Wedding Pictures are here!

As promised! Here's just a few of the pictures from the wedding up in Ft. Bragg.

Ryan was the ring-bearer. Sorry the picture is blurry - had Kylie in one arm squirming while he was coming up. We had to bribe him to get him to do this. That is my step-daughter walking him up the aisle. The only way he would do it was to have her walk him up and I had to promise him I would take him to the mall later to pick out any Spiderman toy he wanted. Once he got to the pews, he said, "That was very scary!" Then he sat down and announced very loudly - "I'm never doing anything like that again!"


Here's my step-son Danny with his soon-to-be new bride. This is just after her father handed her to Danny.







This is our "Hallmark" picture of the day. As the services began, Ryan stood up to get a better look so obviously, his little sister had to copy him. Look at those curls!





I don't know if you can see this very well - this is the aftermath of sharing the cake. Danny made a very huge mistake! He went first! I don't know why people think they need to start their marriage off with a tradition like this..but..I know she was very mad! When it was her turn..not only did she smash it in his face, she rubbed it upwards to make sure it got into his nostrils as well!




And - here's my wife Mary and Danny - the newlywed! You can definitely tell he's her son! She had a very hard time with this whole thing. Afterall, she raised him as a single mom for 18 years. She is very connected to him. She has come to the realization that she is not the only love in her son's life anymore! It was both a sad day and a happy day for her.



And - finally - if you didn't see them down there - I also posted pictures of Crystal and her new pink cast!

Mother's Day at Islands of Adventure Orlando

As many of you may be aware, I took the family over to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando for Mother's Day. We had a great time over there! I've decided to post just a couple of the pictures here for you all to see. You can click on the images to make them larger.

The first set is Ryan meeting his most favorite superhero of all time - Spiderman! Ryan was very excited the whole ride over knowing he would get to see him. You'll notice that he is wearing his Spiderman shirt.

Here's Ryan meeting Spiderman. Spiderman gave him a high-five and commented on his shirt.


Here's Ryan and Spiderman striking a pose!

Ryan and Spiderman posing for the "real" picture. I went ahead and bought that one for him. If I get an opportunity, I'll scan that one up some time. It's a really great picture and well worth the joy Ryan will get from it for years to come!

Ryan with my step-daughter on the Carou-Seussal

Mary with Kylie on the Carou-Seussal. You'll probably have to enlarge this one to see them..they're in the middle there!
We all had a great time. It was a heart-breaking departure. :( When it was time to go, Ryan refused (naturally). He started crying because he didn't want to go. This wasn't the usual - fun time is over cry - He was genuinely sobbing because he had to leave Spiderman! I had to carry him back to the car. The poor little guy cried all the way there - which was about a 20 minute walk back to the car. The whole time he was crying and saying how he was going to miss Spiderman and that Spiderman him too! Talk about tugging at the heart strings! The good thing, he was asleep before we got out of the parking garage - and he slept all the way home.

Back - Temporarily - Had to post this!

(bringing this back to the top for those who wanted to see it again)

This is sub-titled "How to break an oven door!" Please reference the diagram for this discussion!

Okay..by now..most of you are probably thinking I take great pleasure from blogging about the misfortunes of my family! This is furthest from the truth! In all actuality, this is documentation of events in case Children and Family Services ever decides to come and investigate. I need to have witnesses to the calamity to prove that I have absolutely nothing to do with any of this! They would never believe me. I can't possibly make up this stuff!

So..reference the diagram. This is the floorplan to the first floor of my house. Those are the steps in the middle that Kylie fell down. She was only on the third step..still don't know exactly how she did it! Anyway..moving on. This is about how the oven door got broken that I referenced in this post Don't put the puppy in the oven! I figured you guys need to see this layout in order to be able to get the same picture that I did.

So..here's the key.. R = Ryan, K = Kylie, and Mx = Max (the puppy). This is where each of them were when it happened. I purposely left off Mary...you'll understand why in the moment.

So..I'm at work. I get my usual "hubby check" phone call from Mary. It's the usual daily banter about how my day is going, how her day is going, some of the stuff she's done around the house, etc. She was sitting in the master bedroom watching her soaps while she was talking to me. She had told me that one of the things she had done that day was to polish the wood floors in the living and dining rooms. While we're talking she tells me to hang on..I asked her what was going on...she's walking out to the kitchen when she says.."Shit! I'm gonna have to call you back." I asked her what's going on. She says that Ryan got hold of the floor polish and soaked the dog with it. So..I told her I would call her later and let her go so she could deal with that little problem.

It was only about 15 minutes later when she calls back frantically - Ryan is crying hysterically in the background...she must be holding Kylie in her arms because Kylie is crying also and it's very hard to hear anything else but her....here's that conversation ---

Mary - Oh my God! You'll never believe what just happened?

Me - What? What happened? (I'm getting worried..everything that could possibly go wrong is going through my head right now...dog is poisoned because of the floor polish...Kylie fell again reinjuring her arm...Ryan was running from Mary and busted open his head again..etc etc)

Mary - I'm not sure I should tell you!

Me - What? What's going on?

Mary - You will never believe me. It's probably the stupidest thing I've ever done! (She sounds like she's getting ready to cry now)

Me - What?

Mary - I broke the oven door!

Me - You broke the oven door? How the hell did you do that?

Mary - Well, not exactly the door. I shattered the glass in the oven door.

Me - Really? Are you okay? What happened?

Mary - I don't know if I should tell you. You'll probably laugh at me.

Me - Okay..seriously. What happened? I won't laugh.

Mary - Promise?

Me - Promise.

Mary - Okay...I took the can of floor polish from Ryan. I guess when he was spraying it on Max, he got it on the floor also. As I turned to put it on the counter, I slipped and fell. When I fell I guess the floor polish flew out of my hand because next thing I knew.."BANG" the oven glass was shattered and sprayed everywhere! Did you know that stuff breaks up into tiny little pieces?

Me - (holding in the laugh now) - Really? I thought it was a plastic bottle?

Mary - It is! I don't know how it broke the glass. I guess I must've thrown it so hard that it just shattered the glass.

Me - (still trying to hold in the laugh) - Okay - so, is everyone okay? No one got hurt or cut by the glass?

Mary - Well..no. But, when I fell, I screamed..the glass shattered and went everywhere and made a very loud noise..which scared Kylie so she started screaming, and it scared Max and he's still soaked so he went slipping through all the glass, then Ryan realized what happened and all he could think to ask me was "How are we going to eat now?" and I told him I won't be able to use the oven..so now he's crying.

Long long long silence as I am trying so hard not to just break down laughing hysterically myself now. I have the full image of this now playing out in my head..and..knowing how clumsy and klutzy the three of them are..plus..Ryan only thinking about food...It was almost too much (plus, everyone was okay)!

Mary - Are you still there?

Me - mmm hmmm

Mary - You're laughing aren't you?

Me - mmph no

Mary - Yes you are!

Me - uh uh.

Mary - You promised!

Me - (Straining with everything I have to not laugh) hhnnn! Gotta call you back!

Mary - Fine!

NOTE to DCFS: Really! I didn't make this up!

My wife is going to be one of those dog ladies!

I'm sure some of you remember my discussion previously about us wanting to breed yorkies and the fact that the female yorkie we got has some major problems and we have been struggling the decision as to whether or not to take her back and get one who does not have any health problems. Well...Ryan put a damper on the original plan to get a new one.

I got a phone call from my wife today...I guess she decided 2 dogs wasn't enough. We are now the proud owners of a maltese as well! Have any of you guys ever heard of Morkies? I keep thinking of Mork and Mindy when I hear that...never heard of them before.

In any case, I'm thoroughly convinced that after I do pass on to the heavens...my wife is going to be one of those dog ladies with something like 100 dogs! Oh well...I'll post pictures of all three of our little puppies as soon as I can..probably tomorrow!

Checking in!

Hello everyone...just checking in real quick...I will be dropping some cards tonight...for a little bit at least. I don't think I'm going to make the 150 mark that I usually reach..but..nevertheless, I'll be dropping.

Well..being away from the family just got a little harder! I'll be back home Sunday night. However, I just got off the phone with Mary. Apparently, Ryan is sick. I talked to him, and he sounds pathetic! Then..she put Kylie on the phone...she kept saying "Daddy" "bye". So..she realizes I'm not around right now!

Can't wait to get home to them all! But, I guess these few days away now will be beneficial for us all in the future!

To my wife: I'm sorry!

Well, if what I read over at Beekers Words is correct, I owe my wife a heckuva lot more than "I'm sorry!" According to an article she posted, there has been a study conducted that says when a woman gets married..the husband adds 7 more hours of housework. When there's children involved, "it gets worse."

Okay..so..we blended two families..so there were now 4 kids. Then we added another 2 kids...plus I had a dog and she had a dog! If this study is correct, I've added a frakkin lot more than just 7 hours to her housework!

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if that study took into consideration the husbands that actually help out around the house doing some of the cooking, cleaning dishes, doing laundry (yes..to include folding and putting them away!), bathing the kids, etc. While I admit there's a possibility I may have added more hours to her week...isn't it also possible that I may actually have helped her some?

Prior to our marriage...her she did EVERYTHING for her kids. Once we got married, I started a chore list for the kids and they all had to start doing their own laundry. I figure when you're 13, certainly by now you should be able to open a washer lid, put clothes in it, put detergent in it, then hit a button! They cycled between dishes, garbage, and vacuuming. The kids had to take some responsibility. So...I ask again...could it actually be possible I could have saved her some time by us getting married?

Either way, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for any time I may have added...I'm sorry for whatever it was that I said 10 years ago that still pisses you off today...I'm sorry for whatever I might say in the future that will piss you off for the following 10 years..and..well..I guess I'm just plain sorry! :^)

It's definitely broken!

Well...we took our daughter Kylie to see the pediatric orthopedic today. Her arm is most definitely broken..poor thing. I saw the x-ray. Her ulnar bone is snapped in half. The ends are pointing up and touching, much like the tip of a triangle. Man, that has got to be painful for her. Good thing she's on that tylenol with codeine stuff..considering the way mom has been handling this whole thing...I think she needs to take some too!

Well..on the way down to the ortho (it was about 1 hour away) the wife and I got into a discussion about everything. We're both pretty stressed about this. Other than my daugher breaking her arm, we were supposed to leave on Wednesday to New York. My wife is supposed to be a bride's maid in her friend's wedding. That obviously is not happening now. Just some quick background...Mary is a stay-at-home mom. She takes on the entire household! So..while we were driving down to the ortho, we were discussing everything, the stress we're under, etc etc. Well, after she rattled off a few things from her list of things to do..I said, well..you can do it..after all, you are supermom! To which she replied..I don't have a cape. The peanut gallery in the back spoke up..and only as a 4 year old could..said "Or the suit!"

Okay..so..he provided a little levity to the whole situation..for the moment. Once we got down to the ortho office..Ryan became the hyperactive 4 year old that we know him to be. Good thing there was no one in that waiting room..he was running, screaming, climbing over all the chairs, teasing his sister..you name it. Sure, we kept trying to correct him. It got to the point where I had to hold him on my lap..which only made him scream some more. I finally spotted the kids books on a table way on the other end of the room. He agreed to let me read some to him. Well...good thing we were in a doctor's office. Remember in the previous post I mentioned that along with my wife..both of my kids are very accident prone. He was sitting on his knees in the chair next to me as I read the book to him. I don't know what got into him...for whatever reason...he just fell off the chair. Face first. Right onto the floor. Well..that caused him to let out a blood curdling scream! My wife, who is already in tatters over my daughter..who was trying to complete the pre-appointment paperwork (must have been about 10 pages worth!)..looked at me and said.."What the F...k?" Which definitely got my attention! She tossed the paperwork on the floor in order to get to my son. I was already there..picking him up in my arms. She assessed the situation..saw the blood coming out of his mouth, took him...no, yanked him from my arms, hugged him some more and demanded that I finish the paperwork. Good thing he only bit his lip..and the lady at the front desk brought out lots of paper towels and some ice.

I don't know..maybe I need to get someone into my house and cover everything with bubble-wrap...and make sure they leave enough for me to wrap up the kids too in case they want to go somewhere outside of the house! Okay..so..back to Kylie. We were given 3 options...1. He could put a splint on now and "mold" it to see if he can work the bone back in, 2. Sedation at a later date with a closed reduction, or 3. Sedation at a later date with a pin. (Actually, he presented it as a 3d option but in reality he says he'll do that as a follow up to option 2 if option 2 did not stabilize the bone.) We took option 1. He molded, she screamed, Mary cried (BTW - Kylie is on Mary's lap, while in the meantime I'm trying to keep Ryan from poking my eye out with some stupid Nemo spinning flashlight thingy). They took an x-ray after option 1...it failed. Kylie is scheduled for sedation and closed reduction this coming Thursday. I'll tell you about my hassles with Hotwire later and trying to get a refund. In the meantime...I'll update everyone on Kylie on Thursday.