I don't want my hair cut!

Today Korbin Cool Dude didn't want his hair cut. He can't stand to get the little hairs all over him. Here's my solution:





The last picture is how happy he was to have his hair cut! He just loves it!

Wanna know what really makes me happy?

Do you? You know you do! Well I'm going to tell you! I love, absolutely without a doubt in this world, whole-heartedly LOVE LOVE LOVE new socks! Yeah yeah lame, whatever! I love them!

Socks make me HAPPY! Very very Happy!

I had gotten into wearing lots of cute, colorful, wild and crazy socks. I have some really cute socks. Those are great but don't have the same effect. The other problem is that it's summer. My crazy socks with shorts? My flip flops aren't in good enough condition to really wear out and about so that leaves me with my new super cute Adidas tennis shoes, yep a girls size 5 1/2 but.....I got them for 13 bucks so HA! Laugh at my little feet now!


So I have to wear socks with my tennis shoes because, well, it's gross not to okay! I haven't bought plain white womens athletic socks in some time now. I forgot how absolutely amazing slipping on a pair of brand new, unwashed (yeah yeah shake it off, washing them ruins that new snug feel) pair of socks. I love it so much that if I could afford to I'd buy new socks everyday just so I would start my day off just right!

Now I'm sitting here in my new comfy socks, happy as a clam! Ahhh, the simplicity of my true happiness! Who knew? If Kirke was smart he'd buy me new socks alot to keep me in this stupid happy state of new sock bliss!

How am I supposed to...

How am I supposed to write a paper about the Vietnam War and the protests, social and political consequences right now?

My husband leaves for Iraq in less than a week. Reading about war and trying to wrap my brain around this information is too much right now. I don't want to think about all of those details. I can't separate myself from the reading enough to write objectively. I want to scream. I want to make it all go away. I want our guys to stay home but I know it's not time. I know that their job is not done yet. I understand that by Kirke leaving another husband/daddy/son/brother get's to come home to his (or her, not to leave out the female soldiers) family. I get that, I respect that and I want to be that wife that can say "ok it's our turn" and stays strong but I'm not.

I know that it is our turn and I'm trying to stay strong but it sucks. It sucks to pretend to be ok with it all. Last night Kirke tucked the boys into bed and kissed Korbin good night. Korbin innocently said "no more kisses today Daddy". Kirke said "I'm leaving in a week bud I want to have your kisses". Korbin replied "aww man! I thought it was 5 more weeks". He's not going to handle this well.

So my assignment due tonight will have to be a day late. I can't sit here using up my last Sunday night, fathers day, writing a paper about war. Instead I'll lose 10% credit on it and write it tomorrow while Kirke is at work. He has to take care of the Will, Power Of Attorneys and other paperwork that has to be updated before he heads off to play in the sand for what should amount to be about 13 1/2 months too long.

It's too bad he can't just be deported.

So anyone who wants to do my homework for me just let me know it's due at midnight.

Did I just say that?

Lets lighten the mood up from my last blog. If you haven't read it, please do, I worked hard and it's important.

Ok so you know how sometimes your brain and your mouth don't always work together to make things come out right? Well that happens to me often. Today it just messed up really bad.

We always joke that Korbin and Megan are going to wind up married someday. It's this little joke haha, no harm done. Until today.



Korbin decided to let little Megan ride on his bike with him. I guess maybe because it was her birthday? I don't know but he was being nice to her and I was happy. Also, please know that we would not let them actually ride this way, they were just scooting along. Well Korbin needed to turn around so Megan got off and he started his turn and ran right into Megan!

Being the loving caring mom that I am, who always makes smart alec remarks I shouted to Korbin. The words I meant to say were "that's not how you show love".

Instead I yelled "Korbin that's not how you MAKE love!"

Brandy and I could not stop laughing and I was mortified. There was no way to cover up my mistake with words. Brandy simply said "wow just because she's 4 today doesn't mean she's ready for that!"

Stupid stupid mouth saying the wrong words anyhow!

RFL takes over the Food Enterance at Wal-Mart of St Robert

Let me tell you about the first part of my day. Relay for Life is less than 2 months away now! We had an event team challenge today at our local Wal-Mart. Each team was encouraged to attend and bring out baked goods or something else to sell. Then each team had assigned door (pan-handling duty) time. I love to be at the door asking for donations and find that I'm fairly good at pan-handling.

First please note that last year my dear sweet Tayton was heard saying things such as "hope you don't get cancer" or "don't call us when you die" when people would say no thanks and walk away when asked to donate! I did NOT teach him this or encourage it! But well....it is what it is. And Korbin did say to one lady in a low cut shirt last year "well my mom has boobs too!"

This year, none of that! They were wonderful about soliciting donations. Other than Tayton jumping out to stop people from just walking past him and not donating and Korbins most sincere thank you to a man who did donate being "thank you chicken!" They did great! Amazing little boys and they know why we're out there!


Cancer a horrible monster that in some way has affected nearly everyone in some form or another. Whether it be through a family member, themselves or maybe just a family that has touched their heart through blogging like Julian Avery did mine almost a year ago now.

I'm always amazed at the people who stop and take small children out of their shopping carts, hand them a few cents and teach that child about giving. I'm disappointed in the people coming out with children carrying bags of new toys that refuse to make eye contact or give up those few cents. I'm touched by the ones who stop, drop a few cents and then share a story about a loved one lost to cancer or still fighting that battle. Some will go back into the store to get change others will apologetically search to the bottoms of their purses or pockets with no avail.

Today we had a man who avoided our eye contact on the way in as if we were trying to telepathically force his hand into his pocket to dig out loose change. However, on the way out he stopped. He asked my friend how much he should give. Her response was simply "that's up to you". He dropped a five dollar bill in the bucket then met her gaze again, this time with tears in his eyes, and said, "I just lost my dad to small cell lung cancer". And with that he walked away.

They are the reason we do this. People hurt so much because of this horrible ugly word: Cancer. Why would someone walk by and say "no thanks" to dropping a few cents in a bucket to help find a cure? We aren't the local wrestling team (just an example no offense) asking for money for camp. We have a different idea, we want to help everyone. One in four people will be faced with a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Look around...

Click here to help my team!

That's a long drive for 2 minutes of your time!

Cool Dude Korby Daniel Best is gonna be just fine!


I know that some of you haven't been reading my blog long so if you want to know more about Korbins kidney click here and here.

We got home last night from another trip out of state and left this morning to drive two hours one way to see Korbin's pediatric urologist. He had an ultrasound done on May 19th and they called right away to tell me it was abnormal and we had to go back to Columbia for more tests and whatever else they decide to do. We show up at the appointment and here's how it worked out.

Student Dr.: "blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah let me take a look at the ultrasound and we'll be back in with Dr. Neal."

Dr Neal enters the room. Pushes on Korbins belly: "Does this hurt? This? OK good!"

Dr Neal: "the ultrasound looks good so we'll see him again in a year"

Me: (confused) "what about the kidney being enlarged and stuff isn't that why they sent us back up here?"

Dr Neal: "That left kidney is always going to be bigger than the right because of the problem."

Student Dr: "There is still some back up of urine but nothing to be concerned about. After having a problem like that and fixing the blockage that's going to happen. The kidney should be good for a lifetime"

3 whole minutes later, mind you we drove 2 hours for this, we are on our way out. Now I'm a little confused. Why didn't they just send him the results from the Ft Wood hospital then he could have called us to discuss them. Instead we drove 2 hours to act as the Pony Express and hand deliver a disc? I don't get it.

So we ate lunch at our favorite restaurant in Columbia, The hospital restaurant, Main Street! It's so good and so cheap! We spent 18 bucks and had the most delicious nachos ever made and gigantic diet Pepsi! I couldn't be happier. Unless of course I didn't drive two hours for a meal that cost a third of what we'd spend on gas by the end of the day.

And I invited myself and my family to dine at Brandy's new house tonight too. Then after I told her we were coming for dinner I called Amber to invite her to come too! I hope Brandy's cooking something good!

How far would you go?

We have been so busy on trips since May 11th that I thought it would be fun to write it all down and look at some numbers because I'm a nerd like that.

May 11th we drove from home to St Louis to get Carol (Mother in Law)
Total Estimated Time: 2.0 hours 14 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 137.79 miles (mapquest)Round trip: 275.58 miles 4hr 28 min

May 12th we flew from St Louis to Maryland
First flight took 2 1/2 hours and the second took 1 1/2 hours so 4 hours travel time plus a 5 hour layover and a 45 minute drive from the airport to our hotel.

Totals: 9 hours

The 13th we watched Kirkes graduation at 10am and hit the road right afterward to head home and got home on the 15th.
Total Estimated Time: 16.0 hours 24 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 1042.61 miles
(mapquest)Total Miles: 1042.61 miles 32 hr 48 min

Then we took Carol back to St Louis Airport on the 18th. One way:
Total Estimated Time: 2.0 hours 14 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 137.79 miles (mapquest)Round Trip: 274.38 miles 4 hr 28 min

Then we went to Tulsa to get my nephew and neices, straight there and then back on the 23rd.
Total Estimated Time: 3.0 hours 47 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 243.03 miles (one way mapquest)Round trip: 486.06 miles 7 hours 34 min

Next was our drive from here to Ft Knox, KY on May 27 one way:
Total Estimated Time: 6.0 hours 47 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 413.22 miles (mapquest)Round trip: 826.44 miles 13 hours 34 min

Then we went to Oklahoma this weekend, we left on the 5th and came home on the 8th.
One Way:
Total Estimated Time: 7.0 hours 8 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 417.59 miles
Round Trip: 835.18 miles 14 hours 16 mins


Ok so all of this in driving miles totals out to be:
3740.25 miles and 86 hours and 8 minutes of traveling time not counting stops.

Oh and lets add our drive to Columbia tomorrow for Korbin while we're at it: one way
Total Estimated Time: 2.0 hours 4 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 105.65 miles
Round Trip: 211.30 miles 4 hours 8 minutes

From May 11th through June 9th we drove 3951.55 miles 90 hours 16 minutes Used an estimated 180 gallons of fuel which at an average of $3.60/gal (that's a low guess) we spent around $650 in fuel. No wonder we have so many bills piling up!

I QUIT!!!!

Come Again!

******UPDATE on my error******
I guess I never did state where exactly my unconventional location for the pool was. Silly me! If you hadn't put it together from the pictures it's in my garage. I'll take a few more soon and post them I promise!

We are on our drive home right now from our weekend in Oklahoma. We just stopped at McDonald's in some rinky dink town. I really struggle when we head south because people just don't understand me. I'm confused because I'm pretty sure I speak normal. It's as thought I'm speaking alien because they just stare at me sometimes. We got our food and I asked "Can we have some salt please?" Her response was "the straws are in the bag". I replied "salt". She said "yeah the straws are in the bag". Shaking my head I replied "salt, I need salt for my fries please". It was as if a little light came on in her head. Now I need to know if salt and straws sound the same to some people cause I'm just not hearing it!

After we got our salt she said "Come again". Korbin got so excited and said "did you hear that? She said we could come again Next time we're here we can come to this place again! How awesome is that?"

Silly boy!

We went to ride wave runners yesterday and were gone about two hours. Cool Dude was fine when we left but we got home and he was knocked out sleeping on the couch and running 103.4 fever. It was 7pm and the family was all having dinner together down by one of the other cabins. Kirke went down to get him and I some food to bring back. He brought me back the most incredible rib eye steak I've ever eaten in my life! Which has nothing to do with my story but wow it was so good! After everyone else ate we were freed from Cool Dude watch to go get some Motrin to kick his fever's tail. It was really frustrating having him lie there so hot and then having to wait on someone else to come so we could get him medication. He woke up this morning with a fever still.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

We rode the bumper boats and got soaked!


Played a little mini-golf.

Did a little swimming...








We really had a great time. I'm not looking forward to returning to the real world tomorrow. We are taking Korbin to Columbia to find out what the next step in his Kidney ordeal. He seems so healthy and fine to me, it sucks knowing that he's not.


Tonight Korbins running a high fever so we took him to the ER. His kidney problem freaks me the heck out. So when his fever hit 103.6 under his arm before adding a degree we decided he should be seen. Even with a super high fever he managed this conversation with the receptionist:

Receptionist: "Patients first name please"

Me, (the Mom and one who named him): "Korbin, with a K"

Korbin: "No it's not"

Receptionist: (Looking up confused and possibly thinking I was trying to sneak in a kid who wasn't mine under our insurance) "well then what's your name"

Korbin: Through sick red eyes and red faced "Cool Dude c-o-o-l D-u-d-e! Duh!"

Then he informed me he didn't like to be called Korbin and that his real name is now "Cool Dude Korby Daniel Best"

Tomorrow June 9th, is his appointment in Columbia to figure out what happens next with this whole kidney not being fixed stuff!

Women are Never Happy

I am a woman so it's okay for me to say that...I think. Well maybe not because me admitting that women are never happy gives Kirke so much more power.

I whined and cried and kicked and screamed about this trip that we are on before it started. The funny thing is though, I'm having a great time. I've gotten to know Kirke's cousins a little better so that's been fun. I've always felt like I'm on the outside looking in, so getting to spend time with them for longer than an hour at a big family dinner helped.

So here I am getting ready to leave here tomorrow from the trip I didn't want to take and I'm sad. I'm not ready to leave yet. Even the forever annoying Father In Law isn't bugging me at all. Maybe my change in attitude has to do with the environment. We are staying in cabins. Each family (Kirke's Dad and Aunts) has their own cabin. So we were with Kirke's parents, one of his brothers and his family and then the four of us. It was really nice.

I think another reason I want to stay is because we got the news. Yep the horrid, feared, dreaded news: Kirke's deployment date. It's sooner after his leave ends then I had hoped because both boys have appointments in Columbia in the next ten days.

Which brings me to that news. I know I probably already blogged about it but who cares, it's my blog I can if I want, haha, now that's power! Like I was saying, Korbins kidney scan came back bad and we have to go back up to Columbia a million hours away from home (or two) to see his speccialist and see what's next in our medical adventures. I'm kinda freaked out, shocked, nervous, a little freaked out, neausous, light headed, scared to death and down right freaked out about his appointment. I know that the next surgery will alone without Kirke there to help, to worry with, to cry to. He'll be a gazillion miles away and worried to peices with nothing to calm him but his next IM chat with me.

Strawberry Blood

We are once again riding in the car. This is my favorite trip ever. We're on our way to see my inlaws! For some strange reason Kirke thinks he should see his family before he goes to Iraq! MEN!

Ok fine, they do need to see him before he goes but so do we dang it! I'm tired of sharing and starting to feel a little selfish. It's probably not that at all but rather that I'm sick to death of being in the car. This time we're in the mini van. Super, just super, more room but less comfortable.

My poor friends are taking care of my dogs AGAIN. The dogs probably don't think we even live there anymore. Nuts!

So anyhow here's the point of this blog. Korbin, aka Cool Dude just said "Mom is our blood made of strawberries?"

Ok for all of you who think I said "yes" shame on you for thinking I'd confuse my son. I explained to him that blood is made of many things including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and even water and oxygen.

Geesh give me some slack!

(I did want to say yes but I didn't want to be the mom responsible for the entire kindergarten at Wood Elementary giving up strawberries next year!)

Tie Me to the Bedpost

Yep that's what I told the waitress tonight. We took the kids to Roxy, Amber and Brandy to watch so we could go out with our friends who are in town for a kid-less dinner. The waitress took our drink order and I just had to try the "tie me to the bedpost". It was so good! I sucked that down and finished off Amy's Bahama Mama. I didn't eat much of my dinner though. Yep I'm a heavy drinker...usually it's Diet Pepsi though.

Then we got really crazy and took our double date the next step. That's right we went right on over to Wal-Mart! Crazy aren't we? We had to get dogfood and trash bags. How romantic right? This is our life!

Mohogs and Pikachu

Today I finally bought new hair clippers after tearing up my three other pairs on Roxy's dog Boomer a couple weeks ago.

Tonight after our fun filled day helping Brandy move and seeing Kirke run around and keep tearing his pants a little more with each piece of furniture carried into Brandy's house. Kirke had ripped his pants sometime before noon but wore them the rest of the day. Here's how bad it had gotten at dinner time:

Anyhow as I was saying...after our busy day I pulled out the new hair clippers to go to work on the kids. Here is Cool Dude before his haircut:

When he sat down I asked him what he wanted me to do. He said "Mom you know I want a mohog!" Well duh I should have known that! Actually I did but I need confirmation before I attempted this style that I've never cut intentionally. We've been combing his hair into a "faux-hawk" but he wanted a real mohawk. Here's Cool Dude now:


He was very excited! Our friends that are here visiting didn't think it was so cute. We don't really care, he loves it! But I had to put my foot down when he said "mom I need to get my ear pierced and get some earrings so I can really be a cool dude!" I'm not that cool of a mom!

So then it was Tayton's turn for a haircut. He's my conservative little guy. I jokingly said "do you want a mohog too"? He said "no mom, but how about a Pikachu"?
I had to ask what he meant, for all I knew he wanted me to cut little horn-like ears into his hair. He cleared that up by telling me that he needed me to cut the shape of Pikachu into his hair..........I'm okay at hair cutting but not that good! Then he told me I'd need hair dye to add the red and black parts of Pikachu. Oh did I mention he brought out his stuffed Pikachu so I'd have a model to cut by. I told him I'd do my best and just gave him a regular trim. Silly kid! I told him that I was sorry it didn't work out and he replied "that's okay, maybe you can just paint him on."

Maybe...

Korbinology presents: Capliced

It's 2:48 am on Tuesday night. We're in Evansville, IN headed toward Ft Knox, KY. We have about another hour and a half left to go. We just stopped for fuel because paying $4.15/gallon was way better than what we paid last stop at $4.40/gallon. Well Cool Dude woke up at the stop but didn't want to get out to go to the bathroom. GRRR!

Here's the conversation in the car as we start driving again:

Korbin said "Dad can you please go slow"?
Dad: "Why?"
Korbin: "so we don't get catched up by the capliced"

(Capliced is Korbins word for Cops/Police) We live on an Army post so it's much simpler there. We simply have MP's. Easy enough.

We laugh quietly so we don't hurt his feelings or raise any suspicions that he might have made up this word.

Korbin: "102. Thats the speed limit."

Korbin: "when you go to sleep then it goes onto 2 then you go a little faster, right Mom."

Mom: "yes." (not that I have a clue what that statement meant but I wanted to hear more!)

Dad: "go back to sleep bud!"

Why on earth would Kirke want to end this fabulous conversation? MEN!!
Now I have no entertainment! Super! Thanks Kirke!


And since we're on the topic of Capliced, this weekend, as I mentioned a million times my nephew and nieces were here...well not here since I'm in the middle of nowhere Indiana, but they were at my house. Anyhow, Zach has lived many places but never on an Army post. So when a MP (military police)drove past our house he said "look a cop!" Nicholas, Brandy's son looked at Zach confused. I then jumped in and said "duh you know the civilian word for MP's". He got his macho face back on and said "I know that". It was funny.

Seriously?

Seriously? Did they really HAVE to go to all the trouble of doing this for me to take a picture of them? Really I took tons and tons of pictures while my nieces and nephew were hanging out with us. I did! I promise I did! Maybe they missed all of the "smile" and clicking and flashing that was going on around them? Did they really have to do this to get me to take some pictures? And what a great husband I have! He went into the dining room, found what you're about to see and says "grab the camera you're gonna want pictures of this"! He was right.

Here is Summer. Isn't she lovely? She really is adorable...without the frosting!



Olivia demonstrates the God given rights of the birthday girl. I must have missed where it said "birthday child may paint their face with icing as the see fit".


I'm pretty sure Zoe was getting ready for some ritualistic song and dance around a campfire with maraca's and drums. Or she was the ringleader...


Our dear sweet Cool Dude was not going to miss out on this artistic opportunity either. He has learned something in the past five years and knew that I was not going to love this creation.



And here we have a great picture that demonstrates the advances that Tayton has made over the past year with his SI (Sensory Integration) disorder. He generally can't stand to have any kind of messy, sticky, gooey or wet substance on his face/hands. Here you can see how uncomfortable it's making him but he really just wanted to join the fun. I was so proud of his achievement. Maybe next time he can try to show me his progress through finger painting?


Now being that Zachary is now nearly 11 he must have decided he didn't want to hang with the "little kids". This was him with the first cupcake before the others started their make overs....but it's pretty accurate of how he looked after the cupcake masquerade.

When we think they aren't listening...

When we think they aren't listening, later we find out they heard everything!

I know this because I hear my kids say thing that make my jaw drop.

Now this example is not something we said but appearantly something from the bee movie.

Zach was acting crazy yesterday and spinning around trying to get a laugh out of everyone. He said he wanted a tutu and high heels. To which Tayton, my sweet innocent loving Tayton said "then you would be a drag queen!".

How on Earth does a 6 year old know that phrase and then use it in the inappropriate appropriate situation? I thought I was gonna die right then and there from laughing shock, horror and disbelief!

And now he is chanting "drag queen, drag queen what do you see"? To the rhythm of Brown Bear! How do I not laugh and explain that it might be a little inappropriate for him to run around chanting that when it's so freakin funny?

Tayton and Korbin say some of the craziest off the wall things. Sometimes in pure sweet honest child like innocence. And other times it's in complete efforts to make me bust out laughing.

We had a great day!

My life with six kids was so much fun that last night I added one more cause I wondered what it would be like with seven. Then today I thought awww what the heck lets see how many kids we can handle. Fortunately we know people with lots of kids so that was easy.

Before I start to add pictures I need you to know that sometimes I'm a little unconventional. I do things that most people would probably think is crazy. For example when the boys were little for Korbins first birthday we bought an inflatable bouncer. In March in Alaska it is too cold to use it outside. My solution was to move my bedroom into a smaller room and use the master bedroom for a playroom complete with inflatable bouncer. Another example is that when we first got the boys bunk beds they could climb up no problem. The problem was getting down so we went out and got one of those slides you use when you build your own swingset and attached it to the beds so they could get down safely......and quickly!

So anyhow my latest crazy idea was that we should put our new pool inside. No not in the kitchen or anything although I did want to move the living room into the dining room cause I am running out of ideas for rearranging. Anyhow like I was saying, the pool needed to be inside because I wanted the kids to be able to use it more than just on sunny days and during the daylight......Ok ok ok......I wanted to be able to swim after the kids are done for the day without being eaten alive by gigantic Missouri bugs.

Here's some pictures from our day:
Here we are with a gazillion people in the pool.

















And another:




















And isn't this the sweetest picture?
Kirke and our neice and Amber's youngest.






















I love this picture because it is so real. Here we have two boys who's worlds have just been turned upside down. One whose daddy is off fighting a war and another whose just lost the second dad in his life and now, in his words, "I don't even have a dad at all now". But in the midst of all of this they can still be ten year old boys and laugh and have fun and be real without the worries of the darkness in their lives. I want to be able to do the same.























And now the last picture because Kirke is tired. As if it's 1am or something geesh! Oh right it is.... So anyhow here are our other two neices and of course Cool Dude. Aren't they so cute! I really love these kids!

















Oh but wait one more! Just one more because I'm so happy to have Kirke home for a few weeks and I really mean that and this picture proves it!



















Oh shoot I lied. One more cause I just saw it when I added that one and it's funny.

You Tube Comment

So appearantly my video's on You Tube are public which is fine, but I didn't think anyone would actually watch them! I just checked my email a little bit ago and this is what I found:

New Comment on Your Video

spazznout has commented on your video. To read this comment, go to the comments for "Crying at Night."

Comment from spazznout:

Korbin,dont be sad, be proud of your dad and your friend. Your dad and friend are the hero's of today. My dad too was in the army and left me alone with my mom and brother often. Always remember he is thinking of you and wants you to be happy and strong like a man for your mother. These times now in your life are going to build character and confidence in you. My dad always came home and I always knew he loved me and if he had to leave it must be really important
Korbin another pawn in the game

Thanks for using YouTube!
- The YouTube Team

Here is the video in case you missed it!

Mother of Six...........I did what?

I love to help people. Without giving away too many details I have a family issue that came up a couple weeks ago. This problem left my ex-sister in law, but still good friend that I consider family without care for her four children this weekend. My step-brother is the biological father of her oldest son. She moved away and divorced him going on 8 years ago I believe. My nephew who was then 2 and hasn't seen my brother since then.

So anyway my SIL moved away divorced my step-brother and then had three little girls with her husband. Oh and let me add that my step-brother has since had three girls of his own. This poor boy has 6 sisters! The three that he lives with have a place in my heart as if they were my own neices, in fact they just are an that's just the way it is! They live in Oklahoma.

Well my SIL called and I offered to help out in her jam. So we drove 250 miles yesterday to pick up her four kids for the weekend. My two boys stayed here with friends (thank god, thank you friends!). We drove down grabbed them up even though we hadn't seen them in nearly a year and drove back as if we'd never missed a beat. They took right too us again!

Today I have found out what having six kids is like. We went from having a five and six year old to having a 3 yr old, two 5 yr olds, two 6 year olds, and a nearly 11 year old.

We ALL went to the commissary. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?? The shopping part wasn't bad except people looking at us like we were stupid for having so many kids so close together! But our commissary just remodeled and modernized our old check out lines that I'm pretty sure had to be wound up at the beginning of each shift. They might have still been typing in the prices of the items, it's hard to make up stories at midnight remember really.

Well they thought it would be wise to install those pain in the ass fabulous self check out lanes. I think they did it to replace the old express lane. My problem with this is that who thought it was faster and easier to replace the cashier on express who has probably been a cashier for 30 years and is pretty speedy at her job really with lanes that people who've never been cashiers get to walk up and scan and check out on their own? Bad idea!

We don't know what the hell we're doing and they added the stupid weighted bagging area. This means every item we scan has to be placed onto the bagging area with just the right amount of force for it to register that it was bagged. And that you're not sneaking other items in the bags. God forbid you drop the 20 pound bag of dog food and it registers as a 40 pound bag. Alarms will sound, a net drops out of the ceiling and your butt's heading to the MP station to be interogated about your intentions to steal 20 pounds of dog food that cost 10 bucks!

Well with six kids, all too old to be duct taped riding in the cart except one, they all want to help. "Let me scan my hot dogs" and then "mom I can scan the gigantic economy, as big as I am bag of toilet paper" and finally, "look at me I can stand on the bagger station and wiggle my butt". Suddenly the net drops, sirens blare and ten people come running over to see what we're stealing as the darn machine yells "REMOVE UNSCANNED MERCHANDISE FROM THE BAGGING AREA" repeatedly until we remove the child and attempt to scan three more items before the whole scene repeats itself. Which it did at least 10 times. The poor lady overseeing these lanes probably hated us as she had to come put in her code a gazillion times. The kids didn't understand that sitting on, leaning, touching ever so lightly and poking at the bagger station would cause more of a delay.

About three hours 20 minutes later( the lady who used to run express would have been done with us in less than three minutes) we got out of the store and headed home. We won't be shopping again as a family until we have less kids. To those of you who have six or more kids of your own, hats off to ya! For us two is good!

We'll enjoy our time with extra kids at home or the park or somewhere more kid friendly (like an antique store) than the commissary.

Oh yeah and by the way I decided my almost 11 year old nephew might enjoy some company from someone his own age instead of all these little kids so I invited Brandys 10 year old son to stay the night. Yep 7 kids in my three bedroom house.

I'm an idiot! (The kind that loves kids!)

Korbin's Pledge

My little guy is very proud to be an American. He is quick to snap to attention as soon as he hears Retreat at 5pm each day. He also can tell you what the music is played for and what is happening. It's awesome!

Here he is saying the pledge after a very long car ride that required us to recite the Pledge every time we saw a flag.

Raising Money: Fighting Back Against Cancer

Hey everyone!

I am participating in Relay For Life again this year and I have been given an awesome opportunity to do a fundraiser with Jen from Jens Ideas! I'm so excited and wanted to share the opportunity with everyone to buy these awesome shirts and help out the American Cancer Society fight back against cancer! My team is the All Nighters, hehe!



Our team will receive between $8-$13/per shirt depending on the style you choose. I will take paypal and you can even go to my Relay website to pay your portion of the shirt that goes to Relay directly. And then you can send a check or money order to me so that I can pay Jen. She sent me several boxes of shirts so they are all in stock right now.

To view the flyer bigger just leave your email address in the comments and I will email the flyer to you. Or you can just email me at kmtkbest@gmail.com

Korbin the ham....

Korbin is wild. We all know he is a handful and can be a little snot from time to time. Every now and then he makes me wish there was a cliff nearby for me to drive off of but mostly I just laugh at/with him. He is just so funny. He is very overdramatic about pretty much everything.

We were at Ambers yesterday and Korbin was eating noodle soup for lunch. He had a regular sized spoon and was about halfway done when he decided his spoon was too small.

Amber's friend told Korbin he either had to use that spoon or a gigantic serving/cooking spoon. I think that he expected Korbin to laugh and go back to eatig with the regular spoon. Instead this is what he got:




Here is Korbin on Mother's Day when we were on our way to STL.

One of those days...

Just when think one more thing can't possibly go wrong!

~~~WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!~~~

PLEASE READ THIS DISCLAIMER BEFORE READING FURTHER:

I'm venting so if you're not in the mood to entertain my right to bitch in my blog you might need to stop reading now! And if you have any intentions of trying to convince me that it's all OK or that we signed up for this or to tell me how many other people have it so much worse (I am quite aware of that)please don't comment tonight because I just need to vent without feeling bad about it. If you'd like to rant and rave with me please by all means read on and comment till your little hearts content!

IF YOU AGREE PLEASE CONTINUE!

Kirke text messaged me, because that's the best way to break bad news, that he was leaving Thursday to go to FT Knox KY for two days. Give me a freakin break! He hasn't even been home a week yet!

One of my best friends ever lives at Ft Knox. We're going there next week in fact....how ironic. I'm so frustrated!

So get this I bitched about him leaving on Thursday loudly so that whoever the jerk on the end of the phone who has no clue what he's doing to my kids by making dumb ass decisions, heard me. So later same dumb ass calls back to say they are going to make the trip tomorrow instead of Thursday so that it won't interfere in our weekend. How kind of them!

This place is so messed up! It's not supposed to be anything like this! We don't love it and if the idiots left on Rear Detachment live up to all of my expectations they will be completely useless to the families left behind.

Super! Just freakin super!

Cool Dude and a Little Disappointment

Korbin had his ultrasound for his kidneys today to check everything out from the surgery he had back in January. We went up to the desk to check in and they asked the usual: patients last name, last four of the sponsors social. Then the lady said "first name?" and I said "Korbin" to which he loudly followed up by saying, "you mean Cool Dude, Mom". Silly kid!

We have had a crazy busy weekend. We drove to St Louis on Saturday and stayed in a hotel with a pool because my MIL had to fly out at 6am on Sunday and I was not getting up to drive her two hours to the airport. In fact we didn't get up at the hotel either we just let her take the airport shuttle at 4:30am! The boys had a blast swimming in the pool.

***Update***

So the phone rang in the middle of me typing this this morning so it got left open and it was Korbins doctor. It's only been about an hour since his ultrasound this morning so I knew it couldn't be good.

We just got a call from Korbins doctor here at the Fort. His ultrasound wasn't so good. We have to go back to Columbia for more tests again. His kidney is still swollen and probably isn't draining properly despite the surgery in January. This sucks I was hoping to be done with the kidney stuff other than bi-annual ultrasounds until he was an adult. I hadn't even thought of the possibility of the surgery not fixing the problem so I'm caught a little off guard. :(

Here is a video I just took of Korbin and our friend Cadie, Amber's oldest girl!

I didn't run away too.....but it's a good idea!

We took a trip. Kirke graduated from BNCOC (E6 school for the Army) on Tuesday and was the honor graduate so we just had to go and see him. His mom flew here on Sunday and we stayed in a hotel in STL that night and flew out on Monday.



The airline somehow thought it was appropriate to seat my MIL and I together for the flight and one boy had a seat behind us and the other was assigned to a seat that was a few rows back and by the window on the other side. Don't get me wrong, I do love the idea of a plane ride without two wild boys bugging me and pretending I have no idea who that kid is that keeps kicking that poor ladies seat. However, it is against my better judgement.


Korbin was throwing a fit in the Detroit airport so I whisked his little butt screaming and all off to the family bathroom so we could have a little chat. As soon as we got there his nose started to gush blood. So picture this: mean mom drags small boy into bathroom and comes out with small boy no longer crying but holding a bloody towel to his nose. That did not earn me mom of the year. How convenient for him to get a bloody nose at a time like that! He was so worked up I'm surprise he wasn't puking too!


I'm pretty sure the airplane took two or three extra circles around the airport in Maryland before it landed. And then, the nerve of some people I tell you! It took FOREVER for the plane to taxi to the gate to let us off. AND people thought they had the right to get off the plane before us just because we were in rows 26 and 27.

The drive from Maryland to Missouri was just shy of 1000 miles. Crammed in Kirke's raggedy old Cadillac! The boys were good some of the time.





They were not so good another part of the time. No pictures of that though sorry!

But I did get pictures of this at a rest area in Illinois:




We felt so safe at this particular rest area that we ventured down a little trail to a playground strategically placed with woods on two sides of it for added security. The boys needed a break to play here are a few pictures of that. It was so sweet to see them with daddy again however, knowing our time is limited made it sad.








We got home and I was so lucky to get to write a paper before falling into bed after midnight. Kirke is off signing back in to the unit right now. That makes me sad. But it's okay we will make the best of each day we have together.

Have you ever?

***This post was started a few days ago but I didn't post it for some reason. If for some reason I repeated info or stories from another post I appologize! ***

Have you ever made decisions so quickly that after everything was finalized you knew it was a stupid decision but it was irreversible?

This is how I felt the moment I clicked confirm and booked plane tickets for my Mother in Law and my two boys and I to fly a gazillion miles to Maryland to watch my Kirke graduate from BNCOC (Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course).

Let me digress. First of all I wanted to fly out to his graduation and then drive back with him when the thought struck me a couple weeks into his training. I figured
Brandy could keep my boys for a couple nights so they didn't miss school and then I'd ride back with Kirke after his graduation. Great plan right? Well MR. Negativity himself jumped into that boat with about as much enthusiasm as dog going to the vet to be put to sleep. I was angry to say the least.

Well sometime a couple weeks back he told me that he had earned the title of "Honor Graduate" for completing the course evaluations with a perfect score. All that remained was their FTX and he was good to go. I told him I'd love to be there for him and this time all of the sudden he was all for it. He called his mom to book a ticket to come hang with the boys so that I could fly out to be with him. She agreed.

Well that sounds super right? Not so much. You see when she called me to make the reservations we got her ticket to Missouri and then I told her he was honor grad and she wanted to come to Maryland too. Soooooo..........we booked four tickets to Maryland from St Louis instead of just one.

Kirke picked us up from the airport and delivered us to the ragedy old hotel. Actualy it wasn't horrible except for the fact that there was no theromostat and it was like walking into the Ice Hotel. Not my idea of comfy cozy. Did I mention this was at about 1:30am?

Kirke had to go back to the barracks for the night (or few hours till he had to be up at 0400). Anyhow we added extra blankets to beds and went to sleep till 0630 when we had to be up to get ready. After the whole day before being spent in airports I wasn't quite prepared for a day spent in the car. We made it about 450 miles yesterday. Then stopped for the night.

Whoever thought that spending this many days in this close proximity to my bratty little boys little angels was a good idea was very very wrong. Not to mention we are crammed into Kirke's old beater 1990 Cadillac. The boys are in the backseat now trying to entertain themselves by making up their own words and poking one another as much as possible. Right now they are playing an interesting game of "Tayton says" basically the rules are Korbin has to do whatever Tayton says the last few minutes of orders have started the same "bite yours (that's right he says it with an "s")....." Last time I looked back was because Tate said "bite yours ear" and I wanted to see Korbin try...he tried but setteled for his shoulder.

When they go back to school I'm sure they will call DFS to come investigate my five year old with bite marks all over himself. Do you suppose they will even believe my story? Probably not but most of the stories from my life are more far fetched than most would consider reality. Those of you who've spent a day with us however know that these are typical everyday happenings for our family.

The MIL is in the backseat trying to sleep. I could not believe when she took the boys into the last gas station that she sent my boys into the mens room alone while she went into the ladies room. I would never ever do this! Am I the only mom who still demands her boys come into the ladies room with me when the dad is gone? If they are the only ones who have to go then fine they can go into the mens room but I'm waiting outside the door. However if I have to go too then it's "sorry Charlie you're going in the ladies room". I am tactful about it, we go into the big stall. They do their business then have to stand and face the door while I do mine. Then we wash our hands (they feel the needs to keep their eyes closed most of the time) and go on our way. I know that no one is going to steal them, tie them up and hurt them or anything else this way right? This world sucks that our kids can't be guaranteed safety in public restrooms but until they are old enough (probably when they are 18 and move out) they are stuck with me! Ok fine how about 10? Is that reasonable.

You have to understand however that my kids have a tendency to flush odd items down the toilet and see how long it takes the sink to overflow. Or better yet to see if the pipes under the sinks are tightened securely or only 5 and 6 yr old hand tight. Trust me I do this in the best interest of everyone.

So back to my poor decision making, I should have insisted that the boys and MIL fly back to STL airport after the graduation and then Kirke and I could have driven back together. Problem here is that I have yet to leave my boys overnight. I know I know I should, I can and I will someday when they go to college or join the Army themselves. Instead I have to share my first few days after a two month separation with my MIL. The only good thing here is that she can see her son now and not be here the day he heads off the giant sandbox in a few weeks or less if I'm cursed with bad luck and might just be.

Okay I'm driving down I70 ready to stuff cheetos in my ears and rip my eyeballs out of my head because it's killing me. Probably from listening to country music the whole trip so far. That alone makes me wanna jump from the vehicle at top speed after 5 minutes an hour or two.

Ok I'm ready to scream so I'm going to end this rambling and go try to homework before my computer battery dies. If you made it this far through my rambling please leave me a comment. A simple "you really are an idiot" will suffice.