From the High to the Low to the End of the Show

After we arrived in our new city, the show really got on the road! We had called the schools in advance to make sure our kids would be okay starting and got the go-ahead. Even though school started on Monday and we had a tentative idea of where we wanted our kids to start, I decided to browse the schools a bit before making a firm decision. I figured that had to be one of the benefits of arriving late--the chance to make an informed decision by actually visiting the schools and some classrooms. We had nailed down a school district already (based in no small part on the fact that classes started at 9 am in this district, as opposed to 7:50 in the other well-regarded district--yikes!), but online research just can't substitute for being there. In fact, after visiting a three schools, we ended up choosing a different school than the one that had stood out online--we opted against the school with a gifted program and a 10 rating, for a school with only an 8 rating but a more child-friendly layout, more diversity among the students, and a really cute school bell on top. It doesn't hurt that it's also close enough to the freeway to make Aaron's commute short and sweet.

So we went in to the district office to register. And discovered that they had decided that after all our short-term apartment a block and a half outside the district would not work for registering in the district (there were absolutely no 3-bedroom apartments in complexes in the district and they most definitely had promised it wouldn't be a problem). Ugh. I blame the overzealous secretary at the cute school-bell school (because I like blaming other people for my problems--so what?). So after a bit of poking around, we discovered that the hotel we were staying at the first few days in town actually was in the district (such a blessing!). So we registered with that address and prolonged our stay. Fortunately we were getting an amazing room rate there for a double queen room with a sofa-bed, because a colleague of Aaron's at the University had a connection there. I didn't really complain--I mean, what mother of four doesn't want maid service?

So finally, on the first day of the second week of school, our kids had their first day. How many people have first day of school photos outside a hotel? How many people have the very awesome hotel staff offering them extra apples to take to their teachers? Oh, and there was a really wonderful hot breakfast bar at the hotel as well, so the kids started each day with a much better meal then they would ever have at home.

This went on for roughly two weeks, and was wonderful almost all the time. There were the two nights in the row that were a complete gong show, where I thought for sure that any second would bring a phone call or a knock on our door telling us to leave or shut the *heck* up because the kids were practicing gymnastics moves on the beds and dressers and screeching and paying absolutely no attention to me and my pleas for just the teeniest little bit of calm. Seriously, there are times when two hands are just not enough to manage four kids. Bums were spanked to tune of raucously disrespectful laughter and well, it was one of those trophy bad-mom moments (and by moments I mean four hours a night). But other than that . . . it was quite lovely.

So, while the kids were busy adjusting to their new classrooms (which happened with varying degrees of success, which we'll get to later), Sera and I played her new favorite game: "follow the white car," otherwise known as trek around town with a realtor. We looked at probably 30 different houses, plus another 10 in different areas, but we really could have just stopped after #2, because that's the one we decided on. It's a fairly modest two-story with a finished basement, but it has pretty much all the little luxuries I hoped for in a house: newish, kids' bedrooms upstairs, master on main with a master bath with a jetted tub, vaulted living room ceiling, a front room that's probably supposed to be a formal dining room but which we'll use as a music room, close to kids' schools, kid-friendly neighborhood with a short commute for Aaron, plenty of space in the basement, and my favorite--backs up on a cute little pond! All that plus new carpet and paint that we like already taken care of--yay! Of course the best part is really that we get so much more for so much less money here.

So back to school. Trying to make sure the kids had a couple of cute new outifits and backpacks that were filled with all the right school supplies (plus maybe a couple of extra goodies) all while living out of suitcases, was definitely a bigger challenge than most other years. But we made it! My camera ran out of batteries when I was trying to get a picture of the kids at school with the school bell behind them, but almost everything else went pretty smoothly. First the good: Addy has had good teachers thus far in her school experience, but she hadn't had that "one" yet who just got her and who she fell in love with and who made learning her absolute favorite adventure. She got her this year. Mrs. P could not be a better match. From the first day we toured the school and Addy met her in the hall it was all sunshine and rainbows. Addy has been working hard, learning a lot, and finally reading like there's no tomorrow (she's been reading for a long time obviously, but has been sort of hot-and-cold with it until this year). Hooray for Mrs. P! Second, the boot camp: Theo (or Asher--his middle name--as he's decided to try going by for now) got the perfect teacher this year. He just doesn't realize it yet. Last year, Madame Leask warned him that if he didn't work on organization and responsibility, he'd pay for it later. She helped him a ton, and really gave him the tools he needed to succeed. Well, it turns out that later is now. Ms. S is not about to settle for second best from him (if you'd like a visual picture to go with Ms. S, Sue Sylvester from Glee comes to mind). Which means that he came home with a variety of papers marked up with letters ranging from C+ to F the first few weeks of school. Ooooh, he wasn't happy. But he's slowly been adjusting to the new requirements, and has even eked out an A+ or two. With any luck, the good habits will continue, and maybe he'll even start implementing them at home! And finally, the question mark: in brief, there is only one half-day class of kindergarten at our new school, and Emerson's teacher, Mrs. H, would not have been my pick if there had been more to choose from. On the plus side, he's in class with three other children from our new church and has already moved up to BFF status with one of them. His first week was a bit of a struggle, and I was surprised when his teacher stopped me to tell me that he had some real behavior struggles the first few days. I was torn between sadness and annoyance at not having someone who really jumped in to help a child who had just come through an international move and was starting school a week late for the first time and needed to feel like someone was on his side. Despite the sometimes rough transition, though, we're really proud of Emerson for trying hard to make good choices and to do his best every day. Mrs. H really does have some cute stuff going on in her classroom, and I hope that things will smooth out as the year goes on.

(Emerson and Sera were thrilled to pieces when I took them for Happy Meals after Emer's first day of kindergarten--they've had them maybe once before.)

As for the rest of the month, in some ways it has been like an extended vacation . . . and in other ways it's been like an extended circus act. We've gotten creative with mealtimes, ranging from boxed dinners cooked in a hotel microwave to way too much Taco Bell to lots and lots and lots of fruit, which tastes so much better here (it's not Saskatchewan's fault, necessarily, but the multi-day train rides required for virtually all produce does not lead to exceptional texture or sweetness--we've been eating the stuff here like candy). During the spaces between school and work and sleep, we've been filling in with shopping for everything from sofas to spaghettios. We're making the transition now to the smoky-smelling little apartment that we'll be renting for the next few weeks while waiting for our house to close, and while I'm going to miss the maid-service and the fancy bathroom and the glorious mattresses (they're so soft that I made Aaron call and ask what kind they are), we're all definitely ready for a little more space (private space especially) and a real stove. Meanwhile, the front seat of the car has become my little "office" for now, filled with all sorts of school registration papers and library schedules and YMCA application information, it's the only small corner of my life that has any order to it at all. But you know what? That's completely okay by me--adventures are meant to be lived, not just endured.

(not that these guys seem to need reminding--they love coming home from school to go jump into "their" swimming pool)

Which leads me to one more little event for the month. Aaron and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this month! We didn't do anything super-fancy (although if you think about it, moving to a new place and getting a new house are pretty fancy!), but we did get to go to a lovely open-house for the new faculty of fine arts (i.e. Aaron) that night. It was fun to dress up a little and meet the people Aaron will be working with, as well as people from the city arts community. Mainly, it was good to be together--just the two of us--for the first time in what seems like forever, to appreciate each other and the series of adventures that we've shared. Life has been so much more interesting lived together, and it's lovely and exciting to look ahead to the many more adventures that await us! I love you, Aaron!

Over the Praries and through the Tornadoes

Finally, we moved.

Well, first there was the packing, which took more days than we had anticipated. Then there was the finding out where in the world we could stay with four kids, 100 boxes, and a 2-month rental agreement. Then there was the packing up the truck, which took more days than we had anticipated. Then there was the drive--the long, long drive. And then there was Fort Wayne. Along the way, there were fun times, crazy times, so-tired-we-could-fall-asleep-standing-up times, and lots of just-keep-going-because-there-isn't-really-another-choice times.

There. That's the short version. For the long one, keep reading! We got an offer on our house just in the nick of time. The first Sunday of August, we had a family fast. Even Emerson skipped breakfast (we told him that he didn't need to and wasn't old enough, but he really wanted to). We prayed together on either end of it, and Aaron and I each squeezed in a temple session. We had figured out how the move could work without having the house sold, but we knew that so many things would be so much easier if it did sell, and we had tried really hard to scratch out the lessons of patience and hard work that had come with the delay. At the end of our fast, we all had a good feeling about the house selling. We left the house looking nice as we left for church on Sunday, and two or three different people came to look while we were gone (one thing we were definitely blessed with through all of this was a realtor who didn't waste time letting anyone and everyone know about our house, and made sure there were lots of showings)--one of the couples had visited our home three times, and we hoped they would finally make their minds up and offer (they didn't)! Well, the next day we got an offer in, which we quickly countered, and which they quickly accepted. It wasn't like the previous time, when we had sensed some reservations, we just felt good about this one going through. We sprinted through the inspection process and everything else, then rebooked our moving truck (we'd changed our reservation no less than three times, and got seriously busy packing. We'd already done a fair amount, but those long winters really made for some deep dark closets--it seemed to take forever!

Naturally we tried to enlist the kids' help . . . with varying results. Addy was a huge help, Emerson tried pretty hard, and Theo went around trying to move anything and everything with the furniture dolly--love that kid. When we finally pulled out, we'd put off the moving truck by one day three different times, then put off our departure date another three days. More stuff just kept coming! We had to leave the furniture that we hadn't sold, and we couldn't even fit our really nice grill that never got enough use in Canada (the grilling season is really abyssmally short). It all comes of the fact that we had to use UHaul, as it is the only even remotely reasonably priced option that does Canada/US moves (fortunately, we don't forsee more of those in our future). When we finally finished, the kids were all wiped out . . . well, almost all.

As we set off just before midnight on Thursday August 12 for a hotel in Weyburn (we really had to go this time, the beds were irretrievably packed up), we waved good-bye to this place.

I've called it The Green Grotto with mingled affection and distaste over the last three years, and I really have some mixed feelings about it. First and foremost right now, I feel gratitude. This place has been our shelter from the troubled economy in the US for the last three years. It made us a little money while lots of other people were suffering under foreclosures and short sales and reposessions, and I couldn't be more thankful for that. GG has also been an example to me, of how something unattractive and unappealing can, with hard work, turn into something lovely and worthy of admiration. The shiny floors, bright walls, cozy basement and green backyard all became quite enjoyable over our stay there, and while I wouldn't like to have to do all that work again (hear that, fixer-uppers? We're not buying you!), we learned a lot about home maintenance, style, patience, and hard work along the way. But it's also been a place where I've felt sad. At times over these three years, I've felt sad and angry and frustrated and hopeless. I've had to come face to face with parts of myself that I'd rather not acknowledge, things that make me uncomfortable in my own skin. Honestly, it didn't break my heart to say goodbye.

After crashing around 1 am in Weyburn, SK, just an hour from Regina, we slept in before heading south through North Dakota and Minnesota on Saturday. Driving through the little dot-on-the-map town of Bowbells, ND, we saw the leftovers of a tornado that had whipped through the night before, killing another man from Saskatchewan. Apparently a string of them hit various parts of North Dakota in mid-August, and we felt really grateful that our slowness in getting started had saved us from their furor.

The next few days of driving, stopping at gas stations, eating at sandwich joints (we all sort of swore off fast food recently due to the fact that it tastes awful and is awful for you), and staying at whatever hotels we could get into late at night were . . . less bad than you might think. True, it was no picnic to be driving separate vehicles, but there was actually some fun bonding as we rocked out to tunes, told stories, passed snacks around, and oohed and awwed at the beauty of the changing landscape. Each of the kids really enjoyed taking their turn in the moving truck with Aaron, too. In fact, they would all fight over who got to ride with him next until I finally said "hey you guys, I'm fun too--don't you want to ride with me?" At which point they pointed out that Daddy had candy in the moving truck, and was much more generous with the snacks than me. What can I say? I was fairly beaten. Meanwhile, I continued the probably less-than-safe practice of snapping photos out the window.

Saskatchewan landscape

Lots of oil rigs along the way

There's a quiet beauty about freshly harvested fields

These sunflower fields were scattered through North Dakota and Minnesota

Probably my favorites are the dilapidated little shacks that dot the side of the road in some places. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get a decent shot out the window while driving (they go by fast!) This is the only sort of decent one I got.

Most of them turned out just awful, but I got a few that sort of give the flavor of our drive. It was fascinating really, to watch the landscape change like that. The whole time we lived in Saskatchewan, I was plagued by a sort of trapped feeling that the sky was closing in on me. Weird, I know, considering there was nothing (and I mean nothing) but open space. But Aaron actually did a little research on this, and found out that the atmosphere is closer to earth the nearer you get to the poles--something about the magnetic pull there or something. Crazy, right? But I could feel it moving away, letting in more light and air as we travelled south. The sky seemed to get bluer, the grass greener, and trees started to appear. By the time we pulled into Fort Wayne, Indiana on Sunday night, I had a smile on my face. It felt right. Feels right. I don't know that we'll be here forever, but it feels like the absolute most right place in the world for our family to be right now. We're going to grow here. Not just grow, but flourish. I like to think of us sprouting buds and blossoms left and right to go with the hearty root system that we did our best to build up back in Saskatchewan.

July Pictures, oh yeah

We started July with a celebration of Canada Day! At the time I was a bit put out that we were missing the Fourth of July (so ready to be American again), but now that we're moved, I'm glad we got to enjoy one last hurrah in the land of the maple leaves.

These guys climbed and performed cartwheels for passers by. We followed with a dinner of chicken nuggets (our 4th of July tradition is fried chicken, but nuggets were all we actually had energy for) and watermelon and bean salad. Then some dancing and more cartwheels--these guys really perfected their craft.

Fireworks over the lake--I couldn't get a single shot with everyone looking, but they were fun.

(secretly I can't wait for the 4th next year--I hate to say it, but American fireworks are way better)

Do you know what Aaron managed to pull off in the middle of all of this?? He surprised me with a Bon Jovi concert. This was basically the best night ever. I had no idea it was coming, and then suddenly we're in the bleachers, eating some divine pastry called an "elephant ear," and rocking out to Bon Jovi. Want to hear something funny? It was the first live rock concert ever for both of us. Really. I think we did okay though--I mean, there was a lady behind us who asked us to sit down and everything. The only sad part is that given the "surprise" nature of the whole thing, I didn't bring my camera. This is the shot from the newspaper the next day. See us up there? Waaaay up there? Don't worry, we could still hear, and let me tell you, it really was a fantastic show--that guy can hit some pretty impressive notes even after this many years.

I had been meaning to do some photos of the younger kids like I did of the older kids back in May--when it finally happened, the backyard was lots easier than travelling somewhere.

Sera is just exploding with personalitythese days, and I love the challenge of trying to capture a few fragments of it here and there

And Emerson. The story goes that when my dad, "Papa," was a little boy, his dad used to say "that little Kevan is full of it--I don't know what 'it' is, but he sure is full of it." I think Emerson has exactly that personality.

He's such a charmer!

Despite being a full two years apart, these two look and act like they're twins.

I'm so glad they have each other!

Then we had a little "Bon Voyage" party for Theo and Addy--it was a great chance to be with their wonderful friends one last time

This group of friends that Theo has had--honestly, I couldn't ask for a better group of buddies for him. It breaks my heart as much as it does his that we're tearing him away from them. Moving at his age is so much harder.

It's no picnic to tear myself away from these girls either. Really, they've been the best friends over the last three years. We had a lovely evening out at the Roof Restaurant, talking until all hours of the night over fantastic food. Two of us are moving this summer, and it makes me realize that good friends are just irreplaceable.

Then we broke in Alisha's new playstructure with yet another going-away party (are you sensing a theme yet?)

Finally, the Sunday before we left, we took the kids down to the gorgeous temple that has been just 5 minutes away during the last three years. It was a good reminder that whatever else changes around us, our family is forever.

I love these eyelet lace dresses, but I love the girls wearing them even more.

We took about 100 shots that afternoon (with the rapid shoot feature of the camera), and Aaron was really quite patient through it all--I love this picture, because it so perfectly captures the way he just smiles and lets me have my way (occasionally). I love him.

Out of all of them, here are the ones that turned out decent.

Well, decentish. Oh, how I love these people!

Off we go, to new adventures!!

Dog Days

July was a mess. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to, none of our plans worked out the way we wanted them to, and yet, since there was nothing else to do, we had some fun!

Our plan was: sell house, move to Indiana, spend time shopping around neighborhoods and schools while staying at an extended stay hotel, find a house and buy it and move in, make friends with people in the neighborhood and at church, have the kids start school feeling all lovely and settled in their new city, have Aaron start his job all settled in and prepared, have me open a piano studio and get Joy School started, live happily ever after.

What happened was: 30 showing of the house (meaning lots and lots and lots of cleaning up), enjoying of perfect summer days in Regina (seriously, July here is to die for--perfect weather almost every day), inward freak-outs every single day that the house hadn't sold and wondering how in the world this would work out, finding out that school for the kids starts on AUGUST 16 --freaking out some more, praying for the house to sell, 25 MORE showings of the house trying to make sure every little thing was perfect from baking bread in the breadmaker overnight so the smell of fresh bread would permeate the air to leaving the fireplace flames going in the fireplace downstairs to create a cozy feel, getting an offer on the house then having it fall through, going to the park some more, sending the kids to PlayEscapes--the awesome free program the city does for kids over 5, where they get to go make crafts, play games, and splash around in the spray-pad, more praying and praying and praying for the house to sell, more showings, and FINALLY a week and a half before Aaron's start-date and the kids' school start date getting a good offer on the house (technically we're into August now). Then, for the closing act we had freaking out about where to move, how to move, what to take, what to get rid of, eating some chocolate, freaking out some more, and posting a million times to this blog instead of packing. It was lovely.

Honestly, though I hate to admit it, we learned a TON from this experience.

1) I learned a little patience, which is pretty much my Achilles' heel, and I really tried to enjoy the way things went down instead of going around saying "why me, why, why?" the whole time. For normal people this might not be an accomplishment, but for me it totally is.

2) I also let myself really enjoy how absolutely beautiful Regina is during the summer. There is a reason (okay fine, probably 1200 of them) that if you GIS "Regina SK" you come up with a whole bunch of gorgeous green photos, even though the province spends a good solid eight months covered in ice.

3) Even though it made me feel like a bad mom, I dropped my kids off at PlayEscapes almost every day and just let them play. I hadn't signed up for any sports or anything for them, since I thought we'd be moved by then. They ended up making new friends, and more importantly learning to make friends and move around in an environment where they didn't already know everyone. Of course they probably could have done the same thing in a sports camp or something, but there wouldn't have been nearly as many kids. Also, I loved what a diverse group of kids showed up every day--probably a good thing considering our impending move to White Bread, USA.

4) Aaron and I got a chance to trust each other's judgement a little more. We generally each like things done our own ways, which is sort of okay as long as we don't get in each other's way too much. But this selling/moving process required one big decision after another, and we really had to pull together to make them all. It was a reaaally slow process at first, but I think we improved? We got better and faster at it anyway, and I'm pretty sure we both improved at listening.

5) To sort of go along with #4, we had the chance to go to the temple a bunch. If you don't know (though probably all five people who read this blog do!), an LDS temple is a house of learning and inspiration in our faith, and it's the place where Aaron and I feel closest to the source of inspiration. There haven't been temples nearby in many of the places we've lived, but here in Regina, there has been one only 5 minutes away. There have been times when we haven't taken full advantage of this, but July wasn't one of those times. Being in the temple frequently really helped us gain perspective on our lives, and on how small a moment this little challenge was. It helped us make good decisions for our family, and feel closer to one another.

6) We learned the power of prayer. It took a lot of it, but we came away from this experience more convinced than ever that our prayers matter, and that they bring blessings we don't even expect sometimes. When our house finally sold, that was far from the only answer to our prayers. We found that a lot of the difficulties we encountered along the way were answers just as much as the home sale.

I'm so happy that we have these lessons and this strength to carry with us to our new home! It feels like more than just a geographical move, now--more like a life move. And I'm by giving ourselves this challenge, we have also given ourselves the opportunity to grow. Not just to grow upward, but to grow together--I envision the roots of different plants or trees just sort of twining together, and the branches too--making us closer, stronger, and more dependent on each other (in a good way). I guess it just goes to show you, maybe "happily every after" isn't always the best way to end a good story.