The Jerk

The Jerk never happened tonight. My jerk was too jerky turkey to go to a school dance and perform The Jerk for his peers. he was too busy jerking and quirking and teasing kids in the resource room, to the point of turning his desk around to avoid being *looked at* by an *ugly girl* in his class. He couldn't let it go there, though. Nooooooooo. As class was letting out he went out of his way to walk by her and tell her that if she looked at him again, he was going to *smack her*. Nice huh? Isn't he charming? Don't you want him over for dinner? Afterall, he can jerk, ya know. The principal called to let me know that not only had The Jerk Jackson been kept in for lunch time detentions twice last week for disrupting that class, he really nailed his own coffin today by threatening the smack down of The Ugly Girl. I think he's embarrassed to be in the resource room, embarrassed to be at an even lower math level than some of the kids in the class, so he acts LIKE A JERK innappropriately to cover it up. So, in addition to the after school detention his teacher handed down today because of more disruptions, the principal is keeping him for an hour and a half, 2 days in a row, next week as well, for the Criminal Threatening Towards The Ugly Girl. Just long enough to send him into boredom psychosis. Perfection. He also must walk home from these detentions, because that's the rule. When you screw up enough to earn an after school detention, you walk home. 4 miles. I hope it snows.
He also brought home a less than stellar report card today, but had made all the stuff from the teacher and principal dissappear. (The kid still thinks I'm a dummy head.) All A's B's and a few C's at progress report time, now 1 A, 4C's and a D. Outstanding!
Makes for a terrific weekend huh?
Oh, to top it allllllllllllll off, I haven't been sleeping well since Yogi's accident and I am having recurring dreams regarding that day and Doug's impending trip to Band Camp*. I may need to drug myself heavily to get though the winter! Hoping time will ease all this stuff, usually does. why can't anxiety just kill my appetite instead???????????????

* WAR

this weeks pics

movies Yogi & kids watched during the restful week

updates and other

All is well, Yogi is resting comfortably, trying not to over do. He's bored but handling this better than I thought he would. He is not one to sit around. He still has a Dumbo ear and looks beat up on his face, neck, back & head, but feels pretty good. I, however, woke up with some viral crud today and fought insane nausea and splitting headache all.day.long. It was not fun trying to take care of him, myself and Shawn. I dropped Kendyl at school at 9, fighting a sick stomach the whole way, ( I even managed a cute dress and hair clippies.. on her, not me LOL)then Court picked her up at school for me at 1. Then my Mom came for a visit, huge surprise! she's allowed to drive now! she looked great and brought donuts lol. The kids had fun with her and I showed her the 2 bedrooms we've been working on. She even helped me make my bed! (Shawn had peed through his clothes, yet again). Then I started to feel really ill while she was here and fell asleep on the couch. Um....oops? she understands. I just hope I didn't expose her to any serious crud.
Our doctor called. Kendyl & Shawn can have H1N1 immunizations Saturday morning, so we signed them up for 9am. then, all 3 youngest kids will have both flu shots done. At first we had said NO WAY but people in our town are getting sooooo sick with this flu. There are too many people in this house to deal with this on such a huge level. It would look & feel like a war zone. I hope I don't regret this decision.

Doug & Tim finished the roof -the one Yogi fell off of -today. Looks great. he messed up tore off some of the siding on his way down, and trashed some scraggly trees, but they told us we can repair that when we come back to do the garage roof in the spring. The blood will wash away on it's own, right? LOL ...All is OK.

People are so good to us. Our friend Cheryl, a chef, brought us some AMAZING muffins. He's received cards, notes, flowers and phone calls all day, every day. The cookbook committee ladies, who all adore him, and the contractor counter folks at the Home Depot have checked in on him several times. He's feelin' the love from all over and it feels good. Anyone who meets him, loves him. He's like the guy in the Martina McBride song. He's just that good lol
Jackson's voice is so deep that it's almost creepy. It's deeper than Doug's and he's 6'4! Freaky huh? Maybe he's an alien! He's currently all excited about the school dance on Friday night. Hes getting brave and dancing in front of classmates now!. he's amazing. he's rehearsing for his "the jerk" dance(some hip hop dance hes learning)
Speaking of Dougalou... At drill this past weekend he received his final deployment orders. He says I'm not allowed to give any specifics, but suffice it to say, the details he shared absolutely terrify me. The good part is that he & Ben, his room mate and current arch nemesisbest friend, will be TOGETHER at their location. Jay leaves for good next week, he's an infantryman, and he's being stationed in a totally different middle eastern location. I'm hoping to get photos of the 3 of them together this week while Jay is back home for the week. Anyway, from here on, I will refer to Doug & Ben's war location as *BAND CAMP*(we all just voted on the name, T & Courtney liked *THE HOOD* better, but Yogi won)
I still feel like turd so I'm going to go chill. I just put kids to bed and should be cleaning, but I need a rest.
Thank you all for checking in with my cartoon character, thank you for caring!

emotionally drained

life throws you curves. sometimes, when you say "life is just going too well right now!", you should SHUT YOUR MOUTH. I know I should have. Yesterday started off like any other Monday. I drove by the job site on the way to drop kendyl off at school and we honked and waved to all the boys up on the roof. My husband looked and waved and blew me a kiss as we passed. A crystal ball would have really come in handy at that moment. the morning had gone poorly and I wanted a DO OVER. When i arrived back home, my foster dog from hell Keyra, had tipped the trash can over and made a huge colossal mess all over the kitchen and down the hall. I love coffee grounds. Then I noticed that the washing machine is still leaking, even after the boys had replaced the pump just 2 weeks ago. 30 loads a week, what can we expect, right? I patted the washer on the head, told him it was gonna be OK, and started searching through boxes of Jackson's clothes because a friend needs them for her son. None of the lights would work in the storage room, I couldn't find some of what I wanted, Shawn had his 3rd bout of diarrhea, then my phone rang. Yogi had fallen off the roof and landed ON HIS HEAD.

I was told he was out cold. It was hard to think straight. i packed a quick bag, tossed Shawn into the truck and went straight there, only half a mile away. He looked ashen and starry eyed. Tim helped me get him into the truck and I took him to the ER in the city next to us. He was in and out the whole way, moaning and telling me weird stuff one minute, then making total sense the next. It's amazing how fast people move when you tell them your passenger just fell off a roof! we had valet parking take the truck, 2 guys put Yogi into a wheelchair and zoomed us down the hall while i carried Shawn and the diaper bag. They got him in instantly, put him on a backboard, braced his neck, inserted an IV and yelled at me for not calling an ambulance. I was so nervous, it didn't even occur to me! After his neck/spine scan came back clear, we all relaxed. He was totally with it by that point, but still kept insisting he had never blacked out. 3 people told me he had been OUT at the scene lol. He told us the ladder slipped, all the scaffolding came down, he nailed the aluminum plank(with his head) and dented it on the way down, then landed on a big board on the ground, which really hurt and knocked the wind out of him. Doug heard commotion and found his Dad laying there. Yogi just kept telling the Doc and nurse it hurt to breathe. All of a sudden, Yogi's baby brother walked in and Yogi cried a little bit. He grabbed his hand and then felt better. He adores his brother. X rays couldn't find any broken bones, so they sent us home with just a head injury, bruising, contusions, he's covered in black and blues, scrapes, a big swollen ear, a bloody head with a huge egg on it and swollen, "jarred" organs that hurt. They told him he'd hurt more today, and he does. He slept Ok overnight, considering. His neck hurts a lot, he's having lots of trouble moving around and we are just loving on him all we can. Kristin took the news hard, she always does, but fels much better now that she knows he will be OK. Vicodin is amazing stuff, by the way. So is health insurance! We are thankful and it will be a wonderful, restful, Thanksgiving this year. We dodged a HUGE bullet back in March, and now this. Is GOD trying to tell me something? i don't feel like I take him for granted, I count my blessings every day, I give him tons of attention, he knows I love him to pieces... I don't like thinking about how I would live without him. I don't want to think about it. There have been lots and lots of careful hugs. We were having a great month, as far as finances go, too... I hope come out of this mess OK. But I don't really care. He's safe. He's home. He's in one piece. Thanks, Big Guy.
Can i have chocolate now?

this week in pictures

could he be any cuter?

does this kid have fashion hipster sense OR WHAT???? i see a career.

these 2 love play dough. shawn calls it "dee-oh"

you have NO IDEA the delight this picture brings me, unless you have been reading my blog for over a year. i still suffer post traumatic stress over our 7 day power outage and family uprooting in dec. of 08. NEVER AGAIN! you can read about that crazy storm, and the aftermath, here.

Courtney modeled eagerly too and is very excited about the fact that her cell phone and hair straightener can be plugged in LOL

these to guys are attached at the hip. their relationship is so sweet to watch. they have a schtik, a comedy routine every day.. i cant explain it but i wish i could get avideo of it and post it on here. SO CUTE. every night he says "i love you, Gunkuh" when he kisses him goodnight. kids can never have too many adults to love them in their life.

we ordered 10 of these for uncle tim to mail out. think he'll like them? its a surprise.

sneak preview!

the big winner-ordered 100 of them today

close 2nd place

honorable mention, but not enough Jacky

like it

boring

GOALS

last year Yogi only had one request, of all of us, for his Christmas present. He wanted each of us to write a list of our Goals, Hopes & Dreams and present it to him Christmas Morning. Kristin, being the brown nosing, ass kissing suck up driven, organized, people pleasing, oldest child she is, not only wrote her list on time, but decorated it with stickers and glitter, designed a custom made envelope for it and delivered it in his stocking Christmas eve. geek. The rest of the family had issues with this assignment request. Me, because I despise authority. Doug, because he doesn't like writing. Jackson, because he couldn't put anything into words an has no very little self worth, and from an intellectual standpoint, the assignment request was over his head. Long story short, we failed. He claimed, at the time, that his feelings were not hurt, but i still wonder, so this year, I'm hoping to rally the troops again, bribe encourage the children into getting their lists made and surprise their Daddy with a whole slew of personal lists on The Big Day. Over the last 12 months he has mentioned the lists in passing, especially mine, and seems to very much still want them. Usually, when Yogi makes a request, the kids jump on it because they love to make him happy. yah..i know, right? pimp! but this was different. It was difficult. It took effort. Big effort. I personally, was afraid to come out looking selfish and my mental list(hey, i got that far!) was looking like a big list of *I WANT*s, or "stuff you've never done for me", and I didn't want it to come off that way. He is the hardest working, most driven, goal oriented guy I've ever met in my entire life. When you pull up to our small house you would never know that, but it's the truth. Nobody tries harder to succeed, personally or professionally. I have expressed this apprehension to him, and he says its doesn't matter. Yogi says,
"DREAMS ARE GOALS THAT JUST HAVEN'T HAD THE ENERGY PUT BEHIND THEM"
I will try to keep this in mind while i compile my list for him. some whining may occur in the coming weeks. be ready.
Don't most husbands just want a big screen TV??????