Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Only 3 1/2 more years...
Today is one of those days where I wish I knew where Matt's follow-up assignment was going to be...so I could pack up and move there now. This is our fifth base, and we really liked the other four. I guess you can't get lucky every time. I particularly loved Mississippi, and I feel like that is where we should be now. The Coast Guard feels otherwise however! I guess this is it until 2015, and we really are trying to make the best of it.
Monday, December 19, 2011
One Year Ago
Oh what a difference a year makes! This time last year we had just had the movers pack up all of our things in Connecticut. It was bitterly cold...all of 11 degrees the day we packed up. We weren't able to get any of our Christmas decorations out, as we knew we would be on the move when the big day arrived. Christmas day was spent in a hotel room in Virginia, which was almost half-way to our new base in Misssissippi. To add to the craziness, Matt and I got the flu that week. I remember shivering under the blankets in our hotel while poor feverish Matt stayed up late putting bikes together. Thankfully no children became sick. That was Christmas miracle in itself!
Fast forward to this holiday season. We have now been in the DC area for almost four months now, and are pretty well settled in. I feel like we are getting to catch up on all the holiday traditions we ad to skip last year. Each Sunday we enjoy watching the advent candle being lit at church. We have also enjoyed our own advent calendar at home. The kids have just skipped from one holiday party to the next. There is no shortage of fun things to do here! There was a USO party, the youth center party, the library party, the chapel party, and finally Matt's unit party. Yes, six Christmas parties! Such craziness and good times. We went and cut our own tree this year, and have all of our favorite ornaments up. Most of them are homemade, most have been repaired at least once, and none of them match. I feel like our tree just screams tackiness, and I love it!
Here are my big girls enjoying some Christmas crafts.
Fast forward to this holiday season. We have now been in the DC area for almost four months now, and are pretty well settled in. I feel like we are getting to catch up on all the holiday traditions we ad to skip last year. Each Sunday we enjoy watching the advent candle being lit at church. We have also enjoyed our own advent calendar at home. The kids have just skipped from one holiday party to the next. There is no shortage of fun things to do here! There was a USO party, the youth center party, the library party, the chapel party, and finally Matt's unit party. Yes, six Christmas parties! Such craziness and good times. We went and cut our own tree this year, and have all of our favorite ornaments up. Most of them are homemade, most have been repaired at least once, and none of them match. I feel like our tree just screams tackiness, and I love it!
Here are my big girls enjoying some Christmas crafts.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Santa Claus is coming to town!
And MOST of the Tyson kids are very excited. Katy however is rather concerned.
Decisions, decisions
Does anyone else just hate making decisions? The little things - what to wear, what to cook for dinner, what movie to watch - don't faze me. It's the big ones that leave me confused. Especially when there are lots of options, and either all the options sound good, or none do. The first big issue I ran into this year was where to live. Should we rent, buy, or take military housing? If we lived off base, should we look in Virginia or Maryland? How long of a commute were we willing for Matt to have? And if we took on base housing, which of the four bases in the area did we want?
Eventually of course we did make a decision about housing. We are in on base housing in Maryland. Matt has only a 15 minute commute, which is crazy short for the DC area. Most of the time I think we did the right thing. Whenever we have a problem here though I can't help but think "Well maybe this other place would have been better." It is enough to make me nuts!
Big decision #2 is where to send the kids to school next year. Beth will be in second grade, Matt will be in first, and Carrie will be in pre-k. Sweet Katy will be home with me. This year I have Matt and Beth at our local public school. I am not that impressed with it. I have left them there because they both have good teachers and have made some nice friends. The administration stinks though, and the school has some major budgeting issues. Beth did just test into their gifted program, so I am tempted to leave her there and see how that plays out. Since she is identified as TAG now, I could also apply to send her to a public school for gifted children. I'm hesitant though because she would go along, and I like having the children together.
Another option is the charter school they have right here on base. We weren't able to use it this year because of the long waiting list, but I could put them in the lottery for next year. That school doesn't have a gifted program, but the level of the entire curriculum is about a year ahead of their current school. It is also well funded, and can provide things like small classes, extracurricular activities, and field trips.
And finally, I could choose to homeschool them. This base has a very active homeshooling group too, so I could get the kids into some really good co-op classes. A lot of families here homeschool, because the public school is so iffy. I encourage people to make their own decision about the public school, since it does have some good points. It is definitely not a good fit for everyone though.
I really am having a tough time making decisions this year. I just want to be positive that my choice is the right one, and that is very hard to do. In fact, I am starting to think it is impossible!
Eventually of course we did make a decision about housing. We are in on base housing in Maryland. Matt has only a 15 minute commute, which is crazy short for the DC area. Most of the time I think we did the right thing. Whenever we have a problem here though I can't help but think "Well maybe this other place would have been better." It is enough to make me nuts!
Big decision #2 is where to send the kids to school next year. Beth will be in second grade, Matt will be in first, and Carrie will be in pre-k. Sweet Katy will be home with me. This year I have Matt and Beth at our local public school. I am not that impressed with it. I have left them there because they both have good teachers and have made some nice friends. The administration stinks though, and the school has some major budgeting issues. Beth did just test into their gifted program, so I am tempted to leave her there and see how that plays out. Since she is identified as TAG now, I could also apply to send her to a public school for gifted children. I'm hesitant though because she would go along, and I like having the children together.
Another option is the charter school they have right here on base. We weren't able to use it this year because of the long waiting list, but I could put them in the lottery for next year. That school doesn't have a gifted program, but the level of the entire curriculum is about a year ahead of their current school. It is also well funded, and can provide things like small classes, extracurricular activities, and field trips.
And finally, I could choose to homeschool them. This base has a very active homeshooling group too, so I could get the kids into some really good co-op classes. A lot of families here homeschool, because the public school is so iffy. I encourage people to make their own decision about the public school, since it does have some good points. It is definitely not a good fit for everyone though.
I really am having a tough time making decisions this year. I just want to be positive that my choice is the right one, and that is very hard to do. In fact, I am starting to think it is impossible!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Hello December!
Wow, it is almost here! I can't believe it. This year has gone by so fast for us. So many changes, and so many good times. I have been trying to get back into blogging, but I still can't get pictures to post on here. I feel like it is just not the same without the photos. I've thought about switching to a new service, but I'd hate to lose the years of posts I have on here. I am just not good at fixing things. I need them to work by themselves with no effort on my part, lol.
We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving down in North Carolina with both sides of our family. This is the first year we have been close enough to have Thanksgiving with family since 2006. Back then Matthew was our baby. Unfortunately, out trip ended with our van breaking down. We had to have it towed away and couldn't find anyone who could fix it on a holiday weekend. That led to our second issue, which is when you have a family of six not just anyone can give you a ride. Luckily we were able to get ahold of some wonderful friends who brought, not one, but two cars to pick us up in. I am now driving an older borrowed van until we can (hopefully) get ours fixed. It is never any fun getting a giant bill like this weeks before Christmas, but what can you do? This is the first time we have dealt with the fact that we HAVE to have a van now. Our second car is an older Jeep that Matt drives to work, and I really thought if something broke down it would be that. We could share the van easily enough, even permanently if needed, but the Jeep just doesn't fit our family anymore. Poor Matt is trying to handle the car repairs from a distance now, as we had to leave it at the mechanic five hours away. They ended up not being able to fix it, so it was moved to a second shop. I am so clueless about cars. Especially being a military wife I should be ashamed of myself. If Matt isn't around to handle things I call my dad for advice, or ask a friend's husband. I guess I am not a progressive woman.
Car issues aside, things are going very well. We have had an usually warm week, and while I'm enjoying being outside in t-shirts again, it feels strange to be putting up Christmas lights. It reminds me of the year we lived in Florida, where we had Christmas decorations up and were still able to wear bathing suits to the beach. It's fun for a change I guess, but who doesn't love a white Christmas? I don't know about snow, but I'm sure it will cool back down considerably soon.
We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving down in North Carolina with both sides of our family. This is the first year we have been close enough to have Thanksgiving with family since 2006. Back then Matthew was our baby. Unfortunately, out trip ended with our van breaking down. We had to have it towed away and couldn't find anyone who could fix it on a holiday weekend. That led to our second issue, which is when you have a family of six not just anyone can give you a ride. Luckily we were able to get ahold of some wonderful friends who brought, not one, but two cars to pick us up in. I am now driving an older borrowed van until we can (hopefully) get ours fixed. It is never any fun getting a giant bill like this weeks before Christmas, but what can you do? This is the first time we have dealt with the fact that we HAVE to have a van now. Our second car is an older Jeep that Matt drives to work, and I really thought if something broke down it would be that. We could share the van easily enough, even permanently if needed, but the Jeep just doesn't fit our family anymore. Poor Matt is trying to handle the car repairs from a distance now, as we had to leave it at the mechanic five hours away. They ended up not being able to fix it, so it was moved to a second shop. I am so clueless about cars. Especially being a military wife I should be ashamed of myself. If Matt isn't around to handle things I call my dad for advice, or ask a friend's husband. I guess I am not a progressive woman.
Car issues aside, things are going very well. We have had an usually warm week, and while I'm enjoying being outside in t-shirts again, it feels strange to be putting up Christmas lights. It reminds me of the year we lived in Florida, where we had Christmas decorations up and were still able to wear bathing suits to the beach. It's fun for a change I guess, but who doesn't love a white Christmas? I don't know about snow, but I'm sure it will cool back down considerably soon.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Back in Business
I've had some technical difficulties, following our big move from Mississippi to Maryland. I think I am finally back in business though!
Let's see...we have had a busy few months since I last posted. Beth stated first grade, Matt started kindergarten, and Carrie started preschool. Carrie only goes two mornings a week, so I have her most of the time, and Katy Ann is with me all the time of course. The kids are all doing very well, and I am proud of them. The only real issue we've had is that Beth's work is so easy compared to her last school. She will be starting in a gifted program this month, and I hope that gives her the challenge she needs. In the meantime her father and I do extra little projects with her at home.
Little Katy is not so little anymore, and is running all over the place. Despite the 2 1/2 year age difference, she is only one clothing size and two shoe sizes behind big sis Carrie. She has seven teeth now, and eats everything. She isn't really talking yet, but trust me, she gets her point across!
We just wrapped up fall soccer, and this year I was able to have both Beth and Matt on the team I coached. Such fun! Next year they will be in different age groups so I am glad we had this chance. Beth will be doing cheerleading this winter, and Carrie takes ballet and tap once a week. So far Matt is taking the next few months off. I'd love to find him a gymnastics class, but so far the ones I found are all girls. I don't find if they are mostly girls, but at his age he doesn't want to be the only boy. He also loves swimming, and I may get them back into lessons sometime after the new year. I limit all the kids to one activity at a time, and just that keeps us plenty busy. The three older ones all do as AWANA's as well, and I don't count that towards their "limit."
I am really trying to get back into the swing of things and start posting more. We've been busy seeing all the sites, and have lots of awesome pictures of our nation's capital to share.
Let's see...we have had a busy few months since I last posted. Beth stated first grade, Matt started kindergarten, and Carrie started preschool. Carrie only goes two mornings a week, so I have her most of the time, and Katy Ann is with me all the time of course. The kids are all doing very well, and I am proud of them. The only real issue we've had is that Beth's work is so easy compared to her last school. She will be starting in a gifted program this month, and I hope that gives her the challenge she needs. In the meantime her father and I do extra little projects with her at home.
Little Katy is not so little anymore, and is running all over the place. Despite the 2 1/2 year age difference, she is only one clothing size and two shoe sizes behind big sis Carrie. She has seven teeth now, and eats everything. She isn't really talking yet, but trust me, she gets her point across!
We just wrapped up fall soccer, and this year I was able to have both Beth and Matt on the team I coached. Such fun! Next year they will be in different age groups so I am glad we had this chance. Beth will be doing cheerleading this winter, and Carrie takes ballet and tap once a week. So far Matt is taking the next few months off. I'd love to find him a gymnastics class, but so far the ones I found are all girls. I don't find if they are mostly girls, but at his age he doesn't want to be the only boy. He also loves swimming, and I may get them back into lessons sometime after the new year. I limit all the kids to one activity at a time, and just that keeps us plenty busy. The three older ones all do as AWANA's as well, and I don't count that towards their "limit."
I am really trying to get back into the swing of things and start posting more. We've been busy seeing all the sites, and have lots of awesome pictures of our nation's capital to share.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Move Update
We are in Washington DC! We arrived on the 15th, and are currently living in a hotel. In about nine more days though we will be in our new home. I usually love a good hotel stay, but after about ten days with the four kids and four cats I am ready to move on. In other news, we experienced our first earthquake this week. That was pretty crazy, but we all made out just fine. We were evacuated to a large field on base for a few hours, and my kids had a great time playing with the other children there. They are such troopers. We are also under a hurricane watch now, and are doing our best to prepare for possibly losing power for several days in the hotel. We don't anticipate we will have to evacuate at this point though. The housekeeper came by today and dropped off a flashlight for us. Oh boy....I have a feeling life is about to get even crazier. Assuming I still have computer access I will be sharing some pictures soon. Matt has not started work yet so we have been spending our time exploring the city. I have to say that it is pretty awesome.
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