Constant Beginnings

this whole process has been a long one. super long. i applied back in may, emailed the principal through june, interviewed in july, was hired the beginning of august and have waited for our beloved passports since august 5th. (not that i am keeping track--oh yes i am!) i have a daily routine of waking up, haunting calling the passport specialist every morning, and doing a wrap up call to him at the end of the day (interestingly, he doesn't answer his phone in the afternoon anymore--do you think it is because of me?) anyway, i called this morning. he said, "your passports will be in your hands today!" i quoted him because his words were just that memorable. i mean really, could this long, monotonous journey actually end this week? yippee!! now we will go to the apartment, stalk the fed ex guy and mosey over to the base to line up our travel and car shipping details. i am super excited. i cannot wait to get this in motion. it feels like i have simply been treading water fo

any guesses as to what was in this folder?

having only done one move with the military before, i did a bit of research and gathered some advice. casey at the ever changing life offered an entire blog post to her suggestions to prepare for moves. i took some of that advice. 1. i washed and bagged in huge ziploc bags bedding, curtains, and other linens. funny faces. moving day! 2. separated all our household goods and all important documents. 3. packed in 6 suitcases/bags our clothes, toys and other necessary items for the next 3 months. 4. i documented serial numbers of all major electronics. 5. took photos and videos of all large items (furniture, etc.) 6. while the packers were working, i made sure EVERYTHING was wrapped. they tried to load the step 2 toy kitchen without wrapping and a few other oddly shaped items, but i stepped in. just wanted to be safe. carry on and checked baggage life as squatters. i tried to confine us to my bedroom in order to keep the rest of the apartment as clean as possible. glad

may peeking at me through the playhouse window. claire in the bouncehouse. the past few weeks have been filled with plenty of playgrounds and kid fun. we have a membership to davis farmland, which has everything under the sun for kids to enjoy--a little town, sprinkler park, animals, playground, food, etc. the girls and i ventured there for some good old fashioned fun. mya and claire loved the little town. each trip they love something else, which is why i love that place. they never seem to tire of it.

claire was trying her best to ride this big kid bike all afternoon. mya and lucy followed each other around. pretty sweet friends. michelle and lucy hanging in the hammock. mya was on her game trying to get up the steps when we looked away--at lightening speed. alison and mya hanging out. poor thing had foot surgery a week ago and still played hostess. what a amazing girl! mya and henri were trying to fix the air conditioner or maybe they were sharing secrets. hmm. i hate good-byes. i hate them so much that my way of coping is to avoid them. my good friends know this. thankfully, they understand and put up with my silly ways. no fuss was made. i avoided lunch with a few from work and i avoided another lunch date that will take place tomorrow. i can't avoid saying the dreaded good-byes to my two, nearest and dearest friends--alison and michelle. these girls are the best. really. this lifestyle involves great efforts to stay connected with those friends made alon

i wish i could take credit for this great find, but i actually read a rave review on another blog i follow. i decided to try them out myself and LOVE them. stearn's puddle jumpers are only about $20 at my fav, target. claire meets the weight requirement, so she was the lucky girl. it provides safety, but allows her a bit more freedom than a life jacket. she isn't as constrained, so she can move her arms and actually "swim." mya got a new life jacket from her auntie jess and uncle nate, which she pretty much loves too. all in all, everyone is happy. both of these kids are little fish. they love, love, love to swim. i guess that has been a blessing of this situation of hotel living. we've been able to swim everyday.

a few of our treasures... i am always on the hunt for decently priced, but very cute kid's clothes. very little makes me happier than strangers commenting on how cute our kids are. certainly superficial, yet real, is the fact that clothes  and appearance influence others' perspective of us. my kids wear a ton of hand me downs from their cousins, which we love, love, love, but i tend to cringe when even those get stained or extensively dirty from daycare play. when claire was a toddler, i found a few outfits from target for $7 or so. loved them. she could get them dirty, roll around outside, get paint on them, and i cared less. i haven't been able to find any great deals there lately. i can usually get away with a cute outfit for $12 or so, but that tends to vary. i love carter's, but again, hate to ruin those outfits. i guess i am too cheap? anyway, i came across the jumping beans line at kohl's a few seasons ago. love it! many of the shirts/pants/skirts are

i have been so terrible at updating this blog as of late. between the movers, four straight days of rain (no lie) roughing it in our empty apartment, the lack of internet and of course, trying to keep my two lovlies from killing each other (with kindness of course), I haven't had much time or desire, truthfully. i have taken probably three pictures in the last two weeks. we haven't really done anything photograph worthy--minus some pics of our squatting (spelled it right this time), numerous trips to area playgrounds and a playdate or two with friends. after 7 nights of sleeping on the floor with nothing more than claire and mya's baby quilts and two traveling pillows (sounds pretty pathetic, huh?!), we finally checked out of the apartment and into the sheraton on wednesday.  i get 10 days of paid accommodations in a hotel, but i couldn't have moved us into a hotel right away. this process has already taken nearly 3 freakin weeks. we would have been footing a hefty hote

just a quick note to let you all know we are alive and well. we are living as sqwaters? my brain is mush and i don't even know if i spelled that right, but basically we are staying in our apartment, sleeping on the floor, using towels that i will soon be using to clean, watching dvd's on our portable player, and missing our more civilized lifestyle. just to provide a better picture of our less than ideal life---i am bumming wifi from the pizza joint across the street as we speak. it was either this, where i can lock my kids in their carseats while jamming to some annoying kid tune, or go to the library where they are free to kick, scream and revolt in public viewing. yeah. here we are. no sign of our passports. therefore, no sign of our travel plans. my job starts next week. love. the. government. good news though..i can start collecting a pension (a damn good one too) at the age of 57. let's see--25 more years to go?!!

I haven't blogged in such a long time. I wish I could say that I have incredible stories to share or pictures for that matter, but honestly, I have nothing. I have been soaking up the time with my parents in ND and jumping through all the hoops for my new job. It has been insane. My offer was delivered on Monday with 5 days to finish the binder of paperwork. The paperwork included a physical, official passport applications (yes, different from our tourist ones and yes, requiring birth certificates which I did not bring to ND), several documents requiring a notary, fingerprinting, and rewriting the same information 55 times that which included where I have gone to school, where I have lived and a witness from each place/situation. Give me a break! I was nearly in tears when I received it, thinking there wasn't a chance that I would be able to get this done 1800 miles from home, from my doctor, from everything, BUT I DID IT!!Thank goodness for great friends. I happened to send my

Ok, so we are all familiar with "Annie." It is kind of ironic as Claire and I actually went to the musical this summer in Bismarck with my sister's family. Anyway, orphan girl is on loan to Daddy Warbucks while looking for her real home and parents. She can't believe the world that has been opened to her, but still searches on for the thing that matters most---unconditional love. In the meantime, Daddy Warbucks offers a reward which motivates Rooster and Lily to claim Annie as their own. Money is the root of all evil as they say. Flash forward to "Sophie." Chris and I have faultered back and forth about what to do with this dog from the day we got her. We have a love hate relationship. We love her, but I hate the dog hair that covers our floors. As a compromise, Sophie stayed and I got a Dyson vacuum. Things are more tolerable on that end if I can find the time to vacuum daily. Ha. The dog has energy. She needs to run and play. As a compromise, we sent h

I returned to the States late Sunday night after a long, long 24 hours of flying. My flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was actually delayed, which caused me to miss my connection home. So irritating. I am understanding in the winter, but not so patient when weather is not related. Anyway, I did arrive. It was wonderful being greeted by my mom, dad and of course, my kiddos. Claire ran right up to me, but Mya was busy exploring the airport. She caught a glance of me, but didn't seem all that excited. I picked her up and all she could do was examine me as though she knew she should know me, but couldn't quite figure out who I was. It was heartbreaking. Truly. She continued to look at me periodically still unable to place me. We drove home, went to bed and awoke the next day as though I was never gone. It was wonderful. Claire has been attached to me and Mya does her thing. Gotta love that kid. She is miss independent. My offer package arrived on Monday around noon and I have been