I Joined the Army!

I'm not sure how my parents are going to react to this. Bryan is psyched about it, and I'm getting pretty hopped up about it myself. Yes, I joined the Army. But not just any Army...I joined the KISS Army! OK, I admit that I'm not a die-hard fan--but I do watch Gene Simmons' Family Jewels and even though it's all staged and scripted, I love that show. And I hear KISS puts on a kick-ass show, so I don't even have to love the music to have a good time! We have tickets on the 16th row, and my friends are already asking if I'm going to paint my face. Why not? I'll be sure to take some pictures for you all.

Dedicated to the One I Love

Here are a few pictures to show the world why I love my husband so dearly.

He is my angel! HA HA HA!

Weekend Getaway

A couple of weekends ago Nana and Pops volunteered to take the boys so Bryan and I could have some relxing time without them. I was very excited--this could not have come at a better time. My job has me at my wit's end, the kids were getting on my very last nerve, and I feel like I never get to see Bryan due to our crazy work schedules. At first I started looking for good weekend deals for a Las Vegas getaway, or even Atlantic City. Thankfully, Bryan pulled me in and reminded me that even though it would be cool to hit Vegas for the weekend, it would be such a rush to get there, play hard, and come back that it wouldn't be relaxing at all.

So we pointed the car toward the mountains and drove without plans. We stayed off all the interstates and major highways and took in the view. We drove by beautiful Lake Anna and realized it just might be the place to invest in a future family vacation spot. When my parents come up for Labor Day weekend we may go check it out again. Anyway, Bryan & I ended up at Luray Caverns that afternoon.

I've been through Cave of the Winds in Colorado, Mystic Caverns in Arkasnsas, and a few small caves carved out in Palo Duro Canyon Texas--but none of them were as pretty as Luray. When the weather gets cooler and all the summer tourists are gone, we plan to take the kids. We did have one funny glitch there--Bryan ran into our neighbors in the gift shop bathroom! Stalkers... (just kidding!)

After driving through the little town of Luray and not finding any hotels we felt like staying in, we drove on down the road to Blacksburg--home of Virginia Tech. This was the first time I'd been to Blacksburg, so I was excited to see the home of the big East Coast college football team that everyone around here seems to talk about. We stayed the night there and visited the campus in the morning. And what a beautiful campus it was! All the buildings are built to the same theme--like huge, stone castles with giant wooden doors. Kind of reminded me of Hogwart's (I know, I am a dork.) It was just beautiful surrounded by trees and mountains--I would love for one of our boys to go to school there just so I could visit! And it snows there in the winter--just gorgeous...

Since it was Sunday, we had to start making our way back home to get ready for the next workday. Our final stop before picking up the kids was the Natural Bridge. George Washington actually carved his initials in the side of this thing--he carved so deep that it's still there today. Amazing.
And here's a rather unflattering photo of us in front of it (no, I'm not preggers--that's just how this shirt fits).
So we had a great weekend getaway in the mountains while the kids spent quality time with their grandparents. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Nana & Pops for doing this for us--we really needed it!!

Crappy End to a Shitty Week

We are still emotional about losing Loki, and I know there are people out there who don't understand or are incapable of feeling this kind of pain for an animal. And yes, we know there are bigger and worse things that bring more pain to families than this. My high school friend, Allison from Slice of Heaven, is going through one of those terrible moments right now--news that no one wants to hear--bringing a crappy end to a shitty week. Allison, my heart goes out to you and your family.

Another crappy thing that happened this week is that Jaci from Ravings of a Mad Housewife decided to kill Blog Fart Friday. She has good reason behind it, but those of us who don't have the time or creativity to write regular blog posts will miss throwing these things together and laughing at each other's blog farts. I know, I could go on and do it without linking up with her--but it's not the same.

We also found out that our daycare will be using their van to take our kids to school this year instead of using the school bus stop. Not so much of a big deal except that Tyler was really looking forward to riding the bus to kindergarten like all the other big kids. We haven't broke the news to him yet--we just might make the daycare tell him (hey--it's their idea.) On the upside, Brandon won't have the opportunity to get in trouble on the bus this year.

And to top it off, I had to take Tyler to the urgent care clinic late last night (after Bryan & I had been drinking at the bar--NO I didn't drive drunk.) He had a fever and complained that his chest hurt--with his chest, we didn't want to wait until Monday to see his pediatrician in case it was bronchitis or pneumonia. Of course, when we get to the clinic, I find out that his chest doesn't really hurt that bad. But the fever was real and it turns out he had the beninnings of an ear infection--so it wasn't for nothing. I'm just friggin' tired of having sick kids every Friday...it's been almost every Friday for the last 3 weeks!

UGH!

R.I.P. Loki 1996 - 2009

I started constructing this post a few months ago when I realized this moment was imminent and approaching faster that we wanted it to. I finished the final draft a few weeks ago, and now that the time has finally come, the words I wrote don't even scratch the surface of how we really feel. Our eyes are red, puffy and burning from crying and I don't even feel like writing or interacting with anyone at all. This is one of the most traumatic things Bryan and I have ever been through, and we have no desire to go through it again. So I'll write more later about the raw emotions we're going through. For now, the old draft will have to do...

We finally had to euthanize our beloved Rottweiler, who has been on his last legs for about 5 years. He's had a hard time with arthritis, which he was on medication for, and just couldn't hardly stand up on his own anymore. This dog truly has been a part of the family and has been at my side for 13 wonderful years. A close friend gave him to me at 8 weeks old when I was a sophomore in college.

He loved playing in the ocean and digging in the sand:

He has traveled with us through 14 states and moved end-to-end across the United States twice.
He watched TV and took naps with us:

He liked to carry his favorite rocks with him to play fetch in the San Diego desert bush:

He has welcomed all three of our babies home:

He was a beautiful dog and we will miss him very, very much. We hope to spread his ashes on Galveston's West Beach where he first found his love of frolicking in the waves and chasing seagulls.

More Milestones

These last couple of weeks has gone by fast! I don't even have time to stop and breathe, let alone think about something to write about. It has occurred to me that the purpose of this blog was to have a place to update our widespread friends and family on the goings-on of our little Wrenns. So with that, there's recently been an explosion of passing milestones from the younger two boys.

Nick has been doing very well potty-training at daycare. Can't say the same for at home (we're kind of lazy and he just seems to relax when he gets home...like the rest of us). Anyway, he started wearing underwear at daycare a few weeks ago!!! Yeah!!!

And Tyler decided he was big enough to start taking a shower just like his big brother. After all, he IS starting Kindergarten in a few weeks... (Wow--I can't believe the summer is almost over!) So we finally put a curtain on the shower rod in the boys' bathroom (big brother has been taking showers in the master bathroom) and now both older boys can take their showers at the same time. Now Nick thinks he's big enough to do this, too. It must get awfully annoying to hear "No, you're too young" all the time. I know I get tired of saying it!

Tyler has also ambitiously decided to finally train himself to stay dry all night. He's been wearing night-time pull-ups ever since he was potty-trained, but again, we are lazy about the whole potty-training thing so I'm pretty glad he's taking it on himself.