It's youtube link week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVts128m8-4&list=UUelnpPyA1UplhpPhc5nIEqQ&index=2&feature=plcp

Maybe that will work?  It's a video about the MEDCAP that Sean was involved with last week.  He is disappointed that his interview was cut but you can see a bit of him helping in the pharmacy.  Maybe they cut his interview because he said it was bullcrap that the only way a radiologist can help is by translating and handing out drugs in the pharmacy?  Six months away from the hospital and in the end the only real work he does may end up being that one day he handed out drugs...  Things are heating up in more ways than one in the area where the next MEDCAP is planned so I will not be sad if that one gets postponed until after Sean gets home.  I'm not cool with grenade attacks on foreigners.

I married into the right family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5coYxY-NUA&feature=youtu.be

Okay, it's too complicated to embed someone else's video into my blog so you can just click the link to go to Kevin Keenan's youtube page if you are so inclined.  I'm not sure who took the video since clearly Kevin is getting down in the video, as are the rest of the Keenans and the entire Naval Academy.  And yes, Megan learned it too, she danced the night away apparently and I have another video to prove it.  Anyway, this is The Box, a dance that Andy introduced to the Keenans who then fully embraced it.  Maybe one of these years Sean and I will make it to a wedding and see it ourselves.  Maybe, just maybe, the kids are finally getting to an age where travel isn't 100% painful.  Ha ha, I can't wait to read this next week after I finally make it to Virginia.

Too much time in this house

I am pricing out windows because a) I don't think they look right without minions, b) the screens are trashed due to ivy, and c) I want the kind that tilt in so I can clean them.  You'd never guess that I hate dirty windows based on the amount of time I go between washing them.  I can't do the outside though as that would involve removing spider infested screens, borrowing a serious ladder, and finding the time to do this.  Should I move instead?

Sean is regretting the power of attorney that I have taken to carrying around with me just for kicks.  I thought I would need it today to renew the plates on his car since we never got the paperwork which was because they had the wrong address for Sean which is linked to his driver's license address.  Umm, for his Texas driver's license?  Yep, that's not going to work.  They didn't have our Texas address though, it was some random made up address for Manhattan.  Baffling.  But easy enough to renew, plus it was fast and the lady was super nice.  Score one for little Manhattan.  And today was an okay Army day as they waive our personal property taxes on the cars for being military.  Happy to pay it in two years though!

Ice cream sandwiches for dinner is not helping bedtime tonight, I should get to work.  Or start another show?  I suppose I can't blame the deployment for all the behavior problems... but it's so easy!

No more Target

I am so sick of buying kid bribes when I take them to Target so it is my goal to never take them again.  That is a lofty goal and should last me through the week...  I was hoping to just let them pick out a small toy that would be entertaining on the car ride.  HA HA.  As I was telling Manhattan Heather when we of course ran into each other in the boy toy aisle, Sean worries about the day we go to war with China but I'm pretty sure China has already gone to war with us... pitting us against our children in their quest for two of every toy ever made.  Curse them and their talent for making crap toys!

Anyway, the kids also managed to score new shoes and pajamas.  Turns out that Emily didn't like wearing her shoes because they were too small so she found a more appropriate pair... Hello Kitty of course.  The big girls never got character shoes and clothes like this.  I have been beaten down.  Plus it's cheap and they outgrow them so fast there isn't much point in getting the good stuff.  Emily is very proud of her new nightgown which came with a headband.  She looks like a totally different child with her hair pulled back and yet she insists on the hair in the face look 95% of the time.

We met friends at the pool on Saturday and then had dinner at their house on Sunday, so they have earned a whole month off from us!  Let me be clear, I certainly don't expect people to invite us over for dinner, this was a nice surprise.  We are not good dinner guests to say the least but I sure enjoyed real food and conversation that didn't revolve around potty talk.  The littles have been ridiculous lately and find each other hilarious.  It's going to be a long drive...

Hello, bird nest?!

No idea how long this bird nest has been here and why no one told me about it when they came to the door?!  Perhaps they thought it was just part of my ongoing spider web science experiment.  The kids really do love to watch the spiders from inside and check out the extensive webs filled with dead bugs.  Enough is a enough though, tonight they were evicted.  I'm sure they will have a field day when we are gone...

I've been trying to keep the littles off the iPad until the drive so it will keep them busy but tonight they got it down and have discovered that the only thing funnier than their endless potty talk is endless potty talk in weird voices.  The iPad app plays whatever they say back in either high speed or low speed voices.  They are screaming with laughter and using poopy in every possible phrase.  But they are leaving me alone to eat the fantastic takeout salad that Kitra brought me, so I am letting it slide.

I did not let them get away with their new game today though.  I was folding laundry as usual and I heard the toilet flush.  And then I heard it again.  And then I went to investigate because they were laughing so hard.  Yes, ten and a half years of children in the house and this was the first time anyone has flushed toys down the toilet.  I guess that alone is a victory.  I explained to them that their toys are gone forever and now they're kind of pissed.  I'm mad because they found the bag of little toys I gathered up to wrap up as prizes for the trip and those are some of the ones they flushed.  At least they didn't break the toilet.  This time.  They did finally sleep in this morning and thus were not as horrible today.  They let me do some cleaning and organizing.  I'm going to be really pissed if a tornado wipes out the house when we're gone because I am working hard to get it to a non-embarrassing state.  The bird nest was a new low.

I just want a shower

The littles have freaked out about the girls being gone.  Patrick in particular is pissed that he didn't get to go too and keeps asking me to start driving to Virginia now to join them.  I have been trying to keep them busy and wear them out and doing their usual bedtime routines but they refuse to go to sleep.  They keep getting up and playing together and I finally had to lock Patrick in his room after that was what I threatened.  In the five minutes I left him in there screaming Emily snuck out to my room, locked my door, went in the closet, took off her pajamas, put on a dress, put a purse on her arm and then ran and hid behind the clothes hanging on the rods when I found her.  It is now over an hour since I first put them to bed and I can still hear one of them running around.  Both are so tired and crabby, just ridiculous.  Day 3 of no shower because I can't trust them alone and I'm too tired when they finally go to sleep.  Meanwhile Sean's roommate has taken his four day pass to join his wife in Paris.  Yep.

Using his skills?

Here is the latest from Djibouti:
==============
Well, they ended up cancelling the second day of the MEDCAP, lots of friction between us and the Djibouti ministry of health. Basically, they'll take everything we offer (without so much as a thank you), and then they ask for/expect more. They were supposed to bring 4 providers to the village yesterday, and each of them was meant to work side-by-side with a US military provider. So that's what our entire plan centered on, and as I've said, that's meant to be the focus now- putting the host nation providers out front. Well, only 3 of their providers showed up, and then the ministry of health representative insisted that our providers work in separate rooms so that we could see more patients. Then the Djiboutian providers saw only about half as many as ours did, and they took a 2 hour lunch while we worked all the way through.
 
Also, they brought the ultrasound machine, but the Djiboutian OB provider took it into her room and wouldn't let me do any of the scans, even after it was explained to her that I'm a radiologist. She got upset and was very adamant that she was going to do the scans, not me. I refrained from saying "Listen, at the moment, I'm the best qualified individual in this entire country to use this machine". So instead, I worked in the pharmacy with the villages pharmacist, because the meds that we ordered were all made in the US, instead of the French supplied meds that they are used to. I was also helpful for interpreting the prescriptions written by the US providers. The pharmacist was actually very nice, we talked quite a bit through the interpreter in between patients. And the room wasn't too hot. Still an exhausting day.
 
So then USAID had a meeting with the Djiboutian ministry of health yesterday evening, and the Djiboutians were upset that we didn't bring drinking water for all the villagers, even though we explained to them at every meeting that we weren't allowed to spend our funding on that, and the local leaders in the village assured us that there was plenty of water for villagers in the local well. So that, combined with the heat made them decide to cancel the second day at that village (today). We are still supposed to go to a second village on Sat/Sun, but we'll see what they decide on that.
=================


Well, I guess this still counts as checking the deployment box.  I won't spread local rumors but I do know his partner back here has not had good times with Sean gone.  And I'm not positive but I think after Sean finishes up on this next (possible) little MEDCAP he will then just spend the next 6 weeks or so "planning" for the final one which will be near where he was last week.  Not sure what is planned for that or how helpful radiology skills will be but I did meet a soldier at the car place yesterday who was very jealous to hear that Sean is in Djibouti.  It's reputation as a cushy and safe assignment is well known.  Just hoping the next 12 weeks go much faster than the last 12 weeks!

Emily hates sleeping alone

Whenever Megan has a sleepover or sleeps in the basement Emily will wake up in the middle of the night and come crying into my room.  So tonight I just put her in my bed to start.  This photo was from the other morning.  At least she sleeps in when she's in my bed.  It's "comfy" as she says.  I don't mind except for the kicking and her stinky blanket which I need to destroy.  Maybe after the deployment.  She really looks like Sean here I think.

"Soccer"

Patrick just finished up three weeks of "soccer", as close as it can be for four year olds anyway.  He may or may not have learned a few skills for the sport but he did at least run around and smile.  Works for me.  It was impressive how many grandparents and extended family members came to watch this and everyone wanted team photos.  Umm, they ran around as a pack chasing the ball for a few "games" and they wore the same color shirts so I guess that makes them a team but you can't make me take their photo.  It's not like we even met the other parents on the team.  I knew other people there of course so I at least took Patrick's photo with friends, the one time I lugged the camera with me.  For the group photo today Patrick decided to start making the craziest faces so I did regret not getting that shot.  Then again, I was laughing so hard I was crying and I probably would have missed it anyway.  No idea why he decided to do that.

With the big girls gone tonight I had to spend most my time just chasing Emily who has no qualms about running away as far as she can, no fear. They also did a lot with team spirit as every team is assigned a country.  We are supposed to bring flags and do face paint and stuff.  Yeah... that's above and beyond my level right now (and probably forever).  I don't even know where you buy face paint, let alone how you get it off the seats in my car and my couch and my shorts, so I really wasn't getting into that.  I probably could have found a flag to bring if Patrick's team was USA but it was not.

Since I have been advised over and over to "hang in there" I have decided that is exactly what I'm going to do. I'm just going to hang in there and use that to justify my lack of effort towards everything I don't care about.  Oh sorry, I'm just hanging in here, it's not that I'm lazy.  I also played the deployment card recently to explain why I am declining the kind invitation to give $1000 to my neighbor for landscaping around the circle in front of our driveway.  Without even blinking I can name about thirty five things I would rather spend $1000 on, starting with some tickets to the McCain.  Lyle Lovett in a small venue, yes, I think I will.  (August 26 if anyone wants to join me)  The whole season looks great, I am planning lots of nights out when Sean gets back and if he doesn't want to join me I can find someone else who will (relax, I mean a girlfriend).

Pickle count as a vegetable?

If so, Patrick may have been tricked into having a vegetable.  Once again, peas thrown away.  I try and I try and he even includes them in his list of foods that he wants for dinner, but he is just teasing me I guess.  He is jumping around in his underwear yelling "let's rock this planet".  I sure hope he is imitating something he saw on TV.  Emily is in her diaper and too small sandals that she pulled out of the bag of hand-me downs.  We are a class act.

Oh and here's a tip: girl's shoes size 5 is equal to women's size 7 or 7.5.  So for the past year when we have been scrambling to find decent shoes for Megan to wear for the events I never think of when I am shoe shopping, namely school programs or church or out to dinner, she could have just worn a pair of mine.  Even worse, when she lost her gym shoes with a day of basketball camp left, she ended up cramming her feet into her shoes from last year.  I'm sure there was some hobbling around.  We later found her shoes in the scavenger lock box, thanks to Patrick.  Ah, the poor first child, the guinea pig...

Half

Only three of us left at home now that the girls are in Virginia and we are so close to the half way point of the deployment (Friday).  I had a full margarita after the drive back from KC with just the littles though.  A good test run so I know what to do for the trip to Nashville, Virginia, DC, Michigan...  I will need an endless supply of bribes, prizes, snacks, and movies and be able to reach them.  It was suggested that I also bring Benadryl but what if my kids are the ones who turn hyper from it??  I can't risk it.

Anna left me a huge bag to bring when we come.  It is filled with her blankets and pillows and an electric candle (for ambiance?).  Yeah, pretty sure I won't have room for that bag.  I am going to go clean out her room right now and then lock it up before the littles destroy it.  I also need to box up a ton of toys and hide them in the office.  This place is a disaster.  And those kids are not going to sleep...

New way for Sean to earn some moonlighting money

Sean spotted this flyer, complete with some great clip art I might add, and figured he could make up for some of the lost moonlighting income...  No really, times are not this desperate.

Anna diving

Anna somehow taught herself to dive off the diving board.  This is so far outside my range of talents (do I have any?) that I certainly can't claim any credit.  I didn't even take the video, Heather did, thanks!  It was too big to email to Sean so this is really why I'm posting here.

Father's Day Gift

Sean usually asks for a day off from the family for Father's Day so this year I went all out and got him six months of that.  I was pretty close to getting him a Maserati but didn't know what color he wanted so I stuck with the usual gift.  Thanks for the assist there, army!

I do feel kind of funny spending the money he earned on an actual gift for him so I've tried to go with the gift money can't buy idea every year.  This year I not only started painting his office but I finished it too.  Just in time for the big day!  And now it will sit there for 3 months waiting for him to get home.  I will rehang his "art" and post photos soon so he has an idea of what he's coming back to.  And in "it takes a village" fashion, I was texting all over this morning trying to locate a ladder to finish the ceiling and high trim.  I may even go ahead and replace the stairwell lightbulbs while I have that bad boy here.  And clean out the gutters!  Yeah, that's a lie.

Sean did make it back from Kenya a few hours ago and is safe on base, in his crappy CLU with bathrooms he has to share with everyone.  Sounds like he will keep busy for the rest of the month, then have nothing to do for six weeks, and then head back to Kenya for the actual mission.  When that is over he will outprocess and get on the first Navy rotator flight available to get home.  We may postpone Patrick's birthday celebration a week so Sean can be here for it.  So close to the halfway point....

Home clothes?

Patrick just asked me if I was wearing "home clothes".  It's one of my new outfits that I got yesterday and it's casual enough to wear around the house but apparently it's a big step up from what I normally wear because Patrick is wanting to know if I'm going someplace.  Megan even complimented me on my shirt.  Hmm, perhaps I should have gone shopping with a friend to help me sooner?

Oh well, at least I look good now when I'm folding laundry.  I have discovered that Patrick is wearing a swimsuit that is size 12-18 months.  I thought it looked a little snug.  I had to move Anna up to the same size as Megan in a lot of clothes too and I divide up their clothes based on color.  So now Megan knows if Anna is stealing her stuff because she forgot to get her stuff washed.  After the trip this summer we are reinstating them doing their own laundry because I am over it.  Lots of new rules when we get back so I can stay sane those remaining weeks until Sean gets home.  We still can't find Megan's missing shoes.  So much for the lockers solving that never ending battle of the kids leaving their crap all over the house...

11 weeks

The time seems to be going a little faster but the house is more trashed.  Patrick has resumed his 6am wakeup routine so he is a monster.  We'll see how they do on Father's Day without Sean here to celebrate.  I suspect we will end up at Target for bribes soon.  That is the only thing that kind of works. More crappy toys for me to clean up...

Back to reality

Always nice to get away for a day to KC.  Good to see a bigger world, that's for sure.  Never enough time to do much other than hit a couple stores and eat lunch unfortunately but I powered through and made the most of our time.  Kitra understands my dire wardrobe situation and just kept bringing me stuff to try on because she is sick of seeing the same two outfits on me all the time.  The good thing about not spending a dime for the past 3 months is that everything has gone on sale in the meantime.  I think I actually got enough clothes that Sean's dad will not mock me when I get to Virginia.  He seems genuinely disappointed that I don't spend more on clothes, like Sean is abusing me by not letting me shop.  Anyone else find this odd?  Should I blow more of his son's income on stuff for myself??  Wait until moonlighting starts again!

Kids alive, house standing, sitter not crying, apparently the day was a success at home too.  The kids are making up for my time away so I had to have a tiny glass of wine to get through bath time without getting annoyed by all the demands for more water, more toys, more everything.  Now to lure them out with the new Batman books I bought.  Finally, something new to read!  Of course that means I have to pay attention and read the words, not just spew them out from memory.  No more wine, need to be sharp.

Somebody's sleeping in my bed

I found this shot in one of the photo books tonight as I was cleaning up.  The kids like to get them out and look at them all the time, sweet little narcissists that they are.  Anyway, it made me laugh so hard.  And good to remember that even when Sean was home, he worked and slept so much that my day to day life isn't really that different now.  We're all just crabby because we miss him so that causes issues.

Younger brothers

I had to hide my laughter during a playdate today.  The boys were thrilled to be dressed up in this stuff even after I gently tried to explain that these were Supergirl and Bat Girl costumes.  They didn't care in the slightest, why would that matter?  They both have older sisters, it's how they roll.

At one point during the playdate Patrick was comfortable enough to just run around outside in his underwear as he usually does.  His friend wasn't phased, that's cool.  As always, a little Buzz Lightyear action too.  Frankly, it was impressive how much they crammed into one hour.  Patrick was literally running around the house getting different toys out to show him and play with.  It was exhausting to witness.  Hopefully we will have many more playdates to wear him out, he so needs a break from the girls, even if it's to dress up as a girl!

Happy kids

It is quite the understatement to say that Patrick and Anna have had some issues since Sean has left.  Emily is pretty oblivious to everything, just happy that she gets to see Daddy on skype.  Megan is handling it all pretty well, thanks to bribery and being more mature than the rest.  So I spend most of my time dealing with and worrying about the middles.  I spend the rest of the time worrying about the sitter getting scared off by them.

For the first time in recent memory, they were both happy on the same night.  Patrick loves going to soccer, huge smile the whole time, sprints over to get his water bottle and sprints back, just happy.  I will get a photo when he has his "game" next week.  Anna has been needing to find her own friend since Megan has her best friend to keep her busy and Megan doesn't always want Anna hanging with them.  I finally got her introduced to the sweet little girl who lives behind us and Anna can't wait to meet up with her in the backyards.  The only bad part is that Anna leaves next week for Virginia and we aren't sure when she's coming back.  Prior to her rare happy mood I was thinking of having her come back when Sean got home in September...  But maybe now I should get her home before her new friend forgets about her.

I was happy to talk to someone tonight who has survived a deployment.  Yes, she felt crazy.  Yes, she worried about the kids having permanent damage (they don't).  And yes, her kids had issues too.  Lisa, Carrie, and Heather have all told me this too, just good to keep having that reinforced so I don't feel like I'm the only one who has reacted this way.  So along with knowing Sean is safe in Kenya, today was less stressful than most.  I think we will survive and never again take being together for granted.  I've been told that someday I will look back and it will all be a blur.  Hope the kids feel the same way!

The real monkeys

Sean sent a video of his first monkey sighting for the kids and they love watching it over and over.  I will spare everyone else, it's not like some hilarious you-tube video that has gone viral (sorry Sean).  Anyway, if he manages to get a video of a monkey sneaking in his hotel room to steal food I will post that.  Apparently the monkeys will wait for guests at the hotel to leave the doors on their balconies open and then they will dart in and go right to the kitchen area to steal food.  One of them took bread out of the bag, left the bag there, and then went outside and sat in a tree eating the bread.  Sometimes they also knock on the door hoping that someone will just open up not suspecting that it's a hungry monkey.  They can even open the doors that have lever handles.  A good things we don't have monkeys here in Kansas, they would have a field day in my pantry, much like the children.  Anna has been asking for animal stories every single time she skypes with Sean so she was thrilled to hear about the monkeys.  We also got to see a blurry camel walking on the beach there when Sean turned the camera that way.

He will be going back to this area for the actual mission towards the end of his deployment and I would be tempted to take the children and go join them there so we could see him at night at least but the cost to get there would be ridiculous, plus he will be home a couple weeks after that we think.  It looks like a nice resort but monkeys aside, I think Disney will be more fun for the kids.

2nd package

I have been terrible at sending packages to poor Sean but in my defense, it's easier for him to go shop at his PX than for me to go anywhere, especially the post office.  I did go a few weeks ago and waited forever only to find out that I can mail APO packages from the grocery store now.  This used to not be the  case.  What the passive-aggressive and angry about the downsizing of the post office employees failed to mention was that starting the very next day I would need to get online to fill out the forms to mail international packages and then print them up at home and bring them in.

So today when I went to the grocery store to finally mail package #2, I was informed of this.  Awesome.  I used up sitter time and gas just to come home and do it all over again.  Of course now the children refuse to leave the house with me to mail it and since they aren't even dressed it's going to take a lot of effort to make this happen.  There isn't even anything good in the package!  Oh well, at least I didn't overreact so maybe there is hope that I will return to my normal sane self soon.  Or in 13 weeks, 4 days.  Not that I have an official date but I like to pretend that I do.

I know I am ridiculous

I am at least aware of the fact that everything is much more upsetting these days because of the constant underlying stress of Sean being gone.  Knowing that Sean was traveling yesterday required a real drink to go to bed.  It's a good thing that I was woken up by a text from Sean so I knew he was fine before I logged on to the computer where I kid you not, the two top stories were about a helicopter crash in Kenya and a grief camp for military kids who have lost a parent.  WHAT THE HELL????  Ah, but I knew Sean was fine already and then the skype was actually working for him so we got to see him as he sat by the pool on the beach at a nice resort.  How in the world real army spouses put up with the actual danger that their soldier is constantly in is beyond me.  Clearly I am not cut out for that role.

So yes, Sean is totally fine and enjoying an actual bed and a real shower, not to mention a break from the oppressive heat.  He was afraid that I would be annoyed that he was staying someplace so nice, but I am not the pompous ambassador who complained about how the military team and civil affairs team were staying someplace where he goes on vacation.  For the record, his per diem easily covers the cost of the room and the meals are included because this is KENYA, not Hawaii.  Clearly the real waste of money is paying $300,000 to cover Sean's job back here while he is needed for two weeks over there.  Okay, I will try not to complain about that anymore, if you're tuning in then clearly you're in the choir and have heard it enough.

Anyway here are some photos of the place Sean is staying:

I will post about the monkey later.  I need to get my own monkeys to bed.

Have a good weekend

Yep, I hate it when someone tells me to have a good weekend.  I am polite of course, most people have no clue how bad weekends suck in my situation, it's not their fault.  But I cringe inside.  At least there is a chance to see friends at the pool.  Last weekend I wasted a lot of energy and sunscreen getting them up there only to find that the heater was broken and thus the children would not swim.  We lost about 4 days at the pool waiting for it to warm up, it got a little ugly around here, but back on our daily schedule now.  The food bill is going to be ridiculous.  Grocery bill not so bad...

At least when they are at the pool, they aren't making a mess in the house.  I made a point to get everyone to talk to Sean on skype today since he was getting ready to leave on a planning mission and we won't talk to him for a week or so.  While I was talking to him the littles were busy destroying my room which is supposed to be off limits.  Not only did they completely strip my bed so they could jump on it- and on to the pile of bedding on the floor, but they also threw a bunch of my clothes on the floor in my closet, hangers and all, emptied a whole section of the closet.  Oh and emptied the basket of their own clean clothes that I hadn't put away yet.  So after I finally cleaned that up I gave in and made puppy chow for the girls for dessert, in the process trashing the kitchen myself.  I may just have some wine and go to bed and deal with it another day.  I need to get all the kids bathed and showered though, has been a few days of pool without that, I get tired of fighting that battle.  But it is a small battle compared to the battle to get them to church tomorrow.  If I give in once then it's all over, I can't let them win.

10 weeks

About 14 weeks to go, we think.  The days are going better now that everyone sleeps in, behavior is improving a little.  Up early next week for basketball camp though so this will come to a painful end.  Maybe they will go to bed earlier than 10pm though?  8 hours in the pool yesterday but they still managed to stay up watching a movie.  Patrick insisted on me reading Jumanji to him but he didn't have enough energy to win that battle.  Far too many words for 10pm so we went with the second choice which was a short little dinosaur book.  I need to keep that one out and hide the rest...

Anyway, last night at the pool we got pizza for dinner and it came with a little cup of red pepper flakes, whatever those are called.  Megan pretended to eat some so then Patrick took a big swig of them and started screaming for water and napkins to wipe his mouth out.  I was quick to remind him that I said it was spicy, which he did not appreciate.  Just wanted me to wipe his mouth out some more.  It is time to upgrade to a smart phone so I can video these moments.  He also got his stitches out yesterday so we are all healed for now.

We have had an extra lazy day today and I'm sure Sean appreciated that everyone still had bed hair and pajamas on when he skyped us this morning.  The only reason I finally got dressed is that I'm eagerly awaiting the fedex truck which is bringing my father's day present to myself.  Hoping it fits so I have something to wear out tonight for a much deserved meal not at the pool.  Emily dressed herself several times as she played fashion show and in doing so she found that I put a pair of Patrick's old playground shoes in her drawer for later.  She rejected them and threw them off the stair landing.  I scolded her, saying she could break my lantern on the table below and she merely said, "umm, fun!".  She is working hard to talk more these days and she often ponders which words she should say.  It's kind of like having a small foreigner living with us.  One who is quick to tattle!  I think she is getting taller though, all that sleep means a growth spurt perhaps.

Fitness plan

I know you are all wondering how I am keeping in shape with almost no opportunities to run and two kids who hate going to the child care at the gym.  Well, let me tell you, I have really latched on to that research about how not getting enough sleep makes you gain weight.  Being in a funk means lots and lots of sleep, so I am assuming that means I will lose weight then?  Also, I wear those fit-flops, those totally work, right?  RIGHT?!  And surely having a Blizzard from DQ for dinner is the best nutrition move I can make.  Let's just plan an intervention for the fall...  Wait no, Sean asks that someone plan that before he gets home.  How about we meet at Varsity Donuts to discuss?

Dinner?

I am sick of throwing away the food I cook the kids so after a day of heavy snacking I just didn't bother with making dinner for them.  Patrick had soccer tonight so that was enough of a distraction that no one even noticed.  And then I got them ice cream on the way home, calcium right?

I have also determined that Anna should be an only child.  She is very annoyed by the other kids and vice versa.  At least the move to the bedroom in the basement was successful.  I will have to have some black tea before I find the energy to move her clothes down there so for now she has to come upstairs to get dressed.  Or she yells for me to bring an outfit down to her.  She prefers to wear muu-muu type dresses these days or just a fuzzy blanket and her underwear.  Oversharing?  Well, too bad because I keep trying to get her to stop hanging out naked like that and nothing works.  Some day she can be mortified by this post and know that she deserved it.  It's been a long day, week, month...

Black tea makes me crazy

I have suspected there was a link for a while now but after this weekend I'm pretty sure that having regular iced tea instead of green iced tea makes me crazy.  Excessive caffeine perhaps?  I decided to clean up Sean's office and paint it and swap out bedding and organize his boxes of stuff and display things in a better manner and rearrange furniture and get extra stuff out of there and and and....  And I'm not going to post photos because it's so boring and everyone will think it's the before shots.  Yes, I want a nice white beach house so that's the style I went with and it looks pretty crappy.  I may have to redo it before Sean gets home.  First I need to find a bigger ladder and paint the trim up high and oh yes, the ceiling.  That's how crazy I am.

In addition to doing unnecessary projects, black tea also makes me very impatient and emotional, which isn't good with four fighting children.  Three more months seems unbearable on those days.  So today I am back on green tea and everything is calm for the moment.  The house is trashed as usual but at least I'm not screaming about it.  After we got home at 8:30pm last night from Patrick's soccer I about lost my mind when Anna thought we were headed to the pool next, Emily asked me to make her cheesy eggs for breakfast, and Patrick demanded three pieces of peanut butter toast.  Clearly they have no concept of time, which also explains why they think Sean is coming home tomorrow.  Three months or one day, all the same.  They also don't eat the actual meals I make them, hence the excessive snacking.  All this combined with my crazy black tea days is not pretty.  I did finally fix Patrick's shade so I'm hoping he will stop getting up with the sun at 6:30am.  He is beyond tired and crabby these days... and I'm definitely not giving him any caffeine to perk up!

Was just a matter of time

As we always joke, our kids can get hurt anywhere, any time.  Emily fell out of bed the other night and has a bump on her head now, right where she had cut her hair so it's quite visible.  Then yesterday Patrick walked behind a swinging bat and cut his eyebrow open.  I thought he just needed some derma-bond but I wasn't going to attempt to use it myself so we got the bleeding under control while we waited for any doctors on our list to get home.  I figured that was much faster than taking him to the ER and I was right.  I finally found Eric who had just gotten back to his office so I took him there and left the rest of the kids with the sitter, making it much less painful for me at least.

Turns out he needed 4 stitches, not derma-bond so I'm glad I didn't just get someone to stop by the house to help out.  Another benefit to seeing Eric is that I then mentioned to him that Patrick thought he had gotten a rock in his ear a few weeks ago so we had that checked too.  Patrick had been turning the TV up rather loud, I had my suspicions that something was going on.  So yes, Patrick did have a rock in his ear and when Eric checked the other ear, yep, one there too.  I think that was more painful than getting the stitches, poor Patrick just squeezed my hand and had a few tears rolling down his face.  He was very brave for the stitches though, couldn't wait to tell his hero Carson how well he did.  Can't believe with all the crazy stuff Patrick does that he went almost five years without getting stitches!