Thawing out

We're starting to thaw out here a bit although it's been chilly again the last couple of days, we did have some nice weather this last week to get out and play. I started using my camera I got for an early birthday present and still don't have all the settings figured out. It's a little more complicated than my old one with a few more manual settings, but the auto feature works fine and the sports setting is great. No more pictures of a LB blur running by...

Other than that we've had a relaxing Saturday at home with the exception of the lack of birthday party etiquette in the neighborhood. I despise having to explain to my child why he can't go to a birthday party that all of his friends are going to when the birthday child said he could come at the last minute while they were all playing outside together. As a parent, I understand you can't always invite everyone and that's completely OK, and I don't expect kids to keep their birthday party a secret, but don't send your kids out to flaunt a party when you know there are kids out there that aren't invited. And of course he doesn't understand the difference between being 'invited' 5 minutes before a party by the six-year old and being invited in advance by a parent. Just makes me be the mean mommy by saying 'no, you can't go, you weren't really invited.' So after some tears and playing Wii, all is better and he's out playing with his friends again, post party. Just one of those hard things about living on post in a neighborhood full of kids. Someone's always having a birthday and you just can't have everyone come even if you want to, but teach your kids to be sensitive to others and how they would feel if they were the one kid not invited. And just a side note, I wouldn't have expected BB to be invited to this party, as it was for a younger child and if the kid hadn't said anything, there would have been no issues. Anyway, hope I don't sound like the disgruntled mom of an outcast child, just don't like having to hurt my kid when it wasn't necessary, although a good teaching point for us as his birthday will be coming up before we know it!

Anyway, back to our relaxing Saturday although I did manage to get a few things done, like mop the floors and vacuum and clean the bunny cage and never ending laundry... Here's a few pics from my new camera of the last couple of weeks:

On the lighter side

my kids are full of mischief as always, but at least we can laugh about it (mostly). I thought it was LB who figured out the 'fridge lock but it was LG! I caught her in the act with a chair next to it a little bit ago. LB usually gets blamed for everything! So... it was she who pulled the bag of shredded cheese out yesterday morning while I was trying to get ready for the gym and then they both decided to eat it all up and down the hallway and in the living room. Nothing like finely shredded cheese in the carpet. I let it dry a little before vacuuming and it came right up, but still! And speaking of food out. I left the syrup on the counter after pancakes on Saturday and while I was clearing the table I happened to glance in the kitchen and LB had unscrewed the cap and was downing the syrup straight from the bottle! yuck! I caught him at the first drink and before he decided to dump it elsewhere... In between the mess making they are playing very nice together and seperately. LB loves Legos and will make guns and airplanes and boats for hours. They tried to take them from him at daycare the other day, as they are supposed to be for the 4 and up kids, and he threw such a fit they let him play with them anyway. LG will sit and read books or play dollhouse quietly for a long time. Of course, this is all to give me a chance to clean up before the next mess...
BB is happy the sun was shining this week and has been running around without a jacket the last few days and heading to the woods. He can't wait until daddy is home to go out with him. New rule for his outside play is he HAS to take a walky-talky with him, as I cannot yell for him to come in anymore and the walking around the neighborhood clapping my hands gets a bit old!
Things with our BG have been a bit more challenging lately with finding a way to motivate her to help out and discipline when she won't, which is often... I don't really like to use food as incentives, BUT, the going to bed without dessert while her brother ate his seemed to make an impact after two nights in a row of not doing her 10 minutes of cleanup in her room. Third night, she got it done! Our challange with her is finding something she actually cares about enough to take away, and sweets it is... I would probably get a lot more done if someone threatened my sweets too! She is doing wonderfully at school though, so can't complain too much... I'll post pictures as soon as I get my new camera figured out!

Housing and other stuff

Well, it looks like we are going to be moving to a different house on post sometime this spring/summer! The housing area we are living in is being re-designated for Jr Enlisted soldiers and we've been on the housing list since we got here, for one of the large, new houses they are building. After another winter cooped up in this little one I'm ready to spread out a bit! Anyway, housing had an open house for all the Field Grade Officers on the housing list to update us on the construction plan and on our place on the wait list. Turns out, they are building a few 5 bedroom houses and with our 4 children, we qualify for one of those and only 2 people ahead of us on that list, so sometime between May and September we should be moving across post. The only downside is that the kids will have to change schools... I don't think they'll mind though as they'll be going with a lot of kids they already know and switching during the summer isn't as big an issue as in the middle of the year like the last 3 moves!

We had a challenging weekend with me not having a lot of energy and kids being disobedient. Nothing major, just lots of little things they had to be told more than 5 times... After leaving the Wii remotes on the floor for the third time yesterday, they lost all their Wii, TV and computer game privileges. It was actually kind of a nice afternoon not hearing any electronic stuff playing and they know they were wrong and have accepted the consequences fairly gracefully so far. I've also been feeling guilty lately for leaning on these devices a bit too much to keep them occupied and I won't even go into bedtime bad habits of the last few weeks... So, natural consequences a good thing right now. Of course, I may be tearing my hair out later in the week!

I was happy to talk to a couple of my siblings today and catch up a little. I've been feeling a bit isolated from the rest of my family lately living way out here and it was good to reconnect for a little while. I think this is the longest I haven't been 'home' in a while also, so I'm missing everyone and everything more! It's March already and no blossoms to be seen here...

Two of my least favorite activities

have been on my agenda the last week or so... First, the window on my van fell into the door because I tried opening it, not realizing it was frozen shut! Then I had to go to the dentist last week to have a bunch of fillings replaced.

So, Saturday we drove in the 10 degree weather with the window down and the heat going full blast. I think I was the only one who was cold and had to wear my ski gloves and a big scarf and hat! Anyway, I was driving through the gate and the guard asked if I knew my NYS Inspection was expiring on Sunday? No! I guess I just assumed it was good as long as the registration was which is two years... Anyway, I brought the van to Midas on Monday because they were the ones with the earliest appointment and the check engine light was on so it automatically failed the inspection! And they didn't have the part for the window or the EGR valve that it needed so I would have to go a dealer anyway. They at least got the window back up for me so I didn't have to drive in the cold. But, the dealer in town is having some problems and can't order parts right now so I ended up driving down to Adams, about 30 minutes away, and sat there from 10:30 until 3:30 yesterday while they tried to fix everything and of course found one of the tie rods was bad too. $600 and five hours later and it still didn't pass the inspection because now it needs to be driven for a while so all the monitors come back on line... What a pain!

Another pain in my mouth since the fillings I had done last week weren't filed down quite right, so I had to go back in today after a weekend of pain and sensitivity on my whole left side. Luckily, it was a quick fix and it feels better already! Not looking forward to the next visit in a couple of weeks for the right side...

Other than those issues, things haven't been too bad this past week without Synthroid or coffee. My energy level has actually been pretty good and I've even been able to get to the gym a few times a week. I am pretty wiped out in the evenings though and what bedtime routine we did have has gone out the window. I am starting to get dinner done earlier because if it's not done by 5:30-6:00ish, we're eating cereal... Which would be just fine with BG!

The teacher gets schooled

I love it when my kids teach me back something they've learned from me... We were in McDonalds after church yesterday and ordered 3 cheeseburgers and various other items. Well, they put two extra cheeseburgers on our tray and we didn't notice until one of them had been eaten. Now I know that if I bring it back up they will just throw it away and paying for it will be a hassle because they've already closed out the order, but BB quickly reminded me that it was dishonest not to pay for them! So, I went and paid for them and confused the counter guy to no end, but it made me so happy that BB actually understands something we've taught him by our words and actions and that he's not afraid to speak up when he sees something wrong (at least not with me). Also a big reminder for me that they are always watching and learning whether it be a good or bad action.

Winter doldrums

is the best way to explain the ongoing blah. I wish I had something funny to write just to amuse myself... But, lacking that, here's what we've been doing to keep somewhat busy:

Today, BB and I went up to Dry Hill for a couple of hours of skiing/snowboarding with some friends. I haven't been on skis for about 8 years (I really sound old when I say it's been 8 years since I've done something!) and did pretty well despite the ice-y conditions. BB is really improving on the lessons he took this winter but 2 hours was enough for him. BG opted not to go partly because she doesn't like being cold and partly because she really likes the babysitter and is now throwing a major fit because she wanted her to stay longer. I've noticed the biggest difference in her behavior since we started changing our diets in January and today is a perfect example of why I've cut out most of the artificial colorings and flavorings. After a lunch of chicken McNuggets, apples and fake caramel, and rootbeer, she's having a hard time controlling her emotional outbursts. Yeah, some amount of drama is normal for her, but this is way beyond the normal. LB also seems to be effected somewhat with more biting and pinching behavior when he's had a lot of candy or artificial food. Valentine's day was bad... I think he bit BB through his pants and left a bruise for no apparant reason!

This past week we also had a bunch of Dr's appointments, two of which were cancelled for the kids and I didn't know until I showed up for the appointments. Just a bit peeved, but since they were routine physicals, not that big of a deal. I also had my checkup w/ my endocrinologist and she took me off the Synthroid in preparation for my next body scan in 4-6 weeks. So far, not feeling too bad and actually made it to the gym a couple of times last week! I also had a five fillings replaced on Thursday and have to go back for a couple of more soon. Another reason to feel old, as they had to be replaced because they were old and falling apart. How is it possible that I've had fillings for 25 years? Oh, yeah, 'cause I got them when I was 9! Anyway the dentist didn't get them filed right so I've got to go back for that also!

I had a great time playing bunco on Fat Tuesday with a fun group of ladies and at the OSC luncheon with the evolution of The Little Black Dress. Fun dressing up a little even if just for lunch...

Anyway, I'm so over this winter already. We had a warm couple of days with a lot of snow melt and now it's 8 degrees again. 45 yesterday and 8 today! Craziness. It needs to warm up so we can put our worm bin outside... Oh, yeah, we started a worm compost (vermicompost) bin for our kitchen scraps! I've been wanting to do it for a while and this seemed like a good time so BB can also use it for his science fair project. He was excited about using the drill to make some ventilation holes and also about the approximately 1000 worms we got in the mail! So right now the worms are in the closet until it gets above 45 degrees or so... Hope it happens sooner rather than later...

I'll leave on a positive note that we're under the 90 day mark for J coming home!

The time is dragging

by so slowly this last week or so since J left to go back to Iraq for the completion of his tour... Been kind of mopey, so I haven't felt much like writing plus kids have been tag teaming with a stomach bug of some sort for the last three weeks and I finally succumbed this morning. Enough already!

But we did have a great time when J was home for 18 wonderful days! The kids showed no hesitation about being with daddy again, well except a little bit from LG of all people... I think she was mad at him! LB was all over him and wouldn't let him out of his sight without yelling 'Daddy, where are you?' Kind of funny in the PX, but sad at the same time. We spent a couple of days in the Lake George, NY area at the Great Escape Lodge there. They have a nice indoor waterpark and a Johnny Rockets in the hotel so it was an easy vacation with all four of them. A little break where we could pretend it was warm for a little while! Then we came back and just relaxed and didn't have to do much of anything for the rest of the time. J helped with some organizing and got his new computer set up and did a few 'electronic' chores for me. I cooked several of his favorite meals and we went to a couple of our favorite restuarants and then he got sick just before he had to go back! I was a bit worried about him flying not feeling very well, but he made it back OK and we're trying to get back to our routine here. LB points to airplanes now and says 'Daddy's airplane' since we watched him get on the plane this time.

The kids are off from school all next week. Mid-winter break. Yay. That's where if you can't go someplace warm, you are stuck in the cold with all your children in the house. I contemplated getting out of here, but just don't want to spend the money to travel and not up to doing it by myself. Maybe by Spring Break I'll be desperate enough to get out of Dodge... At least a lot of the snow has melted this last week so I can see our patio again and we actually used the firebowl yesterday when the kids were out playing in the backyard.