We're here!

This is our new house in Alaska.  (No, we didn't take that picture.  The Northern Lights have yet to show themselves to us.  Or maybe we just haven't been awake when they've been out.  Anyway, this is the photo that our landlords took to lure us in. It worked.)  It is gorgeous and bigger than our last house, which makes the move-in SO much easier. I didn't even cry when I unpacked the kitchen (yes, that's unusual. Kitchen organization really stresses me out). The kids each have their own bedroom, which they are obviously quite excited about. I think we're going to be very comfy here, at least until it starts snowing and I have to snow-blow that driveway.

Moving, moving, moving: Illinois stop

Well nobody kicked us out during our looooong Illinois visit. I'm sure they got a bit sick of us, but everyone stayed sweet and bit their tongues and didn't tell us to GET THE HECK OUT AND FIND YOUR OWN HOME ALREADY.  It was so nice to be able to stay for awhile; no hurrying to see and do everything in a week's time during this visit. Much love to our families -- we really appreciate your hospitality (and your ability to bite your tongues when we got annoying, which I'm sure we did regularly).

The Big Move Begins

So.  It's been a long time.  I'll probably go back and add pictures/outings so we have a nice journal of our time here, but for the time being I'll skip to the present:  we're moving.

And this is the

longest/most stressful/craziest

move

ever.

You see, Phil is doing some training in Oklahoma en route to Alaska.  So he left.  At the end of May, and before Phil took off, the packers came and then the movers came and they loaded up all of our worldly possessions into a few crates (OK there were more than "a few" crates).  All of that stuff is somewhere between here and Alaska.  I shipped the van a couple of weeks ago, so the kids and I are squeezing into the Volvo and our car seat situation may or may not be legal. We couldn't stay in our house any more because they're renovating after The Big Flood (oh yeah and also because we don't have any furniture or, well, anything) so we're house-sitting a friend's house while we're homeless. We'll be here until the girls finish school (why, oh WHY are they in school until late June???).  Then we'll go mooch off of stay with my parents or Phil's parents, or whomever in the Chicago-land area isn't sick of us and doesn't mind me + three kids + a beagle + 2 parakeets.  For a month.  And then.  THEN.  We'll finally board a plane and head up to the last frontier and our new home.

I think I'll be excited about it when we get there.  Right now I'm just trying to cope with single parenting in a house that's not ours with none of our things (read: toys), no cable TV, sketchy internet (my phone is a "hotspot" when it wants to be) and no way to cook (our spices/kitchen supplies got packed and I refuse to buy more right now). The kids are taking turns freaking out about 1) moving away from all of their friends, 2) their daddy is gone for two months, 3) they don't have their stuff.  Also apparently overdosing on chicken nuggets causes extreme irritability in children 8 and under.  I think our current gypsy-squatter lifestyle is starting to wear on them.  It's certainly wearing on me.

But we're going to have fun when we get there.

Right?

Side note: if it weren't for the help of our super-awesome friends here in Virginia and our super-awesome parents I think I would have already run away to Mexico.

Claire's 1st communion

Claire is a big 2nd-grader, which means that she gets to add TWO sacraments to her count this year. She did her 1st Penance in February and she was able to take her 1st Communion this week. Her Gramma and Paw-paw came out for the event (and we quickly put Gramma's crafting skills to work making Claire's veil!). It was a beautiful Mass that I hope she remembers forever. We are very proud of her.

And, of course, some pics:

 Ready to go

Walking to the church

 A bunch of 1st communicants all in a row

...and all together after Mass

And I couldn't resist sharing a few photos from inside our beautiful church. We love the pastor, the music, and the 3-houses-down-the-road commute! We'll sure miss it when we move.

The Big Flood

Good heavens, can water do some damage.

The short story:
Our dishwasher became possessed and dumped water all. over. the. kitchen.  And the dining room.  And then it went through the floor into the ceiling of the family room downstairs and it flooded that room too.

All of that water ruined the hardwood floors on the entire upper floor (because if they rip some up they have to rip it all up...), the carpet and padding downstairs, the ceiling downstairs, and some of the drywall on the walls.  The water abatement guys came and brought their own brand of hell in the form 10 industrial fans and 3 industrial dehumidifiers to prevent mold growth.  And now we're living with some torn-out walls and lots of subflooring.

Oh, and we're moving at the end of May.

Stress?  What's that???

New accessory on the uniform

Phil pinned on a brand-new rank while his parents were in town.  Being in DC, he managed to take advantage of our historical surroundings and reaffirm his oath at the National Archives.

It was pretty cool to watch him promise to support and defend the Constitution -- right in front of THE Constitution!

We're so proud of all he's accomplished so far - way to go, Phil!

It's New Year's somewhere

We had our friends over for New Years Eve again this year.  With Grammy and Grampy here too it felt a little like a party!  Except a good number of the guests were going to turn into pumpkins before midnight, so we rang in the new year sometime after England, but probably a little before Greenland.  The kids didn't seem to notice:

Grandparents

We had a nice visit with Grammy and Grampy!  Still can't go up in that tower behind us, though.  Darn earthquake!

While they were here, they both came down with horrible colds.  Phil's poor mom, though, gathered her energy and managed to sew new rank on all of Phil's uniforms (more on that later).  Thanks, Mom!

The unwrapping!

As is our tradition -- here's the unwapping !

Merry Christmas ! ! !

2012 Christmas Update!

Merry Christmas!

We hope the holidays find you with family and loved ones and the joy of the season.  Our year has been busy but fulfilling.  We are celebrating our second Christmas in Washington D.C. and really love the area and many close friends that are here.  We’ve been fortunate to have had many opportunities to visit and have visitors—including multiple grandparent trips, a gathering of all the kiddos’ cousins, and continued Air Force experiences.  

Claire, 8 years old, still loves school and is a book-a-day reader in the second grade.  She loves Egyptology and learning new techniques for drawing to improve her art skills.  Madeline, 6 years old, is a kindergartener and budding young vocalist—she loves singing.  Her Barbie collection may overrun our home’s fire marshal approved capacity.  They ride the bus together and both participate in Girl Scouts, dance, and cheerleading.  Colin turned 3 years old over the summer and is now a pre-schooler.  He really enjoys the school activities and having his best friend (Sarah!) in class with him.  He’s also proud to have started soccer practices.  Colin enjoys interrupting his big sisters’ games with Hot Wheel™ crashes and unexpected airplane attacks.

After a full and well travelled life, our dog Bailey passed away in February.  It wasn’t long before the family needed another canine companion and Clyde, the beagle, joined our team.  Our parakeets continue to chirp and sing, and the backyard was full of life through the summer:  the kids saw three different nests with eggs and tiny birds.

Katie, the family’s professional chauffeur, has taken up crocheting as an excuse to hang out with adults.  Phil still works at the Pentagon, and will be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in January.  Since the Air Force doesn’t like us to get too comfortable anywhere for too long, Phil will return to fly the C-17 this summer and it looks like we will then be moving to Anchorage, Alaska.  As long as a grizzly doesn’t intercept them, expect a change of address note from “The Last Frontier!”

Merry Christmas from our family to yours, and keep those who may not be together this holiday season in your thoughts.  God Bless and Happy New Year!  

Happy Birthday Girls!

 

Claire's party

When it came time for Claire's birthday party we went to (where else?) the American Girl doll store! Sound familiar? Yeah, our girls kind-of like that place. She invited a few of her friends, her sissy, and her grandma (who was conveniently in town visiting at the time!) and we all had a wonderful time.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Soccer star

The little guy has started sports!  He really likes kicking the soccer ball around the field, but sometimes thinks that practice is "too long."  Wait 'til he tries a full game!

 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Cleopatra, Ariel, Spiderman and Super-dog ready for trick-or-treat!

Executive Airlift Experience

So Phil's current job involves some sort of paperwork and budgeting for some pretty neat airplanes.  He takes care of what the the Air Force calls the "Operational Support Airlift" and "Executive Airlift" fleet.  These are the pretty blue and white airplanes you often see important government folks riding around on the news.  There's some neat perks to that -- like the special friends and family day at Andrews Air Force Base.  The family got a chance to see the airplanes up close, check out the Vice President's and Secretary of State's cabin and desk, and see what a 'nice' Air Force jet really looks like.  Quite a difference from all of our space-available travel experiences!

On the air-stairs going up to Air Force Two

The kiddos conducting hard government work at the desk in Air Force Two's executive cabin!  The circle with the velcro on the front wall is to hang the Seal of the important passenger (VP, SecState, SecDef, etc.).

Nice seats on a C-37 Gulfstream

They also had a few other aircraft from the base out to visit.  Phil might not be flying, but we keep the aviation experience close!

The crew on-board a KC-135

Magic Kingdom: Take 2

For our last day in the parks we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  This time around we met up with Aunt Becki and Uncle Jim too!

Boy, did we have fun!

See that?  Those are the faces of people having fun.  Except maybe Madeline in the back.  And Grandma Bethie in front.  They might not be having a great time right there.

We ate lunch with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

And we snuck into a soft opening of the new Fantasyland!  Woohoo!!!  We got to go into Belle's cottage, and certain members of our party acted in a little play with her.  Check out these budding thespians:

Claire as Maurice (Belle's daddy)

Madeline as Chip the teacup

And Uncle Jim as a knight!

We sure had a great time.  It's such a blessing to 1) be able to meet up with everyone in Florida; 2) have everyone in such great health (and ready to tackle all of the rides with the kids!); and 3) have a family that actually enjoys going on vacation together. My mom rode roller coasters (!!!), Claire and Paw-paw rode Space Mountain (though one of them may have regretted that decision), all of the grandparents happily grabbed kids for riding partners and let Phil and me ride together. I'm so, SO glad that we were able to have this wonderful vacation together!  Where to next, everybody?

Animal Kingdom

Here's the whole team at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Don't we look great?  And DRY?  This is before we rode the Kali River Rapids and all got soaked.  Well, I didn't get soaked, but then they all decided we should ride it AGAIN and my luck didn't hold so well that time around.  Even Colin was big enough to ride the Rapids, though he thought the waterfall was "too 'carry". 

Magic Kingdom

We packed LOTS of fun into this day.  First thing: the little girls and I headed to Downtown Disney for a visit to the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique so they could get made up like princesses by fairy godmothers-in-training.

Finished product: two princesses!

Then we caught up with the rest of the gang in the Magic Kingdom park.  Our family of 5 hit the castle for lunch with the princesses, while the grandparents had some adult time.  

 

And then we were all back together again to enjoy the park.  I think we did just about everything there was to do.  We rode the carousel:

And we rode Dumbo:

Colin was happy to ride the train (a real steam engine!):

And of course, we posed for a few more pics with the castle:

After riding almost every ride there at least once, we found a great spot to watch the fireworks.  It looked to us like Tinkerbell's job is one of the most dangerous -- watch out for those rockets, Tink!