wut i love about the army

This blog was actually written by my little brother Scotton his myspace page. He's in Afghanistan now. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me sharing it with others. Warning there are a few bad words.

wut i love about the army
What I love most about the army is this. Good ole' uncles sam takes a handful of guys who make up a platoon. he then puts them together in small working places and expects us to get along. we do it, which is the surprising thing. he lets us sit there for a year. during that time we have to work as a team, learn eachothers weeknesses and strengths, learn to shoot move and communicate together so we can start to develope that trust, and let me tell you. there are some guys you just dont think you'll ever trust. not in combat, not with a weapon, not with your life. but you know what. we do it. we come together as friends, brothers, and most importantly a family away from family.
after that uncle sam sends us away. he takes us from our lives, wives, parents, and siblings. it sucks, its sad, and its the longest year or longer of our life. but you know what we got. we got our brothers standing next to us. going through the SSDD routines. the only person we can rely on now is that guy you thought you couldnt trust. that bond that was developed back at home is now being strengthend ten fold. he's got you when the shit hits the fan. hes got you when your homefront starts crumbling. hes got you just as your startin to thing thers is no possible way to continue on. then all the sudden the year is over. and your startin to get ready to come home. your off the front lines chillin and laughin and talking about everything that happened over the deployment. then it hits you. i thought i couldnt trust this guy in the beginning. but ive been trustin him every since i got on that plane leaving the states. now you got a frined for life. its not one of those high school BFFs, its for real. its never fading, never ending. he'll always be there.
this is what i love most about the army. i experince things with people that have become my family that my family will never have to experience. a bond that no civilian will ever feel, and the love for a job that everyone things we have to be crazy to do. we're not crazy, we just dont want our buddy hurt. we do it for him. the man next to us.

I Got Played

Anyone who knows my son, or has read this blog knows he can get into a little trouble.

Three days of school, and he's ran into a few problems.

First let me say that I know my son can be trouble. He gets punished. Time outs, toys taken away, a spanking here and there. Overall I do not think we (Bill and I) are push overs.

We explain the rules and the consequences of breaking the rules to Colby. We make sure he understands, and then we follow thru when the rules are broken.

He knows that if he gets in trouble at school, he will get in trouble at home.

Ok now with that said let me get into the story.

At Colby's school all the children had to go over the rules of the playground with the teacher and then their parents. The child had to sign the paper, and the parents had to sign the paper saying that they had gone over the rules with their child.

One of the rules is: The teacher has to be able to see you. If you can see the teacher, then the teacher can see you. (This is a direct quote from the piece of paper we signed).

Colby and some other kids were playing on the playground, when he decided he wanted to go play in the woods. So him, and about 5 other kindergartens left the playground area and went into the woods. The teacher saw them walking out of the woods, and made them walk the playground. (This is where they have to walk the perimeter of the playground in a singe file with their arms folded. They still get their exercise, and they get in trouble.)

When Colby got home from school I asked him how his day was, and he hung his head down, and said I'm grounded. I'm going to my room. I got in trouble, and now I have to sit on my bed.

He was so pathetic.

I asked him to tell me how he got in trouble, and he told me how he wanted to go play in the woods.

He said: We were playing on the playground, and I saw the woods, and I wanted to go play. Some other kids went with me. They just wanted to go. I didn't tell them too. Then the teacher saw us and we got in trouble so I'm going to my room. But I don't know why I got in trouble, because I could see her the whole time, so she could see me. That's what you said, if I can see her then she can see me. So I shouldn't have got in trouble.

So, here I am totally understanding his reasoning. I told him, his dad told him, and his teacher said if you can see me I can see you. Yet, he got in trouble. Plus, he was following the consequences and putting himself in time out. I folded.

I didn't follow thru. I let him off with a stern warning. I didn't make him go to his room, but let him play.

When I told some of the kids I work with, and my husband what happened, they all said the same thing "You got played"

I know I did, but he was sad, and truly sorry, and now he knows he can't play in the woods.

Meet and Greet

Last night was the official meeting and greeting of all the faculty and staff at Colby's school. We received an agenda of what our children would be learning and doing in Kindergarten. Kindergarten has changed since I was a kid. They are actually learning. No more baby sitting. In my head I thought I knew this, but after seeing it spelled out I was in a bit of shock.

I knew that he would have to say, spell, and recognize his name. I knew he would learn how to use scissors if he didn't already. Colors, shapes, numbers that was a given.

Most of the things he is going to learn, he already knows.

But there were a few things that surprised me.

Learning the value of money. I learned that in second grade. I actually learned it at home, but it was introduced to me in school til second grade.

Reading. Again I learned at home. But if they aren't reading sight words by Christmas break, then they are already behind in Kindergarten.

Telling time. I learned this very early, but only because when Jennifer learned she stood on the kitchen table and used a yard stick to teach me. Not because I wanted to learn, but she wanted to teach me.

Addition and Subtraction 0 to 5.

We have actually been doing this already, but it's more of his curiosity than me saying lets learn how to add and subtract. I know I didn't learn this til second grade.

For the most part, I am really happy that Colby knows most of this. I don't know that he actually knows the value of coins, but I know he'll take a quarter over a penny any day. He won't even trade you 1 quarter for 6 pennies. Scott and Alison always fell for that trick. If they had a dollar you could give them 2 pennies, because everyone knows 2 is more than 1.

He will know the difference between a writer and an illustrator. Who ever thought to teach your kids that when reading a book. I say the author's name, but I never thought to say, the author writes the book, and this person drew all the pretty pictures.

He will also be able to recognize and know the use of a (.) and (?). I know I learned this in second grade, becuase I remember Mrs Collins (my 2nd grade teacher) taught me how to make the (?).

And finally rhyming words. We have a lot of fun with rhyming. I say a word and he thinks of a word that rhymes with it. Or, I say a group of words and he tell me what rhymes.

One time playing this game I said "grass" and as soon as I said it I knew my mistake. He started laughing, and I said I change my mind I want you to rhyme chair. Colby said "No, a bad word rhymes with grass and since you said grass I have to say the bad word." He didn't but he wanted too.

When my little brother (Scott) was learning to rhyme he had a hard time with it. He said when he got married he was going to marry someone who could rhyme. Maggie if you read this I've always wondered are you a good rhymer?

Hi Chris

Last night we celebrated the August Birthday's in my family. Jennifer, Mom, Alison, and Scott all have an August Birthday. So we (Mom and Dad, Jennifer and Pete and their two sons, Alison, Bill, Colby and I) all went to Outback for dinner. We were waiting outside to be seated, and as we were waiting we heard a young man yell "Hi Uncle Chris" to another man. We didn't know these people, and no one gave this much thought. We were only even aware of the greeting, because our group was between the two men. About 5 minutes later, Chris comes walking up the walk and I hear Colby yell "Hi Chris." And then he looks at his dad and says "You remember Chris don't you, dad?" Chris waved to us, while we all laughed.

The Hard Way

Colby, Grandma, and I were playing memory at her house when Alison started bugging Colby. She was giving him kisses and messing with him when it wasn't his turn so he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the game. Mom and I kept telling her to leave him alone, but she wouldn't listen. Finally, Colby said ok Alison were going to have to do this the hard way. He picked up the inner tube of a bicycle wheel and started hitting her with it. She was screaming and told him to stop, and he said "No, you wouldn't stop so I'm not going to stop." She took the rubber tube from him, and gave it to my mom. Not even a minute goes by and she starts messing with him again. Again, we have to tell her to leave him alone, but she won't. So this time, Grandma says we'll have to do this the hard way, and chases Alison into the bathroom, threatening to hit Alison with the innertube. What a fun day at Grandma's house.

The Names Dan, Colby Dan

--Colby's Quick Wit:
Man: Hey, what's your name?
Colby: Well she calls me trouble, my dad calls me son, but you can call me Colby Dan.

--Colby the king of smack talk:
Colby: I'm going to beat the stank right out of your butt.

--Colby the drama king:
Anytime Bill has to get onto Colby this is what follows.
Colby: Daddy doesn't love me. I always knew he didn't love me. Daddy why don't you love me?


Colby the instigator:
Colby: Dad what are we going to do if mom falls in love with someone else?
Bill: We'd have to win her back son.
Colby: She has a boyfriend, it's the mailman. She has his picture hidden and she kisses it everynight. His name is Robert.
*side note Robert is our old neighbor, and he's the mailman and i've never kissed him

Colby quite not understanding the concept of step parents:
Colby: I wish I had two dads.
Bill: Why, son?
Colby: So when you don't have time to play with me, my other dad will.

or

Colby: Dad you want to go outside and play baseball?
Bill: In a minute son, I'm busy.
Colby: If I had another dad he wouldn't make me wait.

Fun Fun Fun

This is my favorite picture that was taken all summer long. We were on the beach in Gulf Shores looking for ghost crabs. If Colby looks tired, it's because he is. If I remember correctly I think its about 12:30 in the middle of the night. We were out there from 10:00 til like 1:00. We were the only ones on the beach, and we were having too much fun to go inside and go to bed, besides we were on vacation who needs bedtime.

Bittersweet

This is the last weekend we have with our little boy before he officially becomes a kindergardner. It's sad, but exciting at the same time. We've been planning one last family summer fling, before we have an official kindergardner. I've been looking forward to school all summer, but now that we have approached the last weekend of summer I'm starting to feel nervous for my little man.

Me: Colby are you nervous?
Colby: What does that mean?
Me: It means you feel excited and scared at all once. Maybe it feels like you have butterflies in your stomach.
Colby: No, I just feel like I have to poop when I think about school.
Me: Well, that could mean your nervous.
Colby: No, I think it just means school makes you poop.

Men and Their Toys

Bill loves his lawnmower. I mean literally loves it. It took us about 6 months to save up for his lawnmower, and until he bought it that is all he talked about. Cub Cadet this and Cub Cadet that. It was so bad that the men he works with printed out pictures of Cub Cadets and hung them up in the office at work. He would come home from work; get on the internet and look at more pictures of lawnmowers. I am not a jealous person, but I got real close to being jealous of his obsession with this lawnmower. Finally, the day came that he could buy his lawnmower. He was like a kid on Christmas morning. He got to the store, before it opened and impatiently waited for it to open. He's had this lawnmower for two years, and the love has not faded. He not only loves his lawnmower, but he loves to use it. He'll mow the yard three times in a day. He's mowed the yard four times in a week. If we are going somewhere, and he has to wait on me to get ready, he goes out and mows the yard. The man is obessed. Well, yesterday he wanted to mow, because he hadn't mowed since Thursday, and the lawn really needed to be mowed. I mean he almost went a whole week without mowing (gasp). But, sadly, the mower was in the shop. He cried, and whined,and was in a bad mood all day, because he wanted to mow, and he couldn't. I told him to borrow a friends mower, but that wasn't what he wanted he wanted his mower. He called the shop to find out when it would be ready. He threw a little temper tantrum when he found out it may not be ready til the next day. I couldn't help but laugh at him. He was so sad. His favorite toy was broken. Fortunately, the shop called and he was able to pick up the mower, and he had enough time to mow the yard. Yay, everything was good in his world again. When I got home from work, he was so happy, he even saw the humor in the way he had been acting earlier in the day, when before I tried to point out the humor he was to busy being angry to see it. So I'm happy to report, that the mower is safely back home, the grass is cut, and Bill is happy again.

Fair Play

Bill wanted to know why my blog was all about him, and thought it would only be fair to share some things about me.



--Before I wore contacts, I would rather be blind than wear glasses, and I have horrible vision. One day I was driving out to Bill's parents house, without my glasses, when I saw a lion in the middle of the road prowling towards my car. I got really scared and wondered if I should turn around, but I was also very curious as to what a lion was doing in the middle of this back country road. I had visions of this lion jumping onto the hood of my car, but curiosity won out, and so I ever so slowly inched closer and closer to this lion. Until I got close enough to realize it was a cow and not a lion. But for those few moments that I believed it was a lion were the most confusing scariest moments of my life. But ever since that day, I have always driven with my glasses.



--When Bill and I were dating he came up to the movie theater to see me. I went outside to talk to him. I was standing on the curb right outside the building, and he was sitting in his truck. We were talking and flirting, and I was trying to look cute, when all of a sudden I slipped and feel underneath Bill's truck. I was laughing hysterically, and Bill was leaning out the window asking me if I was ok. He couldn't open his door, because he would have hit me in the head. He had a friend in the passenger side and they had to get out of the truck to help me up, becuase I couldn't quit laughing long enough to help myself.



--When we were dating I was at Bill's parents house and I started feeling bad. I went to use the bathroom, and I was in there a little longer than I should have been. When Bill comes to the door asking me if I am ok, because eveyone in the living room can hear me, and then Bill starts demonstrating what it sounded like. I started yelling at him to shutup and to go away. The more embarassed I seemed the more he did it. Finally, I was able to leave the bathroom, and I made him take me straight home, and I didn't go back to his house for a few months because I was so embarassed. Bill loves this story, and he likes to tell it to everyone.

Funny Things a Husband Says or Does

--This summer we had a fly problem in our house. Bill went to Wal-Mart and bought fly traps. Sticky strings of paper to catch flies on. This fly trap hung in the kitchen for 3 days and the flies ignored it. So, Bill being the great hunter he is, used the fly swatter and killed 3 flies and stuck them to the fly trap to use as decoys. He figured the other flies would see these 3 flies hanging around and decide to join them. Crazily enough, it worked.

--One day Colby and Bill were wrestling. Every time Bill knocked Colby down, he said "Get up son, don't stay down, you can never stay down, that's when you get hurt." Colby would get up just so Bill could knock him down again. On it went for about 10 minutes. Until, Colby got a lucky hit in and hit Bill in the privates. Well, Bill fell down moaning and rolling all over the floor. Colby started hitting Bill saying "Get up daddy, don't stay down, that's when you get hurt." Bill wanted me to get Colby off him, but I was too busy laughing, plus I thought Bill deserved it.


--When I was pregnant with Colby I wanted a girl and Bill wanted a boy. We went for our ultrasound and the technician said we were having a boy. Bill was so happy. On the way home from the doctor's office, I asked Bill "what if the technician made a mistake, and we end up having a girl." Bill said, "Then I'll shave her hair off, and do an ultrasound on her head to make sure she has a brain." It was really funny.

--A couple years ago we had a birthday party for Bill, and we had a lot of people come. I had to park my car out in the middle of the yard. After everyone left, I never moved my car back into the driveway. The next morning I was dressed for church, and I didn't want to walk out in the yard in my shoes, so I woke Bill up and asked him to go and get the car for me. He was sleeping only in his boxers, and since I was running late I told him not to bother putting on pants, and to just slip on some shoes and go get my car. We lived out in counrty and no one was going to see him. Colby and I went outside to wait for him to bring the car onto the driveway and not thinking about it I locked the door, and Bill was using the spare set of keys so there was no house key on the key chain. So there Bill is locked outside of the house in just his boxers. We had to drive out to his parents house and get the spare key from them. They gave us the wrong key, but we didn't know it til we got home, and so we had to go back to there house, but they were at church so we had to drive to the church and get the right key. I'm laughing uncontrollably the whole time, and Colby is sitting in the back seat asking "why is daddy in his boxers?" It still makes me laugh.

--Bill is a sleep walker and talker. He does and says crazy things while he asleep. One night, Alison and I were up late and I could hear Bill getting mad in his sleep. I walked in the bedroom to to hear what he was mumbling about. In his dream, he was playing golf, and wherever his ball landed men started doing construction work. So he was having to hit his ball around cranes, bulldozers, and half finished buildings. He was getting madder and madder and all I could do was laugh.

--Bill does not think I am funny. I crack myself up and others a lot, however, Bill does not find me amusing at all. One night Alison and I were up late again, when Bill came out of the bedroom and started eating a brownie. This is unusual in itself, because my husband does not really like sweets. He sits down beside me on the couch to eat his brownie, and Alison and I are trying to figure out if he is asleep or not. We are talking and making each other laugh, and he starts laughing and cracking jokes with us. Then we knew he was asleep, so we started making fun of him laughing harder, which caused him to laugh harder. It was funny.