Ever thoughtful Ryan

I meant to put this on earlier,but with the movers I didn't have a chance. Last week we decided it was best to arrange a kennel for Lucy so she wasn't in the way when they were packing the house. I was able to get the one in Mittelbrunn that many had reccomended and told the boys Lucy was going to go have a doggie sleepover for a night. I can't remmeber if it was Saturday or Sunday, but Lucy was sitting in the recliner and Ryan knelt down beside her. The conversation went something like this.

"Don't worry Lucy it's your first sleep over so it's okay to be nervous. You will have lots of fun and there will be dog friends there to play with. Don't worry the other dogs will like you and the people will take good care of you. And we will be back to get you the very next day. It's just one night Lucy so don't be scared and don't worry we will come back for you."

It was really funny how Lucy just sat and listened the whole time licking Ryan's hand occasionally.

Scout Awards Galore!

Wednesday night we had a combined pack meeting and BBQ to say farewell to the summer. The boys worked hard all summer and finally got the many awards they had been waiting on. Tyler recieved several more activity badges and his Webelos badge. Now he can start working towards his Arrow of Light so when he turns 11 he is ready to cross over into Boy Scouts. Ryan earned his Wolf badge so will work on achievements towards arrow points until he turns 9 in Oct and moves up to the Bear den. It was a fun evening and a nice way to end out scout time here in Germany. we will leave right before the next pack meeting. Hopefully New Jersey will have a good scout program and get the boys motivated to keep working on earning badges and such. I have to do all this on the laptop which is a pain so sorry for any errors!

Phase 2 Complete!

The biggest headache of the move is over! I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off of me. Moving in general is not pleasant in our house. I am a very organized, make lists and be very specific about what is going and why, what we are keeping and why. The kids were each allowed 7 days of clothes which turned into 10 because a pile of laundry got burried under suitcases and I didn't know! So they got some bonus cloths out of the deal. They also got to choose toys to keep out, but it has to fit in their backpack for the plane. The only exception was Cody becuase he won't be in school all day. We kept out his bowling set, some hot wheels cars and a few other things.

Zach on the other hand hates moving! He drags his feet about getting anything done, never wants to get rid of anything no matter if it is junk or not. This time I actually got him to pack his suitcase more than 24 hours in advance! We had decided to give away the lawn mower, grill, old TV in our room and some other things, but last minute he insisted we had never talked about it and so guess what....it all went! Not the grill, but the other things did. The lawn mower looked brand new according to the movers. They wondered if we had even used it. At the end of Monday I asked Zach if I should go cancel cable becuase we wouldn't have a TV and he then realized that was not a good thing so we left one TV out more for my sanity! We don't watch much, but the kids will need cartoons to entertain themselves. We do have a small portable DVD player and some movies and we can walk to the library to check out more when they get tired of those. Since the garage was last to be packed Zach went back throuh things Tuesday morning and decided there were some other things that weren't that important and he never used. Why he waits till moving day I will never know, but it's the same thing every time.

It's over now and I am breathing much easier. FMO came very early this morning so I am trying to organize and make a list of food we will need to get us by. Lucky for us we were saved by our good friends who took the kids Monday then sent them home with a batch of zuchini muffins which we devoured for breakfast Tuesday. Then they had us over for dinner Tuesday after the movers were doen since it was Mady's birthday. So we were sent home with full bellies, watermelon and hamburgers to hold us another day! We are so glad things are finally turning for the better. It's about time! We had great movers and I am pretty confident everything will make it in one piece. Honestly if it doesn't, it's just stuff and it can all be replaced! So until the next update............

Phase 1 Complete!

The van is gone! Zach took it in Monday just to find out only the shipping part was open due to a family day. When he made the appointment he specifically called to find out what he needed to do and if they were open on a family day. Obviously the person on the phone had no clue! So anyway the shipping company accpeted it and Tuesday he went back to deregister it and get our shipping plates. The van was already gone! Gee they didn't waste anytime! SO he was a little worried when he went in to get the plates, but they only cared that we had pulled our Germany plates off. The van is expected to arrive in Baltimore, MD by Sept 27th. We get there the evening of the 24th and are really hoping it's there to be picked up the next day! Not much has gone right this move so we are planning to rent.

So on to phase 2...household goods! The house is ready except for little last minute things Sunday evening. Look for post next week to find out how the packing goes!

Agenda

Zach sat at assignments for 2 hours Monday waiting for our hard copy orders. So far this is what we have in the next few weeks.
Monday August 17th......Ship Van 0845
Tuesday August 18th.....Pre-inspection on house 0830
Monday August 24th....movers arrive to pack the house!
Tuesday August 25th.....movers finish packing and load crates!
Wednesday August 26th.....FMO arrives

So as you can see the biggest headaches on this end are about to be over! I am so excited to get everything out of the house! We have cleaned the mower enough that I think they will take it. The grill is a lost cause I am afriad. We had the boys wash the bikes today and once the van is gone we will be able to clean patio furniture and put it in the garage. I did 8 loads of laundry this weekend so I should be able to start packing next week. I separated a bunch of stuff that is being kept out a few weeks ago so that is done. We need to borrow a mower to take care of our lawn so I need to ask the neighbors if they can let us use theirs for the next few weeks.

We still don't know about housing in New Jersey. The base says they will only give us a three bedroom because we have all boys. We are pre approved to buy a house, but it's expensive there and we just don't know much about the area. It's hard to know what the schools will be like and once you buy you are stuck! So that is up in the air still. We have been emailing with a realtor and have two possible houses to see when we get there. Our biggest dilemma is not many have garages and that is a must. A lot of them have pools and I would prefer to avoid that all together! So our options are somewhat slim for our budget.

I have two extra kids and it seems Valery and Cody found something fun to entertain themselves with! Not sure it is the best thing though so had better run for now!

Never was a mathematician!

Saturday I finally got Zach to empty the rest of the attic and sort through his military gear. He had three large rubbermaid bins that barely shut and his chem gear bag which we have to give back before we move. He hauls it into our bedroom and starts dumping everything out! The Air Force has a new uniform and his last deployment was supposed to the end of the desert uniform. Well he still had a good three deployments left of that crap and a whole lot more!
Desert Gortex Jackets.....3
Desert Uniforms...........4
Wool socks................10
Green BDU gortex jacket...1
Black boots...............3
Desert boots..............2

And the list goes on and on and on! Now the kicker of this all is a good portion of this stuff is brand new with tags! The military wastes so much money issuing stuff over and over that either the person has and it's still usable, or they are never going to use it! Like the wool socks. He was issued some of those before his summer deployment! How many times do you think you will need those? He has a ton of cold weather gear from Alaska and guess what they are going to issue him more when we get to New Jersey!

So after hours of sorting we ended up with 3 rubbermaid bins so full they don't snap shut, an A bag full and his chem hear. Now how to do you ask did we end up with more? Well as we are sorting Zach dissapears. He had an unpacked bag in the garage from when he came home last May! Now in his defense he was home 48 hours before we moved into this house so he spent weeks organizing a house, but that was over a year ago! Then he opens a two drawers and they are crammed full of T-shirts that he hasn't worn in over a year! He can't wear black or brown with the new uniform, but he still has them all! So I have to be happy he went through his stuff and we do have a very large bag to get rid of. And I cut up all those darn T-shirts for cleaning rags!

More pictures from Saarbrucken