Relax, this won't hurt...much

Today, I took some time for me!  My dear sweet friend, MA, got me a gift certificate for a Thai massage.  I called the babysitter service, hired a sitter for a few hours and enjoyed some quiet time.  I went shopping, didn't buy anything, but it was nice to look without chasing down one of the kids.  Then, I headed off to the massage.  I was a bit early, so I grabbed some taco rice to go, had a quick lunch and headed in.  Now, let me start by saying that the last massage I had was in Portland, OR, at the wonderful Aveda spa.  Thank you, my dear husband, for that treat.  However, that was back in 2002.  Our little H was only around 18 months old.  It's been THAT long!  Today's massage was a Thai massage.  It was so very different from what I thought.  If any of you get a chance to do a Thai massage, and you have a pretty high pain tolerance, do it!!!  The massage place is this little spot with 2 massage rooms.  The sweet little man that was to do the massage kept calling me P-san, and was just wonderful.  They give you a tshirt and gym shorts to change into and slippers.  He runs a small basin of warm water.  He tells you to sit and soak your feet in this basin and adds Thai lemongrass.  The smell alone relaxes you.  He then proceeds to massage your feet, wash your feet and dry them.  He proceeds to tell you to lie down and he puts on a headband.  Not the terrycloth sweatband of sports wannabees, but the serious Karate Kid cloth tied around your head.  He tells you to please let him know if you cannot take the pain, which is a bit disconcerting.  You lie down, face up, on a massage mat.  He covers you with a blanket.  He starts at your feet.  He works diligently, bending your feet in ways you cannot possibly imagine.  I must admit, at this point, I was still thinking:  I'm paying for a sitter and I should probably start relaxing soon to enjoy this, but I'm paying for a sitter.  Oh, what else do I have to do today?  Then, out of the blue, I close my eyes and just RELAX.  I swear, I am getting so relaxed I see just colors (my eyes are closed).  He works his way up your legs and bends you and stretches you.  He applies pressure to all these weird points that you can feel it in your molars.    He manipulates you into positions where he is holding your ankles and works your thighs with his feet, which he has kindly covered with clean socks.  He works your arms.  By the time he told me to roll over, I swear I completely forgot he was there.  He said "P-san, please roll over" and it startled me!  I was THAT RELAXED.  He works your back and your shoulders.  There is PAIN, serious pain.  He pushes points near your spine that bring tears to your eyes.  He goes up and down your spine, at least 3 times.  I kept thinking, OUCH, this has got to be the last time.  Why didn't I ask him to stop?  Maybe pride, maybe I just wanted to see what was next and was sure it couldn't get worse.  It hurt, alot.  It felt like he was pulling your muscles away from your body and working them.  He spent almost 70 minutes working out all my stresses.  He offered me some cold Japanese tea, but I'm still not a fan of tea, so I politely declined.  I swear, I am now 2 inches taller and so relaxed that it's ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure I will have some bruises on my back and shoulders tomorrow, but it was so worth it.  Thank you, MA, for such a wonderful treat!  I cannot wait to go back!

I came home after that, relieved the wonderful babysitter, and got the kids ready to head to the dentist.  Gotta love the Japanese dentists' office.  They are so efficient.  I got all three boys checkups and cleanings and was there a little over an hour.  They did all three at the same time, in separate rooms.  K and A came through with wonderful checkups.  H had a good checkup, but the dentist recommended putting a sealant on his molars.  So we will be heading back next week to get that done.    

Came home, made a delicious enchilada dinner, no fights from the kids and we are winding down the night.  A actually loved his dinner and requested seconds.  This, alone, is amazing, as he's been battling me almost every meal since daddy's been gone.  

It's been a productive day and I'm ready to just sit down, have a nice glass of wine and watch a movie with my boys.  

The museum

I took the boys to the Prefectural Museum today.  I had read about it online, and thought we'd have a nice time walking around.  It was alot smaller than we thought and took us less than an hour to walk through it.  In that short time, I was reprimanded twice for taking pictures.  The first time was in a room that did not allow flash photography, so I got the guide running up to me saying "NO FRASH!", the second time was in the main hall and I took a picture of a boat exhibit.  The second guide was ultra serious about his job and told me no pictures by giving me the crossed arms "NO" sign and pointing to my camera.  I apologized and thought it was done.  Nope, he took me around the main exhibit hall and pointed to where I could take pictures, where I was not allowed to use my "frash" and where I could take pictures of the kids in front of the exhibits, but not the exhibits themselves.  Even though these guys were rather stern, they were polite, which is the norm here.  If we were in the states, there would have been all kinds of attitude and rudeness.  The boys enjoyed some of the exhibits, like the skeletons and boats, but didn't much care for the pottery exhibits.  The little touch and learn room was kind of neat and they got play a bit.  All in all, it was a fun time.

Holidays

The Christmas holiday has come and gone.  It was a bittersweet day for us yesterday.  The boys and I enjoyed our Christmas, but it wasn't perfect since daddy was not here.  This is our first Christmas without him.  At least we can thank God for skype and video calls.  We got to talk to him yesterday, after the kids opened presents, and it was wonderful to actually see him.  

It's strange spending Christmas in a foreign country that doesn't really celebrate the holiday.  I saw the neighbor kids going to school yesterday morning and thought how weird it must be to not actually celebrate Christmas.  I know it's not weird for them, but it would be for us.  I called to make dentist appointments for the kids last week, and the receptionist actually offered us appointments on Christmas day.  Can you imagine taking your kids to the dentist on Christmas?  

We went to a laser light show at the botanical gardens on Christmas eve.  We had a really fun time, met some friends and walked around looking at all the Christmas lights.  

I know I should be blogging more about what's been happening, but it seems like as soon as I get a minute to start writing, one of the kids is needing my attention.  I'll end with this:  we miss C, we missed spending the holiday with family, but we are all healthy (other than the colds we all have) and happy.  

instincts

Why don't I follow my instincts?  I decided to make cookies to send to C.  I made my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and they turned out perfectly.  Then, I get this crazy idea to make banana nut bread cookies, minus the nuts.  I would have just made the banana nut bread, but it seems as if I left all my bread pans back in the states.  So I search for a recipe and find one.  As I am about 5 minutes (and 3 ingredients) in, I see some discrepancies in the recipe.  Do I quit, even though I know this is probably going to turn out all wrong?  Of course not.  I move along with the gross banana mush, and proceed to finish the recipe.  Still, I feel it is wrong, and still I continue.  Well, I put the first batch in and it turns into a flat banana mess.  Gross.  Anyone who knows me well knows how I feel about bananas - ICK.  But, C loves the local bananas and I wanted to do something nice for him.  I knew I should have waited and just got another bread tin tomorrow.  Right now, I am experimenting with the remaining mixture and seeing if a banana cake type thing might work out.  Cross your fingers.  Back to the title of the post:  my instincts are usually right and even though I know this, I still push forward.  Why don't I listen to myself???

Other than that icky mess, all is well in our little island house.  The boys are doing well.  K is finishing up his football season this week, with a scrimmage against the parents.  Fun for me!  Maybe I can convince the coach to let H play in my place.  H is looking forward to this being his last school week of the year.  He even finished his whole week's homework last night so he could have the rest of the week off.  A is enjoying a little alone time with mom, now that K is in preschool.  We are looking forward to Christmas, but miss C so very much that it's hard to really enjoy the holidays.

Today, K told A that "daddy's home!" when we pulled into the driveway.  Poor little A could hardly get out of his carseat fast enough.  I told him that daddy was not here, but he really wanted to believe and was quite disappointed.  K got a huge lecture about it and hopefully learned a valuable lesson about lying.   

I'm off to keep a watchful eye on the banana experiment.  Wish me luck!

K's first day of preschool

K is officially in preschool!  We had originally decided to wait on enrolling him in school until kindergarten, but I was feeling like he just needed more.  I called the preschool I had originally looked at, and surprise:  they had openings!  He's only going 3 afternoons a week, but it's a great start.  Or so I thought....today was his first day.  He was excited about it, and so was I.  His class started the day on the playground, since the weather was beautiful.  I mean, what more could a kid ask for?  Well, when I picked him up, he seemed less than thrilled.  I got to go into his class a little early to take a couple of pictures.  They were doing circle time and K was just sitting there.  He would not participate.  When class ended, his teacher informed me that K was upset because he just wanted to play with everything and he wasn't able to do it.  So, the first day was not what he expected and he decided to be a bit of a pill about it.  To be honest, I was a bit peeved with him.  I wanted him to have the greatest first day ever and his little mood put a damper on it.  I guess I should cut him some slack, it was his first day and it was all new to him.  But the little bugger just shocked me with his bad attitude.

I would write more, but I took some cold medicine and I'm feeling a bit tired.  Hopefully, I can get a decent night's sleep.  All is well on this end of the world, other than the cold that just won't go away...nite nite.

Christmas 2008

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all!  It really didn't feel like Thanksgiving here, the weather was fairly warm, I didn't cook and of course, we were missing C.  If he were here, he would have Christmas music playing by midday.  But, since he was gone, we opted to go to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was fine, just not family.

I was planning on having some pictures done of the boys yesterday, but of all days, H decided it was time to lose the 2 front teeth that have been loose and sticking out.  He yanked them out in the bathroom, early in the morning.  He was very proud of himself.  There was actually blood spatter on the wall, and my white handtowel looked like it had been used in surgery.  ICK.  He was just wanting the cash from the good ol' tooth fairy, so he pulled them out rather than waiting.  His permanent teeth had already broken through and although his gaping red holes look kind of gross, his baby teeth were sticking straight out and made him look like a hillbilly.  So, all in all, it's better this way.  I seem to recall him pulling out his bottom 2 last Thanksgiving.  

The boys and I have been doing alot of running around lately.  I feel like I've been dragging them all over the place, mostly running errands and such, so today we decided to have a fun day.  I took them to this playland type place.  It was great, since we were the only ones in there for the first 2 hours.  It's got 3 floors, but we spent most of our time (other than lunch) on the 2nd floor.  There were bouncy playstructures, climbing things and then a whole section of video games, which H just loved.  I also kicked H's butt 3 times in a row at air hockey.  He's ultra competitive (wonder who he gets that from??? daddy?), and we had fun even though he lost.  He's at the age where you cannot let him win because he knows it and it just makes him mad.  He was a good sport about it and that made me proud.  K and A wore themselves out with all the jumping and climbing around.  We finished the evening out with putting up the Christmas tree.  The boys usually do alot more of the ornaments, but this year they just didn't seem to care.  This is the first Christmas we will have without C, and also the first year we do not have a real tree.  I bought a very interesting tree from the local department store.  It doesn't have branches, it just goes around into a cone shape.  It literally pops up in a minute.  You just put the pole up and kind of hang it.  It came with lights and decorations already on it!  I had to take the cheap decorations down, but it was still super easy and not too expensive.  But it is done and hopefully, it will start to feel more like Christmas is coming.  

The pics are from our walk on the beach last week (check out the old guy snoozing in the background and K's hilarious face as the cold water hit his feet), the play place today and of course the little Christmas tree.  

Hope you are all well and enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving holiday!

my boys

Pics are from a birthday party that we attended this weekend.  My friend, MA, is a wonderful photographer and got a few shots of the boys.  Just wanted to share!

There's just not much to say these days without C being here.  I guess he's the exciting one of the family.  We miss him so much and are just keeping very busy to pass the time.  One month down, only 5 months to go.

Been enjoying loads of time with my friend MA and her kiddos.  I think the kids are all starting to think we are just one big family.  

I threw a potluck dinner party last weekend for the "office wives" and it was not at all what I expected.  Took me 2 days to get my house back in order.  Seriously, I found bits of food in my little wine cubbies in the table, part of a cookie on the bottom of my couch (smeared), and some sort of food stuff stuck to my planter.  Why don't people discipline their children?  They all left without bothering to clean up their mess, and the kids rooms???  Oh my heavens, every toy was out and left for us to clean up.  I don't think I could have handled it at all if MA wasn't here.  She and the kids spent the night and we had a good ol' fashioned sleepover.  The kids stayed up late, and of course so did we.  I was tired for days, but it was fun.

Our dear children are doing well.  K is getting over a fever, H is being H, and our little one, A is refusing to potty train.  I'm thinking of getting him one of the super cool potties they sell at the local department store.  They are really neat looking and I'm hoping to "inspire" him.  

Not much else happening, but I will try to blog a little more.  I know there are so many of you out there, on the very edge of your seats, waiting for the next installment of our exciting lives.... HA HA HA!!!

football

K had his first football practice on Thursday.  I have never seen such excitement.  He was literally shaking from the thrill of getting to be part of a team sport.  At his age, they only learn fundamentals and do not get to play games, but we are trying to arrange at least one scrimmage during the 6 week session.  K made some new friends, got a good workout in and threw the ball really well. H and A ran around during practice, getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes.  Poor little A could not understand why he couldn't play football.  I think I will bring his little nerf football to the next practice and he and H and pass it around.  All in all, it was a really fun time!

Kids are doing well.  H has been home from school, since they close it during the parent teacher conference days.  He had a half day Thursday, off Friday, and is off Monday and Tuesday of this week.  I forgot how hard it is to keep all three of them busy during the day.  

I'm off to do my nightly reading.  It sure is lonely around here without C.  Thank goodness I've got my dear friend MA here to hang out with or I'd be going nuts!  MA, if you're reading this:  love ya and thanks for keeping me sane!!

missing C

I'm not really going to say much, as I hope to find time later to write about the kiddos, and post pics of K's first football practice.  I just finished my morning cleaning and as I begin to figure out what we are going to do today, I'm really missing C.  I got to talk to him early this morning, and it made me miss him so much more.   Our home is not complete without him.

Passing time

We've now been without C for 2 weeks, and we are missing him bunches.  I've been trying to keep the kiddos busy and although we've had fun, we just miss daddy.  Last weekend we went to a pirate ship park that was near the beach.  The boys played on the ship playstructure for a bit, then wanted to spend some time on the beach.  It was kind of crowded, so we couldn't stay too long, but it was still fun.  We explored a new beach yesterday, closer to home, and had a great time just building sandcastles and watching a paraglider.  The guy took off right near us and the boys got quite a kick out of it.  We also went trick-or-treating last night with some friends and attended a Halloween party.  I was perfectly content to blow off Halloween, since I don't particularly care for it anyway, but we ended up having a great time.  

Not much happening on the homefront these days.  It's been quiet around here.  It seems I just don't have much to say these days.  Who knew I could be so quiet???

I feel like poo

Yep, that's right POO.  C left yesterday morning and it's been a crazy week.  First A got really sick.  He got an upper respiratory infection with croup.  After a trip to the ER and alot of rest, he's better.  Guess what?  K's got croup.  Started late last night and he woke up making that horrible coughing sound and had a fever.  Oh, and guess what else?  I'm now sitting here with a sore throat and a bit of a fever myself.  Oh and top it all off, I tried calling C's hotel room a few times and he wasn't there.  No big deal, right?  It was starting at 10 pm his time and he still wasn't there at 2:30 am.  I finally got in touch with him around 3:30 am his time and he'd been out to dinner and then out for drinks.  Is it wrong for me to not like him right now??  Meanwhile, I've got K who is sick, A is screaming "Mom, watch this!" and running full speed while saying "AAAAAAAH!", and H has taken up swearing.  He's used bad language at least 3 times today.  I have no idea why he's decided it's okay to swear, but this last time, I called him out to punish him.  I have no bars of soap in the house, as we use liquid soap, so I decide to give him dish detergent on a spoon and swipe his tongue with it.  He makes a face and swallows.  I am ready to start the lecture when he burps and a bubble comes out.  Yes, I'm serious.  He starts to laugh hysterically and yells for his brother so he can share this amazing news and I am standing there dumbfounded.   I thought that could only happen in cartoons.  My stern discipline was a total failure.  

So now, I'm feeling like poo, dealing with the craziness of my boys and deciding if I should prank call C 3 more times over the next few hours just to wake him up.  Is that wrong??  Should I not do that??  Just the thought of that makes me feel a little bit better.  Mu-wa-ha-ha-ha  (that's my evil laugh)  No, better get these kiddos showered up and wind down for the night.  I'm hoping to get to bed early.

Quiet before the ....

Not much to say today, as my mind is elsewhere.  C is getting ready to leave for his trip.  He's heading out on Saturday and it's all starting to be real.  Even though we knew it was coming, it was always just "sometime in the future".  It's almost here now and I'm thinking about it nonstop.  We have been very busy taking the kids to many places and having alot of family time.  Pics are of some of our excursions over the past few weeks.

A few more pics

The pic of H is at the park.  He's climbing a rock wall that leads to a really neat slide.  The others are from a shopping district we visited last weekend.  The little red haired "creature" is seen everywhere here.  We don't know much about him, but were told he's a "mischief maker".  The boys lovingly refer to him as "Steve".  Every time we drive by the little statues, the kids yell "Hi, Steve!" from the backseat.  It's hilarious.  

Greetings from the island!

So, you all probably thought we fell off the face of the planet, didn't you??  We are all moved in, well, except for the last shipment of our household goods, which isn't until the end of October.  But, we made it safe and sound.  It was crazy, exciting, exhausting, overwhelming and we'd do it all again in a heartbeat.  

Island life is wonderful.  We found a car and an apartment in the first week.  We only ended up in the yucky base hotel for a week.  We did have to live in our apartment without furniture or appliances for almost 10 days, but it was still better than the dirty hotel room.  

We love our apartment.  Who knew that a 2nd floor apartment could suit our big family?  It's not huge, has 3 bedrooms and 1 bath, yes ONE BATHROOM, but we love it.  It's close to C's work, to H's bus stop, super close to a really fun park with a roller slide and the beach.  We've got an ocean view from both our back and side decks.  We are close to a new shopping center, with a Starbucks!!  Needless to say, the people at Starbucks were very familiar with us until our coffeemaker and kitchen stuff arrived.  

The kids are settling in.  H is loving his new school, his teacher and riding the bus.  K couldn't get into the preschool, since there is a waiting list, and we got here after the school year started.  We thought about putting him a local school, but I just can't bear the thought of him being in an environment where no one can understand him and he cannot understand them.  I think he would feel isolated and I definitely don't want that to be his first formal learning experience.  The other options are alot of Montessori schools, and we don't really care for the whole Montessori thing.  Personally, I think it's just an expensive place for them to play.  So, since K is home again this year, we are signing him up for fall sports.  He is going to play flag football!  There's a program for 3-4 year olds on base, and he's excited to start next month.  We will continue to work on his preschool education at home and he'll be more than ready for kindergarten in the fall.  A is doing well, he's still very shy and doesn't like attention from adults, but as he gets more comfortable with his new surroundings, I'm sure he'll be more social.  All in all, the kiddos are doing well.

Pics are of the kids at the park and beach, by our house.  Oh and a pic of a rainbow we saw yesterday morning right over the ocean.  The pic was taken from our back deck.  Also, the new ride!  I love it.  It's fun to zip around the little streets.  I got used to driving on the opposite side of the road fairly quickly.  Although, the first few times you see a car coming at you in what you think is your lane, it's almost enough to make you sick to your stomach!  Especially when you look and there's a 2 year old in what should be the driver's seat!!!  

I'll try to post more in the coming weeks!  Lots of love to you all!

Waiting

As I sit here waiting for the final movers to show up, I look around and see my house in complete chaos. Funny thing, I actually don't care. That is huge for me, since I'm a complete control freak. I am so ready to get on the road, see the "folks" and move to our new land. So what if my sofa is covered in loose odds and ends, and there are boxes everywhere, we are almost done. I hear the boys actually getting along and playing upstairs and I smile. My good boys. They have around 4 toys total up there in their completely empty rooms, and they are not fighting, but playing nicely. Who knows, they may have tied up the little one and are contemplating starting a fire, but hey, at least they are quiet. Life is good, we are almost out of here. UH OH....I hear screams from above. So much for the quiet...

Update

Ok, I've been avoiding blogging. Yes, it's true. I knew I should update you all, but I just haven't done it. We've had a minor setback and C is back out in the field. We have pushed our move out by about 3 weeks, which is a little unsettling for me. The boys will miss the first 3-4 weeks of school and that just kind of upsets me. C thinks it's not that big of a deal, but being the girl that I am, I tend to worry about the emotional effects on the kiddos. I hated being the new kid. It only happened to me once, in the 2nd grade, but it really sucked. The white trash hillbilly kids were really rough on us and I hated everything about being the "new kid". All these years later, I just don't want my boys to feel that way. Ok, enough of that emotional stuff.

We have plane tickets! Well, actually an email stating we have reservations, but it's all the same. We arrive in "that place" on Aug 30. I'm so excited to move that I cannot contain myself. I'm packing, even though the movers will be re-packing my stuff, and painting, and sorting. My house is a mess! Anyone who knows me well, knows that this alone is enough to send me into a frenzy. I'm a complete control freak and disorganization is not my friend. We have plans to head down to TX to visit "the bugs" (the inlaws) and hang out a bit before leaving the country and I'm so excited to see them. I swear, there isn't a day that goes by that one of the boys doesn't ask "when are we going to see Bugga and Buggaboo??" Time is moving slowly in the kiddo world.

I haven't taken any pictures lately, and I know that's just wrong. Maybe I'll try to take some at the pool tomorrow. I've promised the boys some serious pooltime since they have been so patient with me. I will post pics soon, I promise.

Sending love to you all.

We have returned from our trip to PA, all safe and sound. Wow, traveling with the kids by myself, by car, for 10 hrs each way was truly a test of my patience. I mean I love those little guys, but holy freaking cow can they drive me nuts!! Is it something genetically wired into their brains to scream bloody murder and fight during traffic in a construction zone??? But, we made it, had fun and enjoyed a little time away from "the hood". We got to go to a children's museum in OH and of course, my fave, the Pittsburgh Zoo. I took my new camera and got some great shots: check the pics of the bear and the elephant, those were my favorites. We had to cut our trip short by a couple of days, because we finally got our orders! Of course they called me with this wonderful news right as I drove across the PA state line. Anyway, we have official dates for the movers, which is a huge load off my mind. I didn't book the flights, since I wanted to wait until C gets home this week to see when he plans on taking leave. The movers are coming the first week of August, which is 3 weeks after I wanted them here and totally makes taking leave to go to TX a bit challenging. At least C will be home soon and we can work on it together.

Soccer season has ended, school is out, and K had his minor surgery. So much has happened since my last blog. Soccer ended with another loss, but the kids still kind of enjoyed playing. All H cared about was getting a trophy, so he's happy. School ended quietly and H is thrilled to be on vacation. The other boys are only half as thrilled to have him here bossing them around full time. K had surgery to remove a suspicious mole on his scalp. We got his pathology report today and all is well, nothing cancerous. K was due to get his stitches out tomorrow, but the little bugger ripped them out this afternoon. He was supposed to be taking a nap, when I hear the bathroom sink running. I go to check on him and he says "I'm just washing my hands", "why?" I ask. His response: "to get all this blood off!" Can you imagine my reaction? I had no clue why his hands had blood on them then I see the blood in his hair. He had 3 stitches, very minor, but they were in tight, and he ripped out two of them, and the third was kind of hanging there. So needless to say, I had to cut it out and clean out the wound. He's going to have a bit more of a scar but it's under his hair.

All the boys are doing very well and although they have kind of lost their tans a bit, since we were in PA and not here in the pool, they are still cute as ever.

To all you "out there", we miss you! Keep checking back for updates on the move!