The Lives of Others

Well, today was the day that I was dreading... The day that we took Captain America back to the airport. Hmpf! We'd stayed up till around 11pm last night, Captain America and the older boys doing something on the truck, and then Captain America packing. And we slept in till around 7am. No seminary today. And no morning school for the kids!

I cooked Sausage Egg muffins with cheese for all the kids, and had them get ready for the day. Captain America and Jake and Tom mowed and trimmed the grass in the backyard. It looked pretty good. I went and showered, and then Captain America read a story to all the kids. Even the big ones sat down and listened. We had a family prayer, then got ready to take the kids to school.

If the kids were to school before 10am, then they wouldn't be counted as absent for the day. We had a few minutes to snap some pictures of us with Captain America. I think they turned out really nicely.









I loaded up in the truck with Jim and Joe and Eme and Tom who were going one direction to school, and Captain America and Jake took the Saturn and headed off to Jake's school in the other direction.

SLUG BUG!!!

I signed Joe and Jim and Eme into Hughey, then Tom and I drove on over to Ross. I signed him in, and they gave him an excused tardy. Nice! They should, you know! That's definitely a good excuse for being late!

Then I headed back on post.

Captain America got back a few minutes after I did, and as he finished off packing, I made myself a smoothie. SUPER yummy!


We left the house a little bit before 11am, but not before Captain America gave Boxer some loves. So sad!

I couldn't resist! Captain America and his "sack of nuts".... ROFL!

And off we went to the airport

Getting through security was tricky again. hehe. Captain America's carryon triggered security. I guess the coils inside of the back massager looked suspicious. So they had to go through ALL of his things, and test them for explosives residue. Nice...
But mine was worse! I triggered security going through the machine. Remember how last time I had on a hoodie with a zipper, and I got my front patted down? Well, I didn't know it, but I had a handful of safety pins in my butt pocket...
Yup, I totally got patted down. On my butt. Nice :) And my hands were swabbed for explosives residue too. Luckily, I passed. hehe.

And we continued on to the gate. We only had about 5 minutes before boarding for the plane started! SO different than the hour I had with Aunt Sue!
We bought Captain America a little pre-packaged sandwich, a yogurt, and a cup of fruit. For $18. Yeah, airport food is SO steep. And went and stood in line.


And soon it was time for him to board. I got my last hugs and kisses, and off he went.
Thanks to the Prozac, the tears stayed away. I did get a bit misty eyed walking back to the car, though... I'm gonna miss him. But I know that this is the "downhill" stretch of the deployment. Only a few more months to go! And the kids are all in school and activities, and I'll stay super busy. And holidays are coming up, and that keeps one busy too. I can do this :)

I went back to my car, and headed to the parking pay place... SLUG BUG!!!
I got home, and was feeling a little sad. Until I walked inside the kitchen, and saw that Boxer had left me a WONDERFUL surprise, and a project... Never a break... hehe :)

I cleaned up the mess, and headed to my room. I watched a few episodes of 24 while I worked on the computer for a bit. I had a typo in one of my WordArt packs, and got it all fixed up again. And got a little bit of computer "housekeeping" jobs done.

At 2:30pm, I headed out with Amanda to go to Sonic for Happy Hour. In honor of my "branching out", I tried a diet Ocean Water. It wasn't horrible. I don't know that I'd get it again, but it wasn't horrible. I drank it all. hehe.

We headed back to post, and I went to her house for a bit to hang until the kids got off the bus. She and her hubby and Austin are headed to Albuquerque this weekend. They were gonna leave directly from the bus stop.

We got to the bus stop at 3:30pm, and the kids got there about 15 minutes later. I had fun chatting with the ladies.

We headed home, and the kids got a snack. And I went to lay down for a brief nap. I woke up around 5pm, and had the kids do their chores, then they could have free time. Except for Joe and Jim. They had to clean their messy room.

Jake and Tom played Madden on the Wii on and off with Star Trek episodes on Netflix. Eme went to her friends house in the neighborhood to play. And Joe and Jim eventually got their rooms cleaned.

I'm watching another episode of 24, and Jim is sitting by me playing on a laptop. Hotwheels.com, or soothing like that. He's so cute. hehe.

Oh yeah, I got a call from Jake's seminary teacher today checking up on him. How sweet! I told her that his dad just went back on deployment, and that's why he was absent. But that he was fine. We talked a little about Aspergers, and what to expect from Jake. How he is very intelligent, but lacks "social graces" that the rest of us take for granted. She said that he's a VERY sweet child, and that she's glad that he's in the class. There's one other special needs kid in the class, and he and Jake chat sometimes. Good! He needs a friend.

Tomorrow, my plans involve sleeping in. Ambien is gonna be my friend tonight. hehe. And I don't know what we'll do with our Saturday? Maybe the pool? Maybe just hang out there? I don't know...

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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LOVE the red plaid with the brown! Great layout, Sharon!