Edamame and Toddler Pee

I have learned two important lessons these last two days:

1. Edamame (ed-uh-mom-ay) is yummy, but...you don't put the whole soy bean shell in your mouth. Very bad idea. I chewed it for about five minutes and tried not to choke. There was no way I was spitting that thing into my cloth napkin among twenty women who very likely knew the correct way to eat it (which is, by the way, bite the tip off and suck out the beans). Good thing I am a quick learner.

2. Always bring a change of clothes when you work in the church nursery. Now, I always bring my kids extra clothes, but come on, I am a grown up. One outfit is just fine. But ... no. It's not. There is nothing quite like having your shorts soaked by a random toddler who is bawling in your lap, "I miss my mommy!" Good thing I have kids and am used to getting peed and pooped on. This is how much it bothered me: after church, I went out to eat and then bought balloons for Maddox's party. Pee doesn't stop me.

Oh, how is the new house you ask? Well, the dishwasher is leaking again, I have headaches everyday and basically - this house hates me. The feeling is mutual. We might actually have lied when we said this was our last move. In a year, I might be ready to flee this place...or I might fall in love with it. Time will tell!

 At the park                               

Getting close to bedtime 

Where is Jude?

The Worst is Over

We are never ever moving again. That is, until the military gives us PCS orders and THEY move us. Yes, we said that the last time we moved, but this time we mean it. We really, really do!

Nightmare would be an understatement. Andrew's moving buddy fell through and his work couldn't spare anyone, so...Andrew moved all 4,000 pounds of our belongings by himself. I should have snapped a picture of him moving the couch and my gigantic dining table (Conan?), but I was probably trying to keep my 2 rambunctious boys out of the way and I was probably just a tad stressed. Just a tad. Thank God our neighbor saw Andrew and came over to help him move the rest of the stuff out of our old house. That sped things up a bit. By nightfall, we were exhausted, the boys were cranky, Maddox's bed broke, I had no idea where anything was...you get the idea.

Day 2: Andrew had to return to work. Jude's crib fell apart, our dishwasher leaked water all over the kitchen floor, our cabinet knob came off, our dryer receptacle popped out the wall, our cable didn't work, the shower rod fell on my head (twice)...let's just stop there. Let's not even talk about how I cried and cried about how I missed my old house and neighborhood...or about how I boiled some noodles on high on my stove and the eye wouldn't turn off (it finally did, by the way). I just knew the house was going to burn down.

Ok, let's breathe.

The weekend came, the problems (well, the big ones) got fixed, I unpacked many boxes (only 4 to go!), I got in a break (coffee, girl time and thrift shops, oh yea), and we discovered that having a privacy fenced backyard is pretty awesome. The boys had a blast in their little pool, we all enjoyed a strawberry banana smoothie and as Andrew said, "Hey, I can pee in my backyard now!"

It's the little things in life, I suppose.

Moving On

There it is.

That lonely feeling that always comes as you take apart your life and put it away into boxes, preparing to say farewell to a familiar place and hello to a stranger. Of course, that stranger (aka our new house) is just 15 minutes down the road, but still.

Will the new house smell weird, make weird sounds, have weird neighbors? I don't know the new house yet. Once again, I'm going to confuse my children and have them wonder, "Where is home?"

I hope it is the right decision for us; the right house. Only time will tell. At least it will get a happy start with Maddox's 3rd birthday party, which is set to go down in about 4 weeks. It will take time to turn that house into a home, and I will miss many things about this place I'm leaving behind, but I have faith that we'll find happy times there.

Back to Boxes

I named this blog "See Therrell Go."

And guess what? You are about to see us go to yet another house. In fact, it will be our third house here in Florida within an 18 month period.

But the third time is the charm, remember? So it's all good. Now you know where I've been (the land of boxes)  and where I'll be (back to Fort Walton Beach. So long base housing!).

I'll write more when my sanity returns.

 The boys are doing great - all over the place, fighting, laughing, climbing, making a mess, being silly. They are enjoying summer days in the yard, especially days like this one, where they got a special treat. Thanks to their buddy Yani for all the sticky yumminess of a lollipop. 

Their best little buddy, Ava, turned one and we celebrated with a big party. 

I've discovered some great little antique shops plus the most delicious cafe ever with my newest friend, Yani. I've also volunteered to be the editor for the Eglin Spouses Club, which is ridiculous, since I never have any free time. But challenges are good, right?

Maddox is still wanting to be just like daddy and has gotten a bookbag to complete the image. He is hilarious...and soon to be 3! But I can't even think about a birthday party right now. I'll think about that in 2 weeks.

And oh, Jude. He can drink from a straw and wreck havoc on just about anything. He is the reason people invented every single baby proof item that is on the market.

But what a cutie pie♥

July 4th Shots

I take the last post back. The invasion of the geckos is no longer funny. Tonight, I killed two. One was hanging from Maddox's doorway. Living with lizards is just not my thing, but it looks like I don't have much of a choice. The only thing on my side is the AC. A cold lizard is a slow lizard. And that's why my thermostat reads: 69 degrees.

Enough whining. Here's the 4th pictures, strep and all! I'm off to make a cheesetoast, wait for Andrew to get home (he is back on the swings shift) and probably kill a lizard or two.

Someone is getting...

...revenge.

 And that same someone is climbing on everything (giving me mini heart attacks every day). 

My biggest heart attack, though, came this morning when Maddox popped a blueberry into Jude's mouth and Jude immediately choked on it. (But he's ok.)

Second heart attack came when I spotted this in my living room. 

Note: this is not the actual gecko that was in my house (he was smashed on the bottom of Andrew's flip-flop within seconds). But...this is exactly what the actual gecko looked like.

Lastnight I killed his twin - with Maddox's toy piano. Not only am I a precise bug killer, but I'm also a creative one. Ha.

I don't how I can joke at the beginning of the gecko season, but I can. Let the roster begin!

p.s. July 4th pictures coming soon! 

The Strep Plague

Jude in front of Papa's tomato plants

Nothing says "Welcome Back to Florida" better than a giant water bug (aka biggest flying cockroach ever) on your kitchen floor at 1am.  That's what greeted us when we came home. Lovely. But I took it all with a smile because...after our July 4th trip...nothing could really surprise me anymore.

It all started as planned: antiquing, delicious meals, family time, happy kids, even a very first trip to IKEA. The big day - July 4 -  was hot, as always, with plenty of food, pool time and badminton matches. Nothing lit up the sky (it was too dry for fireworks) but still, it was fun. And then...Jude woke up at 8 pm, hot as a fire and with what appeared to be a terrible sunburn. That night...and the next three or four...were filled with lots of tears and little sleep for anyone (well, I probably slept more than the rest, but hey...I was getting sick too!).

This "plague" that struck our family and had us in urgent care a total of THREE days (it hit like this: Jude, me, Maddox - Andrew got lucky), was diagnosed as strep and it was misery. Red skin, red eyes, high fevers (Jude's spiked at 104!), headaches, body aches, and of course, the terrible sore throat.

We had so many bottles of medicine on the way home that we probably looked like drug dealers.

But, strep didn't ruin our time in SC (even though it came close). We wrapped it all up with my mom's birthday and Andrew and I even managed to squeeze in a date night at Arizona's.

Leaving SC is always hard. I always cry. I always think of how it could be ... weekly outings with my mom and grandma to "treasure hunt" and sit back with some coffee, familiar faces...and places....having my kids grow up around such a loving family.

Maybe one day.