Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 5

Today was definitely less crazy.

Kids woke up early...surprise, surprise. Even with the amazing hotel blackout curtains. Nope, they still know. 5:00am for Morgan and 6:00am for Nate. oh, my little early risers. Always wanting to start the day before everyone.

We went to the breakfast the hotel offers which wasn't half bad. Fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, bacon, sausage, eggs, french toast, omelets, pastries, etc.

We had some time to kill because Jason didn't have to pick up the moving truck until 11am, then he had to go weigh it. What do you do when you have time to kill!? SHOP! We went to Target, Five Below and TJ Maxx. Nothing to crazy because it all has to fit in the car for our travels.

Shopping in our matching Lularoe shirts.

We came back to let Morgan nap and let Nate play. Then we went back to the house to help.

Before we left, there was 2 slight freak out moments. Because...we needed a little crazy in the day. 

First freak out moment was when the hotel fire alarm went off. Not just in our room, the ENTIRE hotel. An announcement came on saying we needed to evacuate the building and not to use the elevator. WHAT THE FUCK!? OK...freaking out, trying to stay calm in front of Nate, trying to decide what to grab...

Another announcement as we walk out of the hotel room that it was a false alarm. Ok, good. But, holy hell. Scary. 

We get out of the room, start walking out and Nate gets stuck in the revolving door. Seriously. I had to pry it open so him and his backpack could get through. 

The revolving door that almost killed Nate.

Finally we get the kids in the car and off to help Jason.

This is how Jason put the moving truck...

We loaded a few boxes and the couch. We took it very easy because it was 100 degrees and didn't want Jason to over do it. We all went to dinner together then back to the hotel to get the kids in bed. 

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. 

Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 4

Here it is. The drama of a PCS. I knew it would come sooner than later. It was going to well. Not today. Today...was long as fuck. Take it from the top? Ready? It will be long, just FYI.

The morning was good. Woke up to having a one year old. My sweet little Morgan turned one and slept until 7. SCORE! Nate woke up in a good mood, too. Another great start. We had breakfast then walked over to say yet another "see you later". I won't get into that again because it sucked. Again.

After we said "see you later" to some friends, we walked over to another friend's house who just arrived. A friend I have known since FOURTH grade! It was so amazing to see her and her family and we even get to have dinner together tomorrow night. But it also sucks because that's all we get. Just 2 days. We hung out for a few then needed to head home for lunch and Morgan's nap.

We walked home, I got Morgan to sleep, and Nate earned a few minutes on my tablet. Fifteen minutes goes by and I get a phone call. A phone call from Jason saying he fainted at the Army hospital of all places. He was trying to refill our prescriptions before we left so we went into the pharmacy. He said he got dizzy then fainted nose first right on the pharmacy counter. Awesome. (insert sarcastic look) I had to go pick him up because they said he need a CAT scan at the ER which is about 10 minutes off-post.

So what did I have to do while worrying? I had to wake up a baby who had been sleeping for a whole 15 minutes. I had to take the tablet away from Nate who had earned it. Morgan is crying, Nate is crying, I am sweating. It is a hot mess. Then Morgan's car seat isn't installed. Great. So I installed a car seat with 2 grumpy kids and a husband waiting on me.

I get them situated, get Jason, and we head off to the ER. Oh yeah, did I mention he never got the prescriptions? Yep, that also happened. So we still need to get those. We knew it was going to be awhile at the ER so I took Nate to McDonald's because I was in the process of making lunch when I had to leave. McDonald's has a play area so he got a chance to eat and play while we killed some time.

Poor Jason

It was all eating and fun until Nate had to poop. At McDonald's. So. Gross.
*Disclaimer* If you don't like poop stories scroll on past this paragraph.

With no exaggeration, we were in the bathroom no less than 20 minutes. TWENTY. Because his poop was stuck. He was trying and trying. And the automatic flusher kept flushing on him. He was crying because of stuck poop and an automatic flusher. In a bathroom. Do you know how loud a cry is in a bathroom? Loud. And it echoes. I am also holding a crazy baby who hasn't napped in my arms. After 10 minutes I said, "Fuck it", and Morgan was loose on the bathroom floor. She decided to just unroll the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper. I let her do it because it was better than crawling on the floor and I was trying to calm down Nate who was yelling, "What is the poop trying to do to me?! Why is it stuck!? What does green mean!? (the green flashing light that the automatic flusher has to let you know it is about to flush) I'm pushing as hard as I can!"

I don't even want to know the faces the people must have had while they were in there. If you really want to know...the poop finally came out. And all was well again. With Nate...because I was not ok. I needed a fucking drink. I had to settle for a Dr. Pepper.

We left McDonald's and headed back to the ER after an hour and a half. Jason was still getting checked. All labs and blood came back negative. Just elevated white blood count which they said could indicate a viral infection. Stress could also be a factor. But no real concrete answer. You know what else? He never had a CAT scan. What he was sent to the ER for. What in the actual fuck!?

It's now 3pm, my mom has landed at the airport and was waiting on us to pick her up. I wasn't completely packed for the hotel. I had to take Jason back to his car at the Army hospital, go back home, finish packing, load the kids up again, then to the airport.

We picked up my mom about an hour late. Sorry, mom!
Straight from the airport we went to the hotel to check in. Then to Fritz' train restaurant for dinner to celebrate Morgan's birthday.

Dinner was fun. Thank goodness. Morgan and Nate loved the trains. The food was eh, but the ambiance was so cute. We all shared an ice cream sundae and Nate sang Happy Birthday to Morgan.

We are now back at the hotel and so ready for bed.

Hoping tomorrow will be a little less hectic. And make sure Jason takes it easy which might be a difficult task because he thinks(and usually is) a freaking super human who can do anything. 

Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 3

Today was a fairly mellow. We have a lot done and without a truck to put our stuff in, we are at a point where we just do little random things.. Nothing major besides loading the truck and cleaning.

With all the boxes everywhere, I feel very restricted in the house with the kids. There is no room. And it was 100 degrees outside so taking them to a park wasn't happening.

A local movie theater, Landing 4, has .50 cent kid shows on certain days. I thought it was the perfect time to see if Nate could handle watching a whole movie in the theater without spending $20 on tickets and an ounce of popcorn. I could swing .50 cents easy. They were playing Home this week. It was SO cute! I think I liked it more than Nate. If you are stationed at Fort Leavenworth or are close, I would definitely recommend kid movie days. Even regular movie prices weren't outrageous.

After the movie, we all went to our favorite discount store, Morefield's. It has the most random stuff. Food, baby items, clothes, housewares, etc. I like to go there for cheap snacks or to see if they have any good baby items on sale. My deal of the century is baby food pouches that were 10 for $1. In a normal store pouches are around $1.20-$1.75 EACH. I bought 60 for $6!!! They are good brands, too, such as, Earth's Best and Happy Baby. SCORE!

As far as actually PCS stuff, Jason did what needed to be done. Weighing my car was on top of the priority list. Since we are moving ourselves, you have to weigh your car completely empty, then weigh it with everything packed inside. Same goes with the moving truck. The weigh station gives you a ticket and that is how they determine your weight and can pay you based on the weight difference. He also deep cleaned the large trash cans, took a car load of donations, packed a few boxes, cleaned the basement, and moved the washer and dryer upstairs.

For dinner, we tried to eat the rest of the remaining food. We have had our meals planned so it wasn't horrible. Chicken wraps. We did flip a laundry basket over to make a table for us though. Classy stuff right here.

Bath time was hectic. Morgan slipped and got scared because water went in her eyes. Then, as she stood up again, she slipped and hit her chin on the side on the bathtub. Good times. Nate has an infected blister on his thumb and was screaming because it was stinging him. So he didn't want to take a bath and get it wet. Also good times.

It's now not even 7pm and both kids are asleep. This whole heat and moving is exhausting. I'm exhausted too. I'm taking the night off. Tomorrow will be busy enough.

Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 2

Hello Tuesday! Today was a day of last minutes and "see you laters".

When you move, there are random things you do that you should've done awhile ago, but then life happens. You always think there is enough time. And there usually is, but you procrastinate until the last minute. Today was my teeth cleaning day. I use the excuse that Morgan was a baby and I couldn't leave her for that long of a time. To get my teeth cleaned. How ridiculous is that? Of course I had time. She can be left for 1-2 hours easily. It was just one of those things I put off. So here I am, less than a week away from moving and getting in a dentist appointment.

Other last minute stuff is usually getting medical records, filling prescriptions, getting your oil changed, checking your tires, eating all the leftover random food in your fridge, etc.

My breakfast. On the floor because we don't have a table.

Today we had to say another "see you later". Most of the time us military peeps use that phrase because we are in denial. We have made friends who turn into family. Will we see them later? Most likely not. We will keep in touch through social media, but the reality of us ever seeing each other in person again is slim to none. And we don't like to believe that. It is hard. Like, really hard.

Here in Kansas we had a tribe. There was a group of us and we just clicked. And we were all neighbors. We all had our shitty houses to complain about even though they are what brought us together. We shared our frustrations and silly moments with our kids. We drank margaritas because it was Tuesday. We borrowed each others car seats when our husbands accidentally took ours. We had nightly walks together to make sure we hit 10,000 steps on our fitbit. We had each other. In a place where we knew no one, we became friends. And that's what makes moving so hard.

The kid tribe.

Tonight, I sit amongst boxes. They are everywhere. We organized them by size so when we get the truck it will be easy for Jason to load. I am doing our last load of laundry so we can drain the washer and haul it up from the basement. Thank goodness we had someone to borrow a dolly from.

The living room.

My amazing view from the couch. Be jealous.

The dining room with all the small and random stuff.

Cleaning the refrigerator is also on my agenda tonight. Tip: You should clean your refrigerator more often. That thing gets dirty. For real, deep clean it. Or maybe I'm just not a clean person. How often do you deep clean your refrigerator? Something is so sticky on the bottom shelf and I have no idea what it is. Also, I found a baggie. An empty one. What!? I blame it on Nate. 

Here is what I will leave you with tonight:

1. Appreciate the friends and family who are close by.

2. Clean your refrigerator.

3. Make a dentist appointment.

4. Have margaritas. Because...Tuesday.

5. Enjoy eating on a chair with a table.

Chronicles of the Kappes PCS: Day 1

I'm starting our chronicles day 1 today because, well, I'm starting today. Also, the movers came today so it works out well. You're welcome.

We decided on a "Partial PPM"(aka partially procured move aka we move some, packers pack and move some) this PCS(aka permanent change of station aka move to another base). We decided on a partial PPM because it is really hard to move big bulky stuff. Especially big bulky stuff that doesn't weigh a lot. When you move, the Army pays you by weight. For every pound, you get $.80. so, you want heavy stuff. But you also have a maximum weight. Ours is about 18,000 pounds and it is determined by rank. We definitely don't have 18,000 pounds worth of stuff.

 I know, it's kind of confusing. The point is we make money by moving ourselves. It is a lot of work, organization, and planning, but it can be done and we make a pretty little penny. Also, my husband is anal and likes to pack his stuff the way he wants to pack it. He is VERY organized. He is a logistics officer so this is right up his little type A alley.

Nate with the moving company's truck. He is very excited. 

When you do a partial PPM, you have to schedule movers to come pack you up. The movers come to your house, wrap everything is the most crazy ways, put a sticker on the box or object, and put it all on an inventory checklist. Every single thing has a sticker and you will find those stickers for the rest of your military life.

Our movers were scheduled today with a time block between 9-11. They showed up at noon. Not horrible. We figured they were stuck at the gate getting checked in with all the other moving trucks. We were told TWO HUNDRED other families were also getting packed up today so you can imagine the amount of trucks in line trying to get on a military installation. It takes forever if you don't have a military ID. Being an hour late was a success.

Two guys showed up and started right away. We had waters and Powerades for them because moving and packing SUCKS. Especially in 95 degree heat. Usually if they are morning packers, you provide lunch. Ours were here from 12-5 so we just gave them some money to go get dinner themselves.

The crates our stuff gets put in

While they were packing, I took the kids out of the house to get frozen yogurt. You don't want little kids in the middle of them packing. We got home and the packers still had about another hour left to go. After they left, we had dinner, got the kids in the bath, put them to bed, then more moving stuff. In this house we have a basement so we moved what we could up into the living room so we can get ahead of the game on that. We don't have much left to pack, just a few odds and ends.

We get our moving truck in a few days, so now we have time to pack up the last minute stuff, clean, and prepare for hotel living and driving for 5 days.

And that's it for today! It wasn't too bad! I'm pretty sure I hurt my shoulder carrying up a tough box(rolling box that carries all the military things like uniforms). Those tough boxes suck to bring up steep basement stairs.

Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Hello May.

May is here and it is going to busy! We move next month so packing has begun! We are packing and moving ourselves so we can do a little at a time and not be so overwhelmed as time gets closer.

With moving comes purging, organizing, and realizing you have way too much shit stuff. I mean, really. We have so much stuff. You don't notice until you are going through closets and cabinets and finding things under your couch and bed.

It is really my fault for having the majority of the stuff. I like decor. I like Rae Dunn. I like coffee cups. I like pillows. I like kitchen gadgets I use only once a year. I like baskets. I like all the things! I should really think about why I like all these things so much. I really need to simplify.

Later. I'll add it on my list of things to do.

Even though we still have a ton of things, we did get rid of A LOT.

We had a yard sale last weekend and purged. Our April New Year's resolution was to get rid of or donate at least 200lbs. We surpassed that. And yes, we actually weighed the things. Until we hit 200lbs.

After we hit 200lbs, we just kept adding. Whatever didn't sell at the yard sale was donated. We don't know the exact number of pounds we got rid of, but if I had to guess it was probably around 500lbs.

Of STUFF.

Isn't that crazy!? And we STILL has a house full of everything we need and more.

So now we are in May. We have a few exciting events coming up.

1. Jason is taking Nate to a Royals baseball game.
2. Bunco night. Yes, this is exciting. Even if I do lose $13 every month. Worth it for the adult time and food.
3. Jason and Nate are having a "boys only" camping trip together. How freaking adorable is that!?
4. I am doing a Color Run.
5. My brother's birthday is in May.
6. Mother's Day. Pedicure, Starbucks, and Lularoe clothes? (hint, hint...Jason)
7. Morgan's first birthday party. Her birthday isn't until June, but with everyone moving we had to move it up a few weeks. Her theme is "Sweet Summertime". Pink and yellow colors with outdoor fun and BBQ/picnic foods.

I hope everyone has a wonderful May. I'll leave you with a few quotes/saying beginning with May. Because...May. And maybe you need a little smile or inspiration.

*May we choose the harder right than the easier wrong.
-Thomas Monson

*May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
-Nelson Mandela

*May you realize you are enough.

* May you drink your coffee hot and keep your kids alive.

Morgan is 10 Months.

Our little chunks is 10 months old today. Ten. Double digit months now. I can't even handle it.

She is now crawling, pulling herself up on everything, and eating everything her fat fingers can grasp.

She loves eating, being outside, taking baths, dancing, and reading.

She hates sleep and getting her diaper changed.

She has 2 bottom teeth.

No one can make her laugh like Nate.

Her favorite foods are blackberries, peas, chicken casserole pouch, grass, dirt, cheese, pancakes.

She can wave, give high fives, dance, peek-a-boo, grab sunglasses off our heads.

People stop us wherever we go to chat about her thighs, cheeks, eyes, and/or tiny hair bows. Seriously, we are out for at least 30 minutes more than we should. Every. Time.

Morgan is so cute that her lack of sleep she gives me makes up for it. Barely.

And now I'm tearing up because my baby is 10 months old. Great, thanks time and blogging. Thanks a lot.

Here's my sweet girl