It's a Ridiculous Process!

Normally, I'm doing good to make it here once a week to post something about what we're up to. There's actually a lot that I'd love to talk about, but I have trouble finding the time. So I'm kind of surprised that I made it here 2 days in a row. But I did. Lol

So. How did I manage it? Well, partly because I was already sitting at the computer. And partly because I'm annoyed. I thought I'd share my annoyance with you. (Ha!) Don't you feel lucky?!

There's a chance we might move (houses...not bases). Really, there's a whole backstory about why but it's kind of long so I'm not going to go into right now. But, yes, we are house-hunting...again. 

Do you remember back like a year and some months ago, when we first got here? Back when I had to do this the last time? No? Well, it was ridiculous. I detest looking at houses - in case you were wondering. The whole process of searching for houses & looking at pictures....very, very, very deceiving (& probably really old) pictures. Then you have to schedule appointments to go look at them (which means I have to hope that the universe aligns and I can find an opening in my schedule, Brian's, and the realtor's). And once we get it scheduled, I have to drive over there and hope my GPS doesn't have an aneurysm in the process and stop working, leaving me stranded in the middle of who-knows-where, with no cell reception. (That almost happened yesterday. Thankfully, knocking my GPS on the dashboard woke it up & all was right in the world.) Then I'll show up and realize that, oh yeah, photos suck. And this is not the house for us. 

It's a ridiculous process. 

And the bigger issue is that houses in our area don't open up very often. Houses that meet our needs are even more rare. (The one I looked at yesterday was advertised as a 4 bedroom. It was not. The 4th bedroom was really just a big closet. {Don't ask.}) And I don't know if it works like this everywhere else in the world, but around here, you've got to be quick. Like faster than the speed of light quick. If you find a house, you put down money like yesterday. Otherwise, when you call tomorrow morning, someone else has already snatched it. (We learned that the hard way.)

So what this means for me is that I have now become a real estate stalker. And I wish I could say that's an exaggeration, but it is not. I have alerts set up on my phone to notify when new properties are listed and as soon as it notifies me, I'm on it! (It's sad, I know.)

Maybe I should just write up what I want and send it to every realtor out here...let them do the work for me. "American family seeks 4 bedroom (not 3 bedrooms and a closet) house...all 4 bedrooms are necessary...house must seem very large to you as we come with a lot of *stuff* (even if we don't know what purpose it has)...ceilings must be for standardish height people (not Hobbit-height)...2+ bathrooms necessary as mother doesn't like to share with children...utility room appreciated as mother finds it gross to wash underwear in the kitchen...spacious-ish dining area appreciated as children often feel the need to play musical chairs about 10 times before a meal (and sometimes after)...double garage also appreciated due to large amounts of useless *stuff* already mentioned. Please help! Call ASAP!"

Think that would help??

Anyway, that is my annoyance. House-hunting. I need to find someone that I could pay in cookies & beer that would do it for me. I'm sure Brian would appreciate me being a little less neurotic right now. Lol! Wanna do it for me?? I promise the cookies will be delicious! :) I know you're just itching to quit your job that pays in actual money and trade it in for one that pays in cookies. That's everyone's dream, right? 

Funny Moments

One of the things I just love about Hayden is that he makes me laugh just doing his "Hayden thing". He's not trying to be funny, or entertaining, he's just Hayden. But he cracks me up! And what's funnier (at least, right now) is that hehates being funny! So he gets really annoyed when you laugh at something, which, unfortunately, only makes me giggle more.

So the other day, I was sitting on the couch, doing some paperwork and catching up some things that were being very neglected. The kids had been bugging me for.ev.er to let them watch tv and it was not happening. I was very much enjoying the Thomas Newman station on Pandora. (Did I tell you we have Pandora now? We do! I'm ecstatic!!) Anyway, Hayden came over and sat down right next to me (no personal space for that child) and then lays his head on my shoulder...

Hayden: I loves you
Me: I love you too buddy
Hayden: No, I loves you mom
Me: I love you too. What do you want?
Hayden: I loves....Oh! Nevermind. (((gets up and walks off and then I hear...))) Sorry Kenzie. No tv.

Later that night, I had relented and let them watch some of the the 2nd Hobbit movie before bed, and Hayden was, of course, sitting right next to me. About halfway through the movie I look over and he's starting to nod off on the couch.

Me: Buddy, are you asleep?
Hayden: Nope.
Me: So you're awake then?
Hayden: Nope.
Me: Well, what are you? Awake or asleep?
Hayden: ((big deep breath)) I don't know.

Five minutes later he was snoring. Lol! And when Brian woke him up to go to bed, he was so upset that he missed the rest of the movie. All the way upstairs he just kept talking about missing the dragon - he loves the dragon. It was about the cutest thing ever!


I do have to tell you another quick little story, but it's about Kierstin. Over the weekend, Kierstin was playing with one of the neighbor's kids (and by playing I mean making those rubberband bracelet things) & I overheard them having "girl talk" (as Kierstin calls it). Her friend was going on and on about One Direction and which boy was cutest and which one she liked more and asked if Kierstin was going to watch some One Direction show/movie thing that was on tv that night. Kierstin told her no, probably not, and her friend had to know why she would miss One Direction (gasp!!). Kierstin cracked me up!! She (very matter-of-factly) said "I don't really like them. There's a lot better music than them. Plus Cosmos is on."

Every other girl her age is obsessed with the boy bands. It kind makes me reminiscent of when I was her age and New Kids on the Block (you know, before they joined together with the Backstreet Boys and became NKOTBSB....which is weird, btw) were super popular. But all of her friends talk about them all the time. And Kierstin just sits there like she has no idea why. She would rather watch Cosmos instead. And if you talk to her anytime in the near future be prepared for her to educate you on everything she's learning. (Just thought I should give you a fair warning.)

But alas, lovely people, It's almost 9 so I should go be productive. I hope you're having a wonderful day!!

Much love <3

 

Sightseeing Where We Live

Hola my sweeties! How is your weekend going? Ours is going very well. Which really translates into we have absolutely zero going on, and I'm just relaxing right now. As much as I love our busy weekends, I really love our semi-lazy, lay-around-the-house ones. I'm catching up on my stack of unread magazines. We have played some Uno with the kids. There's been some frisbee games. It's been great fun.

The other day though, Brian had the day off (while the kids were at school - yay!!) so we took the opportunity to go do some local sightseeing. And by local, I mean like 5 minutes down the road. Lol! We wanted to go grab lunch at a (new to us) pub, but didn't realize we got there like an hour before it opened so we started walking around. It was awesome. We found ducks!!

Aren't they soooo cute!! I really wish I could upload the videos I got, but they're too long. But we did get a couple videos of the babies. After staring at them for probably way longer than necessary we decided to go walk around the Ely Cathedral. (You may remember it from my Facebook days - I had a few pictures of it on there.) We've walked by it probably a dozen or so times but never gone inside. Now was our opportunity!! 

It was AMAZING!! I think next time, when the kids are with us, we're going to do the whole tour. I can't wait!

The stained glass windows were gorgeous!! There's a stained glass window museum up in one of the towers that I really want to go in next time we're there. I just know the girls are going to love it as much as I do.

And after we left, on our way to the pub, I found a few more buildings that I thought were kind of awesome. I know I've said it before, but I love (like really love) how old everything is here - how much history there is. I can't get over it.

So that was pretty much our day. We're planning some more trips that I am uber excited about!! Like out to Stonehenge, and Bath. Plus, we found this place about an hour north of us that's a forest...but it's a park...I'm not sure how to describe it. It looks really awesome from the pictures though.

So anyway, I hope your weekend is going well. And that you are getting some relaxing time in too! I suppose (since it's after 5) I should go make my family some dinner though. 

Much love! <3

Post-Easter Fun

Did you have an awesome Easter weekend? Ours was exhausting! So exhausting that I don't even remember a lot of what we did. Lol! I know there was some cleaning...and we did watch the 2nd Hobbit movie...and then there was some candy...I'm drawing a blank on the rest though. 

I can tell you that I still have not learned to go to bed on time before any kind of holiday. And I'm still wondering if I'm ever going to remember that. Brian and I were up until almost 2 on Saturday night so, of course, the kids woke us up at 6. I'm happy to say that we managed to convince them to let us stay upstairs until almost 8 but that extra 2 hours did not really help. And did I go to bed at a decent time Sunday night to make up for it? Hahahaha! No. I didn't. If I could kick my own booty, I would. Sleep deprivation is most definitely not my friend. 

But!! It was an awesome weekend! That's what matters right? Soooo, pictures!!

On Friday, I found some fabulous rhubarb at a local store and decided to make a rhubarb and apple crisp for the kids. I don't know if the kids were more excited for the dessert, or the fact that I pulled out our apple peeler/slicer/corer thing to save time. And this is Kierstin playing with her "apple accordion".

And let me tell you, my kids are *crazy* for rhubarb! They are so excited it's rhubarb season and can't wait to get some more!

Makenzie showed us that you're never too old to play dress up. 

She is Batgirl!! Lol (Thankfully Hayden didn't mind sharing his Batman mask and cape)

She also proved that it is possible to wear almost all of your dress up clothes at once. She ran around like this almost the entire weekend. Kudos to her and her amazing fashion sense!

We bought *way* too much candy for them! That was what was left after 45 minutes of filling eggs. 

I've never been so happy that PT tests are over for Brian and his coworkers. That meant sending a TON of candy to his office. 

They were super excited! (And Kierstin just totally photobombed Makenzie!)

Yes, I've become the mom that gets them pre-filled baskets. I'm ok with that. It keeps me from having to stress over what to put in them and making sure everything is equal. (I just wish the baskets were bigger!)

My little man playing Just Dance...with yellow goggles on his head. (I don't ask questions)

We even got a visit from the Easter Kitty! :)

He's really just a neighborhood cat that runs around everywhere 

and keeps the field mice out of our yard. I'm quite thankful for him!

(Sorry it's kinda blurry looking. I had to take it through the kitchen window so I didn't scare him off)

And that, folks, is our weekend in pictures. Sorry there aren't any of the kids finding eggs, but I gave that up. They move too fast for my camera & the pictures just come out blurry. 

I do hope you had an awesome weekend! But I'm off to be productive now. Laundry waits for no one. Plus, I bought a new steam mop that I can't wait to use! (Don't judge me!)

Much love! <3

D-Day

Happy Thursday! (it's only 1 more day until the weekend...in case you weren't keeping track)

Today was D-Day. The day that I have been counting down to for the last 5+ weeks. Don't get me wrong. The last 5 weeks have been peachy (for the most part). But I have been so antsy for today to get here.

My darling daughter (while annoyed with me for taking her picture) is cast free. 

The dr sat with us while one of the technicians took her green (very disgusting) cast off so he could get a look at her arm before shipping us off for more x-rays. So they cut through it and cut off all the gauze and padding and everything and then we all just sat there...stunned. Her doctor looked at us and said "You know I've been doing this a long time. I've seen a lot of kids with a lot of casts. I thought I'd seen everything."

There was grass inside her cast. (What?!!) My sweet, sweet child who loves to play outside and dig around in the dirt doing who-knows-what, managed to somehow get grass inside her cast. I just sat there shaking my head, thinking "well, at least there weren't any bugs or rocks or anything in there."

Buuuttt...she's cast free now. Woo-hooooo! (I'm very excited!) She has to keep the brace on for a few more weeks but that is something we can work with. No more having to cover her arm in grocery bags and tape for baths. No more me having to wash her hair or tie her shoes. (My back will be so thankful.) No more finding straws laying everywhere because her arm was itchy. :)

She's a little disappointed that she can't go back to sports-type stuff for a good while, but she's much happier. And that just makes me happy.

So, again, happy Thursday! Hope all is well for you & yours! Much love <3

 

Mirrors Aren't for Everyone

So I'm pretty sure I told you last time that the kids have been on spring break this week. In fact, today is their last day of spring break craziness. :P I'd tell you that they're sad, but they're not. They are itching to get back to school and Girl Scouts and all the other fun stuff they have going on. And secretly, I'm kinda glad to have them headed back too. I'm going to miss being able to sleep in, but I will be happy to have a quiet house again for a few more months until summer break. (It makes getting my homework done a little easier).

Anyway! Back to spring break. We have a rule in our house - during breaks from school they have to help out a little more around here. No sitting around and being couch potatoes for them. And one of the things they have to do is help me cook. I typically plan out meals about a week in advance so they each have to pick one meal and that's their night to help me dice and chop and stir and all that. It's great for teaching them early to learn basic cooking skills (plus a little math thrown in), but the big bonus is that it's less work for me. Ha! :)

Usually, as in like every single time, Hayden tries to cash in on our "Free Night". That's our night to order pizza, or go out, have sandwiches, or whatever. That's him trying to get out of helping...smart kid that he is. Lol Kierstin almost always picks something involving chopping veggies because (now that she's allowed) that's her favorite thing to do. Makenzie on the other hand....ahh, Makenzie. She is the one who will pick any dinner where she gets to bread chicken or stir pasta. (She loves to stir! And to use bread crumbs and eggs!)

So a few days ago I made Chicken Piccatta for dinner and my sweet little Kenzie-bug was just jumping up and down (literally) waiting to come help me. It was her night in the kitchen and she was excited!! I helped her get scrubbed and apron-ed and set her up with everything she needed and left the kitchen for a minute (big mistake, by the way) to go grab some music only to be called back about 10 seconds later by a tiny little voice yelling, "Hey mooooommmm, come here! Come look what I did!" I of course was a little scared. Cooking with my youngest can be...well....interesting sometimes. (Scary at other times.) 

I walked into the kitchen to this.....

Makenzie: "Look...my hands have eyes" (((insert her maniacal laughter here)))

Yes. That is my daughter holding egg yolks so that her hands can have "eyeballs". And when asked why in the world she would decide to pick those up, she answered as only Makenzie would. "Because I wanted to look at myself. Duh." (That's my daughter, folks.) And now I've been left wondering if that's really why she likes to use the eggs so much. I think she's been secretly trying to figure out how to pick them up without breaking them. 

Ah, but that's all for now. I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. (Which really means, I need to go fold laundry and do some dishes. Boo on that!) I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!!

Much love! <3

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

So greetings from the UK!! Lol

I feel like it's been an absolute eternity since I have logged on here. In reality it's only been about 2 weeks but, ohmycheese, it's been the longest 2 weeks of my entire life. For serious! I've spent more time in my car, driving back and forth to the bases in the last 2 weeks than in the last few months combined. No really. It's been something like 17 trips in the last 2 weeks. And believe me, I'm not looking forward to having to go back anytime soon. 

So let's see...what has been going on the world o' us lately? 

Well you probably already know about Brian and all of his excitement lately. (Ha!) Well that has thrown my entire world into upheaval. And really, y'all, I tend not to like upheaval. But I am finally getting things back into some kind of normal realm again. At least I'm finally caught up on my homework assignments. (And much thanks to my super awesome professor who has been so patient with me lately!! She's so awesome!)

Well, when I'm not driving back and forth to the base running errands, I've been attempting to tackle the circus that is my house. And my kids. I had a lightbulb moment during the height of the "craziness" when I realized that my kids absolutely needed to be rewarded for their awesome behavior - because they totally rock. So for the last week or so I've been working on that & I think I've finally got (most of) it finished. Yay for me! They're now getting $$ (fake $$ of course) for being totally awesome and they'll get to use that to buy special treats for themselves.

So far, it's working very well. I'm super excited! I've also spent the last few days working with Hayden on a new & improved chore chart for him. Previously, he just had the same one the girls had. And then one day it dawned on me that was kind of a dumb idea. Why you ask? Because I had to read it to him and help him mark it off. It was totally not something he could handle on his own. That's just not kosher. So he and I sat down and found pictures online & came up with a system that will work for him. I am super excited about that too! This is one he can totally do on his own. It's still a work in progress but we're getting there. And he absolutely loves it so that is a huge improvement over the last one.

Other than that, we're just hanging out. The kids are on spring break and Brian's off work for the week so we're just spending as much time together as we can. He took the kids to fly kites the other day which was so much fun for them. I, sadly, didn't go with them so I don't have any pictures to show you. He took them to get them out of the house so I could get some homework done. But I can tell you that they lost one of the kites like 10 minutes after they got out there. (We just have really bad luck with kites.) We've also been out walking when we can - just trying to enjoy the weather and all that. I did find a new church that is really pretty!

I kind of have a mild obsession with the churches around here. They're just gorgeous! I can't help it. 

But anyway, that's it for us I guess. I'm going to try to pop in a little more frequently. Even if I have to actually write it into my schedule, I'm going to make it work. :) I hope everything is going peachy for you where ever you may be! 

**Special sidenote - Thank you. Thank you for all of your love an support over the last 2 weeks!! It absolutely means the world to us and we would not have made it through without your calls and texts and all that. We love you guys!