15 months since my last post. Almost 16. Unforgivable.
Facebook snuck in and took over my cyber-life-documenting.
But lest you never see my numerous posts on facebook, be comforted in knowing that the Olsen family is, indeed, still living and breathing. Even if it is in a sauna.
Let's see what some of the big bullet-points from the last year were...
- 8 birthdays since my last post. I'm not 30 yet..!
- 2 Anniversaries. Most recent was our 10th!!
- 1 Baptism. So Proud of our Gregory.
- 4 nights spent in a hotel while our floors got ripped up downstairs after they had warped into treacherous peaks.
- 5 teeth lost, the most recent one tonight. All Gregory's.
- At least 6 trips to the ER. Some for sickness (Charla's debilitating UTI on Thanksgiving), the rest for stitches and butterflied owies (Kai bit through his upper lip. Kai gashed open his forehead. Kai, etc...)
- 1 official business launch for Debbie, who, in addition to orders from individual clients, has had 2 house portraits commissioned by the corporation that manages housing for the entire Air Force, with the agreement to commission at least 2 more. Who knew.
- 1 family trip to Tucson (the first since Fred commissioned in 2008). Everyone, our family and the rest of the flight passengers, arrived to our destinations relatively unscathed.
- Fred ran and survived (barely) his first Tough Mudder near Atlanta, GA, Feb 11, 2012. He had a blast freezing to death with some of his coworkers. And getting really muddy.
- 7 cats total. Black kitty, Ella, had a litter of 5 on Labor Day. It was literally a dark (the power was out) and stormy night. It was a wonderful experience, ultimately ending sadly. 4 kittens found great homes and we kept 1. Before winter ended this year the mommy and kitten both disappeared.
- Countless tears shed by all. Original cat, Cinders, still warms our feet with purring and affectionately claws the couch when she thinks we aren't looking.
- 3 classes of Air Force Officer trainees, 13 weeks each. Fred was their fearless leader and has been recognized by the squadron, unit, and even the wing.
- 3 additional duties Fred has bravely held, each managing the various finances for all of Basic Officer Training (budget, pay, etc). He's tired.
- 0 days of snow.
- $0 spent on keeping our house at 71 degrees year round. Thank you to the Air Force for paying our utilities.
- 2 minivans. Our beloved 2002 Honda Odyssey, nicknamed "Ci-Ci" gave up the ghost. 4 times in 1 month. So she has been lovingly traded in for a sleek black 2011 Toyota Sienna EX. Name yet to be determined.
- 3 official diagnoses: They have confirmed that Gregory has ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome. Debbie is Bipolar, type 2. More to follow.
- 14 months of in-home speech therapy for Kai. He just wasn't talking. Which was only a bad thing because he was acting out aggressively instead. He still needs more therapy, but he no longer bites, mauls, and careens into people to ask for things like "more milk".
- Fred pinned on Captain!
- 2 times the landscape maintenance crew cut our cable line.
- Numerous fabulous Air Force social events. This is our second duty station, but this is the first time we've felt like a real part of the military community. Debbie has had a blast getting involved with the Officer's Spouses' group and doing various exciting things with other OTS wives. She will dearly miss her sisterhood here.
1 Air Force career change.
Fred was informed earlier this year that his current career field, Finance, is downsizing. He could stay in and risk getting rifted (Military for "laid off"), OR change career fields. While Finance wasn't exactly AWFUL, he hesitated about 1.6 seconds before accepting the offer (officially accepting it after conferring with me, of course). So what does this mean?
WE'RE MOVING AGAIN!
As much as I had dreaded living here, all in all it's been a wonderful experience. We've loved the community, Fred's assignment and all the people we've met in it, our beautiful historic house, the school on base, being less than 2 miles from Fred's work, the wonderful ward we've been in, and the free landscape maintenance... even if they did mess up our internet twice.
But the time is right to move on. The way things stand, we'll be pulling out of Montgomery, Alabama July 28th, to arrive in San Angelo, Texas for 8 months of training before moving on to our next base. We won't know where that will be or exactly what Fred will be doing until after Christmas this year.
I'm sure I missed other note-worthy experiences, but here's what I've got. Hopefully I'll be more diligent about keeping this up.
