WOW! Where Did September Go?

Well, let's see...I guess I have to start with some of August too...Bailey started school at her new school off base which is taking some getting used to. They are much more aware of who comes in especially since they don't know me well yet. I can't just walk in and have lunch with her I have to check in at the office and get a big sticker pass for my shirt. It's nice to know they are like that so that I feel better about her being there. Her classroom is just as small and crowded as it was at Eielson and her teacher is just as scatter-brained. I've come to the conclusion one must have that quality to work with children of that age. Bailey likes her new teacher and school just as much as the old and is doing well. We had some old friends from GF come visit us for Labor Day weekend. They are now stationed at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Bailey had her 7th birthday. Then my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Joan came to visit. Then another friend from GF came to visit on their way to Kansas where they will be stationed. So I have been pretty busy in between visits. The good thing is that with each visitor I was able to get more of the house unpacked and organized before they came, so bring on the visitors cuz I have A LOT left to do. My current project is still Bailey's room becasue of all the visitors I have to keep stopping and cleanign up my mess in her room then I forget about it for a while. All I have left to do is the rainbow. I got the window treatments and polka dots up yesterday! Tom has finished the two most important parts in the basement, the storage room and the mechanical room. Now I can put away all the stuff we never use and shut the door and now Kamdyn can't turn off the furnace or turn down the water heater anymore. Yippee no more cold showers! The rest of the basement will have to wait for now. Here are some pictures of our adventures over the past month.... OK well nevermind, Blogger is not cooperating so I will have to add the pics later.

Bailey's First Day of School

The "Big Arch" as Kamdyn calls it EVERYTIME we see it

Bailey's 7th Birthday

Grant's Farm

Kamdyn climbed up on John's lap for no apparent reason but J.J. was not going to share his daddy so he had to join her.

Kamdyn and J.J. were diving into the pool in the basement.

Kamdyn was rolling up in the blanket with Maddie

How Do You Spell That?

After living on "I" Street, not like your eye, just the letter I, we swore we would try and avoid living on any street that someone would have to ask How Do You Spell That? Well after having to spell "WYE" for the gazillionth time today I got to thinking, what makes somebody name a street something so odd people don't know what it is? So I went exploring on the good ole internet and it didn't take long to find out that a Wye Oak is: The oldest white oak in the United States that stood for more than 450 years near Easton, MD. Hereis a link if you care to read more: http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/wye.html

Settling In

We are finally starting to get settled. We have painted our bedroom and most of the living room. Here are a few pictures of the place with sod and some paint. Enjoy.

Master Bedroom

Part of the basement we are using as a family room

Front of the house, the water company has to come raise our meter so they dug it up but haven't been back in over a week and with the many days over 100 degrees it is a challenge to keep the sod alive so someday the yard will look better I hope

Living room, the little TV is temporary, we are looking at getting a flat screen for over the fireplace

Back Yard

BUNCO!!!!

So I ventured out to the ESC tonight to try out their bunco game. It was a good time since I haven't been out with the girls in FOREVER, but I don't think it will ever be the same. There was no throwing of the Fuzzy dice, no bagged candy taken home from the potluck table, no caramel but nothing to dip in it, no REALLY cool table markers, no mom's going into labor, no BUNCO screaming contest with the OSC, and most of all no really great friends that I miss so much.

Terrarium

When we moved in we found out we had our very own no maintenace terrarium complete with wildlife attached to our house and ready for the children's viewing eyes. It is actually our egress window in the basement but it has plant life and frogs. But the best part is that we don't even have to feed them or clean the cage! The little frog seen here trying to escape has succeeded because he is no longer available for viewings.

Sleepy Baby

Also while in transition during our move we decided that we were not going to put the crib up when we moved into our new place so Kamdyn was thrown into her toddler bed the first night we spent here with no warning. We had the pack-n-play ready just in case we weren't quite ready ourselves. But as you can see she had no problem sleeping in it, other than falling out about an hour after she had fallen asleep. But we just picked her up and put her back in and she slept til morning. Whewww

15 Years, 6 Days, 2 Kids, and probably 80 pounds together

At this very spot in the Capital Building in Madison Wisconsin 15 years ago Tom and I got married. A lot has happened since then...We had 2 kids, gained a bunch of weight that is harder to get rid of than it was to find, and moved 9 times. While we were in transition during our most recent move we had some free time in Wisconsin so we took the kids up town to see where we got married and it just happened to be 6 days after our 15th wedding anniversary. Bailey even went up to the observation deck and was very brave.

Our New House

Here are some pictures of our new place. It is a little smaller than what we were used to in Grand Forks but it has a full basement that we plan on finishing as funds allow. It is new construction so there are a few things left to do, like the back stairs off the house and the sod in the yard. One nice thing about the neighborhood is that a friend of Tom's from the Forks is only about 3 houses away from us and they have a teenage babysitter, hehe. It is in a subdivision with a pool and private lake to fish in. So here it is:
Front of House


Entry and Living Room


Kitchen


Master Bedroom


Back of House

Moving So Far...

The packers came the 19th and 20th of June and the movers were set to come on the 25th but we called them to see if they could come earlier because the packers got done earlier than expected. They called back and said Saturday the 23rd would work for them and then called back again on Thursday and said they would be there Friday. Tom had his going away scheduled for that day but we managed. I sat at the house with the movers while Tom was having lunch and golfing. They finally pulled away around 7:30 and we were off to billeting for the next 5 days. We were to final out of our house and leave town on Thursday but the cleaners got done early too and we rescheduled our final inspection and Tom's final out processing meeting and headed out on Wednesday. We headed to my parent's in Wisconsin and dropped the kiddos there while we went to St. Louis to look for a house. We planned to meet the realtor on Saturday at 1:00 and by 5:00 we had looked at probably 12 or so houses. Some we thought were doable (if that's a word) and others not so much. We then planned to meet again the next day and looked at about 12 houses that day and thought we had found the house we wanted to buy. It was in a small town about 20 minutes from the base, in our price range (which was important), and we liked it a lot. We planned to meet the realtor Monday morning to write up the paperwork and such. But on the way to the realtor's office we had a change of heart. Although it was a very nice house we decided between the money we would spend on gas driving to the Base and back everyday (Tom to work and I to the gym) and the money we could spend on a house that was closer we were not going to buy that house and we were going to buy a house we saw the very first day that was a little out of our price range but would even out in gas since it was only a 5 minute (maybe, if that) drive to the base and also in the school district we had originally hoped to be in. So imagine the realtor's surprise when we walked in and told him we wanted to go look at the other house again. He didn't skip a beat and we got in the car and went to the other house and since it was new construction we hammered out the deal right there and walked away with a closing date of the 24th of July. Tom and I then took off back to Wisconsin and here we sit waiting for the 24th to come along.

Moving

So the moving process is officially started and the packers come tommorrow, no, not the Green Bay Packers. We have officially decluttered and feel really good about the lack of crap (for lack of a better word)that we will be moving this time around. However, I did realize we need to cut down on the battery operated kind of toys we have for the kids as when we emptied the toys we produced and entire gallon size ziplock bag and I am sure we missed a few. So here is a picture so you can get the whole picture hehe. My postings will be sparse for the next month or so until we get settled (because I post so often when I am settled).
I will fill you all in on the whole process when we are done.