Update on 'The Drama'

Well, the other side filed the motion to cut short Marks summer by two weeks. Their excuse? All sorts of activities that Shelby wanted to do in those two weeks before she came out here. So I did all sorts of research and phoning back to WI etc and have shot all but one of those activities out of the water in our response. I even included emails from instructors etc showing Shelby is not registered or the dates of the events do not coincide with the dates of her summer in WI even if it IS changed to be two weeks longer. I also included several examples of Mary being completely in contempt and submitted evidence to back it up. While she won't be found in contempt (we'd have to file a seperate motion to do that) it WILL make her look like someone who is just saying whatever she wants whenever she wants to get her way. It will backfire. BTW, I wrote the entire response and our atty LOVED it! In fact, he is using it verbatim and submitting it to the courts. I guess my degree hasn't gone to waste! :)
So now we wait for the other side to respond. Our atty thinks we will get an offer to settle out of court (which is tomorrow btw). If so, our bottom line is pretty clear. She can have the two weeks at the beginning of the summer as long as those two weeks are tacked onto the end of our time. Also, we want the other party to pay the $341 it will cost to make the change. We also asked for atty's fees! :)

Hope for the best, expect the worst (which in this case really ISN'T bad at all!) and I'll post tomorrow with the outcome.

Four years and One month till Shelby is 18 AND out of high school (our contact with Mary ends at that point!) and then we are FREE......at least free in the sense that we will no longer have to put up with the craziness nor will we have to bite our tongues....and trust me on this one..I will have ALOT to say! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Is there a pill for this?

Insanity has been the theme of our week. As posted earlier...Mary is taking Mark back to court. The bottom line is she wants Shelby to stay in WI for two weeks after school gets out instead of coming out here right away so that she will be there for her fathers (Marys father) 75th Birthday. However, she just cannot for one second bring herself to write a normal email to Mark and say 'hey...I'd like Shelby to be here for my dads bday. Could she fly out to you two weeks later and we'll just tack on the two weeks at the end of the summer?". No...that would be too easy AND she'd actually have to be nice. So what does she do instead?

She files a 60 some odd page motion with the court. It includes cutting Marks annual visitation time with Shelby from 11 weeks (nine in summer, a week at spring break, every other Christmas) down to just five weeks total (four in summer, eo Christmas and eo spring break). It also included a motion to find him in contempt for things that were either already ruled on in previous rulings and therefor not contemptuous OR things that were never a court order so CAN'T be contemptuous. All this to try to 'scare' Mark into agreeing out of court and giving up OVER half his yearly time with Shelby all so she wouldn't miss her granddads 75th birthday. Mark said "Hell no". Our Attorney said "F*** her". I asked if this was a legal term and I was assured that it was! lolol....our next move was to ignore the other side. We were able to do this because they sent over this huge motion to our attys office but did NOT file it with the court (therefore we knew it was just a 'scare' tactic). Once her side realized we were ignoring them, they set aside that motion and tried another tactic. They dropped the loss of visitation and just sent over a contempt motion. With all the same contempt issues as in the first one. Mark said "bring it on". It would have allowed us to bring into evidence all sorts of things that Mary and her parents have done in the past 18 months that are in flagrant disregard of the parenting plan while at the same time showing that Mark has done NOTHING in violation (big surprise!). I spent the better part of a day and a half formulating our response (good practice for me!). Once the other side was told we were more than happy for them to file this motion (they hadn't filed THIS one with the courts either. The legal process is you file your motion in the courts and THEN serve the other side. They had not done this, so we KNEW it was just another 'scare' tactic), we heard nothing from them until the next day. Yup..a NEW motion was sent over for our 'consideration'. Are you keeping up? That is THREE motions in ONE week!!! ALL not filed with the courts, ALL just sent to our atty first to 'review', a big no no when you truly think you have a case! :) so..the new motion? Mary just wants Shelby to fly out two weeks later. She does not mention her fathers bday this time but rattles on for two pages about other things. It will be a no brainer. We are getting our response ready and it won't be a big deal.

The big deal is that we have to go through all this stupidity for what? A two week delay in her arrival? One note is that Mary did NOT suggest that we tack on the missing time to the end of the summer, not a big surprise. That again would require her to be normal.

So like the title of my blog says 'Is there a pill for this'?

Hugs to all,
Enjoy your Memorial Day long weekend!
Jaye

Busy Weekend...

Here is how Paige and I started our Saturday morning...selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a cheer fundraiser! It hit 94 degrees Saturday so I am VERY glad we picked a morning time slot. As it was, it was still very hot and miserable outside. The girls did really well though despite the heat!

After this fundraiser, I had to drive Ben to another county for a T-Ball game (by this time it WAS 94 degrees), and it sucked to be us because the other team didn't show up! UGH! So we drove back home with the A/C on full blast. After such a hot day, I took the kids on base to see the movie "Nims Island"...cute movie and the kids really enjoyed it. Mark was on duty so I was on my own in the heat on Saturday!

Off to enjoy the last of my Sunday!

Hugs
Jaye

Birthday Parties and MORE Birthday Parties!

We have attended six birthday parties in the past three weeks! I told the kids they better not bring one more invitation home from school! Four of the parties were just 'class' parties, meaning kids from one of Paige or Bens class had a party and they weren't kids we really 'knew' well. However, the two parties we went to last Saturday were special. The first one (the pics of the swimming party) were for Paiges good friend Denali. Denali was tested and accepted last year into the same gifted program that Paige is going into this year. Denali and Paige, while a year apart in school, have always been pulled out of their respective classes and paired up to do special projects to keep them 'occupied'. Now you know why we and Denali's parents are so thrilled they are in this program....they won't just be shunted out into the hallway and given some token assignment to keep them 'busy', they will actually be challenged and will be using their brains to their fullest potential...scary thought! lolol

The second birthday party we went to was for our dearest friend's daughter, and Paiges best friend in the whole world, Lilly bug! Her parents threw a Hawaiian Luau themed party and was it fun...the best food in town that day let me tell you!

So here are some pictures of the kids at Denali's swimming party:



I took this picture standing up on the pool deck looking down...doesn't it make Ben look like he's a frog? The angle of the picture makes his arms look so long! lolol



Ok, so BOTH my kids look like frogs! lolol....Here is Paige stretched out on a floating mat taking life easy...







Here is a rare shot of both Paige and Ben and they aren't fighting! WHEEEE.....




Now we move on to Lillys birthday party! We were having so much fun that the only pictures we got were of Lilly blowing out the candles on her cake! Hasn't she grown?



So we finally have a birthday party free weekend but it is filled with cheer and T ball activities so not much of a 'free' weekend after all! I am looking forward to 65 when I can retire! lol

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Finally totally well!!! YAY!

So we are all totally FINALLY well! So nice to feel good again. Now however, I have to catch up on my blogging!

Last week at school they had Paige's favorite annual event-Crazy Hair Day! She was well by that time and could go to school but Ben was still sick so he missed out this year. I really don't think he was too disappointed! :)

Paige is always up for something wild and well...crazy and is always the kid at school with the craziest hair! She said if they don't have Crazy Hair Day at her new school, she is going to suggest it! This kid is going to change the world wherever she goes!

So here she is on Crazy Hair Day!



Here is a 'side' view. We are getting so good at this whole process that it only took about 20 minutes to do!




Here is how she looked 'full on'....such a funny kid!



Hugs to all,
Jaye

Here We Go, Here We Go Again.....

The title above is to be sung to the tune of "There She Goes" by the Cranberries....I took the liberty of changing it to fit my post! :)

Yes, it's that time of year again...Shelby is due for her extended summer stay and so that can only mean one thing...we are headed to court...AGAIN. It happens just about every year and so we are used to it. This time there IS a difference in that we WON'T see the current motion as it's been presented actually go to court. It is a pile of cow pucky....and will not make it very far...it's just that it's so darn frustrating to always have to engage in these battles. After 14 LONG years, you'd think the venom would have been somewhat diluted, but apparently holding grudges, and holding onto anger is something that some people are very good at.

So...Here We Go....Here We Go Again...

Hugs
Jaye

More Puke.....lovely

So Paige started puking Saturday night as previously posted and stopped about midday on Sunday. She puked once yesterday (Monday)but seems to be done with the puking and is on the mend...we are trying to get her to eat now.

Last night about 3am, BEN started puking and as of 8am this morning, is STILL puking about every 1/2 hour (which is what he was doing last night). So with a few hours sleep under my belt, I have a full day of daycare ahead of me....and Mark was on duty last night so he escaped the loveliness...although even if he WAS home he'd have been of no help!

Calgon, take me awayyyyyyyyyyyy......

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Puke, Puke, Puke

Well, we started out a very busy weekend. Saturday I had an early CPR class I had to take as a part of my licensing for daycare (just a renewal this time around). After I finished the class, I headed to base to pick up a few things we needed to do shish kabobs for dinner tonight. Then Mark and I took the kids to a birthday party at the roller rink that was for a little pal of Bens in his class. Straight after THAT party, we rushed back to our neck of the woods and dropped Paige off at a friends house for another party! Mark had invited one of the civilians from work over for dinner and we had a great time. Mark went to pick Paige up about 930 and all was well......

Midnight came and Paige started puking....thank GOD she is old enough to make it to the bathroom and doesn't just sit up in bed and puke right there like they all do when they are little. She has been puking ever since. Of course, with Mark being a sympathy puker, it has been left to me to do the clean up and soothing of this child. Mark was laying in bed with the blankets covering his ears each time I came back to bed, as even the SOUND of someone puking makes him gag. I really don't want to deal with two pukers, so I take care of the puke around here! We do have a deal however, and that is I take care of the puke and Mark takes care of the blood. When one of the kids is bleeding I just feel sick to my stomach. Someone elses kids bleeding is fine, but the sight of my own kids bleeding just makes me nauseaus! So we have this great deal and it all works out. Mark DID however point out that we are in trouble if one of the kids is bleeding AND puking.....lets just hope we don't have to deal with that situation! lolol..

So now Paige is asleep on the couch...we are giving her tylenol every four hours and she is keeping the puking to a minimum....poor kid..she is waiting for Mark to come home from town with her ginger ale (he does do SOMETHING when the kids are sick!) and I am waiting for him to come home so I can go take a shower.....

and that is how we are spending our Sunday....lucky us! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

So what you may ask, are these pictures about? These are pictures of homes Mark took when he was in Ohio....I just LOVE these homes...the streets they are on and the style of the homes just remind me of a bygone era in America. The houses are the old 'brownstone' style and the streets are all lined with very large (read very OLD) cherry trees. Who knows where the jobs will end up taking us. WI is our FIRST choice and the place we REALLY want to be, but with a growing family,we have to follow the money when Mark retires. He is already receiving job offers even though he is still two years away from retirement! So time will tell...but in the meantime, I will be searching home styles around the country to see what is out there....

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Gaming...

So, I love the game site POGO. You pay an annual due of 40 bucks (I think...) and you get to play all these kewl games (you CAN play for free but then you don't get to enjoy the perks, which I'll describe in a sec). If you pay this fee, you can win 'badges' which you can then collect in a badge book. Now these badges really have no value in real life. You can't trade them for say, a tank of gas or even a free doughnut! Nope..they just allow you bragging rights to OTHER pogo players! You also have a 'mini', which is a little person that you can dress and shop for cause yup..there is a 'mini mall'. Now, I don't know about the rest of the people on pogo, but my mini is who I'd LIKE to be. She is damn cute and skinny too! And she has more clothes than I'll ever have! How do you 'buy' things at the mall for your mini? Well..duh..you play the games and collect tokens! :) So simple really....such an innocent little site. Be forewarned if you are tempted to check it out, it IS addictive! Right Terri? :)
So...every week, on a Wednesday, I sit down and start to win one of my three weekly badges (three new challenges come out each Wednesday and once you win the challenge, why, you get another badge!WOOHOO)...as you can imagine, this can take up a nice chunk of time in the evenings...but as I really don't find much to hold my interest on tv and I DO want some downtime at the end of each day, I really LOVE my pogo.
So my dilemma was this. What do to with Mark? :)
I bought him a computer game for his Birthday this year. Half Life. It's like crack! Once you play it you can't stop. And THAT my dear friends, solved my dilemma of how to keep Mark happy while I played pogo!
So here I sit, blogging AND doing a challenge, while Mark is happily playing Half life. OH...and he is SUCH the gentleman that he wears headphones so he won't be 'bothering me'. WHEEEEE...I can play pogo AND make fun of him and he'll never know the difference! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye