Colby and the Cat

How do you get a five year old to stop terrorizing the cat?  He loves the cat, the cat HATES him.  Every chance he gets he picks up the cat, usually by the rear end.  The cat immediately starts meowing loudly and in a way you would think she is being murdered.  He thinks she’s talking to him, telling him how much she loves him.  Most of the time she sees him coming and runs, fast, far away.  The rest of the time he sees her, sneaks up on her and jumps on her while screaming like a wild banshee.  He carries her around until the dog chases them, I tell him to put her down or something more interesting comes along.

Ben and his cat, who I am sure he terrorized and Colby trying to get his cat.

Yesterday, when he came home from church he saw Sprinkles as he was getting out of the car.  He asked her, “Well, are you coming home today?”

I’m thinking she wanted to say, “When you leave.”

That could be at least 13 years, she’ll have to come home before then or she won’t get to eat.

The Renovation Begins…and my month long headache

Ben decided it was a great idea to start the kitchen renovations…without a longterm plan. So my kitchen sits with a crunky looking wall and I am wondering how long it will be until it is fixed. Based on the past, I am giving it two months or more to be finished. Maybe he’ll surprise me and finish sooner. Is there some kind of incentive plan for husbands to finish renovation work as quickly as possible? No, not that, I know what you are all thinking…

The last two pictures are from the garage project. Ben and about three other guys decided they could do the door, no problem. Benji decided to help, so he put on his rocker glasses and decides to go outside. In the meantime, Ben discovered he had completely messed up (notice the rail is in the ladder) and had to take it apart to fix it. After 8 hours the door was installed and almost done…I’m still waiting for the springs to be put on.

Dogs, Dogs, Kids and Water?!?

So today was Jack’s first visit to the dog park.  He did so well, he came when I called, let Jenna meet new dogs first and didn’t eat any poop!  Hooray for my new boy.  I’m going to have to take them both more often, because…

The next door neighbors daughter moved in their home and brought a six month old puppy, pit bull, Bow.  My dogs and her dog spent all morning running the fence, barking and irritating each other and their people.  After the dog park my guys came home, fell over in their kennels and have yet to utter a bark at Bow.  The neighbors usually only spend the weekends at this house and the rest of their time elsewhere so it will be nice to have a full time neighbor, but the dogs are going to have to stop barking from 6:30am until I make them get to bed. The kids think it is so funny and love Bow, but the constant barking is utterly annoying…

Speaking of annoying, what is it with kids and water?  When they are fully clothed, they want to drown themselves in it.  When they have a pool, sprinkler, sunscreen and swimming trunks on they won’t set a foot in it and want to go in to watch Spiderman.  My girlfriend, Angie and I took the kids to a sprinkler park the other day and the kids would barely go near it.  Today she set up the pool and sprinkler at her house and they wouldn’t get in it.  I even tried watermelon as a bribe, it was a no go.  Of course 3 hours later they wanted to get in the pool, after a bath and dinner.  Go figure.  I’m done trying to keep them happy.  I’ll try anything, multiple times, so maybe one day they’ll get in the water and have a fun time.  For now, I guess they’ll settle for throwing rocks in it and at each other and crying to go inside and play Candyland.

The Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Attacks on Marriage

I have so much to say on this subject, but I need time to collect and organize my thoughts.

I am saddened, deeply overwhelmed by grief about the state of marriages in our country.  I am constantly amazed by the choices we make concerning the one person we are supposed to love the most.  How do people choose to hurt the people who are supposed to mean the most to them?

After all my husband and I have been through I see that real love and work and above all a true trust in God can make miracles happen.  We had a rocky start, a miscarriage, many separations due to the military, a complete lack of trust, addictions and personality conflicts.  Above all else we both turned to God, begged for help and grace and now, seven and half years later we have never been happier.

Real, be real and honest to your spouse.  If you are going to claim to be a Christian, be one, inside and out.  Don’t play games, don’t tell lies, be honest.  Now more than ever I realized that I was trying to figure out who I was while trying to figure out what kind of wife and mother I was.  When God took control and helped me realize who I really was I became the person I’ve always wanted to be.  I’m not perfect, I make plenty of mistakes, but now I can honestly share my problems with my husband and he can do that with me.  That makes the difference.  If you can’t be real with your husband or wife, who can you be real with?

Boarding House for Dogs…

Well, we had a guest on Friday night… a little, old, ugly dog was standing outside our fence while Jenna and Jackson barked at her. I suppose they were telling her, “Stay there, you can spend the night with us!” I went out, saw her and brought her in. Ben immediately plopped her on the front porch and told her to go home. Ten minutes later, the cat was sitting next to her, they both came in. She took over MY chair and slept at our house that night. Around 1:30am, she decided to finally bark at the cat (probably trying to prove to us that she was in fact a real dog buried in a little white puff of fur). I went running from the bed to shut her and Jackson up (He had joined the fun) and I ran right into the door. The next day I spent explaining to my friends that, Yes, I REALLY did run into the door and NO, Ben didn’t have anything to do with it…well, he did laugh and then offered me some ice, what a gentleman. Anyway, the dog went to her home the next day after I called the Humane Society and I got left with a shiner for doing a good deed. Don’t worry, pictures to follow.

I said WHAT?

“Don’t put the hockey helmet on the dog!”

“Don’t lock you brother and the dog in the dog kennel!”

“Stop painting the dog with nail polish!”

“Don’t put glue in the bathtub!”

I realized today that I say tons of weird stuff that I NEVER thought I would say.  Thanks to children my speech has changed.  I never talked baby talk, I always thought it was weird.  I had long conversations over a breastfeeding session with a 14 month old.  Some of the things I said, I’ll probably never say again, until I have grandchildren, then I figure I’ll let them do what they want just to get back at my kids.  So I’m listing some of my favorite momisms, what are yours?

“Don’t pee on the dog!”

“Who put spiderman in the toilet?”

“Cool superman toy, can you go show the dogs?”

“What is this red gook in my hair?”

“Is that poop on the TV?”

I promise these are all lines coined by me directed toward my children.  This is why I am a full time mother, Life cannot be any better than this!

Catch Up!!! Get ready to read

So, here’s the latest…

Ben came home, he looked great, felt great and is super happy to be home, BUT…

He hated the new dog, Tiny, and Tiny hated him and showed it by growling, pooping and peeing everywhere…

So, we gave him back to his previous owner…

Then Jenna entered into a deep state of depression because her buddy was gone, so…

I got another dog, Jack (he was Cinch when we got him, but we’re taking name ideas right now) he is a 6 month old Anatolian Shepherd, Mutt mix. He is way cute and I’ll get pics up as soon as I get batteries in my camera. Jenna loves him, Colby loves him, Benji loves him, Sprinkles loves him, I adore him and Ben is starting to fall for him.

We’ve been super busy with church and the military ministry I am coordinating. I am hoping that this new ministry will reach out and help those families that just need a connection. I know what it is like to be far from home, no friends, no family and wonder if I’ll ever find a friend I can call at 2am when I’m missing my husband. I have found that friend here in CO, in fact I’ve found two! I hope that families will get involved and become a strong and supportive military family. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

This week we have had so much fun and it is only Wednesday. We saw the elephants from the circus march to the World Arena and got tickets for opening night, tomorrow night! We are having our first military family picnic on Saturday, I really hope somebody shows up.

Yesterday the boys and I and my friend and her kids went to the spray park. Of course nobody liked it and only Colby ran through a couple of times. Seriously, when did kids stop liking playing in the water? I think the only time they want to play in the water is if they are creating a mud hole the size of Rhode Island in the backyard. We are going to try it again with Dad on Friday, hopefully he can bring out the craziness in the boys and get them to play in the cool sprinklers.

Enough already, I’m going to fold one load of clothes, read my book and hit the sack. Ben is climbing to the top of Pike’s Peak tomorrow and has to leave at 3am, so I want to be able to at least roll over, wish him luck and get back to sleeping.

Oh, and my house looks like the Army puked all over it after eating too many ACUs and green and beige stuff, Kevlar vests, compasses, duffel bags, cases that attach to something else, M16 clips, and anything else it could find in the trunk of a soldier’s car…somebody really out pick this stuff up.

New Baby Tired…Homecoming

I am so tired right now I feel like I did one week after having a baby.  You know that dazed look in your eyes, can’t concentrate on anything, walking around forgetting where you left your coffee tired.  I still do that, but it is getting worse.  My eyes are so tired I’m having a hard time watching the boys hit each other with sticks in the backyard.  I have had 4 cups of coffee and a monster and still I feel like I could sleep contentedly for at least 6 hours.

Today is the big day!  Ben is coming home, actually less than four hours and we will be reunited.  I have to say I missed him an awful lot and cannot wait for the normal life to be back in full swing.  It will be nice to have a husband come home at night, watch stupid movies with and eat dinner with.  The best part (besides the “mom/dad wrestling time”) will be another adult for the boys to cling to.  I’m so ready for someone else to say, “stop that, go to bed, don’t put hockey helmets on the dogs, no you can’t sit in the fireplace, that is not the intended use of an umbrella, don’t bring the water hose in the house”"…and all those other everyday normal things parents say.

So, needless to say I’m a little nervous, anxious, excited and super tired.  Maybe after we have lunch he’ll let me sleep and he can pick the boys up from school.  I can dream, right?