Christmas in Chaos

This Christmas didn't feel very Christmas-y. This is the only real photo I got of the kids this year.

Since we were in the middle of moving the whole thing felt a bit surreal. Quick narrations for each pic since there are a lot of pics to go through.
First up my last picture of Puget Sound. The morning before the packers came we had several errands to run and instead ditched responsibility and went on a photo safari for beautiful views. This may be the best pic I have ever taken. Rainier can be seen shrouded in clouds to the right.

A fantastic distraction the morning of packing was the kids opening their gifts from Nena and Pop. They loved it and played with their new toys all day.

Christmas Eve day at 2:30 am Pacific time. Everybody dressed and sitting on the bed in the hotel waiting to go down to the airport shuttle. Seattle airport has a terrific wall of glass windows where I usually take pictures before we leave on a trip--but not this time.

Christmas morning was fun with my three and my sister's two getting a visit from Santa. This was the first time we did this all together and the first time I ever texted to coordinate when the kids could go to the tree to see what Santa brought.

My sister and her family drove down from New York and arrived at the beginning of the snow.

All four sisters together.

All six cousins playing video games together.

Christmas day it began to snow. And snow... and snow...

The day after Christmas was a sparkling winter wonderland.

All six cousins in the snow.

That's all my Christmas-y pictures. The rest of the pictures I took are the house in progress and pics of sisters for their FB pages. I can post those photos here if they get on my bad side. :)

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and hoping to have pictures of the new house to post soon!

love and hugs, B

Almost Time To Go

So it is almost time to go and it is hard to leave WA. M is clueless. G realizes what is happening but is doing really well (so far) focusing on the positive of the new house and new fun and being back with daddy. E is having the hardest time; he has really grown a lot here and made some really strong friendships. He is just devastated about leaving his friends and LOVES his teacher...even I am having a hard time leaving his teacher. I have had several long, tearful talks with him about how feeling sad is OK. Feeling sad shows that we came here knowing no one and we made good friends and got involved in the community and we appreciated the differences of this place and we enjoyed many adventures. He still struggles though and spends more time alone than he used to and just wants to be someplace quiet-- very unlike E. The only positive idea he has latched onto is that this is a chance for a fresh start where no one knows anything embarrassing about him and he can reinvent himself.

I am struggling with this too. It will be great to be back with D, but leaving here is very hard. We did come here on a completely impulsive adventure. Not knowing anyone and doing it on our own and everything is so different (doesn't mean it is all better, just different). Leaving friends is always hard but this seems harder because they have been my support system for the past few months and they love my boys which leads straight to my heart. And this place is beautiful...breathtakingly, amazingly beautiful. Lush and green with the magical combination of mountains and water and nature all around. Where else can you take the long way home and see deer, a fox, seals, an eagle, and horses? Where else can you try to fall asleep to coyotes screaming in the night? Where else does the sun set at 10:30 in the summer? Where was I going with this writing??? That's kind of how I feel about this move. I can't see the other side because the whole thing seems a bit caught up in a house unsold and leaving a place and friends I love and moving into some uncertainty on the other side. I am having a hard time being excited right now and hope D is prepared to gently help us through our sadness when he comes into town and help us find the excitement about the next step.
B

Gingerbread Cookie Day

This actually happened a couple weeks ago. It's been a bit busy around here. M and I baked during the day and then after school the big kids plus a friend helped decorate.



They were delicious.

And there are a few unfrosted cookies stashed in the freezer so when we need a Christmas pick-me-up during the move we can munch gingerbread cookies.
love and hugs and Christmas cookies with extra cinnamon candies, B

If you thought I had it together.....

did I have you fooled or what? We are buying a house which requires a home loan (unless you happen to have that much cash stuffed into your mattress). We have been very focused on the home and not so much on the loan until yesterday when we remembered that there might be a little paperwork involved in this process. We then received the lovely list of required documentation and realized that the documents, like the husband and wife team, are on opposite coasts. Oh, did I mention that the wife is a financial slacker and usually totally leaves all the financial stuff to hubby; she is a real loser. So when The List arrived she began scrambling around the house looking for the junk (oops, I meant to write super important papers). One evening of scrambling,overseeing homework, copying pages, listening to reading, emailing, feeding kids, rummaging through files,signing pages, herding beasties to bed, and more rummaging through files and she successfully found only a third of what she was supposed to be in possession of. Sad. Pitiful. Pitifully sad.
The hubby rushed to the rescue with his quick internet skills and saved the day; downloading all that was missing....except the elusive 2009 W2 form. Which should have been with the 2009 tax file. From which not a single shred of material was found as the hopeless wife searched files, old boxes, dresser drawers, under furniture, in odd places and more old files. If you need a Kroger receipt from May 10, 1998 we have it. W2 from 2009--not so much. Tax returns from before we were married, got them. W2 from less than a year ago-MIA. Hubby again came through with a skillful phone call. Thank goodness that sad, helpless excuse for a wife has him around. Well, he is not really around right now, but that is what the whole process is for---getting the family back together in the same time zone on the same coast in the same house. I may be scarce for a while here on the blog since we are T-minus 12 days from packing up. I feel a little nauseous at the thought. It has all gone so slow for the past few months and now it is a whirlwind. A good whirlwind though. In Virginia by Christmas and in the house at the beginning of the year. YYIIIPPPEEEE! With a house still for sale all by itself on the left coast--getting that nauseous feeling again....
love and hugs, B
PS I just want to give a big THANK YOU shout out to the internet-- you are fabulous and are making communication with the east coast so much easier. And your ability to help in locating documents and sending files it fantastic! I love you internet!

Various Thoughts

My conversations should begin with a warning label right now

WARNING: This woman is alone with children most of the day so when she begins talking to you (an adult) she will not be able to shut up for a really long time so don't talk to her unless you have several hours free. Also, she mostly wants to talk about trying to sell her house.

• Can antibiotic make you hyper? I am on a sulfa antibiotic trying to kill the never ending sinus infection; since I took it yesterday I have felt completely energized for the first time in a month.

• Buddy the Christmas Elf showed up at our house this morning. Do you know how hard it is not to point out that he is sitting right there on a shelf staring at the kids all the while knowing I cannot see him first or the older kids will get suspicious? E finally spotted him and all the kids yelled hello (yelling helps inanimate objects hear don't ya know). Now to remember to move the little devil every night. Last year with D and I both working on it he only got moved every second or third night.

• Christmas lights. If a little is good than more is better, right?

• House hunting. You know those impossible spoiled brats on the HGTV show House Hunters? Yeah, that's me. Problems looking for a house are many. Did you know that basic architectural style of eastern US homes is different than western US homes? East (or maybe just Richmond) has a ton of colonial homes---dime a dozen, no literally in this housing market you can get a dozen homes for a dime. Washington State has a huge number of arts and crafts/craftsman style homes. And I love this style. You can get a home entirely in brick there (D's dream) and here no brick(earthquakes, siding gives). So looking at homes last week began hard and then got harder because I felt sicker (is that a word?) with each day and more tired from not sleeping worrying about the housing junk. Walking through homes all I could see was the work and updates they would need. It made me tired to even look. Yes, I am a spoiled brat. I took D back to a couple and he had the same problem. Also, inside projects are more daunting to me than outside projects. Changing fixtures in a bathroom or painting inside=nightmare. Creating/rehabbing landscape beds and planting=FUN! We are working on it.

• When G was in preschool he brought home this cute paper chain that you take off a link each day until Christmas as a countdown; cute idea--already stolen for my teaching files. This year when M brought home the same countdown chain I smiled until I saw......on each link they had glued a 'getting ready for Christmas' activity. Most are cute and simple, but M began his chain with "Bake Christmas cookies" and he has a thing about doing everything for school just right. Guess what I get to make today? A positive spin for it, I did clean out the rest of my molasses supply by making gingerbread. I am trying to get rid of anything that could freeze in the moving truck during a winter move--everything froze when we moved here (soap, honey,canned frosting,snow globe collection).

love and hugs, B

Thanksgiving Week in Pictures

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We spent the week in VA with D and my parents; house hunting and celebrating being together. Mostly pics today as I am still under the weather.
Took pics that could be used in Christmas cards except I am not sending any out--there will be address change cards sometime.

Fishing was good in the pond-- thanks Grandpa for taking the big kids several times. Thanks Grandma for feeding M goodies and letting him watch cartoons so no one got injured during fishing :)

We visited D's office downtown one day. Pretty view and E says the chair is comfortable enough for a nap--now we know what D does during all those hours he says he is "working".

Friday the kids helped decorate for Christmas inside and out. Glad they decorated a big tree there since we are not putting ours up this year.

The kids and I traveled home Saturday evening. Sunday after the clothes were put away, house straightened, and contents of refrigerator mostly emptied (power was out 12 hours while we were gone--bettter safe than sick) we decorated just a bit inside and outside. Had to have Chilly Willy and Rudolph.

I got to do the outdoor decorations this year (usually D's domain) and enjoyed it. Cute enough to sell--we hope.

A report on house hunting will happen another time; we are still working on it.

love and hugs, B

Unfortunately, the Doctor Can't Fix Stupid

And stupid would be me when it comes to being sick. It began with a cold nearly 2 weeks ago and slowly moved to my sinuses and then settled in my chest. If only the time would have moved so quickly as the description of my descent into full blown sickness. In between there are hours of being too tired and hours of not able to sleep and minutes of yelling at the kids over something inconsequential and lots of OTC medicines that I'm sure will stop the headache or coughing or nose running. Yesterday I finally surrendered and went to the doctor after threatening it for several days. The straw that broke me was when E said "Mommy, I think we should all just go to the clinic and G and I will sit in the waiting area very good and M will go back with you when it is your turn and the doctor will give you medicine". When the 9 year old is the most level headed one in the house it is time to make a change in my attitude. We followed E's plan and the big kids were really good and I have an antibiotic and new asthma inhaler which I have been ordered to take on schedule until all the wheezing cough is gone and advice to take lots of ibuprofen for all the muscles I pulled in my chest from coughing. But I already feel better. So the question is : why am i willing to take my kids to the doctor as soon as the fever has hung around 2 days or they point to something in pain, but to take myself to the doctor takes a near medical emergency? It has always been this way. When we got home we skyped with D and he said to me what he always says after I come to the breaking point and go to the doctor, "Maybe you have learned that next time you should go to the doctor sooner." He has been saying this for almost 18 years and hasn't caught on yet-- do you think he has noticed a pattern?
There were some bright spots this week....
The kids were out of school for Veteran's Day on Thursday. We hit the dentist, ran some errands and went for a walk by the water. Mt. Rainier was beautiful and I was very happy I took my good camera. The phone camera is OK in a photo emergency or to send a quick pic to D but for real pictures it takes my real camera.
In the afternoon our friend L came over to play. He is G's twin in personality, body build and glasses always askew. I will be taking him with us when we move-- A, consider that your warning :) After they played a while we made GOO with cornstarch and water. Fun. Interesting. Don't think I have made this simple version before, but have already bought more cornstarch so we can do it again.

love and hugs, B

M is Four

M turned four yesterday. He was confused and claimed all week that he was already 4 since we celebrated with D last weekend. He wanted no part of taking treats to school to celebrate with his class so we had a simple "cupcakes and playtime" with our neighborhood pals. The monkey masks and hats M chose were a hit.

And of course the cupcakes were monkey cupcakes. Hopefully this is the last year of the monkey--- then again, I will probably look back wistfully and yearn to make a monkey cake one day.

love and hugs and monkeys, B

How Evil is M?

This little girl is M. Completely. Thanks to Rants From Mommyland for bringing this to my attention.

Have good laugh. love and hugs, B

Busy Halloween Weekend

We had a whirlwind of a Halloween weekend! D came in Friday night so Saturday we tried to relax and run some errands I had been putting off (new tires!! yeah!). We were going to celebrate M's birthday Saturday, but ended up leaving it for Sunday. I have officially become the laziest mother ever--or the most enviromentally friendly--depends on how you look at it. Saturday evening I told D that I was too lazy to wrap M's gifts. He suggested we not wrap them and just hide them around the house after M went to bed. This worked great. he got to have a treasure hunt Sunday morning for the gifts and loved the presents. His favorite was his new video game thing.

After lunch on Halloween Day we had M's cake. Yes, it was the second year of the monkey cake. I don't even know how many monkey cakes I have made over the last few years. He loved it.

Late in the afternoon we headed down into the harbor for trick or treating around town. This is the only picture I got of the SWAT team member, snow wolf ninja, and monkey. Trick or treat in the harbor was fun but really crowded. We skipped this last year when M was in the wagon because of the cast. I am really glad we went this year-- the kids had a great time seeing all the different costumes and getting candy.

My favorite angle on the monkey costume---the curly tail is too adorable!!!

D took the kids around the neighborhood after dinner. Luckily the rain held off until after the little ghouls were in bed fast asleep. Monday was spent finishing errands, spoiling M with special lunch (the never ending birthday celebration), hanging out at home enjoying having D there for the last few hours before he flew out again. Can't wait for Thanksgiving! It was a whirlwind weekend, but all good.

love and hugs, B