School

Yesterday, we had kind of a crazy day.

When we moved here, we were less than thrilled about putting Carter in the elementary school here on base. Now some may say or think, "Geez, a DoDs school at Edwards is probably great! Tons of smart pilots, engineers and civilians work there. Some of the cream of the crop!" However, 'tis not the case.
The school is not a DoD school, it is a public school, therefore any joe schmoe can attend. Not that I am for denying anyone an education. But our surrounding area is less than sketchy out here, therefore we seem to bring in some of the dregs of humanity. So, if you work on base, whether you work as a Test Pilot or you flip burgers at the burger king, or you clean the floors at the shopette, your child can attend school on base. Which is the case in most residential areas, if you lived close to a school, you go to that school regardless of your parent's occupation. Makes sense, right? But, the problem lies in several places. Like I mentioned earlier, the surrounding area (from where all the civilian or contract workers come from) is pretty low income, high poverty, and has high drug/crime rates. Having a public school on base allows the drug/crime problem to come onto base.
But wait! Security forces nips that in the butt, right? Nope, SF has NO JURISDICTION on the school, because it is a public school. For instance, to make a 'drug raid' they have to announce it first, and then the county comes in to perform the raid. This allows everyone enough time to stash their 'stash' in plenty of time.
Also, the SF don't check the inside of every kids pocket that come onto base for school everyday. Sure, every now and then they perform a random check at the gate (where they do have jurisdiction), but that hardly seems to puts a dent in the problem.
This is mostly a problem for junior high and high school obviously, but the fact that it is happening under everyone's noses right down the road from the elementary school is disturbing. When there's big behavior/drug/crime problems at the high school and junior high, that means a lot of those older kids have younger siblings at the elementary school. While these littler ones might not have drugs in their pockets, a lot of times they have bad attitudes, bad behavior or are having inappropriate conversations with your children during recess. All of the school/families are connected, if it affects one of the schools, the other schools feel the trickle down as well.
Other problems with the school on base is that they do not have art, or music, or SCIENCE. They pay the teachers very poorly and the kids only go to school from 8ish to 1:30ish (depending on the grade) to cut down on what they have to pay teachers.  Carter will actually go everyday from 7:50 to 11:50. This is not an Edwards issue, it is a CA public school issue. They cut corners for the budget every place they can, and it's evident.
Compound those issues with the fact that we're all 20 miles from the closest town and there aren't any other good options as alternatives. All the other public schools 'in town' are worse than the Edwards one. Sure, we could fork over the money for private school. But add 40 minutes of gas two times a day on top of tuition and it starts getting outrageous.
Sooo, back to "we weren't thrilled about sending Carter".
When we arrived, a friend of mine had some great news. She had basically convinced their private school teacher (from last year) to come onto base and teach Kindergarten and 1st grade. Her and several friends had carpooled and taken their kids off base to a church for Kindergarten. However, the church stops at Kindergarten and they would have all had to enroll at the elementary school on base. The teacher and everyone seemed to be on board.  It would be a small class, 10 kids, and we were going to hold it at the chapel. My friend, along with the teacher, had put in hours of leg work recruiting kids, calculating costs, getting approval from the chapel, school calendars, etc. Cory and I were so excited that Carter was going to get to be a part of this great opportunity. Everything I had heard from the other parents about the teacher was nothing less than spectacular. Yay! We held some informal meetings, paid for our supplies (They were going to use the ABecka curriculum) and were set to start on Sept 4th.

Yesterday, all of the sudden, news came down that we were not allowed to use the chapel. We were devastated. We don't know why or how the problem arose, because we had already asked the chaplain's permission. His daughter was even going to be in the class! But JAG gave us a call and said, no way. We couldn't run a business out of the chapel. We're not sure if someone caught wind of what we were doing and told on us? Not that we were trying to be sneaky, but we had no idea what we were trying to do would have been a problem. No one we asked had seemed to think it was a problem, and how JAG came to questioning it, is beyond us.We would have to pay a good extra amount to use a services building, and no one had a reliable house to offer. Without a location, we just...couldn't make it work. To add to all the confusion and sudden craziness yesterday, almost everyone in the group had unenrolled their children from the base elementary school, and the Verizon cell tower was down, so no one had phone service. Because of that, several people were in the dark about the whole situation until the evening. Luckily, I had not actually un-enrolled Carter yet. I had actually tried to call the school yesterday morning to un-enroll him before we knew anything was wrong, and I couldn't get service.
Several of us moms spent yesterday in a panic, trying to come up with something to make it work, and we hit a roadblock at every corner. The use of the chapel was the key to making the whole thing work, the foundation. Without it, the whole thing just crumbled at our feet.

So today I took Carter to Kindergarten orientation and he will start school on Monday on base. I am still upset for all the moms that were hoping for this to work out. But I guess better now than in three weeks, right?
We very briefly met the teacher and filled out some paperwork. We learned the drop-off, pickup rules (um...there isn't drop off. I have to walk him in and out.) and what to bring the first day. There will be an open house later this month to discuss curriculum. I am going to be positive about our situation, because I really feel like God has his hand on Carter, I know we are disappointed, but I know there is a reason. I just hope that he wasn't trying to tell me to homeschool......

From There to Here Part III

We left Ft. Worth early in the morning in hopes of making it to Van Horn, TX. It always seems to be an ordeal to drive across Texas. Well, I mean, it does take about 14 hours to cross the darn place. We needed to stop in Tucson and then at Edwards. Those were the only scheduled places we had to be. The others were up in the air. The thing is, when stopping in West Texas these days the prices are high and the bed bugs are plenty. There's so much new oil in the area that all the people working on the rigs/etc. have all the reservations (And we're not talking about Mariotts here, We're talking Super 8s and the like) booked up. And because of the high volume/fast turnover of people/line of work/probably not the cleanest environment, the bed bugs are bad. yuck. We didn't want to stop in the Midland/Odessa area for that reason and El Paso is just a little too far for one day so we decided to stop in Van Horn (a little more west of Midland, but still East of El Paso). The area turned out to be fine, and we made it into town for dinner. We went to a little western steakhouse in 'downtown'. It looked like it might be the spot for date nights though, as we were the only people with kids. All the other patrons were couples that were dressed up a little and here we waltz in with the minions who are all stir crazy and look like a hot mess from sitting and eating in the car all day. Both Cory and I ordered the largest beer on the menu and tried to ignore the strange stares.
We spent the night there in Van Horn and headed to Tucson the next morning. We stayed with some great old friends from Korea, the Galloways. We got there after lunch time and let all the kids (7 in total!) swim and jump on the trampoline until dinner. In the evening, Doug and Dene' had arranged for a babysitter and the adults got to go to dinner! It was really nice to take a shower in a regular bathroom, put some makeup on and have some adult company for awhile. We had gelato afterwards and then headed back to their house for a fire pit night cap.
We stayed at the Galloways for another full day (of swimming/relaxing/eating more Chipotle) and had a great time. It was a good stop for a break in driving and it was so nice to catch up with friends. Carter and Clay love their boys and had a great time too.
From Tucson, we had planned to stop in Blythe, AZ. (Just on the border or AZ and CA) but we hit Blythe at lunchtime and wanted to keep going. There's really not anywhere past Blythe to stay, so we knew we would have to make it the whole way.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we knew the way the GPS was trying to take us was not the fastest way. We knew we wanted to go to the South gate but the GPS hates the south gate. Somehow we missed an exit and ended up driving around in El Mirage CA for awhile before finally arriving at the base.
Of course it was about dinner time and the base was having a water problem, so all the eating establishments were closed. We ended up driving to Rosamond for dinner, where everyone proceeded to loose their s#^@&. We trudged through dinner, drove back to base, and were finally.....FINALLY...home.

Vivian is 2!!

My Dear Vivian,

You're two today! Normally, I am dreading this age and I'm sure in a few months I will be eating these words. But I am so excited for you to experience all that is "two"! You will learn so much and have so much fun this upcoming year. You'll learn to use the potty, use full sentences and count. You'll outgrow bibs, and become a Popsicle superstar. At 'just now two', you still a little messy through meals, speak in two word phrases. But, you are so close to mastering so many little things. It's amazing and humbling that I notice these things with you, where as with your brothers, I was so overwhelmed I didn't have as much time to soak in the little moments.
You would think that I would be more overwhelmed this time since I have three kids now, but I'm not. I've been able to enjoy your infanthood so much.

You are the perfect mix of princess and tomboy. You are very rough and tumble and love to wrestle with daddy and the boys, but today on your birthday, you picked out a bright pink pettiskirt to wear.
You love, love, love dirt and sand. In fact, if you're wearing just bloomers or shorts, you will shove rocks and dirt into your diaper....you know, for convenient storage.
You have such a wonderful smile and laugh, but you are very stingy with it. We have yet to get nice pictures of you smiling, since you've worked so hard on perfecting your skeptical scowl.

You are a great eater, not picky, but with a sweet tooth. You love animals, and friends, and ice cream and anything little kids are supposed to enjoy. Everything is exciting and fun and your attitude is so infectious. All of us, including your brothers, can be instantly transformed into a better mood when you make us laugh. You are silly, and quite the comedian at home. Shy around new people, but that has gotten much better. You used to burst into tears when the old folks at the commissary would stop and talk to you. Now, you just furrow your brow, reach, and say, "Mommy...."

You love to pretend to count, or pretend to sing your ABCs. You can use two words at a time. "Mommy, help!", or "Bailey, eat.", or "kitty, ow!", "Daddy, look!", "juice, please."

You love your bitty baby (who we call big baby, since she is bigger than your other dolls) and caring for her. You love the color purple, and can easily identify it. In fact, in the recent Pottery Barn catalog, you picked out some beautiful purple 'big girl' bedding. Don't get ahead of yourself, dear. You're no where near a big girl bed.

You like to draw and have really incredible fine motor skills for your age. You are finally talking more, but your pronunciation needs some work. Mostly, only Daddy and I can understand you. But you sure know what you are saying!

You love to talk on the phone, or pretend to, and use your play kitchen and make me coffee. You love to help feed the animals and watch Sesame Street.

You are still the biggest of all my kiddos. You weigh a whopping 28 pounds (more than Carter at 3.5 years) and are almost as tall as Clay. You wear one shoe size and one clothes size smaller than Clay. You are catching up fast and am afraid you will have both of the boys passed up in the next 3 years. You must have put all your growing effort into weight and height since you still just have baby wisps of hair. You are starting to get some at the nape of your neck and it is very thin, yet coarse, yet kind of curly. I can't decide what to make of it. Maybe by your next birthday we'll see what it will look like!  You're so wonderful and sweet. I love you big girl!

Love,
 Mama

If you want to reminisce:

To read Vivian's 1st birthday click here, and here
For Vivian's Birth Story click here and for her newborn pictures click here

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled program

For pictures of our new pool!

It's Edwards, it's hot and you can't go outside from 9:30-6:30 from May to October unless you have one of these......

Look how classy we are with our above ground pool!

"Look at all my hair mom!"

From There to Here Part II

You may be thinking, "Wait, the kids are in IN, why are you going to TX?"
We can make the drive from FL to TX in one long day, but we can't make the trip from FL to IN in one day. There's only about a 3 hour difference, but we are stretching it to make it to TX, and we just can't make those three extra hours to IN with a uhaul. Sooo, if you can follow me here, we drove Cory's truck and the uhaul to Texas to my parents house. We unloaded the uhaul stuff into their garage and had a relaxing evening at their house sans kids. I have to say it was kind of weird for all of us. I think the last time that happened was before we got married. And even then, we were busy with wedding preparations. We hopped on a plane the next morning to Chicago and Cory's parents picked us up. We arrived there in the same time we would have if we had driven and this way we only had one car to drive, the minivan (that my inlaws drove from Nashville).
We stayed in IN for about 5 days, and visited with Cory's brother and sister and their families along with plenty of time with the grandparents. All the kids had a great time on the zip line, the pool, mini golf, the water park, and driving around in the boat.
After our time in the Midwest, we all hopped into the van and drove back to TX. We had a stop in Springfield, MO, and made it there in two days. We spent about the same amount of time in TX, 5 or 6 days. We did a lot of swimming In Uncle Daryl's pool, visiting with family and even had a fun trip to the new water park in town.
Cory and I ate lots of Chipotle and frozen yogurt and were satisfied.....

Vivi



All the Midwest Cousins

Trey was flying through the zipline

We soon figured out we needed more tnesion for the older girls.

Carter

Making sure Clay didn't let go

Even Viv gave it a go.

Everyone at my parents' house.

From There to Here: Part I

I know everyone is dying to hear the nitty gritty of our trip. We laughed, we cried, we went to the bathroom 303458754 times.
We started off by having my mom fly to FL and move into the TLFs with us. We packed up 2,000 lbs of stuff we were going to move on our own and took it, my mom, and the kids down to the base and left them there. Cory and I slept in the TLFs with everyone and then would drive to Crestview (where our house is) to supervise the movers, clean the house, etc.
I know a lot of people that do their moves different ways. The way I prefer to do them is by moving to the TLF the day before the movers get there. I want to have every towel, plate and thing clean before it goes in the boxes. It makes my life much simpler on the actual moving days. I don't have to watch them like a hawk making sure they do/do not pack certain things. If it's on the property: it goes! Everything that stays with us is already at the TLF. This works for me. I don't like camping out in our house for several days on an air mattress with a few plates/forks while the movers are there. I know my makeup or car keys would end up getting packed and I would be irate.
Everyone always has a 'good story' with their moving company. I say it in quotes like that because that actually means a story that won't be funny for several more years.
We haven't had too many horror stories, but there's always some issue with something completely ridiculous.
This time our first issue was that they didn't bring enough guys on the 'put your crap in the truck' day. Somehow the size of our house/shipment was relayed incorrectly and they came under prepared. So it took them forever. And our driver had these weird rules for his team. He made them line all 15 thousand pounds of our stuff on the driveway/front yard and then he inventoried it from there and then he was the only one that could physically put it in the truck. I was kind of panicky when I realized nothing was in the truck yet and it was 3pm.
Also, they took EVERYTHING APART. INTO ONE MILLION PIECES. I mean, normally they  will take the legs off of some furniture, the entertainment center comes apart in a few big pieces, the beds in a few pieces. But they took the furniture and everything else they could think of apart into flat boards and hardware. You know, like when it comes in the box from the store?? They took apart Cory's garage organizer into about 50 pieces, they took apart our computer desk into about 100. They took the futon down to springs and wood pieces. They took the springs off of the furniture! They took my stroller wheels off my stroller! Are you getting the picture here? And lucky them, the guys who did this are not the ones that have to put it all back together. The moving guys on this end are. I felt so bad for them. But thankful that they stuck it out and got everything together pretty well.
 Also, my stroller wheels are nowhere to be seen. Every box has been unpacked and they are no where. My Phil and Ted! Jeez! Don't they know that stroller holds more than babies? It holds memories! Of Korea and all my other Phil and Ted sisters! in 2008, Osan AB was a walking Phil and Ted advertisement. I bet all the moms out there now have different strollers. I shudder at the thought. 
They day after the movers came, my mom went back home. (She babysat kids in the TLF for a week!) Then, we got the kids and the dog and drove to Nashville. We met my inlaws at the airport and did a quick lunchtime hand off of the kids, dog and our minivan. Cory and I rented a car and drove back to FL while my inlaws drove the rest of our crew up to their house in NW Indiana. Cory and I needed another 4 days to ourselves to clean and do maintenance on our house. We finally got renters (the day our packers showed up! Nothing like waiting till the last minute!) and we needed to get everything ready for them to move in. We finished all the cleaning and repairs, rented a uhaul and loaded our 2,000 lbs and started our drive toward TX.

Totally unrealistic

So, yes, we've moved and we have a new cat and the kids are all insane these days, but we have more pressing issues to discuss. I really have a love/hate relationship with moving. I really dread it on the forward end, but then am always glad to purge/organize on the other end. I really like to organize and really wish I were better at it. So, of course I have to go buy little to-do lists and calendars and what-not to make me feel accomplished during the day. I don't like to just rely on mysmart phone. I want to write it on paper and then MARK IT OFF. Sometimes I will even write something on my to do list even if I have already done it, just for the satisfaction of marking it off. I want to see that satisfying little line through my words. ANYWAY, I bought a few things at TARGET!! a few weeks ago and came across this little dandy.

*you might have to click and enlarge this to see it well

And I couldn't even unwrap it because I was so upset at the TOTAL UNREALISTIC mock schedule on the damned thing.

So here we have what I am assuming to be a wife, husband and two kids in a family, right? So it appears the wife (who is apparently nameless) works part time from 9am to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. First of all, what mom has a job with hours like that? Okay, maybe I am getting ahead of myself, and the husband supports everyone and she works at like, the church office or nursery, or some part time job just 'for fun'. I mean, I know several people that work only a few days a week, but it's usually  nurses that work 12 hour days, or work PRN. But 6 hours a week? Is that even enough for gas money to and from said job? Then apparently she has a meeting from 1-3 on Friday, *NOTICE* not during her normal work time. Is this a work meeting? Is this a crafting meeting? Is this a school/extra curricular meeting? If something's just labeled 'meeting' wouldn't you automatically assume it's work-related? Bur what on earth would you need to have a meeting about if you only work 6 hours a week? Maybe, "Hey, we're not paying overtime, so you better clock out at 5:59!"?

Also, this lady apparently makes time for herself as noted by her scheduled yoga and hair appointments throughout the week. BUT, is she in school too perhaps? There is a PROJECT DUE! on Friday. I hope she can get it done before her MEETING!

Also, the painter is coming on Saturday, so Greg, don't make any plans buddy.

The kids in the picture seem to be of school age since they have history tests this week along with their soccer, ballet and drama. But EVERYONE is washing the dog on Wednesday, don't forget! Do people really schedule dog washing?

And wait, Greg must be a student too. He has a science test on Tuesday. Everyone is in school? The whole family? Good thing his test isn't on Wednesday since he will be out of town on business. Who's bringing home the bacon here? I mean firstly, who has soccer games at 2pm in the middle of the school year. And what working adult takes off at at least 1:30pm every Monday to coach soccer games? Surely "nameless wife" isn't the bread winner since she is only working 6 hours a week.

Obviously I am too distracted by this dry erase schedule to use it. I haven't unwrapped it because I am planning on taking it back. I can't support this agenda, I mean, really.