You miss family the most

when they are getting together without you or you are in need of their help. After a while you get used to them getting together without you. But in times like these you really wish you had brothers, sisters and parents around.

Tomorrow I fly out to Seattle for Chiko's re-enlistment. One of Jennifer's friends died last week and she is flying to Orlando for the Funeral (along with three other women from church). So what do we do with the kids, you ask? Well, if family lived near by we would rely on their help to keep things running. We don't have that luxury, so we have been getting creative.

I will get the kids off to school in the morning and drop Mia off at a friends house. Our friend Drew lives two doors down and he will pick the kids up from school, and Mia will be dropped off later. Drew will have kid duty until he drops them off at school Thursday morning, and Mia treks to another house. That evening we still don't have all the arrangements made, but hopefully Drew will again be able to pick kids up from school. If he can't watch them trough the afternoon another friend is willing to step up. Jennifer will get back late Thursday evening.

Crazy, huh. Don't forget, four moms are heading to the funeral. Two families will have neither parent here (lucky for one grandma and grandpa live in town). Wish us luck.

Suckers

Flashback about a week...Brody had a sucker, but told Kaleb he could eat it. However, before Kaleb had the opportunity a little neighbor friend got a hold of it and ate it. This left Kaleb without a sucker and Brody feeling sorry for him...now fast forward to today.

Brody had a trip to the doctors office today. He is the second victim in our house to be plagued with strep throat. Unfortunately for him the doctor opted for a penicillin shot. To make matters worse, our boy who once did a great impression of the Michelin Man was told he didn't have enough meat on his thighs, so he had to bare his bum.

The nurse told Jennifer she would need to hold him down. Jennifer simply replied, "No I wont, he will be fine." Skeptically the nurse proceeded with the shot, which took quite a long time because it is such a thick liquid.

Embarrassment aside, Brody was still for her and didn't even cry. The nurse was quite shocked. Afterwords he was allowed to get a sucker. Through all the pain and embarrassment he carried the sucker to the car and didn't eat it. Jennifer asked why he wasn't eating it and he relayed the story and let her know he was going to give it to Kaleb. Jennifer lovingly had to convince him it would be OK if he ate the sucker, he had earned it.

BTW, Mia had to go back and get four immunization shots and didn't cry either...amazed the nurses again.

These kids ROCK!!!

Better late than never...

So here is a picture Jennifer took while on her trip to Utah and Idaho. Don't forget, we've lived in the south now for three years. Jennifer gets cold if it gets below 70 degrees. Jennifer awoke to be greeted by this awesome scene...






On her second day there she drove through a snowstorm. She wanted to take a picture of it but decided it would be a better idea to keep both hands on the wheel. I'm glad she did.

Returning

from her little vacation, Jennifer was greeted by this sign. It says "Welcome home Mom." The kids wanted to make it for her. When they were done I hung it up for them.

Play Ball!!

Yes, it is that time again...baseball season has begun for our boys. Saturday was the opening ceremonies and team pictures, then Brody had a game. The day started out breezy and in the mid 80's, but by noon the breeze had left, the low clouds had burned off and the temps were soon into the mid 90's. Luckily there was enough sunscreen for all the kids, no sunburns for them, but we ran out for me...my forehead is a little tender.

After all the ceremonies we went and bought fudge bars from the store and had a well deserved treat.

Going my way?

In case you didn't know, I will be moving to Jacksonville, Florida on May 2nd. The family will follow about three weeks later. We will be there about 9 months, then we will find out our next home. Those options include Jacksonville, Hawaii, and Seattle.