I’ve been a slacker. But I have valid excuses. Honest. I’ve been very busy with the extra kid and people wanted to see her. Unfortunately, my future step-daughter didn’t stay with us for the full two weeks. We met her mom today and she’s home. We miss her already. :sorry:

Highlights of this week will be displayed after the jump.

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I’ve been with Mark for eleven years. Amazing as that is in itself is that he underestimates me sometimes. I love him, but he’s an alpha and he’s very black and white. I had everything planned. I was going to get up early, sneak out of the house and drive the almost 250 miles to Ohio, grab his daughter and drive back another almost 250 miles BEFORE he came home from work.

My nine year old son and thirteen year old daughter almost ruined it. My son was whispering, so right away Mark knew something was up. My 13 year old thought she could outsmart him and almost ended up being the one to be out-witted. When my car went on the fritz, again–it only helped my cause. Little did he know, I’d already made arrangements with Becky to take her van and head out as soon as he went to work. Her and I played a little game of Walmart the night before and I even went so far as to make a list and ask him to add things to said list. And I told him I was getting up early to write–which I need to do–and he bought it, hook, line and sinker.

He was running late for work on Friday of course, so the kids were coming out of the rooms and I was swatting them back in in hopes that he wouldn’t see them. It took him forever to leave and we were worried he was going to double back, but he didn’t. Off we went. And I hoped that I didn’t somehow get behind him because we take the same route. By the grace of God, we were good to go and I got to his daughter’s house in record time.

On the way back, I called Becky a lot to make sure Mark wasn’t coming home from work early. But we had a plan for that too. Cuz, Beck and I rock. :chaplin:

Mark gets home at 5:15pm. I was back near the house before 4 pm. I stopped at Walmart, grabbed a few things and we were home before 4:30 pm. We hid his daughter’s suitcases in my daughter’s closests and hid his daughter at Becky’s. At 5:15 pm, we were outside looking at Beck’s roof, the kids were out playing and we appeared normal. We went into the house and I mouthed to Beck to bring Lauren up and Mark was getting something to drink. Beck came in the house saying I forgot something at her house and Mark looked around the corner and saw Lauren.

He was speechless, then teary eyed and he called me a ‘freaker”. We all yelled “SURPRISE”. When things calmed down, he asked me how I did it. How I managed to make the drive in plenty of time. I told him simply: :execution2:

Alpha men. The harder they are, the harder they fall when you surprise them. And how was your weekend?

I promise the reviews will be back next Tuesday. But this week, it’s all about bragging. What am I bragging about? My oldest son, Blaize.

He’s sixteen now and I know I give him a lot of flack. I joke that he has head-up-his-bum-syndrom and for the most part, he does. I tell him as soon as I hear the “POP”, I’ll think about letting him have his driver’s license. He’s a goofball, but he’s also a pretty damned good kid all things considered.

He’s in high school and the Learning Skills program, which used to be called Special Ed was looking for prom dates for a couple of the girls who attend. The teacher asked several boys who weren’t in Learning Skills and they all turned her down. She caught my son in the hallway, asked him and he said he’d be honored too, he just had to okay it with me. I said yes! I also adored the fact that he wasn’t embarrassed to go, considering he isn’t in Life Skills.

Here’s something about my son. He has never had a problem with anyone who has a disability. The teacher thanked me for being such a great role model. From the time Blaize was little, he learned that disabilities weren’t something to make fun of and that they preferred to be treated like everyone else. There’s a home here and he was used to being around wheelchairs. When we lived in one of the apartment complexes, one of the ladies had a grandson in a wheelchair. While all the other kids were riding their bikes around the square, Blaize would be sitting with the kid in the wheelchair and they’d make their own game up. At the dances, starting in elementary school, Blaize was the one who’d have the boy in his class, who’s in a wheelchair, out in the middle of the floor spinning him and rocking him to the music.

He was the life of the Learning Skills Prom and the teachers and staff couldn’t thank him enough. Pictures after the jump!
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I could rant and rave about my crazy schedule. I could whine about trying to adjust my life around three kids being home and the fact that it was a lot easier when they were little to keep them occupied. But I don’t want to bore you too much. I’m going to try and shoot for every other day over here blogging and even then that might be pushing it. This weekend is going to be crazy-busy and all I wanna do is sit here and :type:. I have my nephew for two days next week because my sister-in-law is having surgery. So, maybe I’ll have an ‘adventures with my nephew’ type story to tell. Have a nice weekend and if you’re a father, Happy Father’s Day!

SCORE!!!

Rumor has it around the Burgh that the Detroit Red Wings scheduled their Victory Parade for today. :happy0194:

• If it’s too cute to be a mouse, it probably is. Mimi, the next door neighbor’s dog found a nest of baby bunnies…needless to say, she brought the majority of them into the house for Becky and I to retrieve and dispose of. Mimi’s likability factor for me went down, even though I realize she was just doing her job.
• People are generally stupid. How can you not realize you hit a cat with your car? It too, died and then I had to get semi-nasty with 9-1-1 because no one was going to come do something with it. Um, it’s sad and there are little kids on this block who don’t need traumatized by seeing it. The fire department finally came and got it after almost an hour of us standing there blocking the sight of it. I also feel bad because while the only tag this poor kitty had was a rabies one, someone loved it enough to get it shots.
• My sister and I were fifteen feet away from each other yesterday and neither of us realized it. Guess we need to see each other more often or something. My youngest son kept asking me if “that was who he thought it was” and I assumed it was some kid that we knew…nope, it was her with her new boyfriend. Apparently, we’re going to try and catch up with each other at the same park, soon.
• I have four more days of freedom, then my kids will be home all summer long.