Maddie's New Patch

School started this week and we are still patching Maddie's left eye. With that in mind and knowing it would come and go back and forth to school everyday I ordered two new patches for her and let her pick her favorite styles. That way if if gets left at school or lost we have a back up plan ready to go. They arrived last night in the mail and today she can't decide which one to wear. In the end she decided to wear both at the same time. This kid cracks me up!

We Got In!! Spanish Immersion at Laurel Ridge

Remember how stressful the whole Spanish immersion program decision was for us?  Then the wait list.  Then the waiting.  Then we moved.  Well, we got a call from Laurel Ridge Elementary School at 2:45 am this morning.  When good news is good you gotta share it, right?  Why not call in the middle of the night.

That local US number is a blessing and a curse.  I don’t think we’ve got any middle of the night calls in the last two months but last night we got two.  At midnight the bank in California called about a loan on a rental house we own.  Then 2:45 the school.  When I saw “Laurel Ridge Elementary” on the caller ID my first thought was that one of the Hyatt kids had another problem like the last time Laurel Ridge called in the middle of the night.  Then I panicked because I was positive Jonathan was injured on the playground. 

As the fog began to clear from my sleepy head I realized that I was sure Jana must have changed my number from the emergency number on her forms  by now and I could hear Brian telling the lady that we moved to Singapore so Ben couldn’t accept the spot.  He hung up the phone and told me, “Ben got into Spanish Immersion at Laurel Ridge.  I told them he couldn’t make it.”  Now that I’m fully awake I realize the Hyatts are still in Warsaw, Poland anyway.  And school hasn’t even started in Fairfax, Virginia yet.  They have another three weeks off before they report back to class.  So thank you dear secretary for ending my night of rest at 2:45 – I rarely get back to sleep once woken up.  It’s gonna be a long, long day now.  At least she will now make the day of whoever was #8 on the wait list.

Things being what they are, I’m not sure I would have had the heart to rip Ben from his happy life at his old school over Spanish anymore.  He was so happy and so settled.  It would have been hard.  Especially to leave his best friend Anthony.  Glad I don’t have to agonize over this decision in the end.

It Took Like Twenty Spits

The tooth finally came out! I ask Ben every night to see how wiggly his tooth was getting. Tonight it was finally begging to be pulled. With his permission I got dental floss to check exactly how much root was left holding that puppy in place. As I suspected it was almost nothing at all. The first three or four teeth fell out entirely on their own but this one had taunted us by hanging crooked for weeks. It was time.

I threaded the flosser above the tooth and before I even started to pull, the blood started flowing. I cracked the root a little and pulled away worried he would be too upset to finish the job. He just said, "It tastes TERRIBLE!" He kept spitting blood in the sink and I kept rinsing it away so it didn't look so bad to him.

When he was ready I put my fingernail above the tooth and in two quick tugs it was out and he was happy as can be smiling at his new look in the mirror. He figures it took twenty spits of blood and it was worth it. The tooth fairy is sure to come tonight!

McDelivery...It Was Time

Today was a lazy day.  I just wanted to lay around the house and do nothing.  The kids played fantastically together and Jacob even got a nap on the couch while Maddie watched cartoons and I paid bills.  The afternoon was filled with Legos and Littlest Pet Shops.

 

August 9^th is a national holiday so everyone was off work, except Brian, who is working in Tokyo.  Tons of festivities all over the island to celebrate National Day (like the 4^th of July to Americans).  No energy to go. Maybe next year when he’s around to help me wrestle the short people and keep them all in step.  When Brian called to check in with us about 5:30 I hadn’t even started dinner. I’d been playing Candyland Castle with Jacob upstairs.  I told him the only thing that sounded good for dinner was McDonalds and he gave me the push I needed to make our first order tonight.  For just $3 delivery fee they will deliver almost anywhere on the island. We’re anxiously awaiting the guy on a moped delivering Double Cheeseburgers to our front door.

Fall Out Already!

This tooth has been hanging sideways for two weeks now.  It is finally just yesterday getting wiggly and loose.  Don’t you think it’s about time for it to give up and let go?

Richard - My Name Is 20 Beechwood

Richard.  Richard is his own post all together.  Or maybe he's an installment series with at least fifteen episodes all ready written in my head, but for today this one story will suffice.

 

Richard is our provisioner.  Interpret that to mean our grocery delivery man to put it simply, but he is so, so much more than that.  If you want something and it's on the island, Richard can and will find it.  Brian says that in fact, even if it isn't on the island he might be able to get it for you.  We wouldn't know. He always seems to come through for us.

 

A few weeks ago I was so sick with a fever that Brian had to take a medical day from work and stay home to take care of the kids on a Friday. He got ambitious and planned three days of menus and I suggested he call Richard to just get it all delivered to the house instead of deal with dragging all three kids out to shop (that's what I've done all summer long and it's been fantastic).  I gave him my phone with the number and headed upstairs to sleep.  Richard answered and I hear Brian tell him, "This is Brian Zufelt." Pause. "Brian Zufelt, Angie's husband." Pause. "Angie Zufelt's husband." I yelled down the stairs, "My name is 20 Beechwood." He repeated our address to Richard, "This is 20 Beechwood" and all was instantly well.  He gave the order and it was all delivered to the kitchen counter at 4:30 like he does every day like clockwork.

Kids Gone Wild

No real explanation for why our kids got really into their chores one Saturday.  Ben was asked to sweep the dining room area because it was pretty bad.  He just kept going and swept the kitchen and the wet kitchen out back.  Then he wanted to mop.  I got him all set up to mop with a bucket of warm soapy water and he wet right to work in the back wet kitchen.

Brian was cooking dinner while I did it and when I passed through the kitchen one time I busted up laughing. There he was standing high on a stool bent over so he could stir the pot on the stove at knee level.  Ben, in his seven year old wisdom, had come up with a way that the two of them could co-exist in the kitchen.  If Dad just stood on this stool then Ben could mop the floor and Dad could still cook. Genius!  I love how creative he is in his problem solving skills.  And what a good sport his dad is to cook dinner from a perched position!