6/22

Well, Brittney goes home on Monday so I think things will calm down a little then. In the meantime, we have Paramount King’s Island this weekend. We have been meaning to go, but have just never made it. I hope its fun. I imagine the kids will be happy either way. It’s the adults in the crowd who will need a break! I figure I will be going on a fair amount of the rides too. I actually really enjoy riding roller coasters and stuff, so it won’t be a burden.
We can chalk up two more ER visits this week. Mercedes woke up in the middle of the night on Monday and I took her in. I thought it was an asthma attack, but the doctor said it is Croup. She’s continuing to have problems, but we have not taken her back in. The doctor said we should if she had any more attacks, but it hasn’t seemed necessary. It’s just hard on us. The second ER visit was for Derek. He was having more problems with his back so he went in and they gave him Vicodin and Valium. They also think he has pneumonia, so he’s on anti-biotics.
Mason has another ear infection as well, so he’s also on anti-biotics. He’s not too happy about it, but if it will get rid of whatever is going on, I don’t care. This is the third one in a short period of time so it’s getting to be a real pain in the behind. He gets high fevers and is fussy and lethargic which really bothers us. He’s a lot more fun when he feels good.
Alexis and Brittney seem to be healthy which is a blessing. They have been helping me out by folding clothes and giving Derek a hand around the house. We got swim passes for them, but they haven’t used them yet so I hope they get to use them soon. If nothing else, maybe they can go to the pool on Saturday and get out of my hair : )
The girls asked for coloring books this week, so went to the store last night and picked some up. Then we spent an hour or two coloring last night. We even had the TV turned off if you can believe that. I think we all enjoyed ourselves, though I didn’t ask. It was something new for us though. The night before we had the TV off and were playing board games. Mercedes won, of course. I won’t say she cheats, but I think we are more lenient with her. I think a game of UNO is in order.
There have been a lot of deployment opportunities coming down, but I have not volunteered for any. I have been tempted though. My Major’s board is next year and it would not hurt to have a deployment under my belt before then, but Derek doesn’t think it would be a good idea. He’s on his last year of school, so me being gone right now would cause him a lot of problems. I could still go in January 2007, though, and that’s without volunteering. In some ways, I would just like a change of pace. Deployments remind me of why I am in the Air Force.

Go Cheerios!

He's quiet for a minute, so we'll see how far I get.

I took three days off to be with Derek after his surgery, which he didn't have. THe neurosurgeon would not clear him. In fact, this neurosurgeon he saw wants him to see a more specialized neurosugeon in Cincinnati. And he thinks Derek should have the surgery in the next 6 months. Lovely.

Derek has the next month off to rest and get his bearings back. Hopefully it will recharge his batteries. We've both been running on empty, so maybe if one of us can get caught back up, the other will follow suit.

We got pictures of the kids on Friday. I am going to post them so if you want to see how beautiful everyone looked you can click on the links to the right. As always, I think the kids are amazing.

Home Again Home Again

I survived and I am not broke : ) I got cinnamon bread, sciabatta, and a crusty italian loaf. Plus I got amish butter and somekind of horseradish cheese spread. PLUS, there were these two absolutely gorgeous tomatoes. 2 1/2 lbs worth! Derek and Brittney will be thrilled, I hope.

Yes, it was fun. I am such an open air market junkie. I also got fresh flowers! I so miss having fresh flowers on a regular basis. And they had Iris. I love IRIS!

Goin' to the market

There's a market in Dayton, Ohio and I'm going. It's Saturday morning before 0800 and I am awake and I'm going to the Farmer's market. I am going to eat breakfast there at one of those little specialty shops and I am going to enjoy it. I am going to buy foccacia bread and cinnamon bread that someone else worked very hard on, and I am going to love it. I am going to leave all of the kids home with Derek and I am going to love that too. I do not feel guilty about this - at all.

I went through a whole week of no ER visits. We did find out that Derek will NOT be having knee surgery. His neurosurgeon says no general anethesia AND Derek needs the neck surgery in the next 6 months AND he won't do it. The neurosurgeon wants Derek to go to someone who specializes in rheumatology and surgery. Yeesh - how specialized can you get? I'm sorry Ma'am, I can only work on your big toe on your right foot every other Tuesday at 0900? No freaking wonder it costs so much to go to the doctor.

We (the kids and I) went to Kansas last weekend. Of course, for whatever reason, I was sick! Yea, that made the trip so muchmore fun. We went and visited Mom, who, by the way, I REALLY miss! We left her flowers which does not seem adequate, but it's the best we could do. We also went to Boothill Museum. Yes, there really is a Boothill in Dodge City, KS. We saw the gunfight,a te a chuckwagon dinner, and saw the variety show with Can Can Dancers at the LongBranch Saloon. The kids had a ball. The van we rented worked out very well for us, and would be something to consider again int he future. Of course it would only be for shorter trips. The cost would kill us for anything more that 4 or 5 days.

We have a busy weekend planned. Today we are going to get our hair cut. All of us! Oh yea, we have 3 hours set aside for that alone. From there, we are coming home for a neighborhood shrimp bake. That ought to be fun. We might go see XMEN III if we can get away early enough. Tomorrow we have a birthday party, a soccer game and then we are going horseback riding. We are gonna be beat once we get home!

My ride is here, so have a LOVELY day!