Feels like home

There is something to be said for F's adage though, that "Home is the post you just left." I keep referring to Irwin as "back home". Except I referred to Kansas as "back home" the entire time we were in Irwin! Isn't it funny the things our minds come up with in the midst of all this moving? For the first time today, I didn't spin around in circles in the kitchen wondering where I'd put something. I knew where it was. What an awesome feeling! I also knew where I was depositing C while I went to PWOC, and where I was going as I drove to C's dance class. I guess that's a sign that this is beginning to feel like home. C knows where her room is, and where F and I are if we call out that we're in "x" room. She's even figured out where she's to go when I tell her to go to time-out. We know that we're settled in for two reasons really. 1) We've had our first guests over for dinner and 2) I took a nap with C this afternoon instead of doing something for the house. F feels particularly proud of how our home looks. He's asked me to post a few of the pictures of our new digs--including the one of C and me napping. I'm going to try to put together a slide show like the ones one of my friends has on her site. Keep an eye out for it.

Tiny Toes means dance here

Yesterday was gymnastics, (pics below) and C seemed to enjoy it. It was a bit unstructured and that's kind of what I expected today when we showed up for (mom-me) dance. Um, not so much. It was great! The teacher was amazingly structured, which was awesome for C. It took a few minutes to get her corralled and on pace with the other three little girls, but once she figured it out, she followed right along. Two of the other girls were born in the same month/year that C was, and I'm hoping we can become friends. The other little girl is about 18 months old, and today was her first day too. She caught on quite well too. They started out with an "obstacle course" where the girls straddled cones as they walked over them; walked backwards on a low, wide beam; crawled through a tunnel made out of a folded mat; donkey-kicked in the middle of a hoop; hopped on colored squares; walked on a less wide, higher up beam (holding Mommy's hand); tippy-toed on some colored stars; and then bounced on a trampoline. Then, we made a circle and did a variety of dance stretches, learning how to make butterfly knees and touch our toes, and answer our toe-phones. Then we got to move in different ways as we got up from the floor. We danced with pompoms and learned how to "freeze". Finally, we tried forward rolls, crab walking and elementary bridges with a ball for support. When we left, C babbled all the way home about hopping, spinning, dancing, rolling, jumping and sparklies (which is what she called the pompoms). She was so excited! I'm looking forward to next week. I think we may be investing in some dance wear for her as well. She thought Eleanor, the little (Chinese!) girl who was wearing the tights/leotard/shoes business looked like a fairy princess. Eleanor also looked like she could move around a bit more easily as well. We're trying out Toddler Tunes tomorrow afternoon. Then, that's the end of the "official" classes, but there's plenty more in store for us, I'm sure. Another mom at the wives' group I went to recommended some books that have a lot of fantastic ideas about what to do and see while we're in the area. One is a Kansas Guidebook that I got from the local "Corner Pharmacy", and the other is titled "Kansas City with Kids" that I got from the local Waldenbooks. I've looked through them both and already have tons of ideas for little weekend (or even weekday) adventures.

Both Feet

We're jumping in to life at Fort Leavenworth with both feet. My calendar is packed already--I can hardly believe it. FLW has an incredible Child and Youth Services program. Their SKIESUnlimited program even has classes for tots (age 2!) I learned this fall that as long as C gets to leave the house for something relatively structured once a day, she sleeps pretty well at night, and our time at home is much more pleasant. Thus, she (we) are registered for gymnastics, dance, and toddler tunes through the CYS. We attended playmorning for the first time last week and after some warming-up, C had fun chasing the balls around, and I had fun visiting with some other mommies. I've also found storytime at the Post library and some fun things at the KC children's museums. I already feel involved again! It's wonderful. C had her first day at gymnastics this morning. She enjoyed bouncing on the mats and trampolines, and climbing all the mat-toys they have set up, but the big hit was swinging on the uneven parallel bars and kicking over the toy elephant! There's another little girl about her age in the class, and a boy was there today. It looks like it will be a good time.

Settling In

To all ya'll who didn't believe me when I told you that when I move, I am unpacked in 2 weeks or less, and that I was sure I'd do the same thing this time, even with a toddler...believe! Our household goods arrived on the 13th and every box is empty _and_ the cardboard is out! Everything has a home within my home, my pantry is restocked and the pictures are on the wall. All the boxes arrived, albeit with a few dents and smashes. Not too much in the way of damage to report. The steam cleaner application hood got cracked, and one of our cheap-o Wal-Mart put-it-together-yourself bookshelves arrived with the backing falling off. Everything the packers put in boxes arrived unscathed. I was pleased with the care of their packing, though some of the things I thought ought to be in boxes were not. Turns out I was a bit in the right on that one. When I questioned it, I was told that these bulky, not-easily-packed items would be used as top-load, or light-pack. These were things like my "wire"-rack paper system, our "wire"-rack shelf units, my wooden shelves, curtain rods and the like. The put-it-on-the-truck guys, on the otherhand, took the furniture and these "light-pack" items as they were, assembled and all. However, only the primary piece got a ship-tag. When the goods arrived, we weren't here yet to accept them, so they had to go into storage. This meant that all the things that went on the truck assembled with 1 (one) lable, got disassembled. That aforementioned bookshelf arrived without its shelves, because they hadn't been labled. Hardware to put the "wire"-rack systems was also missing, as were some of the other hardware pieces to bookshelves and the media armoire. We also discovered that the packers had neglected to open the drawers and pack the items in the coffee table--luckily what I had in there was small, not breakable, and light enough so as not to cause damage to the table as it was moved around. For future reference--next move I'm going to disassemble all that stuff myself, zip-tie things together and make a little "hardware" box (shouldn't be very big, really) to carry with us in our car, so it's ready to access as the furniture comes into the house. Oh, and Fred admits that some of my "Monkishness" that he was teasing me about before the packers/movers came has paid off. Score one for beaverism over otteriness (if you don't get the reference, ask me sometime).

I'm enjoying my new home, though it's a bit difficult to remember where I've put things; because of our layout, not all the things _can_ go where it makes the most sense to put them. I'm still doing some organizing in my craft area; that's one of the two places I really need the placement of things to "make sense", but then again, I was still organizing the one at Fort Irwin the month before we left, so... *shrugh* Haven't quite gotten around to taking pictures of the new place yet, but I'm not going to post them here; protection of personal data and all that. However, if you _want_ to see the pics, email me and I'll send them out. Oh yeah, apparently hotmail has something against my gmail account. When I sent out my info update, which had to go out en masse, every hotmail address came back rejected. Even though I've tried to go back and send each one of those individually, they've come back too. What gives! Guess I'll just have to wait until those who have hotmail accounts write to me to let me know they're missing it. (hint, hint)

Jehovah-Jireh and then some

A year or so ago, I had the opportunity to engage in a study of the Word based on the names of God. The one I really remember (because, well, I have to confess I didn't keep up on the reading as well as I ought...sorry Nicolle) was Jehovah-Jireh, God the Provider. We discussed this image in depth, and how God provides all good things to His children, who trust in Him, and ask for His provision. I have to testify that God truly does hear the prayers of His children, and He does more than provide, if we trust Him to. He provides more than we need, He blesses! In September, when we found out about this move, I fretted and fumed about housing, and of course started researching all the options. I discovered quickly that if I wanted to live on post, which I did since F's leaving, I had little to no control over what kind of house we would get. I started praying about our house, and asked just about every woman of faith around me to pray too (okay, yes I'm a bit selfish). In December we found out that we might not be allowed to live on post, and I started fretting and fuming again, and tried to take control of the situation myself. After torturing myself for several days, I finally went back to prayer, and the of/on-post issue was resolved. I reached a peace and a sense of trust about our house options, a willingness to take with gratitude what was available. Then, mid-January before leaving, I learned that our only option was going to be a house about 700 square feet smaller than our then-current home. I went to work trying to figure out how to get our furniture into it. It was going to be tight, and perhaps uncomfortable, but I managed, at least with my little to-scale furniture papers. When I called housing on our way to set up a time to meet, I learned that our options had changed! We arrived to find ourselves able to take the option of a LOVELY (approx) 2000 sq. foot home/apt with everything all on one level! There will be NO problems fitting everything (our room might be tight just b/c of the size of the rooms themselves), _and_ we even have space for a guest room in addition to the scrapbook area. The change in availability was a last-minute one, which I am confident the Lord orchestrated. I have to give all the credit for this amazing space to God and God alone. He has done more than provide for our needs. He blessed us with abundance! Our neighbors are also folks we knew at Irwin back about 2 years and across the way is a friend of F's from his years at Hood. Wow...a great space, and friends too. Now we're just waiting on delivery of our household goods. Will let ya'll know how the decorating goes.

Well Toto, we're not in...

...California anymore. That's right, we've arrived in Kansas. There are still miles to go before our final destination, but we've stopped in Wichita for the night. I have some dear friends from our last stint in Kansas who live here and have a 2 year old daughter as well. We're seeing them this evening and the girls will get to meet and play. I'm hoping C won't be terribly confused, since their daughter is "Sophie", and one of C's fave playmates from Irwin is also "Sophie". I'm not sure C understands that more than one person can have the same name. I hope the girls enjoy one another's company.

On another note, I'd like to comment on the Days Inn franchise. Most Days Inns accept/welcome pets smaller than about 25 pounds, so we've stayed with them all the way across the country, and quite economically. What's most interesting is the quality of the accomodations. It's funny (amusing-funny) but each room seems to be an upgrade from the previous one. We've really enjoyed our stays.

Central Time

There's a part of me that simply cannot believe we're back in CST. We spent night #1 in Kingman AZ, #2 in Albequerque NM, and tonight we're in Amarillo TX. The cats are handling the travel well (except for trying to get them out from under hotel beds!) and C's being a real trooper about all the time in the car, and hotels and restaraunts. She's still asking to go home, but not quite so often or adamantly. Perhaps she's beginning to understand what we mean when we answer that "we're on our way to our new home." We're quite glad for our DVD player, but she's even getting tired of the TV! We've been keeping a pretty decent pace with the driving, and stopping with plenty of time for C to bounce around and unwind before bed each night. Today we kept the drive short, only about 4 hours in the car, and stopped at the Don Harrington Discovery Center (Children's museum) before heading to the hotel. C loved it; she was delighted that Mommy and Daddy were letting her push all the buttons and flip all the switches! C has also enjoyed having Papa's attention; my dad flew out to Ontario to help me on the drive east. As nuts as we drive each other, I honestly don't think I could handle this trip without him. I hope he knows how very grateful I really am. While fast food has been the necessity for lunches on the day-drive, we've enjoyed some nice sit-down establishments in the evening. We visited a local diner in Kingman, called JB's. They specialized in comfort food; it was positively delish! We thought fondly of my Gr'pa in Albequerque, eating at Furr's cafeteria; it was his (and my Gr'ma's) favorite place to eat when they were alive. C enjoyed her mac-n-cheese and had fun with the whipped topping on her jello. (Picture to follow later). The trip is long, and I'm looking forward to getting to our new home, but it hasn't been too bad, all in all.

Disney'd Out

We chose a good weekend to do our last Disney trip (for a while). Apparently, on SuperBowl Sunday, people aren't as inclined to go to an amusement park as they usually are. It also drizzled and remained overcast most of the day. While the precipitation was inconvenient and uncomfortable as we waited for the park to open in the morning, it did keep the crowds at bay. I'm not sure we got our money's worth out of the day though. We decided ahead of time that we'd only go on the rides C would be able to enjoy, which didn't leave us that many. Small World was closed, and that was the one she was anticipating with the most eagerness. We rode Dumbo, the Astro Orbiter, Autopia, King Arthur's Carousel (but only on the bench seat), Casey Jr. (the cartoon-ish train), the Storybook tourboat, the Monorail, and the Buzz Lightyear ride. C did not like the Buzz Lightyear ride until I put her on my knee to see, and that only made the ride tolerable for her. She complained all the way out that it had been dark. "Is dark! No likey dark! No more dark!" This dark thing has been going on for some time, leading to the nightlight that's traveling with us. However, the "no dark" stipulation left out all the story-rides that would have been suitable for a toddler. *sigh* The trains were a big hit, and she likely would have ridden Casey a second time, if the wait hadn't gotten so long by the time we went back to it...and if we hadn't arrived at the line to discover someone had tossed their cookies right outside of it. Ew. The storybook land tour did not impress her much, and she "drove" on Autopia for about 30 seconds before losing interest, which led me to discover that driving from the left side of the car with the steering wheel on the right is a major pain (in the shoulder). After making the rounds of all the rides of interest, we tried to go back to the ones C enjoyed. We stood in line for the Astro Orbitor a second time, and when we got to the rocket, she balked, saying she didn't want to fly again. Same scene at Dumbo, round 2. About that time, she wanted to see the princesses. I really love the new Fantasyland "exhibit" where they have the princesses in the pavilion at one location with the coronation and storytelling events. C got to see the princesses, and participate, but without having to stand in line for an eternity. We did have to stop mid-day though, for a nap in one of the restaraunts, because C woke up at 0600 and was tuckered out by 1100. I'm sure the shortness of the nap also led to her crankiness later in the day, and the subsequent refusals to enjoy her favorite rides a second time. All in all, it was a good way to break away from California. By intent or by accident, we have developed a tradition, as a family, that when we leave a post, we go amusement park-ing. I finally feel like the move is real now...for me (Fred felt it about a week ago.)

On a side note: Disney park prices are CRAZY. I wanted to get a sweatshirt for C and me, but for the prices they charge, we could have bought a coat! I did, however, find a really awesome stocking cap and scarf that are super-soft and super-cute. They were worth the inflated prices, since I can never find ones that don't itch to high havens. Just in time to move to weather where I'll need them!

Around the (farewell) Horn

F's fond of sports phrasing, and he mentioned today that we've gone "around the horn" in saying farewell to our California families now, in just one week. First, we said our "see you laters" to our Chapel family, then Regimental Staff family, the Shop family, and now the Family family. We've been blessed by having made and had so many connections while at Fort Irwin, and it feels like we're really on our way out now.

Homeless

As my Gr'pa used to say/sing, "We're on the road again..." That's right, our household goods are all on a moving truck, we've cleaned and cleared housing ($560...not bad, all considered) and are currently in transit. C keeps asking to go "home" and we explain it over and over again, but I don't think she's going to really comprehend it until all our things are in the new house. I've had her say "good bye" to as many of our friends (that we could fit in) and familiar spots at Fort Irwin, but she just waved and said "see ya later," to them. Perhaps she's following my lead, since I'm not saying "goodbye," just "see you later" out loud. The packup went reallywell, and I was pleased with the way I saw things going, but won't know for sure how well they did until we're unpacking them. The loadup didn't impress me as much. The guys were too anxious to "get 'er done" and moved too fast with our furniture and boxes for my comfort level. I hovered a bit much and I'm pretty sure they were glad when I had to absent myself to go handle a childcare issue. During this whole leaving process, I just have to publicly praise God for providing such care from our friends. Several gals helped watch C during the busy-ness, and one family even invited us for a home-cooked dinner on our last night on post. It was incredibly restful to be able to eat a dinner that wasn't at a restaraunt, since we'll be getting our fill of those during this move. C was able to play while we ate (after she was done), and it tasted wonderful! Some others offered to bring us meals to the house, but we couldn't accept, because it was the place to eat the meals that had us most challenged at the end! Still, the thought meant so much to us.

Tonight's stop was Auntie Irene's house for dinner with their family and Auntie Jennie's too. One blessing about living out here in California was having some of F's aunts and uncles close by. We didn't see them as often as we'd like, but we're at least trying to see them one more time before leaving. Auntie Irene fixed an incredible dinner (can't wait to try out the chicken recipe on my own in the new home!) and we just got to relax. What a treat to have a dinner I didn't have to cook, rush away from in order to get things done to get ready to move, or do dishes. I felt so pampered! Thank you so much Auntie!

In other news, I can tell that I'm getting into a really bad habit with the television shows and C. After exploring Auntie Irene's house a bit, she found the television there. She sat right down and here's the coversation:

C: "Watch George please?"
Mommy: "No, Auntie Irene doesn't have any George."
C: "How about Bob?" (as in Bob the Builder)

I laughed so hard, I couldn't figure out what to say to that one. After I could breathe again, I told her that we'd watched enough shows for today in the car, and we were going to play. She accepted that, and we moved on. But how's that for some early creative thinking!