Korbin's Idea of Exercise

I went with a couple friends to water aerobics last Thursday night. Then we went to my brothers house for dinner and hung out a while. On the way home Korbin says to me "Mom you don't look any skinnier". I questioned his statement and he said "you know like aunt Diane, you went to water aerobics and exercised but you don't look any skinnier, I don't think it works".

~Till They All Come Home~

Still Around

Well I haven't blogged in a while because facebook life has taken over. Mackinley will be 5 months old this week and I'm ashamed to say I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures in the past month. She got her first tooth yesterday. She's rolling all over the place and shows signs of sitting up in the near future as well. She laughs a little but isn't cooing too much. Last week she weighed in at 13lb 6oz and is 25 1/8 in long.

Mackinley at 4 months old!

Mackinley in her new BB Bib made by my beautiful sister in law and her fabulous sister! You can get your own here.

Korbin is doing great. We haven't been giving him his ADHD meds cause we like a lively little boy running around the house all day!! He's much more fun off the meds. His kidney check up was scary because it's swollen and retaining urine but when they compared it to last years scans there weren't any significant changes so we're gonna wait it out.

Korbin on our zipline out back.

Korbin at work on family day with Kirke.

Tayton is doing okay. They are now calling his issues "Asperger's traits" as a combination of severe anxiety disorder, OCD and Sensory Integration Disorders are kicking his butt these days! He's going to be 9 soon. He's gone back and forth with some things lately. For one he's getting himself so worked up he cries and within minutes gets a killer headache. But they're going away within a reasonable time frame with Motrin. He's also gone back to biting himself a few times recently. He's seeing a pediatric psychologist and psychiatrist right now and testing out some medication.

Tayton on the zipline out back!

Mackinley with a silly nose. I came out of the bathroom and found her this way...thanks Tate!!

Lots of funny, crazy, insane things go on inside these walls everyday unfortunately facebook gets all the funny stuff and blogspot is just getting the updates. I'll work on that!

~Till They All Come Home~

Four Weeks And Some Boys Love

I am now a mother of three! We're a family of five! I love it! The boys love their little sister. Korbin will sing to her and give her her pacifiers but isn't a huge fan of holding her yet.

Tayton on the other hand is amazing with her. He adores his baby sister more than I ever would have imagined. He holds her and sings to her and puts her to sleep at times when I'm not having any luck! She's going to love him!!

Yesterday I was in the shower and when I came out Mackinley was crying. I came around the corner and Tate had gotten her out of her bed and was holding her and singing softly to her. She was screaming. He looked at me smiled and said "I've almost got her calmed down now Mom". It was so sweet. So I fixed her a bottle that he fed to her while I dried my hair.

Later on yesterday I was washing dishes and Mackinley was laying under a mobile on the floor and fussing so Tayton came out and laid with her and sung her to sleep right there on the floor!

We had our homestudy yesterday. The lady was very nice and very positive about everything. I guess I felt like she was coming out to "grade" us but it was more of just an interview to make sure we're sincere about our motives and that we can and will care for Mackinley. She seemed to be impressed enough that we have no worries.

After the home study Tayton came over to Kirke and I and he said "do we get to keep Mackinley now? Is she ours?" I laughed and said "yes baby we get to keep her and she's always been ours and always will be." He got the biggest smile on his face and pumped his fist in the air and shouted "yay!!!" as loud as he could. It was pure happiness! Perfect!

I had to explain to him that the adoption isn't final yet but that everything is going to be just fine and she will be ours to keep. We all love her so much but his love for her is amazing me everyday!!

Mackinley is 4 weeks old today and here are some pictures from this week!

Brandy made these hats for Mackinley and I took the pictures today. You can tell which one she likes the best!!

I love this one with the braids!

She loves this one!!

When I opened the box I was so excited to see all the handmade goodies from Brandy but I could only find one of these adorable flip flops. So I instant messaged her to let her know that perhaps I had forgotten to tell her but Mackinley was born with two feet. She laughed and explained she didn't mean to send it until the other one was finished. Ooops! But isn't it cute!!

The box also had Korbins birthday presents as well as a big brother gift for Tate. Thanks Brandy we miss you guys so much!!!

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin Again

Lately Korbin has been calling his bike helmet a "gelmet". I thought he was just being his normal silly self.

Well a few minutes ago he asked for his gelmet. I said "you mean helmet?" He said "well I call it a gelmet so that I don't have to say that bad word!"

Apparently the "hel" in helmet is a bit more than he can handle!

~Till They All Come Home~

Poor Scrappy

I have had Scrappy longer than I've had Kirke. The poor dog is soon to be 12 and I were him I'd run away because he puts up with an awful lot!






The kids love him a little too much sometimes. They take "mans best friend" to a whole new level when they stick him in the wagon, put a blanket on him and he just sits there and takes it!

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin's Full Of It!

I'm making taco's for dinner and Korbin is just starving to death! I asked him to take the lettuce out of the fridge for me.

I heard him muttering "why do I always have to do the disgusting things"! The kid hates lettuce!

I reply, "it's just leaves there's nothing gross about it".

He then says to me, "I'll just hold it by the very corner, this is very disturbing to me!"

I then say "I'll give you $5 bucks if you'll taste the lettuce."

Korbins looks at me seriously interested and replies, "make it ten!"

Deals off!

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin's Intuition

We're in the car and just passed a group of basic training soldiers carrying their weapons.

Korbin asked Kirke if they were M16's. Then he asked "when you were in practice for the Army did you have an M16 that shot nerf darts?"

Its an interesting theory really. Can't the troops just play laser tag instead of killing one another? There's enough natural disasters killing people that we really should start thinking like a 6 year old!

Meet The Neighbors! Let's Fight!

We've had a few of our neighbors move away recently which means new ones moving in. In the two and a half years we've lived in this house we haven't had any neighbors with kids my boys age.

Until now! Today I met the neighbors that moved in across the street. I was outside playing in the snow with the naughty little blond boys when it happened. The neighbors across the street were playing outside too. They were shoveling snow into a giant heap just like we were. There was a man, a boy and little girl.

The man says "are you making a snow fort too?" I say "yep and then we're gonna attack yours!" Cause I'm brave like that and assume everyone appreciates my bold sense of humor. Luckily he laughed.

Eventually we went over and introduce ourselves. They have a 10 year old son, an 8 year old girl and a 3 year old girl. PERFECT! Except we move in a few weeks!

The icing on the cake was when I asked what school they go to and they said they home school! Go figure!

The boys decided we needed a flag for our fort. Tayton took a towel and wrote "Best" and we planted it on top of our fort facing across the street toward their fort.

Then we decided that a great science lesson would be to build a catapult to launch snow balls at our targets. We built it and then decided to go out and test the thing. It was pathetic. But while we were out there the neighbors came out and planted a flag on top of their fort.

It read: "Bigger and Better Fort"

I guess not everyone knows our last name is Best and we're not just conceited!

~Till They All Come Home~

He said What?

Korbin loves Kirke's mom. He and Mimi are inseparable while she's here or we're visiting down there. Yesterday was the end of her visit and we kept warning him that she was going back home. We didn't want a big dramatic goodbye scene with him saying "why didn't you tell me she was leaving"!

We got to the airport and Korbin got out to hug Mimi and say goodbye and he says:

"Bye Mimi, I hope you make it alive!"

Wow, where does he get this stuff from!

~Till They All Come Home~

Reunion of Korbin and His Dog

Korbin never listens!! I see many posts starting out that way in the future...

We went to the Rams vs. Saints game in St Louis on Sunday. Afterward we stopped in Sullivan, MO for dinner and we took a side trip into their local Wal-Mart for some much needed items. Korbin and Tayton were both told to leave their puppies in the car. Neither one listened. Tayton carries his puppy everywhere because it's weighted and helps him feel more secure (instead of weighted belts and vests). Tayton never puts puppy down so him losing him isn't much of a concern.

Korbin however goes in spurts of wanting to bring Little Memphis places with him. He disregarded our warning and brought little Memphis into the store. Brandy and I took off to the craft section to find some material for her to make a baby wrap like the one I made and tested out on my 8 year old. It's great, he simply loved it!

Anyhow, once we got home Korbin couldn't find Little Memphis. I called Wal-Mart in Sullivan (an hour away) and they had found him. I asked if they would ship him to us and that I'd pay for it and they said sure, took down my address and never asked for payment. I was a bit worried it wasn't going to arrive but today we got a package:

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin Plans Ahead

We had this discussion in the car yesterday...

Korbin: I'm going to have four kids. Two girls and two boys.

Me: Which do you want to have first?

Korbin: The girls because they're cuter!

Me: Why do you want us to have a girl?

Korbin: Because girls are sooooooo cute!

Korbin: Or probably I'll just have two kids. One boy and one girl.

Tayton: Why not four? Then you can have a bigger house.

Korbin: Just two.

Tayton: Or are four too expensive? What are you a cheap freak?

~Till They All Come Home~

My Kids Spend Too Much Time With Adults

I'm not sure if I'd be happier having the boys come home from pubic school repeating the things they hear there or if it's better that they are picking up on things they hear around the house and out in public.

Here's a few things I've overheard recently:

~~

When pulling into a parking spot at Target some parking lot idiot (PLI) did something that I can't remember at this point. And then SOMEONE (James) in our car said "way to go numb nuts". As soon as Korbin opened the car door he loudly said "way to go numb nuts" within earshot of the previously mentioned PLI then laughed and kept repeating "numb nuts" until we were able to stop laughing and explain that he's not allowed to use that word. Ever.

~~

Tayton has been getting instant headaches recently every time he starts to cry about something. Today he hit his ear on something and was crying while we were at a party. I was in the bathroom with him getting him a little wet towel to dab off the blood and he said "I think that my hurts when I cry because it's taking so much longer for my brain to process it than most people. You know cause of my sensory integration disorder!" (silly kid hears and absorbs every single thing you say)

~~

We were chatting with some friends about our plans for our kids if something happens to us. We all have to have wills drawn up before deployments (well in AK we did anyhow) and my brother and his wife are the lucky winners of two naughty little blond boys if Kirke and I meet an early demise. Korbin overheard us talking and said "Mom if you and Dad both die at the same time I'm gonna have to go live with someone lonely, Grandma Vettel!" This is my grandma who is 77. I replied "I think she's a little too old to take care of you hunny." Korbin was quick to respond "that's okay, I can just take care of her!" They LOVE their Great Grandma Vettel. It's impossible not to!

~~

Tayton just told me that he'd like to someday get another type of animal that lives in a cages. "Probably like a reptile" he said. "They're my second favorite". So I of course asked "what's your first favorite?" He said "OH, mammals!" He likes to keep his options open.

~~

And last but not least while we were listening to the radio the other day Korbin started singing "I make them good girls go bad!" (By Cobra Starship) over and over. I'm pretty sure this might be true. Because a little while later he saw his wife walking out of the store (we were on a convoy to a haunted trail and their family ran inside for a quick stop) and when he saw Megan he shouted "hey baby" out the window to her. Her response was to run and hug him of course......

~~

Korbin said after one of the recent haunted house visits "I wasn't really scared I was just pretending to be so they would think they were doing a good job!"

~~

Silly Kids.

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin's Sick and Miserable

Korbin was just fine, a tad emotional but thats typical on a no meds (ADHD)day for him. We were at Brandy's and he was running around and acting normal. For dinner he had two sloppy joe's (his favorite!) and went to play. A bit later Kirke found him laying on the couch in Brandy's living room. Kirke carried him into the play room so he could watch TV while we played Wii.

A short time later Kirke checked on him and he was sleeping and hot. We got him home and found he had a 103.8 fever. Both boys always run very high fevers so no need to worry yet. A little Motrin and a good nights sleep should help.

Here he is at Brandy's last night.

This morning the same thing. His temperature zips right back up over 103 every time the Motrin wears off. Poor little guy! It wouldn't be so concerning for us if he didn't have his kidney troubles but that always makes us a bit more cautious when he get sick. And I must admit that the whole H1N1 crap worries me too.

And here he is sleeping in my lap today. Poor little guy.

~Till They All Come Home~

An Innocent Moment

I'm sitting here minding my own business. Well actually I'm doing language arts lessons with Korbin and Tayton is on the floor in front of me working on math.

Out of the blue Tayton turns to me and he says "what does presence mean"?

I was confused because I didn't know if he meant "presents" or "presence" so I said "what do you mean"?

He looks at me with his innocent little face and very serious look of wonder and says: "like if someone says "never scratch yourself in the presence of a lady".

I'm struggling not to laugh and he says what does that mean? At first I wasn't sure if he meant the scratching part of the presence part because I was so caught off guard. So rather than answer I asked him where he heard that. He said "on Home Alone".

So I went on to explain the word presence instead of how to act in front of a lady!!

Thanks a lot Macaulay Culkin!

~Till They All Come Home~

Wonder if He Still Loves Yellow?

We went fishing yesterday. We decided to try out a new pond because we weren't having any luck where were started.

We got to the pond and Tayton decided he needed to use the restroom (tree). He was only about 10 ft from where I was fishing. He saw a hole in the ground and thought that would be the perfect place to pee.

These guys disagreed!

He started screaming and running and flailing his arms. I dropped my pole and I knew right away what was happening. When I got to him he had four yellow jackets on the back of his shirt and some on his pants. I ripped off his shirt and we threw it down. Kirke managed to get to us and lifted Tayton up and I ripped off his shoes and pants.

Meanwhile Amber was grabbing her bee sting/snake bite kit from her van.

Christian came over and helped us get the venom extractor onto his ONE (that's right only one actually managed to sting him) sting in the middle of his back!

(these two pictures were taken in July when Christian got into a nest of something or another)

He spent the rest of the time in Amber's van in his boxer shorts watching a movie!

Yellow WAS his favorite color............

~Till They All Come Home~

Room For Rent

For Rent: A newly repurposed remodeled home. This classic stone covered home is perfect for anyone hopping along looking for a new place to call home. The view from this home is fantastic and it will be perfect for one or two occupants and possibly a few little ones. It's simple yet elegant and placed snug in an up and coming area. The neighborhood is very secure and the home comes with it's own security system. We are an equal opportunity housing for toads manufacturer .

This is the toad house we made today after visiting one of my favorite blogs here.

Then I found out she was guest blogging here with homeschooling tips. Her tips were for homeschooling a teen but still apply to all. That post led me here , We decided we could do this!

And then we did. And now I have this rock house front of my house that is the perfect home for a little toad or three! We had fun fitting the rocks together to cover the outside of the flower pot.

Then they added their own little touches to finish it off and this is the finished product!

~Till They All Come Home~

Old Friends New Committments and an 8 Year Survival

We made the most out of our leave (vacation) time. It all started with a camping trip to Arkansas with good friends of the present. Then we sent our boys off to Texas with my in-laws who joined us on our camping trip. From Arkansas we drove to Chicago. Wait let me back up. We were supposed to take the train, the day after we got home from AR, but there is NO parking beyond 24 hours at the damn Amtrak station. They wanted us to pay to park at the Sheraton. $17/freakin day! It only cost $99 for the damn tickets! We had to park for 4 days! So we drove.

Ok so we drove to Chicago for one of my best childhood friends wedding. I was a bridesmaid. It was beautiful, fancy and amazing! My friend, Diane and I met when I was 7. That was 22 years ago. Her sister is another of my best friends and was also a bridesmaid. Two of the other bridesmaids were long time friends of mine as well. I met Jody and Amanda both when I was 12. I probably met Jody before that but I don't remember. I had seen all of them in within the past 2 years but it had been a while. We had a great time and celebrated a fabulous union of two wonderful people. I danced, and I shouldn't cause I have no rhythm and my dress was about 8 sizes too small on my hips and I looked like a pregnant mermaid. We laughed, we hugged, we had a fantastic time!

The new Mr. & Mrs. Clancy!
The wedding party getting ready to party.

Kirke was a good sport and spent the weekend piddling around while I did bridesmaid stuff. By the time this picture was taken the makeup had worn off and the hair had gone flat but I sure was happy!

We left the morning after the wedding and drove to our home in Missouri to pick up our two dogs. We were home about 15 minutes and back on the road to Texas to retrieve the naughty little blond boys. While we were in Texas (3 whole days) we decided to have a birthday for our oldest son Tayton. I wanted to keep it small and simple.

Well for all of you who live close to relatives know that you can't invite without inviting them all. I intended to invite my long lost buddy Mark. I haven't seen him since my brothers wedding 8 years ago and he lives just an hour south of Kirke's family. I hadn't met his wife and he now has a 10 month old son. Any of you who know Mark know this is definitely something you have to see to believe! Love ya Mark! I also wanted to invite Korbins first wife, big Megan and her daughter Jada. Kirke's nephews and parents (their mom is another of my best friends) as well as Kirke's cousin and her family who we try hard to stay in touch with and looked forward to seeing. But we ended up with around 25 adults and a mess of kids. It was fantastic!

We loved getting to see everyone. Especially Mark, Marcie, Peyton, Megan and Jada who we miss dearly. I hope that our families understand that our family grows with each new duty station. So these friends aren't just friends but also important parts of our families.

Mark, Marcie, Peyton, Me and Kirke in Texas. We always end up there in August! HOT!!

Here's Korbin with his first wife. They are still obviously in love even though he married that "other Megan"!

We drove back home on the 21st and on the 23rd our little Tayton turned 8 years old. He's such an awesome kid and I've loved watching him grow. Over the past year he has progressed (according to his testing at OT) over 4 years in most areas and over 6 years in one area. Sorry I can't remember which were which because that news was so incredible to hear! I find it hard to believe that we've had a kid survive 8 years with our parenting! He's an amazing little boy and despite my wanting to string him up by his toes I love being his mommy!

These pictures are in random order, thanks blogger!


There's nothing like a good book for a 2 year old!

He still dresses kind of funny!

Pot holders made by Grandma Vettel can double as hats!

As Eskimo as my little Alaskan born boy gets!

He was so freakin cute! He had to have been close to 2 in this picture cause I wasn't pregnant with Korbin anymore.

He's always been inventive.

Long and skinny! He was maybe 2 in this picture. That's one of Korbins blankets in it so he had have been at least 19 months old.

Korbin was 3 months old so Tayton was 21 or 22 months old here.

And now he's 8 years old. Amazing!

~Till They All Come Home~