Before I Forget

I have a ton of phone pictures from the past few months.  I had planned on uploading them each month to document life, but that never happened.  I figure if I don't do it now it won't ever happen.  I had formatting issues, so some are not right side up.  I gave up trying to fix it.  So here goes....

We spent lots of time on airplanes.  The girls did pretty good staying entertained.

I love Sofia's sense of style.  Totally awesome. It's a good thing she's the second child....I never would have let Hannah leave the house like this.....funny how perspective changes over time. :D

Kisses for the hard work making the snowman.

Attending our first Turkish birthday celebration.  It didn't start until about 8 pm and they ate cake before food.

Entertainment while visiting dad at work.

Probably the most ghetto park I've ever been to.

The best part about walking to the city was going on the overpass and looking out over the city.

Sofia getting lots of attention from random Turkish students.

Hannah enjoying the personal attention as well.

This is what happens when we are at the park.

They like kids and they LOVE babies.

A beautiful dirt road the gps took us on as a shortcut.

The usual arrangement on the airplane.

My favorite seating arrangement on the plane.

TJ jamming to the music while we are playing at a mall trying to kill time while James is presenting.

Who knew hour glasses could be so entertaining?!

Unfortunately they now know that the toys in the mall will move if you insert money.  Fortunately, they still have fun even with no money.

Visiting the Cache Valley Fair!

Waiting at the hospital for the tonsils to be taken out!

We Made it

This is what the kids looked like at the beginning of the road trip...all snug in the backseat together.

2 days later with 20 hours of driving time behind us they weren't quite so chipper.  It was long, but they were troopers and did amazingly well, but we are all glad to be out of the car.

An Emotional Few Days

The day after we arrived I took the kids into Hannah' s school to register her.  We found out we were at the wrong school.  And kindergarten here is all day (8-3). We got to the correct school, which is almost a mile and a half away, and got all registered.  Since it's too far to walk, we can drop her off and pick her up every day or have her ride the bus.  The bus would pick her up at 7:00 and drop her off at 3:45 pm.  YIKES!!!!!!!!!!  A LONG day for a 5 year old.

It was an overwhelming experience getting her registered.  I had no clue what I was doing (making decisions about how to get to school, what to have for lunch, etc.....)....I hadn't planned on these decisions because we were close enough we were going to walk to school and I hadn't planned on her needing a lunch in the first place since it was supposed to be half day.  Not to mention Sofia, TJ and Hannah were all bored to death by the time we were at school #2.

To top it all of, they informed me the school is overcrowded and as soon as they find another school that has open spots, she will be transferred to another school.  Oh, and school started on August 5th - over a month ago. 

Okay.  

So, she's taking her own lunch and we're dropping her off/picking her up for the 1st week to see how things go.

Here she is on her 1st day:

She was very excited about school.  A little nervous, but mostly excited.  I wasn't worried about her. I actually laughed when her doctor at a checkup asked me if I was worried about separation anxiety. Definitely wasn't worried about that.  She ran to nursery at 16 months and went happily off to Preschool in Turkey where she couldn't understand a word.  Never had a problem, so I wasn't concerned.

Unfortunately, all day is a little long.  And she had to wait a long time for us to pick her up.  I showed up a few minutes early to make sure I was there to be one of the first people to get her.  But....the pick up zone is about a 20-30 minute process.  YIKES!!  By the time we got to where we could get her, she had lost it and was crying. 

Day 2 I decided to arrive 10 minutes early...it took almost 30 minutes and she was hysterical by the time I got to her.

Day 3 I arrived 20 minutes early and it still took 30 minutes.

Let's just say, I personally think 5 year old kids should not spend so much time at school.  They are too little.  They shouldn't be eating breakfast and lunch at school.  And, the pick-up shouldn't take 30 minutes.

Did I mention that she has used some new vocabulary (like butt, but head, etc...) after just 1 day of school?  Really?  Just 1 day and she's already learning bad stuff!!!

But nobody asked me.  And I don't know what I can do to change anything.  

So, she's slowly adjusting to being gone all day (she still doesn't like it - but it's getting better).  And we are getting accustomed to totally messing up TJ's nap schedule, strapping him and Sofia into car seats lots of times in a given day, and wasting lots of gas and time in line at the school.  I feel like a crummy mom because she shouldn't be at school so long, but I don't know how to change that and I feel like all I do all day long is strap kids in and out of car seats. 

But, it's just for a time.  My incentive to find a home is getting bigger.  And my number one concern is now something walking distance from a school!!