Cards!

I've received several cards, but the majority are still slowly trickling in due to mail-forwarding. For example, the ones we received yesterday were originally postmarked the 7th of December, and it never took 10 days for mail to reach us state-to-state before.

But thank you to prosodic, gardenmama, and niftybabe313 for the cards we have already received. I haven't decided on a 'Card Wall' here in the new house yet, but you can bet I'll be deciding soon. ;-)

Now that we're here and have an address, I'm going to work on my own holiday cards. We don't have our household goods yet, but I figure that just means I'm *supposed* to really buckle down and do cards now - hehe!

New school.

The boys have had almost a full week in their new school, Dakota Elementary. This is their first time attending an on-base school, and I gotta say: it is super-nice. The security from knowing the school is under more protection than a regular school, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that each and every one of their classmates understands and lives the same hardships, difficulties, family separations, etc. is golden. I wouldn't trade it away for any price right now.

In addition, the school is brilliant. I love the stage in the gym - the fact that their new school can hold their own concerts and assemblies without traveling away. I love that the get to experience a "true" school cafeteria, complete with sliding their trays down metal beams while their food is served. Near the front of the building, there is a special place for the pick-up children to wait - it's called the "Snow Den." The classrooms for grades K-3 have bathrooms inside, so there's not much instruction time missed for a potty break. The student ratio is a bit smaller than our their last school, and that's always a plus, too.

Their school day is now from 9am-3:15. I was surprised to hear that, having always seen schools start between 7:45-8:15 or so. The later start is great for these darker mornings though, and I have appreciated the extra minutes of shut-eye myself. We had to purchase school supplies over the weekend for the first time (our old school district supplied them), and the boys had fun picking out certain colors of their items. The breakfast and lunch choices are FAR superior, and I love that there is no set pattern in the lunch menu. Philip and I were reading the monthly menu, and even then, *we* each picked several days we'd like to join the boys for lunch, if only for the great selection!

The change in weather between Nebraska and North Dakota is apparent, and not in the least on the playground rules. Back in Nebraska, the boys had outdoor recess at school unless is was below 20°. In their new school, the school operates with outdoor recesses unless it is -5° or the windchill is -15°. Wow! Due to these regulations, students are required to wear full snow gear for recess (boots, snowpants, gloves, hat, coat). All students are provided bus transportation too, but they must wear the full snow gear while on the bus. This week, we have been dropping off/picking up the boys, as we're waiting on their brand-new (tags still attached) snow boots and snowpants to arrive with our household goods. They are SO EXCITED to ride the bus for the first time, and I'm excited to turn in my years of driving them for a bit of jammy-clad, kiss-'em-on-the-cheek goodbyes at the door. ;-)

Both of the boys have been placed into the Gifted & Talented program at school. A.J. had previously been in the HAL program (High Ability Learner) since 3rd grade at their old school, and they simply transferred him over. Jack had been pegged for the HAL program by his other teachers, but was waiting until next year to start. (He's in 2nd grade, and the program does not begin until the 3rd grade.) At this new school, however, the Gifted program begins in the 2nd grade, and he has already easily tested into it. In addition, his teacher has placed him in a special math club for advanced students. She also will be supplementing his reading curriculum with material from the 5th grade classrooms (that is where he has level-tested now). With all the extra reading he does at home, I'm not surprised in the least!

A.J. will be playing a bit of catch-up in band, as the school here began instruction in the 5th grade, so his classmates are one year ahead of him. I hope he is able to hold his own, but I'm encouraged by how well he enjoys playing his instrument.

The boys don't break at the same time as their old school for the holidays. Instead of having their last day tomorrow, the 18th, they will continue until next Tuesday, the 22nd. They return on the 4th, which is the same. We also noticed fewer breaks throughout the year, but they have a solid 90-day summer vacation, and I am very happy for them for that. School won't begin next year until Aug. 27th - which will be the first year A.J. has ever celebrated his summer birthday (the 23rd) by NOT already being in school. He is ecstatic over the news!

All in all, we have no complaints with the new school, and we have only joyful news to share. What a blessing!

More cards!

Today's regular and forwarded mail brought only Christmas cards - yay! Nothing but the good stuff! :-)

Among those received were ones from ashen_butterfly, 1grl_revolution, and sdaisyk - thank you!

The bigger, the better!

As a Christmas/housewarming gift, Philip's parents have ordered us a new TV. Mind you, our current TV is still in excellent condition (it was a Christmas gift from my parents a few years ago when we did not have a working one at all), but his parents have been introduced to the HDTV age, and they insisted that we must have one as well.

The day after we took keys to the new house, the new TV was ordered, and it is still on its way. A 52" RCA LCD flat-panel TV that is so flippin' huge that it didn't have a chance on fitting in our current entertainment center. Soooo...

... the current entertainment center will go downstairs (when our household goods arrive, that is), along with the 32" TV from my parents. We have been carpeting the basement (in a tiled pattern, and I'm doing it slowly - I keep taking breaks!), and one half of the basement will be a relaxing area for the boys (entertainment center, TV, carpet, couch, and several of their toys). The other half will be my scrap/craft room, complete with the sink and all those lovely, lovely built-in cabinets.

We bought and built a beautiful new entertainment center to house our new TV in the living room. We subscribed to digital cable again, but for the first time, we joined a new club: those with DVR. We never really felt we needed it before, but it was only a couple bucks more with our internet/cable packaging, so we sprung for it. It's only been a day now, but I think Philip loves it already. ;-)

Merry Christmas to us, indeed! Now we just wait for the TV to arrive!