my 2 little monsters

shawn is 15 months old today!

brain dump

you know how sometimes you wanna spill it all but have no idea where or how to begin? i am having a day like that. my sister called, she always makes me feel bettter with her "TO HELL WITH 'EM ALL!" attitude. yet, here is sit. staring at a blank slate wishing my play list worked while posting. the sound of my crappy, ancient dishwasher will have to suffice. oh-and jerry's noisy tractor mower.... and Doug grumbling to himself under his breath. yah... he's here. suspended. again. 3 days for shoving the kid who kicked his chair out from under him in woodshop class, causing him to hit the floor. nice huh? doug got up and shoved him causing a piece of equipment to fall over. Doug sees no fault on his part-the thing should have been bolted to the floor to prevent such accidents, afterall. @@. i am so done with teenagers! ready for them to find housing and see how well it goes living solo. good luck! last night i told doug & kayleigh they could invite a "few" friends over for cake & ice cream for kay's birthday. i went out & got a cake, balloons..... they invited 15 people. they all showed up. it went on until 10pm. they sucked helium and made noise. i rock. next morning, this is what i get. a slap in the face! whatever!
when will he exert some self control?????? funny how he held it together all summer at boot camp. hhmmm. husband says hes going back on his concerta and he doesnt care what the damn Army says about it. discharge him then! hes gotta graduate. hes now failing 4 classes-one being english where he had an A 2 weeks ago. he has no car keys, no vehicle, no friends & NO kayleigh. GO RAKE LEAVES! then he punched a dent in my fridge and screamed in his dad's face, after being yucked out last night for putting a hole in his bedroom wall yesterday! this KID!
ok.. vent over for now. back to your fun blogs. i need a drink! ok.. i need minute maid.

a few pics

had a little shindig for dougs girlfriend tonight

good news/bad news

we had a great day today. Daddy was home and it was relaxed and fun. i wish some of the events that took place, took place in a better /more convenient order, but... i am happy they took place at all.

we went to a farm with a pumpkin patch today. it was fun, we brought C with us. she slept over after babysitting for us last night while i dragged Yogi to see The Secret Life Of Bees.(LOVED IT SO MUCH). anyway, the farm was fun, the kids petted goats, cows, sheep and held baby bunnies.
we walked through apple orchard, picked pumpkins, enjoyed the sunflower garden and gorgeous views(the town we went to was just peaking with foliage) beautiful views all over the place,great photo op... but no camera. then we went into the on- site store. mmmmm i found rasberries bigger than strawberries!!!!!!! bought lemon bread, cinnamon bread and pumpkin bread. shawn loved the wagon ride too. jackson chose not to speak or walk near us the entire time, i just ignored his annoying, attention seeking behavior and kept trying to engage him in the many activities taking place around him. if i acted that way at his basketball games, how would he feel? maybe i will try it. he wouldnt even pick out a pumpkin. his loss. we are carving tomorrow night.
then we went home and found my camera 2 hours later while cleaning up the table for dinner! that whole order-of-events thing. i almost cried when i found it, on the kitchen table under a pile of rubble. paper rubble. chocolate mold rubble. a place several people had searched several times over. whatever.
the bad news? the disk is broken and all the pics I've taken in the last 10 days or so do not exist. pressing leaves with wax paper, fall foliage in full bloom, daddy playing with play dough with the 3 youngest, doug in uniform all dressed up, kendyl in her halloween costume(Spiderman.. don't judge me!)...... UGH! but.. i had another disk and it works fine so its all good i guess. atleast we have a camera now!!!
i made chocolate lollipops for kendyls halloween party at school this Friday. came out so cute! & yes, she has chosen Spidey for a costume. weird kid. jack hasnt decided yet.
C & I are taking the kids back to the farm on wednesday if we can make the time. maybe i can get some pictures then.
doug smashed up a couple fingers while helping a kid fix his car at school this week. needed a trip to the ER to make sure they werent broken and thankfully, they are not. just smashed up & bloody. made for an interesting Army drill weekend though, and he flunked his PT test. hes thrilled(NOT). well, ive bored you long enough. hopefully will have something interesting to say later in the week.
GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! game 7 starting in 10 minutes! i am nervous for them!

lots to say!

hey guys! missed you all so much. Verizon came here to fix my telephone on the 9th and mistakenly detached my internet while i was away at a playdate. there was no hurry to repair it on their part and after speaking to Bippy, Boopy, Boppy and Habib at the phone company over the course of several days, it was finally fixed by a guy named John with sexy blue eyes on the 16th. that didnt hurt much. in the next days we were busy with basketball try outs & i came down with a nasty virus and puked every 25 minutes for 6 solid hours. i am just feeling up to doing anything thismorning. during my blogging break:

the kids colds are gone!

the water & ice maker in the fridge magically repaired it itself. i'll take it!

we spent lots of time outside, i did alot of walking and the pounds are starting to come off

jackson has been excellent, aside from not even noticing/acknowledging the new basketball shoes, court shorts and knee wrap i surprised him with. oh well. kids!
his appointmnet in Boston on wed. went great. he gained 2 lbs and an inch in ONE MONTH. his knee does not require surgery at this time, just more diligence with ice & motrin. more self awareness & self led help too, but i dont see that happenin' LOL this is a kid who comes home with 7 bee stings and merely says "i got stung thismorning at Joeys house" ($#@!^&*%#@!$&*+????????)

Yogi is having his usual fall roofing fest. phone wont stop ringing and the cash is rolling in. chu-ching!

granny is all camped out in her new nursing home, farther away but with a higher level of care than an assisted living facility.

my brand new camera is missing. bad missing. sad missing. i cried kinda missing. i took pics of kendyl pressing leaves between sheets of wax paper on like... monday or something. never saw the camera again. we think shawn threw it into the trash can along with Kayleighs flip-flop, his own busy car Robeez left shoe and my best spatula. the hunt continues, but ive accepted that its gone forever, so if i find it i will be thrilled. the bright side? while searching for the camera, i came across my Forrest Gump soundtrack, my Staind CD's, Dougs birth video(yuck) and my favorite paint brush. anyway, if the camera doesnt turn up by Halloween, i will have to buy a new one. so much for the pumpkin patch photos i planned to take this weekend. ken is going to a birthday party at a karate studio today, so much for those pics too. GGRR. i hate when i get in these patterens of losing things.

Jack slept over a neighbors house last night, was supposed to come home by 830 for medicine. its 10am now. i guess the next time he asks to sleep over, he will be told NO. he missed last nights meds too.

must bathe ken for birthday party!
how is everyone????

Verizon Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys...all 7 of you, hahaha... I lost Internet a week ago and Verizon doesn't care. I'm hoping to be back online by tomorrow night...suffering withdrawals, need therapy...love, Ali.

Great pictures to post when I get back online.

(posted by Ju)

best pics from the college visit