The big day is here. Guests have come into town, clothes have been purchased, not nearly enough sleep has been gotten, Luke-Xavier says his cheeks and head hurt and he’s supposed to stand up with all the other preschoolers for his Christmas program today and then be shuttled off to his dad’s retirement ceremony where he’s supposed to sit quietly during all the pomp and circumstance. Hmmm…yep in my time as a mom I’d say that all sounds about right for the day of something special!

Just when you need everything to go smoothly, the kiddos get sick or change their sleep patterns. Even if poor, little Luke-Xavier has a tough day today, I’m positive that Clay’s retirement ceremony will be beautiful. If you’ve never been to a military retirement, I suggest you grab an opportunity to attend one. They are rich with tradition.

Today Clay’s 23 yr, military career will be recognized and he will walk away into the next phase of this life. What a great career he’s had! He enlisted out of high school, became a reservist, went active during the 1st Gulf War and went on to OCS (Officer Candidate School) as a candidate through the Seaman to Admiral program where he and his class were commissioned by the late, Admiral Boorda. He was then sent to flight school and was winged in 1997. He flew helicopters up until about a year ago and the kids and I learned to identify the bird he flew by the sound. There are a million other things in there, schools and accomplishments, but that’s it in a nutshell. A beautiful career!

I hope this day goes off without a hitch (accept, of course, the sick and sleepy 4 yr old) and that Clay gets a beautiful send-off.

But 1st I’ve got to wake the kiddos, get everyone off to school, have a regular day of work and THEN we can prepare for the big ceremony. Pictures and details to follow!

Doing the Dance on a Big Day~

Clay’s retirement ceremony is on Friday. Here’s some of what’s going through my head;

All the girls need clothes to wear for the ceremony-but there’s not an actual paycheck coming in anymore. We have to wait to be paid for the leave days that Clay sold back. This can happen anytime between tomorrow and the end of next week.

There are 3 rolls of TP, 1/2 a loaf of bread and no more fruits and veggies left in the house-see above pay explanation to see why I’m thinking about these things instead of making my usual shopping list.

My in-laws, Aunt, cousin and mother (and maybe a few other surprise guests) arrive Thursday.

Max needs to do a better job of reading each night and logging it.

Mariah’s birthday is this weekend and with both her grandmothers in town, I REALLY want to have a Girl’s Tea to celebrate-see above pay explanation to see why I’m wondering if this can be accomplished.

I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR TO THE RETIREMENT!

The bathrooms are dirty and I can’t seem to get to cleaning them.

I took down the Fall decor and NEED to get the Christmas decor up by tomorrow evening since the advent calenders will be a disappointment to the kids if we don’t start on December 1st.

Luke-Xavier’s Christmas program is on Friday, a few hours before the retirement ceremony.

Clay’s date of retirement is today. I didn’t do a zillion things that I felt were important to do before this date. Stressing over whether or not I can do them AFTER.

Hey, the laundry’s under control *pat, pat, pat-on-the-back*

The boys need haircuts before Friday’s ceremony.

Military retirement ceremonies are really wonderful! I have a wealth of feelings about this one!

I need to list some things on ebay. Why do I always tell myself I’ll do it “tomorrow evening”, only to find that each evening I’m exhausted from being up and in constant motion since 4 am. Face it Jen, the evening is not your friend! Get your work done during the day!

So, that’s some of what’s been bouncing around in my head and filling up my time. Not to mention that regular life is still going on. There are still dental appointments, my daily work at the school, the meals to prepare, laundry to do, kiddos to cuddle, homework to be done, carpools to be driven…

Sometimes it’s easier to go silent, put my head down and plow forward than to pull it all apart and talk about it.

~sigh~

Prayers, well wishes and good vibes are all appreciated!

Doing the Dance of the Children While Doing the Dance of Life~

I haven’t really been ready to talk about this because I just couldn’t figure out how to process it. But the end is speeding toward us, some pieces have fallen into place and I think I can spit out the words now.

About 4 months ago Clay let me know that he would be forced into retirement at the end of November (see how close it is?!). He was passed over for advancement and since he has already served 23 years, it meant he would have to retire.

You can imagine that this brought on a lot of anxieties! First of all (and really foremost in my head) we live in military housing. We’ve been fortunate enough to be in this AMAZING housing for 11 years! My last 4 children have never known anything but this neighborhood. That doesn’t mean we haven’t done our fair share of moving around. The first 7 years, this family moved and moved and moved! So, if his military career was going away, so was our house! This became my primary focus. I figured I’d leave the job issue to him, but I couldn’t get over thinking about not having a house anymore. Where would we live?! Do you know how expensive housing is in San Diego?! What about the kid’s schools?! It’s very odd to go from a life of being told where you’re going, when you’re going there and what you will be doing once you get there, to having to CHOOSE these things! And honestly, there’s a whole system set in place for the transition, but it normally is a year or so long process, not one of 4 months!

After stressing out about these things for about 3 months, I finally decided to go down to the housing office and ask some questions. I’m sure glad I did! I found out that we have an automatic 30 days that we can stay here, after retirement and also found out that an Exception to Policy letter could be written asking to stay through the end of the school year. Most of my anxiety melted away right there! We are now approved to stay here until the end of June, if it works out for us to do so. This made me feel SO much better!

So, Clay will be retired at the end of this month. He is looking for a new career. His ceremony will be at the beginning of December and the kids can finish out their school year in the schools they know in the neighborhood they know so well. After that…

Well, you can imagine there’s a lot of prayer going on.

But right now, it’s just time to focus on the upcoming holidays and take each day as it comes. I know there’s a Big Plan that I’m not in charge of and I’m reminding myself each day not to worry about it. I can do what I can do and leave the rest in God’s hands.

Doing the Dance of the Children One Day at a Time~

There’s something about Sunday that makes me really miss having everyone near. I wish we could come home from church and know that family was gonna roll in throughout the day, cooking, visiting, even disagreeing.

~sigh~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note-

We had a great time at Oma’s Pumpkin Patch (as always!). I was surprised at how crowded it was. We’ve been visiting for the last 7 years and apparently the word has gotten out about what a great deal ($7 for each child, includes a water bottle, hayride, small pumpkin and all the fun around the play area and each adult is free with a paying child) and how much fun it is! We stayed for about 2 hours, saw a newborn calf, petted some goats, sheep and calves, played in the hay maze, enjoyed the hay ride, had fun on the cotton seed slide and took a ton of pictures. We brought 4 friends along and had a great time!

everyone on the hayride

Tristan petting a goat

Max and a calf

Tristan maneuvering down the cotton seed slide

Me with all the kiddos after they had picked their pumpkins

My favorite picture of the day! Leave it to Lex to turn a rocking cow into a motorcycle!

Now, to tackle this Sunday, 2 soccer games, grocery shopping, church and all!

Doing the Dance of the Children on a Sunday~

Jen and I had a birthday lunch at one of my favorite places in Old Town Auburn

We were invited to spend the afternoon at this beautiful pool with one of my closest friends from high school and her daughter.

At my Aunt and Uncle’s house the kids felt right at home. Gabi found a story doll and told us all the story of Little Red Riding Hood

There were lots of animals for the kids to “love”

Lex chased chickens. It not everyday a Lil Beach-Goer gets to even SEE chickens, let alone catch them! The boys loved it!

Then there were the goats! They spent plenty of time feeding and riding them. These kiddos smelled like livestock by the end of the evening. They couldn’t have been happier!

The boys, heading off to the water slide at the Roseville Aquatic Center

Lex and Alex have been so cute playing together. We’ve found them quietly in the sandbox or making up games. They enjoyed the Aquatic Center together.

Gabi’s been surrounded by boys this whole trip. She’s done a great job of just going along with the boy’s games and getting along with everyone (ok, there have been a few instances of girlyness with her brothers. But mostly she’s done really well).

It’s been a great trip! Today I get to visit with one of my closest friends from school and to meet her children. It’s been so nice to visit with people I shared parts of my life with and to watch our children play together. Today we’ll visit another new pool and soak up some more sun while catching up on the lives of the people who I’ve been away from for so long. Living the life of the Military Family has really kept me away from so many people. Along the way I’ve gotten to meet so many wonderful people who I hope to keep close to, but it’s really good to go “home” for a little bit and to share it with my kids.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

This morning I was thinking about all the change that’s occurred in the last several weeks. First of all, Clay returned from a year-long deployment. That alone changed the dynamics in the house. I handed over bedtime duties and bill-paying duties. But then a week ago, one of my sisters moved down from Northern California and lives less than a mile away from us and just a day later, Kateri arrived for the summer. It’s great to have so many people who can help with the kids’ schedules and the driving duties and even the errands. BUT, I’m not used to having so many people to help with everything and the part of me that is normally in control of all scheduling, errand-running and kid-juggling feels out of control. Even though it was REALLY hard to get everything done before all these helpful hands arrived, I did it. And I did it because I micro-managed every detail of EVERYTHING. All these wonderfully, helpful adults do not need M.O.M. managing their schedules, so I often wonder what’s happening, with whom and when. This is hard for my very-in-control being.

It’s not just getting used to having everyone help with the kids’ schedules, it’s getting used to having so many adult family members around. I’ve lived away from my own family for a very, very long time. Being a military family, we spent years moving around with orders. We’ve been fortunate enough to be in So. Cal. for a long time now, but I haven’t had a family member live nearby in several years. Now, I have Clay home, my brother living here, one of my sisters living down the street and my adult daughter in town for the summer. Such big changes!

Don’t get me wrong-I’m not complaining, I’m just explaining what a huge change it is for me to go from controlling every detail of everything, to having so many people who are here to be helpful and loving with the kids and even household tasks.

Within the next month JJ will also be home for a couple of months and the whole dynamic will change again. Then the Fall will come and Kateri and JJ will head back to school and again, things will change. Hmmm…I guess I better just get used to the “norm” of the house being “change”.

For now, I’ll enjoy the fact that I can ask someone else to pick kids up from school, or get them to an appointment and I’ll just keep adding one more portion to the meals I cook.

Good stuff!

Doing the Dance of the Children and of Change~

Now that Clay is back and my brother is here and there are more hands and drivers to get the kids where they need to be, I feel like I don’t have a good grasp on everything. When I’m the only one who has to make it all happen, I have it all mapped out and know exactly what has to happen for whom and when. But now it’s all a little cloudy because I don’t have to know all the details. It takes me awhile to adjust to not being the only one in control.

Secretly I’m a control freak- *shhhhhhh* -Imagine keeping it all together if I weren’t!

But I’m letting go of a few pieces of the puzzle and letting Clay and Ted take them over. Don’t worry, there’s still PLENTY for me to do. I just have to get it all clear in my head.

Whew! This ever-changing life…Doing the Dance of the Children~

Last Thursday was the big day. Clay’s flight was coming in at 10:50 pm. The kids spent the day making signs, asking “when are we going to the airport?” and getting excited to welcome their dad back. After the long day of getting everything ready, I loaded the kids into the van and headed to the airport. We unloaded, checked the monitor and headed to the gate. The kids held their signs and waited with big smiles…We checked the monitor again. It said the plane had landed…and the kids waited…again with the monitor checking…finally I texted Clay to confirm that the flight info I had was correct. After a few minutes I got a text back that said, “I’m here”. I told the kids, but still no passengers were coming out of the gate. Hmmm…I finally got a 2nd text, “outside”. GREAT! After all the sign-making and planning and getting 8 kids to the airport, his plane was early! I couldn’t believe it!

But, in he came and the kids were able to rush to him, just the same. Man! Plan all you want…

Everyone is happy to have Dad back. It was nice that JJ was home for a few days after Homecoming to be able to sit and visit. I know that Clay’s exhausted and hasn’t really adjusted to the time change OR the busyness of the household. But off we go, into the regular routine. I’m sure he’ll catch up.

Thanks to everyone for all the “Welcome Back” messages that have been sent.

Now…on with the Dance~

One year! I’ve gotta be honest-with the 2 visits and the overall busyness of our house and our schedule, it doesn’t AT ALL seem like a year has passed. But I knew that from the beginning. I knew that the way this house works, that everything would just keep rolling the same as always and that all of a sudden Clay would jump back into the routine.

The best part is that things really will keep rolling the same. Clay’s next set of orders are right here in San Diego. He gets to spend 3 years as a flight instructor at a training squadron at North Island. A beautiful set of orders!

So, today will be spent with the kids asking me a million times, “is it time to get Dad yet?” and by making Welcome Home signs, finishing up projects around the house and reminding that kids that 11pm is much, MUCH later.

Thank you for all the support by all the wonderful people who helped keep life rolling smoothly over this last year. I TRULY appreciate all the supportive comments and those that stepped in to help get kiddos to events and the chit chat over glasses of wine. THAT’S what I call community! Thank you!

Have a great day~

Suggestions? How does a mother who is raising the 7 kids who are at home full-time, during a year-long deployment, who works part-time outside of the home, gets up at 4am and worries endlessly about the needs and good of her 2 children who are away from home, find more time in each day?

Have a great day~

But, it’s ended with me cuddling on the couch with the 3 youngest and the books that they each picked out and THAT is some VERY…good…stuff!

Good night~

A day of working in the house became a day that neither my kids or I will ever forget.

It’s not often that there’s an entire day to work around this house, uninterrupted by kids’ sports or play dates, errands or unplanned outings. But the other day, that’s exactly what I had. I started doing laundry, load after load and bustling around, cleaning out cabinets and organizing shelves. After a couple of hours, I noticed that my kitchen window was fogging up. I immediately thought that the dryer hose must have come undone. I gave a quick peek over the back of the dryer and discovered that I was right. I turned the dryer off, unplugged it and grabbed the broom. Heck, if I was going behind the dryer, we were gonna get it clean! First I swept in front of and under the washer and dryer, got a good sized pile of lint, sand and socks, pulled the dryer out and hopped behind it. I picked up the dryer hose and noticed a collection of lint inside of it. I turned it over to shake it out and sure enough, plenty of lint and MOUSE DROPPINGS came tumbling out! I’m pretty sure I yelled and then just started babbling nonsense. But among the terror-filled nonsense were the words, “I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to do this! This is NOT good! THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!!!” Mariah came running into the laundry room, looked at my terror-stricken face and then peeked over to see what I was yelling…and crying about. She got a smug look on her face and just said, “ohhhhhh”.

Suddenly I realized that I was standing in a corner, with mouse droppings and the open hole to the back of the dryer that could be where a mouse or mice were lurking. Jumping! Quickly! to the top of the washer! I continued crying and trying to think. I yelled for Mariah to bring me the vacuum. I knew that I had to clean up the lint and droppings and reattach the hose. FREAKING OUT! Crying! Trying to be logical and knowing that I had NO CHOICE but to continue the job. I sat on top of the dryer until Mariah brought me the vacuum. I hopped in front of the washer and dryer and decided that I’d start by cleaning up the pile of lint, sand and socks I’d swept up. I’d get my head around the droppings and lint afterward. I turned on the vacuum and through wracking, freaked-out sobs, used the hose to begin the clean up. after a few seconds something blocked the end of the hose. SOMETHING BLOCKED THE END OF THE HOSE!!!!! It took a second for my brain to register what my eyes were seeing. Well, if I was sobbing and incoherent before, you can only imagine what was being shouted when I realized that a dead mouse was stuck to the end of the vacuum hose. Mariah says it was something like, “s#*t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, repeatedly. I knew that if I turned off the vacuum I’d have to sweep the mouse up, so I yelled (lots of yelling during this!) for her to bring the trash can from the kitchen. I then held the hose over the trash can and turned it off, letting the mouse fall into the can. Tristan was immediately summoned to remove the bag of trash.

I couldn’t go any further at this point. I was so upset and knew that I had no choice but to go back and finish the job. But I needed a minute of private freaking out before going back. I went to my room and became disgusted with the thought that my clothes had mouse dust on them. I quickly stripped out of the tainted clothing and put on another set of work clothes, made two frantic phone calls, pulled myself together as best I could and went back to the laundry room.

God bless Mariah!!!! She had vacuumed up all the lint and droppings from the back of the dryer. THANK YOU!!!!! That is, until I realized that we’d been using the BAG-LESS Vacuum. I swear I’ll deal with that soon. Swear! *Shaking and making a very unattractive face*.

Ok, so…the floor was clean and the mouse was gone. Now to reattach the hose. I, once again, became very upset at the thought of climbing back there and facing the hole to the dryer. I finally just went next door and asked our neighbor for assistance. Being a girl has it’s advantages! There is DEFINITELY a time and place to play dumb and I chose THAT moment. Good ol’ Mr. Mike came right over and took care of the dryer hose. The instant that his boots were inside the front door, the kiddos started telling him the tale of Mommy’s freak out and the mouse I had found. Luckily, it didn’t phase him one bit. He just laughed and said, “Yup, those critters like it in there”.

After 2 glasses of wine and cleaning the laundry room floor with Lysol wipes, I was able to breathe normally again.

And that, my friends, is my Mouse Tale.

Then End~

After several days of heavy rain, the sun came out, shining brightly and begging me to take my kids out of the house for the weekend. It was too chilly to go to the beach, so I decided to take them to visit the Cabrillo National Monument and the tide pools in that area. Day 1 was cut short because one of  the other kids missed a ride they were supposed to get. So we arrived, walked up to the lighthouse, did a quick tour and then left to retrieve the stranded kiddo.

But on Day 2, we packed some food, put on our tennis shoes, grabbed the camera and headed back out. First stop-the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

I can not think of a more beautiful, final resting place! The boys really wanted to spend time walking all through the grounds, but we’re going to save that for another visit. This time we just took a peek and I explained why the cemetery was there.

Then it was onto the tide pools

The 5 youngest Lang kiddos, ready to explore.

After getting a little wet and enjoying the rocks, water and small sea life, we drove up to the lighthouse.

It was a beautiful day to be up there!

Yes, many household chores went undone this weekend and I couldn’t be happier about it!

Have a great day~

Yesterday, we received 2 packages at our doorstep. They were each filled with books and Beanie Babies (not sure if the Beanie Babies are part of the program or just a fun addition). There were 9 books inside, one for each of the kids (Kateri and JJ, I will send yours along). They were accompanied by a DVD of Clay reading some of the books and talking to the kids. They loved it! The 4 youngest sat down and watched the video. They followed along with their books as Clay read. Maddi took her book, retreated to her room and came out an hour later, declaring that she’d finished it and proceeded to tell me the whole story.

When Clay first left on this deployment, he made a video of himself reading one book and the video and book were sent to us. But the DVD was very small and I couldn’t get any of our players to read it. This new one is regular sized and played right on my computer. Everyone was happy to get the replacement!

Lex with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (it was read SEVERAL times last night)

Gabi, Max and Tristan with their new books

Gathered around the computer to watch and listen to their stories

Clay reading Love You Forever to the kiddos

Happy faces

Thanks USO for making this program available. And thank you to the DFW International Airport Community which helped make our video possible and all the generous, everyday Americans who help to support this program and make it possible for so many!

Have a great day~

So now I am on “break”. Ha! The only thing breakish about it is that I don’t have to be dressed and out the door by 7:30. Instead, I’m getting up, showering, starting the coffee, the laundry, the dishes, the breakfast and then realizing that at 8 am I’m still not dressed and ready for the day. I am looking forward to catching up on the many, little tasks that have fallen behind since I am out of the house but the workload is greater and the expectations high when everyone is home. I didn’t work outside the house while Clay was still here or when Kateri and JJ were still living at home. My new schedule and the way I run things is new to them. When they’re home I feel a little pressure to make it all the way it “used to be”. So…more cooking, more cleaning and more organizing. It’s so good to have everyone together and the little kids are especially soaking up the attention from Clay and JJ. I will take lots of pictures and give them all many things to do together to keep them busy. But this time is going to move quickly and the break will be over and we will all go back to the way it’s been…JJ and Kateri away at school and Clay back to Iraq to finish his deployment. I must switch gears quickly.

Here’s to a beautiful Christmas week to all of you and to all that us moms do to make it all happen!

Have a great day~