Not the Buy More

File this under the "Kids say the darndest things" category. Out running errands, we were approaching Best Buy, and Sam says, "Best Buy. They should call it 'Breast Buy'" I look over at Stuart... We are both completely startled. A little amused, but shocked. Who knew Sam even knew the word breast? I'm thinking "Welcome to Vegas." I mean, he's only 8. It starts this early??!! He continues, "I mean, that would be funny right? Breast, like breaststroke? Funny!" Hilarious. My sweet, innocent boy still is. For now. ;)

Move in day comes!

Our furniture finally made it to our new house on Anserville. It took 4 movers from 9 to 5 to get all of our furniture and boxes in the house. Oh, and did I mention that the piano went upstairs? The movers loved that.

Up the stairs!

Here's a little free advertising for the movers... 

A Week in Pictures

Sam played defense the first half of his game Saturday-- a new thing for him!

...but center is still his favorite.

Parents take turns manning the down markers. Stu is a professional.

Grilled out on Saturday night. Rain cleared off just in time...

Counting rocks. Kate does NOT want her picture taken, but isn't she pretty?

Sam's looking good!

Sorcerer's Apprentices in the theater room

Lounging (with crazy eyes!)

My big helper working on painting shelves. She even helped on the ones in HER room, so that was a big hit. She kept saying, "I'm really good at painting, Mom, because I'm an artist."

Delayed (Intentional Silence)

Where are the updates? Why no info?

Well, I could say we've been busy. That's true. We've had all kinds of fun, as evidenced by the pictures below. Kids are doing well in school, making friends. (They seem to ebb and flow right now... some days we have lots of fun with friends and then we had one with none.) We had our first football game, which was SO organized and professional (They gathered for the national anthem before each game! golf carts! down markers!) We used the theater to watch "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and grilled out again. It even surprised us and rained earlier this week. (Let's just say that Vegas drivers in the rain are a lot like KC drivers in the snow.)

I think the real reason updates have been few is that I'm not sure what to say. I want to be super-positive. I'm excited about the elementary school, the weather, and our new house. Other things are not so great.

• Work has been difficult-- a lot of work has happened by the time I check in (6 am my time, 8 theirs) and often I'm awoken to some fire that has to be put out and an angry client, resource, etc. Nothing like waking up to a problem every day-- clearly I couldn't be an actual firefighter! 
• What started as fun, or at least a manageable punch list of housing to dos has grown exhausting. There seem to be a lot of shady contractors, and everyone is sure the others you've called are them. Everything about the move-- the home buy, the home sale, the rental cars, the temporary housing-- costs just a little more than the original estimate, but the little adds up and drives me crazy!
• Our furniture move has been delayed by this and that, and  is now pushed out to a week from tomorrow. Meanwhile, I drive about 100 miles (not an exaggeration) and spend about 2+ hours in the car (in between begging for a cell signal so I can manage work.)

On top of all that, the real issue is that my world has gotten so much smaller. My time alternates between kids and solitare, with no middle ground, no distractions. I've really come to appreciate the wide variety of friends I had at home. I had a friend for every occasion! I can't tell you the last time I had a night without the kids and had no possible plans. When Stu relieved me the other night, I went to CVS (later I found out that a shooting had happened in the gas station just behind the store-- don't tell Nanny). This is my new life.

Don't get me wrong. I KNOW things will get better every week. We will move into the house, have neighbors, live close to other families and develop a network. We have some friends in the works right now. These things don't happen quickly, and especially not when one is living in temporary housing 15 miles from her ultimate destination. Eventually, we'll find a church we like and meet people there too. It will all work out.

It's the meantime that's tough. In the meantime, it's pretty lonely. I'm not saying that to earn your sympathy, and I've been silent about it because I want to seem tough and positive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But when we look back at what this time required of us, I feel it's only fair and honest to admit that this transition is pretty tough. Some days, it downright sucks. 

Oh-no-pen House

Our first fiasco of life post-holiday in Vegas was last night's open house. I had wondered if it would be a with- or without-kids event, and about an hour prior, found out that it was in fact without. Stu was away on work, so what's a part-time single mom in a foreign land to do? I called the condo concierge, prepared to choke down the enormous cost associated with the nanny service rather than be embarrassed as the only mom with kids, but was too late to schedule anything on such short notice. I resigned to taking them with me, but the  kids asked about going to Tana's house (Kate's new best friend who she's seen twice). Wow. Talk about imposing. a mere 20  minutes before I would be on the doorstep, I called this near-stranger to see if she could watch the kids for a couple of hours.

The first thing you should know about Tana's mom is that she works with Stuart. So, in terms of understanding my bind, this can be a good or bad thing. I mean, she hacks it without bothering total strangers, so maybe not. Second, Tana is an only child. Any of you who have friends with just one kid and no formal kiddie experience will know that there is a HUGE difference between dealing with one (particularly your own) and dealing with three. I could tell she was hesitant, but willing, on the phone, and mentioned having "lots of things to do." I threatened my kids within an inch of life and sent them in. I suppose they did fine; I really didn't even ask.

Off to school. Now that was something. First, it was a real open house, where the principal (introduced by the Student Body President-- cute!) speaks first and then you rotate to the classrooms for that presentation. No forced meet-and-greet or 30 minute curriculum presentation like back home. That seems like a definite plus. Then the principal presented (on powerpoint-- technology!) about the schools goals, their academic progress after their first year in existence, and the improvements being made by the new district superintendent (not from the Kansas City Missouri district, so a definite plus.) I am totally in awe of the integration with online curriculum, multiple field trips, separate science lab, and emphasis on reading. They also have these cool feedback controls integrated with the Smart Boards (called "promethian" boards here) that let the teacher poll or quiz the class and see their feedback charted immediately to know if they've grasped something or not. You know me, I'm pretty techie, and I thought all that was great. Sam's teacher was one of 4 who attended a new English Language Arts seminar over the summer and learned about that curriculum-- it's moving more towards non-fiction and less fiction, because the testing generally consists of about 60% non fiction and they've been teaching about 80% fiction in the past. Everything was very statistical and justifable, and yet understandable for a non-education major like me. Spelling! They teach actual spelling too, with tests every Friday, because they know what I do which is that not every word can be sounded out! Hurrah! (Sam hates this already!)

I was really impressed. On some new growth assessment chart he showed our elementary school had the highest achievement and most growth in math, and was up their in reading, among the 300+ in the district. I really felt like we are blessed to be in the district. All the parents seemed interested and involved, and though I did note a few high heels with jeans, I felt like the group was one we would fit in with well.

So, I guess Open House was really a success. I'm thrilled with the school and excited about their academic push. Sam and Kate survived, and I'm currently looking for a killer thank you gift for my non-friend babysitter for the night, who happens to be a triathlete. So, not cake.

Bingo!

We went all the way home to Independence for Labor Day. To see friends and family, of course, but also to help out at JSL's first participation in Santa-Cali-Gon in more than a decade: bingo. Seeing as I was to be blamed for this if it were a complete flop, and one of my good friends Jolie Austin was the de facto bingo chair, I decided to head back.

(We also went to Kate's first "big girl" concert: Selena Gomez at Starlight Theater. Wow, the parents, the kids, the lateness of the night, the price of the t-shirt. She loved it. It was well worth it!)

Working bingo was SO much fun! I worked two shifts on Sunday afternoon and really enjoyed the time with my friends. The good news is that I think they cleared around $5000 from that event, and many of the costs were first-time expenses that they wouldn't have moving forward. The girls did a great job, and I hope I get to help again. I really miss my JSL friends!

Someone caught a picture of Kate in the bingo tent, see below. Eileen labeled it: "Future JSL member learns bingo operations."