The joys of children

Well since it was a four day weekend and of course it had to rain for half of it. Today was the day we picked to try and get organized for up and coming trip to New York City. Yes Christmas is usually spent in MI with my sister but last year wasn't so good. This year we are going to visit my grandfather and for the first time we will be able to try and hold Aidan. Lets face it Aidan has a case of the wiggle worms. So as I pulled clothing out of closets and drawers and tried to make a list of what I still had to buy, I had my two little helpers putting other stuff in the bag or putting what I had out back in the closet. Then the older two playing the favorite game of 1 million questions. How will Santa find us? does Me Pa have Internet? Does he have a fire place and where are we going came up about thousand times. The joys of holiday travel without a spouse home to help, with so much to do and to get ready for yes it is truly going to take me 20 days to be ready for the trip. We leave on Dec 19Th and since Airlines now charge a arm and leg for baggage Christmas presents have to be wrapped and fed ex ed early. I had to order extra car seats have them shipped and lets not forget the pack and play extra med's for Aidan.

This will be our first trip with kids to New York so I am a little nervous to see how they do. My Grandfather place isn't really set up for children since he doesn't have any but it is large and it does over look Central Park another place i can't wait to take the kids. I only wish we were making the trip in the summer months so I could take the kids to a ball game and grab a hot dog. So as I try and pack four kids for the snow cold state, they don't make it easy. Ticket have already been bought and to make Caroline's day we are taking a train ride while there. The others are looking forward to cab rides and the subway. I am just happy to be back at my home away from home. So since we are not putting a tree up at home the kids have to make sure we will have a tree in New York.

now the crew is driving me crazy so i must run

A true steal

With having the four kids here and being alone find a good baby sitter is hard. So no surprise that i had no plans to hit the stores for Fridays sales. However i did take a peek online at my fav places to get the kids stuff. What did i find but the pea coats I have been debating about buying the boys half off. So the coats that retailed for 50 for A's size and 60 For J's were now 25 and 30. So I debated for a little about buying the boys the boys such expensive jackets. Decided to check my emails and there it was a coupon for 50% of your purchase from gap,oldnavy online only. Could it really be i would get the boys jackets for 12.50 and 15 bucks. Now how could you pass that up. So i went back online and got what has to be the last two jackets in the boys sizes. I found the girls sweaters for 3.00 a piece and got the whole family jeans for under 5 a pair. So with 53 items in my cart i thought I was well over 300. But actually only spent 125.00 and i got free shipping. What a steal, since the stores here usually don't have the sizes I need here. My total purchase retailed for about 1200 and i walked off only paying 125.00 what a steal.

Since I had such great luck with old navy and I had received two coupons from gymboree I decided to take a peek and see what was on my wish list. Since gymboree is my sin store and I can easily drop a grand buying the kids clothing from there. I figured I wasn't going to buy anything. Well my list was over 3000.00 (see just a wish list) and with all there sales and my coupons I got the complete wish list along with a few other items for 350.00 another steal. Yes most of what I bought is for next year and a few gifts to stick under the tree but i truly made out this year. Next shopping trip is for the toys the kids ask Santa for. With money being tight and with four kids and another on the way we only planned on spending X amount on each well if i keep hit these sales the kids are truly making out this year.

So note to those of you out there sign up for email coupons and flyers because they do pay off in the end. Happy Holidays

History

I guess to truly understand someone you need to walk a mile in their shoes. The things that happen in our lives are what shape us and create us into the person we are. As for me most people know of my past and what lead to who I am. Other don't know the story so they question more than they need.



Many people don't seem to understand why I don't drink alchol. Most assume it is for religious reasons and are very surprised when the find out it has nothing to do with religion. It can all be summed up with Conner. Conner is the son we lost due to a drunk driver in 04. I was 20 weeks pregnant and was driving home from work when my life would change forever. It was March 15th and I had just finished my last shift at the fire station. That night I said good bye to my crew, the next day I was suppose to start what we call basket duty until after i delivered the baby. So I would spend the next 20 weeks giving tours answering questions and giving training. That night the station had a BBQ and I stayed after my shift. Goofed around with my crew had the family up at the station along with my crews family. Got a few baby gifts and around 2am I headed home.

I took the usual route home from work the main gate of the naval base. About two Min's from my station things changed. Within a blink of of eye I was hit by a drunk driver. Being a EMT my first reaction was to give any needed aid to the car that had hit me. So I checked on the driver and I realized he was totally drunk and he wasn't hurt I felt fine. The station had heard the crash and were already in route so no need to call 911. Within Min's my coworkers were on the sene along with the police. It was my Battalion chief that asked if I was OK, I rolled my eyes and told him I was fine. He took 1 look at me and said no your not, it was then I realized my water had broke. My own coworkers rushed my to U of Wash medical center and within a hour of my arrival i gave birth to my son Conner Aidan. Born 20 weeks to soon we had a false hope when we heard him give a weak cry for a second we thought he was going to make it. Then the docs tolds us there is nothing they could do for him but offer comfort care. A few hours for us to say good bye. By this time everyone from work knew what had happened and were at the hospital waiting for news. I told my friend Carrie that Conner wasn't going to make it so she rushed off and got our son a baptismal gown. The station Chaplin arrived and Conner was baptised. On March 17th 2004 Conner went to be with god. We were left to make sense of what happened. To this day we still don't understand and never will.

Six weeks after that night I returned to work or should I say tried. I could no longer stand to be around the crew that I once loved and thought of as family. it was too hard to hear them say how sorry they were. As for the drunk who killed Conner he was turned over to his command, yep I was hit by a navy officer. His punishment for Conner's death was being restricted to the ship for 30 days. My punishment was grieving for the son we lost. Later we learned it was his fifth DUI but no one seemed to care he was a naval officer. Since Conner's death we have been blessed with two other children and a third on his way. The naval officer is still serving and still getting DUI's. We have moved to Virginia and are getting on with life without Conner. Not a day goes by were he isn't in our thoughts. We wonder if he would be like his brother in love with fire trucks and hyper like his Sib's.

So now that those of you know the truth maybe you won't push so hard for us to go out drinking with you. Before Conner we didn't drink much maybe a glass of wine with dinner or a beer/wine cooler while watching a game on TV. About twice a year we went out with friends and had a shot or two. Since Conner things changed drinking just brings back bad memories. Well off to care for the fearsome foursome. Yup that his what I call the children in a few months I will have to referr to them as the fearsome five some

Thanksgiving

Well as another Thanksgiving has come to pass, all I can say is I am glad it is over. It has become a family tradition to have dinner with another family whose spouse is also deployed. So this years lucky winner was my friend Bree and her five kids so we packed nine kids under nine into our tiny town house made turkey and all the sides. The kids ran around like crazy and it was a experience. So after stuffing the kids full of food and having tons of things to clean up (mostly toys,games and books) we packed the kids in the car and headed down to the board walk to see all the Christmas lights. Then headed off to the base chapel for church service. We decided that we would brave the kids and do a sleep over. The plan was to leave the kids with a sitter and hit the early morning sales. Instead we shopped for the living room on our lap tops and allowed the kids to watch movies for the morning. We actually made it out of the house for lunch we took our large group to the mall and ate at the food court. After I can home and had the joys of cleaning up from the joys of nine kids sleeping on the living room floor.

Wow I finally have time to make a post and to update all on the fearsome foursome. Well I found out that we are expecting another baby boy in april, so looks the fearsome foursome will now be the fearsome fivesome. The joys of unplanned blessings in life. As we get over the shock and the susprise that we found out about right before thanksgiving. Hubby is still on deployment and by the way it looks he won't make it home for the birth. Enough of that, little chief is growning taller and not wider so buying clothing that fits is getting harder and harder. J is also getting taller but still about the size of a five year old. Not much growth since we left washington. Like always the smallest amongest his pers. Rae is doing good and becoming the diva that she has always ment to be. Doing really good in school and a little past grade level, however here hyperness tends to get her into trouble. Last we have sweet little car monster yes a monster her new habit is biting and being her bossy self. Last night I sent the monster to be at seven after finding Chief behind the couch screaming at first I thought he was just mad that she took a toy away but when I picked him up I seen she had bit his leg and his back about ten times. So off she went to her bed alone no music or tv so she was a little mad but so was I.

So the joys of boys, I have grown quit fond of tripping over the boys fire trucks and fire truck play tent that brings them hours of fun. Now with the girls I hate tripping over barbie and all her crap. it is days like that i wish we had all boys. Well chief is awake and car is busy making a mess with the toys

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