Settling in

SOOO glad to be in our new home, unpacked enough to relax, and done with moving!!!  It is so nice living on base again and I love our new neighbors and the peace of mind in living in a town where most residents have passed a basic background check.  :o)

We are living in a cute 3bd/1ba on a corner lot in Vance AFB housing.  We have a nice private patio area in the front and a huge open backyard in the back, where Matt has already [mostly] erected our jungle gym.  It is nice that most of the families here have kids the girls' ages, so whenever they go outside to play (heat-permitting), they can have an instant playdate.  All the backyards on our block open toward each other, and there is a great, LEVEL, bike path running the length of the road, safely set away from traffic, which allows me to take both girls and Petunia out by myself (now, just to find their helmets so they can start biking!).  While it was great having movers essentially do all our packing and moving, things were not packed too intuitively, so without unpacking everything, it has been hard to find some stuff.  TOTALLY not complaining, though!  This was such a great and easy move, relatively speaking!

This is also the first time each girl has her own bedroom, which is wonderful, especially after our month on the road/visiting family in between houses, because the girls definitely need some space and privacy.  Plus, they have very different interests: Ha is more into artwork (specifically drawing), writing, and computer games.  Vienna is borderline-obsessed with make-up, and also loves playing house.  So we were able to set up their spaces to optimize their enjoyment of their favorite pastimes, plus incorporate beloved themes: Hana--Princess and the Frog, Mickey, & elephants, Vienna--The Little Mermaid, rhinos, flowers, and pink.  Additionally, having a living room not overwhelmed by toys is a huge plus!

Hana started kindergarten two days after we arrived and is LOVING it!  She is in a Montessori school 4 miles off base.  It is a really excellent fit for her because the approach to learning there is so highly individualized and self-paced.  She loves a challenge, but can space out pretty easily if information/instruction becomes redundant.  The classroom set-up is also great for fostering her self-direction.  Each morning the kids are given a set of learning tasks for the day, but free to set their own pace and schedule.  Ha also eats up the personal attention--kids can bring a book each day to share during reading circle time (Ha selects a new one every night and fills up each inside cover with her name and story-relevant illustrations) and show-and-tell items (not including toys) any day they want.  Ha is bringing in a molted cicada skin for tomorrow and we even printed up some facts and pictures of the molting process for her to share with her class.  Last week she brought in an egg shell with a feather on it that we found in the yard.  :o)  Vienna is very interested in Ha's school as well, and actually has an interview there tomorrow afternoon to possibly start morning classes.  As I hope to be employed one of these days, it would be great to have her settled in a nice program before that transition begins.  And that is contingent on if/when I take the NCLEX-LPN.  A lot of unexpected hurdles are presenting themselves in signing up for this exam as I am taking a nontraditional approach (testing after my junior year in a 4-yr program as opposed to enrolling in a designated LPN program), but hopefully they will be resolved by week's end.

Matt officially starts UPT (undergrad pilot training) this Thursday, so we are extremely excited about that!  He starts out with about a month of academics, and is scheduled to start flying the Texan-6 in mid-October.  Until then, he has asked me to frequent the aero-phys lab with him and spin him around in the "puke chair" to help him overcome his persistent motion sickness.  Apparently the lab here is great and they have a 97% cure rate for motion sickness, and it seems like everywhere I go, I meet a wife whose hubby has managed to overcome it.  :O)  He also finally got to go to his first OU football game this past weekend (Sooners v. Tulsa) and work with his old ROTC detachment providing security for the honor guard detail.  We had a great reunion when he came home from IFS and everyone seems to be adjusting nicely to living together again.  The girls are soooo excited to be living on an air base (or, "at the airport", as Ha calls it) and cannot wait to see Daddy start flying--and hopefully take them up in the air (after many years of training, lol).  Just wanted to post a quick update.  Pictures to come!