Sunday, Lazy Sunday

I have introduced Sean to our deployment tradition of lazy Sunday.  This stemmed from my hatred of Sundays while he was gone.  Everyone else was busy with their families and we were just missing Sean more then so I decided to make Sundays extra lazy.  Err, I mean, honor the Sabbath.  Great reason to not do much around the house and to not go out and run any errands.  I also didn't let them watch TV after church.  Before church I needed to keep them entertained while we got ready but then I felt I deserved a break from all the noise.  Anyway, I think we will keep this up, especially since now our weeknights are a little busier, good to have a day to just relax.  I now have Monday mornings with no kids in the house so I can catch up on any house chores then and accomplish them in a quarter of the time.  Tomorrow I will be putting all the party stuff away, at least everything is washed now.

I don't normally post about parties but I feel like I invited everyone who was supportive while Sean was deployed, so hopefully no feelings will be hurt.  I certainly didn't mean to exclude anyone.  I felt this was something worth celebrating for sure so we went all out and had the big event.  I even rented tables and chairs, much simpler than borrowing from other people at least.  I did the food myself though after I couldn't find a caterer who could do what I wanted.  BBQ chicken sliders, smoked brats, Pioneer Woman baked beans, Barefoot Contessa orzo with roasted veggies, harvest salad, caramel bars and Barefoot Contessa outrageous brownies.  I'm sick just typing it, so much leftover so we ate it all day today too (and will eat it tomorrow, sorry kids!).  I also had to finish up an open bottle of wine.  I don't know how long that stuff lasts.  Okay, probably longer than 24 hours but I wasn't willing to risk it.

We had a great turnout and wide variety of friends from church, school, work, neighborhood.  I've been encouraging Sean to do more with guy friends here so there was talk of setting up golf dates, poker groups, and getting together to watch ND football (okay, that was just with Joe, not many other ND fans here).  With only 21 months of army left, Sean needs to expand his social network here because working from home will have it's challenges if he only hangs out with me.  I think there is a limit to his tolerance of moving furniture around just because I'm bored and have someone to help me....

One mystery from last night, who drives the Aston Martin??  I know who drives the Smart Car, so cute parked in the 5 foot spot in front of the mailbox, so I know it wasn't hers.  I think someone thought I had gotten it for Sean as his deployment gift.  Umm, no.  There were some financial penalties to the deployment for which I remain bitter.  21 months.

I had more photos but the camera had a few drinks and they were pretty fuzzy.  Obviously the last one is after everyone left, nothing like fancy tables on a basketball court...

Readjusting

Sean had a meeting last night so when he got home at 8:30pm he was a little surprised it seemed to find the kids watching TV, the kitchen trashed, and me having a nice drink while I read a magazine.  That pretty much sums up how life was 5 of the 6 months he was gone.  The remaining month we did something similar, just in other people's houses.  I did at least have Emily in bed before he got home, but then again, that was because she fell asleep on the way home from soccer at 7pm.

Today it took me an hour to even think of something to make for dinner, just not used to having anyone to feed who isn't thrilled with kid food.  Chicken bites and tater tots and frozen peas??  Sean is wanting to eat healthier too so that's adding to the challenge.  I also find that I'm not sure what to do with free time and I get anxious if I'm not taking full advantage of having another adult in the house.  It occurred to me this afternoon that I could go grocery shopping alone after Sean got home, but then I had the pressure of doing it right, not giving up half way through because the kids were filling the cart with crap.  I had to show up at home with REAL FOOD and I used a list.

I did manage to stay up later than 9pm last night though so I'm making progress.  I have apparently been decompressing the past week and have been exhausted, hoping that was just a stage and not my new lack of energy level.  We did get the sitter and the kids let us go out without them on Monday for my birthday, hoping to keep that up.  Sean is still waiting for the moonlighting computers to arrive so he can jump back into that but in the meantime we are just trying to enjoy putting the past 6 months behind us.

I feel I have to include a funny kid story, so let me tell you my least favorite thing to wake up to... finding blood on the hand towel in the kids' bathroom and then a trail of blood to Patrick's bed, thanks to his bloody nose habit.  And then finding that he has taken off his pull up and is sleeping naked, meaning I will need to wash sheets along with that towel...  Good morning!  At least the littles get to sleep in now that Sean has resumed driving the girls to school.

Rays Rules

Great weekend in Littleton with the Rays crew, the group Sean has moonlighted with the past five years, (well except for the last six months).  I know a lot of the other radiologists since they were in residency with Sean and had met a few of the staff at a meeting in San Antonio with Emily in tow as a baby, also known as the vacation of desserts.  (Wait, I think every vacation could be called that.  Anyway, I cannot focus tonight and there is no cider involved.)  My point being, now I have finally met most people involved with the company and in every way it is opposite of army.  Happy people and happy clients.  They have been the highest ranked teleradiology group for hospital satisfaction for the past three years.  We have always hoped that Sean will go full time with the company after army and that is on track.  Talked to a few of the full timers and everyone thinks that the new schedule of 7 days on and then 7 days off is going to work out pretty well.  I think it sounds pretty awesome and obviously better than the schedule Sean works now.  Twenty months...

Anyway, sixteen hours of driving for about sixteen hours of fun.  Sean had his meeting in the morning so I took the kids out to explore.  Right away we saw a bunch of hot air balloons and went and followed them to see them land by the lake filled with sailboats.  I of course didn't bring the camera along, not thinking we'd do anything besides find me some tea and then the kids a park.  I assure you that it was beautiful and the kids were pretty impressed.  Then we found a farmer's market with all sorts of great stuff I didn't have room to bring home with us, including fresh made tortillas and salsas.  Across the street from that Megan spied the indoor skydiving building.  I had no clue what it was but gave in to her begging and went to check it out.  I was 100% sure it wasn't something we could do.  Well, it turned out it was something that everyone but Megan could do.  I put us on the cancellation list before it occurred to me that someone with a broken arm wouldn't be allowed to do it.  Duh.  There was crying and promises to come back another weekend.  But before all that we also found the American Girl Doll store.  Again, Megan had done her homework and knew that there was one in Denver.  I thought it would be downtown Denver so I thought we were safe, but no, it was right in that same area so we ran in there to make a donation but at least I convinced Megan to get herself a hat to wear, to cover up the dirty hair that I couldn't wash in the hotel (I have to do it in the sink for her because of the cast).  It was at this point that Megan asked to move there because it would be so convenient to be near the AGD store.  I have no words for this.  No wait, I do.  WE CAN ORDER THAT CRAP ON THE COMPUTER.  Plus, she has about outgrown AGD, she just doesn't know it yet.


Anyway, after all that excitement we dropped the kids at the boss's house with a sitter and Sean and I went to the picnic and relay races for some company bonding.  It is just now occurring to me that might be why I am sore today.  While we were there we got the happy news that a slot opened up for skydiving and we picked up the kids and went back.  And that's when the crying began.  Emily is also too young to do it (3 and up) but she was cool with that.  Sean passed too so it was just me, Anna and Patrick.  This really sums up my adventure level, INDOOR skydiving.  Obviously this is where they train people to really go skydiving but I have no intention of doing that or allowing my children to do that, like ever.  Nevertheless, we had a great time and Patrick was very brave.  He passed on his second trip so Anna got to go three times, more salt in the wound for Megan I fear.  Sean took photos and we got a DVD so they can show their friends.

 Suit up.  (just in time for the premiere of How I Met Your Mother tomorrow)

 Patrick looking pretty brave and relaxed.

 I was very happy that the instructor held on to him the whole time.

 Whoops, this isn't working right!  I shouldn't be laughing, but he didn't get hurt so I will.

 Anna was a real pro.

 After her first trip then the instructor did some tricks with her.  Here they are flying together.

Here I am, doing the most important part, "chin up".   I was mostly freaking out the whole time because they make you sign a pretty scary waiver to do it.

After all that excitement we ran the kids back to the sitter and got ready for the dinner and presentation. We ended up being a little late but it worked out perfectly because we missed the traffic that everyone else sat in for a half hour while I was at the hotel trying to untangle my hair.  Met a lot of interesting people and picked up a lot of helpful information.  For example, the main perk to living in Vegas is the super cheap direct flights anywhere you want to go.  Still not moving there.  Also, in Colorado you sometimes find half a deer in your yard and you can call some city department and they come remove it for you.  Good to know.  Most importantly though we learned that Sean can go work a shift in the office out there if we want to come out for a little vacation.  Obviously Megan is on board for that and after the brunch we had with Angela and Joe at Cafe Terracotta I am ready to drive.  I can't order that food on the computer...

Fun and exciting welcome home festivities

We have used the past two days to do everything that was too difficult for me to do alone.  The first task was getting Sean's car running again after the battery died during my long trip away.  That involved getting our insurance company to send out someone to jump it and then calling another dad from school to come jump it again when it died after the first trip out.  We were too embarrassed to call the insurance company again.  So one new battery later we were off and running on the list of ways we hate to spend money.  Up next was fixing the toilet that broke after they shut off the water main last week and then blew sand back in when they turned it on.  It's not that I was waiting for Sean to fix it, I was just waiting for him to be home so that I was not stuck here all day waiting on a repairman when I need to do four roundtrips a day for school drop offs and pick ups.  Of course they suggested we go ahead and service the furnace now too and what, we need a new one?  Of course we do.  And then this morning we found that the shower wasn't working after the toilet was fixed.  So our dear new friend was back to fix that this afternoon.  Cha-ching, cha-ching.  Up next, replacing dead bushes and crumbling front steps.  Awesome.  Welcome home Sean, where are those moonlighting computers?

I did save some money by finally remembering that those clear storage containers in the basement that I see all the time, actually have the winter clothes in them.  Every year I forget that concept and start to panic about lack of clothing for the children and go order more.  Anyway, I have gotten a ton done around here thanks to Sean entertaining the kids.  Way more to catch up on now that I don't have the deployment as my excuse to procrastinate any longer.  Lazy days are over.  Ha ha, who am I kidding?! It's 8:20 and I'm ready for bed.

Finally over! We survived?

Sean came in on the 4:30pm flight to Manhattan and around 3:45pm I remembered that flights are often early here.  More than once I have been going to pick up guests and they have called to tell me they landed right as we're leaving the house.  Whoops.  Anyway, total panic, I was afraid he would get off the plane before we got there and be disappointed so we quickly packed up and headed out.  Forgot any signs to hold and the clothing choices were questionable and Megan didn't get her hair washed (difficult with the cast), etc,  but we made it there in plenty of time and the flight was only two minutes early.  And Sean was the last one off the plane.  The kids were starting to fret that he wasn't even on the plane but unlike in the "olden days" Sean had texted to let me know he made it on.  There was a big group from the hospital there to welcome him, we only knew his partners Heidi and James though.  They were troopers too, held down the department while he was gone and dealt with a lot of stuff, including a radiology technologist who was killed in a car accident.  Needless to say, everyone is happy Sean is back.  He was given a three day pass and then will start reintegration.  Still trying to plan out when we'll take a real vacation.  In the meantime we will just enjoy returning to normal life.  Thank God the past 6 months seem like a blur now.  I will always have my whining and complaining blog posts to remind me just how awful it was though.  So glad it's over and so glad it wasn't a full year!

 Patrick getting his first hug.

 First family photo, Patrick doing his new pose.  Hospital command in the background, so thankful to stop paying those teleradiology bills...

 Hey look, army remembered to bring a banner, go army!

 Emily wanted Daddy to hold her all night.  She sat on his lap at Coco Bolos until the long awaited Thai Pan Pork arrived, then Sean needed a break to eat.

I hoped this family photo as we were leaving would be more normal.  Nope.  Oh well, you can see how excited Patrick is.

Low effort birthday party

Patrick did ask for Gymnastics Plus and who was I to insist on hosting it in my own home?  Then I even ordered the exact cake he wanted from the grocery store.  I mean, I went ALL OUT.  Drink boxes, plates, some old napkins and spoons from home.... fancy time.  Every child should be so spoiled.  The grand finale: the kids picked out a Hot Wheels car to take home for their "goodie bag".  What, do they not show that kind of goodie bag on Pinterest?  That's why I stopped checking Pinterest months ago.  I sure hope when Sean gets home my low motivation level goes away.  This might be my new personality though.  Anyway, the photos:

 Run child, run!  Get tired!  She had a total meltdown tonight and did go to bed early so maybe it worked.  Or maybe she is getting sick?  Or maybe she too is DONE with this deployment?

 So thankful that none of them got hurt, despite their best efforts.

 Preschool buddies

 Megan did get to play some.  She went on the balance beam too.  I tried not to watch.

 Notice Anna putting her hand over Emily's mouth so she wouldn't blow out the candles.

 More preschool buddies

 The original preschool buddies.  Megan and Kira have been best friends since they were at FUMC.

 Emily, you don't have to eat with your hand!  I bought some random old spoons....  Meanwhile Jackson is like,"lady, just give me some cake already."  I was a mess.

 Emily's little buddy Lydia.  Katie, look how cute she is!  Don't you want a Lydia too?!

 Keylee and Keenan, getting the sugar on

 See Jackson, eventually everyone gets cake, except the adults who refuse to waste calories on store cake.  There will be MUCH BETTER cake at Sean's homecoming!

 Frosting face- and fingers.

 Andrew looks so innocent, check out the dimples!  More of him on Sweatpants and Mini-van blog.

 Patrick can't resist doing his usual pose.  Whatever, birthday boy...

OH, the awesome cake.  Yes, he picked it out for the toys.  Never mind that he has plenty of Cars toys already...  He mentioned a couple friends who couldn't make it, wondered where they were, but knew better than to complain that Daddy missed it.  Daddy will take him shopping for a gift when he gets home.  Presents make everything better.

Here come the photos

 Patrick wanted many Halloween costumes this year and since he's so fond of the Bat Girl one I thought perhaps Aunt Caroline could get him Batman for his birthday.  A huge hit.  As was Captain America costume from Aunt Bridget, although he was mad about something when I tried to get his photo in it and he ran away.  I will get one later.

 Doesn't really look like he's fighting crime here.  Looks like he is terrorizing motorists.

 Emily gets he revenge and tries it on when Patrick is elsewhere.

 Day before Patrick started preschool.  I was giving it the old college try and forcing them to play instead of watch TV.  So they gathered every pillow and cushion in the house and made a fort behind the chair.  The whole house was trashed that day so I gave up and waited to clean until he was in school the next day.  Why do I bother?

 Patrick's second day of school, when it wasn't raining.  Emily randomly decided to wear a hat.  And yes, this is his favorite pose and Emily has to copy as always.

I would feel worse about Megan's broken arm except she seems to have planned it, what with buying the doll a cast months ago.  She is quite proud of her cast until she realized it was going to interfere with Patrick's party time at Gymnastics Plus.  Then she got rather crabby.  I had to remind her that the party wasn't about HER.  I wish I could remind more people of this overall concept but I think it's only socially acceptable to remind your own children of this fact.  Sean will tell me to take this last part out later.

Sean is in Virginia!

I haven't talked to him yet but I got the picture of him coming out of customs.  I suspect they are feeding and showering him before they head to Wintergreen.  Remember, Bold Rock doesn't open until 11am, so no rush.  I'm the one who needs to rush and get a bunch of kids fed and off to school.  Their behavior gets worse every day, I think they are just done with waiting for Daddy.   Today will be the day they are mad we aren't in Virginia for the weekend too.

En route

Sean is in Italy now, next up Spain, then Norfolk.  Hopefully his next trip to Europe will be way more fun.  Back here in Kansas Patrick is off to his first day of school and since it's raining I didn't bother getting his photo outside his (temporary location for) school.  Emily has requested nonstop TV as usual and since I have so much to do around here, I caved in.  Tomorrow I will have quality time with her, really, despite her protests!  But for now all the contents of four lockers and every single throw pillow in this house have all been put back in proper places.  Fort dismantled.   And now my tea is gone so I should get back to work.

Up early

Sean was so paranoid about his alarm not going off that he just got up at 2:30am and found a place to skype us.  He is checking in at 4:45am I think and somehow ends up in Norfolk, VA during the wee hours of Friday.  He will finally have phone service again but I did suggest he wait until 6am to text me.  Until then we will operate under "no news is good news".  While others on his flight will wait around for a day or two until their next flight, Sean will get picked up by Nana and Pops and head up to Wintergreen for cool temps, BOLD ROCK cider (they seriously aren't paying me to plug them, although feel free to suggest that they do so), the hot tub, good food, etc etc.  Then he's off to Ft Benning to turn in his army junk and then on to Manhattan on Monday.  Five sleeps.  Emily keeps talking about the airport and balloons.  I guess I will be getting balloons to bring with us.  Never sure how much she understands but I think she is all over this concept.

We got to stop in and see Sean's department today and I think they are ready for him to come back.  Lucky for him he just missed the huge, huge pain the butt hospital inspection that comes around every few years.  Good timing all around.  He is also leaving some big drama behind in Djibouti, his poor replacement...  For many reasons he is happy to be boarding that plane!

As for Megan, she did fracture her arm.  Nothing too serious but she did end up with a big cast just to protect it while it heals over the next month.  We never, ever would have thought she would be the one kid to end up with a cast.  Even during skype tonight when Sean could see the acrobatics in the background he was marveling about this.  These littles need to be in all day preschool like, 3 days ago.  Guess I will settle for half day starting tomorrow for Patrick and Monday for Emily...  have I mentioned this about 37 times now?  Clearly it's all I think about.  Well, that and all the various countdowns I have going on until Sean gets home.  Just put out the last trash and recycling.  Because Sean will do that when he gets back??  I don't mind doing it, just like knowing next time I do it Sean will at least watch the kids while I'm out there.  I never know what I'm going to walk back into here...

So close

We'll see if we get through these last few days without any major drama.  No water on Monday night really set the tone for this final week as it didn't come back on until the kids were in bed, without baths.  Overall a very annoying night.  Oh and that is when Megan insisted on riding her bike and wouldn't give up, so I finally told her she could just go up and down our little street.  She immediately flipped the bike and now two days later I have given up and am taking her to get an x-ray for her arm.  No more denying it, there is something wrong with it.  I got a second opinion from an ortho wife at least.  So beware radiology department, all the kids are coming!  And hey, one of them may be barfing.  Anna forgot her ice pack with her lunch yesterday and still ate her turkey sandwich.  I joked with Sean that she survived that no problem and he kindly pointed out that food poisoning can show up 24 hours later.  So I am keeping close to my phone this afternoon.  Tonight is shaping up to be AWESOME.  At least Sean will be getting on his plane in 12 hours!

Water main break

What do you do when the water is turned off, you have 4 kids whining and moaning about no water, and it's 5pm?  Bold Rock cider of course.  Hope we didn't have any place I need to drive us tonight.  "Sean" bought me flowers at the grocery store today and I had to put them in a pitcher of soapy water that I had sitting in the sink because I have no other water.  I suppose this is why I should keep bottled water on hand, argh.  Oh, that and for drinking.

On this, what was supposed to be the first day of school for both Patrick and Emily, from nine am until two (glorious) thirty pm, I earned both the flowers and the cider.  As a special treat for everyone, we conned the sitter into coming over for a couple hours so I could grocery shop without the kids.  I was in such a good mood that I came home with enough stuff to make 3 batches of caramel bars, some cream puffs, and a mix for red velvet cupcakes that is supposed to be good.  I can't wait to report back on that.  Next week at this time we should have just picked up Sean at the airport.  My last Monday evening alone!  Let's see if we get water back so I can make dinner and flush toilets and get a shower and brush teeth and wash hands.... who knew water was so useful?  Clearly I live in tornado country, not hurricane country, this no water thing is a rare event.

High Five

Patrick turned five today, making him even more excited to give high fives.  He has agreed to stop doing baby talk now that he is five and there is some chore I got him to agree to do from now on but I can't remember what it is.  I should really write this stuff down.  Oh well, I'll make up something tomorrow.

We started off the lamest 5th birthday ever with opening a present over skype so Sean could see.  It was wrapped so fancy, I wish I had taken a picture.  Let me just give you a visual instead:  Target Bag.  He couldn't have been more thrilled, why it was the toy he specifically asked for, Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship!  Ten hours later I think I still see all the parts to it.  I didn't realize that it had a lot of sound effects with it or that batteries were already included.  The things I overlooked while tossing it in the cart and hurrying to check out before he noticed it.

Anyway, then he had his first Sunday school at church, that's kind of like a party, right?  And I let him get a donut and then offered to take him to the zoo but we kind of forgot, what with laying around the house all afternoon.  Clearly I have used this deployment as an excuse to do whatever I want most days, which is usually nothing.  Grocery shop?  Why bother?  I mean really, it turns out that the majority of errands I "need" to run aren't that essential after all.  I hope to keep up this new lifestyle a bit when Sean gets home, except for the part where I never get away from the children.

Patrick also opened gifts from Bridget and Caroline which I will post photos of later.  Batman and Captain America.  Both have been well received and will be worn for years I predict.  Emily has already worn them too, never mind the fact that we already have girl superhero costumes from Megan and Anna.  No, she needs to be just like Patrick.  Hoping she doesn't pick up on his new punching habit though.  I just found out today he punches because he is being Captain America.  Maybe I should watch that movie?

Since I didn't grocery shop and the idea of eating another item from the freezer made me want to  hurl, we went out for a birthday dinner.  Our backyard is nice and cool and no flies, so naturally I suggested we eat on the restaurant patio.  With the smokers.  And the bright sun.  And the flies.  There was no lingering over dinner and certainly no dessert.  The kids barely ate so I brought it all home and hey, there you go, it's like I went grocery shopping!

Birthday boy is back to watching TV, along with the girls who begged all day to watch, until I gave in, muttering to myself that I WILL win.  Canceling cable when Sean gets home, this is madness.  But for one more week I will let them be distracted by it.  High five to me!

Photos, finally uploaded

 Someone thinks that just because she looks like Megan, she can play with Megan's toys.  This was one of the first days when the girls were off to school and Emily was really loving the freedom to play with whatever she wanted.  We have since put all the AGD stuff in the big closet to keep her out of it.  Although someday it will ALL BE HERS!  As much as Megan might wish otherwise.

 Here is the REAL Captain America, not riding on the bus, but rather building a tower.  Ah, that brief moment when I was able to get the TV turned off.

 Here is where Anna used to sleep, after she rejected the"perfectly fine for two months" bedroom in the basement.  Yes, that's just a pile of pillows and blankets.  Sweet.

 Oh, here is some of Emily's artwork.  There are 4 walls around the house that need to be repainted now.  Magic eraser sponge thing not cutting it anymore.

 The new mattress that the girls fought over.  It's the first time I have used the footboard and headboard on the same bed.  We didn't have the right bed frame thing to attach them to one bed so I used to split it up and make them both headboards.  I wasn't being creative, I was being too lazy to go out and buy the right kind of bedframe.  Third time is the charm.  And everyone wants it.  Megan won.

 All three beds jammed in one room.  That's a bad angle, it's actually not so bad.

And look what I did today while everyone else was having quality time with spouses and football.  Then I realized how out of shape I am because just carrying them to spots around the yard really wore me out.  But I rallied and used the blower to clean off the driveway, patio, and basketball court (okay, Patrick did that one).  Just trying to distract from the dead bushes that someone else is going to have to dig up and replace.  I mentioned our dead bushes to the next door neighbor when she asked if we had a sprinkler system (there is a water issue on our street) and she said that she hand waters her bushes so they don't die.  Congratulations!!  She is the winner!  I didn't bother to point out that I left for a month this summer and oh yes, I have four high maintenance children and a deployed spouse while she and her husband are both retired and make such an effort to avoid my children that they still don't know Sean is gone.  This isn't really a neighborly neighborhood which is fine because I like my privacy but sometimes it's ridiculous.  I still have no idea who lives in the house on the other side of us.  Hey, it hasn't even been two years yet, no need to rush things.  We know the other ND people on our circle though, I have allies.