Update

Okay, so a "couple of days" turned into nearly a month. Sorry about that. Anyway, here's a quick and dirty update on everyone...

Mr. OCD -
He's been placed at his regular store, no more training that takes him away for 3 days a week. This has been a huge adjustment for him. Going from the military environment to the civilian world has really thrown him for a loop. He really loved his job with the Coast Guard, he knew what needed to be done and he was good at it. So to leave that and do something totally new and foreign to him has been hard. He feels like he should know every aspect of his job from day one, and that's just not reality. I think this is his mid-life crisis.

The Boy -
Doing well in his first year of high school. He's involved in several activities that keep him pretty busy. He's got several big trips planned this summer and he just got his first job! We love seeing him with his brothers and we're all just really enjoying having this time together. Unfortunately, he's still stuck in the middle of all the junk between his parents. But I think he's just resigned himself to the idea that that will never change. It's a sad place to be when you think about it.

Big J -
He's loving school, which I still can't believe is almost over for the year. We're still considering our options for Kindergarden in the fall. I keep going back and forth with this and it's beyond frustrating me. J is at a really fun age in the sense that he can do so much more and I love hearing his inquizative questions. On the flip side, he's really got a mouth and doesn't hesitate to use it when he's not happy. Sassiness has become our biggest dicipline issue and aside from placing duct tape over his mouth, I'm running out of consequenses to give him.

Lil' B -
Oh my... what happened to my easy going little boy? He's disappeared. In his place there is this creature that looks exactly like him, except he doesn't know how to talk. All he does is whine, moan, point, grunt, groan, and occationally mummble. He refuses to do the simplest of things for himself, like wipe his own nose. My most annoying example of this right now is that when he sits on the toilet to poop, he won't push his penis downward. And what happens? Pee goes shooting straight out all over the toilet, his clothes and the floor. So my options are to be tough about it and let him deal with peeing himself everytime, or just pushing his penis down myself. Given the fact that this boy poops about 4 times a day and I just don't have the time or energy to clean the bathroom that many times, I generally choose option #2. I know, I know... I'm just making it harder on myself in the long run. But ask yourself, what would you do?

Me -
I'm good. I'm thrilled spring is here and am both looking forward to and dreading summer. I'm looking forward to it just to see what else there is do to here. It's the only season that I've never spent time here so everything will be new. But I'm dreading it because J will be home everyday, all day. It's going to be hard to keep him busy and content. I'm sure B's naps will be interrupted. I'm just going to have to develop a new routine that we all get used to or else I may altogether lose my mind.

We're working on a vegetable garden. We've planted seeds for tomatoes, strawberries, green beans, carrots, green onions, watermelon, pumpkin, and bell peppers. I have a potato that I'm waiting to sprout, then we'll cut it up and plant that too. There's also an asparagus patch that was already here and is coming up. It's funny to see them just growing straight up out of the ground like that. Ultimately we may just end up feeding the deer and rabbits, but we're having fun trying to get it going.