Finally, a bit of normalcy

Normalcy.  I am not really sure what that word even means anymore.  Of course I understand the definition, but what does it mean to me, to us,as a family?  Our definition of normalcy is moving, boxes, packaging tape, leaving friends, making new ones and if we are EXTREMELY lucky, having someone (whom we actually like) join us for the next leg.  Last year in Jamestown we made lots of great friends and had many good times with them all.  Then the school year ended and most of us scattered in the wind.  We are super super fortunate to have luck on our side again this time.  Thankfully the Monclovas also got a job here in South Florida!  YEAH!!! I have a friend!!! I have an emergency contact name/number!  Jim is more thrilled than I am, he knows he will be gone all. the. time. and this will make it easier for him to be away.  

But I am getting ahead of myself.  I need to back up to the beginning of the month.  Guess what?  Jim got promoted!!  He is so glad that I am not the one doing his fitness reports, because if I were, there is no WAY he would be a Colonel.  Hard to believe he was a lowly 1st Lieutenant when we started dating some 17 years ago.  This promotion is a real gut check.  I thought being the Commanding Officer's wife was hard, but this one beats it.  We are OLD!!  Yikes!  

Jim's parents flew down to visit and celebrate with us.  They are our first official guests in our new home.  Luckily Jim had done some great work in preparing the house, otherwise I am not so sure they would have enjoyed it.  There were still some kinks to work out, but for the most part we had disposed of the boxes and I actually had linens on the beds! 

We were even able to squeeze in a date night.  Jim had aspirations of staying in some swanky hotel on South Beach, but after spending the day in the storage unit shuffling all our excess, dinner was the best we could do.

Of course we couldn't let Jim's parents leave without seeing the beach.  So we dragged them down there (Jim will NOT be denied).  It was a wonderful morning of relaxing on the beach taking in the South Beach sights.  

 

All too soon, Billy and Jane were gone and we were left with the task of getting the house in order before school started.  The short list included school physicals for the kids, installing Oscar's cat door, buying bikes for the kids, enrolling the children in school, finding a gym, and buying school uniforms!

First things first.  Oscar needs to get outside!  He has been cooped up indoors since we left Jamestown in late June.  Originally, we had planned on installing the cat door in the sliding glass door, but shortly after we got here our landlord surprised us with their decision to exchange ALL the windows and sliding glass doors.  The windows would be a better version of what we had, but the sliding glass doors would be replaced with french doors.  Well, that put the brakes on the cat door.  So we had to get a bit creative.  Oscar must love me as much as I love him because he didn't put up MUCH resistance when we presented the new plan.  

So if you jump up on the brown chest, hop over to the cooler, then carefully climb up to the ledge you can crawl right in. Easy Peasy!

Unfortunately, the new plan required a bit of jumping and climbing on his part.  I was able to rig up an additional step from the cooler to the ledge, but he wasn't all that thrilled with it at first.  I even got him the EXTRA LARGE cat door to make up for the fact that he had to do more work.  Of course this door isn't the fancy micro-chip reading one we bought in Jamestown.  That one will be installed at a later date unless we get some unwanted guest (which has happened in the past) then it will appear ASAP.

Finally, we put out the last of the moving boxes and the CLAW (our recycling guy) took them away!  This was by far the quickest we have been at this point in a move.  I don't want to give Jim all the credit, but he really deserves it.  Shhh, don't tell him.  
 

Must. Get. Boxes. Off. Porch.

Bye Bye boxes

We knocked out the doctor's appointments (PAINFULLY LONG), enrollment (possibly more painful) and uniform purchases (I am super excited about them - kids, not so much).  Joined the Y - check.  Up next is replacing their bikes.  We had to leave their bikes in Jamestown.  Of the three bikes, only Ben's was really worth bringing, and there just wasn't room in the U-haul sooooo, it stayed behind to keep the others company.  Connor Monclova did us a solid favor by outgrowing his bike and so Ben inherited his old one.  Thanks Connor!!  Lilly finally got a bike with brakes!  Lucy got rid of the baby "Princesses" bike.  So everyone is happy.  Me the most, because Jim purchased little bike racks so the bikes are out of the garage and live on our front porch instead of random piles of bikes in the garage that have be moved every five minutes because they are ALWAYS IN THE WAY!!!

The weekend before school started, Jim's co-workers organized a 5K run at South Beach in honor of LCpl Chance Phelps, a fallen Marine who was honored in the movie "Taking Chance."  Jim decided the kids would scooter the course while he and I ran it.  For the most part it went well.  Actually only the second half went really well.  The first half was full of crying, trying to scooter through sand, and basically not a lot of fun.  I seriously considered leaving Lucy the last time she flung her scooter in the dirt and said she wasn't going any further.  Finally Jim doubled back to see what was taking so long and wisely took over as her handler.  It is amazing what a little Gatorade can do for an attitude.  After we turned around to head back, everyone had a much better time.  After the run, we all went to an amazing brunch where I think i had the thickest bacon as well as the BEST CHEESE GRITS on the planet!  I have missed grits.

Pre-race

Post race

After we came home from the run our neighbors were harvesting their avocados from their tree.  This proved to be too much of a temptation for my dear husband.  Before you could say guacamole he is up in the tree with a net, whacking away at those damn things.  When it was all said and done we had gathered about 75 avocados.  Lilly was already spending the money at her avocado stand! HA HA HA

All too soon it is school orientation.  The kids are so nervous!!  Jim was able to stick around and help me get everyone dressed, fed and loaded up with all the school supplies requested.  We checked out their classrooms and got all their desk/cubbies squared away.  Lilly and Connor are in the same class!!  YEAH!  

So the BIG day finally arrived!! Ben is so excited to finally be going to "real school" as he puts it.  I hope that excitement can see him through the next 13 years.  Somehow, I think it won't.  I am just praying that with the uniform element, Lucy will be able to push pass her total inability to get her act together in the mornings.  The last two years of getting her out the door in the mornings really has put an enormous strain on our relationship as well as my nerves.

Clean Slate

Gang full of Gators!!

For the next couple of weeks we dug in and just tried to establish a routine.  Homework is proving to be a real eye-opener for Lilly.  If she could just settle down, focus and just DO the work, it would go much faster.  Sigh.  

I finally got up to IKEA and picked up the missing parts we needed to start phase 2 of the girls rooms.  I still need to get the linens picked out and switch out the white curtains and sew up some "privacy" curtains.  The girls are all about needing some privacy in their rooms.  Whatever.  As long as it keeps them somewhat tolerant of each other it's good enough!  

Of course Ben is calling "no fair" on the girls having bunk beds while he does not.  I tried to explain he had a trundle bed, but he wasn't buying it.  He wants me to get him the same set-up AND the trundle so he can have two additional people sleep in his room too.  Maybe I should and just throw them all in there and turn the girls' room into a play room.  Right now the garage is functioning as their play room.  I might add, it is an extremely hot and poorly-lit playroom that is inhabited by lizards and some of the BIGGEST toads I have ever seen.

Still working on the room

There are just a few more days left in August, but we are heading to Disney for Labor Day weekend, so that will be covered in next month's edition.  I know you just can't wait to read about our one thousandth trip to the house of the mouse! All in due time, my friends, all in due time.