One step ahead of myself

This past weekend I received a yellow postcard in the mail, it looks like some kind of ad that I normally throw away without looking at it. For some reason though I brought it inside and it ended up being the postcard that said Congratulations your application for the extended day program has been accepted! That is the 6 to 6 program before and after school for the kids.

I applied last year but never heard anything so I applied again this year in hopes that the kids would get it by next year. Once I figured out that it was accepted I got all excited and did the happy dance, but then I remembered that I didn't enroll Gavin because I knew Ethan wouldn't get in! I've been trying to come up with a plan all weekend and today I finally got ahold of the YMCA and come to find out... I did enroll Gavin and they both got it!

I am so excited that I wont have to rush home from school to pick them up on time and will actually have a few hours to do some homework each day! I also was able to add a History class so I might not have to go to school next summer and will FINALLY have some time off.

I feel bad for the kids, since it's very important to me that I'm able to help them with their homework and everything, but I need just a couple of hours to get my studies done, this will really come in handy while Brandon is out to sea. By me finishing up school now and putting the kids in this program will pay out in the long run for our family, so that ease's my mind.

Date night with Romeo and Juliet

Last night I had date night with Milie. It started out as a requirement for me to go to a play to review for my drama class. I instantly thought of Milie since she is the queen of all things drama (performing arts that is) and asked if she wanted to tag along. We looked it up and it was going to be $5o something a ticket! I actually have to go to two plays, so we thought we would divided it up between pay periods. My teacher emails me with a student discount and we got the tickets for $20 apiece, whoo hoo!

Milie and I had a countdown until the play and all day yesterday I was excited. I got up and got ready and had my hair straightened by 4pm- I was ready to have a night out without any kids! We planned on having dinner first since the play was 4 hours long. I needed gas thought so I left my house at 5:15 to go to the NEX for gas (save a whopping .20 cents a gallon) I get into line only to find out that one of the pumps is down. Here in the military; at least at the NEX once you get into a line your stuck! So I ended up waiting 30 minutes for gas! Oh just an FYI I was below the red line and my car started to shake and was about to die on me. I started looking around to see who can I ask to help push my car up to the pump. Horrible!

Once I finally get the gas it is now 6pm and I'm supposed to already be at Milie's! I speed and get there in about 15-20 minutes; we rush over to the theatre because I was told parking is anywhere from 5-15 minutes’ walking. It was first come first park and those who are late have to park in BFE and hike it over. Luckily for us we found a spot that wasn't too far away and ended up with time to spare.

They are doing some reconstruction over there and all they have is this portable cube that serves premade meals. Oh also we order drinks, and they were those mini bottles! Cute but not worth the money spent! Back to our lovely dinner, we each had these turkey sandwiches on this dark brown bread (never again folks) that came with a salad. I'm not actually sure if you can call it a salad because us poor folks have some lettuces and maybe add some cheese and bacon bits and call it a day. This salad had corn and all kinds of other veggies. Knowing that Milie won’t eat her tomatoes I ask her for hers and she gladly gives it to me (next time she'll think twice about that) I pick it up and bit into it and it squirts into her face! PRICELESS moment I should have taken a picture, but I'm leaving that up Milie to find something just as good.


After our so called dinner we head off to the play, it was amazing! And that isn't even really giving it justice! I have never read the play and I learned a lot that I had assumed was completely wrong. Mercutio was outstanding and the men had to wear these tights that show just about EVERYTHING! Since Brandon has been stuck in a lovely jock strap since his surgery I was trying to figure out if these guys had one on cause there wasn't any lines to say they were, but my goodness I SWEAR Romeo had to stuff his package if not that just isn't right. He is a short little thing as is. Enough of me talking about that. They had their back sides to us for a bit and I had to lean over and tell Milie I couldn’t help myself but I couldn't take my eyes off their rears! Dirty girl (sorry, Lord please forgive me)

I didn't get home till almost midnight but it was an evening that I will never forget! Thanks Milie for going with me.


FYI if you want the better told story of our night go to Milie's blog http://www.thegarrettchronicles.blogspot.com

Finally!

Ethan is 6 1/2 and all his cousins and friends have already started the funny looking age where they lose their teeth, but for some reason Ethan's were in there solid! Just the other day Brandon and I were talking about when he might lose a tooth.

Last night Ethan comes running up stairs and says Daddy's friend broke my tooth! I look and see that one was loose, I told him no that kids lost their teeth and it's no biggie because once it falls out he gets to put it under his bed (he a light sleeper and I don't want to chance getting caught) and the tooth fairly will bring him money! My drama kid ended up crying himself to sleep.

Today every time he eats he acts like it’s the end of the world and says it hurts. He let me look and wiggle it today and since he has been messing with it so much its 3/4 of the way ready to fall out. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll be able to post a picture of my toothless little man!

Boredom

Brandon has been on medical leave for a week now and all we have accomplished is him rehabbing himself from surgery and I've been doing some homework, but other than that we haven't done nothing. We have by some miracle been able to keep the house in order and the kids entertained though; thanks to Wii. They have almost beat Mario Kart and well on their way for Mario Party 8!

Ethan has been writing stories almost everyday since he has been out of school, I think we might have a writer on our hands (he takes after his mommy) Toot Toot, blowing my own horn :-) Gavin is still a no go for school. Brandon and him had a talk about it the other day while they walked to the mini mart and Gavin said he doesn't want to go because he doesn't like Ms. Lowery (that was Ethan's teacher) Brandon asked him why he doesn't like her and he said because she has ugly hair (she has short hair) Brandon asked him what do you mean and he said she looks like a boy. I then asked Brandon what am I going to do if he does get her, what am I going to do; walk into the office and say I need to change teachers because my son has a fear of short hair women?

So that is my life, fun huh?

Correction: I have just been informed that they have already beat Mario Party and are well on their way for Mario Kart; my bad!

Mantequilla codo

(That's Spanish for butter elbow) Many people don't believe me when I tell them that I am Mexican, but truth is I am. Don't I look like a Garcia? Really all my dad gave me was brown eyes, the ability to tan easily, and these nasty dry elbows! I lotion all the time, but it is never enough so I looked up home remedies and it said to message butter for 30 minutes and then leave on for an hour. Well I rubbed for about 30 second and then went and watched a show. The butter started melting so after 45 minutes or so I had to wash it off. And let me tell you that was a treat. Greasy arms, YUCK! Afterwards it said you would be good to go, but I'm taking since mine are truly jacked up it will take a couple of times. Thanks Dad for all things Mexican I get the dry elbows!




Looks like fun huh?

My current life

I haven't blogged since Brandon had his surgery on Friday...all is well, he is in pain, but hasn't been too bad about it. Every time he goes to the bathroom I run after him to see and I always bring my trusted friend, my camera! I know that sounds weird but as Brandon put it it's the time line of his issue. I have before, pre-op, as soon as he came out and I plan to take more once everything goes back to normal. I can't wait to see the before and after!

Other than that Ethan had his last day of school today and he came home saying he is a first grader now and that he goes back in 5 days; which he goes back in 5 weeks. Gavin keeps crying because he thinks that he has to go to school in 5 days and for some reason he doesn't want to go to school. Hopefully I can work on that between now and then.

I still have 3 weeks of school left, Oh I forgot to blog about making Dean's List last year! Not bad huh, I planned to always try my best but if I made passing grades I'm pleased. Now they offered me to join honor society and it would be on my transcripts. Very exciting, when I told the family they all seemed to busy to really care. But Brandon and Milie made me feel good about it, oh can't forget about Hannah she texted me that she is proud of me-thanks Hannah!

I will upload some pictures of the kids and the one's on Brandon on the cocktail acting a fool here in the next few days

Tomorrow's D-day

Tomorrow at 9:30am Brandon reports to surgery, poor guy doesn't know what to do with himself! He's not only having his manhood inappropiately fondled by others but it's being cut open to remove tissue and then stitched up to "heal" but in reality it will be a very painful process. Thank goodness there is always the good old trusted jock strap to keep everything in place.

On the flip side I wont be able to be there when he gets out of surgery because Ethan will be getting his award.

Oh course everything couldn't fall into place, typical mom needed in two places at once!

That's my boy

Ethan came home today with a letter from school sealed in an envelope, I was wondering what could that be? It was a letter to inform me that his school takes pride in building it's students self-esteem and wanted to honor Ethan for his positive self-concepts with his peers and he will be getting an award on Friday. My little devil is such a sweetie with his little friends.

This is the Ethan I know and love...

Hooray for Brandon!

I thought I should post something positive for Brandon, he took his college assessment test today and tested into HONORS! And he thought he wouldn't do well! All he has to do is turn in his military credits and he's good to go in the fall! I'm so proud, plus I love that he gets to feel the stress of having a paper due and trying to still be part of our family. As they say what goes around comes around. (Guess I should stop talking smack since I have a full load this fall, huh?)

Update on Brandon

Brandon came home last night from work acting down and out. I asked what was wrong ans he said he is nervous about his surgery; which they scheduled for this coming Friday! He said they showed him how big the incision will be and he doesn't want them to even do it now! The worst part is Mom looked it up for me and was reading that the hydrocele can actually come back. Brandon immediately says this is a one time chance to get it taken care of because he wont go back if it comes back, he'll just find a way to deal with it. I actually feel bad for him. I remember what it was like having to have surgery at Balboa, it is a teaching hospital and nobody wants to be the guinea pig.

The drama of Hannah's toe

I have been trying to think how was I going to write this without making anyone sick, but there is no way around it. I took pictures along the way and it's only right that I allow y'all to see to get the same feeling I got, you can thank me after for losing your lunch...

We were walking over to the pool, when we had to stop at the gate to let the kids unlock it, Hannah wasn't paying attention and walked into me and her toe hit the back of my foot and all we hear is a crunch. I look back to see what it was and Hannah is bent over and Brandon is jumping back because he saw it first. Her toe nail...

(this is after we washed it off and tried to put it back in place)


here's a different angle


After talking with mom she told us to rip it off, but it was too much for Hannah. We called Keith to ask what his opinion was and he said we had to leave it on so there would be a chance for the nail to grow back. Leaving it on was painful for Hannah so we took her to the ER.

Once we get back to the nurse she looks at it and says OMG you must be in some serious pain, Hannah just laughs and says yeah. They give her some pain meds and we wait for the doctor. They said that she must of just hit it just right becasue it was a one in a million chance of ripping it that way.

The doctor comes in and they take her to x-rays, because they thought she must of hit it with a hard enough force that she may have actually fractured her toe. I call Brandon and we decided that is just the hospital trying to make some money. In the end it wasn't and they have to give Hannah a shot in her toe to numb it and then they cut the nail and push it back into her toe and glue it down. Hannah is balling throughout this process and I'm just watching rubbing Hannah's head telling her it will be okay, but amazed at how they are doing this. Here is what the doctor did...




Hannah is told that she has to stay out of water for 2 weeks (which the amount of time she has left here in San Diego) and we wanted to go to the water park and we had been swimming almost everyday. There goes our plans!

After a few days Gavin accidentally stepped on her toe and it was hurting more than ever, so Hannah had me take a look. This is the day after we had gone back for a follow up where they did absolutely nothing, not even touch her toe! (wonder how much that bill will be) The glue was starting to lift and it had left her skin in a mess! I have pictures of all this but Hannah asked that I don't show becasue she want to save the dignity of her toe! ;)

We pick off some of the glue to relive the pressure and by the next day Hannah had picked off all the glue which made the toe nail come back off. It was just hanging there like a horrible hang nail and after a few tries she managed to rip it off, which relieved all the pain. Now she has a stub with a thin layer of nail left. Wouldn't it suck if it never grows back! A teenager with no toe nail, poor Hannah!

Imagination of kids

I went upstairs to see what all the noise was and this is what I find...


I asked what they are doing and they all say..."Driving!"


My favorite had to be the seat belts


If Ethan's mouth would have been going any faster you might of thought they were actually getting somewhere

Registertion nightmare!

Today was my scheduled appointment for Fall registration and for the last couple of days I have watched the available seats dwindle down to nothing and last night even the wait list closed! I had to rearrange my plans of being able to continue online classes to now I'm going to campus for all but one and the only reason I'm not taking that one on campus is because Brandon and Milie plan to register for the same math class so we can help eachother. That is if it doesn't fill up like all the other classes have! They don't get to register until next week, so cross your fingers cause I really want them in the same class!

Poor poor Brandon

Everyone always jokes that I am the queen at procrastination, but Brandon has taken the cake with this one...

Over a year ago he noticed that something wasn't right and when he was rushed to the ER for his kidney stones told the doctors, but since they brushed it off as no big deal he thought he would do the same.

During deployment the problem only got "bigger" and he finally as a joke showed Doc and thankfully Doc took it more serious and was able to diagnose that he thought he has a hydrocele, but told him to follow up with an ultrasound once they got back home.

Brandon came home in April and just yesterday did he FINALLY follow through with the appointment. He was told that he will need to follow up with urology and have surgery to fix the problem. I asked him just this morning if he was going to call and make an appointment and what do you think he said, "I'm going to wait until after September 16th when all the cheif stuff is done" I get a call a few hours later from Brandon saying that urology called the boat and said he has to come back immediately and have everything taken care of.

So he goes in on Friday and I believe then they will schedule his surgery that will happen in the next few weeks. Brandon is stressed because he has stuff he feels is more important at work and cant handle having to take 2 weeks off of work to recover! That's crazy Brandon more worried about work than his health!

I have intentionally left out detail due to the "area" of the problem, so if you want to know more call us.

Okay Okay I heard you!

I have been harassed for some time now for not blogging in awhile, but I have been really busy with school and family in town, my bad! Lets play catch up...

Hannah, Hailey, and Amya all flew into town 3 1/2 weeks ago. We stayed busy with the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and lots and lots of pool time. We had other plans but thanks to Hannah losing her toe nail (pictures and story to come) we had to change plans around a bit. We really wanted to go to Soak City over here and with her help we would have been able to manage the kids vs. adult ratio (since I don't do swimsuits) But overall we had a great time and Ethan and Gavin loved spending time with Auntie Hannah and baby Hailey. We miss them already!

For the 4th we went the Davis' for a BBQ. I'm still trying to get used to not be able to do any fireworks of our own, but the bank account was thankful and the dry California land. In my personal opinion it takes way some of the fun. One of these years I will get back to good ole' wet Washington were you can let your pyromatic self free with as many fireworks as you desire.

My highlight of my summer so far was yesterday when we went boating and Ethan and Amya both tried knee boarding for the first time. After Brandon wasn't able to pull himself up and wiping out a few times, Amya tired and was able to do it with ease. Ethan wanting to be a "big" kid wanted to try and on his second try got up and wanted to be just like Mr. Keith and tired to do it one handed. I have video and once I figure out how to post it I will. I am so proud! They are tiny little things and seeing them being so brave brought such delight!

That's where we are for now, I will blog more often if my homework time will allow it :)