day today. The kids were helpful, Rachel wanted to go to bed early, Row went right to bed, so far, so good. I am sure it won't be this good every weekend!!

I do want to note that Morgan, Adam's bipolar 16 yr old brother, was so much better this weekend than I have experienced in a long time. He helped with the kids, he took out he trash when I asked him to, he played with the kids too; all of which are improvements and I am sure added to the ease of the transition of Adam leaving.

Sooooooooooooooooo.... Day one of Adam being deployed has been a good one. Day two may not be so great, but Day One was good.

Oh, don't worry, I won't report every day!!!

Weekend with Daniel

2009-10-08T15:18:00.001-05:00

I really need to blog about San Diego, but this is a quickie about Daniel. Daniel is Rachel's class pet and he is stuffed animal lion. You get him for a weekend, take pictures, make a scrapbook page about your weekend and off he goes to the next student. Well, Daniel got lucky last weekend b/c we had ALL kinds of activities planned.

First up, I took Rachel and Daniel to Disney Live. We are sitting in our 2^nd row seats and hear this little voice say "There's Daniel and Rachel". We were sitting directly in front of one of Rachel's classmates, Christopher. Well, that deserved a photo right there – what are the odds of that? The show was fine, not as good as Sesame Street shows or as good as Disney shows in the parks, but Rachel and Daniel enjoyed it and that is what matters, right? I have to say the Buzz Lightyear and Woody were a little creepy looking.

Daniel's Saturday consisted of Russell's soccer game; he was a great cheerleader with Rachel. Then Rachel's class was performing at the Sat. evening church service. She goes to Lamb of God Lutheran School, which is of course attached to Lamb of God Lutheran Church. She had to wear a chapel uniform, (OMG, what is a chapel uniform? Luckily a jumper and peter pan blouse that we already have!) and we had to attend the church service. So, I left the boys (Adam and Rowan were under the weather) at home and took Rachel to church. We sat with Rachel's friend, Talulah and her dad, Lino. (Great family, lots of fun and they are from New Jersey.) Rach and Lulah were so cute in church, whispering, coloring, giggling; it was so much fun to sit next to them. Amidst the giggling and shooshing, I am trying to be a good visitor and pay attention. And what does the good Reverend start to talk about? Marriage. Uh oh, I am thinking…. Oh My God, I mean Gosh, here it is, I am at church and he is going to start talking about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. Fantastic. I think most of you know, I support gay marriage because to me it is plainly and simply discrimination. Don't get me wrong, I think churches have every right to not support it in their private institution, but the government should not discriminate. Like I said, plain and simple.

Okay, back to church. What can I do? I can't walk out b/c Rachel and Daniel still have to sing and I would totally walk out otherwise with the whole anti gay marriage sermon. How would it look in Daniel's scrapbook: Rachel's mom stormed out of church b/c she won't listen to anti gay marriage talk! Ha! Lucky for me, I was wrong!!! It was children he focused on and how they are little sponges and we should always bring them to church. Phew! So, then he invites up the uniform clad sponges and they sing. Everyone is taking pictures, the whole congregation is happy and the little sponges are adorable!!!

Sunday was football day, so Daniel got to witness us teaching Rowan how to signal and say touchdown. Not too much there. Then we made his scrapbook page, (Rachel put a paper cutter in her mouth, but no blood. Really, isn't she too old for that?), turned him in on Monday and Daniel will go on to the next house!

Back to School

2009-09-19T00:38:00.001-05:00

So, a few of you have asked about school and how the kids are doing. Okay, okay, I get the point. Let me start by saying, I feel good about Russell and Rachel this year.

We'll start with Rachel… I enrolled her at a private Lutheran school, I blogged about it before. I am thrilled that I enrolled her there. She loves it and I think her teacher is good. She's firm, but nice. I really feel like at this point of Pre-K it is time to start getting a little more serious about classroom procedures and curriculum and Rachel's teacher is right there with my expectations. Some moms I have talked to have been a little put off with the routine and firmness, but I appreciate it. It's not like the teacher is a hard ass; I think she seriously takes her responsibility to have these kids ready for Kindergarten and quite frankly, that's what I am paying her to do, you know? Russ went to Pre-K at a public school in FL because he was an ESE student, but he got moved up to the ESE Kindergarten class b/c of numbers and in some ways got to do Kindergarten twice, which was huge for him. He was reading and doing a lot of things his Kindergarten peers weren't doing and he was in Pre-K. So, I feel really strongly about Rachel being in a good Pre-K program. Plus, she's getting all the fun extras. They are making a huge scrapbook of the year, (I sneaked a peek), lots of field trips, and going to have the full on graduation. She deserves that. I can't even complain about how much the tuition is, although I marvel at the fact that it costs more than our first or second car payment that Adam and I have ever shared!! At least it isn't more than the mortgage!!! Seriously, it is worth every penny and I have even made a couple of friends out of the deal.

Also, she has to wear a uniform, which isn't high on my list, but I can I say Rachel just ROCKS her lil' jumper and pleated skirts!! Ha! Russ had a strict dress code in FL and I do miss it. I try hard to find things for Russ that are cool and he'll wear. Poor kid has enough going against him, I won't have him dressing too cheap or dorky!! I know, that sounds horribly superficial, but at least I am honest to say it. I miss the strict dress code though.

I am really pleased with Russell's teacher this year, Mrs. Justice. I don't think I could have asked for better. I think I blogged about writing the principal to just place him in a good class and she did. Mrs. J taught 4^th grade last year, I wouldn't have even known to request her, so I feel lucky to have gotten him with such a great teacher. He thinks that Mrs. J is a little bit nicer than his 2^nd grade teacher, but "it's close". I find it easy to communicate with her and we are meeting next week to get a head start on Russ's IEP accommodations AND his SLP wants in on the meeting too, so I am thrilled about the proactive effort. Mrs. J has already sent home an extra reading textbook that we can keep all year to work on at home; as Russ does has some challenges with reading comprehension testing.

Russ has made a few new friends right off the bat. He doesn't seem to have any issues with anyone in class. I think he had a few 'mean girls' in 2^nd grade, so his 3^rd grade class seems better. He's more comfortable at school, which is good. He does still play at recess alone sometimes, but not always. His new friends like to play kickball and he doesn't, so he either watches or plays on the playground. I am keeping an eye out on that, but not too worried. He still loves the librarian, a buxom blonde that dresses a teensy bit inappropriately, but she is awesome. Russ told me he wished he could go to the library with Mrs. Yates every day. I do think it is b/c they both share a love of books, but the fact that she is easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either!!!!!!

I think I'll report on myself since I am on the PTSO Board this year. Wow, I am busy, but I don't mind. I have such a strong commitment to volunteering, especially since I have the luxury to stay home with my kids. I sometimes wonder about those moms who stay home, have all their kids in school and don't do anything. I do really feel the need to contribute to my community and am privileged to do so. I think I have contributed to the fundraising end of things in the PTSO where it was needed, silent auctions, where I have a lot of professional experience. I have met some great gals and new friends, so that is rewarding too. I have also had the great experience of getting to know the principal and office manager better. Both are extremely smart, driven women. I certainly have learned from them both already. The principal, Mrs. Douglass, is an amazing woman, hands down. I could blog about her alone. It is truly a privilege to know her.

Let's see, other than that…. Rachel is taking a couple of extras – "Cheer for Tots" and gymnastics – she loves both. Row and I are taking gymnastics while Rachel is in gym too. That is more work for me and my back, so not sure how long we'll do that. Russ is doing Scouts and soccer. Soccer surprised me, as last season's coach was such a douche. But, we have a new coach who is much closer to our philosophy of having fun and winning is secondary. Scouts will be interesting. Russ is interested and the social aspects are good for him. Russ is down to private speech once per week, which is a HUGE relief. That extra free night does my soul good. Once soccer is over, we'll revisit tennis.

So, all in all the back to school month has been good to us. I don't think that I mentioned that Adam is deploying at the end of October. He is going to Germany for 4 months. It was the deployment we both teased about… "Wouldn't it be cool if you get some weird deployment to Europe or in the States for less than 6 months…." And strangely enough we got it. Someone is looking out up there, thank you.

OH!! No back to school blog entry would be complete without NFL. I am playing fantasy ball this year. Just one team this year, which is unusual. But my team is in my league, I am THE Comish and we've been playing with most of these guys since 2004. I enjoy it and LOVE NFL ball. I am stating for the record, I probably won't win this year, but am hoping to make the playoffs. Wish me luck!

Big Martha Passes the Torch

2009-09-16T16:43:00.001-05:00

I have so much I want to say about Don Garland, but putting it into words will really require an emotional session, that I just haven't wanted to face. I guess you could say I am not quite ready for that, but I know I will be in the future. I haven't even really found the 'oomph' to sit and write 'sympathy' cards for Linda, Dawn & TJ. I'd say I am more ready to write those and perhaps that will give me the energy to write my blog about Don.

Anyway, what I thought I'd write about is the passing of the "Martha Torch". Anyone who knows my mom, knows what a Martha fan she is. And you can't help but be drawn into it. There are many of us that call each other Martha when we do something especially fantastic in the homemaking, entertaining realm of our lives. It is a loving term, but it is also a bit of a joke too. My mom can make fun of Martha with the best of them, but she has this element of seriousness, detail orientation, and perfection, (much like Martha), that really makes my mom more Martha than anyone.

For Don's funeral reception, my mom and I were asked to be in charge. And of course, we were honored to do so. I was able to get to Napa on the Wednesday prior to the funeral, which was on a Friday. Before that my mom and I had been planning via email and phone, so I was ready to get business taken care of. From Wednesday until Friday night, it was nonstop. I guess this is the point where I should I say that Adam decided to stay in Las Vegas with the children. R&R had both started school that week, each with terrific starts, Adam had taken off work, but was working from home too. It was a hard decision to make. No, it was a gut wrenching decision to make. Adam and I both loved Don and wanted to honor his life and memory, but had to make the heart wrenching decision that it was ultimately better for our kids to stay home. In retrospect, I still think it was the best decision. I was able to really concentrate on the Garlands and the day and just be there for any little or need. If my kids were there, I wouldn't have been as capable.

Okay, so back to Martha… pretty much Wednesday and Thursday were all about prepping for Friday. Not only were we in charge of the reception, we were also hosting the 'after party' at my mom's house. We thought it would be nice to host family and friends that lingered or were from out of town at my mom's house for late lunch/early dinner and just relax after an emotional morning. I won't go into all the little details that happen prepping for such an event, but it was clear that Martha is getting older and not so good with her details. (I won't go into the details besides age on why I think Martha is losing her memory!!) Anyway, it came down to Thursday night, Martha wanted a family meeting. Andy arrived from Portland and she wanted to go over the plan for the next day. I am rattling off details when she finally looked at me and said, "Aimee, you are in charge". Big Martha passed the torch and I TOOK it!

It is kind of a poignant moment for me. Some of you know my mom and how she LOVES to be in charge, so for her to say it really meant a lot to me. I also know it was probably a little hard for her to say it too. Of course, in true Aimee fashion, I took and ran with it. All those years of my mom bossing me around - payback! Just kidding. Hmm… maybe not….

I have to say that Don's funeral, reception and 'after party' all went as smoothly as any of those things can go. I really felt like I was anticipating needs, taking care of little details that came up, tying loose ends, and anything else that would help family and friends be able to grieve and be comfortable.

What I learned is that it is hard work being Big Martha. Not only is the task itself exhausting, but you have to put your emotions on hold so everyone else doesn't have to. My mom had talked about that: when you are in charge of events like that, you don't get to grieve, celebrate, whatever the occasion is. (Now we know the REAL reason why she put me in charge…) While I believed her, it didn't really hit me until I was on the plane flying home on Saturday, the day after. It just took everything I had not to lose it on the plane and on the shuttle back to my car. It was such a relief to get in my car and bawl.

Gosh, I have sat here for 5+ minutes trying to write something else and just can't….. got to get back on 'mom' time – Russ will be home soon, have HW, think about dinner, sigh.

I do really miss him.

Don Garland

2009-08-25T18:04:00.002-05:00

This is Don Garland's Obituary. I didn't write it and have much more to add from my personal relationship with him. But, he is on my mind and my life pretty much revolves around getting to Napa and helping Linda, Dawn and Tonja, so I wanted to copy this into my blog.

Donald Ray "Don" Garland passed away August 21, 2009 with the love of his family embracing him. He fought bravely against non Hodgkins Lymphoma, losing his battle with very sudden complications.
Don was born in Akron, Ohio to Lewis and Irene Garland on January 13, 1944, the youngest of two children. His sister Deanna (Stan) Ginther of Florida survives him. He grew up in Ohio, moving to New York in his late years of high school. He enlisted in the Air Force as soon as he met the age requirements, proud to serve his country for eight years. During his military tour he was stationed at air bases in Japan, as well as in the US. His first military career position was Aircraft Mechanic (C-130, C-135), then Missile Mechanic (GAM 'Hound Dog'), and Television Equipment Technician (closed circuit security TV used at/in missile silos). Upon his honorable discharge January 1969, he was employed at Singer General Precision Link Group at NASA. He worked on the CCTV lunar surface mock up that trained the astronauts for subsequent lunar landings. How proud he was to be part of the Space Program when the LEM landed and man first walked on the moon.
Don felt at home in the communications field. Returning to California, he worked for Delta Communications as a radio technician in Concord and So. Lake Tahoe, and as manager/technician in the Emeryville shop. He was a partner in Atcomm Inc, Vallejo at its inception. He owned and operated Napa Valley Communications for thirty years. His most recent employment was with the IT Department with the City of Napa. He loved his job, the people he came in contact with, and throughout his illness desperately wanted to return to work.
His wife of 44 years, Linda, and two daughters, Dawn (Evin) McKinney of Auburn, and Tonja (Mark) Mehelis of Napa, along with his precious granddaughters, Ena McKinney, Wyntress Mehelis, and Elizabeth Mehelis survive him. His teasing, smiles, sense of humor, big bear hugs, and love of family will be missed by many.
Throughout his life Don has been an amazing man. He was able to survive a traumatic brain injury in November 1996 resulting from a fall from a two story roof during a communications antenna installation, and to return to a line of work his doctors and therapists predicted he never would. Once diagnosed with cancer, he faced his chemo and radiation treatments with humor and dedication. When healthy, Don enjoyed woodworking projects, always creating something in his shop. He has helped both daughters with home renovations, and could always think of a creative way to fix things. Family camping trips brought much joy to Don, as well as nights spent under the stars with his telescope, always anxious to share his love of astronomy with others.
The family respectfully requests in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Lymphoma Research Foundation (www.lymphoma.org) or the charity of your choice.
The funeral service will be held Friday, August 28, at 10:00AM, in the chapel of Tulocay Funeral Home. Following burial at Tulocay, a reception will follow in the Tulocay Reception Room. 411 Coombsville Rd., Napa, CA 94558-3957

The Roller Coaster Ride

2009-08-12T16:11:00.001-05:00

There is no better way to describe the Summer of '09. It has been a roller coaster; plenty of ups and downs, unexpected twists and turns and now is all coming to a halt with a peaceful ending. The start to the summer was that first major climb up. I started planning a long trip, being out of Vegas for a month, seeing lots of family and friends and enjoying the great Northwest. And then the major downslide… deployment. You know the start of that story: 7 months, most of which was in Afghanistan, Adam looking for roadside bombs, (not his job to begin with), and my great summer out of Vegas turned into being in Vegas for most of the summer, ALONE. For the record, I am not one to complain about the deployments or TDYs, I just prefer them during the school year because life seems to pass by quicker when we have a routine, I have a bit of a break with Russ at school and Rachel in part time Pre-K, it doesn't seem so bad.

The next part of summer was an unexpected twist; the Odyssey transmission, the rental minivan to get to CA, that whole story. I'd have to say that was like a corkscrew twist. The vacation in CA was a major up and we had a great time. Got to see most of my favorite people, Adam joined us at the end of the trip, during the trip he learned there were serious rumors that he would not have to deploy and we made it home to get our car back and hopefully hear of the big cancellation.

We did not get the big cancellation. I think this part was a loopy loop. Adam had to get ready like he was going to deploy. He had to get all his uniform stuff, go to the dentist since he would be deployed during his routine check up and cleaning (seriously), do all his pre-deployment medical stuff like shots, malaria drugs to take with him, and a medical clearance, gun training, pick up his assigned weapons to take with him and all the other paperwork stuff, such as a new will, power of attorney, get plane tickets, hotel reservations, go to family services briefing, etc. The gun issue was crazy because we would not be able to take him to the airport, the guns issued to him to take to Afghanistan can only be transported from base in a government vehicle. Which for me was fine, I was not looking forward to saying goodbyes in the car early in the morning at the airport. But he would have to drive his car on base, a guy in his office would drive him to the airport and then I'd have to get his car home. Silly details you have to figure out. And then you try to add in having quality family time with all that work, it was a hard time.

On top of all that, Adam was having these fears of dying and wanted to have these death discussions. Would I remarry? What happens in Heaven if you remarry and your first spouse is there waiting for you kind of stuff. Stuff I don't have answers for and not sure what I believe about that kind of thing. All I could say is that if I died I hoped that if Adam found someone he loved, he should remarry, so I assumed he felt the same. He didn't. And as far as the 'what happens in Heaven', I could only say that I believe there is NO DRAMA in Heaven and that would all work itself out. It was really bizarre having these discussions and I felt like if he really wanted answers he should go talk to someone, which he didn't.

So, there we were still hearing rumors of a deployment cancellation, waiting for some to sign on the dotted line, and still doing everything to prepare to go. And then also hearing that while he was training in New Jersey, it could still get cancelled before he left for Afghanistan. I don't know what part that is… maybe still the loopy loops. I think he was supposed to leave on a Monday and that Thursday before he got the official email cancelling his and several others deployments. What a relief. How he found out was pretty funny. He was on the phone trying t figure out how he should go about changing rank (he puts on Major from Captain on like Sept. 3^rd) and changing rank involves paperwork and uniforms changes as well as a new ID card, not an easy thing to do while deployed in a foreign country. So, he's on the phone and his Commander comes in and punches him in the arm, hard. For Adam to say it was hard, he means it. And his Commander is smiling and Adam is wondering why he just punched him and is smiling while trying to listen to some woman on the phone give him complicated instructions for his rank change. Adam's Commander then starts clicking around on Adam's computer, finds Adam's email, opens it and opens the actual email that says it was cancelled. There's the light bulb for Adam, ta - da! What a relief. Now, there is still a chance a deployment for Adam may pop up, but it doesn't look likely.

The rest of the summer ride is more some curves and twists like me joining Gold's Gym and loving it, my back issues and figuring that all out, lots of summer reading, a new dog, a visit from Blake, and Adam forgetting our 11 year Anniversary. More on those things later.

We are hoping that this summer ride comes to an end with a gentle halt. We rented a beach cottage for 5 days via Camp Pendelton in San Onofre, which is between Orange County and San Diego next week before school starts. Just enough time to play on the beach and go to the SD Zoo, see a friend and some family and come to get school life going again. What a ride. I am glad it's coming to an end.

The 3rd of July

2009-08-03T10:46:00.001-05:00

I have so many moments that I want to share about our trip to CA this summer, but today I am going to write about July 3^rd. We spent the day with the Mehelis family. That's Mark, Tonja (of the Garland family fame) and their two daughters, Wyntress, 4, and Elizabeth, 4+ mos at the time. I think I mentioned before that we were taking a trip to Sonoma to venture to Train Town!!! And it would be Rowan and Eliza-boo's (that's Wyntress's name for the baby. My nickname for her is Boo) first trip to Train Town. As it turned out, it was Mark's first time too – a triple whammy! We had such a good time. Tonja and I have been friends since I was like 2 ½, so to be able to share some family time together with our children is really special. Train Town is just one of those places that is an institution in the Valley. Families flood it and it has changed quite a bit since Russ's first trip some 5 or 6 years ago. We rode the train of course. Boo cried; she wasn't a huge fan ; ) Rachel and Wyntress rode together and were just as cute as can be, pointing things out along the way to each other and giggling. We rode the carousel and the little planes that go up and down like Dumbo. Russ flew Wynnie on the planes and he was thrilled b/c she likes to go up high unlike Rachel who is afraid of heights. Rachel sat out with g'ma and ate popcorn instead of the plane ride!

I have to add a little something about Mark. Mark is just a great family man. He's right there, helping his girls, (Tonja included), and my kids too. At one point he had Rowan up on his shoulders and even chased him around while I was snatching pictures of Rachel and Wynnie on the carousel. He just does it without being asked, which is more than I can say for a lot of dads that I have encountered. I was really impressed with how aware he is of his family and my kids too. I also really appreciated his willingness to help. For a gal vacationing without her husband, I really was grateful to have the extra caring eye and a fun dad that likes to play.

After Train Town we headed to the Sonoma Square for a picnic. What was amazing is that as crazy and crowded as the square was, we were able to find parking and meet up in a reasonable amount of time. I think the convenience of cell phones definitely is responsible for that! If we hadn't been able to call, we would have never found each other. We had a nice picnic next to a playground in the shade. Your ideal picnic situation. The kids played well, we got a chance to visit, and the food was so tasty. Tonja and Mark bought some great olives – Meyer Lemon and garlic were my fave. Delicious. Can you guess what was next? Nap time! Ha! And Rowan took an extra long nap.

Later that night we met up with the Mehelis family for fireworks at Silverado Country Club in Napa. This is an event open to the public; you go and park on the street and then you sit out on the golf course to watch the fireworks. I had called and they said the fireworks started at like 8:30pm. It was super crowded. Parking was a mess and I kinda thought we wouldn't find Tonja and Mark, but they were just driving up the street when we were walking on to the golf course, so Tonja dropped Mark and Wynnie and went to find parking and bring Boo. Of course, the fireworks didn't start until after 9:30pm and it got COLD! My mom had bought Wynnie and Rachel 4^th of July necklaces that have little battery powered light up stars. So, after we were done running around and chasing balls, (to keep us entertained), Rachel and Wynnie shared a blanket, were hiding underneath it and looking at their necklaces light up. They were just giggling and talking; it was so sweet.

Finally the fireworks started and we had been waiting for so long, that we all got a little silly with our comments. "OOOh, that's my favorite" "Oh, that was my medium favorite" "That was my super favorite, wait, no, this one is really my super favorite" Russ really got the joke and joined right in. Mark made some joke like "I don't get why it's red, white and blue". I told him to go back to Mexico. So, then we had to point out all the green and red ones to our 'Mexican' friend, who isn't Hispanic in any way. Then, there was a blast of lots of fireworks together…. The finale? Nope. They kept going. Then, another burst of excitement. The finale? Nope. Again, another huge burst one right after the other. Surely this was it? Nope. Finally, the obvious end, even more fireworks shooting off, the grand finale! We cheered. Everyone was packing up and then a few stray fireworks here and there, like they found a couple that they forgot so, they shot them off too. Umm, okay, the end. Oh, Boo liked the fireworks until she was done – ready for bed. Another first shared – Rowan, Rachel and Boo seeing their first overhead fireworks show. Russ thought it was his first time, but he had seen them in OK, but didn't remember seeing them.

Rachel and Wynnie were really into the fireworks. They were commenting on what they thought the fireworks looked like – a butterfly, a fairy, a crown, a flower, etc. They were just in their own little world oohing and aahing at each one. I had the best seat in the house – next to them. I loved listening to them all night long and seeing the reflection of the fireworks in their wide eyes. They shared their blanket and sat so close together to keep each other warm. That was the real highlight for me. Just two sweet peas in a pod. It really filled my heart.

My mom and I really enjoyed all our time with the Mehelises. We were talking about how easy it is to be with them. There isn't any drama, tension or awkwardness, just fun. Mark and Tonja parent similarly to our parenting, which I think is what made it so easy for our families to mesh. Wyntress is such a sweetie; a really nice girl. Boo is a cutie too and her whole face lights up when Tonja sings this one Laurie about the moon to her. Rowan was pretty enthralled with TJ when she sang it too. Boo's face gets this look of 100% admiration and adoration of her mommy when hearing that song. I have never seen anything like it. The whole day was a real treat and it was a highlight of our trip to CA. I am really looking forward to when the Mehelis fam comes to Vegas with Mark for his conference in November.

Through the Desert and Over the Hills….

2009-07-22T13:32:00.001-05:00

Kind of a fun little poem to remember my Grandma's 90^th Birthday Party.

Through the desert and over the hills, to Grandma's 90^th Birthday Party we go.

The Garmin knows the way, to get us there on the very last day,

In a rented minivan that Findlay Honda generously paid for, just so you know.

At the party there were four generations and all ten cousins!

I don't think that's happened before.

It was a really hot day, but that didn't get in the way,

Of all the great food, wine and visiting galore.

There were so many photos and memories to share, can you believe none of the uncles have any hair!?!

It was such fun to catch up with family I haven't seen in years.

All the fond memories brought some to tears.

Grandma doesn't look a day over eighty, she is still such a carefree, fun loving lady.

Rowan and Rachel both started crying, which signaled 'el fin',

Not missing a beat, my brother tried (unsuccessfully) to bribe Russell to join in.

It was definitely time to leave; an easy call.

And the pictures taken will prove it all!!!

Grandma enjoyed her day, it was plain to see,

And she deserved it, on that we can all agree.

Plan C

2009-06-24T15:49:00.001-05:00

I am starting to feel like my trip to CA and summer plans are going to exhaust the alphabet. Craziness in Las Vegas, but not in the typical Vegas fashion. Last week, Adam was getting ready for his trip to TX for the 2 weeks of training and taking care of deployment stuff, (more on THAT later). I had hoped to get over to the Honda dealer and get the oil changed while he was still here, to spare taking the kids and chasing Rowan around the dealership. That didn't happen, so I took it in on Tuesday of this week with Adelle & kids in tow. I thought at least Adelle and I could take turns chasing Rowan, which we did. I noticed something was leaking from the car recently, but thought it was water from the A/C. WRONG! It was the transmission fluid and apparently a lot of it. Ummm, we are supposed to leave the following day to go to CA. The mechanic said he didn't even feel comfortable if I drove the car back to my house. Uh oh. They kept the car, (all still under warranty), to repair or possibly replace it. I left with a rental car that Hertz promised to be a minivan, but ended up being a Camry, which barely fits the 3 kids in the back. I was getting ready to refuse the rental car and just have the shuttle take us home, but the kids were hungry, grumpy, and tired, as we had already been there for nearly 3 hours and would have to wait for the shuttle to return; you see how this is going. I took the free crappy Hertz rental and went home.

Fortunately, (sort of any way), Adam is out of town, so his car is available to us. We can squish more comfortably in the 4Runner than a Camry. Then I had to transfer all the car seats, again, parked the rental in the driveway and will use it to take myself back to Honda to pick up the van. So, the crappy rental will prove itself useful in the end, but it didn't seem that way when I got it. And I was livid to even have wasted my time on the damn thing. Honda was very embarrassed, but what can they do? They just pay for the rental and I certainly appreciated the gesture.

Back to the van. They ordered some parts for it, hoping to get lucky and fix the seals, as nothing looked wrong with the actual transmission. With any luck, it would be fixed today, (Wednesday), and we would be back in business to drive to CA in the van on Thursday. Do you hear those screeching brakes again? Oh yeah, that's right, Aimee & the gang no go to CA on Thursday. The transmission is still leaking like new breastfeeding boobies, (my description, not Honda's!!), with all the seals replaced. That means the van is getting a new transmission. This apparently is ordered and hopefully will be shipped overnight so the mechanic can put it in first thing Thursday and hopefully be ready with no leaking to drive on Friday to CA to be there for the party on Saturday.

Now I have to think, what if the transmission doesn't get there overnight? Do I leave on Saturday? At that point, Adam will be home in five days, do I even go at all? As Jess pointed out yesterday while I was complaining/venting, are all signs pointing to not going to CA? I am not sure.

In the meantime, I have no food in the house; we've been eating out or picking up milk and bread here and there. Adelle is here and only packed a few outfits b/c she didn't need much more. I know, she can do laundry, fortunately we are not out of detergent! And tomorrow our house in FL will be inspected b/c the old tenants are out, so at least I'll be here and can speak to the agent if she calls with bad news. What I am really hoping is that all the bad news stays here in Vegas and that the FL house will be in great, move in ready condition for our new tenants. Holy cow, if something is wrong there I might just need a new transmission, (well maybe liver), myself. I am not sure how much more bad news I can take! Maybe Plan C should be a beach in Hawaii and a great spa???? Now that is a plan I could get on board with!

Summer – Plan B

2009-06-17T19:35:00.001-05:00

It was bound to happen….. So often I make my plans b/c I never know what Adam's schedule will be like and most of the time it always works out. Here I am making all my summer plans this year, everyone involved in my plans are making their plans and then our summer plans came to a giant halt. Deployment. It wasn't a shock, we knew Adam was high up on the list, meaning he's due to go. It kept looking like the Fall was when he'd go; missing the holidays and the kids' birthdays. Then this email was sent saying someone from some group had to go and a day later that someone was Adam. I don't understand how the numbers work or how they divide up deployments between the different organizations within the AF. Adam saw the email on Tuesday and Wednesday he was the guy. Can you hear the screeching brakes?

Here is how his deployment breaks down: (1) 6/21 he goes to San Antonio for some training and returns on 7/2 (2) Then he's home until 7/20ish and then (3) leaves for Ft Dix in New Jersey for a month of training and from there he leaves to go to Afghanistan for 6 months, well 179 days, but who's counting? So, really he'll be gone for 7 months. Ugh. Of course, we had planned to be RVing with DPA during the time he'll be home before he leaves. RVing is off the calendar. The new plan is to go to CA on 6/24 with Adelle & the kids. Go to my g'ma's 90^th birthday party, since Adam will be in TX there is no need to be here. We'll get to see Christine and Brielle in Yuba City for a sleepover. (Christine is already counting down the days until Yuba City – I think she is the 1^st person in history to EVER countdown going to Yuba City) When C & B leave, the kids and I will head to Napa to wear out my mom, see as many Garlands & other friends as possible, go to Train Town and then head back to Yuba City in 7/4. Adam will fly up to Sac on 7/4 to help me drive back with the kids. Then he's home for a couple of weeks and he's off.

Adam will be deploying with the Army. He'll be an EWO, Electronics Warfare Officer, in a battalion at some army base in Afghanistan. Nope, don't know which one!! He's still not exactly sure what he'll be doing. We know he'll be maintaining equipment used to look for IEDs, training people how to use it and will probably go out with the army guys looking for IEDs, but that's about all we know. No clue about internet, phone access, even what his living arrangements will be. We think he'll have some internet access and we're getting him a cheapie laptop to take b/c I guess with all the sand & dirt, it isn't worth to get a good one. We are hoping to use Skype to chat via the internet with web cams. Not sure how that all works, but we'll figure it out. I think Adam hopes to have some opportunity to write in his blog about his experience.

Man, this sucks. The 7 months really sucks. Having to be in Las Vegas for most of the summer (alone with 3 kids) rather than part of the summer sucks too! And I can just say this sucks!?! Ha! It will all turn out fine and once school gets going, the time will fly. It's just that part from 7/20ish until 8/24. I flirt with the idea of going back to CA for a couple of weeks. But, then I have to drive and I don't think I can do it alone yet. Once Rowan is a little older. Russ and Rach are great with him, but once Rowan gets really upset, Russell is upset b/c he can't help and it stresses him out.

In the meantime, I have started getting together my single parent plans/mode; make lemonade out of this lemon of a summer!!! I think I get a free membership to the YMCA while Adam is gone. That will be cool. The kids love the pool there – we just finished swim lessons. I think their gym is all right. I am really thinking about joining the new Gold's Gym that just opened up instead. The grand opening specials are just too good to pass up. So, that will help. Then I can use nap time for some 'me' time instead of working out at home. I did get a cleaning lady and I love her! She's coming every other week to clean bathrooms, the kitchen and mop all the tile floors (we have a lot of them!). If I could afford to have her come more and stay longer I would and maybe while he's gone I will! Ha! But, that helps knowing I don't have to do it 'all'. I did find a teenage babysitter in our neighborhood. I used her once; she's smart, capable, military 'brat' and the kids liked her. So, that is a relief. We'll cut back on some activities so we are home more than one night during the week. It's all coming along, now that the shock is over, as it always does.

Wait, did I mention that this sucks?

Vincent 100

2009-06-08T10:42:00.001-05:00

At Fall Festival back in October, Russ & Rach won 2 goldfish. These two 20 cent goldfish cost about $40 for an aquarium, food, pump filters, and don't forget the all important sunken pirate ship and plastic pink plants. Russ named his fish Vincent A b/c in his class he had a Vincent B and a Vincent D. Rachel named hers Colin Girl. They had some funk growing on them and promptly died two weeks later. Off we went to Walmart to get 2 more fish that cost 40 cents and an algae sucker fish. The big joke was that we would have a Vincent C, Vincent E, all the way to Vincent Z and then start on Vincent 1, 2 ,3 maybe even 100. Well, Russ caught on to the joke and cut to the chase and named goldfish #2 Vincent 100. Rachel named her fish Colin Lady and they named the sucker fish Skipper.

So last week Vincent 100 had some weird gash on his side, blood, the whole bit. We talked about it; maybe we'd get a Vincent 101? Then the gash healed, but he had some funk on him. Adam cleaned out the aquarium in hopes of saving poor Vincent 100. Then we noticed that V100 was missing his top fin. How did that happen??? He wasn't swimming well, how could he, he had no top fin. We thought he was a goner. Yet a day later he perked up and the funk was gone. A day or two later we noticed that he is growing a new top fin. Yah, so I have no clue what Adam put in the water, but V100 is making a comeback and I can't believe it. We are really getting our 20 cents worth out of that fish.

a-MAY-zing

2009-06-07T00:21:00.001-05:00

My second favorite time of year is Mother's Day thru the end of May, my birthday. How selfish is THAT?? Ha! Thanksgiving to New Year's is my favorite time of year, incase you were wondering.. But the last part of May was really good to me this year and I just have to share some highlights.

This year, Mother's day was a bit off with the tummy flu and all that. We celebrated again the following weekend – Adam got me a spa day – 1 hour facial and a 1 hour massage – so relaxing! We also tried out a new restaurant (new to us) called Agave. The food was pretty good, (pumpkin seed crusted salmon for me and Adam had a braised short rib with some fancy mushroom rice); however the real standouts were the margaritas. They were outstanding. The kids were really good, it was great family night out.

I have been to the library a few times this month. I am thinking that a lot of people in Las Vegas read Debi's blog, b/c the books she reviews and likes are hard to get! I have had to put requests in for those. In the meantime I read a few books, non that I would read again. I did read "The Other Queen" by Philippa Gregory. I have read a few of her other books and enjoyed them, but this book I really struggled to finish and finished it b/c I had invested so much time in it. I am just starting "The Family Tree"b/c Christine recommended it and next on my stack is "Snowflower and the Secret Fan" which was suggested to me by two different people. By the time I finish those, I hope some of my 'Debi books' will be waiting for me to check out!!

Memorial Day Weekend was terrific, but I already wrote about that.

Which leads us to the 36^th birthday. I mean, 29^th birthday! Just kidding, I have no qualms about my age, especially since I still get carded!!! I slept in, Adam made waffles, I worked out, spent some fun time playing the Wii with the kids, and then went and had a deluxe mani & pedi and enjoyed every second! I have really been wanting a new camera, so Adam, who gets nervous about buying me gifts, asked if I'd mind picking out my camera so I could get what I wanted. Heck no, I don't mind, I appreciated that he asked. So, I ordered my new camera (got a fancy one b/c I added my birthday girl money from my mom) and it should be here soon. We went to Lotus of Siam (Thai Food) for dinner. So delicious, again. I have to mention the great service too. The regular table service is very good, they have no problems making Rachel just a plate of lettuce (I bring her salad dressing since they don't serve Ranch dressing), and this time a server noticed that Rowan threw his bink on the floor and he brought us a cup of hot water to wash it off. We just really appreciate little things like the cup of hot water, it is very thoughtful. The night ended with a homemade coconut cake that I LOVE.

Adam also insisted that we try out a cleaning service a couple times per month to help me keep up with the house. Who is this guy? Oh, just the greatest husband, ever! : ) Ha!

So, I guess it isn't any wonder why I heart the last half of May.

Aleeka

2009-06-03T16:19:00.001-05:00

For a while now, Rachel has been talking about a little girl named Aleeka. I thought, well here it is, Rachel has an imaginary friend. We had no clue where she even got the name from and quite frankly, I am not even sure how to spell it! We have picked out flowers for a pot and Rachel says they are "Aleeka flowers" because Aleeka likes purple flowers. She even has told us that Aleeka lives in Las Vegas, in the city, meaning down by the strip. She and I drove down to the strip to pick up my friend form college, Trina, (visiting from Iowa while her hubby was involved in a dart tourney and we spent the day with Trina, yay!) Rachel was sure we were going to pick up Aleeka too and was DEVESTATED that we didn't. She was genuinely sad, crocodile tears, the whole package. I have to admit I was a little flabbergasted. I didn't know she was so into Aleeka.

Rachel also has an imaginary pink house where she lives with her "babe" (we assume she means husband) and her boy children and girl children and a girl baby. One day she told me she has a red bench outside of her pink house that she sits on and watches her boy & girl children play. She'll explain how they play and what they do, complete with silly sound effects. Then one day she and her babe took the boy&girl children and the girl baby on a picnic with Aleeka. Another time her babe was using a hammer and he hit his thumb. He said "Ow, Ow, OUCH!" (Rachel imitating it perfectly) and then she said she had to put a band aid on her babe's thumb. She has drawn a picture of herself, her babe, the boy & girl children and some barbells b/c her babe likes to work out. (Babe is beginning to sound a lot like Adam!!!) She has told us plenty of other stories, that I wish I would have written down. Rachel has quite an active imagination.

Well, about a week ago I finally figured out who the heck Aleeka is and how she came into our lives. Rachel and Rowan like to watch "Your Baby Can Read" dvds (usually in the van while we are carting Russ to speech or whatever) and guess who is the videos? The one, the only……. Aleeka!!! We had stopped watching the dvds for a while (I don't think that Rowan will be reading any time soon, but I figure it can't hurt them to watch them and learn some sight words. This could be another post. Adam is big on them and I bought them to appease him more than anything. Enough about that!) Back to Aleeka. So, Rachel talked a lot about Aleeka when we had stopped the dvds, but now that she is watching them again more regularly, she doesn't talk about her anymore.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-27T11:04:00.001-05:00

We had a great long weekend! It really started on Thursday night, as Adam had Friday off too. Just a fun family night, it was hard to think that Russell actually had school on Friday!!

Nevertheless, Friday was Field Day at school and they had been practicing for weeks. Since Adam was home, I could go and stay at FD, help, watch, whatever. I was so impressed with the whole set up. Any FD I have been a part of is the traditional relay, tug o war, jumps, etc. This FD was mostly water play events – tossing water with cups at your opponent, this inflatable rocket that launches up 100 ft in the air, slip n slides, those giant inflatable waterslides you can purchase, some team building games, and even included a break stop to rotate thru which had popsicles for all the kids. What was impressive is that the whole school participated at the same time, which is no easy feat as the school has 1150 students. They rotated thru stations, 4 classes per station, each had their own numbered line to stand on, every station we went to our line was #4 so the kids were told what station to go to and they immediately ran to it and got on line #4, great music was being played on the loudspeakers and everyone was just having some 'good clean fun'. I was really impressed. I was the towel mom, I pushed around the cart of class towels, which sounds lame, but is helpful. I got a chance to catch up with Mrs. Cayer and chat with some other moms too. Mrs. Cayer did tell me who Russell will have next year for 3^rd grade, how pleased she was with that choice and has even pointed Russell out to Mrs. Justice. After chatting with some parents, they all pretty much said how they wished their sons/daughters could have Mrs. Justice too. So, I am hopeful for 3^rd grade!

After FD, it was off to the commissary with Rachel while Adam cleaned and waited for his mom & stepdad to come for the weekend. Rachel is always fun in the commissary. This time she kept asking Do we need this? How about this? Are we done yet? I think we should get _______ and then the reason why. The reasons varied from b/c dad's knee hurts (it didn't), or 'Rachel is soooo hungwee', or b/c Rowan pooped and we need more diapers. It sounds a little annoying, but she just gets so animated and is really into it, so it makes it fun/entertaining for me. We won't mention that it is a little distracting b/c I forget things on the list – doh!

Returning from the commissary, Jamie and Les had arrived and were staying until Monday. They went to Egypt last month, brought their pictures and Egyptian goodies, Jamie baked some awesome desserts for our bbq on Saturday and they babysat on Sunday so Adam and I could go out!!!

Saturday Jamie and took a long walk thru the 4 sections of neighborhood, it was great. Even better, Jamie made lemon meringue pie for dessert!! It really is one of my all time favorites, I haven't had it in years and homemade is the best! I am the only one here that likes it, so I never make it and I don't usually care for the store bought. A super treat! We bbqed that night, Adam's friend from work, Rachel, and her 4 yr old son came over. Rachel's husband is deployed and so I think she appreciated the invite to get out of the house on the long weekend. It was a nice evening. Our Rachel changed her clothes 4 times while they were here and one point she was running around naked, which kind of threw our guests for a loop, but 'big' Rachel told me she was relieved to see that another 4 yr old did the same goofy things with no rhyme or reason her 4 yr old does! Later that night we enjoyed the photos of Egypt while we all wore our Egyptian goodies. Russ got a bookmark with a hieroglyphic alphabet, so he was translating for us during the pictures. Pretty cute. Russ now wants to go to Cairo, look at all the cool stuff and find the bad guys from Indiana Jones.

Rowan impressed Grandpa Les. Row had some crackers in a little bowl and he ate them all. He took the bowl to Adam in the living room, then went to the pantry, opened the door, found his cracker box and took them back to Adam. Also, Rowan really has improved his receptive language. He knows what you are asking him. You can ask him to go outside, upstairs, downstairs, look for someone, the whole kit and caboodle; he gets it. He knows where we keep the bubble stuff outside, he goes straight for it and finds a wand and tries to blow thru it after you ask him if he wants to play bubbles. Grandpa got a real kick out of all of that.

Sunday we took Jamie out for a hike at Red Rock before the heat set in. We took a nice hike for about an hour. Rowan was pretty adorable – he knows his backpack that he rides in and is so excited to get in it. While riding along he just really takes it all in and not a peep out of him. No complaints, fussing, etc. Jamie enjoyed Red Rock. We took an easy trail that loops around to these shaded rocks the kids can climb. While we were walking back, Rachel said "I want to go to the shops. I don't like hiking!" And there you have it, my little shopping buddy proclaiming her allegiance to shopping!!! Ha! She does love to play outside and she would sit right there at Red Rock and play all day, but apparently the walking for an hour is not her cup of tea.

Sunday night Adam and I went to dinner and ended up catching a movie!! We went to dinner at a place called Marche Baccus, a French Bistro with a great patio on a manmade lake in a community called Desert Shores. The food was good, the wine was excellent, the setting was really nice too. The service was slow – we were there for over 2 hours. Someone had brought their children that were running all over the patio, thankfully not our section of the patio, but if they had we would have had a good talkin' with the manager. We felt bad for the other patrons, they all look irritated, we think some complained, anyway, not our problem! After dinner we made our way to Aliante station, the casino right near our house that also has the movie theater. We decided to watch Star Trek. We enjoyed it. And, unlike like our other date night, we were out past midnight, thank you very much!!

Monday we just were lazy. I have hurt back, another story, and it was really bothering me, so we just laid low. Jamie & Les headed home. We had a great visit with them. Not sure why, but whenever the Pricers come all together (both boys) or, I hate to say this, with Morgan, there always seems to be some kind of drama. If Blake comes there usually isn't too much drama,(Blake, I won't mention the past drama..), just Blake being a teenager who knows the world and the rest of us are clueless (were we ever like that? I am sure we were!! He'll learn), but Blake is really great with the kids, Rachel bosses him around like a pro and he just does what she tells him. It is so stinkin cute and funny. Anyway, my real point is when Jamie and Les can come without the boys, we really get a chance to visit with them and enjoy them. It doesn't happen very often, so we enjoy it. Sorry, Blake & Morgan!

Monday night…. We were watching Star Wars and when it was over, Rowan turned to look at me, held up his forefinger and thumb like a gun and made a shooting sound. I couldn't believe it. He did it again. I am frantically calling to Adam to come downstairs to witness this. As he does, Rowan turns to him with his fingers and makes the sound. Adam pretends to fall down and Rowan doesn't get it! He looks at him, like what's the deal?? Adam gets up and Rowan is pretending to shoot all over the place. Of course this seems like a great thing to capture on video, however the batteries were dead. He kept on for another minute or so and then it was over. He was done and hasn't done it since. It was so funny and amazing at the same time. How did he figure that out? The other 2 weren't doing it. Amazing what goes on their minds. He wasn't really watching the movie, just playing in the living room. And let me add that we aren't all for the pretend violence and all that. It was just so crazy to see him figure that out. It made us think about Russ and his 'pow powing' days. He did similar stuff like Rowan just did, not getting the whole concept of shooting, just pointing and making sounds. Russ was 4 when he really started getting the whole concept of shooting. He called it pow pow. He would ask my dad "Grandpa, I pow pow this?" asking about a rock or person or whatever. Dad would give the go ahead on the inanimate objects. This topic could make for another entry, so many things to think about and compare. But, I'll just leave it at that, as it is time to get Russ to school , Rach to gymnastics and get myself ready too!!!

Kadie

2009-05-26T23:34:00.001-05:00

We got Kadie when we first were engaged, living in Vallejo in our great little apartment and Adam worked nights and I was teaching during the day. She was really my first pet. She was such a sweet kitten and very possessive of me. We got Riley a few months later and those were our 'kids' until, well, you know. I used to give her bottled water to drink, she was a spoiled little thing for quite some time!! Ha! She could hold her own against anything or anyone. One day when we lived in FL the first time around (00-01) she got out of the house and went after our neighbors dog and won. She was good with the kids, but kept her distance. She was beautiful – a tuxedo cat and she kept herself very clean and soft. She had attitude for days and we loved her.

So, last October Kadie became ill, had similar symptoms as Riley did when he died. After doing some testing with the vet, but again in a spot where we could go overboard with all the tests and costs and still not have a definitive answer. She wasn't eating and a feeding tube was discussed, but the quality of life was also an issue too. We tried some meds to see if we might get lucky, but her liver levels were already so over the top and gone, it seemed inevitable that we would lose her too. And we did. We had her cremated and the pet cemetery gave us this really sweet poem in a matte with some of her fur and her paw print. There is a place for her picture. I wasn't expecting to get that at all, but it really was comforting. I wish we would have had received that with Riley's ashes too.

After Kadie passed a way, my stepmom sent me this email about Swiffer wet jets and that they can be poisonous to animals and children. From what I can deduct, there isn't anything concrete, but a lot of personal accounts of people whose pets died and they all had liver issues and symptoms like our 2 cats. It is really strange. You have to really wonder about that. I did use a wet jet for a long time in OK and FL and they say cats walk on the chemicals and then lick it off their paws when they groom. We thought Riley had a tumor on his liver, but he never had an ultrasound. Kadie had an informal ultrasound (not by a specialist, just the vet. We didn't have that option with Riley) and there wasn't a tumor in Kadie. The circumstances of the accounts I read are just so similar with our story, we just really wonder if that is what happened to our Kadie & Riley. We still have Harry and so far he hasn't been ill, but I know I used the wet jet more before we got Harry than after.

Whatever the case, I miss Kadie and Riley. I still 'see' Kadie on top of the recliner, one of her favorite spots; it is hard to not actually see her there. She would sit there and kind of nuzzle into my hair while I fed the baby or relaxed. I miss that.

A Walkin’, Talkin’, Toddlin’ Man

2009-05-21T15:34:00.001-05:00

Time to indulge in a little motherly bragging! Rowan is at such a cute age and is just so stinkin' cut, I can hardly stand it!!!! Ha! So, be prepared readers, this is all about our little Row Row and how fantastic we think he is.

Rowan is just the epitome of a toddler right now. He teeters and totters as he walks around. He is becoming more independent – won't even hold my finger while he's walking unless he really feels like he needs some help! And I just want to hold fingers while walking side by side, instead of holding hands!!!! He's into everything, doing everything, opinionated about everything and now is my chance to get all these little things recorded J

He is still a shameless flirt. He looks up at people with his chin on his shoulder, pretending to be shy, batting his eyes and smiling. Sometimes, he'll give a little wave. Once at Starbucks, he was in his stroller facing me and a woman behind me. He was flirting with her the whole time. I had no clue until Jess had pointed out what a flirt he was. The lady was loving the attention and giving it right back to him. He makes friends at the kids' schools while we are waiting for them to be released. He has quite the fan club at Rachel's school with a few of the moms. He just stares at them until they make over him, tickle him, etc. They love it too. At Russell's school, he's always making a new friend, the latest of which is a grandpa that loves to watch Row play in the dirt with Rachel. Rowan will look over his shoulder to make sure he's still watching.
Rowan is a great at mimicking. He loves to applaud when everyone else is or when he hears clapping. He always rubs his hands together when he sees me hand sanitizing (which has been a lot lately!!). He likes to help clean and takes a wipe to clean the high chair, the floor, the window, whatever anyone happens to be wiping clean at the time. He really tries to copy the kids when they do something that strikes his fancy.
He was watching the kids gargle and I was making a big deal out of them gargling, not the great skill, the great use of gargling to delay whatever they need to do next. Yea, so Rowan now gargles and is so pleased with himself!
He HATES having his face cleaned.
Right now he is shaking his head no at requests, questions, etc. And when he is on a roll, he shakes no at funny questions like: Do you want a cookie? Is Dad ugly? Is mom your favorite?
He won't say the word no. Like last night he wanted bananas and we tried to give him something else. He just shook his head no and said "Dat un" and pointed at the bananas.
He does this finger taste test when unsure about what he is eating. He just puts in his finger tip and puts it in his mouth for the taste test. If it agrees with him, he digs in. Or he shakes his head no and proceeds to dump it on the floor. We are working on the latter.
Of the 3 kids, he is the one that really likes to take stuff out and put it back in. He can spend an hour or more walking around the house taking things out and putting them back in. Now, this could be the laundry, kitchen towels, toys, bathroom drawer items, books, chalk from the art easel; literally anything. And when he puts it back, it doesn't mean that he puts it away, it means he puts it back someplace else or scatters it everywhere. He likes to put stuff back in the garbage can (his sippy cup), the toilet (toys & bink), and into various drawers and baskets. He takes stuff out of the garbage too – food, papers, whatever strikes his fancy. Now, when he puts in things of importance (his sippy cup) in the garbage and tries to get it back, but can't, he has a humongous fit.
We'll touch on the fits… they are starting, so I am sure the 2s will be something else with him. He is really opinionated when it means something to him and persistent. For the most part he is happy to be out and about and doesn't have the public fits (yet), but at home he can get pretty pissy.
He does what I call the gimme hands. When he wants something or you, he puts up his arms and his hands open and shut over and over and over. It is pretty darn cute. Sometimes he talks with the gimme hands, but usually just gestures.
He loves to climb the stairs. When he gets half way up (and sometimes sooner) he does his "Ta Da!" which means he says it and throws his arms up in the air. He's genuinely thrilled with himself. Sometimes he wants to play on the stairs, which we aren't fans of that. So, I take his bink and throw it up some stairs and he chases after it. Then I take it again and throw it up the other half of the stairs to get him moving.
He really likes the Wall E movie and he loves to say "Eva" just like Wall E.
He is a snuggler at bed time. He doesn't go down unless he gets some snug time in at night. Not important for naps, but at nighttime it is a necessity. He can just sit in my lap and lean back and fall asleep and the head on the shoulder kind of snugglin' works too. I really love those snuggles.
He makes these sounds that are hard to describe, but it is such a baby sound. It is a slobbery Geeee and Geh. Almost like a gargle, but not quite. He makes the sound mostly when he is playing with Adam and is really into it. It is a very sweet and happy sound.
He loves to play outside in the sand box and he loves when we play with bubbles. His reflexes aren't fast enough to pop the bubbles, but he tries and squeals with delight. He gets a big kick out of watching Rachel pop bubbles.
He is fascinated with the computer, typing on the keyboard, pushing the power button, taking the paper out of the printer and pressing its buttons.
Rowan plays phone with anything. It can be his play phones, our phones or the remote controls to the TVs or the fans. He puts it up to his ear (kind of) and walks around and talks. It sounds kind like hello and then all baby jargon after. It is so cute. He really thinks he is getting away with something when he is using a real phone.
He can open doors!! We have those lever handles on our doors here, so he gets into every room. He gets such great pleasure of opening the doors to get to Russ & Rach either while they are sleeping or using the bathroom. Russ plays with him with the door, so that doesn't help Rachel when she wants her privacy!! He gets into the pantry and will get out anything he can reach. Then he gives it to you and wants you to open it. One of these days I will open the tuna pouch and let him taste it. Little boogar will probably love it.
He knows that there are other ways to open doors. For example the door at gymnastics – he knows you have to push the lever to open the door. He gets on his tippy toes and touches the lever, like he's going to do it himself. Then he will point to it and insist that I open it for him.
This one is sweet – when he gives me a kiss, I say "ooooooooh, thank you" So now when he kisses me he immediately says "Oooooooooooooh" sometimes I get a thank you, but usually I have to thank him.
He doesn't like to be told no and can get a little mad.
He is also starting to get possessive of Adam & me. If Adam is playing with Russ or Rach, he has to be involved. Or if I am reading to either one, again, he has to get involved.
Still working on some teeth. He has the 2 bottom teeth and one top tooth almost in and I think he is cutting (or getting ready to cut) 3 more on top and 2 more on the bottom.
Words he is saying regularly and what they sound like:
Hi Dad – Hi Da
Thank You – Ank UUUUUUUUU (he says this one the 2^nd most!)
This – Dis
I Love You – uv U
Mama – mmmmmmmmama
Dada – dadadadadadda
Russell – Ussel
Rachel – Uchel
That one – Dat Un (this is his most used phrase. It took us a while to figure out what he was saying!!!)
Eva – Eva
Wow- wow
Whoa – Whoa
Uh oh- Uh oh
I am sure there are more, but I can't remember them right now, doh!

Getting Current!

2009-05-12T09:39:00.001-05:00

Looking back at the list…. Still so many things to record and write. I think I am going to knock out some of the shorter things… Well, let's start out by saying this, we are getting over the stomach flu. Probably punishment for making fun of the swine flu. (And I did make fun of it) Today I spent most of my time disinfecting the house downstairs. Adam did upstairs yesterday. The tummy bug took over the house and Mother's Day and we are taking it back!!!! Saturday I am going for my Mom's Day spa treatment and then we'll go out for dinner. Actual Mother's Day was still great, we just weren't 100%. I am not kidding when I say that Rowan had the worst. 12+ diapers a day and 6+hours in the hospital to find out that he wasn't dehydrated. I am now an expert on infant dehydration!!! We hope the worst is over and can resume life. I would love to have a day that I don't think about poopy diapers, barf and doing another load of laundry.

Well, getting current, hmmmmmmmmmmm…. I have really been on the bandwagon for getting fit and losing this excess weight. The Wii has been a great help. I have been using the Wii Fit and b/c I am so out of shape, I get a decent workout with it. I also got the Wii Fitness Coach and have been faithful to it until the tummy bug took over. On top of that I have been counting my points – Weight Watchers online and in the 2 weeks I was really on the ball, Weight Watchers told me I was losing weight too fast! Every fat girl's dream statement right there. Ha! So, now it is time to get back to business. I have missed it while being sick and actually felt regret that I was missing my workout in between naps, trips to the toilet and changing diapers. I have also popped over to the gym in our community to use the treadmill. I am a treadmill runner, not a pavement pounder. I am not too far off my speed from when I stopped jogging after I became preggers with Row. That made me feel pretty good.

We upgraded our cable to get the DVR. I really like it, but I think I may watch more TV b/c of it? I don't think I spend more time watching TV, I watch more shows than I previously did. I think b/c I fast forward thru the commercials and parts I don't want to watch, I spend less time. But now that the summer is coming and all the shows are ending, I will be reading a lot more. And by more, I mean books, not magazines.

While I was waiting at the hospital with Rowan last Friday, the news reported how the local libraries have books online that you can download and keep on your computer for a few weeks and poof! Gone. That tidbit and Debi's blog inspired me to get a library card. I am so thrilled to have one! Ha! The library in little Lynn Haven was so pathetic, I just stopped going. But, here in Vegas the libraries are close, book choices plentiful, and online you can reserve books, save titles for future use; what more could a reader want?

While I am thinking of her, Debi!! Debi and I worked at TCBY together years ago, like almost 20. We just hit it off right from the start. We always had tons of fun working together. We went to different high schools and as time passed, lost track of each other until I got a little email from Debi via Facebook. What a thrill! (Another reason why I heart Facebook!) As it turns out, Debi is a voracious reader (among other things!) and blogs about books she has read. Needless to say, she has inspired my summer reading list and I hope to get going on it soon!

Now, about that 20 years ago… saying that makes me feel old. After the Disney Spring Break, I decided I needed a hair change. I decided to get some highlights b/c I spend too much time plucking gray hairs. I have to admit I LOVE LOVE LOVE my stylist here. He's a gay guy, which I have missed contact with any gay guys after living in the Florida panhandle, so he had me right there! Ha! Anyhoo, long story short – I got my highlights and every time I have purchased an adult beverage at the store or at a restaurant, I have been carded. Does that make a semi-old fart feel good or what???

Let's see, Adam and I bought a new mattress set, an expensive one and we heart it. Typically we buy a set that isn't too expensive, but honestly it just wasn't working out. We were overdue: you could hear the bed squeak thru the ceiling and that was just one of us rolling over, nothing exciting, I assure you. So, this time we moved up to a King size, love it, and we upgraded to pretty much the best mattress you can buy that still has springs. We are still too cheap to get to that tempurpedic or air number level!! Anyway, we are loving the new bed, sleeping better, and loving the king size. Rowan is bed with us maybe 2 or 3 mornings per week, so the extra space is much needed and appreciated. Now, if I could just get Adam to stop snoring……

My children's book. I have only done a little and I need to do more. I hope this summer I will get inspired again. Maybe while camping… I do brainstorm ideas for other children's books, that part comes easy!

I got suckered into the PTO next year. I am co-secretary, still not sure what that is, but I know it is the easiest of the Board positions! Ha! I have met a mom, Janise, who shares a similar sense of humor and no BS personality. We'll be on the Board together and apparently the only non-Mormons on the Board. Wait, I take that back, there is one self-proclaimed Jewish Princess that I talked into being on the Board that threw the Mormon gals for a loop – that is another story. Needless to say, Janise and I had a great laugh at the look on the President Elect's face when the Jewish princess attempted her take over. Apparently at Russ's school there is a long line of Mormon moms that are waiting for their turn to be the PTO president, so the princess coming in was a surprise! Just a little stay at home mom humor, I hope everyone knows I have nothing against any religion. Seriously, if all schools could be so lucky to have a line of moms waiting to be president…. I am just glad and RELIEVED to know that I won't have to be PTO President again while we live here!

And, as I said in my last post, Adam will deploy in the Fall. He is on the list to go, he hasn't deployed since 2005, so we knew it was coming. The details are not clear. Don't know how long, where, when he'll leave. But, we are preparing for him to be gone for the holidays, sigh. Which is a bummer, but he hasn't missed a holiday or a birthday yet. In the military life, that is rare. The position he is in now, he can see the deployments as they come in and will hopefully be able to choose what and where as opposed to being assigned. So, that is a good thing. More than likely it will be to Iraq or Afghanistan and we are preparing for him to be gone for 6 months. It will be hard, but feel good that we will be closer to family & friends and hopefully they will help us get thru it!

The next post I hope to tackle is all the fun things Rowan is doing right now. He's 15 months and just at a great age.

Summ-Summ-Summer Time

2009-05-11T17:16:00.001-05:00

The weather man hit right on the nose this morning, weather wise, we have only had about 10 days of Spring. It is already in the upper 90s and it doesn't look like it is going to get cooler any time soon. This just adds fuel to my fire – getting' outta Vegas during the actual summer. Plans are starting to shape up. Unfortunately, Adam has to go to NM for a military exercise, so the plan just moves forward without him and hopefully, we'll catch him on the tail end of our trip.

So, here's the plan, even if you don't want to hear it ; ) My Dad's Mom is turning 90 this year and they (his siblings) are throwing a big party/luncheon at a winery in Plymouth, CA. I am not very close to this grandma, but all ten grandkids will be there and that is something that hasn't happened in years. It should be a lot of fun. The conflict for me is getting to Northern CA with the 3 kids minus Adam. I really want my car, so flying is not a good option. The 2^nd option is to have someone fly to me and drive with the kids and I. Adelle is stepping up to the plate and we will have an adventure together! I am looking forward to getting some alone time with her, she'd like to make a trip on her own and the kids adore her: we all win!

After spending a few days with the Vershaws, the kids and I will head to Napa and spend about a week with my mom. Martha already has the itinerary built, so it will be nonstop action! One of the fun and silly things we like to do is visit Train Town in Sonoma. The whole thing started with taking Russell and has continued with Rachel and carried over to Dawn's daughter, Ena, Shelly's son, Jackson, and Tonja's daughters too. So, of course, we have to take Rowan for his first trip and Tonja had a baby girl in February, Elizabeth, so the two newbies will get take their first Train Town trip together!! Tonja's kids and mine haven't been able to spend much time together, let alone experience any 'firsts' together, so even though it may be 'just' Train Town, it will be extra special! It is the little things that mean so much!!

After we wear out my mom in Napa, we'll go back up to Yuba City and the Vershaws and head off on the great NW Adventure. Meaning a big RV 'camping' trip. We'll head up through Oregon and top out in Seattle and make our way back. I think we'll be gone about 2- 2 ½ weeks. I am looking forward to it! My dad is a really good trip planner and quite frankly, I like to be a long for the ride. Grandma Rizzi (Dawn & TJ's grandma) once said "It's just so nice to be a passenger". I couldn't agree more. We'll get to see Andy a couple of times and Schelley in Seattle, which is a total bonus. One night we are staying at an RV park that is also a drive in movie theater – how fun will that be?!? We can put our chairs outside and watch a movie outside; the kids are going to love that.

At some point, Adam will fly up to Northern CA (and possibly Oregon) to catch up with up with us. We are hoping to leave the kids with the grandparents and get away for a weekend and then head back to Vegas.

August will hold some kind of trip too. I am hoping for san Diego area or maybe even Tahoe??? Adam will be deploying in the Fall, so we definitely want to get out and do something before he goes. All of the deployment stuff is up in the air and therefore, August is too. We'll figure it out – we always do!

20 Something Days and Counting.

2009-04-29T14:56:00.001-05:00

Well, 2^nd grade is almost over. Where are we at? Russ doesn't like school. He is doing all right, not great, but not failing either. I feel bad for him. You never want your child to dislike school and 2^nd grade seems too young to not like school. Sigh. He has a great teacher and am hoping for another great teacher next year; I cringe to think where we'd be if we didn't have a good teacher. I wrote to the principal and asked her to place Russ in a good class since I don't know the teachers and I am afraid of what we'll get if the computer spits him out into any old class. So, I am hopeful she'll put him with someone that will continue to work with us to keep him successful.

His friend situation is still a concern. He has friends at school, but doesn't want to invite anyone over and he doesn't get invited over. He seems to eat and play at recess with the same group. I think at recess he will sometimes play with different kids or by himself. He's always been good at playing by himself without a care. He was like that when he was little. It is hard to tell what really goes on at recess, his memory for stuff like is bad and sometimes he's off in his own world that he just doesn't pay attention or process what is going on. It's frustrating.

I was at a PTSO meeting a couple of weeks ago (I am going to be on the Board next year. I have the easiest job – co-secretary) and we were meeting the principal and I told her who I was and that I had sent her a letter about Russ. Apparently she knows Russell, not in a bad way, which is saying something because there are over 1100 students at his school. Apparently she has sort of taken the librarian's twins and 'adopted' them as grandkids and the twins (girls) and Russ are in the same class and they all share the same birthday. Apparently the twins love Russell and spoke nonstop about him while they spent a weekend with the principal and her husband. She and her husband know all about Russell's likes and dislikes, his shark knowledge, etc. And this just furthers my point of frustration, Russ has no clue that the twins like him so much. Okay, maybe that is more of a girl vs boy thing. Who knows?

Russ is in 2 sports this season (soccer and tennis), not exactly great planning on my part. He doesn't like soccer this time. It is more the coaching style than it is soccer, I think. They are pretty serious soccer people and ride Russ pretty hard during practice b/c he is kind of a space case and his ADHD meds are wearing off, plus he's just not a coordinated guy. Never has been. So, while he needs the extra attention, our concern is that positive feedback and the negative feedback need to be equal. That is debatable. I think the other factor is that Russ doesn't do well when people are on his case a lot; he loses his confidence in what he's doing and then shuts down. We've talked to the coach, it does seem to be a little better on the coaches' part. We'll see. He doesn't hate soccer, but on Wednesday mornings he's already commenting on how he doesn't want to go. I never have to drag him out the door, if I did, then I think we'd let him quit. Oooh, that was painful just typing it. We are just taking it week by week.

After this season we are going to let Russ decide what he wants to do and keep it at one sport. I think he's voting for tennis. He's not great at tennis, but the coach has a totally different style. His feedback isn't negative, it is more constructive. Plus in tennis he has something to do with his hands. It seems like when he has something in his hands he's less likely to go off in his own world.

We are still in private speech. That is going well. We are up for a renewal, so we'll see if Tricare will give us more sessions. We've been lucky so far, so I am hoping for the best!

Anyway, as you can probably guess, Russ is counting down til summer break. Next up, summer plans! They are shaping up well and now I think I am kind of counting the days too!

Bumper Thumper

2009-04-22T15:44:00.001-05:00

I am really using the list!!

When we moved here last July, we had the Minivan for just a few weeks. I had to take the kids on base to see the new pediatrician and get squared away with Russ's ADHD meds, etc. We were running a bit late and it was my first time to the hospital on base. I parked the van and immediately thought 'I shouldn't park here'. The parking lot spaces and aisles are narrow, there was a big truck across from us and I see every larger car has backed into their spot. I blow off my sense to repark and get the kids in the building –we were running late. Sure enough, when we returned my bumper had a dent and that truck was gone and you guessed it - no note. It just made me sad, you know. I think we had just made our first payment on it. All I could do was cry. (Ok, I was still nursing a 6 mos old and it was 100+ outside – hormonal and hot, not a good mix)

The Honda dealership in town doesn't do body work, but the guy gives me this card of a retired man who sets his own schedule and comes to you to fix those kinds of dents. My other option is to take it to a body shop and they'll replace the bumper. So, I called the dent guy in February. I know, I waited a while, but what I can say, I procrastinated. Well, the dent guy, Alex, is a retired master painter and former Sheriff as it turns out, AND he only takes cash, wink, wink, nod, nod. I got no problem with that. He comes and looks at the bumper, says he can do it for $200. $200, why the hell did I wait so long??? My deductible is like $500 and not having to deal with insurance is a bonus. Done.

Now, Alex makes his own schedule, so I had to rearrange around him, but for $200 I might have even let Russell miss school!!! Ha! He was going to do it at our house, but asked if he could take the bumper to his house and work the dent, paint it and use his heaters to get a good dry finish. I learned how to take off the bumper, (pretty simple), and that the van was missing half the anchors to hold the darn thing on. Never were put in, hmph, Honda. He brought back the bumper the next day; it looks so good, you can't even tell it was dented. It was $200 well spent and now all the moms that I see at gymnastics, ballet, etc. want his name and number b/c apparently everyone has some dent that needs to be fixed and everyone wants a good 'cash only' guy!!!

SSSSSSSSPPPRRRIIIIINNNNGGGGG BRRRRREEEEEEEAAAAAK!!!!!!!! (You know, in the “Spring Break, Woo Hoo” kind of voice)

2009-04-21T16:09:00.001-05:00

Time to get typing on Spring Break. This is going to be difficult, as Rowan is trying to add his 2 cents by tapping on keys while I am!! He has a lot to say these days, but man, his typing skills are just not up to par!

Well, as it started out, I had no real plans for spring break. I wanted to do something, but travelling with the 3 kids alone is just not my idea of fun. Adam is so busy at work and that week was not looking good for him. So, when Pam & Dad suggested we meet in Anaheim for Disneyland, I was all for it! All I had to do was pack and drive the kids to CA, a feat I was sure the minivan and I could handle!! The plan was to drive to CA on Saturday, stop by my Aunt Kate's house, pick her up and go to see my Nana at her assisted living facility and then drop Kate off at home and head to the RV park where Dad, Pam & Adelle, (let's call them DPA from now on), were. The beauty of this is is that they are all within a 10 mile range. Then the kids and I would stay in the RV with DPA and then head home on Thursday, meaning 3 full days at Disney and 1 day to rest. A good plan!

Dun, dun, dun, duuuuunnnn. The week before Rowan gets this weird tummy bug, but seems to be getting over it. Okay, we're still good. Then Friday morning, as in the day before our departure, Russell is throwing up and Rowan starts up again too. Ok, Plan B? Umm, make Plan B!!! Plan B turned out to be wait and see what happens, if more throwing up, then hopefully leave Sunday, just one day late. Plan B in place, but luckily the turn around time was quick and we are still on for Saturday departure – phew! Mickey Mouse, here we come!!!

The drive to CA was GREAT. Could not have been any better. I've really figured this mom thing out. I packed a lunchbox for both Rachel & Russell, full of snacks, a couple of drinks and then they could eat what they wanted when they wanted and I didn't have to pull over to help. I sat Russ next to Row, who had diaper bag filled with yummies and toys that Russ could give him during the drive. As it turns out, Rowan wants what Russ has or what he thinks Russ has; like I said, I have totally figured this mom thing out! With Disney DVDs galore, we head out on the drive. Made it in just less than 4 ½ hours, hitting some traffic in Orange County. Just in time to pick up Kate, some lunch and go see Nana. This is a topic for another blog, but we had a nice visit, the kids behaved wonderfully and we left as nana was tired and so were we! We made it to DPA with plenty of time to walk the RV park, play at the cool playground and get out all our wiggles, have dinner and get ready for Disney Day 1!!! Let me add that the RV is HUGE. It has a bathroom with 2 sinks, a bedroom and then the kitchen/living room area has 3 beds and room for the pack n play, so while we might refer to it as 'camping', it really isn't camping.

Here we go, DAY 1…. Sunday, one week before Easter. I was expecting huge crowds and seemed like there were a lot of people, so we were expecting the worst. Remember how I said I got the mom thing down? I took Russell's lunchbox filled with snacks and attached it to the stroller. So, all day the kids could get a snack when they felt like it and I didn't spend a fortune on churros. I even took a plastic cup with a lid and could split drinks for the kids – a huge lifesaver b/c they think they drink a whole one, but they can't. Damn, when I am good, I am good! Okay, but back to Disney. We head to fantasyland first and go to Peter Pan, the line is 20 minutes and know that is the shortest it will be all day. We get in line and start looking around and notice that the rides in view have NO lines. I look at the family behind us in line and realize I KNOW them. The husband works with Adam at Nellis. How crazy is that??? That made the 20 minutes zip right by! So, after PP, we head to Snow White, Pinocchio, Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Matterhorn, and Small World. All with either no wait or maybe 10 – 15 minutes. And in between, I am sending my dad to get fast passes for Buzz Lightyear and Autotopia, which he was awesome at doing and I think he got a kick out of my master planning!!! We finish all those rides and it is barely time for lunch. Rachel loved the Matterhorn – she said – that was too fast and too scary, let's do it again!!! Ha! Russ didn't like the Matterhorn, but really enjoyed Small World. He said something to the effect of – SW was so relaxing after Matterhorn and that's why he liked it. Next we hit Star Tours (the kids loved!), Buzz (another fave), Star Tours again and then time for lunch. Back to Buzz and Autotopia (boy has that changed in the last 10 years!!) and then over to Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh. Row even went on Pirates and didn't freak out. In fact he went on tons of rides and never freaked out. He would want to get up and get out when he thought the ride was over, but other than that he seemed to really like looking at everything and everyone. Day 1 turned out to be really great and we did way more than I had hoped for. The crowds dispersed well and we just took advantage of the short lines, it was great. The kids did well, but they were pooped by about 4pm and it was time to go. Rachel was so pooped that she fell asleep in the stroller. Kept nodding off and jerking herself awake. We have that sit n stand stroller, so her seat is a bench and there is nothing for her to lean against if she nods off. Poor thing. After cracking up at her for a few minutes, I did just carry her to the tram so she could snooze a bit. And at the tram, she woke up perky and ready!

On to DAY 2….. We decided to go to California Adventure (DCA) this day b/c we were unsure of the weather that was headed our way. I made dinner reservations for a Princess Dining Experience that evening, so we were in for a full day. Again, another good day, although a little warmer and humid due to the rain headed our way. I have never been to DCA, so I was looking forward to seeing why people like and dislike the park. We started with CA Soaring, a ride that makes you feel like you are hang gliding over CA. I wasn't sure how the kids would react b/c it lifts you in these seats and your legs dangle down. They LOVED it. Russ figured he could sit criss-cross-applesauce in the seat, Rachel followed suit and that made them more comfortable. At the end they had their feet out and pretending to dip their toes in the ocean. It was a fun one. Then onto Monsters, Inc (twice) – the kids were big fans. We watched the Muppet 3D movie; the kids cracked up, which made it fun for us big people! You felt like you were in the original Muppet Show Theater. That was cool. And those old guys were up in their seats making the usual funny cracks. Then Adelle, Rachel & I rode the Tower of Terror. I have to say that this is probably the best ride I have ever ridden. It was so fun. Rachel hated it, I tried to warn her beforehand, but she was determined to go and she was in tears afterwards. She learned to listen to mom a little bit better after that. Basically you are in a giant service elevator that goes up 13 stories so fast, you feel like you are going down. So while we were flying up, I thought we were going down and I was thinking, when did we go up??? Then you get to the top and these doors open and you realize you were going up. Then you make the big drop down in 3 drops. So it goes, drop, a little bounce, then a big drop, little bounce, and the last drop. Then you start the whole thing all over again. Back up you go!!! So fun and totally smooth. It was awesome. Awesome, awesome, oh, and did I say awesome????

Let's see… after Tower of Terror, Russ played on this Wilderness play structure with g'pa and the rest of us sat in the shade had some water and snacks. Then dad & I rode CA Screamin', the Disney roller coaster that you shoot off to like 50mph from 0, go upside and it has some pretty good drops. I think I would have liked that better if I hadn't just eaten a frozen banana! We waited in line for a Toy Story ride that is 3D and you shoot these goofy guns at like carnival games. That was a lot of fun! Everyone loved that and would have done it again, but the line was pretty long. I think we waited 30 minutes for it. The kids did good on that line, but weren't willing to wait again. Next up was Grizzly Run – a rapids ride – pretty standard. It was fun, wet. Rachel did this one and liked it. Then we had some time to spare before dinner. If we didn't have dinner reservations, we would have been done with DCA. So we headed over to a kid's area called Flik's Fair. Pretty simple rides, rode a couple and then went to dinner.

Oh boy, the Princess Dinner. First I could not believe the number of parents that hauled a princess dress around all day so their daughters could change into it before dinner. Crazy. Rachel had on a princess tshirt and had chocolate smeared all over it and her pants from a chocolate covered Mickey ice cream earlier. So, the deal with this is you go down and meet Ariel – she's the hostess princess and take pictures. Rachel did this and loved it. Then as you sit and eat, other princesses make their royal appearance (announcements, horn blowing, the whole deal) and they walk to every table to chat, take pictures, whatever. You get to pick from like 5 things for the meal, all were decent choices – tri tip, cioppino, pasta, chicken, etc. The kids had their choices too. At the table they have those 3 tier stands filled with finger foods, salad and fresh fruit ready for when you sit down. I liked that b/c we were hungry and it was waiting for us, no waiting for the food. After dinner they bring out these huge dessert platters for every table with assorted pastries, chocolates, etc. You get a lot of food, I think it is still overpriced, but what you are paying for is not waiting in line to see princesses at the park. Since I have just the one princess who may not be into princesses ever again, I thought it was a fair splurge for Rachel and fun to treat DCA since they pay for almost everything else. We saw Snow White, Cinderella (Rachel's fave), Jasmine, Mulan and one more, Belle, maybe? Anyway, Rachel liked talking to them, but didn't want to take pictures with them. Dad had his camera ready to snap a shot just in case!

Now let me give Russell's take on the whole thing. He was tired, we all were, and the children's menu had nothing he wanted. His choices were spaghetti & meatballs, tri tip with mashers, mac n cheese, grilled chicken breast tenders and maybe one other thing. He won't make a choice. I told him make a choice by blah blah time or I would choose for him. He doesn't choose, plenty of warning, I order him the tri tip b/c at home he likes it and mashers. Well, he says after he wants the chicken. Too damn bad, we already ordered, next time make your decision when you're expected to with everyone else. So, the meal was over for him in his mind, he was bordering on the turd side and after we left dinner, he was being rude to everyone and making comments about the worst meal of his life. Needless to say, Russell got a firm talkin' to. It is amazing how a boy who wants to get 'cool sharp prizes from Disneyland', (his words exactly), can change his attitude. But, he still got no dessert and we turned out the lights early for bed time. Typically Russ is so good, that if this is the bad/worst behavior, we can deal, but we still need to learn to not be rude to family/friends when things don't go our way.

DAY 3, a fresh start! So this was the question mark day for the weather. We decided to go back to Disneyland and take a chance. The weather was perfect, a little bit cool, but not too bad. This was the day with the biggest crowds, which was unexpected, but since we had done so much on Sunday, it didn't matter. Adelle & I rode Space Mtn while dad & Pam took the Rs to Toontown to play and see Mickey & Minnie. Space Mtn was fun, Adelle pointed out every cute guy she saw and I pointed out every guy that checked her out. Ha! Met up with the gang in Toontown and headed for Indiana Jones. Rachel was too small, but g'pa bought her an ice cream and she was good to go, well stay. Adelle & I took Russ and he loved it. I knew he would. Then he rode again with g'pa & g'ma – you gotta love fast passes!! Rachel made Adelle take her thru the Tarzan treehouse again while we waited for Russ, dad & Pam. We ended up having lunch at the Golden Horshoe, wasn't planned, but it turned out to be a fun thing. We saw a goofy play while we ate and relaxed. It involved a lot of audience participation and Russell just laughed the whole time. It felt good to sit and be entertained. I kept Row and the rest went to Tom Sawyer island, which is called Pirate's Lair now. The kids loved that and had sweaty foreheads!! Adelle, Rach & I rode Splash Mountain, which was Russell's fave at Disney World. He didn't want to ride this time, no big deal, but by the time we were off the ride, he had cotton candy!!! Ha! Rachel didn't like Splash and said when we were on an incline up, "I'll go wait with g'ma and g'pa!!!" Too late. She survived, wasn't traumatized, but I am not sure she'd do it again! Then we did Haunted Mansion and Star Tours again and called it a day.

We were all exhausted after a full 3 days. But it was a great time and very memorable! I really liked how the big people outnumbered the little people, that was a bonus. Doing stuff with DPA is always easy & fun. My dad is super anal about watching the kids and not losing them in crowds, which I appreciate. And he always had his camera ready so I didn't have take a lot of pictures, I can just get copies of his. I appreciated that too. There isn't too much drama, they are an easy group to be around. Just some teenaged drama with Adelle, but if she left her phone off and didn't text all day, that wouldn't be an issue. That could be a whole other topic!

Our last day, Wednesday, we went to the Santa Ana Zoo after it rained. Not a great zoo,( better than the Vegas Zoo), but a quiet park environment that was spacious, not crowded – a good little outing. The kids stayed at the RV in the afternoon and I went to see Nana one more time and I had a nice visit with her.

Thursday we headed back home. Missed all the traffic and made it door to door in just under 4 hours. Damn, you just can't ask for better than that! Besides all the fun family time, the trip reaffirmed to me that I need to get out of Vegas more than I am. It just felt good to get away from the flat brown city and I can't wait to get away again!

A few pics....

2009-04-20T15:27:00.005-05:00

Easter morning

Rachel totally wiped after day 1 of Disney - she's asleep!!!

Autotopia - new & improved from when I was Rachel's age

Rowan gets his own ears, name on 'em too!!!

Spring Break, 1 st day of Disney

You gotta love Blogspot, pics are not easy to work with, but here they are nontheless. This overlaps a bit with FB, I post more pics there. FB is much more user friendly for uploading photos. I am hoping to write about spring break next.

Aim and Adam’s Big Night Out

2009-04-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

In January, my mom came to Vegas b/c of work and to visit. She stays with us - she can stay a little bit longer than she would normally b/c AAA doesn't have to pay for her hotel. It was a weekend during the NFL playoffs and my mom suggests that Adam and I go out and take advantage of the free grandma babysitting! My mom is pretty good about that when she is here. We wanted to watch the games, so we decide to go to the new casino near us called Aliante Station. We find a great table at the bar in a Mexican food restaurant, right in front of the big HD LCD TV, we are totally set. The waitress knows we are there for the game, no rush to move our table, we are totally set. Adam and I LOVE NFL, especially playoffs and we were playing in this goofy playoff Fantasy Football League - we are just giddy with excitement. The game totally sucked. It was the Cardinals vs Panthers game and it was so over by the first half. Now don't get me wrong, we loved that Arizona won, it's just that we were out, sans kids, could really watch the game and we just wanted it to be a really good game. At halftime we gave up our prime table to walk around the casino, gamble a bit, maybe see a movie, whatever, it's our big night out. We checked out the movie theater, there wasn't really anything we wanted to see and anything semi-interesting didn't start for another couple of hours. We aren't big gamblers, so we played some 21 on the machine and lost $5 when it was all said and done. Time check – 7:20pm. What the Hell??? There was no way we could go home before 8pm and we had already eaten, we didn't want to leave and go someplace else- where would we go? So, we went in to the TGIFs at the casino to have a drink and at least make it until 8pm. Okay, we get in TGIFs and there is a very drunk Cardinal fan that provided us with 45 minutes of great entertainment. This guy was like our age, so drunk, slurring his words "I have waited a 100 years for this" "Go Cardinals" "Finally! Go Cardinals" He spouts off some dates in a drunken manner that don't make sense. His girlfriend comes to pick him up, he's so drunk, he's licking her face instead of kissing her "Hi baby" (all drunk and slurring) Then the whole "I have waited 95 years for this" rant. Every time it was a different number, hilarious! Oh and he's cheering at all these inappropriate times, like at commercials or when the ref calls a time out -classic harmless drunken behavior. We finished our drinks and headed home. Here it is our big night out, we are all excited and home before 8:30pm.

By the way, I am so impressed with myself – this wasn't even on THE LIST and I wrote about it anyway!!!

She Really Does Look Like A Connie

2009-04-17T17:09:00.001-05:00

Rachel is enrolled in a couple of classes thru the city of NLV rec center. The classes are awesome and super cheap. You can't ask for a better deal. She takes ballet and gymnastics. We ended up taking both classes with a little girl named Laura. I got to talking with her mom every week and she is just so nice. Her mom works for the vendor at the commissary, so I'd see her while grocery shopping on base- just a really nice woman. For example in gymnastics, she always reminds the teacher that Rachel is left-handed and afraid of heights, so when Rach is struggling with cartwheels or doing something on the high balance beam, she always speaks up before I do. Such a nice person. So as the weeks turn into months, I realize I don't know Laura's mom's name. At the commissary she doesn't wear a name tag that you can see and I always think to bring it up, but it never comes up while we are chatting away and watching the girls in class. So Tracey enrolls Jaime in our gymnastics class and she and I make this plan for Tracey to introduce herself and then we could learn Laura's mom's name. The plan doesn't work! And it backfires b/c she hears Tracey and I calling each other by name and now she knows our names and we don't know hers. Tracey sees her at the commissary too and we can't get her name. One day I decide, I am going to write down my name and phone number b/c we have talked about meeting up at the park with the girls so they can play, going to see Sesame Street Live together. I figure if I do it, she'll either call me and say this is Laura's mom, _______. Right? Or, she'll write down her contact info for me. As it turns out, they invited Rachel to Laura's birthday party. Rachel is so excited to have a bday invite, she won't let me look at it and I am dying to know Laura's mom's name. Her name? It is Connie. I tell you, she really does look like a Connie. And we are taking the girls to Sesame Street Live in a couple of weeks, so new friend for me too, hurray!

Do I Have Powdered Sugar and Syrup????

2009-04-16T23:18:00.001-05:00

The guest suite seemed to have a revolving door from February through the beginning of April. Andy was here (I know I blogged about that already, I am not THAT behind) and the end of February marked a visit from Schelley Olhava, then in March a visit from Jess and Maddie Boynton and the end of March Christine and Brielle Rodrigues visited. All were great visits and I hate to condense down to one entry, but I am going to attempt it. Sorry gals.

We'll start with Schell, who came for a weekend and it turned into a pork filled weekend. It wasn't the plan, but we fed Schelley pork at like every meal! How is that possible??? Ribs, bacon at breakfast, leftover ribs for lunch, more bacon at breakfast and Schelley chose to continue the pork theme with a pork taco for dinner the last night!! I don't think Adam had seen Schelley for about 5 years. I saw Schelley about 3 years ago in Portland while on vacation with my dad, Pam and Adelle. It was a great visit. We showed Schelley the sites one doesn't normally see in Vegas – the Springs Preserve, Red Rock Canyon, the vast expanse of housing that covers the valley. Aka, the non casino trip! We tried to get reservations to a local Thai food place that Schelley knew about, but since they don't answer the phone during non business hours, we did not get to go. Next time we will feast there. (We went there Easter weekend, and a feast it was! Too yummy for words!) Oh and I'd like to make note in my blog that Schelley has crowned me Best Hostess since I emailed her to ask her what she likes to eat for breakfast. It is a crown I wear proudly and if getting it was that easy, what other titles can I acquire??? Any title from Schelley is a total compliment!!!

Next up, Jess and Maddie! They flew in from San Antonio. We haven't seen them since June of last year, so it was so great to see them! I really miss Jess, we traded babysitting a lot and is just all around a super duper friend. Definitely one of those friends you hope to meet while your husband is in the service – always there for you! I am lucky to have made a few of those types of friends since we moved away from home. We had a full week – something every day. One day we ventured out to the Las Vegas Zoo, which is in a residential neighborhood across the street from a non strip casino and the big Cox Communications building. It has no parking lot, you park on the street and chickens come out to greet you. Let me say this 'zoo' (and I use that term lightly) had more chickens and bird poop than I can even describe. We could have taken a chicken or 10 home with us. We go up to pay and I have a coupon – they didn't honor it. Flat out said they don't honor that coupon. This was kind of surprising and startling. Not that I am cheap, but I mean honestly, it was from the Entertainment Book, I didn't make the coupon or anything like that. I think honoring coupons is just good business, but what do I know??? We get our tickets and go in. In Florida, we had a little zoo that we all kind of laughed at b/c it seemed pretty hokey. Well, the LV Zoo makes the Panama City Beach Zoo seem like the San Diego Zoo. It was that bad. And did I mention the chickens? There were a couple of lions, a chimp that watches TV and a whole mess of chickens!! That was the low of the week. We ventured out to the Mirage to see their dolphins and lions, tigers, jaguars, oh my! Of course, the Springs Preserve, b/c we take everyone there! And it wouldn't be a visit with Jess if we didn't get out and do some shoppin'. Jess and I also got semi-addicted to a new game on the Wii – Carnival Mini-Golf. It was hilarious, we played it for hours while the kids played, napped, went to bed, etc. Also while Jess was here, Rowan had some major milestones – taking first steps, eating his first popsicle and I think cutting his first tooth too. I think he was totally showing off for Jess – stinker!

And then Christine and Brielle came for a long weekend that seemed too short. I haven't seen C&B in a good 3 years and Brielle was a baby. So this visit was such fun getting to know Brielle and of course, catch up with Christine. It didn't feel like 3 years had gone by, I felt like I just saw her last weekend. An awesome feeling. Since they flew in around lunch, Adam stayed home to give Row a nap and I took R & R to pick them up and we did some sightseeing on the strip. I have to note seeing C & B at the airport – Brielle is like Christine's Mini-Me, except her hair is shorter than Christine's and bounces up and down, so she does have a resemblance to Side Show Bob. And I say that with love; even Christine says she looks like Side Show Bob and can't wait to tease Brielle about it when she's older. We had lunch at the Rain Forest café, walked down to the M&M store, watched the 3D movie and huffed it down to the Bellagio to watch the fountains. Rachel did not wear socks with her shoes and got huge blisters. Thankfully there was a CVS on the strip where I could pick up a round of water for the gang and band aids. The strip has it all. We also ventured out to the Valley of Fire, which is so beautiful. Even more so than Red Rock Canyon. We picnicked a bit; the kids climbed around on the rocks and played in red sand. The weather could not have been better. Let's see, then Monday we headed to the Springs Preserve – I know, we take everyone there! Something fun about the SP is that every time we go, we enjoy something different. My kids have been lots of times, so when we go with someone new, they always are interested in something different so we experience the SP in a new way. It is so big and has so much to do, it really does happen every time. Of all the people that have come to visit, Christine and my mother in law, Jamie, are the ones that I really looked forward to taking. I just knew they would appreciate it maybe more than I do.

Let me also add that Brielle is a riot. First, she is total tomboy and doesn't like to be called pretty, she's 'cool'. Not even pretty cool, just cool. She had cous cous for the first time and loved it. She called it Blues Clues, which was so funny. She told me she really liked Blues Clues at dinner. She really is a fun kid that gets it. You can joke with her and tease her and she just gets it, there's no other way to describe it. I really enjoyed getting to know her. Of course, being the tomboy she likes Russell and Adam more than me, but that's okay!! Sniff. Ha!

The visit with Christine was a great one. I look forward to future visits and hope that we can meet up down in So Cal for some play time too. Oh, and in reference to the title of this post. Since I have my hostess title, I emailed the ladies to ask what they like for breakfast and the kids' fave foods. If the kids aren't happy, then no one is. So, Christine emails back, do you have powdered sugar and syrup, in regards to eating waffles for breakfast. Do I have powdered sugar and syrup? I mean honestly, who do you think you are dealing with here? Do I have powdered sugar and syrup?

The Rachel Update

2009-04-15T10:01:00.001-05:00

Well, I am on the ball – Row went to bed early and Adam is packing for a trip to NM, so time to get this blog on the ball!

OK, Rachel's big fall. One day after Pre-K, Tracey suggests that we pick up the kids – Rach and her son Jaime, go to the park for a walk and the kids can ride their bikes. Great idea! Babies in strollers, preschoolers on bikes and moms can yap. I love a good yap with Tracey!

A side note… I don't know why, but my kids don't like to use the brakes on their bikes. Russ would rather fall or drag his feet on the ground rather than use his brakes. Rachel won't use them, even though all she has to do is pedal backwards.

So, we are walking and talking, the weather is great; kids are doing well until Rachel starts down a small hill. Of course, as stated before, she won't use her brakes. She starts to pick up speed and is screaming. I am yelling - Pedal backwards, use your brakes, etc. I park Row in the stroller with Tracey and start to run after Rachel. Just as I am catching up to her, she is headed for a curb that surrounds the planter. In my mind, I am prepping for the blood, the ER, the dentist, huge bump/scrape on her head, whatever may come. Just as I grab on to her, she hits the curb and goes flying over her handlebars, does like a somersault over the bars and lands on her back, barely a scratch. Well, you wouldn't know this from all the screaming and tears and DRAMA. I get her calmed down, get her back on the bike for a little bit until she tells me she just wants to walk. Okay, fine. I leave her and Row with Tracey, put the bike back in the van. Before I do this, she grabs her play cell phone out of the pouch on her bike.

While I am at the van, she leans up against a light pole and "calls" grandma. Tracey heard the whole thing. Apparently the conversation went something like this:
Grandma, it's Rachel. I just fell off my bike. (Pause)

Yea, it really hurt. (Pause)

Well, I was riding and my bike went too fast down the hill, I couldn't stop and I fell off my bike. It really hurt. (Pause)

I did cry, cuz it really hurt. And I cried and cried and cried. (Pause, looks up at me walking up to her)

Ok, mom's here, I gotta go. (Pause) OK. Bye. (Flips her phone closed)

And now, she doesn't like riding her bike some 4+ months later.

And while I am on the subject of Rachel, let's visit the Pre-K issue. With Russ, he qualified for ESE Pre-K in both OK and FL b/c of his speech and language delays. We paid nothing, didn't have to research any preschools, he just went to the appropriate elementary school. I did have to research the elementary school in FL, but that was a bit easier in a way b/c I could pick whatever school and not have to consider the cost. Also in FL, the pre-k schools (not at elementary schools) were much more accessible than they are here. Decent costs, plenty of choices, and most were all very good. (Think good Christian women working part time b/c they love kids and the extra money!) And the other element in both OK and FL is the state sponsored voluntary Pre-K programs. Meaning the state subsidizes one year of preschool for children the year before they enter Kindergarten. You just have to attend a licensed facility that participates in the program. So, the cost for parents is a lot more reasonable. Here in Nevada there are not as many great little part time preschools, it is all mainly full day preschools/day care and no state subsidizing for the year before Kindergarten.

When we moved here over the summer, we missed all the preregistration for any preschool, except for the YMCA. Tracey had Jaime enrolled there and I wanted Rachel in something, so I enrolled her there also. I wasn't crazy about it. The times didn't work well, the 'head teacher' (who was terrific) went on a leave of absence indefinitely without any explanations from anyone and I just saw a lot of yelling at the end of the session when the head teacher wasn't there. I can yell at Rachel all I want at home for free. So, I put her on the list for a pre-k run by the city and just waited. Well, the next day I got a call and she was in, which never happens, but with the foreclosures and people moving, they have had a big turnover this year. I like it better there – the teacher is very good, lots of experience with little children, very patient, soft spoken, more mature. The curriculum is the same as the YMCA, but the times work better and the parents are so much friendlier than at the Y. There is a nice group to chat with while we wait for the kids to finish up. But, still it isn't perfect and we don't want Rachel going there next year and doing the same thing. So, we decided we are going to have to buckle down on the finances and pay for the pricier pre-K. I started the preschool hunt.

First I had to narrow down part time schools in our area, besides the two she had attended; there were like 3 or 4. I narrowed down to two based on parent recommendations from parents I have talked to at ballet, soccer, etc. One was a Co-Op preschool and was a Lutheran preschool, Lamb of God. I toured both, liked both. The Co-Op is more reasonable, but parents work two or three mornings per month, filling in as the aides, therefore saving salary costs and tuition costs for all. Well, I don't have anyone to watch Rowan for me three mornings a month, so that ruled out the Co-Op. Lamb of God it is. Rachel's pre-k in FL was called Little Lambs, so I have a good feeling about it. I felt comfortable there and I feel like Rachel will get what she needs to be prepared for Kindergarten. I was there right before 8am on the day of open registration and had walked in the office and looked at their clock, not quite 8am. I asked, "Is it close enough to 8:00 for you?" The lady at the desk laughed and said, "You bet!"

I enrolled her in 3 days a week, but had to do the afternoon class, 12:30 – 4:00pm. I figure I'll take her and get Rowan back for a nap and then I can have some Aimee time to work out, blog, do whatever I need to do. Typically I would put her in the morning class, but it was full. However, the more I think about the PM class, the more I like it. I tend run errands in the morning and I can do that with Rachel and Rowan. She helps entertain him and me as we run around. She starts in September, has to wear a uniform (that will be an adventure, as Rachel loves her dresses and the color yellow!! A worthy future blog for sure), and I think it will be a good experience for her.

Finding the Time

2009-04-14T18:27:00.003-05:00

So, Christine was here a couple of weekends ago and I was telling her all these stories about the kids and things that are going on with us and several times I heard something to the effect of - You should write that in your blog. (It sounded much better coming from Christine's mouth and not my typing!!) It has been really hard to find the time to sit and type some thoughts. I am going to make a quick list to look at and hopefully I'll just make the time to write about each item on the list. Sometimes when I sit at the computer I just blank on what I want to write about. I am hoping this list will inspire me!! Of course now I am trying to organize my thoughts – do I make my list chronological, alphabetical, or just go for it with no rhyme or reason??? I am going for it with no rhyme or reason!!!

Rachel falling on her bike and pretending to call g'ma – fall 08

Grandmas – mine, g'ma Rizzi, my mom wanting to be called g'ma pam, not g'ma Flippin

Russ not really liking school, sigh. Soccer (the mom who gives out way too much info, Adam not really liking the coach, probably our last season)

Our house in FL, tenants, stimulus money for active duty people caught like us

Rowan latest greatest feats – talking, walking, two teeth, so much personality

Connie – the mom whose name I didn't know for several months

Rachel – preschools for next year

Our Spring Break trip to DisneyLand

A new bed and a good night's sleep, too many gray hairs (trip to get highlights), weight loss, time to exercise, read, blog, write the book, do anything! I love DVR.

Loving FaceBook and catching up with old friends, some of whom have blogs, super cool! (Kris – cooking, Debi – reading)

My cat Kadie, swiffer wet jet theory and how I don't think I can let go of her ashes or Riley's for that matter

Still not liking LV and possible assignment overseas next time around

All the visitors we have had and will see soon – Schelley (pork at every meal!), jess & maddie (the world's worst zoo), Christine & Brielle (valley of fire), Trina (coming soon), Pricers (in laws, Blake & Morgan, drama, Lotus of Siam)

Summer plans – get the hell out of Dodge! Well, Vegas for maybe a month – yes!

The cash only guy that fixed the minivan bumper for only $200.

OK, I think that is it!!! Plenty o stuff to write about and I think I have listed all of it.

Aimee According to Russell and Rachel

2009-03-17T16:56:00.001-05:00

So, this is another note floating around Facebook….

This is a cute idea. Copy this note, ask your kid the questions and write them down exactly how they respond. Tag me back if you haven't done this, I'd love to hear the answers!

According to Russell, 8

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Do your jobs.

2. What makes mom happy?
Giving you a Valentine's card.

3. What makes mom sad?
Something that's not good.

4. What does your mom do to make you laugh?
Tickle, (smirk)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Dance

5. How old is your mom?
18

7. How tall is your mom?
10 cameras long

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
You tell me.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Always plays Cars recording (the movie on DVR)

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know

11. What is your mom really good at?
Lego Batman the video game

12. What is your mom not very good at?
I'm thinking about it.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Wash the dishes.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Fiber One bars and tacos.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
By doing her best.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
I don't know, that's pretty hard.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play Lego Batman and help each other.

18. How are you and your mom alike?
We are family.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Because you're a female and I'm a male, a young male.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Cause I love you so much.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Target and probably Costco.

Now according to Rachel, 4

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you

2. What makes mom happy?
a hug

3. What makes mom sad?
cry

4. What does your mom do to make you laugh?
we tickle

5. What was your mom like as a child?
you turn into a baby

5. How old is your mom?
14, no 15

7. How tall is your mom?
so big

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Clean up and build.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Run around with the baby

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
????

11. What is your mom really good at?
at the playground

12. What is your mom not very good at?
at the playground

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Um, I don't know

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Oranges

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
You did it!

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a princess with me

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Eat a banana

18. How are you and your mom alike?
girls

19. How are you and your mom different?
Mommy's good

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
You give a hug

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
to the airport

Tennis Anyone?

2009-02-19T16:24:00.001-06:00

Well, I have to quickly write about Russell's first tennis lesson. I signed him up for some lessons at thru the city rec center. So far everything we have done thru the center has been good, so I thought this would stand a chance at being good too. I was only a little bit wrong – it was great!!! We have only had one lesson, but it was worth every penny just for that one hour. Russell enjoyed every second. He just smiled the entire hour, even when they had to pick up all the balls all over the court. What really made me happy was just witnessing the pure joy on his face, it was amazing. It has been a long time since I have really seen that. Probably not since this summer. It was really cold that night and he had on a knit ski cap and it totally reminded me of when we lived in OK and Russ was about 3, playing at the playground and loving life.

As far as the tennis skills, I think he did well for never picking up a tennis racquet before. There was one game that they held a cone upside down and they had to catch a ball after it bounced. Russ only caught like 1 ball out 25, but he never gave up and he just kept trying and smiling. But as far as hitting the ball, he did well. The coach was so positive and had so much energy – you could tell that tennis is his passion and coaching kids really energizes him. That guy said something positive after every swing, hit, miss, try, etc.

On the ride home, Russ was on cloud 9. He really liked it. And one thing he mentioned that surprised me a bit was that he thought tennis was good for him because he had to really focus on the ball and nothing else.

By Popular Demand

2009-02-16T10:57:00.003-06:00

Some of you are not on FaceBook and haven't seen my great creation..... Ha! Well, here ya' go! And here is the link to the recipe for the chocolate cake and frosting.... Thanks again Schelley!

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

Sick City

2009-02-15T19:50:00.001-06:00

Yeah, so you can guess, we are sick. It started with Rowan the day after his birthday. I thought it was the shots he got. Nope, that icky cold virus going around. Ugh. So for a week plus he has not been sleeping well, congested, cough, fever – the works. (On a positive note, it really is his first bad cold, hurray for breastmilk!) So, last Wednesday I took him in to the Dr. and the Dr. said, if he's still running a temp. tomorrow bring him back. AAAHHH!!! But I am here TODAY. So, we ended up back at the Dr. on Friday and sometime between Weds. and Friday Rowan got an ear infection. Now, I am a little suspicious only b/c it went from, Oh his ears are fine to Oh, definitely an ear infection. Whatever. He still isn't sleeping well and rubbing his ear a lot. Hopefully tonight will be better. Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that Adam is gone and so it is all me. Yaawwwwnnnn… achoo! Yep, I think I am getting the bug (just call me Aimee ZiCam Bright), Rachel has the bug and is complaining about her ear. She complained so much that she even let me clean it, look inside with my otoscope and put drops in it. It looked red to me; guess we where we are going on Tuesday? So far Russell is staying strong and healthy, but ever since Kindergarten, he rarely gets sick. Hopefully he'll miss this round of the crud. Adam doesn't get back until Saturday. Sunday I plan to sleep all day.

The Birthday Report

2009-02-14T09:51:00.001-06:00

Well, time to report on the birthday festivities for the month of February. We started with Rowan's 1^st birthday on the 4^th. We just had a fun little day at home. Rowan loves whipped cream and waffles. So, he got that for breakfast and kept asking for more whipped cream. We made pizza for dinner and had yummy sugar cookies with lots of frosting. A great day all around.

Then on the Friday, the 6^th, Andy and his friend Rachel came from Portland. They came to do some run in the Mojave Desert, not for the birthdays, that was a bonus. Then my dad, Pam & Adelle also drove down Friday night, not for the run in the Mojave, but for the birthdays and to see Andy. It was cold and rainy all weekend and Andy & Rachel got up at like 3am to get ready and drive to the desert for a run in the windy rain and cold. That sounds like A LOT of fun, doesn't it? Weirdos. Rachel has a boyfriend and we always wonder about them b/c Andy and Rachel are always out doing stuff together – backpacking, running, etc. After this weekend, I am beginning to think her BF is a smart guy – who would want to run in the desert in the rain and cold? You know? Rachel was teilling us she's a runner and her BF is a cyclist and neither enjoys the other's sport. So, it works out for them. Back to the weekend…. Andy made a great pre-run dinner on Friday night with some wild rice called Oregon Jewel. According to Andy it is the best wild rice ever. Schelley, I had him bring some for you, it is waiting for your arrival in LV : )

While Andy & Rachel were freezing in the desert, the rest of us went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. We had not been before and the kids loved it. It is small and crowded, but it was nice to get out of the house. Adam, Dad and the kids went back to the house and those of you who know this, Adam is horrible with directions and getting around. His report to me was – I don't think I impressed your dad with my driving skills. Ha ha. Pam, Adelle & I did a little shopping – gotta keep the teenager happy!! I did put the teenager on a time hack (military term) to keep us movin' along and not shopping all night. Adelle was pretty cute with the time hack – she'd check the time frequently and report how much time we had left. In fact, in Juicy Couture, I got a few weird looks when I said, "Adelle, 5 mninutes, Hack." These ladies looked at us like I was from Mars. Pretty funny.

Sunday, we had planned to go to Red Rock Canyon and do some hiking, but it was still raining!!! Dad, Adam & Russell headed out to Bass Pro to fart around. Pam and Adelle went back to Juicy to shop some more. Rachel went back to Oregon and Andy and I stayed home with Rowan and Rachel. I made a hamburger cake which turned out AWESOME. During this time, Rowan caught a cold and was very grumpy. So that night we did the cake and presents for both the boys. Needless to say they had a very fruitful birthday.

Let me report on the cake. The cake was delicious!!!! We made hamburgs and hot dogs for dinner, so I had thought it would be fun to make a cake that looked like a hamburger. After reading endless tips online on how to make it, I realized the key to a successful hamburger cake would be Peanut Butter Frosting. I don't like to make frosting from scratch, I always screw it up. Unless, it has cream cheese, I can do that, don't ask me why. So, I searched for a recipe and didn't find one to my liking. So, I turned to Schelley, as I always do when in a recipe dilemma. Of course, Schelley has made PB Frosting and gave me a great recipe. Hello, BONUS – it was made WITH cream cheese. I didn't even ask about a recipe with cream cheese, I just wanted a good recipe. It was meant to be, I had to make the frosting. Can I just say – YUM. Yum yum yum. It like melted in your mouth, it was so good. It is now everyone's fave frosting. YUM. I also used fondant for the lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Whipped vanilla frosting for the mayo and red icing for the ketchup, All of that was pre-made or pre-colored. It was a really fun cake.

On Monday, everyone went home. It was a houseful, but didn't seem like it. Adam left on Tuesday for New Mexico and he'll be there until the 21^st. Russell's actual birthday is Feb. 12^th. So, I made cupcakes for his class – beach and shark cupcakes. The shark cupcakes had blue frosting with a grey cardstock fin sticking out of the water and the beach cupcakes had white frosting with graham cracker crumbs and little umbrellas for embellishment. The kids loved them. Russ's classroom has a beach theme too, so the kids really liked that. Russ had a great day – calls on the phone, emails, a video email from the McKinneys singing Happy Birthday with the cha cha cha and at the end a triumphant HI-Ya! Hi- Ya indeed, a great way to end the birthday celebrations.

As It Turns Out, A Super Sunday

2009-02-01T23:15:00.002-06:00

So, this morning around noon, someone rings our doorbell. This hardly ever happens, except with the UPS guy. I look thru the peep hole and it looks like a potential holy roller, but I open the door anyway. As it turns out a 13 year old boy in one of the quadrants of our neighborhood/community was missing. 13. He had gone out about 9am to walk his dog and they found the dog, but no boy. So they were passing out flyers in hopes that someone saw something. Adam had been out jogging that morning, but hadn't seen anything.

Your heart just stops beating for a second when you hear news like that. 13. We offered our help if they needed more people to pass out flyers, whatever, anything. Although sometimes the best way to help is to stay out of the way, as there were probably 100 people out at the gate with the police. The helicopter was out, people were out on their ATVs searching the desert area behind our neighborhood; it seemed like a lot was being done to find him. Then around 2:30 or so, everyone was gone and the neighborhood was back to its norm.

Adam and I were worried for this boy and his family. As a parent, you can only imagine just a bit of the terror they must be going through. It was hard to get excited for the Superbowl. However, during the Superbowl, Adam was checking the Internet to see if any news had turned up. They did end up finding him all the way down near the strip, right around the time the police and everyone had left here. The article said that he was distraught, upset, and seemed unharmed.

What a relief! We have no clue what of the details are, but just glad that this had a positive outcome. News and situations like this just want to make you hold your children a little bit tighter, you know? We often wonder if we are overprotective of our kids and today the answer was and still is absolutely not.

We Finally Have Our Crawler!

2009-01-24T23:16:00.001-06:00

Many of you may know that Russell & Rachel were NOT crawlers. Strictly rollers, (rolling around on the floor to get where they wanted to be), then they pulled up and walked. They walked along the couch, behind toys and then they just toddled off all by themselves. It was funny that they were both the same and they both started walking at 11 months.

Now, after what seems like weeks of trying, Rowan is crawling. He started right after Christmas. He would get on all fours and rock back and forth and then belly flop on the floor. He would get so mad and pissy and about it too. Then one day he started pulling up on the couch and we thought, oh maybe he'll skip crawling. No way, he doesn't even like to pull up any more – like it is a waste of his time. He crawls all over the place and it is so cute. That little diaper butt wiggles back and forth and he's making some sweet little sound as he travels about. He is pretty fast too. He loves to crawl upstairs from anywhere into Russ & Rach's room. I swear he is with me one second and the next thing I know he is in with the other two, loving life.

He does this thing where he crawls and then sort of kneels on knee and gets his other foot in position to stand up. We used to think that he wanted to stand, but no, that means "Pick me up". He doesn't seem to be too interested in walking right now.

Some other fun things he does right now – he points to everything. Tonight he was pointing to the counter. I thought he wanted a bink, so I gave him one and he shook his head no. How cool is that? The other day at Speech, he pointed to a poster he wanted to look at. So, I took him over to it and when he was done looking at the poster, he waved bye-bye at it.

He loves when Rachel will reach over and hold his hand in the car. He just laughs this big joyful laugh. Thinking of the car, he had to get a new car seat. I am a bit of a car seat snob, so I got him a big Britax that he can use until he's ready for the booster seat. He seems to really like it. Maybe it's just me, but I honestly think he likes it better than his old seat.

Oh! He says "Uh oh" all the time. He drops stuff and says 'uh oh' so matter of factly. Then you give him whatever he drops and he waits a bit and drops it again. Uh oh. You get the pattern, it could go on and on. He'll even look at you when he drops something on purpose and then tells you 'uh oh'.

I would almost swear he says "All Done" when he is done eating and you aren't right there with him. It sounds like 'aaaa duhn'. He still won't say "Mama", I have heard him say it recently, but nothing consistent. He is still all about the 'dadadadadadadaaaaaaaaaaa'.

And after taking a break from giving kisses, he's back at it. And lots of 'em. Good slobbery ones too.

Still no teeth. I got him this onesie that says "Teeth are overrated". Well, they are right now, he eats just about anything without them : )

Well, that is the Rowan update. He'll be one on February 4^th and Russell will be 8 on the 12^th. Where has the time gone?

I need to blog about Rachel and preschool, Red Rock hiking, Kadie, guitar hero, and more visitors – the guest suite is booking up fast!!!

16 Things About Me

2009-01-12T12:32:00.001-06:00

A friend from high school recently wrote 16 things about her (Gina Garcia Ochs) on her Facebook page and then she tagged 16 people to send it to. I read it, of course, and now the idea is for those who are tagged to write 16 things about themselves. Gina's entries were very thoughtful and fun; not just basic things about her. Gina and I were friends in high school, not close friends, but I really appreciate reconnecting with her and others on Facebook, (more on that later), and as in Gina put it "getting to know the new you since high school".

Her 16 things made me think about 16 things about me. I thought it would be a good blog entry and a good Facebook entry also – a double whammy!!

I don't really enjoy living in Las Vegas…. Gasp! Living here has made me really appreciate our little life in Florida. As much as I complained about living in a small southern town and the limits that imposes on your life, I miss it terribly. I miss going to the grocery store and seeing the same checkout clerk no matter what day of the week it is. I miss running into friends and acquaintances while out running errands, shopping, etc. I really miss my friends and neighbors/neighborhood that I could rely on every day if needed. And don't get me wrong, I love being closer to my long time friends and family on the West Coast. But, I don't have a lot of friends here in Vegas. And it is so brown here. I miss the green. The grass really can be greener on the other side ; ) Ha! One thing I do appreciate about the move is Adam's job. He works less hours and is happier at work. That is good for all of us. He also has a commander that honestly feels responsible for furthering his 'employees' professionally. Adam has training and job opportunities that he hasn't had before and, as his commander has pointed out, will add to his resume for his career after the Air Force. So, I am truly happy for him and the opportunities coming his way. I guess like any place, there are pros and cons and we just have to appreciate what we have when we have it!
This is a goofy one – when I was preggers with Rowan, I became lactose intolerant. And now I still AM. Rowan is also lactose intolerant. He has to have the soy formula. He can have a little dairy here and there, but if he has too much he has the gas, doesn't sleep well, and other symptoms. Sometimes I crave a good cheesy quesadilla, but it just isn't worth it. I can have a bit of dairy every day, but not much. It is kind of a shame, because I like dairy! Especially a tasty cheese.
I have 2 mom fears – my 'greatest mom fears' – the kids drowning or choking. You know, not breathing is not good.
I think volunteering is so important. I volunteered a lot in high school and enjoyed it so much. I still really enjoy volunteering. In Florida, I was able to volunteer every Thursday morning in Russ's kindergarten class. I also did a lot of PTO stuff too, which was a lot of work, but we raised a lot of money for the school and were able to purchase big items that all the children benefited from as well as supplementing the school's budget for field trips, library supplies, technology upgrades, etc. Here in Vegas, I haven't had as much opportunity, part of that is that I have Rowan with me most of the time, so that limits me. I am going to apply to be a volunteer for Andre Agassi's charitable foundation. They have a gala fundraiser similar to one we did in OKC for Big Brothers Big Sisters. I get a lot out of volunteering, maybe more than I put in ; )
I love Christmas. I could keep my Christmas tree up all year. Maybe not all the decorations around the house, but definitely my tree. It has such a charm to it that I enjoy and appreciate.
I have already blogged about this – I want to write a children's book. I have some ideas flowing for several different stories. Will I ever publish? I hope so, but I think the accomplishment of writing one that I am proud of will be enough.
I have 2 MAJOR pet peeves. One is pity parties – not a fan, don't invite me, I won't attend. Now when something bad happens, of course, we are all going to have some pity for ourselves, complain, be blue, stress out, whatever your outlet is, fine. We all like to share with others our sorrows, worries and stressors; that's one thing that friends and family are for, right? But when it goes on and on and takes over one's life, a lot of their conversations, etc. Enough already. We all have problems, but when yours affect your day to day life, planning of life and you really think you have the biggest problems of anyone, it is time for a reality check or don't keep complaining to me. Like I said, I won't attend your pity party. If you want my help on talking out some strategies and solutions, I am here for you. I am THE gal!
My second major pet peeve (while I am on the subject) is stay at home moms who seriously complain about how hard their job is to anyone that will listen. When I hear women complain I always think to myself….. get a job, work FT, deal with work issues, day care issues, what's for dinner issues, who is going to clean this house issues and all of your SAME parenting issues and then look back on how hard you thought staying home was and reevaluate. I think working FT and dealing with all your home/parenting stuff is WAY harder, period dot. I worked just PT from when Russ was 6mos until Rachel was born. That was hard. Some weeks I worked FT when the agency was busy and that was challenging, especially when Adam was deployed or TDY and I had no family in town, well hell, no family in the same state. I am so grateful to have the choice to stay home right now. Yea, it's rough, but it could be tougher. I guess I should clarify before I move on…. I do have a couple of girlfriends that we 'complain' to each other about staying home issues and I don't want offend them. Actually now that I think about it, what we do isn't complain as much as it is to share a laugh or quick frustration about something ridiculous our kids did, said, etc. So, you know who you are and I don't mean you! ; )
I really treasure my friends. I take a lot of pride in all the friendships I have and I truly value each and every one of you. I have gotten so much joy lately from finding friends on Facebook and reconnecting. What an opportunity to reconnect with old friends that you may have otherwise lost in the shuffle of life forever. It is so fun to hear from people again and see how much our lives have changed and yet how similar we have all become, especially those of us with kids. I also have a lot of long time friends that I have been in touch with since childhood. Friends and family are everything!
One phenomenal thing about living in Vegas is the opportunity to actually see people that I haven't seen in years. Jen Keig-Jensen was here in November and I haven't seen her in probably over 10 years. Melissa Glass was here in December. My friend Trina will be here in April. I was able to see my cousin Erica over Thanksgiving and I'll be seeing my other cousin Jennifer in the summer. If we lived in Oklahoma or Florida, I wouldn't be able to see as many people. In fact in the 7 months we have lived in Vegas, I have seen more people/visitors than I did the entire time we lived in Florida. So, I guess living someplace that I am not so thrilled with is a sacrifice I will gladly make for the many times I will be able to see and visit with the people I care about.
One thing I could do better is improving the quality of my "Aimee Time". My Aim Time is limited and I don't see it increasing any time soon, especially since Rowan is now crawling!!! So, I need to focus on making my time for myself better. I would like to get back to some of my favorite hobbies – gardening, scrapbooking, cooking adult foods, working out. Those are hobbies that take blocks of time, which I usually don't have. New hobbies I have now and don't require large blocks of time are crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, cooking/baking kid friendly foods, editing movies of the kids on the computer, blogging, Facebook is almost a hobby, shopping, etc. But I do feel like I should get back to some of my old faves, I miss them.
Thinking of shopping… I am a fierce bargain hunter. I love the hunt and the thrill of victory!!! Even more I love to brag about my victories!!!!! Ha!! Well, I brag to Adam most of them time and he oohs and ahhs appropriately, but I don't think he truly appreciates my great bargains ; ) And I am a team player in the bargain hunting. I can go it alone, but I especially love to bargain shop with a friend – could Aim Time BE much better??? Maybe not.
I want to go to Europe. About a month ago, Christine sent out an email saying that in 5 years she'll be 40 and she wants to go to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos and is anyone else interested in going on a trip of a lifetime? It got me to thinking…. Adam and I will be both 40 in 5 years and it will be our 15^th wedding annie, we should take a big trip sans kids. Since I have never been to Europe and Adam has only stopped thru Europe on his travels, we decided that we'll go for about 2 weeks. Not sure where yet. I am leaning towards like a week in the UK and a week or more in France. And now we are even discussing a military move to Europe. Not sure if that will ever happen, but I am now open to it. (I never was before.)
I have blogged about this too…. It is time once again for the Pillsbury Million Dollar Bake-Off!! I entered last time and didn't make the cut of 100 recipes to go for the million buckaroos, but I am going to keep trying!!! Not sure what recipe I will enter this year. It isn't due until April, but I definitely want to enter something. I have to start brainstorming and testing. And kudos to Pillsbury, as I will probably spend more than I want to testing recipes with their products. Ha! I am really into the sweet & savory foods right now, so it will probably be something along those lines… suggestions?
Many of you know this… my son Russell has a language processing disorder and ADHD and has overcome speech and motor delays. It is a worry that always is in my mind. When we found out about all the delays, etc. is right about when Rachel was born and that is a big part of the reason I have decided to stay home. He has attended some amazing publicly funded preschools in Oklahoma and Florida and I have been able to get our insurance to pay for private speech therapy for him and he is making progress. So, I am pretty active in his therapies, keeping on top of what and how much he has in school, making sure his accommodations in class are fair. Fair for his disability but not too easy, (that is tough, those can change and Russ's teacher is so helpful), we don't Russ to know/ want to take the easy way out. Because of his language skills and his ADHD, his social skills are awkward. We always worry about his friend making skills, his academic ability, and where this will all lead him. It is so frustrating to observe his struggles and deal with the fact that we can only do so much for him, we can't do it all. I struggle with making the right decisions for him and just hope that I don't make the wrong ones. He is such a great kid too. Polite, sweet, funny, goofy, loves to travel, curious, loves museums, reading, he's affectionate, cheerful, energetic; sigh, I think b/c he is such a neat kid, it makes it harder to see him struggle. So far, this is the biggest challenge of my life.
So, along with the greatest challenge comes the greatest joy, right? My family is my greatest joy. Most of the time there isn't any place I would rather be than with my little family.

The Holiday Report

2009-01-07T14:17:00.001-06:00

First, I have to mention that one of my Fantasy Football teams won the Superbowl in our league. I love beating the boys and taking their money! Yea me!! This year's winnings will go towards the treadmill fund. Ours is broke and well, it is time for new one.

This year's holidays were a lot of fun. We drove to Yuba City to spend Christmas with my dad, Pam, & Adelle. It took about 9 hours to drive there in the VAN. I had to buy a roofbag for the van to load up presents. That actually worked out well. The kids did great, Rowan was done about 8 hours into the drive, but he survived and so did we!!! Ha! We had a nice week at my dad's house. They were thrilled to have us and that always makes you feel good. Adam finally got to meet my Uncle Denny & Aunt Michelle and one of their daughters, Sherilyn. He also got to meet my dad's mom and her husband Elmer. AND, as if that weren't enough, he got to meet all of Pam's immediate family, which is an experience in and of itself! The kids got to experience a big family Christmas, with 20+ people. Russ really loved it and wants to go every Christmas. He was really fun – helping set the tables for Christmas dinner, deciding that all the women should sit at the table that had the floral tablecloth and floral china. He even made a sign for the women's table! Ha! His seating arrangement didn't quite work out ; ) Rowan was appropriately cute and was the cuddly pass around baby. Rachel was tired, so she was Rachel. It was a full day, something we aren't used to having on Christmas. But, we enjoyed it and are glad we made the effort to go. Next year, I think we'll stay home. It is a lot of work to pack up all the kids gifts and such.

I think the highlight for me was taking Rachel to see the Nutcracker in Sacramento. My mom took me for many years to the Nutcracker in SF. I think we went every year with Schelley and Barbara Olhava. It was always such a special day and the SF Ballet's Nutcracker was (I assume still is) over the top. The stage sets, the dancing, the costumes – all superb. Now, the Sac Ballet isn't quite as spectacular, but for what they have as far as resources, I think it was well done. Rachel was so excited to go and she was wearing this adorable little snowman dress and leggings and she looked perfect! I was just so thrilled when the orchestra started playing and Rachel immediately exclaimed – It's like Little Einsteins! She pointed out the conductor and then had compared it again to Little Einsteins. It was so cute. Then the dancers started entering the stage and I have to admit I teared up. I never realized how important it was to me to share this experience with Rachel. It's something I'll never forget and I look forward to seeing it again with her.

The drive home was going well until we hit traffic in Barstow and that added 1.5 hours on to the drive. Yikes. We got home on the 27^th and it felt good to be home. It never fails, no matter how great of time you have away on vacation, it always feels good to be home.

Adam's mom, stepdad and Morgan came for New Years and we did Christmas all over again with them! That was fun. We stayed up until midnight (Russ & Rach included). We went out and made a raucous. The kids loved that and were all jazzed about what was next. Go to bed? What??? Ha! New Years Day Jamie and I hopped to Dillards for their 50% off sale and got some great bargains. Friday we went to Ethel M Chocolate Factory which wasn't anything too great. They have a wonderful cactus garden to tour. That was fun. Then we went to a BBQ place my hairstylist highly recommends – Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ. And since my middle name is Lucille, we had to go! They have fried pickles. And, if you haven't ever had a fried pickle, they taste exactly what you'd think a fried pickle tastes like! Pretty good, but not something you eat more than a couple.

So here we are back to a normal week. Russ went back to school Monday, Rachel on Tuesday and Rowan and I have colds. Adam back at work and is busier than ever. My New Year's resolution is one that I hope to accomplish. I have been playing with the idea of writing a children's book. I even bought a book about writing children's books. A few years ago Russ said the funniest thing to Pam – We could go to time out together! She had asked him if he wanted to get her in trouble by allowing him to do something I had already said no to. Then he said the quote. I have always thought that would make such a fun book. So, I have written a draft, it needs a lot of work, but I really hope to finish it and send it off and see what happens. Now that I have typed it and published it in my blog, I must really try to do it!!!!! I'll keep you posted….

Snow Day in Vegas??? Unbelievable.

2008-12-18T09:28:00.001-06:00

Today, Thursday, December 18, 2008 is a no school day due to snow in Las Vegas. Have I now seen it all???? Maybe not, but what a surprise. Yesterday it did snow at our house, but this morning it is raining and I thought for sure the kids would go to school. But, I guess the district is so big that some areas of Vegas have a lot of snow and if you close one school in the public system, you close them all. It is weird that they closed school today and tomorrow is the last day before Winter Break.

Yesterday was such a great day. Russell had no school because his school had Parent Teacher Conferences. So, being the ultimate mom, I planned his dentist appointment the same day so he wouldn't have to miss school. Miss school for the dentist? Yes, because the children's dentist we are using is 25 minutes away (and so worth the drive) and Russ goes to school until 4pm, so he would have to miss school to go to the dentist. ANYWAY! Russ did great at the dentist, even had 4 sealants put on his first permanent molars, no cavities and a good cleaning. Rachel…. Well, she's another story. She would not have xrays taken and she pretty much did a scream / yell the whole time the dentist looked in her mouth. Which is typical for Rachel the last 2 times she went to the dentist in Florida. All that said, no cavities either and not worth the screaming for the cleaning. We'll try again in 6 months. But, no Happy Meal for the screamer. That was the deal and she broke it. We went to McD's and got Russell his meal and she was so sad. Russell kept trying to convince me to get her one anyway. She told me we could go back to the dentist tomorrow and she'd cooperate. I said No. Then she said let's go back today. Russell has been on this protect Rachel kick lately. If she gets in trouble, he's trying to tell us some excuse for her – she' scared, it was an accident, she didn't mean to, etc. It is very sweet.

We had a good conference with Russell's teacher. We all went to the conference, which was fun. During the conference, Rachel had to use the bathroom and Russ took her (by the hand) to the school potties. When they left, he said they'd be gone for a while and he was right! Too cute. Russ is doing a lot better than the start of school. His teacher is awesome and she really understands Russ and works with him to accommodate his needs in class. She said he's well liked in class and is the resident artist; they have his art all over the place. When they choose groups, Russ never initiates getting into a group, but someone (different every time) always makes sure he gets in a group. She said he is communicating in class well, everyone pretty much always understands him and when he's having a hard time getting it out, he has friends that will finish his sentences for him and Russ always thanks them for helping him. She said he doesn't talk a lot on class, but he is listening well and will tell Mrs. Cayer about a conversation other students have to get her up to speed. His challenges are turning in work timely in class and writing. He hates writing and he hates typing. He just can't get going on writing assignments and by the time he does, many times it is time to move on. Not sure how to overcome that. She suggested maybe we try a fun journal at home where we write a question every day – the sillier the better and have him write a sentence or two to respond. We will try that. We felt good about her observations and suggestions and feel good about Russ being in her class.

One other school story…. The kids in his class had to draw themselves as an elf and the directions were: the funnier looking you make yourself, the better. So, at school before the conference and not knowing the directions for the picture, we see Russ's elf and it is way different than anyone else's. Adam was a little worried, comparing Russ's work to the others. Russ's picture had a yellow face, shark teeth, huge pointy ear, goofy hair, etc. and all the others pretty much looked like themselves. In the conversation with Mrs. Cayer she had told us about Russ's picture and how he was the only one that could think and accept making himself look weird and he really got into it. Cool! Russ is a different thinker and he is always thinking.

After the conference it started to snow. We did a couple of errands and went home! Once the snow built up a little, the kids went out and played. They managed to scrape a few snowballs together and throw them at each other. We also baked cookies. I had to make some for Rachel's class (no school, so now we have a lot of cookies…) and we made some for us. Typically we really have to supervise the kids when they decorate Christmas Cookies. Rachel always needed help spreading the frosting. But this year, they didn't really need us or want us the whole time. They sat at the table and did cookies, one by one. Some have mounds of frosting and sprinkles, some are carefully executed works of art, but all of them are beautiful! Adam and I did get to decorate a few, but we really just let them do their thing and listen to them talk and work together. When we were at the table, Rachel would always ask for help that she didn't need. So, while we would have liked to it there with them, it was fun to observe from 'afar' and appreciate it all. Such a great day!!!

Elf Yourself!!!!

2008-12-15T14:05:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Lego Land Pictures

2008-12-08T14:16:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving & Lego Land in a Clean Car!

2008-12-06T11:47:00.001-06:00

We'll start with the clean car bit b/c when you have 3 kids and am on the go like I am, typically a messy, dirty car is standard. I decided enough is enough! I am taking back this minivan into my own control!!! Ha! (Yea, right) So, after our last soccer game (HURRAY!) I cleaned my car. It was a beautiful day, great to be outside, Russ and Rach joined me and played in the front yard while I cleaned. Playing in the front yard is a rare occurrence in our neighborhood. Nobody is out front and there isn't much room to play. I CLEANED, seriously cleaned and it felt good. I took all that soccer crap out of my car, vacuumed all the grass from soccer shoes, cleaned fingerprints off the windows and readjusted the 3^rd row seats for the trip CA. And can I say I love the 'leatha'! It makes seat cleaning much easier.

Consequently, while being out front, we met some new neighbors, another rare occurrence. The house to the left of us has been in foreclosure and for sale since we moved in. Well, a young couple bought it and moved in. We had seen them a bit on the weekends, but weren't sure if they were even living there. They happened to be out front trimming bushes and trees, looking a bit clueless. Of course, Martha couldn't help giving some pruning advice!! Ha! They seem very nice, were eager and proud to show off all the work they have done inside the house. Boy, the previous owner was bitter and took weird things with him – oven racks, interior door handles, light plate covers, the garage door openers and painted in really weird colors. So anyway, it was nice to meet some neighbors and chat with them, maybe we'll get to know them better.

Okay, back to the real reason of the blog…. The Thanksgiving Trip! We spent Thanksgiving with my mom's family. My Uncle Dexter and Aunt Linda hosted at their house. My Aunt Kate brought my Nana over, my drove down from Napa and my cousin Ryan and his 2 children were also there. We had a very pleasant day. Adam, the kids and I hit the road about 7am Thursday morning, which wasn't as bad as we thought and while we were driving we saw 4 different rainbows. Of course, the van was clean and that made it even better ; ) The kids all played well at Dexter's house, Rowan was appropriately adorable and had smiles for everyone. He showed off his new skills of clapping, waving, and his almost crawl. It was good to see my nana. She is suffering from Alzheimer's and in the last month or so she has been moved to a private care facility. She is getting excellent care, looks good, and seems to be happy on her good days. When she was living at home with her husband, ray, neither were taking good care of themselves or the house. It was filthy, she was filthy and so was he. Unfortunately, she and Ray are not in the same care facility and I know that hurts her, but she is coping. I guess that is one thing you really have to think about when you age and remarry. All in all it was a nice day and we enjoyed catching up with that side of the family. A funny side note. My Uncle Dexter said the weirdest thing to Adam. He was commenting on how he hasn't seen Adam in like 10 years and he said that he thought Adam had only gained 10 pounds in the 10 years he hadn't seen him. Now, I thought that was weird. Adam thought it was one of those comments that meant nothing. But the whole thing is funny b/c Dex has had gastric bypass surgery – he was obese. He lost a lot of weight and has managed to put quite a bit back on. So, I kind of think, who are you to comment on anyone's weight???? Bizarre.

Thursday late afternoon we left Dexter's house and traveled on to Carlsbad to stay in a hotel near Lego Land. Friday morning we met up with some of my Dad's family. My Uncle Chuck (Dad's brother who is so funny, he's always been a favorite), his wife, Charleen (also a fave), their daughter Erica (lives in the Chicago suburbs, she is a blast and so funny!) and her family – husband, Mike, son, Tyler (age 4) and daughter, Ashlynn (age 2). We haven't seen Erica and Mike since like 2002 and Adam had never met Chuck and Charleen. We had a fun group, all with easy going personalities and we did Lego Land together on Friday. It was a great time. It was pretty crowded, but I think for having such a large group, we managed the crowds well. The kids had a great time; we rode quite a few rides, played at the playgrounds, admired the MiniLand USA, and just visited while waiting in lines. Chuck and Charleen waited with Rowan quite a few times so Adam and I could ride with Russell and Rachel. Rowan has started the whole separation anxiety thing, so I wasn't sure how he would handle waiting with them, but it was no problem. Chuck and Charleen had him wrapped around their fingers or maybe it was Rowan had them wrapped around his! Rowan loved Uncle Chuck. And why wouldn't he? The guy makes great funny faces and let Row play with watch! Good times for a 10 month old!

Adam, the kids and I headed back to Lego Land for a 2^nd day on Saturday. What a GREAT day! The weather was perfect. It was less crowded and we knew where to start and work the park from there. We got in all the rides we wanted and few extras. It was a really fun family day : )

Okay, a few funny stories and observations from Lego Land….. I think compared to any other amusement park we have been to, they have some of the strictest height and age requirements for rides. They also have small seating arrangement – like only 2 per row, boat, airplane, etc. That made it a little hard b/c Russ was tall and old enough to go alone on a lot, but he wants to ride with us, but one of us would have to ride with Rachel, while the other stayed with Rowan.

SO…Skipper School. This is a ride that you drive a little motorboat through a course. We thought the boats were on a guide underwater, like Autotopia in Disneyland. Russ had to drive his own boat b/c Rowan couldn't ride on it for some reason. The boats are super slow. Well, Russ is driving along and gets a little turned around – literally turned around! He is now going back the way he came while all the other boats are coming towards him!!! Adam is in another boat with Rachel and manages to turn him around. Well, he gets to another turn and almost turns around again. Then another turn, he gets turned around, Adam can't help him and Russ bumps this other family – who thinks it is very funny! The clerk has to come over and help Russ and get him to the end. I am cracking up, Adam and Russell are embarrassed. The mom whom Russ bumped was explaining to me about the delay in the turning on the boats and how she thought it was a little difficult. I just thought it was so funny to see him go the other way with boat traffic coming toward him

Rachel liked the roller coasters, but the whole time she rode she put her face down, like she didn't like it. She rode the Dragon Coaster, the Car coaster (that one is fast and has a the biggest drop) and the Coastersaurus. Russ didn't like the coasters; he rode the dragon coaster and looked like he was going to puke in the picture they take as you go around. Russ likes the action rides – Splash Battle – a pirate ship you shoot water at other ships as you go around. He liked the Land of Adventure ride – you ride in a jeep and shoot with lasers at the bad guys (like the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney).

I think Russ was most excited about shopping at the Lego stores. We shopped on Saturday and he was thrilled!

The kids really enjoyed MiniLand USA – various US cities made in legos. There were parts of Vegas, D.C., S.F., SoCal beaches, New England, NYC, New Orleans, Nascar, a really cute barn, Hollywood, etc. Those were fun to look at b/c the detail is incredible. A lot of the animated displays were broken and very faded, so that was a little disappointing.

On an airplane ride – you control it going up and down kind of thing – I was with Rachel, Russ was alone and Row was waiting with Adam. So every time we went around, I waved at Rowan and said his name. It took him a few times to realize what was going on, but then he'd anticipate that we were coming and he would just start clapping when he'd hear us and see us. It was so cute. It was one of those melt your heart moments.

And as if that wasn't enough for one trip, we met with Adam's family on Sunday at the CA State Historic Citrus Park in Riverside. We met there, walked thru the visitor's center, walked up the hill to see the view, and went to the gardens where the park can be rented for weddings and parties and such. It was pretty, we visited for about an hour and then hit the road back to Vegas with the van was still pretty clean!!! (It's just good when it all comes full circle, you know???)

The Christmas Spirit

2008-11-24T10:01:00.001-06:00

I know, it is too early for Christmas, but for me it isn't…. Well, first of all our old computer got some Trojan bug that we couldn't get rid of and I didn't want to go thru the whole geek thing again. It just didn't seem worth it to pay for that all over again. So, it was last week when I figured that out. And I was bummed. Who wants to spend the money on a new computer? So, I decided to cheer myself up and get out the Christmas Tree. I have a fake one that I bought in 2002 in Oklahoma and I heart it! Perfect size, perfect shape, has the lights on it, I love it. But, last year I had to do a number fixing the lights, so I really wasn't sure what to expect when I plugged them in this year, especially after a move. Yea, it was bad. Like half the lights were out. This was supposed to cheer me up and I was totally bummed thinking I had to get a new tree too. Bah. Humbug - before Thanksgiving even.

Then I really started looking at the tree. Love the shape, love the size; it just needs lights. Look closer, well, the lights are strung on pretty tight, but I could clip them out….. I start my plan and Adam thinks I am crazy – just get a new tree is his suggestion. So, I look at new trees and I like mine best. So, I bought new lights and decided I would save my tree!!!!! I clipped out tons of lights off my tree. I ended up taking each branch off and taking the lights off from there. And once I got in a groove, it wasn't too bad. Another perk?? The bottom row of branches is too low on my tree. The presents always push them up and the branches are in the way. So, I took them off and kept them off – bonus! I started to think of a new goofy show – trick out my tree! It took me 3 days of a little here and there, but I stripped the tree of the old non working lights and put on new lights. Colored lights this year, we have had white lights since we were married. The kids are thrilled. Rachel likes the pink lights best and Russell likes the red.

So, of course, if I have the tree out, then I must get out the Christmas boxes. Last Christmas, when taking everything down, I took so much time to wrap all my precious ornaments and decorations, knowing we were moving and knowing that the movers would not pack it as well as I would. If I don't say so myself, I did an AMAZING job. I don't think anything broke! Phew. Saturday we started decorating the tree. I couldn't wait, I had to do it. Typically that weekend after Thanksgiving is when I do the whole Xmas decorating thing. This year we are going to Lego Land after Thanksgiving, so really, I have to do it ahead of time to stay on schedule ; ) It will be fun to come home to a Xmas house after Thanksgiving. That's what I keep telling myself to rationalize my early decorating. I always laugh when I start the tree – every year I have the same thoughts. I think when I first start: 'How am I going to fill this tree? I don't think I'll have enough. You always have enough, at the end you always think you have too many and you wonder how to put them all on.' And it is so true, I think the same things – Why don't I learn my lesson from the last year?

You know, I really enjoy decorating the tree. I love my ornaments. I really do. I treasure each one. I can probably tell you each ornament's history – was it a gift from one of my many thoughtful friends? Did I buy it after Xmas on super sale in Napa, FL, or OK? Was it one the kids made? (Easy answer there!) Was it an ornament from my childhood? When we lived in Napa, I used to always go to this store on Jefferson Ave that was a party supply store, but had lots of fun ornaments. I would run into friends that I worked with at Redwood Middle School. One in particular was Pat Caceres. Pat was my 8^th grade Math Teacher and then I worked with her at RMS. She is so sweet. After she realized that I was ornament hunting the day after Xmas, she would buy me snowman ornaments at other stores that she knew I was not going to. I could tell you every ornament she bought me. Steve Culbertson, another one of my 8^th grade teachers that I taught with told his wife that I was a snowman gal and she bought me a bag full. I still have every one of those ornaments. I have always loved those bulb ornaments that are painted on the inside of the bulb. How do they do that??? Christine sent me my first one, snowmen of course, and I really treasure it. I always hang it front and center and think of her when I hang it. I bought an ornament last year with a Santa holding a lamb. I bought it at Kohls and I bought it b/c Rachel's school was called Little Lambs in Florida. I knew that we would be moving and I knew when I hung that ornament it would remind me of Little Lambs and what a wonderful school it was and how lucky I was to have Rachel enrolled. And this year, I did just that as I hung it on the tree. Each one has its own story and memory, such a joy to remember each one and share with the kids. That really makes me happy.

One side note as we were hanging ornaments this year. I still adore my snowmen, but I seem to have started a new collection without realizing it. I have a new affection for Santas in red coats. Not a conscious thing at all, until now….

I jumped a homeless guy b/c Big Bird said to and he's my leader.

2008-11-22T08:46:00.004-06:00

I know I need to blog for sure, but I got this in an email and got a kick out of it, so I decided to put in the blog. plus, it makes for a funny title!
Have fun!!! You can post in the comment section what yours is!
> Pick the month you were born:
> January---------I kicked
> February--------I loved
> March-----------I karate chopped
> April --------------I licked
> May--------------I jumped on
> June-------------I smelled
> July--------------I did the Macarena with
> August----------I had lunch with
> September-----I danced with
> October---------I sang to
> November------I yelled at
> December------I ran over

> > Pick the day (number) you were born on:
> 1-------a birdbath
> 2-------a monster
> 3-------a phone
> 4-------a fork
> 5-------a snowman
> 6-------a gangster
> 7-------my mobile phone
> 8-------my dog
> 9-------my best friends' boyfriend
> 10-----my neighbor
> 11-----my science teacher
> 12-----a banana
> 13-----a fireman
> 14-----a stuffed animal
> 15-----a goat
> 16-----a pickle
> 17-----your mom
> 18-----a spoon
> 19-----a smurf
> 20-----a baseball bat
> 21-----a ninja
> 22-----Chuck Norris
> 23-----a noodle
> 24-----a squirrel
> 25-----a football player
> 26-----my sister
> 27-----my brother
> 28-----an I-pod
> 29-----a surfer
> 30-----a llama
> 31-----A homeless guy

> > Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
> White---------because I'm cool like that.
> Black---------because that's how I roll.
> Pink-----------because I'm crazy.
> Red------------because the voices told me to.
> Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want.
> Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
> Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
> Gray-----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
> Yellow---------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars.
> Orange -------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
> Brown---------because I can.
> Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None-----------because I can't control myself!

A Fun Comparison

2008-11-06T15:39:00.005-06:00

So here are pictures of the kids all with the barn on their heads. Russ got the barn from Carol Teeters and it is the cutest toy - a Gund terry cloth barn bag and has 4 barnyard animals made form terry cloth to play with. And the animals each have their own special sound - squeak, rattle, etc. Well, Adam put it on Russ's head while playing and the picture was a big hit. So, we had to do one with Rachel. Since we had a bond with the toy, it was one I kept. I didn't keep a lot of baby toys after Rachel. And boy, are we glad that I kept it, it would have been sad not to get Rowan in it too. The kids are all about 6 months old and I just thought it was fun to see them all together.

Growin' Rowan 9 months old!

2008-11-06T14:55:00.006-06:00

Hard to believe, but Rowan is already 9 months old, on Election Day no less! So, I am going to do a little motherly bragging and recording all about our little Row Row.

He loves to be out of the house. He is not a homebody at all. He is a shameless flirt while out and about. He smiles and does that shy look with the chin down to his chest and looks up, he is so funny. He has a real thing for the grandpas too. Today we were at JoAnn fabrics and he caught the attention of a grandpa in the store. So, that led to a fun conversation and lots of Rowan smiles and coos.

He has really just started all the jibber jabber. He was doing it a little bit, but now it is all the time. His voice is so sweet and cute. He loves to growl at stuff and breathe/pant loudly thru his nose. Then his voice can have a little high pitch to it as he babbles on and on. I try so hard to get him to say mamamamama, but it usually dadadada or bababa or blablabla and then he'll throw in a ga or goo, etc. He'll say MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm while he's eating for me, but that is it. He will and has said the mamamam, but only when he chooses!! He clicks his tongue a lot, especially when someone clicks at him. Rachel will start talking in the car to him - babababa and he starts right in and talks back to her. He loves to be out in the stroller, looking around, feeling the air. Halloween night, he could have gone all night. Russ and Rach were done, but Row could have kept right on.

We think he's a daddy's boy thru and thru. He just stares at Adam while he is talking and listens to him - which is probably a good thing b/c Adam can talk a lot and we all don't have time to sit and listen ; ) So, it's good he has a captive audience in Rowan!!! Ha! He'll hear Adam's voice and just right in with the babble. There was a time period that he would only go to bed at night if Adam rocked/walked him around - he would just squirm with me. He gets a little pissy if Adam doesn't come over and pick him up when he comes home from work. He'll whine and look at Adam, like Hello, I am right here.

Rowan has loved the swaddle like no other baby I have known. I bought him these velcro swaddle blankets and he just recently stopped using them. We would swaddle him and sometimes he'd fall instantly asleep, like he was waiting for that blanket to tell him it is sleepy time. We were a little worried about how ling he might want the swaddle, but one day he just didn't want it anymore. Which is kinda weird b/c I read this book ("The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems") and she said some babies will love the swaddle and then at about 9 months they give up overnight. She was right. I love the title of that book by the way. I had to buy it just b/c the title was so great - how could you go wrong with a book like that??? Ha! I am passing it on to Tracey who has a 2 month old that nurses a lot at night. She needs all her problems solved!!!! Ha!

Rowan loves his crib bumper. He rubs his face in it now when he is falling asleep and he loves his crib toy that plays music and sounds and has some lights and movements. It's like a little rainforest scene and the lights look like a waterfall and there is a little monkey that moves and fish. Of course, it makes 'rainforest' sounds too.

We are working on Rowan playing peekaboo alone. he really tries - he puts his hands on his forehead and pulls them down to his tummy for peekaboo. It is pretty cute. And he is clapping a lot. He hasn't quite the patty cake thing down yet, but we play that too. He also has lots of fun pulling toys out of baskets, bags, etc. For a while I'd put a load of Rachel's plastic tea party plates in a little plastic bin and he could spend like 10 minutes pulling out each plate and waving it around, throw it down, get the next look at it, wave it, and on it went.

Of course Russ and Rach really can get him worked up doing anything. Brushing their teeth, dancing around, pretty much anything they do is hilarious and gruntworthy.

Rowan doesn't like cold anything. Cold bathwater - he's done. He doesn't like cold food, cold bottles, cold juice or water to drink; basically if it's cold he's not having it. It is so funny that he's that opinionated about so consistently. Rachel would take anything any temp and could stay in the bath until she turned blue. Not Rowan.

And Harry, our orange cat, seems to be Rowan's. Anytime Row is in the floor playing or drinking a bottle (oh yeah, he does that by himslef too - yay!) anyway - Harry is all over Rowan at bottle or play time on the floor. He'll rub up next to Row and purrrrrr. Rowan loves it. Row will grab Harry and surprisingly, Harry doesn't flinch or anything. He sits there happy as can be. Row tries to pet Harry too, it is sweet. Sometimes Harry will hide in Rowan's room and then get in bed with him while he's sleeping. I have never seen anything like it.

He also starts doing new things and then stops. Like those super sweet juicy open mouth 'kisses' that babies do. he did for about a month or so and has now stopped. One day at Rachel's gymnastics, he was sitting in my lap facing me and put his hands on my cheeks and must have kissed me 20 times. It was so cute and funny. I'd try to watch Rachel a bit and he'd try to pull my face back and giggle. It was such a hoot. Rolling over - he 's like been there done that, don't do it any more.

He doesn't seem very mobile right now. Russ and Rach were rolling all over the floor to get where they wanted to be. He scoots a bit on his back and sitting up he can scoot on his tush, but not very far. I kinda think that may be due to the fact that Russ and Rachel always get him things when he fusses for something, so the need to get around isn't there.

Okay, there you have the Rowan Fix!!!! Let me put in some pictures and get back to my domestic goddess duties.

Back to the Blog

2008-10-26T18:27:00.002-05:00

Well, it has been a while and I am not sure how much I will get written in this post, but I'll try to update as best I can : )

Our computer crashed, not sure why, but it did and The Geeks had it for like a week. It ended up being cheaper to repair this one than get a new one, which was surprising, but good, I guess. However, it was a pain to get everything back on it. We did get a new external hard drive out of the deal. I really like that and now I can back up things properly. It really sucked being without the computer for sooooo long.

The first weekend of October, Andy came for a visit from Portland and we had a great time. He brought all kinds of fun toys for the kids, so they love Uncle Andy! He got to experience Russell's first soccer game of the season and I think we definitely reaffirmed that Andy does not want to have children, what with the tantrums, crying baby, lugging shit all over. Yea, he's probably never gonna ever have kids! Ha! Not that there's anything wrong with that, I am just saying our chaos can be convincing one way or the other! Andy is big Miami Dolphins fan and the game was on while he was visiting and they actually won. I have never seen Andy so emotional..... We also took him to the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. A great desert living and green living museum with acres of trails and gardens and indoor exhibits, classrooms, etc. A very neat place. Oh, it also rained like 3 times while Andy was here and it never rains, so that was bizarre.

Rachel turned 4 on October 11th. We had a soccer game that day, which the opposing team did not show. So, our team scrimmaged itself. It was very cold - 50 degrees, rainy, windy, i can see why the other team didn't show. Did I mention I got suckered into coaching Russell's soccer team? Well, I did. I volunteered to co-coach with the guy that stepped up to coach and he flaked, so it is all me. There are 2 other dads that help a lot, so that makes it easier, but they can't always be there and they don't want the responsibility of being the in charge or the decision making. So, I have help, but limited. We are the Jedi Tigers and I'll be glad when it is over.

But back to Rachel turning 4. We had the game, that wasn't a game. So, we invited the Cannys to go with us to Chuck E Cheese and had a small celebration there. It was fun, bought tons of tokens and let the kids go nuts. I think Rachel went a little too nuts because she barfed in the car on the way home. Like all over barf - all over Adam, the car seat, the van. Adam finally appreciates the leather seats - so much easier to clean!!! So now Russell thinks that Rachel is allergic to pizza b/c she barfed it up. And she isn't a real fan of it either now.

She was so cute opening her presents and cards. She really took time to look at each card and admire the pictures on it. And every envelope and every package she'd say "I wonder what's inside? What could it be?" and then was genuinely thrilled to open each thing. "A dress!!!! It is so beautiful" "Oh, I love this fancy hat" "Little Pet Shop for me?" It was so cute.

Adam left for Oklahoma on the 14th of October and he is still there. He has to be requalified on the AWACS jet. So, he is there trying to get qualified. he's been there almost 2 weeks and hasn't even finished 1 ride and he needs to have at least 4. This has been a really hard time having him gone. 3 kids (well the baby) makes it harder, my cat, Kadie has been sick and she died this morning, not having very many friends here, trying to coach soccer and make sure Rachel and Rowan are being taken care of (Rachel goes to the Cannys and Rowan comes to practice and an older sister of one of my players helps me with Row). It has been rough.

And now Rowan is up, time to get dinner going... you should all feel lucky that I chose to spend 'my nap' time writing to you!!! ; ) More later.... If you haven't already - find me on Facebook - what a blast that has been!!!

Pictures

2008-09-10T16:18:00.005-05:00

These are a few pics from Russell's first day of 2nd grade. Rachel didn't have school that day, but she packed her lunch and backpack just the same.

Rachel’s Week

2008-09-10T16:14:00.001-05:00

No one disagrees, Rachel needs to be kept busy. She is at the age where she is truly interested in doing stuff. So, I started researching some classes and things for her in Vegas. One thing, private preschool is super expensive in Vegas. And the places that aren't – like a co-op or thru the city, fill up instantly. So, I decided to get her in preschool at the YMCA that is close by. Tracey's son, Jaime, goes there and they like it. It is reasonable, but only 2 hours, 2 mornings per week. It isn't ideal (the times make it hard for drop offs in the morning with Russ's schedule), but hopefully she'll be at the co-op next year. She has only been a couple of days, had no issues with the drop off and seemed to have a great time. It will do for now.

So, 4 hours per week, we've got school, but as I said before, Rachel needs to be busy!!! We tried out a dance class, which Rachel wasn't too keen on and at $40 per month, I wasn't going to pay that just so Rachel could stand there or be held by the instructor. I discovered that the City of North Las Vegas has all kinds of rec programs and they are really reasonable. Rachel is currently booked Monday – Saturday!!! Mondays we have a pee wee soccer class and that is so terrific. The coach is a mom who has coached her daughter's team for years, she is excellent with the kids and there is a real lesson in every session. I couldn't be more impressed. (And since it looks like I am coaching Russ's soccer team, I am going to start taking notes on her drills. More on Russ's soccer later.) Tu/ TH is preschool, Wednesday is gymnastics at the rec center. Again, another excellent class, tons of equipment and Rachel loves every second of class. Fridays we have 'creative ballet' which is more of a creative movement class. Gemma is her teacher and she is a free spirited kinda gal. But, I have to say, she is wonderful with the girls. She can captivate them with stories and then they dance the story, or like last week, they used instruments and danced their names. The structure is real loosy goosy, but they are always moving and groovin' and isn't that the real point? Saturdays we have ballet and tap. This class was sort of an unknown and we are trying it this session, but not sure if we'll sign up again. It is very structured and a lot of waiting in line. Which 3 year olds in tutus aren't too good at doing.

There you have it, Rachel is busy and loving it. I really am thankful to have a rec center so close that we can take advantage of all these fun things to do! I have met a couple of other moms too. One is an AF spouse who has a 1st grader who is going thru the same making friends at recess problems that Russ is having at a different school. So, it has been nice to have some other moms to chat with and learn from too!

Rachel has been an incredible big sister lately and lots of fun. Just want to write a few things she has been up to, so I can remember them later..

In the van, Russ usually sits next to Row (in the middle seat) and helps out/entertains him in the car. Now with Russ at school, Rachel is the only one back there in the other side seat. She'll stretch in her seat and peer over at Rowan and say things like "It's okay, Rachel's here. You don't need Russell, Rachel's here"

She loves to tickle Rowan and talk to him while she's doing it. She says things appropriately too. It is so funny to hear her repeat things I say to Row and I don't even think she is listening.

Rowan will be in his bouncy jumper/exersaucer thing and she line up across the room from him and say "I'm gonna get you, I'm coming to get you" Then she'll run across the room and stop in front of him and say "Gotcha!" and she'll tickle him and something like that. Rowan doesn't like that at all…. Just kidding!

If he is crying in his crib, she'll go right in and step up on the side rail and hang her arms in and give him his bink, talk to him, give him a toy and tell him that "Mom's coming, just a minute"

She'll sit with him on the floor and tickle him and say things like "Oh, you're such a cute baby! Who's a cute baby?"

Lately she's been my shopping pal. We grocery shop together, have been doing some clothing shopping and she's just so much fun. I remember when Russ was almost 4 and he started getting really fun too. I think 4 was my favorite age with Russ and looks like it will be with Rachel too. Just a great age.

What a Week… Russell’s Story

2008-09-09T10:42:00.001-05:00

Well, time to blog about the first day of school and all the excitement surrounding that….

Most of you probably have heard about the chaotic first day for Russ at his new school. But, in case you haven't or you want more detail, here ya go! Russell's school has 2 starts times: Group A starts at like 8:37am and Group B at 9:42. Russ is in group B and that means he is released later than group A kids. So, 2 start times, 2 release times – can you imagine? And in all the classes, there are both A & B kids. So, it isn't like certain teachers start later than others, they all have students at 8:37 and go until the late release time of 3:53pm. Personally that isn't what I'd like as a teacher, but I don't work there so who cares what I think!

Russell was so nervous the first day of school. He's the new kid at a new school, who can blame him? We were nervous for him and all day I was watching the clock, waiting to go get him. Then at about 3pm I get a phone call from local number and it is a female voice asking if I was Russell's mom. Russ shouldn't be out of school until almost 4pm, so immediately I am panicking in my head? Did I screw up the time? What is going on??? Well, what happened is that he got released with the A group of kids and was walking towards where have parked at his school, he didn't see me and kept walking looking for me. He gets about a block away and these girls from the close by middle school find him. He was crying since he couldn't find me. They whip out a cell, ask Russ his number and call me asap. (Yea for middle school students and their cell phones!!!). I had originally thought it was parent that called, but later found out it was a teen. So, they offered to walk him to back to school and I sped over to school – furious. By then I had realized I didn't screw up any times, they did. I get in the office, no one has any clue about Russell being released early, where is he? Well, it turns out his class was on the hunt for him and met him out front and the girls let him go with his teacher, so he never made it to the office. They confirm he is indeed in class. I am so mad I am crying, in the office, with Rachel and Rowan. When the principal finds out what happened, her jaw just drops, like what??? So, the kids and I go down to get Russ out of class and bring him home. His teacher was embarrassed and very apologetic. After seeing how the kids get released at that school, I could see how Russ could get mixed up and think school was over. So, it was a crazy afternoon. What ifs play nasty tricks with your mind. It is over, I know Russ won't be 'lost' again and that is what is most important.

Okay, that was Monday. Tuesday was a great day all was well. Weds. – ugh he gets in the car and just starts crying. He has no recess buddies. They have about 15 minutes after lunch for recess. He's never had that before with like 150 kids. That situation totally overwhelms him and he couldn't find anyone to play with, he had asked some boy from his class to play, but he was playing with someone else and we think Russ got embarrassed and left before they could ask him to play (still not sure about that). Anyway, it was so sad – he said things like "All the 2^nd graders have their best friends by now and I am just the new kid" and the he said "Maybe if I wear my camouflage clothes like the other boys they will see that I like what they like". And then that night he was playing in the house and knocked out his front tooth. It was bloody. And by the way, the tooth fairy isn't afraid of bloody teeth that have been cleaned!!!

Thursday was better, he still played by himself at recess. And Friday was good, we think he played alone, but he had gotten fun Friday prizes in class, so he was thrilled about that! I wrote a note to his teacher and asked about recess and let her know our concerns when he went back to class on Tuesday.

So, here we are at Tuesday (day after Labor Day). On Monday night, Adam and Russ were playing soccer, barefoot, in the back yard. Russ jams his toes into Adam's foot. Mucho grande pain, swelling, etc. Tuesday not any better, looking worse actually, ugh. So, after many phone calls to and from the base hospital it was decided that he needed xrays. Then a day later (no broken bones) it was decided that he would need to see the podiatrist as Russ was still not walking right. He's fine and all is well. A funny about the podiatrist was asking him his pain level on a scale of 1 – 10 and Russ, without missing a beat, said that his pain level when it happened was 200. The doctor laughed and said no one had ever told him that before and said he was going to make sure he'd write that in his chart.

Okay… time to get this posted and write another about Rachel (ballet, gymnastics, preschool – activity galore!) and of course, all the fun and not fun things about Rowan.

If You Move Here, They Will Come

2008-08-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

One thing people told us over and over again – if you move to Vegas, you'll have more visitors than you'd ever think! Everyone seems to always find a way, especially with free lodging. I can't say 'they' were wrong!!! In fact, we've have been here less than two months and my mom has been here twice, Adam's mom's 3^rd visit will be this weekend, and of course, my Dad & fam were here in July. My brother will be here some time in October and we have heard from lots of friends that travel to Vegas regularly to plan to see them too! It really is a lot of fun for us and we welcome everyone to come - especially after being so far away for such a long time. So, we are here and we want you to come!

I did get the chance to go to California last weekend. My mom flew in and we drove all 3 kids on Friday to my Aunt Kate's (mom's sister) house in Orange, CA. We stayed there Friday night and my Uncle Dexter, (mom's brother), his wife, Linda and their son Ryan came over to see us. We had a nice visit and it was good to catch up and show off the kids ; ) Some of you know, my Aunt Kate has incredible style/eye for design. Her yard is creative & immaculate and her home is beautiful and full of things that little hands like touch!!! Ha! Can you see where this going? Well, it is NOT going there because my kids did not break a thing!!! Well, we almost broke the fountain outside with bubbles – I know that sounds impossible, but it's true! Maybe I'll offer a prize to the reader that can guess how we almost broke the fountain….

Saturday we farted around at Kate's house and then went to see my Nana (90 years old) in Long Beach. Some of you may know that Nana is suffering from Alzheimer's. It has been frustrating for me because I have been far away and couldn't tell for myself how she was really doing. I call Nana faithfully every weekend, she repeats the same stories over and over, and she knows what answers to say to how they are doing – I still clean house (nope), I still make breakfast (no, again), we don't have a car, so I walk to Albertsons that's 1 mile away (never). My mom and Kate would both share their observations, but it is hard to tell what was really happening. I thought Nana looked good, healthy despite the fact she wears the same clothing every day and I don't think she bathes very often. I have argued over the last year to hire some in home help and even found a couple of agencies. But, what the hell do I know from across the country? Well, it was decided this weekend that they are going to hire someone to come in and help starting in September! Again, what the hell do I know? What has passed has passed and it is going forward. I think my mom has been the most forceful, making this happen, so I am relieved. It was good to see Nana and she loved seeing the kids and holding the baby. I look forward to being able see her again soon.

We drove home Saturday to give Russell the day on Sunday before he headed back to school. We had intended to stay another night at Kate's but decided to go on home. Now…. Russell's first day of school is a whole other entry, maybe I can do that tomorrow.

The Move Part III

2008-08-05T17:02:00.001-05:00

Okay, I think I will get the rest of the move stuff into this post and then move on with the blog!!!

When we arrived in Vegas, we stayed for about 4 nights with the Cannys. Tracey was one of the first spouses I met in the Air Force that knew what Crate and Barrel was. So, I knew she was cool from the start! We had a great stay with them; they make you feel right at home! Tracey and I got to shop for some new furniture for our house and show me around our side of town so I'd know where everything is. We left Adam home with the kids and made him the manny! Tracey also looked at houses for us and helped us pick out the house we live in. She did a great job! We really like the house. It is big – 3100sf, 4 bedroms, 3.5 baths, gated, 3 car garage, huge closets, 2 living rooms (one and one down), and a built in grill/smoker outside. The neighborhood has a lot of foreclosures, including both houses on each side of us. Wish we were in a place to buy. Oh well!

We moved in on July 10^th and had the best crew we have ever had deliver our stuff. They were so nice, courteous to us and each other, and also pointing out what type of stuff was broken coming off the truck, (instead of trying to hide it). We had some broken stuff – not that long list that I had dreaded. Our computer desk got banged up and a few other things were broken, but not like we were expecting. The labeling of boxes was what was so annoying. The box marked bedding had maybe one sheet in it and the rest of the contents were like toys or books. The box marked pillows had 1 pillow and random stuff from all over the house. They dumped some of our files into boxes, so that took a lot of time to sit and go through and refile. You get the point. It was like every box was labeled like that, so it was hard to unpack b/c you never really knew what was in the box you were opening.

My Dad, Pam, Adelle and Pam's nephew Caleb came to Vegas on the 12^th to help and visit. They stayed in their RV at an RV park near the strip for almost 2 weeks. Caleb is a year younger than Russ, so that was great for Russ to have an immediate friend to play with. It was really fun having them here. We got a lot done, but also had to schedule in some play time too, which helped break up the monotony of unpacking boxes. We had all kinds of adventures – shopping of course, Adelle LOVES to shop, Circus Circus Adventure Dome (Rachel loves the rides and seemed to be a bit of a thrill seeker), visited the MGM lions, M&M World and the carnival games at Excalibur. We fit in a lot of swim time too, both at the RV park and our house has a community pool.

Adam and I also managed to sneak away for one night and celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary early whil Dad & Pam stayed with the kids. We stayed at the Trump Tower – a 5 star hotel that we booked for super cheap on Hotwire.com. What fun! When we checked in and the clerk was asking us all kinds of questions – what brings you to Vegas, why are you staying, that kind of thing…. He gave us a major room upgrade, so we had a very posh suite facing the strip, outstanding!!! We went to dinner at someplace at Caesar's. We didn't make a reservation and should have. But, we managed to sneak in and get a table and it was fine. We wondered around the strip for a while, but really couldn't wait to soak in the huge tub with a strip view back at the hotel and drink some champagne. So, that's what we did! We ordered a ridiculous breakfast from room service and when it came, the attendant set the table with a tablecloth, centerpiece, china, etc. It was very relaxing and romantic and we were so thankful we had the opportunity to celebrate with some free babysitting to boot!

So, now as it stands…. We are pretty much unpacked. I am still hanging stuff on the walls. The kids' room isn't done yet. We ordered bunk beds for Russ n Rach, which came without the hardware. So we are still waiting on that. The guest bedroom has already been used – my mom and Blake – and it's ready for anyone else headed our way!!! So – I say so a lot, I need to change that… ANYWAY….. the finishing details will eventually get finished, but we have to live life too and not get to caught up in the house. On our agenda this week are doctor's appointments for Russ & Row, private swim for Russ, enrolling Rachel in dance and gymnastics, a new psychologist for Russell (who goes by Tom, not Dr. Jensen, I like him already!) and getting ready for school to start. Oh, real quick… Monday we went to enroll Russ at his new school and the records secretary was assigning him to a class and I said "We want a really good class!!". She says "Well, I have only 2 classes open. One in the A start, Mrs. Whoever. Or, you can have the B start, Mrs. Cayer". I look at her like I don't know, who should I choose???? She gets my look and mouths to me "You want B". So, I picked the B start and Mrs. Cayer. She nods with great approval. So, I was hoping we got the hook up and I think we did. I looked up Mrs. Cayer on the school website and she has her own website filled and ready for the new year. Yea! She seems really enthusiastic and creative and organized. I am liking her already!

Russ lost his 4^th tooth last night and it is truly lost. It came out, fell on his shirt, he stood up and we can't find it anywhere! The tooth fairy still came though, boy is she smart!

The Move Part II

2008-07-28T10:43:00.001-05:00

More on the move. I realized that I forgot a few things in Part I, mainly our last days in Florida. Our last Sunday we spent at the beach, which was really fitting since that was what we loved to do on Sundays. It was an overcast day and ended up raining when we went out for dinner, but we had a great time. Other things we did during our last days – I had lunch with Betty & Marlene, self proclaimed Lucy & Ethel. We took Rowan with us and had a great time. Adam took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. That was Rachel's first movie in the theater and she did really well, cracked up at parts that no one else did, and afterwards had this little Kung Fu Panda move she did. Too cute! We had a last dinner with the Boyntons which was sad when we left. Rachel talks constantly about Maddie, Jess & Monkey (Mike) now and thinks they are coming over any day. On our last night in Florida, we had dinner with Lois & Ray, our beloved next door neighbors. We had such a nice time and the kids were thrilled to eat a meal with them. We went to Uncle Ernie's, a local place that has been there for years and is right on the water. It was a beautiful evening, the weather was perfect and the meal and company were top notch!

Oh, one thing I have to mention about Rachel…. Rowan is not a fan of driving in the car, he'll start crying and sometimes the only thing that will help is if we sing some song to him. So, one day we are driving along and he is screaming, Russ is trying to give him the bink the bottle, any of the ol' tricks and I hear this little voice singing a song from Cinderella, "Sing Sweet Nightingale". It was so sweet. So, I start singing with her and Russ joins in and sure enough, Rowan stopped crying. She is such a honey.

Okay, back to the move… so we have the minivan, the 4Runner, 3 kids, 2 cats, one baby swing, lots of snacks, we are packed and ready to go. Who wakes up with a cold the day we leave? Rachel. UGH. Our first day, 7/2, Adam had to out-process officially from base and we were on the road by about 11am. I have the 3 kids and Adam has the cats. First stop Baton Rouge, LA! Oh yes, it is just us, no other adult, Jamie met us in Baton Rouge that night (Thank GOD). So, we thought it would be about 6 hours, not too bad. It seemed to take forever to get there. We didn't plan our stops very well and I swear Adam was worse than the kids, having to pee every 30 minutes. We made it, Rowan melted down at the 6 hour mark and our singing couldn't help him. He was done. Russ sat next to Row in the van that day and was such a huge help – feeding Row, entertaining him, doing the bink patrol. What a great kid! But, when Row is that upset, it gets Russ upset and he has a hard time. Six hours plus in the car with a baby is a lot for a 7 yr old. So, needless to say we were all very excited when Jamie arrived!!!! Yea for grandma!!!

The next day we headed for Dallas, TX. That was a longer drive than the day before, but we planned our stops better and it went pretty well. We actually stayed in Grapevine, TX which is a suburb of Dallas. We stayed at a beautiful Embassy Suites, attached to a Bass Pro, very nice and surprisingly crowded. There was a big wedding party and a separate family reunion group. Our room was not far from the elevators and it seemed everyone that got off the elevator would walk down a ways and stop in front of our room and talk loudly at all hours of the day and night. Then a fire alarm went off in the lobby, so everyone was out and inquiring about that and stopping in front of our room to talk about it, loudly. No fire, I suspect a prank. And then a man felt the need to stop in front of room and talk loudly on his cell to his dawgs at about 3:30am. It turns out he was our neighbor and his family was sleeping in their room, so he came out to talk and disturb our family. Nice. We let the kids be extra loud that morning.

So now it is the 4^th of July, we are exhausted from all the night's activity and we have short drive to Amarillo. What better way can you spend the 4^th than driving thru the great state of Texas??? Well, I think I could think of about a thousand things that would be better! We get to Amarillo, exhausted. I had wanted to get the kids out to do something fun, but that wasn't happening. So we decided to go to dinner at this steakhouse that has been on every food & travel show on TV. I think it is called the Big Texan. It's the place that will you give a free 72oz steak dinner if you eat it in 60 minutes along with all the sides. Otherwise it costs you $50. That was pretty tasty and no, we didn't try the 72 ouncer. We were so tired that Adam, the baby and I crashed – no fireworks for us. Jamie had Russ n Rach in a separate room and they watched fireworks on TV. How sad is that? The other notable about Amarillo is that one of the boilers broke at our hotel, so the hot water was limited. Lukewarm showers at best. That sucked.

Next we headed to Holbrook, AZ. An uneventful drive, we missed all the weather that was headed towards us and we stopped at the Continental Divide. Like I said, uneventful. Our stay in Holbrook was kinda funny. The cheapest hotel we had on our journey turned out to be the best. Hot showers, clean, comfortable beds, refrigerators, quiet and a decent freebie breakfast. You can't ask for more than that on a road trip.

The last day we were making great time, so we sidetracked to see the Grand Canyon. The kids really enjoyed it and I haven't seen it since I was like 10 yrs old. We definitely want to go back and explore more. We made it into Las Vegas around 5pm. The traffic around the Hoover Dam was excruciating. Stop and go for almost an hour and Adam had to pee. I told you, he's worse than the kids! Getting into Las Vegas and the traffic, the freeways, the speeding, it was all a little overwhelming. Especially coming from a small town in Florida where there really aren't any freeways. But, I have managed to adapt and the van and I zip around pretty well.

We got to Vegas on the 6^th and stayed with our friends, the Cannys (Jerry, Tracey & Jaime, oh and Benjamin due to arrive 9/26), until the 10^th. We hadn't seen them in almost a year, but just picked up right where we left off, like we hadn't missed a beat! Tracey went above and beyond for us – house hunting for us prior to our arrival and just being an awesome hostess. It felt so good to be in a house and not a hotel or TLF.

Jamie's help was priceless on the drive. We couldn't have done it without her. She pretty much had to sit in the 2^nd row of the van next to Rowan the entire drive and the other 2 Rs took over the back row. We got to catch up on all things Pricer and she got to catch up on some movie watching in the van with the kids. The thought of doing that trip without the van or Jamie is a bit scary. It certainly made the trip a lot easier.

Wow, so part II is written and next up is part III (duh). Let's see…. part III will be moving in, bargain hunting with Tracey, Adam becoming a 'manny', our new landlords and my Dad, Pam, Adelle & Caleb coming to Vegas in the RV for almost 2 weeks to help us get settled.

The Move Part I

2008-07-28T07:10:00.001-05:00

This is the first of a four part series in which the writer chronicles her family's move to Las Vegas, Nevada in July of 2008.... Wait a minute! (Can you hear the record coming to a screeching halt?) One day while sitting around before we moved, I thought it would be funny to try to write about our move like it was a series in the newspaper, but I can't pull that off!

I have missed my little blog!!! I have to admit, I've taken notes over the last month and a half to remind myself what I wanted to write about.

So, here we go - the move, part one.

Okay, so this dates back to the end of May and beginning of June. I started getting ready for the move - organizing stuff and making a HUGE pile for a garage sale. As I am going thru old toys that are boxed up and have been for months, Russell is enthralled with all the toys he had forgotten about and wanted to keep them all. Since that wasn't an option, we bargained. You can keep that obnoxious Batman car, but you have to let go of 3 other things in this box kind of bargain. It was a win win for all - he got to keep a few toys and I still got to sell quite a few!

The garage sale was a big success, got rid of lots of stuff and had a lot of interest in the house as a rental. The kids would come out and try to make sales and sneak stuff back in the house.

June 9th, the packers come. I have most of the house organized and ready and am optimistic for a good crew. Well, the lady that packed the kitchen was awesome and that was it. The other three just rushed thru the job and missed some things. I was dreading getting our stuff, afraid that we were doomed for the one 'bad move'. Everyone in the military has the one 'bad move'. Was it our turn? (I'll give the spoiler, it didn't turn out too bad. More on that later. Maybe Part III????)

I splurged and had the house cleaned after it was empty, best $150 I have spent in a long time. We spent a lot of time at Betty's house across the street. Poor Betty, the kids and I brought all kinds of chaos with us those days! Betty has a little dog, Missy. The kids love Missy and she loves them. So, they all played very loudly all through Betty's house - chasing, barking, screaming, and throwing squeaky toys everywhere!!! Missy was worn out before we'd leave! Betty was a lifesaver during those days. While the movers were there we went over and hung out and I could nurse the baby, we'd take lunch and hang out when the cleaners came and while the carpets were being cleaned. It was nice to have some place to be while we had to tie up all those loose ends.

One Saturday after the house was empty, we needed to touch up paint and do a few things. Lois took Rowan for us so we could get stuff done. I tell you, I miss our neighbors terribly. Not only were they so helpful, but we became wonderful friends too. They were hard to leave.

So, you might be wondering where we lived from June 9th until July 2nd???? We stayed at TLF on base at Tyndall. TLF is temp lodging for those of us coming and going at whatever base your stationed. We scored a 4 bedroom house, which we thought we were getting a 3 bedroom, so that was a bonus. But then Russ and Rach shared a room and we never ended up using the 4th bedroom. Rowan had his own room and slept like a champ from the get go. The furniture was old and abused, the kitchen had no counter space, but the kitchen was stocked with all the dishes, cooking pans, crockpot, etc. and housekeeping came every day, yes EVERY DAY, to clean, make beds, take the towels and I loved it! It was such a nice break. Literally the only cleaning I had to do was wash the dishes.

We brought a few things with us; the Wii, the baby swing, some toys, books, and movies. And really the stay at TLF wasn't too bad. The only thing we missed was our computer. There wasn't internet access in the house, so that sucked. But, I did get fancy and my cell phone got our email, so then when something came up we could use the computers at the lodging office.

Adam had a big inspectionon base right after we moved in, so living closer to work was good for all of us b/c he had to work late and it didn't take him long to get home.

The disANTvantage of living at TLF were the millions of ants that were everywhere. There was no landscaping, just sand and the ants apparently thrive in that situation. It was hard for the kids to play outside b/c they'd crawl on you. They weren't the biting kind, but who wants ants ... well, you know! Bleh! Cringe.

I think it rained almost every day we were in TLF. We had something going on every day, so the time passed quickly - swim lessons, doctor appointments, private speech therapy for Russell, social outings, etc. The time really did fly by!

And then, about a week before we were going to leave and we were just thinking that we wouldn't have the house rented before July 1st, we had an interested party apply! We didn't meet them, but know they have a small child and one on the way (maybe born by now). It was a bit of a hassle not having the computer to do all the lease paperwork and the evening ended with us desperately faxing our signed copies from Office Depot, but we go it done and are officially landlords. So far no news is good news on that front. The neighbors watch the house and say that the tenants seem nice, have a lawn tractor to mow the lawn and they keep to themselves. Good enough!

Since we rented the house and had paid off Adam's 4Runner, it was time to buy a new car. After a lot of thought and consideration, we bought the minivan. Wait, what? Huh? Did you say minivan? Yes, I did say minivan and I'll own up to it. I drive a minivan! I actually kinda like it. It was a lifesaver on the drive here - but that is Part II. So, I got a black Honda Odyssey with the works - leather, DVD, XM, power everything and I think I got a pretty good price on it too. I hate buying cars, but it had to be done. We said good bye to my little Jetta. It was a good car but it was time to let it go. And actually, we bought the Jetta in Florida in March '00 and it stayed in Florida. Kind of fitting.

So, I won't be like Ed Olhava and say "It doesn't feel like a minivan". What does that mean anyway???? I drive it, it has tons of space, 8 people can fit in it, gets decent mileage, I zip along pretty well in it and I love the power / auto doors!

Well, that pretty much leads us to the DRIVE - part II, if you will.
BTW, Adam has decided to blog these days, I'll link him on my blog if you care to read.

Wow, Word 2007 is Cool

2008-05-29T12:53:00.001-05:00

I just figured out how to type my blog entries in Word and then….. poof….. off it goes to be published! How cool is that? Schelley sent us the Word '07 and I have been meaning to tell her how much we like it and how completely cool we think it is. So, now I have!

So, a few updates… we are leaving Florida on July 2^nd and will arrive in Vegas, baby on July 6^th. Hurray! Still no renters, boo!

I got an early birthday present, a Wii!!! We had wanted one and boy, are we having fun! My dad and Pam sent me a couple of games and accessories for us all to enjoy, and we really have! Adam and I have been playing doubles tennis and we ROCK. Undefeated so far! Ha! We all like WiiSports, MarioKart and Link. If anyone has any recommendations, let us know. We still need to try the Sims, a favorite of Christine's.

The kids are on summer break starting today and of course, they are ill. Go figure! So now I must attend to them, feed Row Row and price more stuff for the garage sale. Good times!!!!

Mother's Day : )

2008-05-14T13:21:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to post what Rachel did at school for Mother's Day. (See the 2 images) She also made a hand daisy with her hand print and it is potted in a little ceramic pot. It is pretty cute! I have no idea what 'Mousey' is, but she thinks it is great!! And, Rachel's teacher thinks Rowan is Roland b/c the way Rachel says it!!! Ha! So that is a picture of me, Rachel and Roland/Rowan, hopefully we aren't playing ball with Rowan - ha! Also, that is her first attempt to write her name all by herself. Pretty impressive ; )

I had a great day - sleeping in, brunch, playing the Wii with the kids and Adam, swimming at the neighbor's pool (he was out of town and invited to come use it while he was gone), and great dinner made by Adam. A great relaxing day!

Swamped!

2008-05-08T13:04:00.003-05:00

Here's a picture of the kids, before I forget...

Okay, we have been so incredibly busy and my typing fingers have been busy with the kids!! So, here goes a quick post and I don't know if I'll be able to post again before we move.

Adam is almost finished with his Masters Degree, finally. He is just putting the finishing touches on his Graduate Research Project and he'll be done. Yeah, Adam!

The movers will be coming to pick up our stuff the 2nd week of June (yikes). We'll be staying on base in a 3 bedroom house (temporary lodging) for about a month. (Double yikes!) So, time to get the house organized and ready.

We still don't have tenants yet, but our agents are pretty confident we will find some. We still don't have a place to live in Vegas, but our agent there is sure we'll find one. I am holding out that we'll get a rental with a pool!!! I have been researching Vegas schools with a vengeance. I think I have narrowed down some good ones that will present a suitable commute for Adam also. That's the trick - finding a school within an acceptable driving distance to base.

School will be out the Wednesday after Memorial Day. I have been busy at school too. The PTO does a lot of activities and helping these last two months, so I have been carting Row around campus (and Rachel too when she isn't at school). It has been a rough school year for Russ. The ADHD thing is hard and on top of that his language skills don't help him either. He's done well academically, but socially I really wonder. Hopefully in Vegas we can get in with a good psychologist and start some other therapies too.

I need a new car. I have been driving the4 Runner (Adam's car) and he's been driving my little Jetta. I like Adam's 4Runner, but not for me. And so begins the great car debate. What to get??? And so begins the great minivan debate. I love all the features a minivan has to offer, but the stigma kills me! What to do???? Adam wants the MV, a logical and economical choice. How I wish it was a hybrid, then I could totally get on board!!!

Rowan is still a pretty good babe. he has his days, but don't we all? He has the greatest smile, lights up when he sees all of us. He loves our neighbor, Ray. Pretty cute! We still have him in our room, which is hard b/c he wakes us up even though he is still asleep. So, we are looking forward to getting him in his own room and we can get some better sleep.

Trying to lose at least 30lbs on top of all of this. I just have to remember to look at it in 5 lb goals and focus on the small goal instead of being overwhelmed by the big one. It is hard and depressing! Oh well.

I caught another lizard in the house the other day. With the salad spinner! I won't miss the lizards.

I hate this period of in between - I just want to get the move behind us. Moving into some place new is exciting, but all the stuff that happens before is stressful and not a lot of fun.

There is so much more to write about - G'ma Rizzi (Linda Garland's mom) passed away and we loved her. She was truly every one's g'ma and I want to write about her and remember her. But that will have to wait until I can sit and take more time because she was one in a million and she deserves that time from me.

So, what else - a busy social schedule ahead - Adam's commander is moving, so parties for him and his wife, my bday, Mother's Day, other people are leaving and parties for them, end of school parties, PTO end of the year meetings, Father's day is ahead also. Just a busy time of year.

So, that is it. Are you tired just reading this? I know I am. Well, I am hungry too - salad anyone?

Vegas, Baby

2008-04-06T11:45:00.001-05:00

This summer we are do for a move. Can you guess where we are going??????

Boy, it has been a while since I wrote and it looks like it is going to be a bit longer - just put the baby down and he's fussing.

Okay, bink in, swing on - type like the wind, Aim!!!!

We knew we were goingt o move this Summer, but we thought it was definitely OKC. Adam even had a report no later than date. We had always been interested in Vegas (Nellis AFB), but the right job for Adam never came about, so we had put it out of our mind. Then one day Adam gets a call and it turns out there is a new job that was posted and Adam fits is perfectly and it fits him. So, off we go to Las Vegas, Nevada!!! He has report no later than date of August 1st, but he still hasn't received his orders yet. So, we are waiting on that to happen and then we can really get to the nitty gritty of planning THE move.

We have our house on the market here. We've had it on for a little over a month and not one showing. We've had drive bys, a couple of picture takers, a call, but that is it. So, we are disappointed about that. Unfortunately, we bought at the peak of the market here and are trying to sell now. I think everyone knows what is happening in real estate now. So, we are looking at becoming landlords! That kind of sucks, because we have put a lot of work into this house. We did replace the counters and put in a new range with hopes of selling, but what can you do? We don't want to lose too much money with a sale, so we have to change our mindset as to this will be an investment property, keep it for some time, maybe even the rest of our time in the AF. Maybe the market will pick back up and we can sell, make some money to put towards living on the West Coast permanently.

So, there you have it! We are THRILLED to move to Vegas. We are looking at renting a house, although buying is tempting. Right now it is so fun to think of renting a house, having no projects to tie us up on the weekends so we can get out and visit friends & family and have them visit us! Right now we have our eyes on a home with a great fenced pool (gotta keep safety in mind!) and built in BBQ - how fun would that be?

If anyone is looking for a great house in Lynn Haven, Florida..... get in touch ; )

The Best Big Sis!

2008-03-19T15:12:00.002-05:00

Well, it has been a challenge to sit and write, but I have record Rachel's reaction to Rowan. She was our wild card, we weren't sure how she was going to react to a new baby. Well, as most of you know - she has been awesome! We couldn't ask for better. Sure, she has her moments, I mean, she is still Rachel, but overall she has been an amazing big sister. I have to do this in list format to make sure I include everything!!!

She loves to help change diapers. She runs and grabs her little stool and says "Wait for me!!!" She'll put the diapers in the garbage, soothe Rowan while he getting cleaned up, and is always amazed that 'he pooped again!!'.
She repeats everything we say to Rowan if she is around and in the same tone. She'll remember what to say to him and say it on her own too. It is so sweet.
One day I picked up Row and leaned him towards her so that his lips brushed her cheek. It was like she won the lottery! 'Oh, he kissed me!!!' Then she'd lean her cheek on to his lips and say 'He kissed me again!'
She is fascinated with breastfeeding. She'll suggest which side to feed him from, she loves the breast pump and watching the milk go into the container, she tries to nurse her dolls and has even offered to feed Rowan for me.
Rachel loves to hold and kiss Rowan and often wants her picture taken while she's holding him. This is very cute, but we have to be careful b/c sometimes she'll try to pick him up herself.
Rowan adores her. he smiles at her, turns toward her when he hears her voice. He really responds to her.
She helps pick out his clothes and a few times when he blew out an outfit she already had a clean change of clothes for him before I could turn around and get it myself.
She'll hang out at his crib and talk to him while I am getting ready, put his bink in his mouth, and entertain him as best she can.
She is constantly telling everyone how cute Baby Rowan is. And then she has to point out his 'tiny little eyes, nose, finger, tiny short hair, tiny little ears' etc.
Unfortunately for Russell, she is still an annoying little sister!!!

Good Bye Riley

2008-03-01T19:15:00.000-06:00

Our big gray kitty, Riley, was very ill and suddenly took a turn for the worse. It was a heart wrenching decision, but when the vet saw just how bad off he was, she was very reassuring that we had made the right choice.

Here is Riley and Rowan... We took this same picture with Russ & Rach : )

Around Christmas we had noticed that Riley seemed different. He was drinking a lot of water and had lost weight. His fur had changed some too. It wasn't as shiny or as thick. We had thought it was just feline diabetes - we have a friend whose cat is afflicted and the whole thing is very doable, so we weren't too concerned. Then we had him tested and it wasn't diabetes, it was something with his liver.

We tried some different medications, did follow up lab work, but he never seemed any better. To do any other tests, like ultrasounds, etc. was going to be very expensive and our vet felt like even if we did spend that money it didn't mean we could save Riley. She felt like his blood test results were so bad that he didn't have much time to live. And any surgery would be out of the question b/c she wouldn't put him under any anesthesia. She didn't think he would come out of it. She was right about his life span, he only made it a few weeks longer. Towards the end he wasn't eating anything and barely drinking. He just laid in our room and slept. Poor guy.

Because he had lost so much weight, the vet examined him and could feel a large tumor on his liver. She hadn't been able to feel it before b/c he was so plump!!

We had him cremated and want to spread his ashes in Vallejo near our old apartment, since that is where we got him.

We had Riley for over 10 years. He was always Adam's cat, he had a thing for Adam!! He was a great cat, very lovable, was terrific with the kids, had a super purrrrrrrr and could eat more than any cat we've ever known! We feel lucky he was ours for so long and that we could give him a happy home while he was on this earth. We really miss him though.

All About Rowan

2008-02-28T12:51:00.003-06:00

So, now let me indulge in a little motherly bragging and tell you all about our precious bundle!!!

At the hospital right after birth - he peed all over the nurse!!! Too funny! He hated getting his bath in the hospital, but loved the heat lamp thing after his bath. He was never jaundiced at all, which was a bit surprising - Russ and Rach both were a bit yellow. Not bad, but we had to watch them.

He had his 2 week check up last week and he weighed 9lbs 8oz - so he isn't missing any meals!! I am breastfeeding him, which is going pretty well. We are still learning, well Rowan is, but I think in the next few weeks, it will be easier. He does seem to have some very painful gas and he spits up thru his nose sometimes. So, we are keeping our eye on that and hoping that will get better as he gets better at nursing.

So far he is a great sleeper. Now the first 2 nights in the hospital he was very fussy and didn't sleep, so that was rough and a bit scary - what was he going to be like at home??? It seems the kid wanted to be at home, he has settled into a pretty good schedule. At night he goes to bed between 9 and 10pm, gets up once at 2 or 3 and then again about 5 or 6. On weekdays, I get up at the morning feeding and get Russ ready for school, so that seems to be working out all right. Some nights it varies a bit, but that is pretty much how it goes. Adam changes his diaper and gets him reswaddled for me and then I feed him and we all get back to sleep. Rowan will sleep the first leg of the night in his crib, but prefers to sleep with us after his feeding.

Case in point.... One night I decided to put him back in his crib and he fussed and fussed. Adam - half asleep gets up changes his diaper and hands him off so I could feed him. Adam had forgotten we had just done this 30 minutes ago! ; ) But Rowan was chewing on his hands, acting hungry, so I thought, well, he must still be hungry. I swear the second he was in my arms, he was fast asleep. I guess he just wanted me. It was just one of those love moments, your heart bursts with joy.

This kid can poop like no other. I swear he poops all day, almost every diaper change. Rachel will just say - Oh, he pooped again! We have gone thru more wipes and diapers with this kid than I care to admit!!! He hates having his diaper changed too.

He hates the bath, but he loves to shower with Adam. His fussy time is usually the evening and nothing calms him like being in a warm shower with dad. It is so funny - he goes in with this look like, life sucks, I am naked and cold. And he comes out looking like he's, well in a way he looks like he's stoned. He's so mellow and happy, but then he has to get dressed and then he's cold and pissed again!!!!

He doesn't like his carseat, but always falls asleep in the car. He is following us with his eyes and does seem to recognize the 4 of us. He is turning his head to sounds, especially Rachel's voice. Probably b/c she is so loud!!!

He is such a sweet bundle! It is a bit challenging adjusting to life with a newborn, but you remember the tricks of the trade and the 3rd time around really doesn't seem as hard as the other two. I hope I didn't just jinx myself!!!

February 4, 2008 - On The Day That You Were Born....

2008-02-28T09:04:00.003-06:00

Finally, a moment to sit and update the blog : ) You may have noticed the title change - one more R added!!! There is so much to say and I may have to do it in several short postings. We've had a lot going on. Besides Rowan's birth, we have finished updating the kitchen and put the house on the market, Russell turned 7 years old, our gray kitty, Riley, had to be put down due to liver cancer, and Rachel has been a joy to watch and listen to as she shows she is the best big sister in the whole wide world.

Let's start though with Rowan! Adam and I arrived at the hospital at 4am for the induction on the 4th as planned. Adam's mom was here and she stayed home with the kids. More on that later ; ) So, 4am.... We get hooked up to all the machines - IV with pitocin to increase contractions, fetal heart monitor, etc. Then we wait... Well, let me back up for a sec. We get with our nurse and she starts right in asking me about my lidocaine allergy. I am allergic to topical lidocaine. This is a problem b/c they use a form of lidocaine in epidurals. You see where this is going, maybe no epidural for Aimee - Dun dun dun. I had already discussed this with my OB and he said the anesthesiologist would make the final decision. Again, dun, dun dun.

Things are moving along and it is time to break my water, but they are pretty sure that when they do that, labor will progress very quickly, leaving no time for an epidural if I can even have one. Well, I wanted one if possible, I am not that brave. So, in comes Dr. whoever, anesthesiologist. After discussing the allergy, he thinks I am good to go (phew!) as there is one small chemical difference between topical lidocaine and the lidocaine they use to inject into your body for epidurals, dental work, etc.

In goes the drugs and after some adjustment it is working beautifully, they break my water at 8:30 am and 10am when they check me, it is time to push this kid out!! He was right there. Talk about fast. I went from like 4cm to 10cm in 90 minutes. I thought I had felt some pressure, but I was blissfully numb, so I couldn't be too sure. The proven pelvis got to work and again, quickly delivers a big baby!!!! 10:17 am, Rowan Andrew Bright joined our world at a whopping 9lbs 1 oz and 20.5 inches. He looked perfect, so adorable and we were instantly in love with him, of course!!!

His head was quite large and round and I tore quite a bit, so I had a lot of stitches and was very sore for a couple of weeks. So, that wasn't fun, but Rowan is healthy and perfect and that IS fun : )

I have to add that my OB has incredibly good relationships with every nurse that came in my room. They all are either patients of his, live down the street from him, their older daughters babysits for him; it was clear they all had a good working relationship, which made the process fun. These gals are just dishing out shit and teasing him and he's giving it right back. We felt like we fit right in. They are taking wagers on Rowan's weight, telling stories about some old school birthing techniques that OBs used to use, it was like social hour in labor room 8. I have never experienced that before or even heard of anyone having that kind of experience, but I can see why my OB has so many patients.

Okay, so then after having Rowan and moving into a recovery room, I became known as "Oh, you're the one who... _______________" And the blank is filled in with 'allergic to lidocaine', 'had the 9lb baby', 'had the 3rd degree tear and 2inches of stitches' and 'has that odd rash'. (On the 2nd day I got this bizarre rash, which was nothing, but no one knew what it was. The on call OB from my practice called it a pregnancy rash, which he followed up with, 'I know you aren't still pregnant' when I looked at him like are you nuts???? That wasn't my regular OB.)

All right, that is the birth story, and now Rowan is fussing and Rachel has been playing in my make up, so it is time to sign off for now and add more later....

The Proven Pelvis is STILL Pregnant

2008-01-29T08:26:00.000-06:00

So, here's the update.....

If I don't go into labor, I have an appt. to be induced on 2/4 at 4am (yyyyaaaaaawwwnnnn). The plan for that is to go in at 4am and get all the beginning stuff done. My OB will come about 6am and break the ol' H2O so that Rowan would hopefully be born by noon!
They think Rowan is 8+ pounds already - holy cow! Oh wait, my pelvis is proven.
I am dilated almost 3cm and you need to get to 10cm. With Russ and Rach it really didn't start getting too painful until about 5 or 6cm. So, I am lucky in that regard.
I am having sporadic contractions. Usually a bunch all at once and then they sssslllllooooooowwww down.
Everything seems to be in order here at home. Rowan's stuff is ready, washed, sterilized, etc. The Russ n Rach schedule is posted on the fridge incase the neighbors have to come over in the middle of the night.
Adam's mom is coming Friday.

Man, I really hope I am not in the hospital for the Superbowl. That would kinda suck.

And we can't forget that Russ's bday is on 2/12! Busy busy busy!!!!!

Hopefully the next blog entry will be written by a non pregnant, non sleep deprived (yea right!)Aim!

Pillsbury, Hmph!

2008-01-15T15:10:00.001-06:00

I have been meaning to report that I did not make the final 100 recipes for the Pillsbury Bake - Off. Which I am fine with, but would love to know how close I was to the final 100 recipes. Mine was Thai Chicken Chimichangas. Now that the final 100 recipes are published, let me tell you recipes similar to mine in my category that made it:

Thai Style Wraps - not very similar to mine, it used curry.

Thai Chicken Burritos - hmmm.... this one is the closest to mine. A peanut sauce with chicken. The difference there is that recipe mixes PB and salsa (that doesn't even sound good to me) and they fill with rice and I fill with black beans, fresh grated carrots and cilantro. My PB sauce is more like common Thai PB sauce, but mine had cumin in it which we thought really added some depth to the flavors.

Picadillo Chimichangas - I think this was the only chimichanga that made it, but it bakes exactly like mine does. So, that was interesting to see - it wasn't the baking of my chimi that they didn't like.

So, time to reflect. Pillsbury really stressed the importance of an original recipe. I know my sauce was original, but maybe not original enough? I never found one with cumin in it that was published, but that isn't to say it isn't out there. When making my recipe and researching sauce recipes (mainly to see if mine was like anything else) I did find a PB & Salsa recipe on the Betty Crocker website, so they can't be too picky about originality. I don't think that a Thai Burrito is an original concept either. There used to be a great burrito place in Napa and my favorite was the 'Thai Me Down Burrito" - delicious!

Also an interesting observation for me - I played with a recipe using biscuits and eggs, etc. And you basically build a breakfast biscuit with those basic ingredients and some extras and use like a muffin pan to cook it in. I never got one quite right and I can't say that I worked too hard on it either. However, I should have because there are probably like 7 recipes of the final 100 that do exactly that and use those ingredients.

It was fun to get the recipe together and submit it. I still think it is an excellent recipe. But it just isn't my year, I guess ; ) Maybe higher powers think I have enough going on with the baby and moving in the summer, so it is a good thing I didn't get selected.... Yea, that sounds good!!!!

I may have to try the PB & Salsa recipe to compare it. Tomatoes and PB don't sound good to me, but maybe it is very tasty??? Or maybe Pillsbury and I have very different taste buds!!! And apparently, we have differences on what is original and what isn't. I would definitely submit again and am thinking I may have to put making the Final 100 on my 'Life List'. I really think this is a challenge I can take on.

Another Friend Leaves Us

2008-01-15T15:10:00.000-06:00

Our neighbor, Don Everett, passed away last week. He had been battling cancer for the last 23 years, if you can believe that! He had survived two separate fights with cancer and his last fight started when we moved into our house in July 2005. They didn't give him much time at that point, but lucky for us, he made it until last week. He was 72.

We will miss Don. He was a terrific neighbor and friend. He never let an opportunity pass to tell us how glad he was to have us as neighbors and how much he enjoyed our young family. He seemed to get such a kick out of watching the kids and listening to them, especially since his grandchildren lived so far away.

Don was full of personality and had a great sense of humor. At his service, the hospice team that cared for him remarked many times about how they felt like Don gave them more than they gave him. He leaves behind his wife Betty, who is equally wonderful, and a son & daughter and several grandchildren.

Some Wookie Cookies

2008-01-12T18:06:00.000-06:00

Andy gave Russ a Star Wars Cookbook for Christmas. Russ loves it and we do too! It is so funny and really does has some tasty recipes. Last night we made Wookie Cookies, which is essentially a chocolate chip cookie with 2 types of chocolate and cinnamon in the dough. Russell insisted that we have a Wookie in the kitchen while we made our cookies. And, who can eat Wookie Cookies without Star Wars? Tonight we made Han-Burgers. Again, your basic recipe with a few flavor additions. The best part of Han-Burgers is the illustration to go with the recipe - a Millennium Falcon shooting ketchup onto a burger. No telling what recipe we'll try next, but I suspect it may be Yoda Soda.

I have to report on our Fantasy Football year. And now is as good as time as ever, so.....
I am proud to report that all three of my teams made the playoffs in all three leagues. We run one league and have had a core group of people for 3 years. This year our group was pretty global - Germany, Canada, Alaska & Florida. My team, Vintage Crushers, barely made the playoffs, and ended up in 5th place. Quarterbacks killed me in that league. I had an injury to my first string quarterback and just struggled after that. Adam did well in that league, his Russell's Revenge, ended the year in 3rd place.
We also play in Adam's former boss, Chris's league. In that league our team names are Better Half and Worse Half. Chris had given us those names as a joke, but we thought they were fun and kept them. If you EVEN have to ask which team is mine, you are banned from the blog!!! Ha! Of all my teams, I thought this was my worst draft, but sheer luck won me 2nd place. Adam may have placed 5th or so, I can't remember.
And the third league was a Tyndall AFB league with a lot of Adam's coworkers. Nipple Maulers was my team, really my best team overall, and in that league and I placed 3rd. Which is nothing to sniff at, but I really wanted 1st. I just kept smokin those guys week after week. I lost once by .2 points (the WORST kind of loss) and then I lost on the Pats bye week. I had both Tom Brady and Randy Moss on that team; those were some sick points. But on a crucial playoff game for fantasy football, both Tom and Randy didn't get it done. That's the way the game goes sometimes and what can I say, the guys we played with know I should have been the champ ; )

So now that the NFL has hit playoff season - we are excited, but a little sad. The end of a season. Tom was good to me this year, so I am rooting for the Pats. But then again, I love Peyton, I'd like to see him win it all again. I haven't given up on my Niners, they are still my team, but ouch. Hey, at least they aren't as bad as the Dolphins. For now anyway!!!

Ready for Rowan!!!

2008-01-07T07:37:00.000-06:00

Leading up to Christmas Adam and I kept saying after Xmas we'll focus on getting ready for Rowan. On the 26th, drinking our coffee, watching the kids play with toys, we made our game plan and then Adam caught Rachel's cold! But, no cold can stop the plan.....

I had an OB appt on Dec. 21st and made my Dr. promise that he wouldn't let me have a 10lb child. He promised that he'd try! But then reminded me that I have already given birth to 2 healthy 8+ babies and managed to push them out in record time. And for the record, I am a good pusher. LaDean (not sure if you remember this, LaDean) gave me a great tip about labor and pushing after she had Kari and I never forgot it. I did not want to be in there pushing for hours!!
So, back to my OB - he says to me you've had two big babies already, it's not like we were expecting you to have a 6 lb child this time, right? And then he says, (and I find this HILARIOUS, even in my 'bothered' state), he says "I expect you to have about a 9lb baby and I am not too worried about it because you have PROVEN PELVIS". (Yes, he said proven pelvis)Of course, that being said we still don't want a 10 lb child and he'll induce early if Rowan is getting too big, but I'm sitting there laughing to myself - he just said proven pelvis, a PP if you will. I have a proven pelvis. I have been having a lot of fun with it too - I'm just going to take my proven pelvis and sit in this chair to relax. Me and my PP want to go shopping. The list goes on.....
My PP and I went back to the OB last week and I am going to have another ultrasound on Jan. 21st to see how big Rowan is and then we'll talk about if we will induce early and the timing and all that. So no news on the when, I'll report back on that later.

OK, getting ready for Gigantor, Moose, Rowan. Our house is a 3 bedroom and for now Rowan will room in with us, which means some rearranging of things in our room and closets. Done! New dresser/changing table that can also double as a nightstand for Adam - bought and built! Got out all the clothes and things we have been accruing - washed and put away. New PacknPlay for Rowan to start life with - ordered and on the way (Thanks Mom!).
Rachel is sharing closet space with Rowan - generous of her, isn't it? So, her closet is organized and ready.
We needed a rocking chair for the living room. We had one of those baby glider chairs with Rachel, but the back was so straight, it was almost uncomfortable, I always wished it would recline a bit. So, I was determined that this time I'd get a chair that reclines and rocks/glides. Well, the kind they make for nurseries and babies that do that are like $500 and not that great looking. So, Russell and I ventured out for a day of local chair shopping, not sure what we'd find. (We left the sickies at home.) Russ is great fun to shop with and no surprise he liked all the red chairs no matter what they felt like! We did end up finding a good ol' LazyBoy, but it is a more petite size, not terribly ugly, but completely comfortable and affordable. So, I did have to abandon my distaste for recliners, but it was the right choice - even came in a color that works with our furniture, so we didn't have to order it. And I'll admit - I love that damn chair already. It is everything I wanted. So, rocking chair - check!!!

Next on the list is getting those last minute baby supplies - diapers, baby wash, that kind of stuff. We still need to tour the hospital, sterilize a few bottles and that kind of thing. But other than that type of stuff we are feeling ready. I am really ready to not be preggers!!!

Oh What Fun It Is To......

2008-01-07T06:52:00.000-06:00

December was a busy month!

In order to feel caught up on all our fun this will be an entry that is all over the place!!!

We started the month with....

Wing Christmas Party for the kids - Russ loves this party on base. They open up a hanger and the various spouses clubs on base fill it with blow up slides, bouncy houses and have snacks and activities for the kids. The big event is Santa arrives on an F-15 and then comes to his throne at the party and stays put until every child has had a chance to visit with him as many times as they want. Rachel has fun too - but this is one activity that Russ always asks to go to and he loves that Santa comes in on the jet. He doesn't want to see Santa at the mall or anywhere else.

Gulf Breeze Zoo & Zoo Lights - This little zoo is about 2 hours away. It is bigger than our local zoo, so we thought it would be fun to go in the late afternoon and hang around long enough to see their lights display and then go out for dinner afterwards. It was kind of a sad little zoo. You could tell it has seen better days, but recent hurricanes and tropical storms in the last 5 years have taken its toll on the zoo financially. We did go to a great restaurant - McGuire's Irish Pub on the way home. We haven't been in years and it didn't disappoint! It is fun place with great character, food and beer (they brew their own, but sadly don't sell it outside of the pub).

Volunteer at school - that last week before Christmas was a blur of activities at school for both kids. I did get to help do some fun things in Russell's class. I took cookies and we decorated them for a fun Friday snack. His teacher asked me to help with their ornament making activity. And then I was able to help at the pancake breakfast party too! On the ornament day, his class did the whole "Thank you Mrs. Bright for helping" in unison kind of thing and Russell says afterwards to the class "Yea, my mom is nice like that. She likes to help". What a sweetie.

Rachel's class had a party with a mini recital of carols sung by her class. Only like 3 kids would stand up in front of all the parents and sing for us. Rachel not being one of them. She was just starting to get a cold and not feeling too great. But it was cute to see the others sing. She had been singing the songs at home beforehand and hasn't stopped singing the songs since.

Christmas - It was just the 4 of us and it was quiet but very enjoyable. Christmas Eve we went out and looked at lights and oohed and aaahed. Russ was very specific about what type of snack to leave out for Santa. He was very cute and excited!

The kids got up about 7:30am on Christmas and we weren't too sure how they would go about the whole present thing - would they tear into all of them and then play? Russ was so cute all month reading tags on presents. The funniest comment was on a gift that said "To: Aimee From: Mom" Russ asked why I had given myself a present???

Santa brought Rachel a Dora bike and Russ an electric crash car set. Boy, that Santa is really good. It took about 3 hours to open all the presents. The kids would open something and then have to play with it, read it, etc. So as family would call to see how the kids liked their gifts, we'd have to call back later - we hadn't got to their gifts yet! It was fun to watch them open things and get so excited about each gift and want to play with it right then. Needless to say, the kids got tons of new toys and have been playing nonstop with all of them.

Later Christmas Day, Adam looked at me and said "And tomorrow we start really getting ready for Rowan". Which leads us to the next entry...... but first a couple of Christmas morning pics:

Hot & Bothered

2007-12-10T10:01:00.000-06:00

I have reached the point where I am now hotter, (temp. wise of course!), than everyone else. Air conditioning? Oh God, Yes please!!!! And it doesn't help that we are having a very warm December. It was 85 yesterday. And it doesn't help that I have outgrown all my shorts and summer type clothing that I bought for the beginning of the pregnancy. Once again, A/C??? Can't live without it!

And since I am so hot, I am easily bothered. It doesn't matter who, when, where, or what. I blame it on hormones. For example, Adam calls every night when he is on his way home. He usually asks what is the plan for dinner, as sometimes I need him to stop and get something. So, one night he asks about dinner and I reply meatballs. It's one of Russell's favorites and while Adam & I aren't crazy about meatballs, I try to make them as appealing as I can for everyone. And, they do take some time to make. So, his reply to meatballs the other night was "Oh." Now, I have to admit in retrospect that there probably wasn't any tone in his response, just a matter of fact "oh." But that night I heard "oh." Meaning I don't want meatballs, that sounds awful, I'll have something else that I can round up in the fridge. Well, being bothered, I immediately reply something to the effect of "That's the wrong answer, Adam. Try, thank you for taking time out of your day to provide our family with a nutritious meal. Thank you for standing on your pregnant feet in the kitchen and slaving over meatballs so that we can get hopefully get Russell to eat a big dinner since he's so skinny." Gasp!!! Bitchy, I know!! At least I can admit it.

And the bothered part isn't just bitchiness, I do cry easier now too. I'll try tell you a story about Russell and how some boy in his class said he doesn't think that Russ speaks English. Was he being mean? I don't know. But, it makes me cry just thinking about it. Kids suck and Russ tries so hard to make friends and be friends. It just makes you sad that you can't be there to protect from all that crap. He's only 6, can he get a break???? And now, of course, I am crying, so on to other news.

We had a really cool ultrasound on Friday. Rowan is growing!!! He is 4 1/2 lbs already and we are supposed to have 10 weeks to go. I didn't get to see my regular OB, I'll see him in 2 weeks. So, hopefully we'll have a better idea of when we think the Moose will be born. Adam was calling him Gigantor! At the rate he is growing he'll be a 10lb baby by my regular due date. OMG, I don't want a 10lb newborn!!! We'll see what Dr. Simpson says next time. The ultrasouond tech was pretty impressed with his size and thought that we'd be seeing her again next month to see how big he is.

So, this is one of the 3D pictures we got of Rowan. That is his umbilical cord in the upper left part of the picture. We think he is so cute!!!! And he has very similar qualities to Russ and Rach when they were newborns. We can definitely see the same nose and lips.

We did realize at this ultrasound, we'd better get our butts ready right after Xmas. Still need to get the new Pack n Play and his dresser. And, I need to wash his clothes and get some diapers and all those newborn things ready.

I have been reading my refresher course on breastfeeding. I love the Sears' book on breastfeeding - great info on how to get it going, good techniques, etc. I got another book which isn't as good, but there was a fascinating chapter on recent history of breastfeeding and the formula companies. When I opened the book to read, it was a chapter that I'd normally skip. But, something caught my attention and I ended up reading it. I won't bore you with the all the bad things that formula companies have done here and even more so in Africa. That could be a whole other entry or even blog. All I'll say is shame on those companies for being so malicious & irresponsible in the name of profit.

That is it for now. Hope for some nice cool weather for me!!! And please don't email to brag about how cold it is where you live. I did mention how easily bothered I am.....