Evacuating

So it appears Hurricane Irene is due to hit us directly on Saturday.  I was hoping to avoid leaving but the time has come for us to head inland.  I have tightened down the house to the best of my ability and I am loading the car a little at a time.  As soon as the kids wake from their nap we are heading out with another spouse to Raleigh to get a hotel room for the weekend.  Hoping we return to our house still in tack and in one piece.  My goodness what a week!  An earthquake and a hurricane all in the same week!  Crazy!  Stay safe all of you east coasters!!  Update later.

Missing my Tobie!

As we prepare for our move to Japan there are numerous checklists being followed.  We have had to get medical clearance, dental clearance, passports for all of us, and all the procedures taken care of for our dog Tobie, to be quarantined so he can get clearance too.  We have worried about how our puppy will handle this whole process since he isn't really a puppy, he's 12 years old!  He has been poked, prodded and microchipped but that was the easy part.  He has to be placed in a crate for the flight to Japan obviously but here's the kicker: once he is placed in that crate in NY he will not be taken out until 28 hours later once we land in Japan!  That means no food or water other than what we initially place in there and no going to the bathroom unless it is in the crate.  This breaks my heart!  He was my baby before we had babies, he was mine before he was "ours".  And the last thing I want to put him through is the torture of being squeezed into a tiny crate and forced to stay there for 28 hours.  He is old and has hip issues and this trip is not going to be easy for his old bones!!

So I was talking to my mom about my concerns and she threw out the idea of her and my dad taking him for us while we are in Japan for 3 years.  My first reaction was to absolutely say yes and take her up on this offer but upon further pondering it made me really sad.  This solves the problem of the crate issue but I hate to pawn him off on someone else and expect them to take care of him the way we do.  Not to mention how much we would miss him and how much the kiddos adore him and him, them!  He is so much a member of our family that I can't even imagine our lives without him. 

After much discussion with my husband we decided that we need to put our selfish needs aside and do what is best for Tobie.  And what's best for him is to leave him with my parents who will love him and care for him just as we do.  Because not only does he have to make it there, he has to make it back to the states 3 years later and 3 years older, putting him at 15 if he makes it that long.

That was the reasoning behind our last road trip.  To take Tobie to my parents- sigh!  This made me so sad!  I cried in the car on the way there every time I let myself think about the fact that he wouldn't be returning with us.  I even forgot to bring his bed and his food bowls because my mind wasn't thinking about him not coming back when we left.  When we did leave to come home and had to say our goodbyes, it was heartbreaking.  My 2 oldest were crying and I was a hot mess, it was not pretty.  Now that I am home I catch myself calling him to come upstairs to bed and tears fill my eyes when I go to check if he has enough water.  I didn't realize how hard this would be until we had to do it.  I miss my puppy and my hubby didn't even get to tell him bye.  So marking that off the checklist was not an easy thing to do! 

 

Changes

I like to think that I am one that embraces change.  I suppose I usually handle changes farely well.  Afterall that is how life works, it constantly changes and nothing ever stays the same.  I like that we move and change where we call "home" quite regularly.  I like watching my children grow and change with the seasons. And I like to change my furniture arrangements in my house much to my husband's disliking!

 But there are some changes I don't handle well or like at all.  Some of which are family traditions and dynamics.  Both of which are currently taking place within my family now.  There are family traditions that have literally happened every single year since I was born and even before.  Many of them still take place and have become such huge events over the years.  Others though, have started to lose their luster and are being either removed or changed.

 As the family grows and new members are added I suppose the dynamics of the family shift and ultimately affect the timely traditions we have had.  For example, we have always had Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations at my grandmother's house.  Everyone knows their role and what they are contributing.  This is all I have ever known Christmas to be.  However, just recently, my grandmother annouced that she was "tired" and was ready to pass the wand off to someone else to hold these rather large get togethers at their house.  She also just got remarried after my grandfather passed away.  It has been 6 years since he passed so it isn't like she remarried quickly or anything of the sort.  She is still relatively young and I won't deny her what makes her happy.  It is just that when my grandfather passed that is when things began to change.  He was sort of like the glue that held the family together and kept us strong.  Now that he is gone, the dynamics are shifting.

So many of the traditions that we have revolved around him or remind her of him so she now wants to do away with them or change them so much so as to not be a reminder of her "previous life".  These are the changes I don't like.  There have been many births of grandchildren and great grandchilden and new spouses added to the mix over the years and they have all just fallen into the traditions and family events with ease.  I can't help but feel that it is her new marriage that has lead her to this passing of the wand.  I get that my parents are now grandparents and we should start having Christmas for our children at their grandparent's house so it is a natural progression of sorts.  But after 30 years, I am finding this change to be a bit more difficult to handle and doing so with some resistance.  But as with life, I will ebb and flow with the tides and do my best to enbrace this change as well.  Change IS what makes life interesting afterall.    

On the road again!

I have always been one to love road trips. We traveled often growing up and we always had so much fun. Of course it wouldn't have been a family road trip without a sibling quarrel or two! I mean aren't those the kind of things that help build character and make us the people we are today?! Anyway, I have vivid memories of spontaneous road trips we were made to endure growing up. Stops at amusement parks only to find they were "closed for the season", getting into town at the same time a major national golf tournment was scheduled and unable to find a hotel room leading to a U-turn right back home, and endless hours of sitting on the interstate in the wee hours of the morning due to a horrific accident that occurred several hours before hand. But there were also so many trips that proved to be quite an adventure for us kids. The ones that landed us at the beach, Disney World, or just the ones that had us surrounded by our extended family. Times I wouldn't change for anything.

So this all leads me to our current family road trip in a few days. I will be taking the kiddos to visit my parents 12 hours away. I have been trying to get in as much family time as possible while I can before our big move to Japan. We have been gone more than we have been home over the last few months and my children have become quite the experienced road trippers to say the least. While traveling with 3 children 3 years and under can be anxiety inducing at times, I only hope to create the same enjoyable memories for them as I have now. Amongst all of the screaming and occassional sibling spats, I hope my children will one day look back and laugh with fond memories of their own spontaneous road trips. So now there are clothes to be washed, suitcases to be packed, a house to clean, and a car to load in preparation for memories to be made! Bon voyage!!

LOVES

Some things I am currently loving:

*Greek Yogurt

*My Kindle

*Apples and carmel

*My son retelling a story from his perspective

*Nap time (the kids, not me)

*And this:
Little Miss Punk Punk catching some air! You
will be crawling in no time!!

(she isn't crying, just making a weird face)

So what are you currently loving today?

Newbie

This is obviously my first blog post and my first attempt at blogging! I guess I should introduce myself. I am S2, 29 years old (though not for much longer, I'll post about that later!) and married to a Marine pilot and have been for 5 years. We have 3 beautiful children ages 3, 2 and 7 months. I am a SAHM for now though I am a teacher by trade. Being that we are a military family, we are always on the move. My husband deploys quite often and I am left to hold down the homefront. It can be a challenge at times but we all have our challenges right? We make the most of our time apart. I do a lot of traveling with the kids while he is gone, helps to pass the time! We are currently preparing for our next move to Japan! We are so excited about this experience for our family! I will be posting all about this process and our time there as well as we discover a whole new culture. Fun times ahead for sure!

Some of my interests include traveling (obviously), reading, running, children (all of them, not just my own-hence being a teacher!), and discovering new little hole in the wall restaurants just to name a few. I am a reality tv junky! I can't help myself, all the drama, who can resist?! I LOVE being with my friends and laughing at the dumbest things. My husband would tell you talking is my favorite past time! I am a talker! I just truly enjoy good conversation and no it isn't one sided! But my biggest and most favorite interest of all is spending time with my family and being a mommy to my 3 littles! They are what makes me happy and want to be a better person with each passing day! I hope you truly enjoy the tales of our life as I see it.