Hi Manny....

This morning started out beautifully. It was a gorgeous day here in NC, high of 88*. As soon as I dropped Olivia off at school I loaded Peter into the stroller and we headed off on our morning walk. Peter is really into greeting random objects lately. I think it's adorable. Over the tunes on my ipod I could hear Peter happily greeting birds, airplanes, cars, trees....."Hi Bird" "Hi Jeep".....I'm sure you get the picture. We started to pass a lot where they are building a new house. The construction workers were all sitting around. Peter looks over, starts waving to them and then proceeds to shout "HI MANNY" (as in Handy Manny). I have no idea if they understood what he was saying but they waved back. Peter was so impressed and excited with their response that he followed his greeting up with an inquiry "WHERE TOOLS?"

Clearly Peter is watching too much TV, we might have to cut back on that.....

Reflection and Reaction

Mike and I were enjoying a Redbox Night (The King's Speech comes highly recommended by us) when Mike started getting work related phonecalls. Despite the interruptions our movie night continued. When we learned that the President was going to address the nation we switched over to CNN to learn the big news, Osama bin Laden was dead. Our initial reaction was shock. I was surprised to see how quickly the news spread via facebook and text. I'm surprised at how joyful and happy so many of the comments on facebook were. Here are my favorites:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that"
Martin Luther King, Jr.

‎"Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall;
don’t be happy when they stumble.
For the Lord will be displeased with you
and will turn his anger away from them."
Proverbs 24:17-18

My husband has deployed multiple times. For the most part I think that he's proud of what he's done during his deployments and I know I'm certainly proud of him! But....I also know that there are things he's done during deployments that weigh heavily on his heart, even when he knew he was doing the right thing.

Let us not make this political and remember to say a prayer for all those involved, especially those behind the scenes whose names will never be known.

The Spring Break Plumbing Saga

This past week was Olivia's spring break from school. I had several fun activities planned.....$1 day at the movie theater, picnics in the park, storytime at the library. Unfortunately none of that happened. LAST MONTH we contacted our property management company because there was a leak under the sink in the half bathroom off the laundry room. The property management company sent over a plumber. They replaced the pipes in the bathroom fixing the leak. While they were here I asked that they also take a look at the shower in the master bathroom, it had been draining slowly despite my go-to fix of a bottle of draino. The plumber assured me that we had the cleanest drain ever and that it was slow because when the house was built the extra grout had been poured down the shower drain instead of being disposed of properly. This discovery prompted the plumber to take a good look under the house. The plumber discovered a serious leak that had been going on for several years. We were told we should stop using the shower and that the tile would need to be completely ripped out and then the pipes all replaced. This was on March 25. It took the property management company several weeks to get approval for the repair and that approval only came when we contacted the owner directly. The owner had no idea about the shower, he was never contacted by the property management company. I was told the repair would take 1 day. It was scheduled for the day before we left for our Outer Banks trip. That 1 day job has now become a 6+ day job and it's STILL NOT FINISHED. We still cannot use the shower. Not using the shower has not been a huge inconvenience, just annoying. But having to spend the entire week stuck here at home waiting for this work to be done has been a huge inconvenience! The first part of the week was rainy so we couldn't even go outside.

They assured me that they should be finished by 9am on Monday morning and then things will have to dry and maybe we'll be able to use the shower by Wednesday!

Here are a few pictures from our home-bound spring break....


We discovered that Olivia is a big Dancing with the Stars fan

We did escape briefly for the monthly Special Needs Night at Monkey Joe's

Look at my little guy bouncing with all the big kids. Makes me so nervous but he seems to be holding his own just fine.

We made cupcakes.

Someone insisted on wearing shades.

10 Things Never to Say to a Stay-at-Home Mom

1. When the kids are older, do you think you'll get a real job?


2. How June Cleaver of you!


3. Oh, so you don't work?


4. Since you have extra time on your hands, could you whip up a few dozen brownies for the bake sale tomorrow?


5. All day with your kids? I can't even imagine.


6. I'm jealous. I wish my husband were rich so I wouldn't have to work either.


7. What do you do all day, anyway?


8. I'm sure you're not the only one who's ever wasted money on a college degree.


9. That explains why your son is so clingy!


10. Weird. I assumed your house would be superclean.

Olivia has been home on spring break all week and we've been stuck inside at the house almost the entire time because of a ridiculous plumbing issue. The house is a disaster, I feel like we haven't accomplished anything. The kids are happy though and I have loved the extra time with Olivia.