A long random list of updates

It has been exactly 1.5 weeks since we started calling this house our home.  It doesn't quite look like our home yet, but it certainly is feeling like it.  Lots of thoughts having been spinning in my head so you will have to excuse the FNL format (bullets) due to lack of time tonight and also lack of sleep since Friday.  Here we go:

• We have been downtown several times, sometimes walking around, other times driving around.  There is so much here yet it has this small town feel.  We are really excited to explore, do and see here in Anchorage.  Have I mentioned that from our house (on base) we can be downtown in 10 minutes?  Awesome.
• I'm still working on compiling my 101 Things to Do in Alaska list (aka: our Alaska Bucket List).  This is forthcoming.  Stay tuned.
• I've located the base library, however we have failed to get there yet.  My plan is to make it a weekly visit for us.  I will probably even have a set day we go on our "fieldtrip" there.  I really do hope to take advantage of the resources we have right here in spitting distance from us.  This was something I never did in Florida.  The kids already love books and reading... I'm hoping this really ends up being something fun and something they look forward to.
• I'm getting very anxious about Thomas starting preschool here on base.  I've never really been a proponent of the military base daycare system.  "System" is probably the key word here; not very lovey, not very personal.  Instead, very systematic.  My first few interactions with the personnel who are running this "system" here for preschool has not been one of "A+" satisfaction.  I won't bore anyone out there with what I'm talking about.  I'm just hoping that the curriculum and teachers are not a reflection of what I have experienced.  I will give it a shot, but if it is not to my standards and I don't feel good about it, I will not hesitate to make a change.  Fingers crossed.  More to come on this subject I'm sure.
• Have I mentioned that we are getting rid of a LOT of toys?  Tomorrow is the first of (hopefully) several boxes of donated toys.  And to be fair, there is also a big box of kitchen goods, etc that is making its way to the thrift store.
• Not sure what Brian is more happy about - the arrival of his pots/pans/knives so that he can cook up some of his gourmet-tasting food OR his grill so he can feel like a man again grilling steaks?
• Those tiny little colored numbered "moving" stickers that are on every box, every piece of furniture and every thing we own are now my pet peeve.  I can't stand seeing them.  I pull them off of anything.  They are driving me insane.
• News Flash - Thomas is now sleeping in his bed without the safety rail!  Yeah for big boys!
• Abbigail is so ready for potty training.  It pains me that she wants a new diaper after standing in front of me and peeing in her diaper.  She is insistent.  It is just a waste on diapers.  Now that the little potty is here, I foresee the potty training commencing in the next month.  It certainly does help that Nana just sent the cutest little girl panties and Abby went crazy.  She stripped her diaper off on the spot and wanted the underwear on that moment.  See... she is ready.
• Marilyn is finally settled in her own bedroom.  In a real crib.  With her own dresser.  And own closet.  I felt like the poor girl was just a third class citizen for the last 3 months.  She had nothing to call her own but a pack-n-play.  Now she has a room and it is soon to be decorated too. 
• Finally, I will close with this:  I have good kids.  Yes, there are time-outs, and tantrums, and kids screaming and pinching and all the things that go along with having young children close in age.  There are times when Brian and I don't necessarily think they are acting as good as they could when we go out and about.  However, from the time we left on our roadtrip in late July (16 days worth of travel) until just the other day - we have been paid so many compliments in restaurants, hotels and even the DMV how well behaved our children are.  At first, I dismissed the compliment after saying "thank you."  But each time that someone else (in a different location along the way) said such nice things to us & the kids about the kids... we realized that Thomas, Abbigail and (yes, even) Marilyn are really good kids.  It makes me warm & fuzzy inside and quite proud of each of our children.  It also makes me think that Brian and me must be doing something right.  Not bad for no instruction book.