And then I was pulled over for drunk driving

NOTE: the pictures in this post have entirely no context.

This morning, my children and I headed out first thing to go to the passport office once again so that I could sign that one freaking signature that had been grievously overlooked at the appointment on Tuesday. I was miffed about the whole thing (c'mon, they haven't heard of forgery? I'd never tell!), but I was determined to not let this ruin our day. I've found that the children behave the best when I'm not tense or visibly upset, and plus, it's a quick trip for one signature. Should be simple, yes?



We arrived at the office waiting room and I immediately took note of several large, boldfaced signs announcing PASSPORT OFFICE CLOSED TODAY. I located the smaller sign with a schedule on the wall, and realized that the passport office is always closed on Thursdays, except for afternoon appointments. It was 10 am. I briefly considered hyperventilating, then lying down on the floor and giving a good shout (hey, it's Lavella's answer to anything), but then a guy came out of the office area and asked me what I was there for (several official offices are grouped together in the same common room, with the passport offices located just off of that). I told him, and with a quick, knowing glance around at my 4 little ones, he went back inside for a minute. Thank God the passport lady was actually back there somewhere, and pulled my file for my ONE SIGNATURE. Crisis averted. I may have burned the place down had the nice man not intervened.



We had entered the building with Lavella strapped in the stroller and Elijah pushing her, with the promise that Andrew could push her back out. Apparently it's a High Honor to zoom her about like a race car. Of course, however, as we turned to go, Elijah suddenly decided that it was not OK for anyone else to push her, and collapsed in a heap of wails. After some terse threats, we made it out to the car ("ANDREW IS GOING TOO FAST!!! HE'S RUNNING WITH HER!!! BLAH BLAH BLAH I WANT TO MAKE YOUR EARS BLEED WITH THE SHEER POWER OF MY LUNGS!!!")



There were one or two things we needed from the PX. On the way there, I hit a curb coming off of a traffic circle, and then nearly got in a sloooooow accident with another driver on the larger traffic circle just before the PX (most Americans cannot drive around those things properly). As I was turning into the parking lot of the PX, I noticed a Military Police car (MP) pull in behind me, then turn on his lights. He directed me into the nearest parking spot (thanks buddy, I wouldn't have known where to park otherwise!!), and then walked over to my window.

MP: "Do you know why I pulled you over?" (Is there a textbook for these sayings somewhere?)
Me: "Ummmmmm...."
MP: "Ma'am, are you OK? You hit a curb back there, and then you were ALL OVER the road. I mean, it's kind of early to be drinking, but..."
At this point, it's possible that he caught a whiff of the animal crackers I'd been eating. He looked confused, embarrassed, not sure what to say next.
Me: "Sir, I have 4 children under the age of 6. I was distracted." (In my head: "Dude, I'm ALWAYS all over the road. Your point?")
MP: "Well ma'am, please drive safe, be careful, mumble mumblemumble I'm so embarrassed and I'm young and I don't really know what to say right about now, because It's clear that while you are, indeed, a hazard for our fine pedestrian citizens, there's nothing I can do about it mumble mumble."



After this enlightening conversation, I gathered my little troops, and we headed inside, this time sans stroller (in an effort to avoid the earlier fighting trouble). As soon as we entered the store, Lavella made a quick right into the clothing department, and....was gone. The store, mercifully, was fairly empty, so it was just me and the boys screaming her name, peering around clothing racks and feeling stupid/concerned/mildly panicked. A 2-1/2 foot person who does not want to be found can be a challenge, to say the least. Darn that toddler stubbornness.

I finally located her taking her jacket off. "I have to poop", she announced. Thankfully, nothing came of that.

The rest of the (mercifully brief) shopping trip that followed was nothing short of disastrous. Pharmaceuticals being plowed off of shelves, dropping shopping baskets on the floor, and then the crowning glory: a full out fit at the register, courtesy of Elijah and Lavella, because they had to relinquish their goods to the cashier to get "beeped". Truly, it was a horrific ending.

After quickly getting some gas, and mailing something out at the post office, we were finally able to go home.



Nevermind me sobbing over here in the corner, rocking with my arms over my head.

I think it will probably be a good idea for us NEVER TO GO OUT OF OUR HOUSE AGAIN.

Not really, but hey! Here's a fun cookbook!


It's from one of my fiber friends, who sent it as a little gift for the children. I'll post more on it later -- it's already inspired some good, creative eating.

Busy times

With Lavella's and my birthdays coming up, some family members have been emailing me for gift ideas. For Lavella, she would love anything girlie, since most of the toys around here are very boy oriented. She plays with her two My Little Ponies all the time, and is obsessed with dresses and shoes (growing into a size 3T dress, and her shoe size is 7). As for me, I keep my Amazon.com wishlist updated, and really, beyond that, there's pretty much nothing that I want (a little secret -- if you know that someone keeps a wishlist on Amazon and want to find it without getting the link from them, you can go here and then type their name into the little search box on the top right. Pretty cool little feature.) . I have become sensitive to almost all scents, so candles, lotions and the like won't get used; I get headaches. Anything on my wishlist, however, is a sure thing. Or, of course, gift certificates to my two favorite online stores: Spunky Eclectic and The Loopy Ewe are always a good idea as well, for something "different". (I'm boring, what can I say? But at least I'm dependably boring.)

Now that we've got that business out of the way...

Today was a crazy busy day for us. Normally, I only plan to be out of the house for half of a day, and we come home exhausted, feeling always like we were out just a little too long. Today, however, was kind of out of my hands. Every Tuesday morning we go to Women's Bible Study on post, and today also just happened to be the time that I could get an afternoon appointment with the passport office to apply for Jonah's passport and Record of Birth Abroad (which will serve as his American birth certificate for the rest of his life. You know. Just slightly important stuff.)

Last night, as I always do before a Going Out day, I packed breakfast for the children and I (cereal in little containers, granola bars, apples) and water for all of us, restocked the diaper bag, packed my knitting, and gathered the garbage. I also wrapped up these cookies on a disposable plate, which Andrew and I had made in the afternoon, since it was my small group's turn to bring "breakfast".


This is, of course, from Baking: From my home to yours, and with a great raspberry jam in the middle (organic, apple juice sweetened with no added sugar), it was The Perfect Cookie. Looks like a healthy breakfast, yes? :) Haha.

This morning, after getting the children dressed, I started my 18 trips down the stairs to bring out garbage, bags, etc. out to the van. As I attempted to open the back of the vehicle, I realized that my van was dead. There was no power, and unfortunately, almost everything is automatic, including the latch for the back door. Suck.

I attempted to turn on the ignition, but there wasn't even a sound. At all. I went back up, and knocked on first one of my neighbor's doors, then the other. It was almost 9am by now on a weekday -- surely someone would be awake! No answer. My children, hearing me knocking on neighbor doors, decided it would be wildly fun to start knocking like mad on the inside of our door, making Super Fun Echos! that rattled the inside of my head.

At this point, the second neighbor finally came to the door, and when I explained what the trouble was, she helpfully woke up the third neighbor (who is a mechanic, and who parks next to me), who dragged himself out of bed, and then very sweetly jumped my car. I felt like a schmuck, but what was there to do?

Once we finally got to Bible Study, we were about 10 minutes late -- not bad for such a rocky start.

After Bible Study was over, I asked around to see who wanted to meet me for lunch, and two of the ladies agreed to meet the children and I at the food court. Of course my kids ate about three chips each at Taco Bell, then ran off to "play" the video games.

At 1:30 I put them in childcare, then Jonah and I ran to the bank to pick up a money order for his passport, and at 2:30 arrived at the passport place to apply.

Once we got finished there, we did our usual rounds of post office and commissary, with a visit to the PX and Power Zone as well to get a few little things (the batteries in our remote died, etc.)

Why am I telling you all of this? Because it amazes me that I can spend 4 solid hours away from the children (except for Jonah), and still have not a moment of down time. I did not knit one stitch, and in all of the running around, stopped to nurse Jonah at least twice. It's amazing how busy children make everything. I'm certainly not bored.

A fun little afterword: I've just received an email that says I need to go back in to the passport office before Friday morning (when they'll be mailing out the application), because they're missing one signature. Oh for goodness sake.

Flour and audio fun list

After having my mom mail me her freshly ground whole wheat flour for several years now, it finally occurred to me that I probably bake often enough to have my own mill.

I ordered it from Urban Homemaker, and got it in the mail a few weeks ago.


I've been a little overwhelmed lately though, so it took me up until two days ago to get to the store and buy a bag of wheat grain.

This is an entire 25 kilo bag (approx 55 lbs.) The guy looked at me like I was a little crazy, but seriously -- I can't easily get out of the house just any time I want, so it becomes necessary to buy in bulk. On top of that, I really do bake almost every day, so it's entirely possible I'll use this up before we move in the fall! (Either that, or I'll be making the leftovers a gift to another enthusiastic baking friend.)

Something interesting: it seems to be the German custom to go out and buy things daily for that day's food needs -- i.e. 2 or 3 eggs, an onion, a small bag of flour, etc. They buy as they need. This makes me stick out painfully as the Loony American, but I refuse to repent of my ways. It's always my goal to have, essentially, a grocery store in house, so a 55 pound bag of wheat makes perfect sense towards that end.

I got all of the plastic pieces of the mill washed on Friday, and then on Saturday when they were all nice and dry, I put it all together, and we started up the mill for it's berak-in run. (Turn the mill on and leave it running for 4 minutes, then add 2 cups of grain and throw this flour away.)


There's nothing like plunging your hands into newly ground, warm flour.

The scent of fresh flour is earthy and nutty, and you can see the bran lying on top here in the canister.

Mmmm....whole wheat bread has never tasted so good. (Sidenote -- this flour was coarsly ground, but it can also do medium and fine, depending on what you need.)

Random: I'm always looking for music or other audio entertainment that will amuse my children while not making me want to burn my ears out. With all of the errands that we have to run, I've found that sometimes a fun audio book is the only thing standing between me and the certain appearance of Monster Mommy. I've also discovered that many children's movies have fun soundtracks, available for immediate download on iTunes. Because some of you may be looking for similar entertainment, here's our current listening list.

Misc Music:
Elizabeth Mitchell (any and all of her CD's are well worth the listen.)
Johnny Cash Children's Album
Veggie Tales (tons of albums here, including the soundtrack to the most recent movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything")

Soundtracks:
Cars Movie
Hairspray (OK, not a kids movie, but the kids love the music)
Flushed Away
Shrek 2
Madagascar 2

Audiobook short books:
The Biggest Bear
Blueberries For Sal
Burt Dow: Deep Water Man
Make Way For Ducklings
One Morning In Maine
Corduroy: Lost And Found
Horton Hears A Who
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
The Lorax
The Little House
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Stone Soup
Where the Wild Things Are

Audiobook "chapter books":
A Bear Called Paddington
Charlotte's Web
Fantastic Mr. Fox
George's Marvelous Medicine
The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Homer Price
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Stuart Little

To those of you who have little people of your own, what do you keep loaded in your iPods?

1st haircut (and some other firsts)

Two days ago, Lavella got her first haircut. Well, I suppose it was more of a trim:



As you can see, I only took about an inch off of the back, but it really neatened things up and I think her hair looks even cuter now (is that even possible?)


Sorry, not the greatest shot, but she was watching a video and wasn't in the mood to be photographed.

I keep forgetting to blog this, but Jonah rolled over for the first time at the beginning of last week. He had woken up from his nap, and I let him fuss for a few minutes, trying to finish something. When I went in there, he was looking confused, lying on his back (I put my babies to sleep on their tummies. Sue me.)

Another first -- Jonah giggled for the first time on Sunday! I got him to laugh at me while saying "You...are...my...LITTLE GUY!!" over and over, and probably he was just openly mocking me, but we'll just say it was genuine amusement. Now every time Elijah thinks of it, he says "Hey Mommy! Let's say You Are My Little Guy to Jonah and make him laugh!!!" Of course it's only ever worked that one time, but Elijah likes chanting it anyway.

Jonah has finally started to enjoy his bouncy seat.


He's noticed the toys hanging over it, and seems to think they're pretty cool.


Andrew giving Jonah a kiss

I love the way that my other children are so excited about Jonah. Every new thing that he does is So Cool, and they want to kiss and rub his little head and talk to him every time he's in the room. Elijah, especially, is kind of all about violent love -- you know, the kisses with gritted teeth, hugs that have a locked jaw, and rubbing the top of his fuzz just a little too hard. Lavella, on the other hand, always wants to cover him with blankets. This means that I have to be careful about leaving blankets on the edge of his crib, or else they'll likely get thrown in on his head. Andrew likes the thrill of holding him "himself". If I position Jonah just so, Andrew can hold him upright while standing for about .3 seconds, and then kind of chucks him back at me. Good times.

Jonah turned 11 weeks old yesterday. My gosh, he's nearly half grown already!

Cleaning days and cool new stuff

On Monday, I awoke with only the barest elevated temperature -- compared to the fever, I felt great! We were out of food and I had to run a few other errands on post as well, so we headed out to get stuff done.

Yesterday I took a good look around my house, and it seems that in my haze of sickness, the house had imploded upon itself into disaster. Not only were toys strewn to the four corners, but it was spectacularly dirty. I started at one end of the house, and with the children's help, we gathered, scrubbed, and vacuumed our way through.

We broke for lunch; I hadn't been in the very lightest of moods (cleaning is serious!!), so I suggested a walk for cheese (sliced to order -- no extra work at home!), pretzels, and some good rolls. The children were cheered by this thought, so we set out.

The weather was a little chilly, but the sun was brilliant, so it was nice to walk. We stopped also to pick up a particularly nice looking cucumber, which Lavella took as her own. We got more than one amused expression as she marched down the sidewalk, belly first in a pink-and-gray hoodie, brandishing a long cucumber, arms punching with each step.

Back at home, we opened a box we'd picked up earlier from the post office, sent by Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Bob.


Of course, first off, Jonah's first Ralph Lauren set:


Then a dress for Lavella (they'd read about her new love for them):


And Cars Movie toys for the boys:


Thank you Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Bob! We think all of our new things are great and have been playing with them non stop since we opened them!! (And thank you so much for the check too.) We love you so much!

Another chat with Jonah

I'm still not all that much better today, but here's a little cheerful gurgling boy.

So sick of being sick

This week I've felt a little under the weather, but generally, even when my children are sick, I don't really get much of anything. This morning, however, I woke up with a fever. I think the last time I had a fever was when I was 10 or something. By this afternoon it had gone up to 102.6, but now it's back down to 100.5, so the fluids and the nap I took earlier must be helping at least a little.

On the upside, this dude gets more precious and adorable every day.


(And Andrew's getting to be a better photographer!)

My children are all safely off to bed, so I bid you all goodnight. 8:00PM. This is a new record for me.

The little sick people

Today marks day 10 of Elijah being sick, day 3 for Lavella, and last night Andrew woke up burning up with the same fever. They've also got runny noses; when I took Elijah to the Dr. on Friday, he said it was a sinus infection that his body couldn't get rid of and put him on meds, so I'm assuming it's the same for all three of them. They don't ever get sick like this -- it's very frustrating, and a little bit scary for a sickness to last this long. It's also not fun to wrestle people down and shoot liquid, drippy medication in their mouths, but I suppose that's part of my job description. Grr.

I woke up at 7am to make same-day appointments for Andrew and Lavella later this morning. Good times.

On a lighter note, here's pics from a cookie-decorating playdate we had when we didn't realize we were sick:



(Click through for bigger, and then click on the links below the mosaic for individual shots at full size.)

This picture is blurry, but it's too precious not to include -- Heather and I noticed Andrew and Stella sort-of-cuddling while watching a video that day, and this was all that she could snap off before they noticed her and jumped away from each other. So cute. :)



I'm glad that I have the option of bringing the children to childcare once a week, but the downside is sick, sick, sick. There's always some sort of snuffly nose thing going on at least, and this at worst. ~sigh~ At least once they're all on Amoxicillan they won't be contagious anymore and we can go out in public again.

After the Dr's appointment, my plan is to crash on the couch with all of my little guys, pass out the warm tea, Kleenex and bubblegum flavored medicine and watch movies. Already, I can't wait for naptime. (Why did I give up coffee?!)

A gift from round the world, and cute Lavella videos

Many of you (all of you?) realize that I knit and spin yarn. What you may not realize is that I am an active participant in the online Fiber Arts community. There is a particular forum that I belong to which happens to house one of the most fun, lovely group of people. Since they share the same interests as I do, it makes it fun and rewarding to check in throughout the day and chat about different things regarding the fiber arts as well as life in general. As we have spent time online together, visiting each others' blogs and commenting on projects, celebratory moments, life challenges, etc., we've gotten to know each other, and have become closely knit, although most of us have never met in person. Why am I telling you all of this? Because, knowing that I would be alone on Valentine's Day, a bunch of them secretly put together a huge box of thoughtfully chosen things for me and the children.



Included amongst the fun were personal notes from each of them telling me how much they value the sacrifice our family makes for the sake of our country, and their appreciation of my willingness to share my struggles and life-journey, blogging, etc.


(More pictures here if you're so inclined)

I am so overwhelmed; I have thanked them all, but it's hard to say "thank you" enough for such a gift. I feel truly unworthy, and at the same time greatly loved. Gathered from near and far, this truly was a hug from around the world.

On an entirely different note, here are two recent videos of Lavella. The first is of her talking to Jonathan on Feb. 8th (during the weekend before my mom and Rachel flew back), and the second was taken a few days ago -- she's singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

A post that should probably be full of Valentine's Day cheer

I'm in a little bit of a sluggish, melancholy mood today...I've been feeling a little weird all week since my mom left. With them here, I was plesantly distracted, but now it's very real again that Greg is gone. I am very glad to have the children here though. The challenging and cheerful moments alike make the days fly by, and certainly make life interesting (although of course sometimes more interesting than I'd like).

Yesterday we went out for a lunch date with my friend Becky and her 3-year-old daughter to a place called Brit Cafe at Ramstein AFB for fish and chips, and to visit and knit together. Unfortunately, my children all seemed to have their own agenda, which didn't include "quiet", "visiting" or "eating". Jonah and Lavella both had dirty diapers (just as the food arrived, of course), Jonah had to nurse as soon as we got there, and Andrew and Elijah though it was a good idea to fool around, be wild, and very nearly break the toys in the little children's corner in the restaurant. Everything else was managable, but when the boys began to behave like that, I should probably have just gathered them all and left. It was as though I was in one of those terrible dreams where I'm screaming, but I can't even hear myself, and certainly no one else can. No matter what I said to them, they acted as though they couldn't hear me, and of course it was generally during a time when I was wrestling Lavella to take a bite or in the middle of nursing Jonah.

Anyway, yesterday is over, and the best remedy for a day like that is dedicating the next to cuddling, immediate discipline to any kind of trouble, and careful, specific attention paid to each of them. I know that they suffer emotionally from all of the changes in their lives the same as I do, and I'm responsible to help them through it and guide them loveingly, firmly, and with great patience.

Here is a little face that's making me smile today:

Unbelievable as it may seem, two days ago he turned 8 weeks old.

Lavella has recently discovered dresses. She got this one from Grandma Claire, sent with my mom when she first arrived here:




And this one from Pete and Jill for Christmas:

(She's putting away a bib that she was just wearing -- she thinks that's the thing to do with one after it's been worn, so I have to remember to take them back out when she's not looking .)



Lavella has decided that she likes the dresses so much, that she never wants to take them off. This makes bedtime difficult. As you can see in the above picture, she has little yoga pants and a t-shirt underneath the pink courderoy jumper. This is because she started screaming and flipping out when I attempted to dress her for bed, so I decided there were better things to fight about, and put it back on over the pajamas. Goodness. (The pants were necessary not only to keep her warm during the night, but also because she has a new obsession with removing her own diaper when left to her own devices.)

If I had more time and energy, I'd whip up a few dresses for her on my sewing machine, but as it stands, the thing is gathering dust in what is now the "Wool Room". Perhaps this spring.

Happy Valentine's day to all of you! Many hugs and kisses from our family to yours.