A Whole New World

Christian got his new glasses today.

He said "Its like I'm seeing a whole new world!"

He got both of these pairs.

These are my favorite.

These are Christian's favorite.

Frustrated and Pissed Off!

I sent this note to school with Christian today to find out if his teachers have noticed any changes since starting the medication.  I was expecting to hear good things because I have seen the improvements in him.

According to her note, he's gotten WORSE!  I swear this teacher has it out for him.  How could it even be possible that he's gotten worse?  I have seen the changes!  How could he have four A's and one B if what she says is true?  I am so frustrated with her this year.  I just don't get it!  Advise anyone?

Gotta love the Amish!

I needed to get some new dining chairs for the table that I got of my moms.  When I started looking at chairs they were way more expensive than I expected and knew the quality wouldn't be there.  I knew that I would have to spend quite a bit of money but I also wanted the chairs to last forever.  I picked up a catalog from a store in town.  For the style that I wanted it was $249 per chair!  Uh no!  Especially for something that is mass produced and not great quality.  At that point I started searching online for chairs that I might be able to order.


I came across a website for an Amish Showroom.  I found some beautiful chairs that were under $200 each and Amish made.  I knew that the quality and workmanship would be outstanding.  I picked the style, color and quantity that I wanted and placed my order.  I waited about 2 months for them to be built and delivered.

The truck brought them yesterday.  Can I just say that I am completely amazed?  These chairs are absolutely gorgeous!  I love them!

The chairs are SOLID!  We will have these chairs forever...kids and grandkids.

Exercise! Exercise!

There was a wing level exercise yesterday called MARE (Major Accident Response Exercise).  Dominic said it was a Security Escort Convoy.  Dominic and a few others were the security escorts with the bus.  The bus "rolled over".  I guess they were supposed to wait for the fire and medical teams to get there but nothing was happening and people were "hurt" one guy even missing an arm.  TSgt. B "released the hounds".  Dominic and a couple others evacuated 14 people, triaged and in Dominic's words "ran the show".

Dominic ran to get the stretchers for the Fire Department that were standing around.

It started spreading around the wing that they all "kicked ass".  He said he is being named in emails about the exercise.  Dominic was disappointed in the fire and medical teams.  
Today he learned that he will be getting recognized by the wing for what he did in the exercise.  He said "I just did what I do".  He is great at what he does and for too long he hasn't gotten the recognition.  I am so proud of him and he totally deserves this.  He thinks he might get a coin or a certificate maybe.

Flat Stanley

Christian's class read a book called Flat Stanley.  From what I understand (what Christian has told me) Stanley gets flattened by a bulletin board.  He wants to go on vacation for the summer to visit a friend that moved away so Stanley's parents put him in an envelope and send him to his friends house.  Obviously this is the most condensed version EVER.  Anyhow, Christian's class did a project where they had to write a letter and send their "Flat Stanley" to someone to see what kind of adventures Stanley would have.  Christian sent his to Dominic and I tell you what, Stanley is going to come back a certified war veteran.  Dominic has been taking Stanley on missions with him and taking pictures with the flight crews and pilots.  We can't wait to get Flat Stanley back to see all the adventures he's been on.

Christian is going to be so excited to share the adventures of his Flat Stanley with his class :)

Pinewood Derby

It's Pinewood Derby time!  Last night we had to go check his car in.  This was our first year and had no idea what we were doing or getting into.  We found out though, the hard way.

The cars can weigh up to 5 oz.  When we weighed "Spongebob" it was only 2 oz and some change.  So we glued a bunch of quarters and nickels to the bottom equaling $1.20 hoping that would give us enough weight to be a bit faster.  It increased the weight but unfortunately Christian's car was so slow it barely made it past the finish line.  I felt bad for him because he didn't want to come in last.  I explained to him that this was our first time and that we really didn't know what we were doing.  There were all sorts of shaped cars with tons of extra attachments like fenders and drivers.  We just weren't knowledgeable about the whole derby car experience.  Next year will surely be different.

Christian won for Best Design for his car and he was happy with that.  They served a hot dog lunch and by the time it was over Mason was running on fumes.  He needed a nap bad!  

We came home and had some quiet time which inevitably only lasted about 15 minutes.  Ayden threw a major fit about having to leave Scouts and I put him in his room for a "nap".  He opens the door every 5-7 minutes and yells at me "can I come out now?" to which I answer "NO!"  By the 4th or 5th time of that Mason woke up crying.  GREAT!

I managed to get 5 loads of laundry done and I even cooked dinner!  I was so run down last night that I ended up giving the boys each a cup o' noodles.  I felt bad about that because I usually do better than that.  They were both completely content about it though and I'm thinking about buying more of them for the other crazy nights in our immediate future.

Glasses?

I got a letter from Christian's school the other day saying that he failed two vision screenings that were performed on two different days.  Did I give Christian the Franks eyes?  I think so.  I'm secretly a little excited.  I didn't give Christian much but my ears and now eyes.  I always loved picking out new glasses.  I think I felt special in a way.  I started wearing glasses when I was in third grade and when I was in 5th grade I started wearing contacts.  Three years ago I had Lasik eye surgery and wouldn't change a thing.

Christian told me that only nerds wear glasses.  I explained to him that lots of people have to wear glasses.  I told him how almost everyone in my family has bad eye sight and how we've all worn glasses and contacts at some point.  Then I told him "Auntie Kara wears glasses (she just recently had Lasik), she's not a nerd is she?"  His response was "I see where you're going with this".  He cracks me up.  What a funny kid.  I think he's more open to the whole thing and we have an appointment next Friday for an eye exam.  We'll see what happens.

My baby's not a baby anymore :(

Mason turned 1 today.  I can't believe it was a year ago that I went into the hospital to be induced.  Mason was ready to get out of there and Dominic and my sister barely made it to the hospital in time.  When I think about that day I just cannot believe that was a year ago.

I felt kinda sad today because Mason is my last baby.  He's already walking and doing big boy stuff.  He is such a precious baby.  He had a busy birthday.  It was a great day even though Dominic couldn't be here.  I tried to make it memorable for Christian, Ayden and myself.  I took lots of pictures so that we can show Dominic.  I hope he won't feel terribly left out.

It was tough not getting a phone call from my mom today.  She would have called and wished me a happy birthday too.  She always told me that she felt like moms should get a "happy birthday" too since they are the ones that did all the hard work.  I really missed mom today.

Happy Birthday sweet baby!

He makes me smile!

When Dominic called yesterday evening I was feeling really down.  I was rather depressed the whole day actually.  I know he picked up on it.  It was the first time since he's been gone that I actually felt a little resentful of him leaving.  It's a feeling that I knew would pass, and already has.  He told me that sometimes he wishes that he had chosen not to go too.  On the other hand we feel like in some strange way this whole thing is going to only make our marriage stronger just like living overseas for the first 5 years of our marriage did.  We only had each other to rely on and we wouldn't change a thing.

These flowers were delivered this evening from Dominic.  He told me that he knew just how to make me smile, he did.

All Better

Ayden is all better.  He did great all day.  He even went to bed early and without a fight.

Christian is doing fine on the meds now.  I think what happened was that Christian had a stomach bug that just happened to be when he started the meds this week.  Then Ayden got the bug.

Christian has been doing great this weekend.  I tell him to do something and he does it.  He hasn't been forgetful.  When he lost something he looked until he found it.  I have seen some big changes.  He still doesn't have much appetite which is common but I am staying on top of that.  He has lost 4 pounds since Thursday.  I expect that he will loose more but will be watching.