Attack of the 6 foot lobster

So Will and his husband (Nate) decided to take advantage of the weather and mine and Deanna's patience and go golfing on Friday and Sunday. Sunday Will came back a little burnt on the neck. A few hours later his arm, back of his legs and the front of his arms were toast. That'll teach em!

Before.

Here is a profile before of Aileen. Can you see the difference?

And the insanity continues.

This morning started out with the usual morning mayhem of Aiden screaming the house awake at 6am. He is better then any alarm clock and unfortunately doesn't stop when you hit him like you would the snooze button. After breakfast, showers, and shuttling Lauren off to school, I tasked Aileen with watching the boys so I could get the mountain of laundry we have folded and put away. After Mt. Dobson was folded and Will came home, Aileen and I headed to the ortho for her install. And WOW! What a difference that appliance makes. The concept is to force her bones to regrow where they put the appliance so we avoiding having to break her jaw. This sucker moved her bottom jaw forward at least 2 inches, possibly more. She is a little uncomfortable and it is hard for her to talk and chew as her mouth has to relearn all of this with her new jaw placement. She has pistons to help her move her mouth like she used to. So far, I am impressed. Here is today's profile.

After we got home from that Deanna spoiled me by taking me to have my toes done. Little did I know that is was prepayment for the torture she was about to put me thru. Our toes all sandal ready, we headed to Target to find a gazebo and things to redecorate her back yard. Now either she trusts me and loves me to death or she is as crazy as I am but she let me well basically shop for her. After a lot of money, a long wait, and a slow ass stock boy we got the goodies in the car and headed home put all this together. Now remember Nate and Will took 2 hours to put together the grill. Deanna and I built a 10 by 10 gazebo, put together a fire pit, and arranged all the pretty furniture in 2 hours and we didn't have to redo anything! Of course she tried to gouge out my eyes with a support beam but I digress. We rocked.

So dinner was sandwiches as now I am exhausted then I put thing one and thing 2 in the bath and got soaked. 3 kids are down, one to go. Then we are roasting marshmallows in the fire pit! Yippee!

More phrases to add

to the "I thought I would never use in a sentence" category.
"Aiden, get out of Daddy's gas tank"

Boy meets Grill

It is a beautiful sunny day here so Will and Nate decided to take advantage of the weather and go golfing taking Aileen and Shyanne (one of there twins). Well 2 courses later, it wasn't happening as everyone wanted to golf today. So instead they went grill shopping (2 men unsupervised in Home Depot is NEVER a good thing). Came home with a whopper of a grill for Nate and Deanna. And the may lay ensued as it was unassembled. I took my perch as direction reader and supervisor and of to work they went. the directed stated estimated assembly time was 50 minutes. It took us just under 2 hours. Sad. So after much cussing, throwing temper tantrums and wondering why they didn't just pay the extra $10 to have it assembled, this is the end result.

And of course the adorable picture of Daddy giving Aiden a ride on the scooter!

Interview me - Ginny

I found this interesting thing on Ginny's blog (and as soon as I get her to teach me how to link in blogs you can get to her through me). So here are her interview questions and my responses.

1. If you could swap places with anyone in the world for one day who would it be and why?
I would trade places with a career woman with no children. Just to see if I was missing anything!

2. What might be the zaniest thing you have ever done as a mom?
Had more then one. No, just kidding. I think the zaniest thing I have done is when an old friend of mine and I packed up her van and our 4 kids and drove from Washington to Vegas spur of the moment. The kids had a blast!

3. What is your hardest challenge in being a military wife versus being a civilian wife?
I could write a novel on this one. A civilian wife has a general idea of what the next few months holds, a military wife has no clue. And that could be anything from moving to another country to a uniform change and the next 3 months of income is spent on that. A civilian wife can ask her husband to take the car for a tune up, a military wife HAS to know how to get all things done in all aspects of life. You are mom and dad, husband and wife, mechanic, secretary, book keeper, the list goes on.

4. What do you think is often some one's biggest misconception about you. (Like they think you're a snob but you are a nice Mr. Rogers serial killer. Joking!)
That I am a bitch. I come across that way not because I am trying to hurt some one's feelings or that I don't like someone. I just say what I mean and mean what I say. It is easier to ask forgiveness then permission. Deanna says it is that I look intimidating but I am the biggest pushover. Thanks Deanna!

5. If someone handed you a million dollars tomorrow what all would you spend it on and why?
I would take a Mediterranean cruise with my husband for 2 weeks. Take my kids on a cross country trip to visit friends, family, interesting places. I would buy a van due to the fact my truck is no longer practical. I would pay for the kids and myself to go to college. Finally I would buy a house close to our families. And I would do it all in that order!

Don't forget to add the rules at the bottom:If you want to continue, here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

And last place goes too....

The Sandbaggers. That is our bowling team name. A little history. Last year we bowled with Kathryn and Rob and had a blast. It involved a lot of humor, the name "spare change", and an easy button from staples. Rob went out to sea this year so we bowled this season with our neighbors Deanna and Nate. And while the 7 of us are basically attached at the hip, as a bowling team, we suck. We are in week 30 of a 34 week season and we are (and have been all 30 weeks) in last place. Now we have so much fun with this. We hold last place with a sense of pride because we know that no one could do it better. Week after week we have out butts handed to us and the next week, we are back smiling, joking, cheering the other team on to victory. I am the well, I am the handicap player. They keep me around because I add 103 pins to our score no matter what I actually bowl. Anyway, here is a pic of the lousiest (but most fun) team in AMF history!

Left to right: me, Will, Deanna (I don't know why Will is trying to lick her) and Nate.

Adventures in orthodontia

Last week we started the long, painful, expensive process of Aileen and her braces. She believes that we are torturing her and that we have implored the ortho to use means of dentistry that are now considered barbaric. Last week she had her spacers put in. Today she was fitted for her brackets and appliance and next week she will have her appliance installed (she is starting to sound like a washer that Sears should be taking care of). When she was done with her medieval shop of horrors today she came out of the room red and teary eyed and proceeded to explain to me in front of the receptionist and the ortho's assistant that "these people hurt her more then was needed and she didn't like them very much." And this is only her second appointment!

I had these kids why?

Don't get me wrong, I adore my sons. No really, I do. But there are things I say to them, I never would have thought would be a sentence in my vocabulary. Examples:

Said to Aiden this morning "Don't drag your brother and the playpen around the house."

Said to Aiden last week: "Don't drink water from the sidewalk or the cooler that has been outside for weeks"

"Don't lick the cat"

See a trend here?

Or Fletcher: "Brother is going to hurt if you grab that" (this said last night while the boys were in the tub and Aiden was standing in front of Fletcher trying to grab his bits and pieces).

On to the other members of this crazy household.

Will has 5 weeks until he graduates. I am so proud of him. This has been a long process but we see the light at the end of the tunnel. He has been given the job of shop supervisor a mere 3 months after making 2nd class. And so far, all are impressed with him.

Aileen is being tortured (her wording, not mine). She had her spacers put in last week. This week she gets fitted for her bands and the following she gets her appliance put in, that God willing, will prevent us from having to break her jaw in a few years.

Lauren went a whole month without getting a note sent home for her talking in class! We are really proud of her. I was looking thru her returned papers last night and I noticed that she is no longer writing Snow as her last name. She is writing Dobson. At dinner I asked her when she decided to change her name and why. Her response was "Remember when we went to Dairy Queen and I was in the warm jammies? That is when I decided (this was in January I think). And I like Dobson cause Daddy plays with me and I love him so much" I though Will was going out right then to buy her her own stable, stocked with all the horses the girl could want.

Me: I'm here and hanging on the best I can. These lunatics keep me busy and on my toes 24/7. I could really use a break. My body has decided to freak out with my thyroid and PCOS so we are tinkering with my meds and diet and it sucks. Well that is about all I have time for now. I will try to get a few more posts in when the boys give me the time!