It should have been Taylor's last game....

Well here we are...on the day of Taylor's last soccer game for the season and he didn't even get to play. Really crappy, right? Well, let me just fill you in on all of the lovely details.
First, our game last Saturday was supposed to be at 8AM, or so we were told. I stayed home with Austyn and Ryleigh because they weren't feeling well, so Mark and Taylor went to the game. Well, they were home about 10 minutes later. Oops! Coach had the wrong time. The game was at 9, not 8! So, the entire team had to go back home, only to go right back an hour later! That's just the beginning....it gets better.
They usually practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5PM, which is a ridiculous time to practice considering the sun goes down at like 5:15. So, for weeks the kids have been practicing in almost complete darkness. That isn't good for their little eyes, let alone ours. The coach finally got off of his big fat behind and moved practice to a field with lights for the last two practices. It's about dang time! We missed our Tuesday practice because the kids were still not feeling well. Then on Thursday, the coach's wife called us at home and said that practice had been canceled because of the rain. That was fine with me. So, I asked her what time the game was on Saturday. She said, oh, it's at 9:15, so just show up at 9. Of course if the game time changes, we'll call you.
So, what do we do? We show up today at 9AM. You'll never guess what happened next. THE GAME WAS OVER! Yes, let me repeat myself. TAYLOR'S GAME THAT WAS AT 9:15 WAS OVER!!
Oh, was I pissed! So, I walked up to coach when he was done with his pathetic excuse of a speech to 5 and 6 year old kids who could care less, and I asked him what time the game was scheduled. He said the game was at 8, he told me that last practice. Hmm, that's funny that he told me that at practice because, HA I wasn't even there! So, I said, no, we weren't there, nice try. Then he says, well, I sent out an email to everyone saying when game time was. This really irritated me. This sorry excuse for a coach has had our email address since the very first practice. I have never, not once, received an email or anything resembling an email from him or his wife. So, I said, no, I have never received an email from you, although you have had it for the entire season. So, he sticks to his story and insists that he sent one out. He says, well maybe you wrote it down wrong. HAHAHA! I'm sorry, was that a low attempt at questioning my intellect? I think it was. I said, I'm sorry, but uh, I'm about 100% positive that I know how to spell my own email address, considering I use it EVERYDAY! So, I said, well when your wife called me on Thursday to cancel practice, SHE told me that the game was at 9:15, so now here we are at 9AM expecting to play our last game of the season. Thanks to you and your wife who obviously have poor communication skills, my son has now missed his last game of the season. Thanks A LOT! I guess once you make up your story, you have to stick to it, because the man insisted that he sent out an email.
Then I said, well do you have Taylor's pictures? He said, ask my wife. So, I ask his wife and she says, Yeah, I have them...and then she just stood there! YOOHOO! Earth to dumb overweight wife, when someone asks you if you have something and you do, don't you give them what they asked for? I mean, did she think I was just asking for shits and giggles? So, I said, Yeah, uh, you think I could have those pictures? She says, Oh, yeah, I guess just follow me out to my car. Sorry, it's just REALLY early in the morning. I am thinking, WOW, 9AM is really early? I want to move into your house if 9AM is too early to start thinking!
On our way out to her car, a mom stopped us and said that she didn't receive any communication either. She said she wouldn't have showed up at 8 if she hadn't seen another parent the night before. Then another set of parents stopped us to see if Taylor was okay. They felt very badly for him. Taylor was very very hurt by it all. He was so upset that he was crying. This was his last soccer game, and he was really looking forward to it. I apologized to him that we missed his game, and explained the mix-up in communication. The part that really upsets me about the entire situation is that neither the coach nor his wife offered sympathy, sorrow or an apology. Is that too much to ask after you just crushed a 6 year old boy's hopes? I don't think so, but what do I know? I'm just a crazy mom!

*Just a side note. Please disregard my obvious dialogue errors. I didn't feel like putting it in the proper format. Sue me. I'm working on accepting imperfection. :)

Officially a First Class Petty Officer

The day has finally come where they frocked Mark. It only took them a good two weeks! Can you believe it? I never thought they took so long to frock the sailors. I always heard of it being done within a week at most.
Mark was officially named a First Class Petty Officer! YAY!!! I am so excited and proud of him and for him. He has worked so hard to get to where he is today. I think he feels a sense of relief that he has finally made it. Now he can sort of take a breather and relax for a minute. I only took a couple of pictures at the frocking because we were on the wrong side....OF COURSE! We got there with about 5 minutes to spare, which was cutting it a little too close for me. I hate running late and just barely making it somewhere. I couldn't find my ID, and if I hadn't found it, we wouldn't have been able to attend the frocking that I insisted and threw a fit about. I'm such a brat, I know. Mark just seemed to make excuses about us going until I said...fine we just won't go. You don't want us there, so we won't go. Again...I'm such a brat. If I hadn't found my ID it would have been karma coming back around to kick my ass for being such a big brat about it all. But what matters is that we made it just in the nick of time and Mark did want us there after all. I guess he's just a man and doesn't know how to say exactly what it is he wants or needs or thinks or feels. Ah, but I love him anyway, and he loves the big brat I am too. So, here are the 2 pictures I took. Take a look at that nice clean, pressed uniform with all the stripes on it! lol. (BTW, I didn't clean it or press it, the cleaners did! I can't take credit for that. haha) I even brought the big hot shot first class some dinner tonight. I'm so nice. :D

Home Again

The Thanksgiving vacation is now over. *Big sigh of relief* It was a long weekend. Good, but long. We spent Wednesday-Friday in Carlsbad, CA. It was a different experience. We are used to staying with Laura anytime we are in the area, but this time we stayed in a condo. Mark's Grandma Sharon very graciously offered us the timeshare condo that she had reserved for that weekend. It was a nice little place and would be a great vacation spot for small families who don't know anyone in the area. Anyway. Thanksgiving at Laura's was good, as usual. I made the broccoli casserole that I usually do. Although this time around it seemed like I was doing so much more work. Its funny how our memories of things aren't always so clear. lol. The casserole turned out great, as usual. It is delicious, that's for sure. We spent all of Thursday at Laura's just hanging out.

Friday we spent a large portion of the day at Legoland. The boys had a blast and we (the adults) had fun as well. I didn't think that it would have been very busy considering it was Black Friday and all. Apparently massive sales don't stop people from taking their kids out to have a good time. haha. The lines for the rides were incredibly long. Austyn could barely make it through the first line that was about 45 minutes long or so. We didn't do a whole lot, unfortunately. The wait times for the lines were about an hour long or more. The boys (Mark included) had a great time on the firetruck show or whatever you want to call it. They were the first to arrive at the "burning" building, the first to put the fire out in their window and the first to get back to the finish line. Taylor was really excited about that. I told Mark it was a good thing that they won because if they hadn't we might have had a grumpy kid on our hands for the rest of the day. lol.

Friday evening we spent with our best friends in San Diego. I haven't seen them in about 4 months or so and Mark hasn't seen them since April! It was so good to see them and catch up on everything. The kids had a blast, because they are all such great friends.

Saturday we spent the entire day driving. There was SO much traffic. The only drawback from visiting with family during the holidays is the long drive along with the traffic. It's great and all to see the family, but it sucks that we have to sit in the car for hours on end with cramped legs. Not to mention gas prices are outrageous as usual!

Well, the holiday is over, so now we prepare for Christmas! It'll be nice to have Mark home for it, but it really stinks because he is leaving for ten days soon. He has to go back out to the ship. Can you believe that? They just came home and here they go, right back out again. BLAH!

Holiday Chaos

So, I take it that "The Holidays" are now upon us. I ran out into town today to run a few errands and WOW, can you say major traffic jam. Everywhere I went there was no parking and there were cars and people everywhere.
Thanksgiving is just a few days away and we will be braving the dreaded traffic to go down and visit with family. I thought I would be getting out of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner, but boy was I wrong. We have a friend Dave who is a single sailor and he has been eating Thanksgiving dinner with us for as long as we can remember. Well, since we have been here I guess I should say. He was shocked when I said we weren't cooking dinner and he couldn't come over! LOL. So, Mark thought that we couldn't leave him hanging, so he said that I would make him a dinner!!! Can you believe that? Men and the things they say and volunteer their wives to do. haha. Actually I don't mind at all. So, tomorrow I will be cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for his co-workers. How nice of me right? They better be thankful. :)
Tonight I will bake some cookies for them too. He has a friend who is constantly requesting that I bake snicker doodles for her. She mentioned that her birthday is on the 26th, and that's what she wants as a gift. Its funny how people just assume that you will give them a gift. Actually she is a really nice lady and she always appreciates the cookies and goodies I send with Mark. Gosh, I'm such a great wife....right? :D
So amongst all other things Austyn has decided tonight that he no longer wishes to eat pizza. He has a good reason for a 2 1/2 year old. He says that he doesn't want to eat his pizza because there is blood on it! He thinks that the pizza sauce is blood. I explained to him about a million and one times that it is sauce, kind of like ketchup. He still refused. He wiped off most of the sauce and nitpicked around the so-called blood. He's hilarious.
That about sums it up for today.

Acheivements

This last weekend was a great weekend. Mark had his PRT (Physical Readiness Test) on Friday and passed. He also found out that he made First Class Petty Officer, which is AWESOME! I was very happy when he told me that he made it. It is a very big accomplishment for him. He is also the MWR president for his command, so he runs the functions to keep morale up. Part of his job as the president is to plan the Christmas party. The party was on Friday at the Palace Casino and Hotel. He, of course was freaking out the whole time because he wasn't sure of how it would all turn out. It turned out awesome! There were TONS of prizes, lots of seating, a dance floor, servers, a DJ and photographers. The entire party was free, except for alcoholic beverages, photos and raffle tickets of course. I won a certificate that is good for 72 hours of special liberty for Mark. Which basically means that he can get 3 days off of work and it doesn't go against his leave. I thought that was pretty cool. The photographers were very very nice and insisted that Mark and I have our photo taken for free. We were planning on having our photos taken anyway, but were speechless when they approached us and offered them for free. It was a very nice thing for them to do. Everyone at the party seemed to have a great time and I overheard several people saying that this was the best Christmas party they had ever been too. Of course it wasn't all Mark's doing. He had a lot of help from other people, including myself. He did a great job this weekend and I couldn't be more proud of him for his accomplishments.
Saturday I had a baby shower for my friend Cassidy. It went really well, although it lasted a lot longer than we expected. She likes Color-Me-Mine, and so we rented a party kit and purchased pieces to paint at home. We all helped her paint a tea set for her baby girl she is expecting in February. It came out super cute and makes me want to go in and paint a tea set for Ryleigh. Taylor painted himself a surfboard and I painted a board for Ryleigh. Mark painted most of a board for Austyn. I finished the rest. We just dropped off all of the pieces to be glazed and fired today. I can't wait to see what they look like. The plate that Cassidy painted for Callie didn't go back to the studio today. She is waiting for Callie to be born so that she can put her footprints on the plate. It will be really cute when it is all done.
So, that was our weekend. A weekend of accomplishments and achievements!!!