Housekeeping!!

You know, I don't believe you ever fully appreciate that musical sound until you have to live in a hotel for an extended period of time with small children. In high school, we used to make fun of that statement. Later, I never really thought about it. But today, I left with the kids to make use of the laundry facilities (which are INCREDIBLY cool, by the way! They have the front loading washing machines, so that kept the kids happily occupied for half an hour watching the spinning clothes and soap suds come and go. It was so much fun!)--and I came back an hour later to hear the dishwasher running, the sink clean, the bathrooms cleaned and tidied, new soap and shampoo in the complimentary baskets, beds made, table cleared, books straightened--HEAVEN!!! As cheesy as this sounds, I walked in and honestly teared up! Ha! What a fantastic thing to have it all done. I did straighten up this morning, just so you don't think the place was a disaster when the maid service came in, but oh it was just even better than before and took such a weight off my shoulders. If this is what it will be like to have a full-time housekeeper, then I am sold!! I'll take it!!

Boredom

My poor kids! Yesterday had to be one of the worst days of this whole transition time. I have vowed to make today better! I don't think they even noticed that I was in the room! It was rather funny at times though (now, of course, not at the time...), especially when I let Josh watch Scooby Doo. He sat with that blank look on his face. I tried to talk to him multiple times, and he just stared at the screen. Finally, I had to break the spell (turn off the tv) and he looked over at me like he didn't know what was going on. Then I made him sit at the table to eat lunch. I told them if they sat at the table, I'd even let them finish their show while they ate lunch (bad mom, I know)! So, I got them all settled, and placed their sandwiches in front of them, and turned Scooby Doo back on...and Josh 'went away'! It was hilarious! He all of a sudden didn't move a muscle--just stared as hard as he could! I told him he needed to eat his sandwich or I'd turn off the tv...and he didn't even so much as blink! I repeated the same phrase to him about 5 times before I turned off the tv. At that point, he continued to stare, but started to blink! Then he looked at me, and asked me why I turned it off! I couldn't believe it! Sufficeth to say, it took him half an hour to eat half a sandwich, and it was most definitely NOT a pleasant experience for anyone involved!

After Scooby Doo ended, Claire wanted to watch Muppets From Space. Since Andrew was still sleeping, I said ok. As soon as I turned it on, they started to 'dance about and burst into song' (I love that show...) and act like crazy wild maniacs! *sigh* Once again, they didn't even acknowledge my presence, but pretended I wasn't even there. Although, this time they were much more animated about it. It was very frustrating.

Here are some cameos from the day of boredom...

Josh found a new place to 'sit' while watching tv:


Here is Josh actually WATCHING the movie!! That cannot be comfortable!!And here's Claire vegging out (I have no idea why my font is now bold and underlined...)And here is Andrew...this is his favorite thing to do: Wedge himself between the wall and the nightstand and push the power on and off on the alarm clock! Crazy kid! He sure seems to be enjoying himself, though!! :) (Again, I can't figure out why this is all underlined...)
Devin got to come home early because I went in for my next appointment at the dentist. Ah, the root canal process continues. I got my temporary crown put on yesterday. Ok, I feel pretty stupid. I always thought that a 'crown' on a tooth was just like what the word implies. A little cap on or around the tooth. I did not know it was the whole visible tooth in its entirety!!! I was a more than a little freaked out when the dentist stopped for a moment, and I felt that my tooth was shaved all the way down to the gum! WEIRD!!!!!!! Then she makes this funny little temporary tooth, and glues it on!! It felt like I was getting a prosthetic limb! What a strange sensation! Especially that she could shave my whole tooth off, and I had no idea! Nice that I didn't feel anything, though. I get my permanent crown on Monday...the day before we fly out. Oh boy.

While I was being crowned, Devin took the kids to get Andrew's last rabies shot. Poor little kid! But, now he's done! Well, he does have to get a few more routine shots, but not for another month or so, and we can get them there. Josh and Claire fell asleep in the car. *blah* That set bedtime back by a few hours.

After the coronation and vaccination, we turned in our apartment keys. I am so sad to say good bye to our rental manager, Aldine. She has been SO nice to us! She was the whole reason we even got into our wonderful apartment! I know the kids will miss her. They always asked to go visit Aldine. She is a gem, and we'll all miss her a lot!

We ate dinner at the kids' favorite restaurant: Old Country Buffet! That's always a fun dining experience. I like to take the kids to buffets, as they can eat whatever they want, and the atmosphere is much more relaxed. I will be sad not to have buffets anymore in Africa, but, hey, what can you do? At least we'll not be tempted anymore! Ha!!

Bedtime came late, and everyone was sad. But, we survived another day with a promise to do better the next one. Today I have lots of plans, and I hope they all turn out ok! I would love to have my happy, loving, obedient children back! I guess we're all stressed out...but we'll survive!

***I suppose normally, I would write two different posts, but since this one hasn't been published by me yet, and I wrote it this morning, I'll add on the rest of today!

We had a nice day. In my housekeeping post I already mentioned our laundry fun...that took up all our morning! Yea!! Andrew took a nap after a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches (but Josh doesn't like tuna, and since Devin took the Peanut butter to work today, Josh got a jam sandwich. He didn't complain.) and Josh and Claire got to hang out on the floor with lots of fluffy hotel pillows and blankets and watch Scooby Doo. Today was NOT as bad as yesterday, even though Josh did zone somewhat. Happens, I guess.

After Andrew's nap, we went to a place called Frying Pan Park. It's a working farm that you can walk through and see all the animals. It was so fun!! I didn't know it was a self-guided type thing, so at first I was somewhat wary of entering, but I finally did, and we had a ball! We saw newborn calves, TONS of pigs--some of the biggest pigs I've ever seen!!!!--and they STINK!!! We saw sheep, goats, chickens, roosters, ducks, cows, turkeys...even a peacock!! Are those normal farm animals?? The peacock cracked me up! There were horses over by the tot-lot, so Andrew and I stood and pointed at the horses while Josh and Claire ran around playing. The horse must have been hungry because he kept trying to eat the fence. Andrew LOVED seeing the animals!! Josh and Claire enjoyed it, too, I think, but not like Andrew did!! :) I could have kicked myself for forgetting the camera!! They would have been fun pictures!! It was pretty cold and 'spitty'--that nice foggy/rainy/sprinkly stuff. We had fun anyway. We got to take the hotel shuttle there since they take you anywhere within a three mile radius! And the coolest thing: The hotel shuttle is a Hummer!!!! Sweet!!! I'll take pictures tomorrow. I'm planning outings to the local library and also to the Air and Space museum, so we'll have more coming!! :)

Break Time

I need a break from moving and cleaning this morning, so I thought I would post the pictures from our ward Christmas party last night!

Josh and Claire are excited! We got there early to help set up and do some cooking.

Here I am cooking the chicken nuggets and velveeta mac & cheese. Yes, we had those at our Christmas party! People seem to think that children don't like ham, turkey, veggies and potatoes, so we had children's tables and their own special food. I cooked TWENTY trays FULL of chicken nuggets, and TEN packages of velveeta mac & cheese. I must say, that after squeezing the velveeta cheese out of 10 foil packages, I'm glad I wasn't eating it!!! Gross!! Velveeta is for fish, right? Oh, and these are my new glasses, for anyone who was curious as to what they looked like. :)

All the kids on the stage to sing some fun Christmas carols....

"Once there was a Snowman!!" Josh is in this pic...can you find him?

S: "Have you been a good boy this year?"
J: "Yah. Are those candy canes over there?"
S: "Yes, you can have one, go ahead!"
Ha! Josh didn't even sit and tell him what he wanted. Well, I suppose he did tell him what he wanted: A candy cane! And he got one! Funny!

This was a lucky shot! They set Claire down in his lap, and she started to cry! Then Santa pointed me out, and she looked over sort of smiling, so I got a good one! Then she jumped up and ran for the candy cane!! My poor deprived children! Ha!! Who cares about Santa! I want that candy!! (Did you know that 'Santa' spelled backwards is 'Satan'? Thanks, Dad...)

All in all, it was a fun night!! We ate and talked a lot and enjoyed time with our friends here. I will miss all the wonderful people here!!

Ok, back to the cleaning. I've scoured the bathrooms, Devin is working on the kitchen, so it's on to the windows and the vacuuming, so we really are getting close! yea!!!!

A Duo

Devin seems to think that since I wrote yesterday, I shouldn't have to write again today. Well, I will now prove him wrong! HA!!!! There's always tons of things to write about, especially when you're ME!! :) So, I have him here with me, and we are going to write things about our day just to show how much there is to say in just a 24 hour period... You start:

D: It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood of Nortel telephones. I am beginning to feel comfortable adding any type of phones to a Meridian PBX system now. By the end of next week, I'll know about adding trunks as well. No, that doesn't have anything to do with elephants, even though we are going to Africa... I'm speaking of outside phone lines. Ok, that's about as exciting as it gets. Back to you Em. :)

E: *Sigh* I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds super cool! :) That's because I'm married to a super cool guy! Ok, I know your day was much more exciting than that, because I called you on a cell phone a few minutes before you got to work worrying about the weight on our shipment and making you do a lot of legwork for me so that the movers didn't get mad at me for how much junk we have--no, HAD-- sitting in our den!!! Yikes!! Isn't it fun to get a phone call from your wife when she's stressed out and almost hysterical? I always seemed to think that would be a pretty fun and memorable thing.

So, yes, we had movers today. They were pretty funny guys. The head guy kept shaking his head at everything and saying "It just ain't gonna work", and the other guy just jumped right in and plowed through! Ha! Andrew kept trying to walk out the door, and I think he ate one too many oranges today!! Oooops!! Josh and Claire were extremely happy, because I let them watch yet another movie, only this time they got to watch it in Andrew's room. The reason this is such a treat is because we have Andrew's windows covered with insulation, so it's super dark in there. So, they turned off the lights, snuggled in their sleeping bags, and enjoyed a movie on the extremely minuscule screen of the portable dvd player! :) What fun! Then Matt and Thomas came over and brought fun toys with them (thank you, Jen!!!) and I think everyone had fun! The movers were in and out in about 2 hours, and we were just within our weight limit, despite the constant comment, "This just ain't gonna work" I think he was the maddest at the 6 or so trash bags full of clothes. We have too many clothes. But when I go through all the clothes, I like them all, so I don't give them away. I'm such a sucker! Oh well. I need to do better and just close my eyes and throw it in a bag!! :)

The rest of our afternoon was spent eating donuts and continuing watching movies and playing with toys. Josh discovered his long lost harmonica (or, as he calls it, his "Armica") and he and Claire took turns playing it while Andrew danced. That was hilarious! Actually, Claire didn't play it. She put it into it's box, then either shook it or blew on the box. That sort of defeated the purpose of the instrument, but she seemed to really enjoy it, so what do I know?

Whew!

A few days have passed in a flurry of excitement... Well, perhaps not quite excitement, but most definitely in a flurry! It snowed all day yesterday. Josh and Claire came into our room at about 6:30am all in a flutter: "Mom!!! Come and see out the window!! It's Christmas!!!!!" Of course, all that was out there was the slightest dusting of snow, but they were excited nonetheless. Josh really wanted it to snow before we left the country, so he got his wish. He kept asking me, "Mom, is it Christmas now? Can it be Christmas in Africa if there's no snow?" Poor kid. He's finally starting to understand holidays, and we get to mess it all up for him. I promise, though, that as soon as we get our stuff, we are going to throw the best darn Christmas he's ever seen! Complete with all the trimmings! (Well, maybe not all, but it's going to be cool!!) I'm sad that we don't get to decorate for it and enjoy it, too, but it will be ok. "I will survive!"

Yesterday the kids got to spend the entire day at a friends' house! I was there, too, though. My visiting teachers threw a little brunch for the sisters they visit, and so we went over. The only problem, though, was that I had no car. Devin is driving to work these days, so I'm stranded. Luckily, one of my visiting teachers has a big van, and she came and picked us up! So, it was a nice visit. We ended up staying all day, though, because after the brunch, Andrew took a nap, then she watched the kids while I went in for my root canal. She even let me drive her van to the dentist! Now there's a great visiting teacher! :) I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough! Devin was supposed to get a ride, but it fell through at the last moment, so thanks to my visiting teacher, I was still able to get out and get to my appointment. So nice!

I was supposed to go to an enrichment activity last night, but didn't end up going. I left my house at about quarter to 7pm, because I had some errands to run. Well, it was snowing pretty hard, but as an Idaho girl, that doesn't phase me. What does, though, are the idiots on the road here! I think about 40 emergency vehicles passed me on my travels through the streets of Fairfax. Made it so I couldn't go quite as quickly...and I was only going about 10mph as it was! Oh well. I did end up having a few troubles with breaks and getting stuck, and the last time was a doozy! So, since there was absolutely no one around, and no cell phone on my person (since we are probably the only people in the world who refuse to have them...), I just prayed with all my heart saying that if I could just get out, I would go straight home and not go to the activity at all! Lo and behold, I had absolutely no problems after that. Well, I couldn't argue with that one, so I went home, and enjoyed a nice evening with my husband...watching Pride and Prejudiced (the A&E version with Colin Firth...and no, we didn't watch the entire thing)! :)

Our other days have been spent working on the house. I want to be out of here by noon on Saturday!! So I really just want to do only a little vacuuming on Saturday morning and call it good. I doubt that will happen, but it would certainly be nice!

Josh and Claire have been somewhat bored, and have been practicing their headstands:

Isn't that hilarious?!?!? And Andrew is still happy!!


We've played a lot of games and enjoyed all the extra space. I am wondering what our house will be like in Africa. I've seen pictures of it, but, of course, that doesn't give the exact feel of it, just an idea. I'm looking forward to all the extra space, though. I think it will be fun!

Desafios

'Desafios' is the word in Spanish for 'challenges'. Yesterday was a day of challenges for me, but also of the adjoining blessings. Yesterday morning, Devin and I went to the dentist to get a few fillings. Devin had one. I had three. The problem with my three, was that they had gone undetected for many years. They were underneath some VERY old fillings, and since every time I had previously been to the dentist in the past 5 years or so it happened upon a time when I was pregnant, I hadn't had x-rays of my teeth for quite some time. Oh dear! So, the doctor started in on my poor teeth. I must say that I think it the funniest thing when you're at the dentist and they are drilling...as water and pieces of teeth/fillings are flying through the air. Disgusting. The dentist gets to wear a nice face mask. Why don't I? My glasses were plastered. I thought that was pretty gross! Anyway, the first two teeth were fine...for now. But, then she got to the third. Then came the verdict I had been dreading. Root canal. I am not looking forward to this. But, there are blessings with this: There was only ONE instead of THREE! That's a fantastic thing, since they are SO expensive. Also, I'm getting it done now before I had to suffer from terrible pain in Africa and not have any help there! Another blessing is that this is the first time in our married life that we actually have to funds to be able to pay for something like this. Still more blessings: I wasn't pregnant, so I could actually get the x-rays to get this done. They say that a very high percentage of miscarriages/premature labors and births are due to infections in the teeth/mouth! Isn't that amazing? So, what a blessing to have that found now instead of maybe having terrible complications during a later pregnancy. Lots of blessings from something that I deem to be pretty terrible. So, I'm grateful. Not for the root canal itself, but for all the things I'm learning lately about counting my blessings about every single little thing! I've always been a fairly positive person anyway, but this is making me even more so! :) Yea! Happy!! :)

Also yesterday, I went to the eye doctor. They had some specials going on at my eye doctor, so I thought it was about time to go in for my routine yearly exam, get my present pair of glasses adjusted (since Andrew fell on my face one day and bent them slightly...whenever I look down they tend to slide off my nose) and get a backup pair of glasses. So, I went in. I had my eye exam--my eye doctor is a crack up! Very nice guy, and I would recommend him to anyone. If anyone is ever in the area (Fairfax, VA) and need an eye doctor, let me know! :) So, I went to pick out my glasses, and with the help of the girls out on the floor, I got some very trendy ones. I never thought I'd get the dark plastic frames...well, I did. I think they actually looked really good on me, too. I got the transition lenses, too, which will be pretty handy on sunny days...(thankfully Devin thought that was a pretty cool thing, too...) and I got a free pair of sunglasses with my eye exam! :) That was my big blessing from the eye doctor. Because I am leaving the country, he went ahead and did the major overhaul eye exam--where he dilated my eyes, and took pictures--he even showed them to me, and it was fantastic!, and did lots of extra things with my eyes, checking for glaucoma, diabetes, high blood pressure (I didn't know you could check for diabetes and high blood pressure in your eyes....interesting, eh??) or anything else that might be out of the ordinary or of concern. Thankfully, my eyes are healthy and happy. Thank goodness! So, after spending my next 7 Christmases worth on glasses, I walked out of the eye doctor, and lo and behold, thought I was going to pass out!! I had forgotten that he had dilated my eyes! The sun was out and shining as brightly as possible!! I could barely get to the car! I finally found my clip-on sunglasses by feel, and attached them to my glasses, but it wasn't enough! I had to get to the grocery store to fill out some prescriptions (I'm on antibiotics, and Josh needed some more eczema cream), but by the time I got to the second stop light, tears were streaming down my face. I could barely keep my eyes open! The sun felt like it was burning my eyes straight through! I didn't know what I was going to do! Then, I remembered that I had just gotten another pair of sunglasses for free! Luckily, they were super dark! So, I put them on, TOO, and with the doubled up sunglasses, I was finally able to see! Ha!! I probably looked pretty funny--I had 3 pairs of glasses on! :) But, who cares? I could see, and was no longer a hazard on the road! Good grief! So, I was able to get the prescriptions, and some ice cream to make myself feel better! :) Then, I went home and collapsed! :) The nice thing is, after the dentist, I dropped Devin and the kids off here at home so I could go to the eye doctor and the store by myself. The whole time I was gone, Andrew slept, so the kids watched a movie! So, Devin didn't have to stress out! I'm glad. What a day!! Full and fun and tiring.

Today, we took our family picture. Any votes on which is best??

It's a little off-center, but we can fix that later...

The back drop was falling apart by this time...

Aren't they just so cute?!?

TGIF

Yes, it's FRIDAY!!! My favorite day of the week! Although, I'm not sure that today will be too extremely fun since Josh has a Dr. appointment, and he needs to get about 5 shots. He's not too pleased about that. I suppose I shouldn't have told him that, yes, he would be getting shots today, but he asked that question specifically, and I couldn't lie to him! I didn't tell him how many, though. I think he will be none too pleased! I did tell him that if he was really brave, he could have some candy afterward. We'll see. I just hope that after he gets his shots, he doesn't do like he did last time: He refused to walk. He said the shots made it so he couldn't feel his legs anymore, so he just sat on the ground! Luckily, Devin was there with me at the time, so between the two of us, we were able to carry all three kids. Today I'm not going to be so lucky! I can barely even hold Andrew anymore! That kid is solid! So, if Josh refuses to get up today (and when he does it, Claire does it, too, since she idolizes her brother), I'm going to be in trouble! I don't think I'll be able to manage carrying all 3 of them by my lonesome. Especially since I've been having so much trouble with my back lately. I'm just hoping and praying that it all goes well!

So, there are only just over 2 weeks left for us here in the good ol' US of A. I keep forgetting it's that close! I don't want to talk about it.

We played 'horsey' today. Normally, my games of 'horsey' don't last very long, due to the fact that my back just doesn't hold out as long as it used to. Today, though, I really enjoyed the game!! Here's why: JOSH was the horsey! Claire loved it...and now, we'll play horsey any time!!