Technology stinks

Ok, not really. I actually like technology. It is the inability to use it that makes me want to scream.

So it begins...I want an iPhone. Yes, I know, even with all of Apple's proprietary stuff, I still want one. I have an iPod touch and love it. Now I want the phone that will do everything but the dishes (and there may be an app for that).

Rob finally relented and got me one. Well, it isn't here, but he also got himself a new phone so that it will do more than "just call people," which is by the way all he wanted before I started talking about an iPhone. His phone did arrive, and he just couldn't wait. So he activated it. As a result, I lost service. To be honest, I felt this would happen. There were just too many moving parts for it to all go well...and that is about par for the week to have it all go wrong.

After it went wrong, it took Rob 4 hours of phone calls to get my number back and on the Verizon net so I wouldn't be without service. While I applaud his efforts, I do want to scream at the amount of time it took.

Last Adventures

Simone and I took the boys to Lattin's Cider Mill. Simone is one of the first people I met in MOMS Club, and we have really built a nice friendship. Her olderst, Alex, is a year older than Anthony, and her youngest is Gabe's age. It was a really nice, comfortable fit for us all.

We went to Lattin's to feed the animals and just hang out one last time. Here are a few pics of the boys. There are no pics of Anthony feeding the animals because he chooses to toss the food from about 4 feet back.

Anthony's School Graduation

Anthony had his school program and graduation today. The class did a cute little program to show all the things they learned. At the end, Teacher Cindy presented them each with a book of their work through out the year. Below are some videos. The first is him saying The Lord's Prayer. The second is a song he love to sing called the butterfly song. This is the chorus, "He gave me a heart, and He gave me a smile, He gave me Jesus and He made me a child. But I just thank you Lord for making me, me."

Here he is receiving his diploma :-)

Vancouver posts

Ok family, I am trying to get them all done. I have 2 done and 5 to go. scroll down to find them.

Stop interupting me!

This weekend was my Aunt Penny's funeral. The turnout was spectacular. How wonderful to see all the people she touched from such a wide array of life. But it was also painful beyond words. As I have said before, my mom and her sisters are inseparable. Watching them all deal with the grief made me want to scream out, "This just isn't fair! She didn't deserve this...none of them do!" My mom gave one of the eulogies and did a great job. I am always so impressed when she decides to use the courage I know she has. I cannot imagine the pain that is in her heart.

But with every dark cloud there is a silver lining and this one had three.

First, all of my cousins were there. It was wonderful to catch up with them. We don't stay in touch as much as we should, so this was nice.

Second, there was a wonderful lesson in family. When I looked at the family row, I had to smile. Her son Aaron was sitting with his ex-wife's daughter from a new marriage on his lap (she calls him daddy Aaron). There were parents of in-laws in the row. Aunts, uncles, cousins twice removed. What a testament to our family...it is not about blood, it is about love and inclusion. The best part was not one of us would have that someone in that row wasn't family!

And third, as I was listening to one of the men she worked with give a eulogy, he said something that made me re-evaluate my role. He was relating the story of a junior pastor who complained that he would be able to do his job better if people would just stop interrupting him. The response of the senior pastor was, "you're job is the interruptions."

How many times do I treat my children as an interruption to what I am doing...the dishes, dinner, working on school work, talking with friends? Probably more than i would care to admit. My pledge today is to try and give my children more undivided attention. I will still need to do other things (after all, an important lesson in life is also that it doesn't revolve around you), but i will work to give them the time to not be an interruption. I will try not to silently scream when they come running up to me just as I sit down to do something for me. This time is passing too quickly with them...one day they will not want me to hug and kiss them, especially in public. There will be fewer shouts of, "I love you," from the top of the stairs or over the baby gates. I do truly love these moments, and will try to not let them slip away unnoticed.

Now I must go wake my little interruptions from their peaceful slumber :-)

Today is Brought to you by G, A, and C

G...is for Grrr and Gabe. At 5 this morning (as the sun was rising in Washington), I found Gabe crying and wandering around downstairs looking for everyone. It took 10 min to convince him that everything was OK and we were all just sleeping. GRRRR

A...is for AAAAHHHH and Anthony. At 5:30, Anthony woke up with a bloody nose. He was much more malleable and went right back to sleep after I got him a Kleenex and stopped the bleeding. Then I looked at his wall. He had wiped his bloody little fingers on it about 10x. AAAHHHH.

C...is for Coffee which I am pouring right now because it will just be one of those days.

Closing Tomorrow

So, we close on our house in KS tomorrow. I was a bit skeptical at first about buying a house in KS. The idea of two mortgages panics me. I know we are fine....but the little voice in my head has a thousand what-ifs. However, after the housing list for on post housing at Ft Leavenworth came out and we were 249/479 on the waiting list, I am much happier with the decision. Anyways, here is the house we bought. Hope it all works out for us :-)

http://webhosts.cisdata.net/bin/rea.php?action=HOME_SEARCH&listing_id=REATOP48753907&hs_action=VIEW_DETAIL&acnt=AR47644

2 more classes down

only like 4 million to go. Ok, not really, but it feels that way. I am too far in to quit, but far from the end to see it. I finsihed my 2 spring classes with As. I have 2 more classes that start on 1 Jun. Yes, I am well aware that I will be moving during that time, but such is life.

I am putting in picture posts from Vancouver and Victoria.

Part Deux

I am now blogging from our second hotel of the night. We were evacuated from the first due to the bomb scare. Yes, that is right...someone put a pipe bomb in front of the royal courthouse in Victoria which happened to be across the street from our hotel.

Gabe slept through the whole event. I swear that he can sleep through a bomb, but give him a comfortable bed in a dark room and he is up every hour.

Anthony was a super trooper. He carried his 'stuff' and walked just like we really needed him too. Kids can be so resilient.

i am also back dating posts on our vacation.

blogging from the bomb scare

nope, not kidding!

We are in Victoria BC right now on vacation and there is a bomb scare at the court house across the street. The building is being evacuated.

Rob said he can't believe he is having to pay for this. Last time he had to run from a bomb, he got extra pay.

Sad

I know that I usually put all the happy things my family does in this blog, but today I needed a pity party. My Aunt Penny lost her battle with leukemia today. She was diagnosed a little over a year ago and it was caught in the early stages. Everyone was very optomistic about her chances. But it has been a very long road for her and the family. My mom is one of 5 girls...and they are all very close. Still to this day they hardly do anything without a conference of the whole clan.

This is something that happens in other families, not mine. It is a news story or a donation to a fund. i just want to scream "It isn't fair!"

The funeral will be on May 30th, but it still just isn't fair!

Vancouver Day 2

We spent the day in Stanley park. It is 1000 acres of beautiful park in the middle of the city. Wow! They have hiking trails, an aquarium, a petting zoo, a splash pad and so much more. On a warm day I think the whole city just goes there to hang out.

We started on a play ground. Even Rob got into the spirit!

Then took a little walk around the water to watch the float planes and boats.

Then we headed to the petting zoo. Apparently waking at 5am with the sun had worn Gabe out, because he fell asleep in the stroller at 11 and took about a 1 hour nap.

After, we ate our picnic lunch and then headed to the splash pad because it was a beautiful sunny day. The boys loved it once they got into playing. I thought the water was freezing...but I know kids have a different standard.

Vancouver Day 1

Our trip to Vancouver was great. We went with my parents and everyone really had a good time. We picked them up from the airport at around 930pm (a little later than intended, but oh well). Then we drove straight to Vancouver, about a 2.5 hour drive. The boys didn't fall asleep till around 10pm because they were so excited.

There is a reason I have no pillows on my couch. Both boys seem to think they must be used for making a nest, a fort, etc all the time.

The first day we went to Granville Island which has a little farmer's market. We picked up a few things to go with the spaghetti we were planning to make. The boys got to run around and play, but it wasn't too much effort for any of the adults.

Angry

I hate my brother sometimes! He has always been self absorbed...really. He has been in and out of jail for the last decade. He will pretend to clean up for a bit and then be right back where he left off. Most of his problems stem from drugs or alcohol. I am sure I should feel sorry for him, but I am out of that emotion. I would happily help him, if he recognized that anything in his life was his own doing. Instead, it is my parents fault for not giving him money (a lie), or mine for always getting what I want (nevermind that I worked for it), or God's for not showing him the way (too drunk to see it clearly), or his friends, or the conspiracy of the world against him, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Blacks, or the Hispanics, or, or, or...

Now he is in jail, and will likely be convicted of a felony for passing fake prescriptions or something along those lines. I don't think he even realizes that this is a serious offense. And of course, it isn't his fault. My dad sent a lawyer to talk with him...and my brother decided he would rather take his chances with the public defender than take this from my dad. His comment to my dad was, "don't waste your money on a lawyer, just bail me out."

The thing that ticks me off the most is that he uses this behavior as a way to punish my parents. He knows that it is hard on my mom so he will continue to be destructive to himself just to hurt her.

I still hope that one day he will see how he has hurt those who love him and make the choice to change...but i am no longer waiting for it to happen. I plan that I will have to explain to my children one day about the choices he has made and the consequences he is now facing. He has made his choices...and they will provide a harsh reality that no one should have to face.

Finals

So I am in the midst of my Statistics final. Yikes. I have not a clue what I am doing. It is a very self-taught, self-paced course...not my strong suit. However my biggest problem is me. I want to make things harder than they need to be. Those who knew me in college should not be surprised.

My dad used to say sometimes finding out what you don't want to do in life is just as useful as finding what you do want to do. I now know I don't want to do statistics.

Visit from Grandma Harriette

Rob's mom came in town for a long weekend. They boys couldn't have been happier. We made cards, and hearts, and flowers for her bed. They played, went to the park, went to Pike's Place Market, went to the top of the space needle, had special breakfast (brunch buffet...mmm my favorite).

Here's a few pictures

Anthony is totally into taking pictures right now...he is so cute and so serious with his camera.

A Great Show

Today the kids had a dental appointment. And I am the luckiest mom on earth. They love the dentist. Anthony opens his mouth just like he should. Gabe follows Anthony's example. They were perfect. Gabe let them clean all of his teeth with the tooth polisher. He didn't bite the dentist.

Everyone talked about how cute and sweet they were. That they were great patients. I love when my kids perform so well in public.

Off to do homework. I have a stats test due by the 15th of May plus a lot of homework.

It made me smile

This is part two of Anthony pictures. Every picture he has of a person, they are missing at least part of their head. It is really funny. But even better it reminded me of my Grandma Irene (my dad's mom). She never took a picture where everyone had a head. She would always dip the camera as she pushed the shutter. So here are Anthony's headless shots...

What's Important to You

When you take a picture, it is about what is important to you...what you want to remember. I am always taking pictures of the kids. I don't want to forget all the little moments. So giving Anthony the opportunity to take pictures on his own is a great way to see what he thinks is important. He takes a lot of pictures. 90% are really bad. 10% are recognizable. Not bad at the age of 3.

Here is a sampling of what he likes to take pictures of

I'll try to get better at this

I am back dating posts for our time in TX and other.