Still Alive!

As I'm sure most of you would agree--this is a busy time. Things have gotten better (as far as what I was distraught over in the last post) but I just haven't had time to write that yet! There were so many things that happened since Halloween that I wanted to share, but just got "overcome by events". . .

Here is a quick update--
We took my mom to Disneyland for the first time in her life in October. It was one of the coolest things ever. I remembered that when I was in high school, she told me a story about having watched the weekly Disney show as a little girl. She was mesmerized by Walt Disney's voice, and NOTHING could distract her as the show went on. She said it would always make her happy, because she KNEW that all kids got to go to Disneyland. She was happy because she knew she was going to go.

I asked if she ever went. No. I was upset by that--I still remember, even though high school was longer ago than I'd like to admit. I said "That's not a happy story. Why were you happy? That's a SAD story!" I was very angry with her parents. Now, keep in mind that I had never been to Disneyland either--but it wasn't my dream, so no harm done!

Fast forward 20 years. . .we have Disneyland passes. I thought it would be "cute" to take her and tell her I remembered the story from high school. I just thought it was funny that I remembered her telling me that. And, I thought she'd have fun seeing the kids at Disney. (I should have remembered my first day there--it is WAY cooler than just watching the kids!)

So, the night before we were to go, the kids brough Oma her Mickey ears with her name stitched in it (we picked them up last time we were there). She said "Oh--that's cute!" The boys told her that's where we're going tomorrow. GET THIS! She CRIED! Truly! She was so excited and overwhelmed that SHE CRIED. Hmmmm . . .maybe more meaningful than just a funny memory!

The next day she sat in the back of the van like an excited kid. Didn't stop smiling the whole drive up. When we got there, we had to go through the security point, and then you go through the gate, and you have to go around the circle before you get to "Main Street." At about the ticket booths, she started saying "Where's the castle? I want to see the castle." I told her she couldn't miss it, we just had to go around the corner. I was wrong--there were two corners. We went around the first one, and I thought she was going to come out of her skin. . ."Are we going to see the castle???" Hilarious!

She had such a good time. She road roller coasters and bought tons of souvenirs and ate junk! At about 3pm, the little boys were getting tired, so S took N and his friend to ride some "big rides" and mom and I took the little ones in the stroller. They both fell asleep, so I sat on an out of the way bench with the boys, and my mom shopped a little more. About that time, the "Parade of Dreams" started. She grabbed the disposable camera and RAN to the parade street. Since she was by herself, she found a good spot and took pictures of EVERY SINGLE character! She used up the film and came back for the other camera and had tears running down her face. . .she was hysterical: "Donald Duck looked RIGHT AT ME for the picture! I was yelling at Snow White and she came over to me!" Then she said "This is like being 6 again! It's better than being six--six year olds have no idea how great this is!"

The rest of the day was a great as the first part and I was so happy that we did that. I had no idea it would be that cool. My mom thinks Disney should market that concept--"baby boomers getting to live the dream they had as a kid!"

Well, I guess that wasn't exactly an overview, but it was a cool story!

What else? We went back to Disney for Thanksgiving. We've never spent the night before, we just drive up for the day, so this was amazing. We were there for 5 days. I realized that we had not really ever been on a family vacation. We have traveled a LOT and done a lot of sightseeing and visiting family, but just a trip to relax and have fun? This was the first! By the afternoon of the second day, I had completely settled in to it. I felt what you are supposed to feel on vacation--relaxed! It was as though the definition of my life had become: ride rides, eat snacks, watch shows, ride more rides! So fun. The kids were great, no fighting, no begging for junk. They were wonderful.

I did go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I am kind of intense about that. I do ALL of my Christmas shopping on that day--usually before 10am. I was still at Disney, of course, so I got up at 3:30, picked L up at her hotel, and we shopped in Anaheim. I had mapped the stores and planned where to buy what--so it went well. I was disappointed in Kohls because the cashiers were so slow. (The ones in Fresno last year were at least twice as fast!!) And, I was disappointed in Target, because they didn't really have any special sales. Walmart came through though--I was THRILLED with the deal I got there, and I only bought one thing!

The next week THE BAD STUFF happened. As you might have guessed, it had to do with S's work, and what was going to happen with all of us. It has been fixed now, and I'll talk more about that in a bit.

Craziness for a couple of weeks. . .holiday parties at school, I was in charge of the adopt a family program at school (the most wonderful, rewarding job ever--I can't wait to do it next year!), and then my brother and his family came out for an early Christmas.

We actually met them at Disney and stayed a few days. (The kids have completely forgotten at this point that you can go there for the day!!) It was so fun! I love to be with them, and their kids are just so cute. Our boys instantly (truly--in 5 seconds) were completely wrapped around their little cousins' fingers. Baby Bear had been REALLY sick for a couple of weeks, so he wasn't thrilled about outside adults being around, but he loved the boys (too many nurses and doctors poking and prodding made him a little wary of us--understandable !!) It was AWFUL to leave them. We all know that I don't do goodbyes well, and every time I say goodbye to my brother I feel like we are 15 and 13 again. . .that was not a good memory for me. . .anyway--it is hard to say goodbye. And little G. . .wow--it is terrible to say goodbye to her. I just wanted to not leave. Ever. I really think that someday we will have to live near each other. I love seeing our kids be close and loving each other!

And then came Christmas. . .the stuff with work got fixed about a week before, so we had a good holiday! I suppose it is weird to hear someone be HAPPY that their husband was leaving soon to be gone for a year and a half--but that's where I am now! S will leave in a few weeks and go to a few months of training, and then he'll go over for a year deployment. The kids and I will stay here, which makes them happy. I considered moving home, but I think that would be selfish. If I stay here, only one thing changes for the boys. They will miss Daddy, but they will adjust to that. If I move them, EVERYTHING changes, and those other things might be harder to adjust to--new house, new city, new friends, new school--that's just too much. So, we'll stay here. The only sticking point is to get the landlords to give us a longer lease, because I don't want to be stuck moving while he is gone! Cross your fingers!

As far as what went wrong--basically, when someone else is in control of your destiny, and they don't seem to care about the long term negative effects on your career, that is a hard place to be. When it is also going to have drastically negative effects on your family--that's just unbearable. But, it has been taken care of. I don't necessarily believe in Karma, but I do think that if you are being a good person, and doing your best to help other people, things will work out for you. That is kind of what happened for us. S spends a LOT of time helping people at work--getting soldiers to duty stations near sick relatives, helping them stay put for a kid to graduate, finding some random obscure piece of equipment and having shipped to a unit overseas, etc. I think he is being rewarded for all that work by this situation being resolved in a more positive result for us.

While it always sucks to have your husband gone, other than that, this is a good situation. We are in a great neighborhood in a beautiful city, in a house we love. S will do a job that he hasn't done before (he always loves that) and it will be good as far as his career goes--he's excited to get "home" to the Army, and he is really excited to do something different and see a new aspect of the "big picture." We will move in summer 2010, which is great, since we don't have to change in the middle of the school year (twice--that was part of the plan that was being forced before). So, Dad will be gone for a while, but we'll be fine. My "planner" brain is in engaged, and I have enough experience to have already started thinking ahead and preparing the kids. And, of course, to think of WHAT TRIP SHOULD WE GO ON FOR R&R? That's where I steer the conversation when the kids start talking about the deployment! We'll spend the whole first part planning that trip!

Christmas. . .
My mom came, and it was great. We picked her up and went straight to the bowl game! Truly--threw her in the car and sped to the stadium. Our nail biter game went in our favor and I have never screamed for 4 hours straight like I did that night! It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Christmas eve was spent shopping a little, and following our new tradition of eating KFC before opening presents. (I love this tradition!) We were at the C family's house and had a great relaxing evening. Opening presents, eating chicken, and laughing at the people on the news who were actually shocked that they were stranded in the Chicago airport do to delays (REALLY??? Have you not paid attention for the last, oh 300 years? It snows there. All flights go through there--you will never be on time. Visit your family in July!!)

The kids got WAY too much stuff for Christmas. Really. It is ridiculous. But, they don't get anything new all year. We really only get them one small thing at their birthdays, and we don't buy ANYTHING all year--toys, I mean. We do buy some clothes and food. So, that's why Christmas ends up being huge. But, they got all stuff they REALLY wanted, and they are overwhelmed. It is Dec 30th, and they are still frantically playing with everything, bouncing back and forth to try to get to all of it at once.

I also got a ton of stuff. A jade ring and earrings. Lots of cool clothes, and TOWELS!! We still had the same ones from when we first got married. 12 year old towels are not soft. S. got two books (we had agreed not to get each other anything because we bough cookware not long ago. I got him little token things--two great books. He got me a lot.) He got an awesome coffeepot from Oma, and Nana and Pop gave us a video camera. So, we are as excited as the kids!

Christmas dinner was at our house. My mom and S cooked--I didn't help. I grated the parmesan cheese, but that's it. I suck at cooking, but they were a great team and had a good time. The lasagna was FANTASTIC!! And, pecan pie for dessert. Yum! (You may remember my thing about never cooking a turkey--that's why we do Italian on Christmas. It's truly wonderful!) I picked up and put away gifts, and never seemed to find the bottom of the piles!

That evening we went to see Bedtime Stories (very cute!) and the next day--back to Disney for the last day of our passes (I never thought I would be so affected, but man was I SAD!!!) My mom left on the 27th, and now we are trying to get the house back in order, clean it, and get ready for a trip to see the T family in Vegas.

That about wraps it up for us. I will get some photos on soon (that is a relative term) and show some of the excitement I've been writing about! Thanks for checking in on me!