I've officially been lazy all week. Andrew, Amanda and Alex have been at camp and instead of tackling my huge to-do list, I've slept in with Aidan and Zoe and ...painted the bathroom (a late, impulsive addition to my to-do list meanie) I can't seem to motivate myself to do the cleaning and organizing that I had planned on, but I think the relaxation and extra sleep has also done me some good.

Of course, their trip away has not been without it's own little breed of drama. At first, Alex wanted to come home because he was afraid of monsters and zombies hiding underneat his bed...this problem was quickly solved because apparently all 4 boys in the room decided that the mattresses were much more comfortable when placed on the floor altogether in the middle of the room Laughing So now my two boys are huddled up with two other brothers....crack me up! I haven't even been able to get Alex to stay on the phone with me for more than a few second since he got over his zombie scare.

Amanda's roomates are all 13 year old girls...This of course resulted in her deciding that SHE was 13. Apparently, it evolved into her swearing Shocked being mean and generally acting like a brat. Andrew called me almost hourly at one point to update me Rolling Eyes Somehow even with them at camp I still had to listen to them fight!!!! Things finally turned around for Amanda after the 13 year old girls turned on her. She called me begging me to step in and get her a different room, etc. and I just pretty much told her that she made her bed and now she has to lie in it. It wasn't even hard for me to do because I was so angry about her bad behavior. Apparently though, my breed of tough love worked because....her behavior flipped around 180 degrees...now she is being nice. (At least that is according to Andrew's daily updates Laughing )

Then came Andrew. Wednesday night he called me at 11pm crying so hard that I couldnt' understand him. He begged me to pick him, told me that he was terribly depressed, that the kids were making fun of him that he was miserable and if I didn't pick him up, he was running away. I tried to talk to him for a half an hour, but I could barely understand him through the sobs and his attempts to get control. I honestly thought I would have to go and pick him up.....and then it started spilling out of him...the chemo, the cancer, thinking the baby wouldn't make it....the stress of the neighbors....

A camp counselor was hovering nearby and I was able to get him to give the phone to her. She sat down and talked with him for an hour and listened while he talked about this horrible year...and now...he's happy again.

I've decided to get counseling for the kids though and am in the process of looking for someone good. I can see now that our experience has had a huge affect on them and maybe I'm not the best person to try and *help*. I can listen, hug and cry with them...but maybe they need someone more skilled to walk them through this journey?

Our neighbor situation has been an ebb and flow kind of a thing...We ended up having to contact the police after they swore at our children and babysitter in our absence (and then pulled out their digital camera and were taking pictures of them, etc). The behavior was totally threatening and out of control...then the neighbors lied and said that I had made it all up because I wanted to hurt them personally. The police went to our sitter and after her report came back to our neighbors to pretty much tell them "the gig is up". The result? They hid in their house for several days...

I found out that they have basically gone houseto-house with different rumors....but the response was not what they had hoped for. People have turned their backs on them and we have ended up finding a great deal of support. Our neighbors have had so many issues in the past with 'crazy neighbor' that they are mostly rallying behind us....I have had several neighbors approach me and express their outrage and that has helped me immensely! Also, my crazy neighbor won't be sending her kids to school next year in this town...due in part to some run-ins that she had with the school counselor in regards to her children....so...that is all good news for us too.

I feel sorry for her in a way (slap me...I know I'm a weenie!). I really think she is manic-depressive or something in a realllllly bad way. After some talks with a friend (thanks Nellie!) I realize that if she was being medicated she probably stopped during her last pregancy. Since delivering her baby this outrageousness has started...and she's trying to get pregnant again (God help that little baby!!!) so I bet she's not on anything now either. It *almost* makes me feel sympathy...but she has been so awful to us that I'll never be able to forgive her.

That's my update for awhile. I pick the kids up tonight for the pigroast/farewell and then I'll be offline again much more.

Finally, I wanted to add a picture of the remission gift that I bought for myself. Here is the little baby garden angel that I put in my front garden. It is in honor of the little boy who passed away this year while Zoe was in the NICU. It is made of stone and the shading/color differences are due to the variations in the stone itself.



Kris