Up, up, up

So I'm trying to stay positive and up, and it's not really working. But who wants to read a blog post from a Negative Nelly? This might be bland and dry, because I'm sticking to the facts of the day and not really going off on my usual tangents.

We went to a egg hunt that my dad's wife's old playgroup put on. It was just at a neighborhood park, not unlike the one that's by my house. But my neighborhood certainly doesn't have this in the middle of it:


We tried to get a pic of all the kids together, but that wasn't happening. So I had to take individual ones. By the time I got to Miss S, her face was covered in green frosting from her cupcake. So I threw the pic through Photoshop and got this:


No more frosting! Not bad. I'm learning.

Mini-Minion has a lot to learn about egg hunts. First of all, she's still completely uninterested in most other kids. She likes her cousins back at home, and that's pretty much so it. The cousin closest in age to her is basically the only child she has taken much of an interest in other than Mr. A obviously. So she mostly did her own thing.

Second of all, she doesn't get the concept of putting eggs in her basket. She kept throwing them BACK into the bushes. Mr. A had to keep giving her his eggs (well, not KEEP giving them, because she wasn't asking), and she would cart them around for a little bit. In the end, I think she ended up with one. I think.

(Mini-Minion and her discarded eggs)

Mr. A was very popular today, as usual. He's a pretty good sport about younger kids. He ended up pulling the little ones around in a wagon toward the end of the day.


On the way home, Mini-Minon threw a fit for a million different little reasons until her savior (Mr. A) came to the rescue. No, she's not really pulling his hair. It's a game they play.


And at the very end of the day, I didn't eat dinner until 10PM, Mini-Minion and Mr. A fought me on bedtime for two hours, I'm down 7 posts at work, I'm dead tired from getting up at six, working, dealing with the kids, going to sleep after midnight, and starting all over again, and I'm starting to just not care anymore. But as I was uploading my pictures, I saw this, and it made things a little better.

(During their 5-minute game of "I love yooooooou.")

So much for no tangents.

Passport Progress & Half-Eaten Cookies

So my dad's wife made these adorable cookies for Easter. She really did a good job. Until this happened:


That does NOT say Mini-Minion on it, yet she got to it anyway. Little bite marks on the egg and bunny. The other bunny has. . .sharpie. . .on it. Because that is just logical. Mini-Minion is NEVER allowed to have crayons, pencils or pens. And this is why.


This afternoon, the kids pushed the various tricycles and cars up the little hill on the side yard and raced them down. It was all great fun, I'm sure. We were a little paranoid, because down the street is a nature preserve (kind of a sketchy thing in Florida if you think about the wildlife here). It practically runs up against the backyard. Anyway, early this afternoon, we had a little friend in the form of a black snake come to visit the backyard. It swam in the pool for a bit, annoyed the dog, and decided this wasn't the place.


Yesterday, I sent an email to the German Consulate in San Francisco, hoping to ease my passport application process by getting in writing that there were no other documents I need to apply for a passport. I did the same thing for my dad before he applied in Miami, and the vice-consul sent an email saying everything was in order, which was REALLY helpful when Dad applied.


I got an email back today saying:

"if you do have a chance, could you please scan the below mentioned documents and have them sent to this E-Mail-Address?
It seems very likely that you still hold German citizenship. Please also indicate if and when your father joined the US Army.
Sincerely,
Mr. XYZ
Vice Consul
German Consulate General"


Yes, I still hold German citizenship. My father currently has a German passport. He has never been in the military. But hey, this is positive. So I'll scan everything and send it over, and hopefully it will facilitate the entire thing. *Fingers crossed!* I'm hoping to get everything scanned tonight and sent tomorrow. Maybe they'll get back to me next week, and I can print these emails and take them with me for my appointment. If I have some sort of written confirmation from the vice-consul, I doubt it will take much time at the consulate.


I'm obsessing. But I've got a lot riding on this. Five years of my life boils down to two appointments. One is already done (Dad's) and now I've got mine in 19 days. Nineteen days. And because I'm already on a 19-day tour, I know how fast 19 days can go.

(That's marker on her face.)

Four days down, 15 more to go. . .One last picture of my self-proclaimed April Fool:

Welcome to Sunny Florida

This is a fit, Mini-Minion style:


Life is so hard when you're two. :)

So we've been in Orlando for an entire day now (or almost an entire day). I've decided I don't like the time difference when M is still in California. Mostly because when he's there, I'm aware that I'm not on "normal" time. It's a mind thing.

Flying over by myself with the kids was miserable. Not because of them. They were great. But I thought it would be best for Mini-Minion to be in her car seat on the plane, but lugging the car seat, two carry-on suitcases, a backpack and the stroller all over three airports really wasn't all that much fun.

Still, we made it. The kids have adjusted fairly well to the time difference. Mini-Minion was alseep by 9PM Florida time, which is pretty darn good.

They're having fun with the kids who are technically their aunt and uncle. That's strange, but it is what it is. Mr. A and J have been running around screaming their fool heads off all day. They always play well together.


Mini-Minion is a bit more happy to play with Miss S, but she's waaaaay more interested in the dog, who I think she would willingly be tied to if given the opportunity.


So ends our first day in Orlando, and our third away from home. Three down, sixteen left to go. Sigh.

Trying to Normalize & Consolidate

Ok, I think I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. It's not so much that my new job is hard as it is hard to balance working, the kids, moving, and all that fun stuff.

A few weeks ago, I started tackling the garage. It's a monster. The timeline is starting to freak me out, that's for sure. We are hoping to "move" down south in July so we can ship our stuff off and tie up any loose ends. That means we are done, packed, cleaned and out of here on June 30th. It's coming fast.

To make it come even faster, I'm leaving with the kids to spend 19 days in Florida so I can watch my dad's kids while he is in Paris. It will be fun, I'm sure, but I can't help but be a little sad and anxious. We've never been away from M for that long, and the thought of taking care of the kids/working by myself for so long is a little tiring. I'll have no time to myself at all.

So today, Mini-Minion and I bought our boxes. I need to get started. By the time I get back from Florida, we'll have 2 1/2 months left, and that will FLY by. Mr. A's birthday is at the end of April, and we're hoping to have a garage sale in May or June. As soon as we get back, I've got to go to the German Consulate to get my passport. There is so much to do.

Anyway, this is what it looks like when you're minimizing and moving abroad. My life will largely be contained in these 18 boxes.


This is what they look like unfolded. I'm actually fairly pleased with the size. I had forgotten what these boxes looked like. I already have a preliminary list of what needs to go in which size box. But still. . .it's sort of an overwhelming task. As you saw in the first pic, lots is getting left behind.

I spent most of the afternoon trying to go through things, tossing what I didn't want to take/sell/donate. While I worked, Mini-Minion played in the back of Daddy's truck and wreaked havoc on the inside of the house.


By almost 7pm, I had gotten far less done than I had wanted. I tossed all duplicate pictures we had, as well as any pictures that were out of focus, where people had their eyes closed, or that were just plain bad. This is the toss box.


And these are the keep piles. I still need to package them up so they don't get ruined in case the box comes in contact with water. Packing sucks.


Here is photographic evidence of one of my hoarding secrets. :) I like to keep newspapers. It's a miracle we haven't had mice or anything yet. And it's amazing those silverfish haven't invaded. I need to find plastic wrap for these, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think these pictures are fairly self-explanatory. They let me in the kitchen again. I'm using these as proof that I do actually make my own pies. From scratch. And yes, *I* actually make them. I'm not sure how edible they are. No one dies after eating them, so I guess that's good.




But this is also proof of why I shouldn't be allowed to go in the kitchen. Seriously, look at this mess. Believe it or not, my toaster and microwave didn't press charges. The jury is out on the countertop. :/


I do want to know why my forehead looks like I've just gotten botox. What's up with that shine? Ick. Seriously. And yes, I will clean my counters. . .sometime between New Year's Day and When I Actually Care. :)

Besides, who can think about cleaning counters when there are novels to finish and music history articles to write? In other words, there are much more important things.

This is sort of all over the place because I've been waiting for potatoes to boil for like an hour and I'm ridiculously tired. I should have been put to bed HOURS ago.

But the lesson of the day, kids, is if life gives you lemons, go at them with your mouth wide open. I'm not quite sure what that means, but Miss A assures me it's good advice.

The power of positive thinking

Today was an exceptionally frustrating day. It has been long. It started too early and it's still not even dinner time. That's sad. But, on the positive side, I will definitely be ASLEEP by 10PM tonight. For reals.

I had to work today. I spent what felt like forever. Off and on for 10 hours. Yes, TEN hours. It made me really tired. But, on the positive side, it's "decent" money, and money is money. I paid off half of what I spent on Mr. A at Gap.



The kids drove me nuts today. They barely let me work. Mr. A took 2 HOURS to finish 10 Latin sentences. He is the world's slowest writer. I've got to figure out how to speed him up. But, on the positive side, he dressed up as our "engineer" today. Check out the wrench in his pocket. It made me laugh.


I hate work. Specifically, my work. It just doesn't do it for me. But, on the positive side, that means a better life for my kids.



I wrote well over 2800 words today, researched 7 different topics, fed two kids, taught one, dealt with three and had a dog barking in my ear a good part of the day. It was terrible. But on the positive side, I caught R on film acting the fool. And that's always great.



So today has been long, and I'm a little sad and frustrated about lots of things today that I can't even get into yet. I hope the rest of the week gets better. But, at the end of the day, I'm going to watch Star Trek with Mr. A and M, we're eating tacos, and I'm going to bed early. :)

Shooting rockets off at the school

Which probably doesn't sound like a normal activity, but I'm sure it is. Yesterday, M came home with some sort of rocket launcher, which he said he got at Michael's for 40% off. Today, he went for the rockets, which are apparently pretty expensive. :/ So M and Mr. A spent all day putting together this rocket launcher, gluing it and letting it dry. Then we went over to the school to shoot it off on the track field. The rockets went up 1,000 feet, so it was important to be in wide-open spaces.


Miss A ran around the field while the boys set up. It was a little chilly outside, but not too bad. I actually took my camera off auto today, so the pictures only came out so-so. I wasn't impressed as the sun went down, because the pictures came out with this fake lighting quality. It was weird.


M says he's pretty sure the rocket(s) really did go up at lest 1,000 feet. In any case, it went so high up, my camera couldn't even find anything to focus on (without the zoom lens, anyway). Then it exploded, and a little parachute came out. It was kind of fun to watch. Mr. A chased down the parachute and caught it before it hit the ground. Miss A stomped her feet, clapped her hands, and screamed because it was such exciting business. :)


See that little white speck above the trees? Yeah, that's our parachute coming down after several seconds. It was waaaaaaaay up there. :)


We had three rockets today. It was sort of sad when we were done, because it was like a mini Fourth of July. I guess the rockets cost about $20 for a pack of 3, so it's definitely not something we're going to do all the time. Besides, it's getting too cold to be hanging out outside for long periods of time.


After the rockets were done, we played a little improvised soccer with the kids. Poor Miss A was really frustrated with her little legs, because she couldn't keep up with the boys on the field. So she just sort of followed behind them, crying after awhile when they got too far ahead of her. It was sad and funny at the same time. So M and I took turns putting her on our shoulders and running up and down the field with her, which made her laugh. Too bad I can't run with a baby on my shoulders and snap crappy pictures at the same time. :)


I've decided to call this one "Man Down on the Field." It's ridiculous. And it makes me laugh Every.Single.Time I look at it. Every time. It's just nonsense. All afternoon he kept pretending to be hurt.