“New Woman, U.S. Embassy”

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.

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

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

1. 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….
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
   
4. 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!!!
   
5. 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.
   
6. 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.
   
7. 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!
   
8. 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?
   
9. We have only picked up dog poop in the backyard like twice Adam left. He's a little dog.
   
10. 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.
    

    
     

    
     

Three Things

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…”

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!

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

 

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

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. .
South Korea is considered a remote tour, which is a good assignment, but not easy to get when you have a family that needs to move with you. Adam got 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.  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

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

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

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

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

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 3rd of July

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….

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

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

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

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

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

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.