Bloody Boo Boo : (

Well I hadn't been solo in the house for even an hour when Little Girl fell down some stairs and split her head open. Way to start out the deployment by myself. (T's parents left Tuesday evening). Not sure exactly how it happened but Middle Boy and Little Girl were playing on either side of a door and she had been closing it playing peek-a-boo with her brother. Somehow the game went wrong and she ended up falling down ten steps on her side of the door. The metal barrette in her hair at the time was the cutting culprit. It was traumatic. I am so grateful for my neighbor who helped navigate me to the naval hospital and was available to calm me down. So grateful for the fact that she was not more seriously injured. I hope this will be the end of this kind of thing for the rest of Troy's absence. Today it seemed was a decompressing day. Like coming down off of an emotional roller coaster. I felt like I had to tell Little Girl that I was sorry for pretty much doing a body slam laying on her while she was stitched up. I was strong in the moment, but afterwards felt like I had violated her somehow. It was interesting how she responded. Mostly she screamed but a few times she would become tired and quiet, look at me and say "mom?" I'd say "what?" and she'd use some of that new vocabulary of hers "UP!" Oh my poor baby!!

Traumatic morning-great day

Well today started out with Middle Boy complaining of a stomach ache and not wanting to attend school. He had mentioned something about not feeling well at bedtime as well which could mean one of two things. He was really sick or he had been planning this since Sunday night. Knowing him as I do (and being tricked recently by him), I told him "it aint workin' get your rear in gear" I think there may have also been a lecture in there about not being able to trust someone who cries wolf, yada yada yada. Then he 'realized' that he would have to present an oral report (memorized) in spanish class today. (hmm... could this be the reason for the supposed illness?). Then realization turned into panic when Middle Boy could not find his previously finished paper to memorize. He had done a thorough paper sweep of his binder over the weekend and somehow the paper had disappeared. Normally this would be cause for big drama and fighting between the two of us. I remembered the words of a priesthood blessing given to me by Troy just last Friday. Something along the lines of my patience levels being increased. Oh how I will need that in my life over the next several months. BTW as a member of the LDS church we believe that the 'priesthood' is God's power being utilized here on earth through worthy male members of the church. All members benefit from this sacred power. It's the same priesthood used by Christ and His apostles, restored to the earth by Joseph Smith. Enough church talk...

So somehow I was able to make lemons out of lemonade with Middle Boy this morning. (And thank heavens for Annette being there to make breakfast for the other children so I could focus on this disaster. They leave tomorrow-YIKES!) I told him that everyone makes these kinds of mistakes. I have done this sort of thing many times and there is always a solution. We can either throw in the towel and give up (which is kinda what he is prone to do), or we can mount that horse again and learn from the mistakes. I then suggested a truly inspired solution involving skipping first period. He was very willing to do so. He re-wrote the homework, happily memorized it, hugged me and shared his love, was only 5 minutes late to school I might add, and all was well in the world. No fighting- amazing!!!! Oh and kudos to the nice spanish teacher (who I had emailed with a heads up to the situation) who let him present his thingy at lunch to her separately from the class of kids. What a kind hearted woman that is!

Speaking of kind hearted... today, Normally Angry Offensive Home-School Mom (lets just call her that for privacy purposes on the blog) was nice enough to share her number with me today and told me that anytime I am sick to let her know so that she can take my kids to school for me. Another neighbor I barely know offered to carpool with me to make life easier as well. Audrey will never go for it, but the offer is nice. I feel like people are really trying to support us and that feels good. luckily I am not so independent that I will not let anyone help me.

Lastly- we got pumpkins. We sang our traditional slow, country-sounding, drawly song we made up years ago that has made-up on the spot lyrics and it went something like this. "I got pumpkin, it's on my shoe... I got pumpkin how about you? I got pumkin and it's in my ear.. I got pumpkin and I cannot hear (I fear). I got pumpkin, and it sure is nice... I got pumpkin is there a pumpkin spice? and on and on and on.

The end
KT

An attempt to keep in touch

Well I am now using my blog to keep T in touch with us while he is in Iraq. First a couple of funnies. The day before Troy left he picked up Drew from school and on the walk home Drew looked up at his Dad most sincerely and says "I wish you luck on your deployment to Iraq Dad." So sweet and oddly mature of him! He has taken this whole thing with the most stiff upper lip of all the kids. Personality differences must vary greatly in our family because some kids have been known to have to leave the room bawling. Painful, real painful.

Then the other funny I will share is Audrey said to T at breakfast the morning of his flight. "So, will you be having your breakfast at home or in Iraq?" He had his breakfast with us, and currently he is in Georgia eating all his meals and sleeping in a bunk bed with several room-mates who have snoring issues. Thanks to earplugs, I think T is managing okay.

It was a nice day overall today, but Sundays can be hard with all the kids getting on each other's nerves, and I feel like I am a constant referee. It has been nice to have Troy's Mother here to hold kids and read to them, make meals with me and be a supportive adult to talk to. Troy's Dad has been busy hanging things up (T the sconces you hate are now in the front room-sorry!), and tonight we were discussing a chain for the front door and other fixer uppers. So nice to have him here as well.

We went to the LDS temple visitor's center this afternoon, and it was so cute to see little Eliza looking up in amazement at the Christus statue. We left the front area and in the end made our way past the statue again on our way out. She got all excited at the reunion (of us and the statue), and started verbalizing "cheesus, cheesus!" Cute is not an adequate word for her.

Nathan won the award for most difficult child to deal with today. No details, but lets just say that Grandma was heard to say the words 'typical teenager' on one occasion. How am I ever going to do this alone for 6 months? Thank heavens it isn't longer. I think tomorrow we will go and get pumpkins for FHE. That and play a family favorite 'murder in the dark' with Annette and Burton. Hope I don't actually kill my teenager- killing is bad : (

Later Alligator,
KT

PS (An)Drew made up some sorta rap today with words something like this... "With an A to the N to the D and Roo, I am a red-headed kid who turns food into poo" Nice rhyme eh? Disgusting, yet true...

Thoughts and Events of the Day

We had a lovely day together as a family. T's office has let him off for the last few weeks before his deployment. It has been bitter sweet. The first week after the big news was so emotional and oddly uplifting. I could literally feel the angels by my side. I had this deep appreciation for my husband and everything out of my mouth was sweet and kind. Things that would normally irritate me melted away. More than once I thought to myself that every couple should experience this kind of blow so that they can feel the love, and appreciate each other as they ought to all the time. Things have normalized more now, but there is a growing anxiety as they days are numbered.

When this post was started there was still a week left. Now we are at the day before departure and T's parents came yesterday. There were already some tears on the walk home from school this morning as I told T to take care of himself because he was needed here at home. When he asked what I needed him for I replied "math problems and sweet lovin'."

Today is Middle Boy's birthday and he did not want to go to school. I wrestled with the idea of letting kids stay at home today to be with Dad, but thought again when I realized that he needs to pack and get ready to go, and who really wants a memory of dad suctioning air out of full ziploc bags to take to Iraq with him for 6 months. We are taking Middle Boy out to lunch instead. He wants a lemon cake (which I should be baking right now). He will also receive the priesthood tonight in our home. That will be nice to have more priesthood holders in the home while T is away.

Well- I am off to spend some more quality time doing things like filling small travel-sized shampoo bottles with head and shoulders, wrapping presents, and seeing if I can get T to hang tricky stuff on the walls.

Blumbies and sheep

One of my favorite memories of Little Boy was when he was just a baby. His vocabulary was developing nicely but as with all children he had some funny things going on there. Rabbits were 'habeets' and horses were 'blumbies'. It took us a while to figure out why the word blumbie. It sounded nothing like horse. I should mention that LB has always been and continues to be a big animal lover. He loved to death a number of plastic horses making them gallop around on hard surfaces until one or more of the legs would snap off. I had made it a personal quest to purchase a horse with the most durable legs. Because being the perfectionist that I am, I hated having all those legless creatures around the house. One day we put together the sound he made when he played with the horses. "blum blum blum." The sound of the hooves of coarse! Hence the name blumbie- one who blums! Sorta like the horses from the movie 'Man From Snowy River" the Brumbies. (Not sure on that spelling).

So Little Girl has come up with a word that started from hearing the sound canned whipped cream makes when you dispense it on your pancakes. When she has finished eating up all the fluffy white stuff (not touching the pancake), she says most demandingly "SHEEP!" We (being the true nutritionalist parents that we are) give her more whipped cream from a can and it makes the shhheep sound. Makes perfect sense to me. Today however I discovered she uses the same word for toothpaste and baby lotion. Apparently it goes along with anything that quirts out of something. Aren't babies the most fascinating things?

The Other Shoe

Well I had to mention it didn't I? I was recently worried that T would get deployed and now the day has come. He told us about a week ago that he got word that he will be deploying on Oct 11th. Just after middle boy's 12th birthday. We will surely miss him and I wonder how I will manage to do (by myself) all the things he does for me around here. Not to mention the sad fact that I will miss his company. But I have been aware of a feeling of calm that I can't understand ever since he told me. I know I am being comforted by the Holy Spirit. Troy has felt that same Spirit of calm. I know we will be watched over. I know we will be given opportunities to grow. I know everything will be alright... If your feeling sad about our news, please watch 'Bulbous Bouffant" in my last post. It has done miracles in our family this week! Laughter is the best medicine!!!

Bulbous Bouffant

Nie Nie

Somehow I stumbled onto a news story (Today just interviewed them this past week) about a family I grew up with in Provo and I am now obsessed with reading about them online. Unfortunately I am sort of a blog idiot and don't know how to post a link, but I am sure you can search under the Nie Nie dialogs to find her blog and her story. She and her husband Christian (she calls him Mr Neilson which I find so funny! Like the monkey in Pippi Longstockings), were in a nearly fatal plane crash and are fighting for their lives. They have 4 kids. I didn't know her personally, but her blog is absolutely fantastic. What a great spirit she has. I knew her older siblings. Matt (my 5th grade crush), Page and Steve. There were 9 or 10 kids in the Clark family. I recently saw Matt at our 20 year high school reunion. I also bumped into Page at church while we were there. She is so nice and has like 8 kids herself.

Anyways I have been reading up on Nie Nie's past blogs and her sister and brother's blogs as well. Such good writing! I am getting nothing done around the house and my eyes are red from crying over this tragedy. It has also done something else for me though, it has made me want to enjoy my kids more, eat better, take better care of my body, and just be grateful everyday for everything God has blessed me with. I have been so richly blessed that I feel like the other shoe will drop soon.

We recently avoided Troy being deployed (twice in a month actually). One of those times it would have been to a seemingly dangerous place and he would have left in the next 7-10 days. I can't tell you how somber I was for the next 48 hours. The other thought I kept pushing out of my brain was that because the winds switched and someone fought to keep Troy just where he's is at right now, someone else now has to go (or stay there) in his place. Is that fair? Selfishly I want him here more than I want things to be fair for everyone, but it does make me feel a bit guilty. This situation we have in Iraq is so sad and just needs to be over. We have made so many sacrifices as a country for this cause and it just seems to be mis-managed right and left. I don't know what the answer is, but I know life is precious. I need to take a walk and breath deeply and get myself together before the kids come home. I am grateful our family is in tact for now, that we are taken care of. I will be praying for this family. Bless their souls!

brownies

So I was standing there minding my own business, blowing kisses at Big Girl, hoping she would not cry while waiting for the school bell to ring. (She's been in melt-down mode lately. I tell her there is a switch she can turn on or off on her back that turns off her tears. People must wonder what in the world we are doing when we are reaching onto our backs and flipping that switch off so there will be no more crying while sitting cross-legged with the morning sun in your eyes in that wait line). But I digress.... I'm doing my thing- signing 'I love you', flipping my switch and blowing kisses, when the ladies next to me notice that Baby Girl has beautiful curly hair that needs admiring. I thank them and the one lady who was more quiet says "You know there's a good chance it will turn out straight. My daughter's hair was curly until she turned 3 and now look how straight it is." She points out her daughter to me. I say as politely as I can. "Well just look at that cute little girl doing the I love you sign and scratching her back over there- she's my daughter and clearly she still has curly hair." Next we discover that we both have freshman attending the same high school. She asks if my son takes the bus in the morning and I say no and explain early morning seminary to her. She seemed impressed that I was able to get a teenager to wake up for a scripture class. But she found a way to bother me when she asked about the carpooling situation there. I told her that for now the parents are driving, but that soon a senior will be getting his license and will be driving them. She was not shy as she told me what a mistake I was making by letting that happen. "I don't care how responsible the teenager is, they are not experienced enough to be driving people at that age." she said. She also told me that she didn't let her teen drive until she was 18yrs old. Then I found out another tid bit of information and it all seemed to make perfect sense to me. This was her first year putting her youngest in public school- up until now she had been homeschooling. Nothing against those who do it well, but some of those homeschool parents are pretty odd ducks with straight haired non driving kids.

Troy's birthday- gone wrong

Well Troy turned 39 this week. I can't believe how old we are getting! We had planned to take labor day weekend and go visit some friends in Pennsylvania. However on Friday afternoon I started feeling poorly. It turned into the stomach flu which lasted all weekend long and I still don't have a good appetite yet. So instead of nicely wrapped presents and a card signed by the kids and I, with Troy's favorite meal and a home-made carrot cake. We had target-bag wrapped presents, (*one coupon for a present I didn't get a chance to buy drawn up by Evan), no card and Troy cooked his own meal and bought a 6.00 awful carrot cake from the grocery store. Plus he got to empty my throw-up bowl and wash linens. Nice! Good thing he's not as spoiled as I am and he didn't even resent it a bit. Or if he did he didn't show it. What a wonderful man. Who knows when we will make it to our friend's home now. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

On another subject I am so proud of the way my kids study habits have been starting off a new year- wanting to do well. They have this online way to check your kids progress and I know it's only the first week, but they are acing everything. I was a bit nervous because I put them in all honors classes to make sure they get the better teachers and put with the smarter kids who won't be as likely to be trouble makers, etc. Too bad that they don't give out "my kid's an honor roll student" bumper stickers on the first week. I always resent those people just a bit. Braggers! Yet here I am bragging now. But that's different, it's on my blog where hopefully people reading have an interest, not like on your car where people have no choice but to see you are bragging. I would probably also feel differently if I had straight A students (which unfortunately I don't- except this week!). I would want my kids to know how proud I was by defacing the van with a bumper sticker... nah, probably not-we'd just celebrate privately at home with the opening of new cell phones for the kids. I saw a bumper sticker at church that said "I love my kid even if he's not on the honor roll" and it made me laugh out loud.

Well, sorry to my friends who have those stickers on your cars. It's just the bitterness in me lashing out at you : )

KT