Updates

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I really feel like there hasn't been anything that thrilling going on around here. So I'll just give the update as I see it. We are almost out of boxes. I know I said that last time, but golly- this is taking forever! I really feel like we're making good progress. We've put together a Goodwill pile and a garage sale pile (for the post-wide sale this fall) in our garage. Steve has done a great job getting our audio/video set up as well as hanging lots and lots of pictures and shelves for me. What a great husband he is. So patient.

A couple funny things the girls have said/done lately...

Ellie after church told me she pulled out an eyeball. I was very curious, so I looked and she had an eyelash on her finger. Then again today she told me she pulled out an eyeball and I taught her to make a wish on it. She thought that was pretty fun. I keep trying to tell her the real name, but she does what she wants :) She sounds more and more like me every day. Kind of scary. I have to remind her that she's "not the mom" several times a day. But she also plays extremely well with her sisters and is very creative and smart.

After picking up pizza the other day, Katie told us in the car that she wanted a butt kick. I am totally serious! Okay, the interpretation was she wanted a breadstick, but I promise that's what we heard. So, so funny. Katie has some serious wreckless abandone. She has no true concept of where she is in relation to... anything. She's constantly bumping heads with us (ouch!) or running into things or falling. She has also discovered quite the temper. When things are not going her way- watch out. Ellie or Sarah typically get a pinch, hair pull or a punch as Katie vents that frustration. And since she has a very proficient vocabulary, we hear about it with the screams as well. I'm still trying to figure out how to nip that one in the bud. But at the same time, she is the snuggliest little girl there ever was.

Sarah has learned to spit. The girls all brush their teeth together, so when Steve tells Ellie or Katie to spit, Sarah spits right along with them. About a week ago we were sitting at dinner and Sarah out of the blue yelled, "Dadda, pbpbpb (spit)." She was so proud of herself. She loves her daddy. Out of all the girls she has formed the greatest attachment to Steve and he is loving it. She's still a Momma's girl, of course. But she adores Steve and is always super excited when he comes home from work. She's becoming more and more one of the "girls" and tries to play and run right alongside her sisters. She and Katie have scuffed up knees to prove it. Sarah's hair has been growing great guns, too. It's as long, or longer than Katie's now. I know we have pictures somewhere... I'll try to get some uploaded soon. She is such a sweet little girl.

I have finally been burning our old video tapes onto the computer the last couple days so I can send the camera off to Geoff. Golly, we have a lot of tapes to do! But anyway, it has been fun to relive some of the moments we have captured over the years. I haven't sat and watched all of them, but here and there I've caught a few things. I reminisced visiting Logan with Steve right before Ellie was born. I watched Ellie as a baby and toddler and find it hard to believe I've already forgotten how she was when she was little. It was fun seeing her and Emma Tolman together over the years as well. And then Katie. I cringed at the screaming (yep- it was just as bad as I remember) but also got to enjoy watching her smile and laugh and learn to crawl. I guess her first year wasn't all that bad... ;-) Ellie was sure cute with Katie, too. I think a lot of times I get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget about the little things that we are blessed with. I need to do that more often. When the girls are fighting and screaming would probably be a good time.

What else have we been doing lately? Well, we got a pool pass to the pools on Post and have gone a few times now. We go over Steve's lunch break and that hour is just right for all of us. We get our fill of swimming, and the girls are exhausted for naps by the time we get home. (Sometimes I am, too!) Steve has loaded up on wood again and is going to build a bookshelf for our room upstairs, a little shelf for my piano music down here in the family room, and eventually a bunk bed for the girls. They are great undertakings, but he is very excited about them.

Steve and I are really enjoying our callings. I haven't ever been in Primary since I graduated at age 12, so it's neat to be back in. And playing piano is really nice. It's low- stress, but very enjoyable. Plus I'm learning the songs so I can help Ellie learn them. I also just received a call to be the Young Women Personal Progress Leader as well. I'm still not quite sure what that means, but as soon as I do I'll be sure to pass it along. Steve teaches the 14-18 Sunday School and really enjoys it. He just really likes to teach in general.

Apparently I had more to post than I thought. Again, I'll look to get pics up soon. We look forward to Mom and Dad and DickSybil visiting next week! Hooray!

Adults say the darndest things

A friend, Jaymie put a post on her blog about all the crazy things her kids "make" her say and it just cracked me up. So I've decided to try and write down some of the things that come out of my mouth that are really quite silly. I'll just add them to the list on the right. I think someday I'll get a kick out of it. The first one is from the other day.

We're just about out of boxes here. There are a bunch in our room and a bunch in the garage, but pretty much everywhere else is all unpacked. Hooray!!!

Family Reunion Photo

Here's the family picture we took at the reunion for those of you that don't know my family that well. This is everyone from my side! :-)

Happy 4th of July!

You won't be seeing many candid shots now that Steve is home, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun now and again. Happy 4th of July!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

It is amazing and extremely frustrating how slow the unpacking is going. Mom reminded me that I have 2 more kids this go-round, but seriously... over a week in this house and we're still trying to dig our way out. The kitchen was first priority, so that's pretty much done. Everything else is still halfway there. Since I'm on a roll, I'll explain all the other annoyances going on here.

The mold... it won't go away. I'm convinced the garage will never be without the mold smell again. I can feel my lungs filling up with mold spores every time I go out there. Okay, not really- but the smell is awful. Mom's suggestion of Lysol is probably going to be my next route. We keep the door open all day to air it out, but it's not cutting it. Yesterday was trash day, so we threw out a bunch of our yucky stuff. It ended up being two bookcases, an entertainment stand and two trunks that were Steve's from West Point. I put notes on the really gross ones to warn people away, but the two moldiest items were still taken off the curb. It amazes me what people are willing to try and salvage. The worst part about this all, though was our dealings with insurance. I mentioned before that the storage unit refused any responsibility for ruining our things. So we figured our renter's insurance would take care of it. We were wrong! Since mold happens over time, the insurance won't cover it. Had it been an act of God, like tornado ripping the roof off, they might have considered covering us. That news did not make me happy. So we're just out the money for the items we tossed. At least they're finally out of our garage and the smell can start to dissipate. We cleaned up our kitchen table and the cedar chest, which were the two things we really wanted to keep.

A few other things: there's something terribly wrong with our water, the plumbing isn't working right, Steve is still sick (could be the water?), and I'm still living with boxes.

On a positive note: we are living in our own space. I love carpet. My birthday present TV is really, really nice. Like Dad mentioned, one way or another we will be getting that fourth side of our fence (a Better Business complaint has been submitted, but if that falls through- a guy in the ward has offered us his fence for free as he's moving in a few weeks). As far as we know, most of the mold has been eradicated. Steve is still home from Iraq. Yeah... can't really think of a lot right now. Pretty sad.

The girls are changing quite a bit. They love having all their new toys to play with. Ellie and Katie both enjoy their "big kid beds". Sarah is much more interactive with the girls, which is sometimes hilarious to watch. She's trying to talk more, but it just ends up being really loud screams just like her sisters. She's very good at getting up and down stairs, which is comforting. Katie is getting rooked into playing with Ellie and is usually in the middle of the trouble as well. Katie ends up being the daddy or the baby most times because Ellie is always the mommy. Ellie is back into the mode of changing clothes many times a day, which I actually enjoy watching.

Something funny- Ellie asked me the other day if being the mom was annoying? I had to laugh at that one.

Hopefully the next time I post I will have better news to report. This has been a horrible week for us and we are anxious to be done with it! :-D

Upheaval

That is the story of our life. Tonight I am going to vent and maybe even whine about our circumstances. But first on a positive note... we have our house!! We're not actually living in it, but we moved all our miscellaneous belongings from the garage here into the garage over there... So we're making progress.

But now to my laundry list. First of all, my girls are not good with change (can't imagine where they get that from!) I have heard crying and whining practically nonstop the last couple days. Having Sarah attached to my hip has not made things easy. Put on top of that Sarah and Katie teething (figured out Katie is by chance this afternoon), it has not been a very fun party around here. Then to add to it all, Sarah has been waking up multiple times at night and Ellie has wet her bed the last three nights in a row. I suppose all kids have a hard time with change, it's just that my girls have experienced a TON of change the last two months. I am certainly ready for consistency!

Something funny- Steve and I are having a really hard time in that new house. It is the exact mirror opposite of our last house on post, so we keep getting mixed up. It is going to take awhile to figure out who belongs in which room and get used to moving in the right direction in that house.

Tiff's Housing Update

Alone… we are finally alone. I thought I would feel a lot more relief today, as CarmaLee and her family left for their vacation. I think the problem is that we’re still here. Until we’re in our own home with our own things I won’t be completely at ease. And here’s the update about all that:

We sign for our house tomorrow. Yay!!! The girls and I walked over yesterday and saw that the cleaning crew was there getting it ready to be moved into, which is nice. We checked out the back yard and the girls were getting excited about having their own home and their own space. But, there’s a catch to that backyard. Right before we left on leave the guy that lived there before, Mark, offered to have us buy the fence that covered the back yard. It was adjoining the neighbor’s fence. This was ideal, as our house sits on the corner of two busy roads. I thought it was great! We paid quite a bit for it, but since we’ll probably resell it when we leave, it really seemed like a great thing. I like feeling a little safer about letting the girls outside! Then we got home from leave and as we were driving past the house Steve noticed something that wasn’t quite right. We pulled over and he took a walk into the back yard only to discover something very sad… we now only had a three-sided fence. Yeah- when the neighbors moved out, the fence company they rented from took all four of their sides, leaving only three for us. Mark assured us that he owned all four sides, but alas- not a full fence. It is currently being disputed and hopefully the fencing company will cave in and put our fourth side of the fence back up. nothing can be easy, right?

So we sign for the house tomorrow. Then we were able to schedule to have our belongings from the storage unit picked up and delivered by the military, which means I don’t need to be as concerned about the Elder’s Quorum ruining my things :) Unfortunately the first date we could get is Tuesday, so it looks like we’ll be staying at CarmaLee’s until then. My only consolation is that we are here alone now and I don’t have to cook for, clean up after or babysit her kids now. I really don’t know how I survived these last two weeks. Heavenly Father blessed me with some amazing patience and perseverance. Trust me, there were days… Two families with two very different lifestyles under the same roof just doesn’t work so well long-term. I am grateful that CarmaLee let us stay here. I’m just glad the end is in sight.

And there you have it!

Friday the 13th

Friday the thirteenth… there are movies made about that day! Well, thankfully I don’t put a lot of stock into superstition, so nothing could touch me! If only that were true. We decided that since Steve had the day off we would go over to Topeka to get a few things from Sam’s that we needed. We thought the girls would sleep during the hour-long drive there. Of course not! So then we decided to have lunch at Olive Garden, figuring the girls would be happy eating breadsticks until the food arrived. Ha! Not a chance. They squirmed and screamed and ran and did anything and everything to make that meal absolutely miserable. We were both ready to give the girls away by the end of the meal. The only positive thing was that the food did taste really good. From there we made a couple quick stops at Target, Kohl’s (this one I did alone and had quick fun at the children’s clearance racks) and finally Sam’s. The girls were miserable in Sam’s Club as well. We still managed to spend an amazing amount of money and escape with our sanity. The girls stayed awake on the way home from Topeka as well. We made a stop at Coldstone for a yummy ice cream cake for my birthday (yummm) and got home to feed the girls. Ellie had a meltdown at the dinner table because she didn’t want what we were having. Katie was overtired and just wanted to go to bed. Sarah was just hungry and felt better once she was fed. We got the two little ones to bed by 6:45 and told Ellie that we were going to a movie and Carma Lee would put her to bed. She did not appreciate that. We left anyway! :)

So we got to the movie theater only to find out that they changed the order of showings within the last 2 days and we didn’t know it (this on-post theater only shows one movie a night). Instead of showing the chick flick we wanted to see, it was “Speed Racer.” Yeah- been there, done that- definitely not interested in going there again! I about cried. My only consolation was that I got to come home and read “Eclipse”, the third book in the “Twilight” series that had arrived in the mail that afternoon (I was introduced to this series in Idaho and had read the first two books earlier in the week... which is why I don't read books very often- I get addicted!).

As I put this to paper (well, cyberspace) it doesn't seem as terrible as it did then. But trust me, it was a long day! Happy Birthday to me?

Firsts

Ellie had a big day of "firsts" on Sunday. To start, she was able to pay tithing for the very first time. Steve let her help wash dishes a couple times and she was paid for her help. She was able to hand the bishop a tithing envelope for the very first time. She really liked that. Then during Sacrament meeting I was out in the hall with Sarah (as usual). I peeked in the chapel and saw Steve get up. He didn't come out to the hall, so I figured he had gotten up to bear his testimony. I heard silence, so I peeked in and saw Ellie up there in front of the microphone! I thought, "I wonder if Steve knows he's not allowed to prompt her?" But next thing I know Ellie said, "Testimony" and gave the sweetest little testimony. It put a lump in my throat, I was so proud of her. I didn't realize she knew what a testimony was, let alone know what to say if she went up there! It sure made me proud of her.

Sarah got her 6th tooth on Sunday as well. She's still not feeling well, so I don't know if there are more teeth coming or if she picked up a bug on Sunday.

We are excited to go on leave in just 4 more sleeps. :-D

The Happenings in Kansas

Congrats to Geoff and Emily! Their baby girl was born last night at 10:14 in New Haven, CT. She is named Audrey Lyn Streeter and was 21 3/4 inches long and 8 lbs 8 oz. I am so anxious to meet her!!!

Here is the latest from Fort Riley, Kansas...

After about 2 weeks of hopping hotel rooms, we were unable to get another reservation in the temporary housing on post. A friend of ours, Carma Lee offered to have us stay at her house for those nights, which was extremely generous. She has a 4-bedroom house and actually had a room free for us to use. After those two nights she offered to have us just stay here and we took her up on the offer. Again- extremely generous. So, we're no longer vagabonds necessarily, but rather squatters :-) It has worked out well. Carma Lee's husband has been deployed for almost 8 months now. She has 3 kids- 8, 6 and 4 years old. The kids get along really well, which is nice. Of course the longer we're here, the more they treat each other as siblings (don't get along quite as well) but for the most part it has been really nice.

Status of housing: We have been offered a house back on Wofford (where we lived before). The only downside is that it won't be available until June 24th. The whole reason we took ourselves off the 4-bedroom list and got on the 3-bedroom list was because we were told we could get a house by April. It would probably have been June or July for a 4-bedroom. Nice... And they won't put us back on the 4-bedroom list without sticking us back at the bottom of the list. It's frustrating, but what do you do? One nice thing about the house we're getting- they have up a fence and are willing to sell it to us for a fraction of what they paid for it. So that will offer some privacy and safety (the house is on the corner of 2 busy streets). At least we know we will have a place eventually. We will be gone for a month, so it won't be too bad a wait. Plus, Carma Lee is going on vacation in June and said we can house-sit here until we get our house, so that's nice.

We are really looking forward to going on leave. We will take off from here on May 10th and head to Mom and Dad's. Then we meet up with the Tolmans in Ohio on Monday the 12th for some super-fun swimming (Wolf Lodge) and birthday parties and maybe zoo and childrens museum. We're just anxious to see them again. They are definitely awesome friends and it's nice to have the chance to get together. We haven't thought any farther than that except for the family reunion in Utah the first week of June. Can't wait to meet the newest niece and nephew!

A couple little things about the girls-

Ellie has gone the last couple nights without a pull-up or diaper and has been completely dry by morning. This is big news for us! We figured out she could handle it when we heard her get up one night to go to the bathroom by herself. Hooray for no more diapers for Ellie! She is almost 4 years old, after all...

Katie has amazed us lately in her ability to sing. We were driving around town and she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and knew every single word. Same with "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Skip to my Lou" and "London Bridges". I really didn't know she knew the words by herself. She even got the tunes completely right. Impressive.

Sarah has 3 new teeth. That makes 5 total now. And there's one more on its way any day now. She has done really well with all those teeth coming in at once. She is walking great, even running at times.

Promised Pictures

Here are a couple of the pictures we've taken. With the first one keep in mind that it is at 1:45AM. The other picture was taken today.

Paddywhack

Steve had to go check in Friday morning and while he was there he found a huge pile of candy for the soldiers. He picked up a package of tic-tacs. I can't remember the last time I had a tic-tac. Anyway- Ellie asked what they were and Steve started singing, "tic-tac paddy-whack give your dog a bone..." Ellie really likes those candies, so now when she wants one, she asks, "Daddy, can I have a paddy-whack?" Still makes me laugh when I think about it.

It's been really crazy for us. We've moved 4 times in the last week. We can't get a reservation for longer than 3 nights here on post. And with each reservation it's a different room- in the same building. We have to be out of the room by 11, then can't move back in until 3pm. Of course that 4-hour break is right in the middle of nap time. We are getting more proficient at what we bring in the room, but it's still a huge pain, especially if Steve is at work when we're moving out. We have a microwave and tiny fridge in the room and there is a kitchen at the end of the hall here. We've used the kitchen once to bake a Papa Murphy's pizza. Luckily there's free laundry down at the end of the hall as well. We eat out at least once a day and are already getting tired of it. Yuck. I think Steve is making up for lost time as it comes to take-out pizza.

We took the girls to the circus on Saturday. We got free tickets from the Army and drove the hour to Salina where the Shriners sponsored the circus. We stayed just the first half (attention span of two little girls prohibited staying longer... Ellie would have made it). Ellie loved the tigers and horses that we did see. It was a very well-done show, though.

Other than that we're just trying to survive. I have to say I'm not good at this. Arranging bedtimes for three girls in one room has been a nightmare. It's usually at least 9pm before we get all three to sleep. Katie has to go to bed first, otherwise she climbs into Sarah's bed and wakes her up. But then of course Katie wakes up first and then climbs into Sarah's bed and gets her up much earlier than she is ready. She actually did that during Sarah's nap this morning while I was in the shower. Sarah also got her third tooth Sunday.

But in the end it is wonderful to have Steve home. He started back to work yesterday, which is usually just 2-3 hours a day of classes. Then he gets to hang with us, which we are really enjoying. The girls have warmed up to him very well. Sarah isn't completely convinced, but she's getting there. It's just really nice to have him here.

We have been taking pictures, but I can't seem to find the time to do anything with them. Eventually I promise to get some posted.

HE'S HOME!!!!!

Steve is home safe and sound (arrived at 1:30 this morning) and we just love having him here. It's almost surreal that he's actually home and we will somehow find a way to survive life in this hotel room for the next month! I'll write more when I get pictures off the camera.

Final Word

We've been informed that our welcoming ceremony is schedule for 4:15 AM Tuesday morning. Certainly not ideal, but Steve's coming home, so I'll take what I can get!!! Next time I write Steve will be home :-D

Also, we had the pleasure of having Bishop Burton at our Stake Conference today, which was a real treat. He spoke about prophets and it was really quite enjoyable. Dick commented on how soothing his voice was (as it put him to sleep!). Sybil was sweet and watched the girls while I enjoyed an hour of conference (which was right during afternoon naps).

Where Are They Now?

First of all- Congrats to Brad and Brandalee on their marriage today! I am so excited to have a new sister-in-law and can't wait to get to know her! I heard their day has been perfect and I really wish I was there to join in the celebration.

But instead, here we are, still sitting in Illinois waiting for Steve. The good news is that he is in Kuwait and we expect him home sometime between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. We are obviously more than ready to have him home!!! Some other good news is that we were finally able to get a reservation for temporary housing on post, so we will only be in that one-room hotel room the first night. Hooray! Then it is fairly likely that we will get a house on post by mid-May. Again- very good news. Now I am feeling the stress of getting packed and ready to go. I'm trying to get as much done tonight so I don't have to be worrying about it on Sunday. Dick and Sybil have been wonderful and have really helped out by watching the girls while I ran errands and packed the van. While I have anticipated this for over a year, it is still hard to believe that Steve is actually coming home to stay. And hard to believe I'm going to make that 10-hour trip to Kansas on Monday by myself again! Just two more sleeps... :)