Kids

Liam has adjusted great to the new school and even though he clings to me when I drop him off I know he loves it. He has met a few friends to attend the library storytime with. He's done well at church play drop off and the MOPS drop off. He LOVE LOVE LOVES the fact that we live near the John Deere store and I think they might be wondering when we are going to stop by!

Emma is also adjusting to NE living. She has been going to the same place Liam goes to for school for daycare while I head to the gym. She is a little social thing, always smiling and drooling. She is into everything and sure has a little personality to go along with her cuteness.

Sidney Month One

It's been a month since we've been in Sidney. Do I still miss the city, YES and NO
I miss

• having my support system of Mama's and my choices of Targets to run to. 
• Running outside (which I can do here, just not sure if the dirt roads are "safe" to run along)
• Museums, the cafe's, starbucks, and the Aquarium
• Riding the train, and the tourists in the city
• The quintessential New England towns that I can never afford but dream I can.
• Impromptu play-dates and a plethora of Mama's to call on ( I posted on a MOPS board about having people over for a kids craft playdate and no one responded)...I miss having friends

I don't miss

• Being the only English speaking person in the store, neighborhood, phone etc.
• The garbage and disrespect of the people in the city and their VULGAR language
• Car alarms, drag racing, and emergency sirens during the day and into the night
• Lack of outdoor and indoor space
• Fighting for a parking spot or fighting parking tickets!

What I love so far

• Local coffee shop
• Meeting people who know you or have seen your kids somewhere in town
• Tons of outdoor space
• A garage
• The genuine pleasantness of people
• The willingness of people to embrase you and make you feel comfortable (The golden rule is still alive, and it is alive in Sidney)
• The sense of community and togetherness during the holiday season
• A great children's library with a wonderful librarian

Ditching Nebraska!

So I am trying to find a way to run around here and our street is a dead end street so in lieu of runnng up and down the street a million times like a lunatic I decided to see what else there was. There are two ways to Paul's office, one a paved road, the other a bumpy dirt road. Well Paul tells me that if you turn the opposite way on the dirt road it may go to Cabelas, so on my way home from his office I decided to take it. Now it just snowed here and I couldn't figure out why things closed and why everyone has a BIG truck or SUV...
I shall soon find out.
We go the other way down the dirt road and Emma starts to nod off so I say forget this we will just go home and do it another day (we have many days left!) There really isn't enough room to turn around so I will just drive backwards down the dirt road, if nothing else Liam will get a kick out of it. Well all is well till we start to slide the ABS brakes kick in and we slide off into a ditch and get stuck..damn front wheeled drive cars. So I reverse and forward and try to rock up out of the ditch to no avail, finally a pickup passes and a bunch of kids ask if I need help. They try to tow me out and the rope breaks, so they have a wench and wench me out...ahh welcome to Sidney where they don't plow, salt, or sand the roads and where 4WD is a necessity.

Concouring Sidney in a Day

So this morning we headed out to the bank. Yes you actually go in to the bank and talk to a human, they handwrite out a reciept for a deposit!! Next stop is the TrueValue for a key, then the local coffee/book shop (which is adorable, and super cheap!), next to check out the kids consignment shop, then to storytime at the Library, the local craft store to get some stickers then off ot pick up Papa for lunch...
Note to Self: Might not want to do all the days errands in one day :)

I also connected with a DS Mama today!! And a woman from MOPS! Both have similar aged kids and were again super nice. Small town living just might be fun.
I also got a cool new pacifier to try and review in the mail :)

Into the Swing of things

So my routine begins.
We wake up we all drive Papa to work, we head to Walmart (waste almost 2 hours there), quick run home to pee and change Emma, head to the 10am playgroup at the Communty Center, check out the gym and Liam's new preschool, pck up Papa for lunch, lunch, back to drop off Papa, home to nap, TV, play, back top get Papa, Walmart again for wine (YES MAMA NEEDS WINE) dinner then bed... All in a Sidney day.
I met 2 great Mama's who are both Cabela's transplants and have kids around the same age and stay at home.

Current Cty: Sidney NE Pop 6,000

Go West Young Koch's
So Monday morning comes and the kids and I board a plane to Denver. Plane ride goes smoothly and the kids did great. We get our bags and embark on the next chapter in our lives and take the 3 hour drive to Sidney Ne.
So now coming from Boston we are in the car 10-20 minutes max per outing so 3 hours in the car was a LONG time for my kids, the are we there yet and screaming started about 1 minutes in, thankfully there was a Starbucks ;)
The temp housing we are in is ok, the place is 3 bedrooms and fully furnished with all the necessities you'd use in 1 day, i.e. 4 plates 4 spoons 4 towels etc. :) All in all it is fine and it is our place to call home for the next few months or until our place sells.

Liam is in LOVE, there are John Deere's everywhere and the railroad runs through the town.

Florida for our last week of the East Coast..

On the 23 we had a farewell Halloween party wth the neighbors and some close frends. It was sad to see everyone and to know we were leaving. Boston is such a great cty and we all have our rpots here. We went to college here, we met here, we had our first real jobs here, we got engaged here, got our pup here, got married here, bought our first home, had our first and second babies here, and now we are leaving...we loved the place and the memores it gave us but I think our tme in the cty was coming to an end. Raising 2 small children and a dog n the city is just not what we wanted, but seriously did we have to go to NEBRASKA to ge the slower paced quiet life?? Well if you know the Koch's then YES we would be the ones to do that.

We packed up a caravan and Paul and Mochie headed out west to Nebraska with the necessitates and the kids and I headed down South for some fun n the sun and family time.

We visited IKEA :), Busch Gardens a few times, The Glacier Children's Museum a few times, the pool, the local Targets, the Mall and every Starbucks I could find...I had to "Live it Up"!

We hit up Avery's Halloween part at school for our first round of Trick or Treating. Liam was a Monkey and Little Emma was a Spider. The costumes were a little too New Englandy and my poor kids were roasting. On the actual Trick or Treat Day Lam opted for the "Bones PJ's" and was a scary skeleton.