Robin Chartier – Page 154

Coca-Cola

At the Halloween Spooktacular (sponsored by the school) the boys all wanted to play the ring toss game to win two liters of soda. Cause you know we’re a huge soda-drinking family and could use a few extra two liters around the house. The idea was to throw the rings at a wall of soda bottles and if you landed one around the neck of the bottle, you won it.

Not only did these guys each win one, but Calvin went 3 for 3 and was hauling a two-liter under each arm all night (the third one went to the girl who gave him two tickets to play the game for her. She probably took the bottle home and slept with it tucked under her arm — soda is the new stuffed animal, right?). The best part was when we sat down to eat and each boy opened his bottle without checking to see if any of the others had opened theirs first. That’s exactly what I wanted with dinner: 3 huge open containers of soda — on top of all the other candy and sugar.

Anyway, the soda has been consumed, the candy has been tossed and I’m hoping we can recover some sense of normal around here before the grandparents come with new ways and means of spoiling them all over again. It’s just a non-stop party!

I am woman, hear me roar ineffectively

One of the interesting things about living here is I am not taken seriously because I’m a woman. Not that it bothers me most of the time. It provides a very nice barrier when I’m not in the mood to talk to strangers on the street or in a store (most of the time). If any talking needs to be done beyond normal purchasing small talk, I can task Josh with it.

It’s not that different from life in the military. In that case it’s less because I’m a woman and more because I’m not the one wearing the leafy thing on my collar. I’m sure I could get things done (and I have, especially when he’s deployed or in the field), but it’s much more efficient to send Josh to the medical clinic or housing because I sit around for 20 minutes waiting to see someone and he is able to walk right in. I guess you could say I’ve had 15 years of training for living here. Add in a little Zoloft to dull the sense of injustice and I’m quite happy most of the time.

Typical senario the other day. We ordered patio furniture that was to be delivered. I told them it had to be delivered before noon because I was going to be out and Josie is only at the house until noon. I knew it wasn’t going to be delivered before noon because that’s not how things happen here, but whatever, I’m used to it.

Noon came and went — we went to the pool. Around 1:15 I checked my phone and I had a few missed calls from a random number. Knowing it had to be the delivery people I called them back and was told, “Sorry, they are no longer in the area. We called, you weren’t there. Too bad, so sad.” When I reminded them that they missed their delivery window and needed to reschedule the man replied, “Hmm, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. I will check with the driver and call you back. Don’t go away from your phone.” 6 hours later, still no call. Josh overheard me talking to them on the phone again and could tell they were giving me the brush off. He got on the phone, reminded the manager that I didn’t work for them (when they tried to blame the non-delivery on me) and pinned them down for the following morning, even getting the manager’s personal cell phone number (that he promised to call if delivery didn’t happen).

Guess what? 9:30 am and they were at my door. It’s a man’s world.

Eid

The boys have been off for the past 6 days, but life hasn’t slowed down any. We have friends visiting from Oman (it’s nice to be loved!), the boys still have baseball practices, pool parties and playdates with friends that require tons of driving around, and they each had school projects that had to be completed over the holiday. And of course they needed my help. Seriously?! I already went to school. The last thing I want to do on my vacation is research Jimmy Carter, document how I would spend a million dollars, try and keep an egg from breaking when it is dropped from a two story building, or measure the affect of diet on urine acidity. I’m having to do more work than when I was homeschooling. Boo.

Some days the only time she’s been able to catch a nap is while we’re in the car. (Not because I didn’t try to put her down for a rest at home, but because all the extra people around made napping alone much less appealing than playing with her brothers).

We are hosting Bible Study at our house tomorrow night, then several days of Halloween themed activities at school will round out the weekend. I’m hoping I’ll finally be able to slow down a little, sit down for longer than a few minutes at a stretch, and blog more regularly next week.

Edited to Add: I may be tired, but our Sleeping Beauty is actually non-Sleeping Beauty. We came upstairs at 11pm to find her lying in a patch of light in the doorway of her room, coloring and cutting paper into little bits — crafting away. Of course all 3 boys are snoozing. Calvin’s going to be thrilled that she got into his backpack while he was sleeping. I have no idea what to do with her. Put her in a padded room and let her play all night?

hangover

This scene from this morning about sums up our weekend . . .

Everyone has been moving slowly this morning after late nights and the crash after a sugar high.

When I went to take a shower, she was asleep. I came out to find that she had woken up, crawled over, snuggled up next to the dog, and then went back to sleep. Moments like this make all the extra work of having a dog almost worth it.

Before the Halloween party/Trunk or Treat on base

I never ever thought he looked like Harry Potter until he put on the cloak and glasses and he transformed. His teacher saw him on base and didn’t recognize him until he said, “Hey! It’s me, Caleb!”

The costume thing is totally freaking her out (especially our friend dressed as a lion with fangs — see the photo above).

So many people decorated their cars, dressed up, and handed out candy. Too much candy . . . multiplied by four kids . . . ooh, I think I might still have some Reese’s in the freezer.

Calvin wanted to be a member of the Donner Party and walk around gnawing on a big turkey leg. I thought that was gross and he didn’t like any of my ideas so he went costume-free.

She was having a great time until she realized we were at another party where everyone had on scary masks. Only one more event next week and then the scary stuff should be over. At least until Santa makes an appearance!

birds of a feather

Camille and I went to our preschool playgroup at a park near our house the other day. Since we were there first thing in the morning, there were hundreds of these tracks in the playground sand.

Was this place home to millions of giant pigeons?

Nope, just these two ~~ostriches~~ emus (I can’t tell the difference, but someone else there said ostriches are wider and have more tail feathers). This was not a zoo, just a normal park with a playground and slide and, oh yeah, a couple of exotic birds in a cage.

The way they walked around with their beaky heads bobbing reminded me of the velociraptors from Jurrasic Park.

Like everything else in life, she wasn’t too sure about them, but she did tell me, “I want to go see the chickens.”

A maintenance worker showed them how to pick the green plants growing around the perimeter of the park and feed them to the birds through the holes in the fence.