Good morning

Well it is........okay lets just be honest and call it what it is ~ the buttcrack of dawn........6AM. We are up and packed and headed out to the wilderness for a long, MUCH NEEDED, vacation. The kiddos and I are going to enjoy a cabin with my sister (her babies couldn't make it this weekend) and brother and his family. (I will get a pic of his babies up soon) Not sure if I will have access to a comp or even if my phone will work when we get there. You all have a safe and fun weekend.

BE SAFE

Her first Battle wound

My daughter texted me yesterday in the middle of drill practice to tell me she got hit in the eye with a rifle and that her eye is swollen. WHAT are you okay??? Ya gotta go! And that was the end of our conversation till I picked her up a half hour later. She then tells me that her and her partner were doing the rifle toss and her partner aimed worng and it her in the eye. They had her line up in front of the squad to show off her "Battle Wound" And oh what beauty it is too!!

It's a real badge of Honor at her school. Making the drill team is hard. Staying in is harder. I can't wait to post pics of her in Class A's. :)

What a lovely pic

Sweet 'n' Sassy is giving away a photoshop pic with Angel or bat wings. The contest is easy and the pics are great. Go check it out.

Is this what happens when you don't take out the garbage?

Another trip to the ER

My evening went something like this......

Brat~baby 4 comes home (around 4) and says:
Mommy I don't feel good. My head and my throat hurt.

Why didn't you call me? (she looks pail clammy and tired and her throat is so red and swollen)

I told the teacher and she said to wait till after lunch and tell her how I feel then. But after lunch she wouldn't let me tell her. There for she was NEVER given a chance to see the nurse or call me. (and she starts crying)

Never mind the fact that last week she didn't get to eat lunch on Tuesday because they couldn't be bothered to listen to her. (Time to strap on the combat boots and give somebody a boot to the head ~ if you ask me anyway!!)

She takes her sudafed and starts her homework and eats snack. Less than 3 hours later she looks and feel worse. Says she is dizzy and her eyes are blurry. I tell her to get her shoes we are going to the ER. Some of you may know that the ER has become our second home. We spent may a days there this summer. Brat~baby 1 stays home with the others for me and gets them to bed. Good thing too cause the parking lot was already filling up the over flow lot. When we got inside it was a full house. Like a nightmare come true. We got signed in and settled in to wait. Triage went quickly (she has gained 4 pounds and they did a rapid 5 minute strep swab). And we were sent back out to wait in the lovely over crowded waiting room.

Brat~baby 4 curled up and watched cartoons and I start working on Brat~baby 2's homework schedule which didn't take long. So now what hum watch the news okay. Then I start to look around big mistake BIG BIG mistake.

1. Why lady are you yelling at your 4 month(ish) old baby to not hit you?? I KID YOU NOT


2. Why laundry lady did you bathe in fabric softener sheets??


3. Why white pants guy? Just why?


4. Why is white pants guy wearing tight white pants and no unders? Come on now ewww.


5. Why lady checking out white pants guy like we can't see you?


6. Why so long in the ER?...........HELLO ARE THERE ANY DOCTORS ON DUTY


7. Why weirdo lady are you chomping your gum in my ear like a cow?


8. Why lady behind her to busy with her phone to be bothered with her baby who is trying to talk to her as she keeps screaming stop it to him?


9. Why couple in front of me are you making out? Did you mistake the ER for you hotel room? Seriously people!!


10. Why? The dude sitting next to they lady staring at white pants guy ummmm he's not a dude!! WHOA brain ache


11. Why did not a dude dude have to get out a Mountain Dew and be all look at me as she takes a drink knowing the rest of us are dying of thirst?


12. Why did that lady come out of Triage looking like she just put her shirt back on?

Been here so long Brain is turning to mush and all I can think about is Brat~baby4 a coke and what are my other brats doing right now at home?

MAN I WANT A COKE!!!!

Holly~ Where is my chopper?? I need back up here. This place is frying my brain!!!

FINALLY....2 and a half hours later....you hear them shout SHERMAN and of course by now Brat~baby4 is sound asleep.

I get her up and get her back to the Dr's room and am surprised to find a new Dr. This one is young and sweet. (unlike the old bitty who likes to jab you with needles) Brat~baby 4 goes in and crawls up on the bed and lays down. The doc. told her to hold on cause your going for a ride and then raised her bed about another 3 feet in the air. Then asks her who she has hiding in her ear. After she looks she says why is Cinderella in your ear? Did you tell her she can hide there? Well who do you have in your other ear? Gus Gus! What is he doing in there. Well he's eating a piece of cheese that's what he's doing! The baby is so sick she barely smiles. The doc moves on to her nose.......What do you have hiding in there? Whoa crickets wow AND grasshoppers. Still barely a smile. Well lets feel you tummy she says. Wow that's a big cheeseburger! Oh I see you had fries too. Whats that? Ice cream and cookies? Who said you could have ~ oh ~ wait VANILLA ICE CREAM AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!! Now how did you get all of that in there.

Finally a huge smile.

The doc turns to me and says I am going to treat her for strep whether the test came back positive or not because she has all the sign. Then gets up and runs off find the test strip? Leaving us waiting for her meds and a doctors note. By the time she gets back Brat~baby4 is asleep again.

My baby really was sick and feels like poo. Now I get to deal with the teacher tomorrow and only one of us will be smiling and you know it's going to be me! (boot to the head)

Good times ~ Good times

Open house pics

I finally got the open house pics uploaded onto the comp. Here are a few of them. The kiddos had a ball that night. They were so excited to show us all their favorite rooms and to show us their classrooms. They had done a few art/class project for this event too.

This year we are all aiming for straight A's. So far the kids have put in great effort on their homework and school work. I know they can do it. So on top of Brat~baby 1 joining the JROTC drill team we now have Brat~baby 2 doing Special Olympics and Brat~babies 3 & 4 joining girl scouts. Add all of this to the church events and appointments and we are going to be very very busy:)

I don't like chiggers DON'T LIKE THEM..........

They are not my friend............NOT MY FRIEND!!!!!
As of last count I have 50 bites from them. I could just cry. That is if I wasn't to busy trying to NOT scratch :(

2 years already

Those of you who know us know that this is one of the hardest days of the year for us. We love all of you for everything you have done for us and for standing by us through the hard times with out a single thought of walking away. We feel honored and blessed to know you. You are true friends and you will always have a piece of our hearts. Words could never say how much we truly love and appreciate you.

These were taking the day of his first steps.

would I lie to you

Okay Holly, Sara, Sonya, Sarah, Angie H, Oh heck ALL of you ladies who decided to move away and leave me here ALL ALONE (well not all alone I do have Mrs. Amy) in this cruel world to defend my self!!!! :) You should all be ashamed. OH and Mrs Amy when you said TaTa's feed the world you could have let me in on the fact that it also includes chiggers!

*MUAH*

oh yum

A quick easy dessert that was oh so yummy.
lots of strawberries, kiwi, and banana mixed with vanilla pudding.
And all served up in smiling Kool-aid cups :)

Lots of fun.......

Okay...Every Saturday morning our church gets together to do some mountain/dirt boarding. I have taken the kids and dropped them off at the church almost every Sat. since they started this activity so they can join in on the fun. Well I decided to stay today and watch all the fun and snap a few pics/video. Don't laugh but I actually got on one of these as did the babies. (Lets just say I the ground hurts when you are old. :) We had tons of fun!!

On a more positive note :)

The kids and I are headed out to go mountain/dirt boarding. I am hoping to get pics but you know my camera HATES me. My family thought I was joking till we went to the zoo and everytime I touched it we got a focus error. But of course Brat~baby1 could take all the pics she wanted to with no problem. I do have a few pics of Open House at the girls' school from Thursday I am hoping to also get put on here and on my myspace.

The nerve of some people

Dear Ms. (you know who you are)

That is it!! I am so sick of you spreading and repeating half truths about my life to everybody. Did I get pregnant before we got married ?? Yes I did. Was it planned? No not really but it was discussed and we decided to NOT prevent it. So before you go telling people he got me knocked up, you might want to check the facts. All these little stories you like to tell about us sneaking around and needing to get a tow. Wrong again. I (and DH) have told you countless times the truth and you choose to ignore it and continue to spread half truths. You seem to get some kind of weird pleasure out of dragging us down and poking fun. Go ahead!! No seriously go ahead. Just be warned that the next time I have to listen to you bad mouth me to make yourself feel better I just might let go with all the times (14 + years ago) I covered for you when you really were out sneaking around. For all the times you did stay the night with......or had to speed to get home because of.........should we dig deeper or just move on to recent days??!!?? I have had a long heart to heart with my hubby and he agrees enough is enough. You would be better off working on your own family and leaving mine alone!!!! I don't want to have to get mean but we are tired of being the butt of your jokes.

I am so tired of hearing how everything is always somebody elses' fault. GROW UP!!! Nobody wants to hear it anymore. My life is no cake walk. I'll be the first to admit that. But my family is the most important thing to me. My children do not hinder my life they make it worth living. My children do not keep me from doing what I want on the weekends. They make me want to do things. It's called priorities. They are free look into them.

Thank you and have a NICE day :)

Just a ?

My question is.......Is it okay to put coffee in your morning Slimfast shake??? Before you get started on a tangent of pros and cons of Slimfast let me just say that I started drinking them because I have this horrible HORRIBLE habit. I do not eat breakfast. Well lately I've been having trouble focusing and lack of energy. I decided to check into the protein shakes. Way to complicated at 5 in the morning and they weren't balanced. I came across the High Protein Slimfast and was very very happy. You just pour milk and powder and shake it up. I have been drinking them every morning for a week now and I feel better. NOW here is where my question comes in..........Is it okay to put a little coffee in your slimfast shake (mine is chocolate so it would taste like a mocha)? It adds no calories just yummy yummy flavor.......not to mention that lovely kick of caffeine!!!

*UPDATE*
I tried it. I put about as much coffee in my shake as I normally put milk in my coffee. I LOVED IT!!! Of course it didn't hurt that it was caramel truffle falvored coffee either :)

Wordless Wednesday

A little bit about the real me

As you will see stress is nothing new to me. For it to have overwhelmed me so much like it did yesterday is very new to me. I am not a prideful person but asking for help is something I have never really done. I have always felt that I should be able to handle things on my own as God hands them out to me. I learned today that it takes a team of great people to make a great person so I am sharing the real me with you.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere (really NO neighbors NONE) the closest house was like a mile away they were older with no children. It was me my sister and brother for as long as I can remember and I adore them both. My mom and dad divorced when I was 3. I didnt see my dad much in the beginning and then visits just stopped. My baby sitter was mean (and still is). I grew up with only few friends cause I never really talked to anybody. I was very self aware and still am. I was the shy little kid that people liked to pick on cause I never fought back. We moved to Wisconsin when I was in the 4th grade. I loved it and hated it. We moved in with my "Grandpa" a long time friend of the family before the start of the 5th grade. I loved it. I however became a spoiled little brat. My grandpa gave me what ever I wanted. When I wanted it. I was never ungrateful or mean about it, thats not how I am. I Started to grow out of being so self aware and made real friends. Then my mom married my step dad. Love him I do. But I became shy again having to move to a new school only to meet great people and then have to move again. A year later we moved again to the house they still live in. It is here in this last school that I met my hubby. That is a blog in and of itself. I knew the first time I saw him that he was the man I was going to marry. It was so unreal. I hadn't even talked to him yet and had no idea who he was. Then I found out he was the boyfriend of a girl who thought I was her friend. I tried my hardest to be a good friend even though we had nothing in common. She would have fits for days if my close friends and I hung out and she wasn't there (it was bad). I befriended her up until the day I caught her steeling my journal disks and bad mouthing my friends at school and bad mouthing my now hubby. I walked away from that friendship and never looked back. The hubs and I started dating not long after that. He was and is the greatest and I adored his family(still do). Almost 2 years later my life became a roller coaster. We got married on May 13th, our daughter was born on May 22nd. New hubby, new house, new baby all in less than 10 days. I Became preg. with our son in Sept. and we moved from IL to KS in Feb. (Hubs went active duty). 6 months after he was born (June 26th) Hubby was deployed and in Jan. our house had come available on post so I moved AGAIN. He was gone for 7 1/2 months. Shortly after his return we decided to try for another child and as soon as we became preg hubby was off again. It was a couple trips to CA. and then off to re class. While he was gone I was put under A/C arrest. (I was only allowed to go from A/C cooled buildings and houses and cars and had to stay out of the heat due to complications as well as off my feet.)Baby 3 was born in Jan. and we packed up and pcsed and were in our new house in GA by March. Hubs was pretty close to home most of that time. Just field time 2 weeks to 6 weeks here and there. In Jan we were preg again with baby number 4. When she turned 8 months old he pcsed to Europe and we had to stay behind for 2 months. We flew out to Europe the day the baby turned 10 months. I got involved with the FRG and made some really great friends. For the first time I had a place that felt like home and I never wanted to move again. Shortly after baby number 4 turned 2 hubby was off on another deployment. This one was supposed to be for only 6 months but ended up being 13. He came home in March and we moved again in June and I was preg with baby number 5. This time we moved to CO. We were lucky that hubby was non-deployable for the time that we were there. The baby came in March and things were starting to fall into place for us. Great friends and the family was together again. After the baby turned one he started getting sick a lot. I took him to a million Dr's and they all gave me different answers. He wasn't getting any better. Hubby had to ship out for school for a few months. July 2nd I took the baby home to IL for the holiday and by now he is unable to do anything for himself. He spent the night of the 4th crying and holding onto me and with such a grip. I took him to Cardinal Glennon the next morning and they said he had fluid on his brain and had to get it off. He never moved again after that. Hubby was released from school and made it from Arizona to St. Louis in 2 days. The older kiddos had to bounce from Grandparents to Grandparents and all the aunts and uncles. I had to temporarily relinquich custody of them so they could start school at my moms. We spent a couple months in the hospital with him. I only left when I was forced to. I slept in the bed with him and held him through all his tubes.We watched them poke and prod and stick him and it was more than we could bear. They did countless surgeries still trying to figure out what was wrong with him. We lost track of the times we heard he's crashing. We had to stand and watch as they yanked him down and did chest compressions on his tiny little self. I couldn't tell you the number of strokes they said he had. On the 24th of August they announced that he had passed and then removed his life support. I held him till they pulled us away. I don't remember much of the following month. My family and friends were there for us the whole time. In Sept. we had to make the drive back to CO in two different vehicles. I was ready to go "home" but knew as much as I needed my best friends it was going to be hard to face them. The Army was great to us. The Cheyenne mountain team was like no other. Like my wonderful friends and family I never had to ask they were just there. Hubby had to go back and redo school before we pcsed and our time there was almost up. We were ready for a change. We were trying to get Washington state or Arizona. We got Kentucky instead which is great cause we have always talked about retiring here. We get our orders in the last week of Aug.and had 10 days to pack and clear 10000 pounds worth of stuff. We cleared our house and Sara's in the same day. We packed the 4 dogs and the 4 kids and the Oscar and the eels into the two vehicles and head towards home. We spent a couple days in IL with the family then headed out to our new home in TN/KY. We lived in a hotel for 10 days. A small one room two bed hotel room for 10 DAYS! After a lot of searching and stressing we found the lovely house we are in now. Now we have to unload and unpack all that stuff. Hubby is in and out trying to inprosses and help me with everything. Inprossesing usually takes 3 days. It took 2 weeks. On his last day when he got his orders to his company he got his orders to deploy. He was lucky and got to hang around till the end of Oct. He is expected to be home by the first of next year. We are still not unpacked fully. We have made a few friends but I miss my BFF's from CO on a daily basis. They are like angels to me.

Through all these hard times were so many new words, so many first steps, learning to use a potty, to ride a bike, and first days of school. Tons of happy Halloweens and Merry Christmases and birthday parties and swimming pools. Millions of look what I can do's and will you help me's. A life time of hugs and kisses and happy memmories and yet a life time to go. I would marry my husband again every day for the rest of my life.

I have been told that my life is hard, but it is all I know. I love who I am and what I stand for. I love my family and friends with all that I have. And someday I will be able to stand in front of God and thank him for the life he alone has given me.

Thank you all

for everything you have given me. But do to my life falling apart at the seems this will be my last post. The stress in my life is finally more than I can handle. I will be shutting down the computer and turning off the cells. I will be disconnecting the internet and cable tomorrow. By next week I am planning on doing the one thing I swore I would NEVER do . I will be moving back home. I wish you all luck and happiness in your lives.
God bless you all, you will be missed greatly

Please........

Can I just start the whole day over?????? NO???? Then I am going to hide in my room till time for church............and then maybe just maybe............I might try again.

A typical summer day

Hot weather, snow cones, bikes, water fights with the hoses, kids everywhere. Somehow my kiddos talked me into joining their water fight. It was so cold. Then it was chicken nuggets and fries for dinner and they put on a dance for me to Alvan and the Chipmunks. It's great to just be able to enjoy them and have fun.

a really great stroller

The ladies over at Momdot are giving a way a really great stroller from strollermama. The rules are simple and the people are great. Go give it a look.

My mission for the day

Okay you all know how much I LOVE my house. I really do. I love the house, I love the yard, I love the neighbors, well most of them anyway. Some of you are aware that BOTH my mowers are broke :( I have been using Mrs. A push mower for the front (Thank you Mrs A.) and have been able to keep it up pretty good. (When we are not on vacation be it here or there.) I have made it my mission today to FIX my rider. It needs a belt for the blades and it has 2 flat tires ~ AGAIN. I really really really want to get the back yard cleaned back up. It doesn't look to bad since I have been paying *J* to mow the front 2/3rds of it, but I want to get it all mowed and mowed my way. Me and the kiddos (to include *Charlie and *P*) can mow and weed eat the whole yard in a day when all the mowers are running. This means I will be spending the morning laying face down in the garage getting greasy and gunky again. I just hope I don't have to lift the front end of the rider again. It is VERY heavy!

I would also LOVE for the pool boy to actually come out and fix my pump!!!!! I have spent over 200 on chemicals because he hasn't showed up in over 3 weeks!!!! I keep asking they keep giving me excuses. I guess they are trying to wait out the season?? I don't know......all I know is it's starting to add up :( and you know I'll spend the money on chemicals. cause I want to use the pool. (blame the Realtors not the owners last I heard they didn't know anything about it) When I woke up this morning my pool was GREEN. That is NOT acceptable for me. My pool will be CLEAR by morning!!! Considering tomorrow is Saturday ~ morning means by noon :)

Wish me luck I just might need it!

VTC

I got to do a VTC with hubby today. It was good to see him. He looked good but tired. It was hard to sit there and see him so close and not be able to touch him. We got to talk for about 20 minutes. I am hoping BDE HQ will do at least one a month till they get to come home. We are entering the countdown phase of the deployment and are around 100 days out. I wish we had an exact date but knowing the Army like I do I know there is no such thing cause dates are always subject to change. Either way it was good to see and hear his voice live. I can't wait for the next VTC or for him to come home.

Back to school

School started on Friday here in the lovely state of TN. I was under a hugely mistaken trance that led me to believe that My life would slow down and my days would be less hectic when the kiddos went back to school. I am more tired and worn out now then I was in the summer time.

~glad I have a good sense of humor:)~

My lovely state of miss~believe went like this:

5:30 oldest 2 up and off to school by 6:30 ish
6:30 youngest 2 up and off to school by 7:30 ish

Oldest 2 home by 2:30ish homework done and off to finish chores and out to play but the time the youngest two got home.
Youngest 2 home by 4:00 ish and have the table to themselves to do home work.

sounds easy enough right?!?

NO cause that would be to simple for my life and make sense and you know we can't have that!!

SO this is how my day now goes.....

Brat~baby 1 has to be up at 5 AM(way to early).
She gets home around 2:30ish unless she has drill team practice which seems like every day right now. Then it's pick her up at 4:30. (We are proud of her for trying out and making the drill team. I think JROTC will be good for her and she is very good at it.)
Brat~baby 2 has to be up at 5:30 and gets home around 2:45
Brat ~babies 3 and 4 have to be up by 7:15 and get home around 4:00 (late I know)

so my mornings are constant until 8:30 when the youngest get on the bus and then I get to clean up the mess, feed and walk the dogs, feed the cats. work on the house, do any running I have to do (and that's been a lot lately).

Then from 2:45 on its get the kids off the bus, pick up Brat~baby 1, make it to all the appointments (dr., dent., school, vet, FRG, etc), and church functions on Wed and Thurs. night. By the time they get home work done, dinner eaten, and showers taken it's off to bed to wake up and do it all over again. :)

Needless to say our house is gonna be very busy for a while. I am hoping things will have fallen into a doable routine by mid Sept. One that is not only manageable but one that allows play and relaxing time for all of us.

Williamson County Fair 08.09.08

At the beginning of the month I got an email from HHC saying that "Franklin and Brentwood Tennessee have offered a special day ~9 August~ for 100 of our Battalion family members. They are offering a bus ride to and from the fair, free rides (We all received 10 free passes each for the rides) and free food." (in honor of Veterans Day)The kids were excited about it so I signed us all up. *Charlie* and *P* were able to go with us too. It was about an hour and a half ride on what the kids described as the coolest bus ever. We had an escort all the way there and back.
When we got there COL(ret)Tyson asked *P* to Carry the Division Flag. What an honor. As we all filed out behind him every body outside the bus was clapping and thanking us and our soldiers as we walked by. We had a lot of fun on the rides, playing the games, and watching the shows.

Please bleach my eyes PLEASE

Okay......I have no problem with people going to walmart in their jammies. Nor do I have a problem with people wearing their slippers to walmart. I DO however have a problem with people walking in to walmart with their hand shoved down the back of their jammy pants to fix their undies. I mean SERIOUSLY!!!!! Yes there is a bathroom just inside either door you chose to use. PLEASE do not spread your fungus all over things I or my children might be touching. PLEASE do not offend my eyes by doing it right in front of me. PLEASE somehow someway find some manners or at least pretend you have some when out side of the privacy of your own home and excuse yourself to the restroom and "adjust" yourself in private!!!!!! Trust me the rest of the world will thank you for it.

Summer break is over

My brother and sister in law and the babies left today:( I really enjoyed having them here this weekend. We had a lot of fun. I hope they get to come back soon. We all went to the Nashville Zoo Sunday and it was a blast. The zoo was really nice and the kids loved it. I posted all the new pics on my myspace page along with some swimming pics I got right before they left.My brother and Brat~baby1 aren't in the swimming pics. They went golfing on post this morning and had a lot of fun. School starts Friday for us so we will be finishing up getting their stuff tomorrow. We got most of it during the tax free weekend but had to wait for freshman orientation to see what we were missing. I can't believe my baby is old enough to be a freshman.