Not just a house....it's home!

We got it! This is our new house. We will move in this summer.

Holy cow! It's still sinking in. I love this house. Do I really get to live here? It's on a cul-de-sac. It's a short drive for Justin to get to work. It's a nice walk, including a bridge across a creek, to get my children to one of the three best schools in the area, and the smallest. There's room in the back for a garden. I'm going to grow herbs. And the usual assortment of easy-to-grow veggies. And tomatoes! Why not try them? I've always wanted to try growing tomatoes. And the neighbors on both sides have swing sets in their backyards, so that bodes well. And it already has a fence for our dog-to-be. And...and...and....

Hey, it's a happy day.

My thoughts are with my friend Paula, whose family is going through their own house-hunting extravaganza right now. It certainly is a roller-coaster.

Dog.

We are going to get a dog when we get to Ohio.

She will be a she. She will be a red, smooth, mini dachshund.

She is hard to find. I've been looking at breeders on line, learning about the difference between good breeders and bad, and there aren't that many who look reputable, are in Ohio, and do smooth coats. Longhairs are much easier to find, and while they're adorable, the dachshund Justin and I used to have was a smooth red, we adored her, and we want another pretty much just like her.

Minus her horrid social skills. Which is why I'm working hard this time to find the right breeder, who breeds for temperament and then makes sure the dog has a lot of socializing in its first weeks eight weeks of life before we take her home.

I'm also not working full time this time around, so our dog will rarely be alone, especially when she's new and we're training her.

I loves me some dachshund. I mean, look at this photo! It kills me! I'll have to go back through my photo albums (pre digital photos), find a good shot of Schultzy, and post it here. She was beautiful.

Wishes

My husband and I bid on a house in Beavercreek (suburban Dayton), Ohio. We bid yesterday, which expired at 9 last night. At 9pm on the dot, the realtor called us to let us know that the current owners counter-offered, at a price that was, oh, a few pennies less than their asking price. (Hasn't anyone told them that this is a buyer's market?) So we counter-offered again for a little bit more, and we'll either get an acceptance or it will expire at 6pm tomorrow.

Ahem, was that a bit too much detail? Yes, it was. Even for me. Real estate is an emotional roller coaster. One minute I think I'm going to die if they don't accept our offer, and then next minute I'm actually hoping they turn it down because maybe would I rather live in Oakwood after all? One minute I'm convinced the house is ours because I think we bid generously, and the next minute I'm sure it's not because we didn't bid full price. It's a wonderful house. Big, pretty, walking distance to a great school, cul-de-sac lot, nice yard, neighborhood full of kids, kitchen and family room full of light and windows.

Before you can pick out the house you want to buy, you have to know yourself pretty well. This is tricky for me, as I have lived in many, many places, and I can imagine myself living in many, many situations. Suburban DC? Absolutely. Small town in Indiana? Yes. Downtown Seattle? Certainly. Rural England? Definitely. Ohio? Why not? But where in Ohio? The shorter walk to school, or the nicer house? The better school, or the wonderful backyard with the mature trees for running, climbing, and playing? The house with quirky charm or the move-in-ready house on the cul-de-sac? What do I wish for?

Which brings me to Jacob and Leah's wish list. Why a wish list in March? Because we're going to move, I guess, and new things seem to be in order. They slipped their carefully crafted and much debated list onto my desk, and here is what it says:

Jacob's + Leah's Wish List (not in order of liking)

1. Wii (the newer the better)
2. Computer (laptop preferred)
3. Property (bigger the better)
4. MP3 player (or Ipod) for Leah
5. Laser gun (s)
6. spy stuff
7. tree house/zip line in Ohio
8. cap gun
9. green house
10. dog
11. a diamond
12. our own bedrooms in Ohio
13. a fancy house with a big backyard for our dog
14. all the Legos in the world

I don't know what to think of this list. I don't know whether to laugh (kids being kids), cry (kids being uprooted), be annoyed (kids being materialistic), be touched (kids thinking about what the other kid wants). So, I'm thinking it over. I'll get back to you.

What's on your wish list?

Real life hero

Sometimes heroics are on a small scale. This man reached out to one boy. His attitude could change the world. Take a look here.

Duct tape, elbow grease, and pride

My son and his Odyssey of the Mind team competed on Saturday, March 15, in the regional competition.

They were terrific, and I'm not sure who was more proud--the kids themselves, or their parents watching them in action.

If you're not familiar with Odyssey, it's an international program to promote problem-solving, creative thinking, and teamwork in kids from elementary school up through college. Teams select one problem from about seven available each year, and they solve it in their own way with their own "theme," on a tight budget, with no interference from anyone else. I was my son's team's coach, and my job was to ensure everyone's voice was being heard, remind them of how fast time was flying by, check for safety, and feed them snacks. The rest they did themselves. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before.

Interested in this for your child? Please check out http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/.

It's messy, it's noisy, it's inefficient, it's heart-stopping because it'll look for a while like they're not going to come up with anything coherent, but then they do and they are marvelous. It's wonderful.

Chocolate bunny smiles

Which is sweeter, a basketful of candy or these two Kindergarteners?

I mean, seriously.

Leah and her buddy Catherine, just before our neighborhood egg hunt on Saturday morning. They were very excited. It was cold but they didn't care.

No doubt there are neighborhood egg hunts to be found in Ohio, but this is hard to leave.

fabulous website alert

Found a good children's music website for you! Dallas Symphony Orchestra has come up with something wonderful.

This reminds me of a similar website, which I once blogged about here.

Thanks to Ms. Rountree, the music teacher at Shaw Elementary School in Beavercreek, Ohio, for this one.

Yep, I've been surfing the public school resources in the greater Dayton, Ohio area. Way too much, actually.

Lest I forget

You, know, amid all this talk of moving to Ohio from Virginia, I may be in danger of forgetting that I'm actually from the Pacific Northwest. I graduated from high school in Tacoma, I went to the University of Washington in Seattle, my parents live on the Olympic Peninsula, and my brother lives in Bellingham (by the Canadian border). We also got to live in Tacoma for 2 years while my husband was stationed at McChord Air Force Base. We own a little house there, which we rent out. All this is to say that I have a lot of connections there, and Justin and I plan to settle back there. One of these days. Post Ohio.

A friend sent this today, and I thought I'd share it. It's true, true! I thought my friend Heidi, who drops by to read this blog, bless her soul, would get a chuckle from this--she's now a head-to-toe Texan, but once upon a time she was a moldy Oregonian. :)

You might be a Pacific Northwesterner if:
1. You know the state flower (Mildew).
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.
3. Use the statement "sun break", and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant or to church.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "WALK" signal.
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it's not a real mountain.
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Veneto 's.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon.
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Haceta, Yaquina, Yachats, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima, and Willamette .
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food.
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days.
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.
16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast:
Showers followed by rain,"and "Tomorrow's forecast: Rain followed by showers."
17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see them through the cloud cover.
20. You use the phrase "The mountain is out"
when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.
21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.
22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.
23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.
24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.
25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time.
26. You measure distance in hours.
27. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day.
28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.
29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining, Road Construction, and Deer & Elk season.

Journey into uncharted territory

Nope, I'm not talking about my upcoming move to Ohio. For once, I'm talking about something else.

I'm talking about Odyssey of the Mind, the international creative thinking and team building competition that my son and 10 other children at McKinley Elementary school are a part of. There are two teams at McKinley, and I'm the coach of one of the teams.

The big competition is this Saturday, and it's been quite a ride.

6 kids after school in my basement every Tuesday for a few months now. One long term problem. Six opinions on how to build the solution. Lots of discussion, lots of work, lots of bounce-off-the-walls giggles and energy, a few tears, and--ultimately--a really cool solution that the team arrived at completely on their own.

That's the crux of Odyssey of the Mind--the kids do it themselves. They dream it up, they try it, they build it, they fix it if it doesn't work or breaks, they improve upon it, they OWN it. It's not exactly a linear process, it's definitely not efficient, and it's very wonderful.

I'm incredibly proud of these kids.

In this photo, they are practicing a spontaneous problem, which is a separate part of the competition from the long-term solution. In this practice, they had to make a 8" tall structure that would support a few spice jars. Their tools: 40 pieces of spaghetti, 12 straws, 25 mini marshmallows, and 6 sticky address labels.

Notice how all those hands are in there, working together, figuring it out.

(Why all the camouflage, you may ask? Just before this they were practicing their long-term solution, which they decided needed costumes, which they decided should be all cammo. They think it's the coolest thing ever, and you know? They're right.)

And now for something entirely different

Friends, I found out on Monday that this summer we are moving to Dayton, Ohio. My husband is an active duty Air Force officer, and he's being transferred from here (the Pentagon) to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He's getting a terrific job, and I'm terribly proud of him.

It's hard to move. Leaving friends, my children's friends, and my Kindermusik business. Uprooting. Packing up. Starting over. There are friends I can hardly even look at without crying. Argh.

It's exciting to move. New adventure. Get to pick out a new house, research the schools and neighborhoods. Get to plan and dream and surf, surf, surf for info. Get a fresh start.

It's a surprise to move. We had been told that it was virtually impossible for Justin to be transferred this summer, and yet here we are.

It's an old, familiar tune. I have moved 19 times in my life. That doesn't count those little moves in college from one dorm or apartment to another. That doesn't count any short-term moves for training or deployments. I didn't even count the move from one house to another in the same town in that number, even though it involved a moving truck. 19 times. I was a military brat, and then I was active duty myself for almost 6 years, and then I've kept moving as the spouse of a military man. This will be move number 20. I know this drill better than I know anything else.

My kids are getting pretty savvy, too. That's been a great help in this week of adjustment to the idea of going, to see how my children are handling it--they are very capable of focusing on the positive. I'm very proud of them. In so many ways.

This should be the last Air Force move. And then, we think, Justin will retire and we'll move to where we'll live for good. Forever! We imagine that place being the pacific northwest.

But in the meantime, Ohio. I really like Ohio. I like Dayton. Classic small American City. Lots going for it, including a not-too-inflated housing market, so Justin and I have been looking online for a house to buy. Very fun to see what you can get in Dayton, when you're used to what houses go for in Arlington, VA. We feel like kids in a candy store. We hope to go for a house-hunting trip soon.

So, friends, I wonder if you'll come with me as this blog transitions from thoughts on early childhood music education, child development and parenting, and becomes something a little more personal, about a family moving and what we discover along the way.

Still on a journey, humming a tune.