And So It Begins......

Well we are fully into baseball season with each boy having three practices a week until the games start mid-March. It's a good thing I am not working right now so I can run my taxi service to the little league park. Jack has ended up with kids on his team which he knows which is sometimes a bad thing because he wants to play. He got smacked in the head the other night with a ball thrown from first (he was playing pitcher) which didn't faze him in the least. The coaches and other parents were freaking out, I didn't even flinch. I was calming everyone down, but I could see it on their faces, "Why isn't this Mom more concerned for her kid?" If they only knew Jack, they wouldn't be worried either. By the end of the season they won't react either when he gets hit in the head! Even though Jaesen has been home we have hardly seen him, gotta love those Navy hours. Although I have been so busy with my job as taxi driver, I have hardly noticed. Aaaaaahhhhhh, the smell of spring is in the air here, baseball has arrived!

It's Been Busy at the Yerger's!

Of course when is it not busy here. When Jaesen is at sea, the craziness seems to multiply like rabbits. First and foremost though I passed my boards and am officially an RN!!! The stress level has decreased dramatically here and for the next month I plan on enjoying being with my kids again, instead of wondering who mothered these children who seem to just know how to push every button, turn every switch and inevitably turn me into a queen b****. Of course I can't just blame them, there is that husband of mine. Just kidding, he is gone so guess I have to look into the mirror. At any rate, it's time for fun and relaxation and then a job. We couldn't sit idly by though and just let me study, that would be far too easy. So on Valentines Day we headed off to a 10 Commandment Hike in downtown with the Cub Scouts. We saw some beautiful churches and learned about the history of Jacksonville and of course the 10 Commandments. Thank goodness my Dad and Karen were here or it would have been a nightmare. With 3 adults tackling 3 kids we managed to make it through the whole event, even though we all wanted to head for home early. Tristan went to his first sleepover party that night and had a ball. Then we decided to head for the beach, even though it was cold and windy outside. We stayed for about 45 minutes before the fingers and toes went numb, although Jack and Tristan even got in the shallows to get water for their sandcastles. Those boys are tough. Last night was Jack's Kindergarten night at school and they sang a bunch of songs and he had some lines to recite and did great. We were all worried since he hadn't been able to keep his hands to himself with all those other kids standing so close to him. I mean really, come on, if someone is standing right next to you, shouldn't you be able to tickle them until they fall off the bleachers???? We also found out Jack will be on the Tigers tball team this year and their first practice is Saturday. All I can hope for is that the boys will have a lot of practices at the same time. Here's to hoping....

Tristan's Tryouts

Tryouts were last Saturday and I think I was more nervous than anyone. Tristan did great and got picked up by the Orioles and they even had their first practice last night. He is surprised by how different it is compared to t-ball. There is a lot more work involved and lots of running. He is the smallest kid on the team and all the kids are calling him Bug, as there is another Tristan on the team.

A First For Us....

Well the ship pulled in yesterday to refuel and get parts. I didn't tell the kids since they would only be sad that they didn't get to skip school to see their Dad. I had a nice three hour visit with Jaesen, hanging out at the squadron so he could catch up on emails and business, followed by a quick lunch. I kissed him goodbye as he had to be back on board and I had school bus duty. At 7:15 the phone rang and when I answered the voice at the other end was him, informing me he would be home in about an hour and keep the kids up so he could see them. At 8:15 he walked through the door and all 3 kids and 2 dogs sprinted to reach him first. This was a first, the ship had failed to sail due to not receiving parts to fix a broken engine. I bet the Captain was fit to be tied, but I know a lot of families in our area got a huge surprise when their sailors walked through the door to tuck in kids, lounge on the sofa and catch a couple of zzzzzz's at home. Since he had to leave at 4 am we let the kids all stay up until 9, Savannah was first to request bed and actually got in and shouted from her room, night night. We took that as our cue and Jaesen spent a lot of time tucking the boys in, telling them a story and giving them their nightly bedtime characters (they always ask us who they could be that night.....for Tristan, it's Steve Irwin 99% of the time). Tristan was Wolverine this time and Jack has this fascination for Lord of the Rings characters lately which we can't understand since he has never seen the movie. At any rate it was a quick visit, but well worth it and we all enjoyed our moment with Jaesen.

Pinewood Derby Day

Well today was the day. Cub Scout Derby Day. Tristan's car did great and won second place overall in the Wolf Scout race. He moves on to district in March. Of course there is always controversy. One parent stormed out after his son didn't place in the top three and he tried to protest. The kid wasn't even upset until his Dad went beserk in the church. There is always somebody....At any rate we had fun and we can check that off our things to do list now and focus on baseball tryouts for next weekend. Savannah had fun too, she took off her socks, shoes, pooped, ate candy and popcorn off the floor, ate half of her hotdog and then got to play outside on the playground. It was a banner day for her!

Day 1 Underway Crisis

Well I have to say that this doesn't even compare to the Iraq deployment where we ended up with Tristan having a broken arm and my brand new washing machine springing a leak, no this was minor. Savannah found a tube of chapstick and decided that the wood floor needed smoother lips so she smeared the whole entire tube in the hallway and kitchen. And then picture poor Jack running up to me tears in his eyes, so upset he can barely speak. He is really upset or hurt and he won't talk so I can't figure out what could possibly be causing him so much anguish. Finally he chokes out toilet paper roll, toilet, flush. At which point I start screaming and run over Savannah on the way to my bathroom. Jack is on my heels sobbing. I get to the toilet, no overflow, just no holder for the toilet paper. So I sit down on the toilet and get him calmed down so he can tell me what is going on. Turns out he had used the last of the TP and took the paper roll off the holder which he promptly dropped into the toilet. "Why didn't you just grab it instead of then flushing the toilet," I say exasperated. "Well Mom, I pooped." So I explained that although I didn't necessarily want it back we should not flush things like that down the toilet. He couldn't stop crying and I told him it would be okay I would find another, he was not convinced though. I found one today at the store so he will feel better. And then lastly Jack sprung this on me at dinner. "Mom, I dare you to do sex with a boy!" I wanted to smack his little head so hard that it would spin around, but instead tried to maintain some decorum and casually ask, "Where did you hear that? Do you even know what it means? And don't ever say it again!" And all the while I'm thinking, little do you know pal, little do you know.....He pointed to Tristan as the culprit and turns out he heard it from another friend and decided to pass it along to Jack, thanks Bug, thanks. Since they still don't know what it means whatsoever, I have banned them from discussing it. I am just not ready for this discussion yet, give me another couple years of freedom from having to go down that road.

Bye, Bye Daddy!

And another workup cycle begins. Now the really funny thing was we said goodbye yesterday, but the weather was sooooo bad that the ship couldn't even leave port. The fog was that thick. So he came home last night and left in the dark this morning, driving his own car so we wouldn't have the whole goodbye thing again, way too confusing for everyone. Jack in true Jack form went from blue at school to green. He broke his record of 30 straight days without any infringements. He didn't hit anyone though so that's a bonus, he was just too talkative. I think we'll let it slide.