School update

Sassy says she isn't going to have any friends here.

not because her classmates aren't friendly, but because she has enough, she says. She has LOTS of friends back in Nebraska. And she has her cousins in Denver and Minneapolis. That's enough friends, she doesn't need any more.

I just told her that friends are like kisses, you can never have enough.

I hope that line doesn't come back to haunt me when she is a teenager. I should have said 'hugs.'

Sassy's favorite thing to update me on is the hair of the girls in her class. She LOVES that some of her classmates get to wear beads and pretty barettes in their hair.

Heaven help me from the day that she actually thinks to ask me to put some beads in her hair. My fingers aren't very nimble in the mornings.

Packing lunch for Sassy has been difficult because I really want her to have lots of options. Week one it was pretty much all PB and J sandwiches. I got more creative this week and she had mini pizza made with goldfish shaped flat bread. It went over well and she has requested it everyday so far. I hope to make banana muffins tomorrow, but I'm struggling with catering to her picky eating habits and figure out a way to expand what she eats . . .

But the big news for the week? Sassy got herself a gap tooth grin.

But of course, I forgot to take a photo of the gap for this blog so you get the 'super excited that I have a loose tooth photo op. The Commander and I had to ponder for a while on how much Sassy would get from the tooth fairy, and we settled on 2 dollars. Mainly because we can't teach her very muich about money management with 1 dollar, but we know we have to do this for two mouths full of teeth.

Sassy's excitement stemmed pretty much from the fact that the tooth fairy was going to come. I'm not much for pushing kids to believe in fantasy creatures, but Sassy is so passionate about fairies that she would probably break down and cry if I even suggested that the tooth fairy isn't real.

So we made a pillow, and Captain Mommy did her best not to lie too much. Sassy first made me tell her everything I know about the tooth fairy. I stuck with the "I've never seen her/him so I don't know for sure" defense which worked well as her questions became more detailed as we went on . . .

"How does she get under my pillow?"
"What does she wear?"
" Does she shrink down or get really flat?"
"What does she do with the tooth?"

I told her we should write a story about how she thinks it happens . . .

"And then we can leave it out and have her write on it what she really does?"

Well honey, the tooth fairy probably won't write an answer.

"But we could leave her a list and she could check yes or no?"

No, they try to stay hidden so they probably won't have time to read or answer  you.

And on and ON. But inthe end the commander convinced her to leave her pillow on the dresser, I had him WD40 their door, and the tooth extraction was successful!

And here is my 'all my craft stuff is locked up in storage' pillow that we made.

We went to Joann fabric, picked out 2 pieces of felt, some embroidery floss and 3/4 a yard of lace and tada! A pillow!

What did you do for the tooth fairy? And I'll take any ideas for cold school lunches.

Yo Bro!

Happy Birthday from your favorite Fishersans, Brother!

Worse than Kindergarten . . .

Today is Sassy's first day of school. I was so proud of myself on her first day of Kindergarten. She and I were both too excited to cry. But schools are prepared for nervous Kindergartners and their parents. We were invited to wait 10 minutes in the library and have coffee. Then they brought in a digital camera and showed us the pictures of our kid's smiling and having fun in their classrooms.

When you move to a new town . . .they don't have that.

So the Commander, little bear and I dropped Sassy off, and left. (With the adult/older student helpers)

The traffic flow didn't allow me enough time to realize that I should have jumped out and walked in with her. (I was driving because the commander hadn't been to her school yet.) And while I'm sure she's fine, I cried as we left and contemplated driving over to her school for the next 3 hours to make sure she is alright.

But since I remember what happened when I used to try to do that when she and little bear were in daycare, I'm sure I would have just make it more stressful to show up and leave again.

Here is Sassy's first day of school picture. She put on a nice brave face for me, but her smile melted a little by the time we got to school. It is a 45 minute drive until we move to our other apartment in 5 weeks.

She made sure I got a nice picture of her Barbie backpack and matching lunchbox, too.

Little Bear was very irritated that she wasn't going to school too. I don't think she's going to last long staying home with me. Well, I'll update how her day went later, but for now, on to happier thoughts . . . .

We bought a membership to the Hunstville Botanical Gardens this weekend. I can't decide if the better word for them is "Awesome" or "Legendary."

There are 10 large 'tree house' play areas. This is the first one you see when you enter the gardens.

There are lots of ponds and fountains. Little Bear was enjoying mimicking the frog statues.

A small village with a train that had a working whistle and chugged along the track.

 And CHECK OUT THESE LILY PADS! Native to the amazon jungle, these were my favorite new plant to see! The looked big enough for Sassy to sit on and dangle her feet in the water.

 And what garden in complete without a butterfly pavilion? Well, most garden's don't have one, but this is the main reason we got a membership. Sassy is obsessed with holding a butterfly. We had a little trouble attracting one, but the Commander sat down lifted his hand, and one just landed in him.

The girls were impressed.

 Then Little Bear scooped one up.

 Finally, after many attempts, Sassy got one on her frog bracelet. She has informed me she will always wear this bracelet to the gardens.

 And to complete the trip, the Commander lifted his hand and got another butterfly on the way out.

Show Off!

The commander and I had been scouting for a good restaurant to try and we stumbled upon Hildegard's German Restaurant. After checking out online reviews we decided to eat there after a quick swim since it was closed on Sundays and Mondays . . AKA we didn't want to wait three more days because after checking out the menu we were STARVING for good German food.

Here's a pic of the delicious Sauerbraten, Spatzel and Red Cabbage that I had. The picture doesn't do this delicious meal justice, but do you see Little Bear's fingers snitching my Spatzel?



Priceless.

She didn't really care for it, but I think it was because the Spatzel wasn't in the gravy so you had to scoop up some spatzel, beef and cabbage to get the perfect blend.

The Commander had some delicious bratwurst, and was very satisfied with their beer selection.

Here's his happy face at the end of our meal.

If you come to visit us, be prepared to get your German on because we recommend you come try this with us!

And I think I have successfully distracted myself from Sassy at school. Did I mention public school runs from 8 to 2:30 here? Does anyone else think that is weird? Or do you think it would be better?

Paperwork

Someone should have warned me about the paperwork involved with moving.

I didn't think about things like cancelling all of our services back in NE (or transferring them to the rental management company) and the like. I think there was 15 different papers to fill out for Sassy's school enrollment.

But of course we aren't going to stay in these apartments because we found something even prettier on the non-mountanous side. So we had to quickly get the paperwork for that apartment done so that I could bring the lease agreement in and get Sassy into that school district because we didn't want to transfer her in 30 days to a new school AGAIN.

And did you know that you can't use a Nebraska immunization record in Alabama? Neither did I. But getting those records tranfered over took 2 hours out of my day with the girls by my side. The girls are getting less and less fond of getting in the van with Mommy because it seems to involve a very long wait.

The most tramatic experience for me had to be going to Sassy's school. She clung to my leg and said "I don't want to go to school." Quite the change from my excited little kindergartner. Of course this time Mommy and Little Bear with have to drive her 45 minutes to school and back every morning before we move to the other side of town at the end of September. The commander and I agree that this is worth it, but the girls probably won't agree. I might survive.

Other than all the time we've spent waiting in lines and filling out forms, we've stopped for a little family fun along the way. The commander stopped at the pool on the way home yesterday to take a few pics of us ladies at the pool having a great time. For once it wasn't raining in the afternoon so I let the girls convince me to go swimming. And I'm very greatful that the commander didn't see fit to zoom in very much for these photos.

And then to top off the fun, they 'styled' mommy's hair last night. Check out my grimace. Is it fair to say that I really wish that their Little Mermaid styling head wasn't still in a box somewhere?

Hooray for the internet!

Finally!We have the internet people! After a few days of dinking around with our home computer setup, we got the home computer working.

And here's what you missed.

The commander drove a massive U-Haul truck with no air conditioning AND his car attached to the back while I had the girls and both cats with me in the van packed to the hilt.

Yes, I did let the cats roam the cabin after about 5 hours of meowing, and the girls telling me that the cats were still meowing.
Yes, I did have water and a litter box available for their use. Neither of which they did use.
Yes, I did drug one of the cats on day one, but felt so sorry for her I didn't on day two, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they have a highly neurotic cat.
Yes, the commander did get a nasty sunburn on his arm as he drove down the highway with his head practically out the window.

We did have walkie talkies so that we could communicate easily when we were in range. But we actually staggered our traveling a lot. I kept driving when the commander pulled off at weigh stations, and he kept going when we stopped for potty breaks ever 2 hours or so. We met up for supper on day one and lunch on day two, but we decided it was too stressful for  both of us to stop for every break.

I learned that cats like to lay on the front dash, sniff the air coming out of the vents, and stare our of windows just like dogs do.

The commander learned that 5 hour energy drinks and Red Bull are his best friend when driving a massive truck

So we arrived to a beautifully furnished apartment that I was too tired to take pictures of before we shoved it full of our stuff.

So here's a few of it after . . . .


The next morning, I was able to stop and take a breathe to enjoy the beautiful view of what I have come to think of as "our Mountain."

Seriously peeps, it is GOURGEOUS here!

And after that, I jumped in the van with the girls to spend 3 HOT hours unloading the U-Haul into 2 large storage units. The girls played in the shade while the commander and I bickered about how to stack our stuff.
 Afterwards, the commander and I decided that we have WAY too much stuff and I have been trying to trim down what we brought to the apartment with us. Hmmmm . . .Do I really need THREE totes of dress up stuff? Probably not . . .

The girls are still a little wary about getting in the van because the horrors of the trip here are still with them, but we are slowly getting around. So far with our few trips around town we have found -

 - the 'Ritzy' Mall, complete with lake in the middle, paddle boats, bowling alley, movie theater and carousel.

 - Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, McDonald's, JoAnn Fabrics, Pizza Hut, and other familar stores.
 - The Space Museum -->
 - The commander's Office
 - our Pool
 - The Elementary school (Monte Sano) which is on the next mountain over.

The commander started work yesterday and is impressed with the positive attitudes of everyone he meets AND the fact that their cafeteria serves delicious Bar-B-Que chicken and rib tips for lunch.

On the menu for today, I will be working on setting up walkthroughs for other available apartments with 3 bedrooms, two baths, and that cats are acceptable in. But the debate is just to find an open apartment in this complex.

All in all the move went okay. It would have been better with more time and without me having sinus surgery in the middle of it, but we worked well with what we had. The girls are still a little out of sorts. Sassy is sad about leaving her friends, but I have high hopes fo her perking up when school starts in less than 2 weeks. Little Bear keeps mentioning her new Daycare, so she hasn't really figured out that she will be home all day with Mommy, but I've already started scouting day activities for the 2 of us to get some social interaction.

And the cats are just pacing off the apartment trying to figure out the best lookout spot.

And yes I will try to get some pictures of the girls and our apartment up tomorrow!