Bear with the strange posts, I am learning how to post from my phone.

At least it was for a good cause?

The cub scout theme this month was space so the boys made rockets of all kind. Foam rockets, film canister/alka seltzer rockets, and, yes, mentos in a coke bottle. They got explode things. They had fun.

Our pack also held a silent cake auction this month. The cake had to be homemade, the scout had to help, and it could match the theme or not. Jake and I chose a smore's cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate and marshmellow center, and more chocolate cake frosted and decorated to look like a smore. Both Elle and Jake really wanted our cake. So we get to the meeting and Elle texts me, "Bring the cake home. I have money, I'll pay you back". After all is said and done, I won not only my cake but someone else's as well. I only bid on it to keep things moving and I wound up winning! So, I bought ingredients, suffered with Jake in my tiny kitchen helping, then paid to bring my own cake home? And someone else's? Huh? Anyone want some cake? I have plenty.

The smore's cake

Do you know where your toddler is?

I can't decide if I find this story really sad or really funny. Maybe both. It definately makes me feel a little better about the fact that my toddler was only out of my sight long enough to give two beanie babies a 'bath' in my toilet and not in my neighbors.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/19274808/detail.html

Is the time saved worth it?

I feel sick to my stomach reading this. Not that I would ever order that sandwhich, but I am now glad that we do not have Carl's Jr. here. 2600 calories??? BK kids meals are out for us too. So sad (not really).

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/30464/the-worst-drive-thru-foods-in-america-and-what-to-eat-instead/

Who needs an alarm clock...

... when you can be woken up by the sound of men on your roof using a leaf blower?

Many of you know I don't sleep well when Ben is gone. To keep myself going, I usually nap when baby does, otherwise I'll be a zombie by dinnertime. Today baby and I are sound asleep, when I hear thumping, loud thumping. At first I thought it was baby, then I hear the leaf blower, more thumping, and I see leaves falling from my roof faster than the wind. I go to the front and sure enough there is a ladder leading to my roof and a man holding it.

Um, excuse me, what the heck are you doing?

We had a work order to clean the gutters.

Huh?

Yeah and extend the drainage tubes away from the house. Didn't you call it in?

No. Are you sure you have the right house?

Yup, it's your address. Someone should have called you to let you know.

Nope no calls.

We tried to knock.

Yeah, it's naptime. Baby is napping, I was napping, why are you working on my house?

So apparently, our neighbors are having severe problems with flooding in their basement and our house is above theirs so they are cleaning our gutters real well and forcing our runoff towards the street away from the houses. Not a bad thing but a little notice would have been preferable. Classic privatized housing. And I love that they are doing all this on the windiest day we've had this month. More crap is blowing off the trees as they are clearing the roof. But since they were here I mentioned that a huge piece of branch had come off my tree in the back. One had seen it from my roof already and said he would be back with a chainsaw. Awesome. He moved it to the curb and even picked up all the larger pieces of branches from around my house. Silver lining I guess.

Deployment, Day 1

This morning was good. I dropped Elle off at the Red Cross Babysitting course then came home and cuddled with the boys for a few. Baby got up and joined the cuddle. I made my hubby and kids a yummy breakfast, got some dished cleaned, played a board game, and got all the easter stuff put away and my table cleared before we had to dress and take Ben in.
We got to spend some time with Ben before they got on the bus to go to the plane(?). We got lunch, baby napped, I watched some DWTS online, Jake played the Wii, we picked Elle back up, then I had to get ready for a PTA mtg. Elle was babysitting her siblings and the children of another hubby just deployed today neighbor, who is having a bang up day as well.

It all went downhill from there.

As if PTA wasn't bad enough, my newly Red Cross certified babysitter calls 10 minutes into the meeting to ask how you get gum out of hair. Who's hair, I ask, praying it is not my friend's little girl. It is. Jake was apparently spitting his gum into the air and catching it (???) and missed and it landed in Emma's hair instead???!!! I start laughing and crying as I add to Kara's day by telling her gum somehow got into Emma's hair. She laughs and cries as well.

We get home and Elle has gotten all of the gum out of Emma's hair, whew, but the baby was playing in my toilet while she was doing it. Um, gross. The cat has vommited in two separate spots. And it looks like they have both been stepped in. Clean that, scrub carpet, feed children, bathe children, grab a diaper and pj's, find that the naked baby has pooped in one room then pee'd in the next as she is running from you, grrrr. Dress baby, clean floors, clean hands, settle little bodies into bed.

Sigh...scrounge for leftovers for dinner, do more dishes, realize just how much my house has suffered from my injured back, cringe with horror as I realize that Kara was in my house and saw how bad it is.

Let the deployment fun and games begin. Oh Lord...

3:56am - the sound of vomit woke me up. Forgot that my back was hurt and tried to jump out of bed, back spasm followed. And no, they didn't make it to the toilet...

Picture updates

In no particular order...

Wubby, fresh out of the dryer

Daddy!

Oooohhhh

This girl gets more and more beautiful every day.

She enjoyed the birthday cake.

Watch out world!

We all enjoy having daddy home.

"put the camera away and get this off of me"

My volleyball player

White boys can jump! (a little)

"Update please"

To Anonymous, otherwise known as my sister, here you go.

What have we been up to since the last post? A lot.

Ben was TDY for a few weeks, Elle finished her club volleyball season, Jake finished his basketball season, and we decided to go to the Wing Birthday Ball so I set out to find a dress.

Ben came home just in time for the spring book fair and Girl Scout cookie booth sales to kick off.

The morning after the book fair ended, promptly at 7:36 in the morning, Jake jumped in my bed to tell me he felt sick. Let the puking begin, Bekah followed about 12 hours later. Then Ben and I started feeling blah, but not too bad. Two days later, Elle, then me, then Ben all got sick. Yuck.

We recovered and I noticed the back ache I had wasn't going away. I also realized that we had a super full weekend coming up so I called and begged my Mom to come for the weekend to help with the kids. She said yes, awesome. Expensive babysitter, but totally worth it.

While Mom was here, we had a date complete with dinner and a show, (we had tickets to Avenue Q, not recommended), and went to the ball. All the while I realized that my back was getting worse and worse.

After Mom left, I finally went to a doctor, got a lot of drugs, and a referral for Physical Therapy. I also managed to pull off a surprise party for Ben's birthday. Elle got her first long term babysitting job for some new neighbors and it is going really well. Jake began another season of flag football. And Beks is keeping us all on our toes. She says, puppy, ball, bubbles, squirrel, Elle, Jake, Daddy, mama, bird, apple, kitty, please, and who knows what else. She loves to be outside, loves bubbles, and all animals.

I started PT this week, my back was already mending a bit, but I need it to be better quick. I am glad the kids started spring break today. I did manage to get all the laundry done and Ben is packed, he leaves Monday. We have a lot planned for this weekend and I plan on enjoyiong every minute of it.

All updated, pictures to come.

Wordless Wednesday