September Rundown

Its the first of Oct. To me this means Fall which is my favorite time of the year no matter where I live. Right now I am typing before the kids wake up for the morning and cant think of event dates.
We did go to Vala's Pumpkin Patch which is the largest in America. It was fun and interesting. Most things I watched the kids do with Philip. It was a squadron function in which we got a discounted admission. I forgot the camera so no photos folks. It was nice to walk around holding Philip's hand and having the boys chatter. Ethan did somehow manage to get lost on the way to enter the cornfield maze. Philip found him just as he had tears spurt. I don't which was worse for him lost or having his dad see him cry.
Ethan had a Birthday in Sept on the 15th. He is 11 this year and I honestly wasn't prepared for it. We spend $100 on birthdays. This includes a gift and whatever party or activity they want to do. This year is family year so we picked him up the old Star Trek Movies, a Game Stop gift card, and a gift bag of "favorite thing" goodies. Philip started the gift bag years ago for me and it was so great it stuck.
Ethan's actual birthday we went out of Chinese food where Philip met us after work. It was decent food. I hated that Ethan wasn't at home opening gifts, on that note the camera was home also. There is something to be said that is so special about homemade cakes and streamers.
We volunteered that evening at the Mable Rose Estate Homes to call Bingo. Ethan was our caller and all seemed to have fun.
Jermey Camp an alternative Christian Rock performer, came to Omaha. This is one of Gavin and Philip's favorite music groups. Philip doesn't dance freely. Gavin doesn't stop moving, so when both did opposite of the normal self I knew we were having a good time. I did like the fact we had church pews to sit in. Comfortable for the boys to fall asleep. They aren't used to staying up so late and crashed after slow song lol. It was nice to be out as a family, hear live music, and not have to deal with drunks, someone smoking pot, people making out, and language. It was all the great stuff a concert is suppose to be.
I did lose my Great Aunt Maxine Stinson. Everyone called her Aunt Mackie. What is the story behind this I wonder? She was a tiny lady who made it to 94. The past five years my Mom and Greg have made a place in their home. The boys were able to get to know her this summer when they spent a week at Mom's by themselves. Aunt Mackie was there when Mom would go into work for a few hours. Ethan I remember watched a lot of news with her. His comment when he came home was MOM THERE IS A LOT OF BAD STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN KANSAS CITY. He has been told every city is like this. Too bad they forget the good news when broadcasting.
Philip and I are very excited to have a baby coming. The doctor we have found is really friendly and proactive. Hearing the baby's heart beat was very overwhelming for me. I honestly had not fully registered it was real. Last night I felt the first flutters at 10 weeks. It was such a different odd movement I am sure of what it was. Number 4 it is possible.
One of the best things about being back in America is friends are closer. Jen was my first BFF and has been through the past 9 years with me. I don't really get why our lives have started to parallel maybe age. Last Jan she to her surprise found out she was pregnant. Well little Bethany decided to come early and sent all plans flying. I didn't think I was going to get to go. Tickets were an absurd amount to fly to Boston. She lives in Sommersworth NH. Jen told me in a message." Don't worry God will find a way to work this out" I have deep trust and faith but the little stuff I don't ask God for much. He does pretty good giving me what I need, and teaching me what I should learn. Sometimes it does feel like a spanking but for the most part doesn't hurt long. So no lie the next day after she says this I have a junk mail from Travelocity with specials from Omaha. My flight was $219 leaving a Sat and returning a Tues. I didn't have to go to Chicago to connect and had long enough layovers it wasn't stressful.
We had a great but busy two and half days. Bethany decided she liked me and didn't scream when i held her. This is a trend in General with females in my life. lol Glad i am not a man. The first night I was able to take Bethany to let parents sleep. They were zombies.. I hate the first four months of any new routine. The next day she was dedicated and we went for a great lunch. I got to babysit this night while Jen and Ian went to dinner. Monday we headed into Portsmouth to see the old square. I found a market that named that the spot where George Washington read the Declaration of Independence. Their children Natalee and Zachary spent time doing things with me also. I was chuckling as I cleaned out their fridge.. that's a friend come clean poopy diapers, pack lunches, babysit, and clean out a fridge without asking. It's in this moment that I realized I was praying and not just talking to myself. It was a humbling experience to have a person share their love, life and family without any concern or jealousy. I did miss my own guys terribly but they were having a blast with Philip. They did a guys weekend full of karting, movies, football games, and unpacking.
Our house still doesn't feel like home but our family is getting back to normal. Maybe it's time to start unpacking.

Brain DUMP

Ok it is sometimes much easier to list rather than try and make sense of the random events that overlay or in other words explain life.

No matter how much we plan, save, pray, beg, or just yell at times I am truly aware that as a person have no control over anything. ANYTIME ANYWHERE.. rather have had the best coolest life I can imagine just by experiencing every possible thing i can. Ok skip amusement park rides and anything large persons are required to obtain a doctor's note.

1. I have moved back to America and yes love Omaha.

• the roads are well done and for the most part you can get anywhere within 30 min.
  

1. I hate understanding everything everyone says around me.

• my movers talked more than I do.
  
• I am doing society a favor by making my boys be seen and not heard.
• most people have opinions about things they are totally not educated nor have experience in. It seems they feel confidence in voiceing their thoughts to cover up true issues in their life, which actually are far more interesting.
  

1. The house we bought wasnt the one of our dreams

• ie lake house or simple country home
• holds the family in which all our dreams are created and cherished.
• everyone got what they wanted since we couldn't come to any decisions
• wall to wall beechwood on main floor
• each child has a room of his own for now
• my belgian window has too much mold dust to be in a bedroom
• we are having an Asian themed bedroom hopefully I can pull off sexy geisha room and not a Korea palace look.
  
• my husband wants new furniture and is actually a far more contemporary trendy guy than I ever gave him credit for.
• Philip got a great deal on appliances for our house
• we changed everything we could to gas fuel
• I wish i had looked at the measurements for the laundry room and had the unit drain and hoses put on another wall. too late now.
• all grout in tile should match the tile you lay NOT CONTRAST..lesson learned. Nothing some white ceiling paint wont fix in a few years.
  

1. Philip has a EASY job here and I am so grateful he has supported us by being in the military. We are staying in until they tell us he has to leave... or he gets a teaching degree.

• it is so wonderful that we were able to leave Belgium when we did. Sometimes we do totally agree on things.
  
• I can't believe we were living so far away for 18 years.
• America is really an amazing place, the blend of architecture on just one street downtown I have rarely seen anywhere else.
  
• My husband has truly spared the world and given it a great gift by letting me stay at home.
  

1. My eye disease has wrecked havoc since arriving back to the states. So far no promises. Contacts didnt fit on my eye correctly, awaiting now answer from DR.
   

• If you aren't an organ donor please do the paperwork, without donors I wont be able to see in a few years. Glad to not be dying from this disease.
• last week Dr Greer fitted me with at least 5 contacts,, none worked.
  
• I do have the option of getting a cornea transplant but when?? dont know.
• have to check to see what TRICARE will cover

1. I havent been feeling well and am pregnant.
   

• motion sickness
• wanting to eat icecream
• hot flashes
• peeing constantly
• and well its not the flu
• I have taken a blood test
• will choose a DR someone else I know is using
• will be having my first baby in America
• Jen Tate thinks this is all is absolutely hysterical...
• it is so amazing to think once again we are blessed even though I was finally ready to not have anymore children
• Philip is great and supportive and hasnt made fun of my swelling ankles or the thick socks I need to wear
• I had my hair highlighted where all my gray was coming in and went dark where I had remaining natural black. Its interesting to be faux natural.
  

1. Musical instruments are too expensive

• when i was little i wanted to play the Sax and my parents either couldnt afford it or the sax slots had all been filled. I refused to play the clarinet.
• Philip played the sax in school and was good.
  
• I know the bump on his lip i have seen for years ..comes from playing the sax instead as worried I thought he lip cancer.
  
• Ethan has choose the sax and of course it has to be the most expensive to rent
• Gavin I have found a wonderful teacher for and he starts this week.
• We now need a weighted key piano..he is level 2
• Did I mention each boy has his own room.. thank goodness for this will be wonderful during practice times.
  

PAINTING

Philip and I finally found colors we could live with and started painting on Saturday. I painted the laundry in the green left by the previous owners. Its a nice color in a small room not a dining room. Ethan hasn't got his green but other boys got paint rejects from Home Depot.. 5 dollars for the gallon. Gavin picked a gray for his SPY theme and Carson got three little cans for 1 dollar each. A bright yellow, ocean blue, and navy. He is getting Tommy Hilfiger strips (yes sounds good huh_ to go with his surfer room. Anyone got a surf board? Still working on Philip to do the Purple suede and silver metallic reproduction of a euro room. I got the wall idea from a room in the Notre Dame. He doesn't know about the chandelier idea yet. lol

We decided to get bids on updating the doors with glass and adding in a wine rack and lights. BUT THEN Philip painted today and said they look really good. The new trend in cabinets is to have various sizes so we are looking into adding a taller cabinet to replace one that has mismatched sized doors. I will then use the cabinet in another bathroom. We did go ahead and use our house fund for all wood floors on the main floor. For the past few weeks we have looked at tiles, but i cant find anything we like. So just doing to do the laundry and bath.
On a funny note.. we signed last week for the house. Had tons of contractors look at all we would like to change. LOL one guy,, a great nice man, came back with a quote to finish the basement. It was 26 thousand dollars. LOL our house isn't worth improving for that amount. I mentioned to him Philip was military and it took him years to save for this house for us. That he shouldn't bid unless it was a poor mans salary to pay for it. WELL funny is we cant use him but he did a great job of floor plans for us so we have a professional idea of what it could look like. wahoo

Last night's Facebook post: had a great visit with my parents today. We did the walk through for the house and the boys picked their rooms.

Our good friends posted the following:

What? no fighting to report? My reply: no its all good. I was shocked. And not one of picked the room i thought they would.

I have thought about this a lot. Bringing flash backs from subbing Kerrigan's lessons in 7Th Grade math on probability. I bring her up first because if it weren't for her lesson and example on how if a family has two boys/girls shouldn't they have a opposite gaurantee for the third? Hehe we know NO and my friend with four little boys know NO. I know I would try to change the outcome of their choices with rational reasoning. Only to have them miserable they didnt stick with the choice made while allowed to think freely. This is not a bad thing anymore.
Yes in my mind Carson should have picked the biggest bedroom next to the bathroom and ours. Instead he chose the middle room with only one window and the smallest. His reasoning was he would have less of a room to clean. This is the same kid who wants no more toys because he is tierd of cleaning them.
Gavin chose the front bedroom that faces the street and has a view of the backyards off the next block. He thinks he will get to see everyone's buisiness. This not at all a freakish thing but right now he is of mind he is going to be a SPY. Three languages under his belt and a memory he amazes us with ...I am not argueing.
Ethan chose the largest room. All I got out the conversation about it was our realtor told him it would be a good room if he likes to sleep in. Hmmm Philip and I got a good chuckle since he is normally a morning person. Guess early was getting up with Dad. At least he is the clean one so the room next to ours wont reek too much.

My Mom reminded me of how we would change rooms and rearrange all the time. Yes, she was cool about it. Which only helped me be a better military wife later,,changing your spaces is a good thing. It also gave me an eye for "staging" things.

another reply to my post of them choosing rooms was Do they all get to pick out the decor too?

yes but thats where the fighting with Philip will come to play lol. He is ok with color now..took 6 months but only one wall. Their favorite show was Extreme Home Makeover....
right now Carson is at a toss up for a castle room or a space room. I found a wall mural I think he will love. A castleI have to paint my arms off. OkI do have some artistic talent and he is just 7. If he goes with the space room he wants a bed that is mounted with a nerf gun so he can play space ship. Philip is saying yep to my ideas on the space room. SOLD.
Gavin ... wants a spy room.. any ideas?
Ethan is getting my our bedroom set. He wants dark green walls. No problem. Easy kid. Like his dad wants no frills.

Omaha

I haven't known really how to start, life has been very eye opening since moving to America.
First and foremost I have realized what a really wonderful and blessed life I have had. In the next years will it seem as if it was because we were living overseas or is it just US. Am I so unique and why?
I should have been journaling all my adventures over the years. Who knew though? Seriously we meet in high school, have no formal education yet have seen a lot of the world.
What strikes me isn't who I am but how unique others are. Now the people of my past stories are what I am grasping to in my effort to belong here. It brings me comfort.

Omaha:\
We are staying at a friends home who deployed to Iraq two weeks after my arrival here. In Belgium we knew them but Philip traveled quite a bit more with Scotty than we spent time with them. It is a nice home down the street from the Field Club Historic district. I absolutely love it. It feels like my home, Scotty did a great job of showing us around. The neighborhood reminds me of Independence MO where I spent time growing up. Of course the school district on this block is not Field Club and with not being able to drive it wasn't an option.

Eyes: I took the eye test for the drivers license. It was devastating to not be able to read the numbers. Oh yes I thought I could guess ...and said letters. After living years in other countries and not knowing the language has helped me through this. I am not used to being able to read the signs and now that I can see them well...it doesnt matter.

House:
We looked at several houses. Being married 18 years and living in whatever the military tells you to helps you know what you want. We have talked about what we needed and liked. Philip actually has an email from me saying that I hate the house and it was ugly. Well we bought it, for the extreme potential it has and open room for the boys. Philip loves the suburbs while I don't know what to think but YeAH my stuff is going to fit.
A friend said they have a wish list for their new house. Its good to dream.
Things I wished we could do:
lay hardwood on the main floor.
Add gas stove
add gas dryer
add gas grill
tile kitchen and entryway
finish basement
bathroom in basement
move gas fireplace to downstairs and put in see through one from dining to living room
put gas fireplace in master bed
change shower in master bed to tile japanese style shower
glass in study nook at top of stairs by boys rooms

yup about as much $$$ to do all of this that we paid for on the house lol.

The one thing i want to change the most is the carpeted floor So we will know this next week after all the estimate people come in and shock therapy me with quotes.

Colors we are hashing it out. I am so over tans and browns. At this very moment discussing a desert yellow.

Nebraska Dreaming

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2176762Château de Beloeil

This morning I had plans to take the boys to a flower show at the Chatteau. Yes there are serveral near us in our small farming town of Lens.

The weather is cold today and very gray. When I think of Omaha there is only two seasons?? Summer and Winter. Surely it is smarter to buy a home with a hill for sledding then?

All joking aside, it is gray here and I am dreaming of a nap in the sun this summer at my dad's in Georgia. Nebraska isn't real yet.

Mom and Greg are coming to get Major ( the dog) this week. You cannot ship a dog easily, we know this. Philip tried to explain this prior to me picking out a cute fuzzy sniffing fur ball in November. He is the best dog ever, we had a great plan Philip would take him to Mom's in Missouri, at minimal cost. This of course all went south and we discovered that it was cheaper to pay someone to come get the dog than ship him by cargo. For more info traveling with a pet please check..luckly we only have kids in the ca

http://www.militaryavenue.com/Articles/PCSing+with+Pets-27089.aspx funny article

Questions this week?

Gavin: When does Kaleb come visit from Leavenworth Kansas?

Carson: Will I get a King size bed?

Ethan: On the weekends will our family come see us or we drive to them?

Mom: WHAT NO IKEA?

Dad: ok not available but did want to know if I don't know understand the definition of HOUSE POOR?

American Dream part 2

Historian and writer James Truslow Adams coined the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America:
“ The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.[2]"
People don't know your interesting unless you tell them you are। I don't find it all that amazing we have lived in three countries in 18 years. Four if you count a tour in Korea for a year. It's almost pathetic we have not learned an one language besides English fluently. What is absurd though makes us interesting.