Endings and Beginings

Done.  Finished. As I am typing this little family is ensconced in a hotel for the second night, the start of another adventure. Yesterday morning, bright and early, a packing crew came to the house and started boxing up the parts of our lives that are being shipped almost all the way across the country. The rest has been put into suitcases and bags for our own drive across. I'm going to try my best to write even a few lines every day to keep people posted of the trip as well as load pictures on.

Yesterday started out raining like stink but quickly dried up and it's been sunny ever since. Warm and humid today, teasing about a thunder storm that didn't happen. All in all, a surprising end to our three year stay here in Nova Scotia.

I remember that first week here in the hotel waiting for our belongings to arrive. Seeing the incredible fog! Not even able to see the tops of the bridges as we drove across the harbour, exploring this new place we were going to call home.

Getting that first house unloaded and lived in before Hubby took off for basic training, figuring out school supplies, where to shop, incredible sticker shock. Then experiencing the incredible amounts of rain that arrives in the fall!! And starting out an evening drive, just the kids and I, and turning around because I didn't want to drive through the wall of fog I saw coming in off the shore.

Making friends in the neighbourhood, having our house house over flowing with the kids on the street, walking to and from the school every day. Getting notice that we needed to find a different home because of situations out of everyone's control, and having to pack up and clean again. Having tons and tons of snow days, Hubby's health issues, other family members' health issues, pulling through, having Poppa and Gramma visit and come with us to PEI that first full summer.

Walking with our toes in the sand at a number of beaches, visiting lakes, going to camp last summer and hanging out with the family. Peggy's Cove a couple times, out to Cape Breton to see Louisbourg and circle Bra D'Ors, and finding that amazing industry museum in Stellerton! What a fantastic stop that was!

Being able to get the service flights over the holiday season, being able to visit family then, and then returning home to the winter that only decided to start the day before we left. We've collected shells, combed the beaches for sea glass and sea life, had ice cream cones at little shops, driven the scenic route between Moncton and Halifax, and picked apples in the fall.

We've met some really nice people, made a few good friends, and are really looking forward to reconnecting with old ones again. Stay tuned...

Getting Ready

Relative silence. Three children in school, one playing on Starfall. Coffee is drunk, exercising restraint about making more. Likely tea later instead. No running around today, no pressing errands. I have my list of things to do, but it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

With the move back across the country rapidly approaching, it gets easy to get lost in the list. For me, at least. Get the next thing done, get distracted by another mess, flit from room to room, cleaning but never really being done, culling, sorting, recycling, donating. Down time after the kids go to sleep for the night, veg and talk with Hubby, cuddle, read, watch something. 

Monday Monkey "helped" me clean out under the beds in the boys' room. We found books that were thought to have been lost, a load and a half of laundry, a kleenex box, and a few empty (and clean) ice cream buckets. We also found some nuts and bolts that had wiggled free from Sergeant's bed so smart momma fixed those.  

We went through the girls room too. Found a few summer dresses for Girlie (great timing since she was upset just that morning about not having many to choose from), some hair elastics, lost blankets, and stuffed animals. we clean off the top of their dresser and took away the baby change mat (yes, I know Monkey has been potty trained for nearly a year...). 

Last week I went through all of our craft supplies. Finally got rid of all the dead markers, recycled tons of used construction paper and colouring books. Still have tons of those! But it feels really good to have some of that done. Therapy. One very good thing about constantly being on the move is that it forces you to keep the stuff down.  Purging every now and then is cleansing. Now if I could only get the kids to part with some of their toys... 

The children have been bugging me to have a Farewell Nova Scotia party for their friends before we leave, so they handed out invitations for a handful of friends each for Sunday afternoon. It'll basically be a massive play date. If it's nice out they'll be outside, if it's not we'll stay indoors and maybe throw a movie on. Or game stations through the house. A craft table, puzzles, board games, card games... hmmm endless possibilities. And I'm focusing on minimal stress and prep from me. They are super excited about it! 

Time is flying so fast, it's difficult to think that we'll be off and away in three weeks. At bedtime (because thoughts always run free as you are trying to not fall asleep) the anxiety closets for the kids open wide. Girlie swings from one end to the other about being happy to move and being devastated. All normal feelings. Sergeant was feeling emotionally fragile last night and took too personally the fact that Smarty didn't want yet another hug from him before bed. Which led to him being upset over little things said and done long long ago. Sigh.

I totally made new tank tops for myself!! I was given a shirt that I tried on that was way too big and bulky, so I looked at Pinterest for ideas to adjust it. I found something so fast and amazingly simple that I did it and three other shirts in less than a half hour! So fun and awesome. Monkey was a little concerned when she saw scissors and shirts, but then she got distracted by apple sauce ;)

That's about it for now. Have a great day!

Transitions

Not being able to sleep really sucks.  I have only very rarely had this issue in the past. I'm usually quick to fall asleep and can stay there until the kids decide to get up and start the day. This morning makes it two days this week that I have not been able to fall back to sleep after putting a girl or two back into their beds. Normally I would just roll over, cuddle into Hubby until I drift back to dreamland and, like I said, usually doesn't take that long. Tonight though, I'm flying solo. Hubby is in Ontario, I put my Monkey back into her own bed three times from 2-3:30. I tried laying there, I tried dozing. Figured I would get out of bed for a bit and then see about laying down again.

I am excited. Sunday we leave to go on our house hunting trip and I'm looking forward to making the decision with Hubby and the kids of where we'll spend this next step on our adventure. The kids are being taken out of school for the week, we get to head off and look and visit, and make some decisions.

The kids are ready to help us make the choice, and I'm sure that they will add their opinions on all the places we look. Going to check out the services on the base, going to visit with family in the area, going to visit with friends. I feel incredibly blessed that our posting is going to be back where we have made such good connections only a few years ago.

Maybe it's the looking back aspect of moving that makes a person more aware, but we've been incredibly blessed. All through our lives, both separate and since we've come together, Hubby and I have been able to surround ourselves with amazing people. Strong influences that have helped shape and form us into who and what we are now. When I look forward and see moving across country again, and then wherever we go after that, I see potential. Potential for personal growth, for family growth, for meeting more wonderful people, for reconnecting with people we already know and deepening those friendships.

In this posting I feel like we've done so much changing, that in three short years we have stretched and widened who we are. We are the same people we were before, just more. The kids (as is the nature of children) have blossomed into their personalities and continue to do so. Smarty and his opportunity to learn cello, to take part in the dinner theatre production (which just wrapped up this week BTW. Such a fun show they did! And he had tons of fun doing it!), and watching him learn to adapt to the added stress of the practicing involved in those. Sergeant and his piano, reading, affinity for equality, and watching him as he learns to control those pesky emotions that boil so close to the surface. Girlie with her increasing independence, her love of books, the initiative in her crafting. Monkey and her communication abilities, her determination to set fashion standards, and her unwavering conviction that ketchup really is its own food group.

These children are not afraid to stand up for something they feel is right and just, even if it means speaking plainly and pleading their case to their parents. They are learning a bit of independence as they are able to do more and more on their own. A couple days ago the boys wanted to go ride their bikes and go to the park down the road. I gave Smarty one of the watches floating around the house and told him when he absolutely needed to be back. They know the rules. Stay with your fire team buddy. If one person wants to leave, you both go. No person gets left behind. They know where the "boundary line" is that I'm comfortable with them going (how many streets down, which blocks they are free to explore). And they complied. They were so proud of themselves when they came back into our yard with a minute to spare!

Last weekend was a marriage prep/relationship seminar that Hubby has been in charge of for the last few years and I was able to book a sitter for the morning and sit in and listen for a bit. I really enjoyed it! Heard a presenter speak about conflict, how certain types of people handle it, communication tools to help affirm your partner and let your partner know when something is hurtful. Listened to another presenter talk  about the deployment cycle, the ways people emotionally distance themselves to cope with the separation (both the person leaving and the ones staying behind), and the resources available to help smooth those adjustments. I was so grateful that Hubby suggested that I take the time to sit in on it and that the sitter was able to help that happen.

All in all happy feels, very positive transitions coming up, and the weather even hasn't been too bad this week! Cool, but mostly sunny (which is relatively rare for this coast).

Move Along, Little Doggy

The other day driving home from the school at the end of the day I heard Girlie say "Mom, I don't want to move."

When we told the kids a month ago that we'd be moving back to Alberta this summer there was so much excitement.  The initial reaction for everyone was happy happy happy! It took Sergeant half of a second to process the fact that he'd be moving away from friends. It took Smarty the same but half a second after that he was talking about the friends he had left when we moved out here that he'd be able to connect with again. The girls were just excited that they would be moving back to the city they were born in, never mind the fact that I had to remind them that all of their toys would be moving with us.  They didn't have to say goodbye to their stuffed animals!

Having moved around a lot when I was younger I know the bittersweet that comes with a relocation. Missing friends, learning to depend on your siblings, the incredible importance of that core family unit, adventure meeting new people, never really stop missing the people you used to play with all the time. I still think occasionally about the kids on the block of the PMQ's in Trenton when we were there. The ups and downs of elementary school friendships when we were in the BC lower mainland. 

But everyone processes things in different ways and at different speeds.  Monkey has been a literal monkey and has decided that she doesn't really want to be social anymore.  I gave her a week of just mommy Monkey time and then I took her to a parent and child play group. She screamed and screamed and would not let go of my neck, kicking her feet when I tried to take her shoes off. I dropped her off at the casual care at the MFRC (Military and Family Resource Centre) and she pitched a fit like she did when she was a baby and didn't want to be left anywhere without mommy. 

Girlie has been in need of more cuddles than before, more talking calmly to her when she starts crying faster at little things. Far more whining than she used to do as well. 

The boys are dealing better, but they remember the move that brought us here. The girls wouldn't really. So this is essentially new to them. I know it helps that this is a good move for us as a family unit and we talk  about it openly. The boys ask Dad about what he'll be doing on an army base compared to a navy one, we talk about what we are planning to stop and see on the drive out there. They keep adding to the list, and are getting excited about seeing so much of the country. They don't quite realize the scope of the distance, I don't think, but they will by the end of it. Some of the sights they want to take in will have to wait for other postings because, awesome as Ripley's Aquarium is, it's just too far out of the way for this trip!

There are days that I feel emotionally stretched with dealing with two very emotionally needing girls. Daddy can't go anywhere in the house without having someone on his lap or on his back for cuddles when he's home. He sat on a chair on the front porch yesterday for a total of 5 seconds before Monkey came out of the house and just climbed onto his lap. Just because.

Moving is really exciting for us. The adventure is what we signed on for. Even before the military we would talk and plan for living in as much of the country as we could. I love having the broader scope of life and experience and I'm really excited to share that with our children. They've put their toes in the Atlantic ocean! They've played in the red sand of PEI. They have driven along the Bay of Fundy, visited Peggy's Cove, driven through Cape Breton, and lived near those amazing ships that get sent out. 

As a "westerner" those are pretty fantastic experiences. We've taken pictures, collected shells and pretty rocks, sat listening to the birds in the yard, watched the leaves turn gorgeous shades of red in the autumn. We've made some very special friendships, both in the service and outside of it, and this time will be remembered fondly. It was here that we cut our teeth on living the military life. But that will likely be another post. 

Little Boots

A couple weeks ago I had a sad day.  Well, not sad sad, but one of those day when you realize that the dinosaur rain boots you bought in Calgary back in the summer of '08 when the oldest boy was 2 and have been worn and muddied and splashed in by him that summer and the next, then by his brother the two years after that, and the first sister after that, and now the youngest little Monkey is wearing them and you see a couple little holes in the soles.  Not all the way through, the socks are still staying dry. But holes nonetheless.

Those boots saw countless kilometres walked through the dinosaur exhibit at the Calgary zoo, trying to sneak away to climb up onto some terrifying lizard's back. They saw walks to and from the park a block away, a move across the provincial border to a new house. The boots got muddied in the river sand in the South Saskatchewan river, jumping in puddles there, bogging up the incredibly soft back yard we had there, digging for worms, giving Tonka trucks baths and "painting" the fence with wet sidewalk chalk. They were worn on the road away from that house to yet another, back to Alberta, where that little boy trudged new paths in a new back yard.

Those boots were passed on to a brother who had no front teeth due to an argument he had with gravity and a chair, who ran countless circles in those same boots with those same trucks in that new yard, They dug in new grass, went dinosaur bone hunting, wild life watching on new trails that ran through the beautiful place we called home. They discovered West Edmonton Mall, saw the river banks of the North Saskatchewan River, and caught fish in Minnedosa, Manitoba.

On the feet of a sister, those boots made the trip out to the east coast of the country. They stepped into the waters of the Atlantic, trudged through the rivulets that the rainy autumn brought.  They walked to and from school with momma and the littlest sister while Daddy was away at Basic. They ran around that beautiful back yard pulling siblings in the wagon, pushing the trucks around, having races. They walked dolls in strollers along the back paths to pick the boys up from school.

Those boots played at the playground of the MFRC preschool, splashed in the puddles of the parking lot, and dropped off her feet when she had to be carried (sleeping) into the house after. They were worn with frilly skirts and ribbons and bows.

Those boots were passed on to the final sibling to be used to "flat" slugs and worms, squish spiders and ants, and pick up rocks.  They climbed through the rocks in the back yard and ran to the park. They made mud, hunted for salamanders, picked chives and dandelions and the occasional tulip.  Those green cammo t-rex boots were worn with tutus, tights, and sparkles unashamedly.

Four sets of feet were kept dry by those boots.  Forty small toes. And now they are retired, no more steps will be taken with those T-rex boots. They have certainly earned a rest. And that is why I had a sad-ish day a couple weeks ago. Bittersweet reflections as I look back on all that those little boots have done, sweet because it has been amazing watching these kids explore and grow in them. Bitter because their role in our lives is done.

March Maddness

Life has been busy (when is it not?) and the seasons have moved forward. As we sit here under rain, fog, and more rain, I'm grateful that the weather isn't what it was this time last year, which had us buried under 6 feet of snow! I am really looking forward to things (maybe?) drying our for a little bit. Just long enough to walk int bare feet without getting them too muddy...

It's been warm, though! Hoodies this week, and some yard work. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, baking. Easter weekend was full of lots of church and friends. The kids and I made our yearly fondant eggs, decorated, and distributed bunches around the neighbourhood.  We attended Triduum services at one of the Lutheran churches across the harbour. One Thursday, one Friday, then their sunrise service followed by breakfast then off to base chapel for the service Hubby was doing. I loved sitting there through all those services, with the children following along, Hubby and I whispering to the littler ones about what was happening, what part of the narration was being told. They were fantastic through all of the sitting and sanding and sitting and standing. I felt fed. It was a really good time.

Easter Sunday brought chocolate, books, and ham dinner.  Yum.  We had a family over who has four young children as well, as well as a good padre friend from Hubby's team. Good laughs, lots of rice to sweep up, but no one spilled their cups (adults included!) and there were no huge meltdowns, so it was a successful day. We said "so long" to that family this week as they are starting their journey to a new posting, but I'm sure we'll connect again. 

I was lucky enough to have had some really good visits this week.  Monkey and I went and visited Judgey Momma (I believe I've mentioned her before, but you can find her here) and it was a great visit.  Monkey had fun eating cake, petting the "lion" (cat just got a hair cut and he has a mane and a tuft on the tip of his tail) as well as the hamster. The next day Monkey and I went put to Spryfield for coffee and lunch with another friend and her two little ones.  They busied themselves with blocks, stickers, play dough, and twirling while the mommas chatted.

 Fantastic timing on those coffee dates, because Sergeant woke up Thursday morning with a swollen eye and the white was pink.  Yup.  Conjunctivitis struck that child again.Not bad this time, polysporin drops, it was basically cleared by the time we got in to see the Dr at the walk in clinic. But he had a home day, Monkey was glad to have the brother company, and they played educational games on the computer while this momma did some sewing that has been staring at me for forever.  And then we napped,  Even Sergeant fell asleep (AWESOME!) and with myself wedged between them on our bed, I dozed for a little bit as well. 

Yesterday was a home day for the kids so we all ran errands together. Fresh fruits and veggies, dollar store for goodie bag stuff (Sergeant turned 8 a couple weeks ago and he's having his party this afternoon). I was able to finish a quilt top, we all went out to spend time with friends to celebrate another birthday and to simply be. Likely too late a night for the kids, but we'll deal with that later. It was a really wonderful way to visit and connect with friends that we really don't see all that often.

Hubby has been medically cleared to sail now. As long as he is still able to meet the surveillance appointments, so he gets to leave us this month for a couple weeks. It was supposed to be in the last half of this month, but they bumped it up to next Monday. Yikes! He will be doing his schtick, doing his thing, and then he'll come home to us again. The way things are set now it's only supposed to be 10 days, so we can totally do that.  We could do longer if needed, but I'm glad this one is a short one. He's crazy excited to be able to do this kind of work again.  It's been a long time, and we are so, so glad that his health has been cooperative to allow this again.

We have an official big girl!! Monkey is no longer wearing pull ups at bedtime! And she's only had a couple accidents, so I'm calling it a win.  Insane to think that, for the first time in 9.5 years I'm not changing bums! No diapers, no pull ups, only wiping her butt when there's poop now.  WOW! Next up will be her soother sometime this summer/fall.  Waiting until shes about the same age as the others when they gave up theirs. 

Girlie is ready and writing like crazy. She asks for how things are spelled and she writes it down on random pieces of paper, she will sit and read a book silently to herself, and read ahead of me when I'm doing stories with the kids. So exciting to have another reader in the house! 

Smarty is doing really really well with his music. The last recital was from memory, so they weren't allowed to bring their music with them. Totally nailed it! Next one, they've invited any parents who play an instrument to join in for one song, so I now have to practice music on my clarinet.  The kids are loving it!

That's about all for now.  I think I've likely ignored the children long enough for now. ;)

Service flights!

We survived the holidays! And we made it back out west for a few days after Christmas :) It was a wonderful adventure, going to the airport, checking in for the service flights, going up, going down, going up, going down, ice storm delays, swimming in hotel pools, and visiting family that it's been way too long since we've seen.

Every single day we were there was declared the best day ever by Monkey, for nearly two weeks after we got back we had the daily question of when we would go back. It was an absolute success.  The children did so incredibly well for the flights.  Smarty and Daddy got to ride in the cock pit for the whole flight between Ottawa and Trenton on the way heading back east. Awesome for them, lots of tears for the exhausted other ones.  But they survived as I knew they would.

On our way!

Delay means extra hotel time. And pizza :)

The terminal at Trenton had a play area for the kids. It was awesome!

Impromptu play time with some cousins

Everyone likes tea 

As much of the immediate family as could be there on my side

Ring around the rosie!

Newest cousin we hadn't met yet

Confetti and balloons at midnight for new years 

Confetti angels

Sledding New Years Day with the kids' cousins

Good visit! On to the next Grandma's house!

Fun at Amma's

Cuddling Amma's cat

Playing with cars that Daddy and Uncle used to play with as a child

Thank you, Tim Horton's, for helping us on the early morning on our last travel day headed home