Hey, is this thing on?

Heh. Yeah. So. um. Hi! Remember me? I’m still alive, so ya’ll can quit worrying and stuff. And don’t tell me ya weren’t worrying because well, I know i’m the center of the universe so you’d have to. Yeah. Heh.

Ego firmly in check. Whoot!

Anyway, things are still the same about here. The Asshole’s hours were cut, I’m panicing, they’re enjoying the summer, running off in the bus for some big trips down to homer and other exciting places

leaving me here at home to enjoy the silence…..

Though sometimes, now when everyone is home, I get the oddest feeling I’m being watched..

And then! Horror of horrors, the Girl turned 11 years old! *SOB* and if that’s not bad enough, I had to register her for MIDDLE SCHOOL today! ACK! That means I have TWO kids in middle school this year! TWO! can you IMAGINE?

Then, concering the girls birthday, all she wanted was a clarinet. I had gotten a line on a rent to own place, and was told all I had to do was pick it up and sign the papers. I asked three times if that was all, and they said yes. Two days before her birthday I went in and they said “oh. you have to have a credit card.” Uh. I don’t HAVE a credit card!

I was in a panic, and when the Asshole called from work that night, he was then in a panic and I was all but in tears and it was HORRIBLE… and then, the Asshole reminded me once again why I married him. HE worked a deal with a co-worker up there, and we ordered her a BRAND NEW clarinet from a place this guy had worked with for a long time, and he bought it on his credit card.

And it didn’t cost me a dime. How? The asshole, who introduces his weapons before he introduces me, traded one of his more expensive guns, straight across to this guy for the Clarinet. HIs guns are like his babys – but as he put it “That baby didn’t want to learn clarinet!”

So the result of all this? aside from tears and relief and remembering that the asshole can be an ok guy? This:

Lookit that grin. It just don’t get better then that.

So – how’s things with you all?

Heh. Slackers are us!

Yes. I know. I’ve been slacking about here forEVER. Part of it was that my server moved my site to another maching, and I’ve had nothing but problems with the database since. However! I think that’s finally taken care of, so we’ll do a massive month (…or two) catch up. heh.

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Little League is officially over! Whew! all the kids had a fantastic time, and did very well. Well, for the pup, if you consider twirling in the outfield and using a golf swing of the bat “well” then yes – she did good too. *L* She had fun though, and that’s what counts.

The Girl’s team was UNDEFEATED throughout the season. The girls came a LONG way, and everyone is incredibly proud of their domination of the game. Not only that, but we dominated the Allstars team too. Gotta love that. The Girl wasn’t old enough to qualify this year – next year though.

The boy’s team had a rocky season filled with ups and downs. They came out even on the win/loss scale, however, and I consider the growth of the boys as a team an all out win. They really began to pull together at the end, some of the boys stepping up to show leadership, and a genuine since of comraderie and encouragement that was missing the first couple of weeks. I kept the books for most of the season for them, and I can tell ya – even when they lost, their attitudes were good. Until they ahd to run sprints, of course. heh.

3 hours before the last game, the boy took a tumble from his bike, and ended up with a concussion and a broken big toe. He said he was fine, and even PLAYED THE ENTIRE GAME. I was impressed with him. A teamate of his was also playing with a concussion, but to our dismay, one of the boys went CAMPING and thus they had to forfiet. They borrowed a player from the other team though, to finish the season out in style. the boy isn’t old enough for allstars this year, so he finished off the season in a splint at closing ceremonies. heh.

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Other then that, things have been pretty normal around here. We watched the big 4th of july parade, and as the boy had the camera, I have many shots of cheerleaders and dancers, and CH, the girl he’s loved since birth. *L*

Not much else in the way of pictures of the day. The boy’s friend Steel was with us all day, and we got to share several firsts with him -the parade itself, as well as the trip out to the lake to go swimming afterwards. At the lake, the kids discovered a bed of freshwater clams and decided they would make a KILLING if they grabbed, cleaned, and painted them to sell to the tourists. They harvested 104 of the wee lil buggers, and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning them. Then they set the shells out in the sun to dry. ONce they’re clean enough, they’re going to paint them, then want to hit a saturday market and sell them. More power to the kiddos, I say. *g*

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And last night, the kids got to go on their first dipnetting experience from the Boy’s boat. They had a BLAST. They caught 11 fish all told, 4 of which were the Girl’s, who very smugly outcaught the boys. *L* Then they came home, proud and giddy and…

….cleaned them in my kitchen. OMFG. I don’t know if I can impart to you just HOW MUCH i hate fish… but when I see THIS….

…in my KITCHEN… i hate it even more. *L* EW EW EW EW! But the kids are proud, and I’m not so disgusted that I won’t proudly eat the fish they caught either.

…ew.

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Oh! and it wouldn’t be a fishing trip with the Asshole without an ADVENTURE!

He found someone to haul the boat down and go fishing with them. His buddy D. His buddy bought a ball hitch for his tow package on his truck just so he could go fishing with them, and then Asshole sprung for the light kit, and they were finally ready to go. The truck, however, didn’t have room for the kids. So I drove down behind them with the kids in the car, and sat there for an HOUR while they waited their turn to use the boat launch ramp.

Yes. an HOUR.

So, while they’re inching their way closer to the boat ramp, they discover that the battery that they have for the hydrolics on the engine – only had enough juice to raise it. Not lower it. Whoops. So what do they do? they STEAL MINE FROM THE JEEP! So there I am, with the bad battery in the jeep, unable to turn it off, AND running out of gas! OMG. *L* But, they get the boat into the water, the engine working properly, and they were off for their adventure.

That included, aside from the catching of fish – the pup sleeping in the bow of the boat in the same spot _I_ used to sleep (this boat was my dads when I was a teen. the boy always loved it, and dad insisted that it be his, so when we had some cash, we bought it for the boy. His name is even on the title.) and watching a man DIVING for shore because his BOAT was sinking, which lead to a rescue mission that had the Asshole standing waist deep in the river in his $80 birks. Of course, I yelled at him for WEARING the birks to go fishing, and got “but dear, I didn’tINTEND to stand in the water” as a response. harumph.

So when they returned, wet and tired and sore and exhilerated, they went to clean the fish, and I realized i was out of freezer paper, so! It was off to the store. The boys hooked my battery back up, and I head off to town only to see those DREADED RED AND BLUE FLASHING LIGHTS in my rearview mirror. Uh. Whoops? Seems when they hooked up my battery? They BLEW the fuse to my tailights, and my dashlights. So I laughingly tell the nice young officer about the battery, and he just laughs and asked how the fishing was, and let me go. Nice guy – young and cute too! raaaaaaaawr. *L*

He just told me to go straight to the store, the gas station, and home. Not even a fix-it ticket. How cool, hm?

So then it aws home, the cleaning, the wrapping with the VERY LAST BOX of freezer paper to be had in the store, and the sleeping.

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And there! All caught up with the highlights. *L* You know you missed me. *grin*

Shark Tales and Famous People.

So. You see, when we bought the Shark Tales movie on DVD, I told the kids “I know someone who works for Dreamworks, and worked on SharkTales.” and they, because they are my kids and realize I rarely ever leave the house unless it’s to shuttle them around, poopoohed the idea and assumed mom was nuts. They even uttered the words “Prove it!”

So, we watched the credits afterwards, and watched and then I squeeled and pointed “SEE! THERE’S HER NAME!” and they went. “HA!” And while they pretended that they believed me, I knew they didn’t really. I further explained that this was TBF’s roommate in college, and we had met on my first visit to California, and bonded over many sips of some bottle called Redrum. [Ooooooooh it was yummy, and I have never located another bottle. dammit. It was red! and rum! and spells murder backwards! and I MUST HAVE IT! ahem.] So naturally, the kids concluded that momma was drunk, and thus it’s all a dream.

Ha. Ha HA I say.

I, of course, related this little story to this person who does indeed work at Dreamworks, and she, of course, was verily amused by the whole thing, and asked for my snailmail address.

So today, I find a box in my mail, and inside the box, I found THIS.

A Shrek 2 mousepad, Shark Tales post it notes, and 2! Madagasgar hardback notebooks, with little elastic band to hold it closed and bookmarks.

The children? Suitably impressed, and claimed everything. Even the postit notes. I love post it notes. I SURVIVE by post it notes to myself. Blasted kids! She’s MY friend! HARUMPH!

I am consoled, however, by one single fact. They have also conceded the point that I? know some pretty damn cool people. Famous people. That work in the MOVIES.

I win.

(THANK YOU S! MWAH!)

Busy busy weeks! [Caution! many, many pictures!]

Well, things have been majorly busy here in Lessa land, which of course is par for the course here during may and june what with the Month of the Field Trips, birthdays, and Little League.

And of course, there are pictures! Like you thought otherwise. HAHA!

So, last week was the pup’s birthday, and on saturday, after the Kenai Little League opening ceremonies,

we headed toward Auntie’s house (it was raining, and thus put a kabash on our picnic type plans) to have cake and open presents.

At which time we also saw a glimpse of the pup’s future. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing the following pose in some “girls gone wild” frat party photo or concert or something like it in the future….

Heh. So, after THAT, we headed to the swimming pool out north, so that the kids could really exhaust themselves. and by kids I mean gramma and papa and daddy and aunties included! There was even a rousing game of Marco Polo going on… (started by the Asshole, of course. *L*)

And many, MANY, trips down the BIG SLIDE! Asshole’d send em down, and papa’d catch.

Auntie Jen and the Diva even gave it a go! much to Diva’s delight! “UP auntie UP! aGAIN!”

So, that was all in one day, believe it or not. Then the first games of the Little League season began. At the first games, I had the Girl [who’s now been given the nickname MickyD] and the Boy [Forever and always “Big Mac”] played at the same time, so I set myself in a far corner where I had the only possible view of both fields for the duration. My view of the girl was pretty good:

As she played right feild. The view of my boy, however, as HE played right field….

Not quite as good. *L* He’s the one under the arrow. WAAAAAAAAAAY over there. The girl won her first game in a landside 3 inning 45-5 win, [the “10-run” rule, where when a team is ahead by 10 runs they call the game doesn’t take effect until the top of the 4th inning. it was a very. very. long. game.] while the boy lost in a heartbreaking 11-0 game [called at the top of the 4th due to the 10-run rule] to the other Kenai team. They’ll get em next time though, we’re sure of it!

The pup did pretty well, and even got to play catcher!

A position she covets if only so that she can attempt the “Catch while doing the Splits” ala gina davis in A League of their Own that I let her watch last week. Heh.

So. With all of that, many field trips, and the last day of school where we found out that the girl pulled all her grades up to C or above (and maintained a solid A in math), and that the boy managed to get his act together and PASS 7th Grade and will indeed move on up – and he got hisself an award for “Most improved Student” in Choir too!, and the pup graduated Kindergarten and now considers herself a big first grader, AND she got her first loose tooth, ALL in the same week!

Well. We’re all exhausted, everyone slept in this morning, and we’re looking forward to still more. Tonight, the boy and girl both play again, tomorrow, the Boy has a double header game in Seward that the whole family gets to attend, and Sunday we will all collapse and sleep all day long. *L*

Summer time summer time SUMSUMSumertime….

(as always, many more pictures using the Photo gallery link on the left. As if I didn’t include enough in this here post….)

6 years ago today….

almost 7 years ago, I was surprised – shocked even – to find out that not only was I pregnant after a year of trying (or not trying not to be) but that I was already 7.5 weeks along, and had passed my “danger zone” without even knowing it. Everyone else, apparently knew it, but I, still mourning over the loss the previous year, never even noticed all of the symptoms.

As soon as I noticed, of course, I instantly felt her, and cried, and worried, and panic’d. My best friend (TBF) was snoopy dancing and cheering and telling everyone while I was still sitting there stunned, staring at that little stick. He told me then – “This one is mine, and I know – even if you don’t – that there is nothing at all wrong with my Pup.”

Those are words I clung to for nine months. Through every twinge of pain, every moment of sickness, every craving (and god, the EATING! boy did we eat!) through every test we did to make sure that the pup was ok, I worried, I fretted, and TBF and my family and the Asshole all stood firm. THis time, nothing would go wrong.

And on May 18th, TBF’s birthday, just 4 weeks after finding out the baby was a GIRL and not the boy we thought – JessiAnna Dove was born via c-section, though she was my smallest, and likely the only one I could have delivered naturally. *chuckles* Long and skinny – 7lbs, 6oz, and a very long 22 inches, I had my Pup.

And my tubes tied. Heh.

So skinny that we had to buy premie diapers and clothing, she’s everything we could have hoped for in a third child. Rotten to the core, amusing, sweet, loving, bratty, sassy, adorable…

It’s hard to believe that the last 6 years have flown by. From this little skinny scrawny bundle

of surprise joy, came my 6 year old chatterbox, my giggling drama queen fashionista, my artistic protege and daring go-getter who moves and moves and moves and never stops moving or talking until she collapses (only to continue to talk in her sleep…) who refuses to do ANYTHING until she decides it is time to do so, (like, oh, counting and letters!), my stubborn too much like TBF and Asshole and even me to make ANYONE sleep well at night….

my pride and joy – my pup.

Happy Birthday, JessiAnna… I love you!