Month: October 2012

is the closest I can come to describing what it feels like inside my head these days. Friday mornings feel especially disjointed because I’m never mentally ready for church. I was telling someone this morning that it feels like I slam into “Sunday” each week. I spend the previous 5 days keeping track of kids, various pick-up times, signing off homework, games, dinners and lunches (kids do their own breakfasts of oatmeal/cereal/cereal bars), and on Thursday night (faux-Friday) I am ready to exhale and unwind. Until I realize that I don’t have that luxury because we have church in the morning and I have to corral overtired kids again. 

Add to that the fact that I spend the entire time at church in the toddler class, keeping a low profile while strongly encouraging Camille to go play with the other kids, and it doesn’t exactly put me in a spiritual mood. She’s getting better though. Instead of hanging onto my leg the entire hour, she was absorbed enough that I was gradually able to ease across the room until I was sitting closer to the door than I was to her by the end of class. 

My ultimate goal is to leave her in class and go to church myself, but it will probably take a few more weeks before I’ll be able to leave the room for a bathroom break. Trust me, she’s not the kind of kid that would stop crying after a few minutes. I was cracking up today because one of the teachers smiled at her and she stared her down with a suspicious frown in return. I would take her to service with us, but she squirms and hasn’t mastered the art of whispering yet, so this seems like the best solution for now.   

After church today we went over to base for lunch. This photo about sums it up:

Camille climbed on Josh’s lap and ate more than half of his food (and is drinking his maple syrup), Caleb, extra tired from a sleepover, kept hanging on his neck, and Josh is wondering why we can never have a normal meal.

Tomorrow is Saturday, both real and virtual — the one day of the week where things line up with normal life back at home. Just like you, we’ll be doing yard work, running errands, and enjoying the day off. Along with decluttering our house and yard, I’m hoping the rest will help to declutter my brain as well. I need to make space for next week!

Yes, I know I haven’t been blogging as regularly lately. I’m trying . . . really, I am. But this little monkey takes up most of my time . . . or maybe just all of my energy.

I think this was lotion — no wait, it was sunscreen. This was from a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post these photos at the time. See what I mean? The days just keep slipping away. The newest, hairy creature also takes a lot of my mental energy. Especially since he is kind of mental himself. He is sweet, gentle, and calm, BUT he has serious separation anxiety so he follows me all over the house (just shadowing me from room to room — thankfully he’s not all up in my face about it) and when I leave the house he freaks out and yelps and claws at the door to his crate. 

So I end up trying to take him with me in the car when I can, or dreaming up things to keep him happy when he’s alone: we’ve tried music, TV, melatonin, calming chews, an anxiety wrap, spray cheese treats, clonapin, pig ears, dried bull penises (yes, really!) and several other things that I’m sure I’ve forgotten as they have all either failed or haven’t worked enough for me to tell much of a difference. It’s worse for him than for me, of course, but it would be nice to get him to the point where he could chill out and enjoy a snack and some peace and quiet when I leave the house. He doesn’t know how good he has it — I’d love some Cheeze Whiz and a house to myself.

We were out the other night so the dog could burn off some of his extra energy and we saw this flock of chickens roosting on a neighbor’s wall. They are scrawny things that must run around in the yard all day, but roost on the front wall at night since that’s the only time I ever see them. Other neighbors have a peacock and down the street a guy has a two story aviary in his front yard with parrots and other exotic birds in it. As Josh says, “People see our dog and think we’re the crazy ones?”

I don’t think I’ve shared that Caleb started Boy Scouts. A few of his friends from school were doing it so he really, really, really wanted to do it. Since it meets at school and I have to pick Calvin up around that time anyway, it doesn’t add too much extra driving to my day. It’s probably good for him to hang out with some boys for a change anyway. We usually take the dog and hang out at the dog park for an hour while we wait. That’s where a lot of my blogging time has gone: taxi driving, juggling multiple varied schedules, and burning time so we can combine trips. 

As everyone in the states prepares for Fall and Winter, I finally get to put my hands in the dirt. It’s still 100 and humid, but that’s better than 110 and dripping. Today I went to the nursery and bought some vegetable plants and seeds, potting soil and pots. I would love to have some actual ground to plant in, but I’ll work with this. So far I have tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, lettuce, spinach, beets, swiss chard, mint, cilantro, and a few other things. 

And then Camille and I fell asleep for 3 hours. I only woke up because I have an alarm to remind me to pick up the boys from after school activities/basketball. Good thing, otherwise we might still be snoozing. 

Wednesdays are busy because I pick up the boys and we head to base. Then we have to kill time for an hour or so while we wait for Calvin to finish basketball. He walks over to base, we meet Josh, grab dinner and head straight to Bible Study/Home Group. Our group is made up of several families — we eat, the kids have a short lesson, we sing and then the kids all go play upstairs while we study and discuss whatever is on the schedule for the night. I’m really enjoying it, but it makes for a long day when we don’t get home until after 9 and then have to race to do lunches, make sure homework is done, and get everyone to sleep. 

The boys got an after school snack at Taco Bell and when they asked her for a bite, she quickly shoved everything she had left into her mouth. Then since she couldn’t get it all down at once, she pulled most of it back out, satisfied that they wouldn’t touch it with her saliva all over it. She knows how to get exactly what she wants.

I didn’t think I would have time to blog today, but after my 3 hour nap this afternoon, I wasn’t tired after everyone fell asleep . . . but now there’s only 6 hours until I have to get up. Time to sleep!

Basketball season means a lot more driving (boo!), but on the bright side there are weekly games (yay!). 

He used to play point guard — the short guy who always brings the ball up the court. I’m not sure what he’s playing this year . . . shooting guard? Is that a thing? All I know is he’s the one throwing the ball in to the person who then brings the ball up the court. 

They didn’t win today, but we’re used to that. Calvin has been on a losing team every year that he has played, poor guy. When I say “losing team,” I mean that his teams have never won more than one game the entire season. Rough!

We have high hopes for this year though since they won last week and they have a pretty good team overall. One of the challenges that he always has is the teams he plays on are transient (made up of military kids), but they play against teams that have been together for years. He has certainly learned how to lose graciously, but we’re hoping he can enjoy a few wins this time around. 

Our (camping/Atlantis) friends from Oman came to visit us over the weekend which is why I haven’t blogged in a few days. This photo of Camille is from our brunch at Cafe Lilou’s — french toast made from croissants, with mascarpone whipped cream, berries and white chocolate. If you come visit us, we will go there, I promise. 

Our families have been busy catching up, eating out, and swimming at the indoor waterpark here. I don’t have any pictures because water and iphones don’t mix, but it was an amazing time. I was afraid it would be loud and chlorine-y and I wouldn’t have anything to do with Camille, but they have a beach entry wave pool, lots of splash areas for little ones, a lazy river and a big covered outdoor area with slides/pools. If you come visit us, we can go there too.  

You can also experience the legendary traffic. I took this picture because I was irritated. The two cars on the right are trying to cut in front of the line of cars making a left turn. It wouldn’t be a big deal except when you’ve already been waiting at a light through 3 cycles, you want to kill people when all the line jumpers cause you to miss the light again.  

I need to take a lesson from Camille. Pull out my iPhone, kick back and watch “The Orlax” (The Lorax — her favorite movie), and figure we’ll get there when we get there. Keep Calm and Carry On!