He always makes it look so easy........

We just returned from Homezone and visiting a friend. We rushed home to enjoy the, oh so fleeting, sunny weather.

Today is the day that the kids and I are going to put up a playset, say it together now, Without Perry. Just the kids and I.

The problem..............Perry makes everything look so darn easy that the kids and I are always amazed when we attempt to help him that it is really, really quite difficult.

Well..........it used to be that E and J, together equalled my strength. Now, they, individually, are close to exceeding my strength. So, I figure we can attack this playset and surprise Perry.

And, boy will he be surprised if we manage to do this. :-)

The plan is to forify the kids with enough sugar to give them extra strength (aka as a bribe - in this case Reese's and Whoppers) and then get to work.

Wish us luck!!!!!


UPDATE: It's not looking real good. I stepped outside and it started hailing within 30 seconds. So....plan B is to fortify ourselves with sugar inside (yes, I will share the candy with the kids), wait for it to stop hailing and then attack the playset.

UPDATE: UPDATE: Well, we didn't get it finished. We did get about 1/4 of it done and Perry will only have to re-do about 1/8th of it. I am just going to give him all kinds of support and let him do it. J-man is all over helping so that works for me.

In the three hours we attempted to put the playset together it hailed, was sunny, rained, sunny, sprinkled, sunny. Great weather for being outside. I think I hid under the other playset during the sudden downpour. Too bad everyone couldn't get out of the rain, but we were at a crucial step in our putting togetherness.

The problem was that the screws (this is always the problem with the free/low cost playsets I aquire) or bolts that hold the playset together were missing/wrong size. Plus, we just had a simple picture to go by.

Nonetheless, Mr. Wonderful will get it put together tomorrow. Thank God for Perry.

Pictures

You Said What?

Yesterday, E and J went to a birthday party. That left us 3 hours to entertain the younger 3 an hour away from home. After doing a couple of errands, we took them out to eat and then to a playground/park.

During our car ride we somehow started talking about public school. For some unknown reason to Perry and I the younger kids have determined that they will only be going to public school for a year and then I will be homeschooling them again.

What?

That was news to us. I think we set the record straight, but then, again, I thought we had the first time too.

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Serena and I have made many rounds to doctor appointments this week. I decided to pick up Krispy Kreme donuts for the boys since they are so healthy and all. When Serena and I stepped up to pay, a person, about 6'2", with bleach blonde on top, black underneath, long hair, dressed in skin tight white pants, with a light colored turquoise v-neck t-shirt and yellow button down shirt wearing flip-flops, stepped aside to make room for us. I had a sense of where this would head, but............

Serena looked up and up and up and then down and down and back up again. ......I decided long ago that if people are going to dress in a way that attracts attention, then they deserve the looks/questions my kids give them. I am not talking about things that are out of a person's control, but piercings, skin tight clothing, spiked/colored hair, etc.

Normally, I would just start talking to the person my daughter or son was looking at. I figure just because they look different doesn't actually mean they are inside and I'm usually right. There have been exceptions, but with the bright colored clothing........In this instance my voice froze. I just couldn't tell whether this person was a man or a woman. Talk about making an awkward situation even more awkward.

Finally, said person, spoke. In his deep masculine voice he commented about Serena's hot pink cast. That opened up dialogue and we continued chattering until we finished paying and left. He was really funny and made the most of an awkward situation.

When we drove away Serena said, "Do you think that was a man or a woman?"

"I think it was a man. Did you hear his deep voice."

"I don't know mom, he looks like a woman." Then she starts giggling and rehashes the whole visit out loud on the drive home.

Just in case I wasn't there.

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J is going to go back to the middle school this week. The first impression we all had wasn't great. At this point, we have enrolled the 4 other kids in public school for next year, but not J. I have made lots of phone calls and finally connected with a man who will be his counselor next year. I explained that J was the most excited about going to public school, but after visiting is now the least excited. I asked if there was some way he could think of that we could come back, visit and leave with a better impression.

Mr. C, the counselor, is going to try again. I don't know what he's going to show J, but he is going to offer to let J shadow a student. I don't know if J wants to do that, but I am encouraging him to do so.

J also has a choice of band or art/technology next year. He's not at all interested in art and already knows the technology they will teach so he's going to take band. That gives him exactly 4.2 months to learn an instrument. :-)

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J will go in on Wednesday to start the whole braces process. He'll have them for 18 months.

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The kids only have 6 more weeks to go before their online classes will be over. We are ready for that break. We will continue our schooling until the end of June, along with math during the summer.

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Just Pictures

The Cast

Today was the big day for Little Miss to get a cast on. After an hour wait....not sure why, they re-x-rayed the break. Turns out it is still a little bit too broken. The doctor wasn't comfortable removing the splint to put on a hard cast. She was concerned that the bones would move out of place because there is not enough new bone growth to keep it in place yet. So, she put a hot pink, sparkly cast on over the splint. In 2 weeks we will take her in and repeat the process, hopefully getting a new cast.

Serena is able to move all her fingers now, but the first and second she has to really think about moving before they will move and bending them is quite difficult. It is possible that this will just go away as the swelling continues to go down and the break continues to heal itself.

I was so very glad that I had given her some pain meds an hour before her appointment because the maneuvering of her fingers was painful even with the meds. She handled it quite well and just let them do their thing but I could tell it hurt her and she is in more pain tonight than usual. This was not unexpected and the doctor and I had discussed her pain regimen and Perry is going to pick up more of the same pain meds.

We were so close to Perry's work that we stopped to visit him and he introduced us to his new team. Even though it's been 6 months, the kids and I hardly ever go to his work now that he is working in Redmond again. We went quite often when he was working in Issaquah because it was much closer.

My jaw is so much better today than yesterday. Yesterday I was back in to the dentist the pain was so horrible and had been since the surgery. He put me on stronger pain meds and a steroidal anti inflammatory. What a HUGE difference 24 hours has made. Today, the pain is bearable and I'm hoping it just continues to get better. The dentist said to expect another week or two before healing.

The boys are continuing to do their work despite all the difficulties of S and I. I am thankful for that, but they would sure like their mom back painfree.

It's Been Too Long.....

I told Perry I was going to kidnap him. He was all for it. The boys were bummed because they LOVE to go shooting. Did I mention that it was raining? Hard.

We shot at targets and golf balls. I was surprised that I was able to send one flying. I was even more surprised when Perry sent one flying that was barely peeking out of that puddle way behind the targets. He was aiming between the 2 barrels and it was barely noticeable.

This is the first time Perry and I have gone alone to the range. We usually change out the kids, each of us taking turns shooting. My target is to the left. The range was empty which is always nice.

We always practice as if it's an emergency and I don't have much time to line everything up. Draw and shoot. It went well with the .45. Perry was interested to see if the gun would jam since we keep it cocked and locked in the safe. I am happy to report that there was no jamming. Not so wonderful when I used the .380, which, incidentally is my gun and the one I carry with me if I am without Perry. I have a new concelaed carry backpack coming. I'm hoping it will leave my hands free to deal with the kids and that the kids and I can go other places, now that they are older, so we don't have to wait for Perry to take us.

However, I'm re-thinking taking the .380. Seriously. It jammed over and over. Perry thinks it's because of the way I'm holding it, but whatever.....I'm sure I'll hold it the same way in an emergency. It's just that the .45 is a little bigger than I like to carry. We (or rather Perry) are going to clean the .380, buy some better ammo and see if it solves the problem.

Perry stopped and bought my mom and S flowers on the way home. We still need to have an Easter egg hunt inside since it apparently is not going to stop raining today.

.....Perry and I had a blast.

What To Do...

It has just occurred to me this extremely wet Easter Sunday that I could kidnap Perry, make him use his precious ammo and convince him to take me shooting. Alone!

This is new to us since the kids are older and able to stay alone. The boys have been for awhile, but we rarely leave S with them. Just because she doesn't obey them. It's for the boys safety!!

However, the gun range is all of 10 minutes from here so I'm going to go kidnap him for a few hours.

When It Rains.......

I must say that this has not been a particularly good couple of weeks. I don't exactly understand how so many things can go wrong for one family. Sometimes, it seems a bit never-ending. I accept what is because there is little else to do, but sometimes it just plain sucks.

On Tuesday, I felt that S's pain was under control enough to leave the house for the day. We went to a friend's house and visited. On the way home one of my teeth broke. It is one that had a crown and had problems when I fell trying to save S 2 years ago.

To make a very long and painful story short. I went to the dentist the next day. That turned into a surprise jaw surgery. After 2 very painful and long, long hours I came home with strict instructions not to pretty much do anything for a couple of days and don't do this or that for the next 3 weeks. Days 2 and 3 post surgery are going to be more painful than today. This whole process to get this fixed is going to take around 6 months, off and on.

When the numbing medicine wore off, holy moly, the pain was absolutely incredible. I really thought I was going to have to go to the hospital for a shot of something stronger. I may still end up having to do that. Perry ended up coming home, having no idea I was going to end up with a bone and membrane graft and that this was going to be such a big deal.

Day 2 led to Perry working, the toilet overflowing, me laying in bed not moving.

So......today is day 3. I can't say I'm on top of the pain, but I'm trying to find a way to be. I am glad we were able to celebrate J's 12th birthday.

Tomorrow, we are going to decorate 8 dozen eggs. Hopefully catch up on laundry. Love each other. I'm sure hoping tomorrow is a little more painfree than the last 3 days have been.

This is making the headaches and neuropathy seem like a picnic.

Prayers that the stitches disolve when they are supposed to, I think there are 12 or so, and that the membrane graft heals and becomes part of my jaw bone (at least I think that is what is supposed to happen) are greatly appreciated. Oh and that the bone graft does whatever it's supposed to.

Lego Birthday #12

Due to my jaw surgery, Perry decided, with a little help from me, to work from home.

I woke up, Perry gave me pain meds because I was in so much pain I couldn't actually move or at least I didn't want to move. An hour later the pain was such that I decided to join the rest of the family. Just want to put in here that if it hadn't been J's birthday I wouldn't have gotten out of bed.

I showed J his Birthday Letter. I'm sure it touched him and made him feel all sorts of special.

Little Miss and I hurriedly got ready and Perry took us all out to the Spaghetti Factory for J's birthday lunch/dinner (we bought extra so I wouldn't have to cook tonight). I was actually able to eat 1/2 c of food before I just gave up. I took more of my pain meds hoping that they would take affect and we could take J to the Lego store.

They didn't take affect so Perry took the non-birthday kids and I home before going in to work for a meeting. He took J to work with him so the rest of us could decorate his cake.

I took a different type of pain med when I got home because I really wanted to decorate J's cake. The night before E had made the cake so it would be cool for us to decorate. During this time my mom stopped by to see how I was doing. M came to tell us that the dishwasher Grandma gave us is broken because there are suds coming out of it.

M loaded the dishwasher as per Perry's instructions to him. When he started it he put in dishwashing liquid instead of the white powder dish soap that I keep in a jar under the sink. There were suds covering 1/4 of the kitchen floor and the dishwasher was making more every single second. It was totally great. Not.

I'm so glad my mom was here because I wouldn't have been able to clean it up anyway. She enlisted E's help and M's and did whatever they did to clean it up while I went back and laid down.

After about 45 minutes I felt like I could actually move enough to decorate. Now......seems all of us had an idea about how to decorate a "Lego Cake".

I started out explaining that I was going to do it my way. Then.......I felt guilty. It doesn't actually have to be perfect. Right? It's the thought and fact that everyone wants to do this for J that is what is important. Right? It doesn't really matter if there is cake showing through the frosting. Right?

I had three bricks to frost. I let M - red, J-man - blue and S - yellow pick the color they wanted their brick to be. E helped make the tops of the bricks. In the end, it all came together. We all decided how to arrange the bricks. There were a few too many figures on it, but, J liked it and it tasted like food coloring and sugar, so all was well. Shhhh......I know food coloring doesn't taste, but S sure thinks it does.

Perry and J arrived home. We lit candles, sang happy birthday and devoured the cake.

We wrote wishes/prayers on J's 12, green balloons, went outside and let them go while praying for J's future. We watched them until they disappeared, reflecting on life.

We all piled in the Suburban and drove to Snoqualmie Falls, just to be. It was a cool night. So beautiful.

Happy 12th birthday J.

Letter to J - 12th Birthday

What a year this has been for you. Your body has changed from boy to man. The hormones that flow through allowing this to happen have manifested themselves in many ways. Sometimes the testosterone is so thick in the house that S and I can barely wade through.

You are still close to your dad. However, your protectiveness of me is ever-present. It's kind of interesting to see your dad's influence in how he treats his wife. You and E often treat me how your dad treats me. I think your wife will be fortunate to have you. I pray for your wife as she's growing up.

This has been the first year that you and E can ride into town on your bikes by yourselves. The first time you have stayed home alone. The first time you have been in charge at home while I am gone. The first time in men's size clothing. The first time in your own bedroom. The first time on the other side of the house from your dad and I. The first time I've seen older girls "check you out." I want to tell them that you are ONLY 11 YEARS OLD. I can tell they think you are older. The first time that you are allowed to have a fire outside, in the pit, without an adult present.

The first year, in which, I can tell that you feel more like a man than a child. That in between time that makes it easier for me to someday see you as a man with your own family. Me, wanting, for you, what your dad and I have and more.

This year, your moods fluctuate wildly. You hate it. I don't blame you. I hate it when it happens to me too. However, dear son of mine, I can honestly tell you that you will work through it, come out a stronger boy/man, and be a better person because of it. It's all a part of God refining us.

I hope that your twelfth year is one of your best years. Your dad will challenge you physically. It's his plan to direct the testosterone in the house into a positive direction. You may as well accept it.

This will be the first year in which you attend a public school. That will bring on lots of new, exciting adventures for you. Remember, education now, girls later. ;-)

All my love to you Dear Son. I still remember you when you were 18 mo old, sitting on the counter playing in the sink while I did the dishes. You were jabbering away to me, smiling, stopping to hug me with your wet/soapy hands, completely enjoying yourself. I was enjoying you too. You were my little shadow. All of you were until you were between 3-4. I loved it and cherished it.

May your life be full of God and lots of fun adventures. I love you.

Romance Is Still Alive - Not necessarily G rated

At least in this house.

Perry and I are the first to admit that we enjoy the physical aspects of marriage. I don't know if the boys ever noticed, especially at young ages, us hugging and kissing, except to want to get in between us and be hugged and kissed on too.

A couple of weeks ago Perry and I were in the kitchen embracing and such. We thought we were alone. However, it turns out that Little Miss had come in.

Fast forward to our bike ride this last weekend.

I sat down beside a man with Little Miss on my lap while we waited for our order to be called. S turned to face me saying, "Mommy, let's practice kissing the way you and daddy did the other day in the kitchen." Now...it's important to get the whole hand flinging through the air and hair being tossed while she says this - it really adds to the whole effect. "You know, where you use your tongue and he put his tongue in your mouth and stuff."

By now the man next to me is attempting to hold in his laughter while I explain laughingly that, "You may only kiss your husband that way."

Pain Control

Well....the bicycle ride went well. My calves and quads are absopositutely killing me today. I'm so surprised by this. We bike ride often and for much longer rides. I think my legs hurt because J keeps up a steady, fast speed, thereby not giving my legs a break, at all. When I go with the Little's, we stop so much that I get all the break I want and more. However, we are still going to head out on a long bike ride since it is sunny and beeyootiful.

Pain control for Little Miss has not gone so well. After calling our family doc, whose nurse said snottily, "It would have been better if you would have called before 3:30 on a Friday. I told her "never mind" and hung up on her. Perry then talked to the orthopedic doctor who told us to take S to the ER and get an x-ray.

I took her. Everything, thankfully looks the same. Her hand is still very swollen and obviously broken. She is in a LOT of pain at night. He put her back on the stronger narcotic because the pain was breaking through the Lortab after 2 hours and then I had nothing to give her for the pain. It would be a whole lot better here if she could have ibuprofen. I don't think we would have this issue because ibuprofen works better for any bone pain.

Last night, she fell asleep with Perry. She slept for 4 hours, woke up. I gave her pain meds. They take 45 minutes to work. We stayed awake for 45 minutes, then she slept for another 4hours to repeat the whole process until we got out of bed. That was a lot more sleep than we've gotten since she broke her wrist.

I'm off to fix breakfast while Perry and E change flat tires.

Bicycling

I'm working on The Break post, but it is not raining right now. I'm going to gather the troops and head out on a bike ride. I figure Little Miss can linger in her bicycle seat, eat bon bons and enjoy riding instead of sitting on the couch.

Did I mention that the doctor would like her to do nothing until the swelling is down and her permanent (hard) cast is put on the 14th of April? No, well, she's getting a bit bored.

Any one who knows S knows that she is a very active little girl.

Pain Relief

Pain relief for Little Miss is the pits, we're finding out, with a broken bone. The pain relief of choice for a broken bone would be an anti-inflammatory, which she can't have. She came home from the hospital on oxycodone - all was well. It was a small amount to take 1.5 ml and I would give her separate Tylenol. We were running out of oxycodone so the doctor prescribed a generic coding with Tylenol - 5 ml.

It was the nastiest tasting medicine. It became a fight every time. Therefore, Little Miss and I were (still are) getting very, very little sleep. She would toss and turn from the pain, but refuse to take the medicine. Forcing her doesn't work because it was making her stomach sick anyway and she would just throw up.

Yesterday, I called the pharmacy to see if they could make it taste a little less like taking a shot of whiskey. They said they couldn't, but call a compounding pharmacy close to us who flavors medicines. I did that. S and I then headed into Fall City, the pharmacy is called Fall's Compounding Pharmacy, to find out that we had passed it and it was in Snoqualmie. Okkeedokkeee.

I paid the $10 happily to have this vile liquid flavored with grape. Little Miss refused to taste test, but I did and even though it is still bad, at least the aftertaste is grape instead of whiskey-flavored. Incidentally, I really, really liked the pharmacy and am going to check to see if they take our insurance.

I can't say last night went any better, it's hard for S to realize that she is in pain and that is what is keeping her awake. However, this morning she took her medicine with out gagging and complaining.

I do feel for her. She just doesn't know what to do with her arm that hurts so much. I hope she takes a nap so that, at least, one of us is getting some sleep.