We Were Whole For 2 Weeks And It Was GREAT

Kirke came home on R&R for two weeks in March. He was home for Korbin and Mackinley's birthday which was fantastic. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge for one of those weekend and had a great time. Here's a few pictures of our time together.

~Till They All Come Home~

We Built A Sign and Then We Built Some More

Recently Megan from BuildASign contacted me and offered me a chance to design and customize some products for my family. In the past we have made FREE Banners for our soldier from BuildASign. I love that they support the troops/families and give away these HUGE banners for us to welcome home our heroes with! I was going to post a picture but they are in my old computer, sorry. This banner we designed for this deployments homecoming next fall. We would have put it up for R&R but he got home the day before the sign came. Which by the way was way sooner than I had expected our items to arrive.

For Mackinley we choose to customize a simple name sign using fun shaped letters. Basically she could care less about it but once we move it will hang on her bedroom door and she'll love it! Customing the signs to make what we wanted was fairly easy. The only problem I had was finding letters in the same font to make her full name but I mixed and matched a couple types to come up with this sign.


For each of the boys we decided to go with a customized parking sign which we changed around to make signs for their bedroom doors.
These signs were so simple to customize and I had them done in a flash. The boys chose their colors and helped me decided on the text for their signs. They can't wait till I get off my butt and hang them up!

The boys were so excited and so was I! Thanks BuildASign!

~Till They All Come Home~

**We did receive free products from BuildASign.com in exchange for my honest opinions about the products. All opinions are my own.**

The Wonderful World of Tayton

Yesterday I tricked my amazing aunt into taking Tayton grocery shopping with her. I convinced he'd be super helpful. However I did not warn her how he would obsessively talk her ear off about things that ONLY he finds to be of utmost importance.

He's recently decided that RedBox is the most ridiculous invention of all time. He can't seem to understand why anyone would invent something that people could just steal a movie from for a buck. He refuses to understand that you pay with a card and they continue charging you until it's returned or you reach a capped amount of payment. He says someone could just use someone else card. I explained that the RedBox people would still be getting paid. He argued his point about this with my brother and I for about a half hour the other day. I thought he had given it up. Apparently not because Aunt Sandy said she heard about it too.

He's also big on finding the most cost effective deals on items. He was sure to point out to her why she should or should not get certain items because of price/quantity. His reasoning skills are awesome. His off button however, seems to be broken.

He had a great time though, and he hugged her when we left! That's a BIG deal!

~Till They All Come Home~

I am a bad blogger

Korbin, Tayton, Cadie and Cassidy

Cassidy, Korbin, Tayton and Cadie

This Wendys has a little kid seating area it was cute!

Tayton made Cadie a bracelet and was helping her put it on. She never took it back off while we were there. I love these two together, they are such great friends!

Mackinley and her Daddy Doll she got for Christmas.

Things have stayed busy around here. I'm glad the holidays are over and hopefully we'll find something resembling a routine and normal around here.

The kids are doing well. Tayton and Korbin actually LIKE going to school and don't complain. However Korbin informed his teacher that he would not be at school on March 19 because he plans on staying home and having way more fun because it's his birthday. She laughed.

Taytons teacher is amazingly sweet and so understanding of his needs. I recently read a book called Can I Tell You About Asperger Syndrome? by Jude Welton. It was an awesome breakdown of aspergers for friends and family and was so right on track with describing Taytons uniqueness. He's such a cool kid. He got to spend some time with his one and only best friend ever last week. It made me miss our whole group in Missouri even more especially being that we are mostly all already on another deployment.

Korbin is missing his wife a lot more now that Tayton got to see Cadie. We're going to have to work that out soon so he can see her again. It's been almost a year for them. It had been 14 months for Tayton and Cadie. We really all become family when we go through deployments and live together at one duty station for years without biological families around. We don't need a blood relation to make us family. Military families are amazing that way!!

Mackinley is doing well. Cruising the furinute, blowing kisses and waving bye bye, copying sounds and faces. She's amazing. She's having surgery on Thursday to repair her blocked tear duct which has become a very gross little situation. She wakes up with her eye matted shut and constantly has goo oozing out. Its bad enough that people notice all the time and that bothers me.

Kirke is doing well, just getting through one day at a time. That's about all we can do.

~Till They All Come Home~

Random Pictures

Korbin driving Uncle Davids Mower!

Korbins old loft bed that we've turned into a fort at my brothers house!

The note on the counter at the doctors office. I figure I'll be saying OMG when I get the bills so this should be appropriate!

~Till They All Come Home~

Settling In Michigan

We're getting settled into our new home fairly well now. The boys are getting adjusted. I've loved having family around and have had so much help with the kids lately and hope that it doesn't die off in the next couple weeks when everyone decides having us here isn't so fun anymore!


Mackinley is going to be 8 months old on Friday and is amazing. She is 16lb 12 oz, finally growing at a great pace! And she's 27 inches long. She can crawl like a champ now and is eating really well too. She's now onto bite sized baby puffs and crackers as well as jars of all sorts of baby food and seems to be okay with eating any flavor though she prefers some over others.




Before Kirke left it was so obnoxiously funny that as soon as he got home and she heard his voice or caught sight of him she'd start whining and crying until he picked her up. Now she's doing it to me and it's not so funny anymore!




Korbin is very happy with his move to first grade and enjoys going to school now. Tayton likes school too and they are both where they need to be! Their teachers seem to enjoy them and that makes me incredibly happy and at ease.




Kirke is getting settled as well. He's working very very long days and eats lunch while he works most days (which is really gross because he's a mechanic but whatever). He has been getting online or calling us nearly everyday but only has been catching the boys on weekends of course. This deployment is especially hard on him because he's never had to leave behind a baby before. The boys were 3 and almost 2 the first time he went, the second time they were 5 and 7 I think.

My only problem is that I'm living just a few houses from where I always considered "home" but I feel out of place. I felt out of place in NY too but that was a lack of friends and a social life. Here it should feel like home. I have my own house and all of my things are here. I think the real reason is that Kirke has never lived here. He's never seen our house. Our bedroom feels like "my room" not "ours". There is a hole in our lives right now. There usually is during a deployment but this time it feels different. I feel like we don't have all the pieces.

But don't get me wrong. I am so glad that I am here in Michigan surrounded by family and friends. It just doesn't feel right. I miss my soldier.

~Till They All Come Home~

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~

It's been a while.

This will be a long post. You've been warned.

I haven't blogged since the beginning of September. Life got a bit crazy. On Sept. 24 our moving truck was delivered and we packed it up and sent it off to Michigan on the 29th. We bought a camper (huge mistake) hoping to save money while we were still in NY but out of our rental house and needing temporary housing. October 1 we packed up and moved our camper and the three kids, two dogs and two cats on post to their campground. Found out the water didn't work in the camper so we were having to go to friends houses to shower. Pain.In.The.Butt!! Then we found out it was only 18 bucks more a week to move into one of the bigger, better, running water having campers that are set up at the campground. Live and learn to research better before making rash decisions during very stressful times. We lived in the camper from the 1st until the 23rd. On the 23rd we moved into a cabin on post because Kirke's parents were coming to stay with us until Kirke left for Afghanistan.

On the 28th Kirke was on his way to Afghanistan and we were on our way to Michigan. I drove our van with the three kids, two dogs, two cats and boat load of luggage and random things. Kirkes parents drove his truck towing behind the pop up camper. 12 hours later we arrived in our new home and began the unpacking process the next day.

I've been in Michigan for a week and a half now and my house is unpacked and we're settling in fairly well. The kids are doing good. Mackinley is crawling now and she's standing up. She's having some separation anxiety but she'll get over it in time. She was really attached to Daddy. The boys are now in a Charter school and doing okay. I have been having some issues with Korbin and I plan to talk to the principal about moving him back into first grade. He's struggling with the work and always has struggled so I'd rather he take a bonus year and master the skills he needs to be successful in future grades than to always be struggling.

On Friday I asked how his day went and just as she had the previous two days his teacher went on to tell me the negatives. I was walking out of the building and I said to the kids "whoa wait hold on we're going back to your class". I walked in and said to the teacher "does Korbin do anything good?" Because all I was getting was negative feedback and I know my kids are tough but not all bad. She looked shocked and took a minute to come up with his positive traits because all she could focus on was him not being able to keep up and refusing to do his work.

Kirke is settling in as well and is sad to be gone again so soon but he's tough and mission minded and will get through this just as we will.

Ok now that you're thoroughly bored I'll end this. I"m still waiting to get internet hooked up at my house and for now I'm working with just AT&T internet and its too slow to load pictures but I will post some soon.

~Till They All Come Home~

Tayton

I haven't blogged much lately so it goes without saying that I haven't clued anyone in on how Tayton's been doing. When we left Missouri we had a diagnosis of Sensory Integration Disorder and Anxiety Disorder.

Since moving here we've been screwed out of him receiving his occupational therapy which was a life saver while we were in Missouri. But he's been seeing a child psychologist and child psychiatrist which we struggled and never succeeded in getting into in there.

They are now officially willing to say he has "asperger traits", severe anxiety, OCD and of course the Sensory Integration Disorder. All of which are the asperger traits. He also has some signs of ADHD but not a true diagnosis. I actually agree with all of this.

He's an amazing kid! He just needs things done a little differently. He needs constant reassurance and refuses to let himself make mistakes which hinders his school work. Teachers don't love to have to tell Tayton three times that he has permission do something. And he's a rules kid. There's never a gray area with him. He got sent to the office last year because he knows we don't talk to strangers and no one introduced him to the gym teacher so therefore he was a stranger. The gym teacher tried to talk to him and he ran and hid behind behind the mats! Ha ha!

We went to a local pool yesterday and the rule was that the lifeguard had to tell you when it was clear before you get on the diving board. (yes that's right, he was jumping off the diving board into 12.5 ft deep water!! He's amazing!). So every time before he got on the diving board even though he could see it was clear he would yell "excuse me ma'am, all clear?" with his hand in the air thumbs up. They laughed every time because even if she said go ahead before he asked he still had to ask and they still had to say it again. That's my boy!

So now that we're moving to MI for the deployment I'm hoping we have great resources available for him. If not I will seek them out and we'll have a year of fabulous progress!

In a short time we went from him being scared but really wanting to jump off ..........

To throwing caution to the wind and running and jumping like a champ!!

~Till They All Come Home~

Writers Workshop With Kat: My Childhood Neighborhood

When I saw what Mama Kat from Mama's Losin' It was up to over on her weekly Writers Workshop I figured I'd jump in and play this week since it fit in with what's going on in our lives right now.

The prompt: My Childhood Neighborhood

My family moved every couple years when I was a kid. We stuck around the same area except the three years we decided to try out city living because my step dad got a great job in Grand Rapids. We weren't cut out for big city life.

My grandparents were a major part of our lives growing up and always seemed to be our "home base". No matter where we lived my brother and I always considered their house and their neighborhood home. They had big square house on a corner lot on a gigantic city block. In the center of this block was a gigantic empty "field".

When I was 7 we lived with my grandparents for a few months before our move to the horrific big city. It was then that I met what would become two of my lifelong best friends. They lived on the other side of the block in the center which made the field the perfect meeting place. Over the years we would gather neighborhood kids to play various games in the field or roll down the hill. The field was surrounded by back yards so we often ventured into other peoples yards to hide and play.

About 10 years ago whoever owned the field decided to sell the land and two houses were constructed. I was devastated. My kids were supposed to be able to play in the field someday and it was the place of so many memories growing up and I just couldn't imagine not being able to run through the field to my best friends house!

Well now here I am making a decision I swore I'd never make. Kirke's deploying soon and I've decided to move back to Michigan for the duration. I never thought I'd go home during a deployment but everything has fallen together so well.

My best friends parents bought one of the houses in the field a few years ago. They're going to rent that house to us for the deployment. My kids may not have gotten to run and play in the empty field but now they get to live in it!

Your turn! Go check out the prompts at and join the fun Mama's Losin' It's Writers Workshop!

This is our new home for the next year in just a few weeks.

This is the Google Earth view of our block with my things tagged. I'm so ready to get back "home" and enjoy living near family and childhood friends for the first in over 10 years!

~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~

Adoption Day!! The Best Family is Complete!

The finalization of the adoption was simple. The judge stood, we sat, she flipped through the paperwork asking us to swear that it was true and that was pretty much it. She made us promise to love and care for Mackinley forever and ever. At one point she asked the boys a couple questions about if they liked having a sister but that was all. Some friends of ours came along to share the excitement and take some pictures for us! (thanks Stacy!!)

After that part was finished she showed the kids the courtroom and they got sit in her chair and ask lots of questions.

We are thrilled that the adoption process is a thing of the past and are so happy that from now on every piece of paper regarding our daughter will now say Mackinley Alaine Best! We couldn't be happier!! Our family is complete!

~Till They All Come Home~

Two Quick Things

On Thursday last week we were called by Korbin's doctors and told that we needed to take him to the Watertown Hospital to have an IVP done on his kidneys and urinary tract. Apparently the specialist he's going to in Rochester didn't like what he saw on the kidney ultrasound and needs more tests so that our first visit will him will be more productive or something. I don't know but I do know that I don't like urgent serious tests. Poor Korbin will have an IV with contrast while they do a serious of imaging for about an hour. No food or drink means no ADHD meds which means off the wall frustrated, impulsive little boy. Fun.

On the upside Tuesday is the day that our family will be complete! I'm certain when I say that this time although we thought it once before, after my hysterectomy and all, this time seems much more permanent as we won't be looking to adopt again. I have enough friends who need kids so I'll point the next family emergency in that direction!

My next post will be full of pictures from the adoption!!

~Till They All Come Home~

Hammocks Are Not Safe

This is our hammock.

Today I was on the phone and decided to sit in the hammock while I talked to Wendy in Norway.

I unzipped the net and slid my upper body inside the bug net and planted my big old tail into the hammock.

As I slid into the hammock something went terribly wrong. The bottom didn't open up to embrace my giant tail and I fell back against the netting. The netting is not meant to support more than the weight of a few bugs. I weigh more than a few gazillion bugs.

The hammock flipped.

At this point I was dangling above the ground (still on the phone mind you) in a tangle of mosquito netting. It was like a giant cocoon was trying to swallow me. Cars were passing on the highway and they could clearly see me trapped. I kicked and flailed and tried to figure out what was happening.

Then I heard the rip.

Slowly the net gave way and I was thrown from the comfort of my cocoon to the hard ground below.

I was still tangled and had to crawl out. I was not a beautiful butterfly. I know people were watching me from the road and I know they were laughing. I would have been. I probably would have stopped to take pictures too. Wendy got to listen to the madness but luckily Kirke and the kids were unaware of my dilemma.

~Till They All Come Home~