One of Those Days . . .

Excuse me while I vent! I'll put in a few random pictures from the past little while just to satisfy the needs of people who don't like to read!
So, Wes has been on a little immersion trip the past couple days. This means he isn't allowed to even speak English at all. Hence, no phone calls or contact from him since early Monday morning. He is gone until tomorrow afternoon, and let me say, it's been a little rough!
For some reason, the kids feel it too. Last night each of the boys woke up at least twice! Then, Halley woke up around 5:00. She wasn't crying or anything, but if she's awake, I am usually not asleep. I think she fell back to sleep around 6:00, but by then I was too stressed to fall back asleep.
Anyway, so today was one of those days. Besides being tired, all the kids were a little extra cranky. I attempted to go shopping with Halley and Connor and ended up a basket case - Connor was touching ANYTHING he could get his hands on and Halley was just ready to be home in her crib! Then, Connor decided to shake the cart all over and Halley banged her face on the cart. GRRRRRR . . .
Ok, so can I just continue on my rant? Thanks!
After Halley's nap I attempted to go on a walk. Well, I guess I succeeded, but Connor cried pretty much the whole way. He fell down about halfway through and decided it was all my fault and that he wanted to go home. I kept trying to tell him we were going home, but to no avail.
Ok, so let's see, I'll skip over the screaming and crying during lunch and the trauma of getting them down for naps. I had a parent meeting to go to at Bradley's school. I think that was the only time today that things were calm.

When we got home we all had a nice snack - pretty uneventful. Then the kids played for awhile and talked to their cousin on the phone. Ok, so dinner, goodness gracious me. Bradley apparently doesn't like Tombstone pizza. I am not kidding when I say he screamed and kicked and yelled and cried for about an hour after he tasted the pizza. Connor, Halley and I had long since finished our meal when Bradley came out of his room, and even then, it took another half hour to get him sane. This is not normal behavior for Bradley. I mean, he is definitely sensitive, but this was crazy.
Apparently the kids need Daddy as much as I do!!!
Anyway, I guess Bradley had a rough day too. He said that one of the girls at school was making fun of him. Then I upset him even more because I didn't make a "good dinner" and wouldn't let him play on the computer.

So, I held Bradley for awhile (that's something I don't get to do very often anymore, so I enjoyed it, even if he was exceptionally emotional). Then I got the kids in bed with a few more tears. Although, I think the boys are still awake, but they aren't out here so it's ok.
When Bradley said his prayer tonight he said, "Please bless me to have a better day tomorrow because I had a really bad day today. Did you know I had a really bad day? Well, I did." Isn't that sweet? I think I'll be saying about the same thing when I head off to bed.
Oh, and when I was leaving and saying goodnight, Bradley says, "Mom, you forgot to say something." I was a little confused so I said, "I love you. Goodnight." He shook his head and said, "No, you need to say sorry." He then went on to explain that I needed to tell him that I am sorry he had a bad day and that I hope his day is better tomorrow. Apparently I had a lot to do with how his day went.
Needless to say, we all survived. Although, I am now wondering how I will possibly be able to survive FIVE MONTHS without Wes. Yikes!! I think I'll just be saying a lot of prayers like Bradley.
I am also going to try to focus more on the positive things in life - like the fact that I just got to type this while watching a beautiful sunset over the OCEAN! That is still crazy to me.
I am also realizing more and more each day how special each of our children are. They have such unique and wonderful personalities. Sometimes I get so frustrated with things, but in all honesty, we have amazing children!
And, I got to talk to my sister a couple times today which is always very helpful because I can forget about myself for awhile.
Oh, and Wes comes home tomorrow. I think that's the best part of it all!
P.S. Most of these pictures are really old. I skipped a few events because I was so far behind. They are cute ones though!