A blessing in disguise

You know that space available flight that I didn't get on on Thursday? Well, we just heard that the aircraft had mechanical problems in flight and had to divert to Elmendorf (THAT'S IN ALASKA!!!!!) for TWO DAYS...so it has yet to make it to Seattle. I am now imagining myself trying to push the stroller and pull the luggage a half mile from the passenger terminal to lodging at Elmendorf in the Alaska winter while wearing my subtropical Okinawa clothes and having only a few thin blankets and light coats for the kids. I'm glad I wasn't on that flight.

Ain't no party like a finance party!!

Tonight we went to Scott's squadron Christmas party. Originally it was a no kids event but a few days ago they changed it so that people who couldn't get babysitters or had deployed family members could still come...sooo, our whole family went. Matthew was the life of the party. He was literally running around giving anyone and everyone a high five, letting strangers pick him up (for him that's unusual) and chasing people around giggling and squealing with delight.

No high chair could contain him for long, but he did enjoy dinner. His favorite was the ham from the carving station which he called "green ham" not because it was green, but as an homage to one of his favorite stories.

Here he is working the room. Notice he's got a drink in both hands...what's that about? Also he had a new sweater to wear that just seemed to energize him. When I put it on him he had to run and show daddy and then just kept running and hamming it up all night. I think he knew he looked good in that sweater!

I was planning on only staying an hour but Anna fell asleep and Matthew was having such a good time that the kids and I stayed til about 10:30pm. We are crazy party people in this family. Here's Anna behaving herself.

Scott had a big hand in planning the event so he was happy things went well

Strike Two

This morning we all headed over to the AMC terminal to try and get on the space available flight to Seattle and did not get on the flight. It was actually a little closer than I thought it was going to be, but we still didn't make it on. After they had let all initial space available seats go they had three cancellations and we had families of four, five and six in front of us that they were going to have to skip over. I thought we were going to end up getting the three seats!! Unfortunately for us, there was also another family of three in front of us, so they got the seats. Oh well.
Next week there is another flight going to Seattle, but there are no open seats right now. There are also three space available flights going to the states tomorrow (all going into Travis AFB in Northern CA) and we are considering trying to hop on one of those...but then we still have to figure out how to get from there to Oregon, so I don't know. We're still trying to figure out what to do next.

And again...

I'm ready to go....Not so fast!

Tomorrow (actually in about 8 hours) we will be back at the terminal trying to get on a flight to Seattle.

The positives:
I know how the process works now, so I won't be so stressed about doing it right.
I know that I CAN single handedly transport children and luggage from car to terminal (ha ha...I'm so proud of that)
I already packed last week
Scott is here to help me this time (just with the checking in and waiting, he's still not getting on the plane if I do)

The negatives:
I know how the process works now which gives me an idea of how bleak my chances of getting on are
It's a week closer to Christmas, therefore more people will be trying to travel

Oh well, we're still trying.

Here's a song from Scott for the occasion (sing to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane but leave a few lines out here and there...):

My bags are packed
I'm ready to go
'Cause I'm leaving (maybe) on a jet plane
Don't know if I'm getting on that plane...

Wish us luck...

Don't kick Anna

Tidbits from our week.

With regards to Anna, Matthew usually means well. Here he is trying to give her a head hug.

Matthew has picked up a few of my expressions.

One is, "here go" (here you go?) which he says when he give Anna a toy to play with. He is always bringing her toys while she does her tummy time. It is very sweet. He even brings her the age appropriate "baby toys."
He also stands in front of the toy shelves (or to me when I'm looking in the fridge) and says a long drawn out "hoow bouuut..." (how about...) while presumably deciding what to choose.
Another new phrase is "Don't kick Anna." Possibly his first three word complete sentence. I have said this to him a few times and apparently it left an impression. Hmmm.
He is saying more and more words every hour. It's like a speech explosion. I guess that's pretty normal for this age. He's getting to be quite the little talker.

We did some Christmas tree activities this week (that was our "theme" for the week). I'm trying to do a theme each week for the kids and starting yet another blog to record it all so I can remember the activities and we can do them over again. I don't know if I'll have a lot of time to actually follow through with recording it, but we'll see. I may have to abandon the project.

Here are our oh-so-fancy Christmas tree rice krispy treats.

And our Christmas tree advent calendar. There are lots of cute advent calendar ideas out there. This one was easy and age appropriate for Matthew. I got the idea from one of my favorite sites for toddler activities, No Time for Flash Cards. Her tree is better looking than mine, but I made mine in about two minutes so I don't feel too bad about it. Matthew likes placing the stickers.

Scott was gone all last week in the states and Matthew was throwing things a lot while he was gone. Hmmm... Here we are learning about what is ok to throw and what is not (bean bags are ok to throw). So, we're working on the throwing. Hopefully our efforts help things.

Scott surprised me by coming home a day early from his trip. I was so happy! Matthew loves having Daddy home.

What's wrong with this picture?

Here is our sweet little baby girl wearing boy clothes. In my infinite wisdom I sent all the kids warm clothes in a box to the states for our impending Christmas trip. It's sitting nicely at my in-laws taking up space in their house right now. And it started getting real cold here. So, Matthew is wearing the same two pairs of pants over and over (so much laundry) and Anna is now wearing old Matthew clothes. It works. Also you can see the stickers Matthew put on Anna's hands in this picture. She likes hanging out with Matthew so much that she doesn't mind a sticker here and there. Don't worry...I took them off before she ate them.

And yesterday I took Matthew and Anna to lunch with my friend and they were both so good. No crying or tantrums. Only smiles and eating all their food. Could this be a new era of restaurant behavior? I was so happy that I took them to the park afterwards. It was wet and a little muddy at the park, but we stayed for an hour and finally had to take off when Anna started to meltdown. Here is a poem in honor of our park adventures. This poem could sum up any trip to the park with Matthew.

Matthew at the park (a haiku)

down the slide he went
and wept bitter tears (toys toys!!)
when we had to go

You might have an ant problem if...

You might have an ant problem if your toddler practices his counting by saying, "One ant, two ants, three ants..."

Rolling Again

Yesterday Anna rolled over from her back to her front for the first time and then just kept on doing it. I think she really wants to be on the go. Uh oh.
Also in this video you can hear a sample of Anna's high pitched crying. Don't worry, this is the "squeak" version of the cry, not he shriek version - still unpleasant though. Sorry for that.

Strike One

This morning we hauled ourselves over to the AMC terminal to get on the flight to Seattle and did not get selected for the flight. So we are still in Okinawa. We will try again next week. They only opened up 24 seats for space available and there were about 60 people trying to get on. They assign each passenger a priority based on when you signed up and a bunch of other factors...and our priority wasn't high enough to get us on this time. We'll try again next week, but I fear there will be more and more people trying to get on as it gets closer to Christmas. We'll have two more weeks to try to get on this Thursday flight to Seattle and I fear the last week is going to be virtually impossible (Dec. 18). Next Thursday there is a chance we can get on, but based on today, I'm not thinking it's a very good chance. We may have to buy tickets (gasp!)
Oh well...at least I can be at home and relax in my house today instead of traveling.

I think I can...I think I can

Well, I think I'm ready.

I made my list and checked it twice.
I even took all my luggage out front in our driveway this afternoon and practiced carrying it while pushing a stroller (insert "Rocky"-esque montage here).
I think I've done what I can to make my inter-continental travel with my two little ones (and no husband!!) as smooth as possible.
And now (in about 8 hours) I will go make my attempt to get on the space available flight to Seattle. The thing about traveling "space A," there are no guarantees, so all my preparation may have been for naught - I'll find out soon. I called the terminal tonight and they told me there are 109 available seats for the flight, but when I checked last week there were only 48, so something seems really inconsistent/fishy about those numbers. In any case, I hope I get on the flight and that no one wants to kill me (and I don't want to kill myself) by the time it's over. But whatever happens, I now know I can transport two kids, two car seats, one BIG stroller, one BIG suitcase and three carry-on bags across our driveway by myself. That's something, right?
If I don't post again in about 12 hours, that probably means I made it on...and I'll write again from the states. Woohoo!!

We will love him and feed him and make him our leader

This is our house gecko. He hangs out at our house on a regular basis. Matthew always notices when he comes around (izzerd outside! hi izzerd!) I thought maybe we would name him Izzerd (Matthew's word for "Lizard"), or Izzy for short, but Matthew tells me his name is "boy" (it was probably going to be that or something like "cup"). "Boy" has a favorite window he likes to climb on (strategically located so he can watch TV with us). He likes Seinfeld...as do I. I think he is going to fit in just fine around here. Ok, we need to change his name - it's a little weird calling him "boy", sorry Matthew.

RIP Five Little Pumpkins

It must be time for Christmas when you find the Halloween crafts deconstructed. I found the paper jack-o-lanterns we made lying sadly on the table without faces, their eyes, noses and mouths in a pitiful little pile next to them. Who could have done such a thing? To see the pumpkins in their prime (and as we would like them to be remembered) click HERE.

I put the faceless pumpkins on the table to take a picture of them and Matthew came over and noticed one still had a face, so he went ahead and finished the job. Oh, Matthew, I'm afraid you gave yourself away. I think the turkey craft is next! Ironically, he was wearing a Halloween shirt that said "monster." Hmmm

Getting ready for the cold

I've been talking to Matthew about our impending trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in a few days, hoping it will ease the transition for him. I've been telling him we are going on a big airplane and we're going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa at their house. He seems excited about it. We had to break out all the cold weather clothing because, even though Scott insists that Oregon is "very mild," it's still colder than Okinawa, and these kids are gonna need to keep warm!

Here's Anna trying on a beanie.

And here's Matthew in (almost) full cold weather gear.

Have it your way

Toy?

Yesterday Scott, the kids and I were all running around doing errands (getting ready for our upcoming travels and the holidays). We stopped to have lunch at Burger King in the base food court and Matthew got a special kids meal.
Today at about 10 in the morning, Matthew announced that he would like some lunch (yunch? yunch?) I asked him what he would like for lunch and he said "applesauce." Intrigued by his specific lunch ideas, I questioned him further. "Applesauce...chicken...toy" was his complete yunch order - his exact meal from Burger King the day before. Hmmm

Oh, and this is a Japanese band doing a Christmas show that we stumbled upon during our travels yesterday. They were singing "All I Want for Christmas is You" and were pretty good. I love the pompadours.