Baseball camp

I got to hang out at Baseball Camp today. I called out sick for work because Miss I woke up at 11-ish last night with a fever. I (hoped) she would be sick all night so I called out, just in case. Wouldn't you know it she slept through the night and then woke up feeling just fine! Bonus for me, an extra day to start my 4-day weekend. (Theres a lot more to this story, suffice it to say it was probably better for me not to be at work today.)

I dropped off Bubba and watched a few minutes of their warm ups. Then I took off with my sister for coffee. When I returned they had the 25 or so kids separated into age-appropriate groups and they were doing all kinds of activities. They had one group fielding ground balls, one group pitching, another group hitting off a pitching machine, another from a person pitching and a group working pop-flys. I got there in time to see Bubba and Girl Cousin at each station. They did pretty good. The "coaches" were varsity players for the Panthers baseball team. They did a really good job making everyone feel good - especially the littler kids. I noticed they were a little harder on the bigger boys. Girl Cousin is a rock star! She was THE ONLY GIRL at camp and she rode it out! Way to go! Bubba was by far the least experienced (not to mention the smallest) kid at camp and he rode it out too. I was very proud of him that he participated in everything and tried his best. The only thing he didn't want to do was play Pickle Ball. Can't say that I blame him, I wouldn't want high school boys chasing me while throwing hard baseballs around either.

One of the last things they did was a game. They hit off a tee and ran the bases while the guys in the field played catch from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to home plate. My Bubba, bless his heart, hasn't ever played baseball before so the concept of "running the bases" was completely foreign to him. He headed for the base in front of him after he hit the ball ... oops thats 2nd, so one of the varsity guys ran him to 1st and then to 2nd and so on, each time he was up to bat. If it hadn't been so cute it would have been pathetic. What kind of parents are we anyway that our kid doesn't know about baseball??? It's un-American I tell you! Guess we're just the types that aren't really that interested in sports thats all. Turns out Bubba doesn't really like it either. He would rather play soccer "and Karate, thats the best."

Well, at least we tried.

Overheard

If you had been lying in my bed this morning with my two boy H's you would have overheard this after a quick kiss from me to My Honey: "I don't want you guys making out while I am in here." Then a ton of laughter! Once we regained our composure I asked Bubba what "making out" was, he told me it was kissing and that if his dad and I were kissing it was gross but if I was kissing him its alright. Guess where he learned that? TV.
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Dinner went well with my supervisor-co-worker. It was enlightening, but didn't change my mind. She had some good points to consider but I still think I will stay where I am at. After I got home from dinner My Honey and I discussed it some more, he started talking dollars and cents and that was the clincher - there is no amount of money to get me to do that job for the current administration.
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Discipline has become tougher lately. For some reason no one seems to hear me unless I YELL AT THEM. It's becoming old real fast. It's tiring and it upsets us all. But here is the interesting part: any time I go and apologize to Bubba about yelling, because I don't think its right, and he deserves an apology when I can't control myself, you know what he says to me? He says "that's okay Mom, because I know you love me." It moves me to tears almost every time. And it makes me look at my life, my childhood of yelling and being yelled at (and there was plenty of it) and I can honestly say I never would have been able to say that to my mom. Never. So I guess I am doing something right. Either that or he has totally figured out how to manipulate me.
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I have been working out regularly for the past couple weeks, its not much, but it was something. Well, I fell off the wagon this week. However, I think all the shoveling I have done the past two days and I hauled wood today should make me feel pretty good and count as workouts, what do you think?

I knew it

Yep, just as I predicted My Honey jumped right on my re-arrange-the-family-room bandwagon and did his part too. He had been wanting to move the desk and computer around so once I opened the room up he did. Amazing aren't I?

Right now the kids are up here in the living room playing with dolls. Both of them. Its very cute. Miss I has to do everything her brother is doing, including spreading a blanket on the floor. She wants it perfect, so it doesn't have a wrinkle in it. Needless to say its reduced her to tears twice already. Perfection. Hmmm, wonder where she gets that? And she wants to do it all herself. Miss I. Unfortunately she doesn't have the words to ask for help yet. She just squeals. And squeals. But when I try to help her she doesn't give in, I have to ask if she is ready for help and what does she want me to do? Then she tries to show me and we are all good. Its quite a difference from Bubba. When he was 2 he was speaking very, very well. She tries but just doesn't care to make her words any way than her own right now.

On my list of accomplishments yesterday, I also took the Christmas tree down and put all the decorations away and cleaned up the living room too. As for the rest of the house, maybe on Monday. Although the Finance Committee approved the house cleaner to come back every other week so I think I will make that call and get her back on board.

Finance Committee. That's what one of my sis-in-laws referred to her husband as the other day and I liked it. Hopefully its just the mental image I need to help me to remember to run purchases by My Honey. So far so good.

New Face

Here is the new face of Bubba. The school found he had a vision problem a couple months ago. I took him in and sure enough he is "very far-sighted" so here we go. Glasses. Not only do I have a six-year old, now he wears glasses. He's growing up isn't he?

He's been such a good sport. Its not easy to have your eyes checked. It's also not easy to be the only kid in class wearing glasses. I am glad it worked out that they came in during Christmas break. He has a chance to get used to them and have family tell him how cute he looks before he hits the students in his class.

He was cute when we picked them out, he wanted "Harry Potter" style glasses with round frames. So the tech-gal had to find a book, order a special pair that ended up being back ordered and then discontinued so we had to choose another color. But they are here now and he is very happy with them. Did you know there are something like 300 different styles of glasses for kids? Who'd a thunk?

First round

My first round presents are wrapped. Shew.

I finally bought a tree last week. We went to this little stand at the south end of town (kinda like the bad side of the tracks) and dickered with the guy to get this scrawny Charlie Brown type tree. It was fun, and I love the tree. We brought it home, I used the "Christmas tree saw" to give it a fresh cut on the base and then we brought it in and decorated it. Just white lights and gold balls. There have been a few handmade ornaments added since then. I pulled out the star that my father in law made a few years back to put it on top but my son stopped me. "No Mom, we have to put a Santa hat on top." So we did. Our tree topper this year is a Santa hat. Don't ask, I don't get it either. But it gives the crooked tree more character so I left it.

My Dad, his wife and both kids came to town last weekend. It made for a few late nights (I had to work) but it was worth it. We all went to a family party for that side of the family. It is always good to see everyone. Its sad, sad, sad that we don't see them more often. I have two uncles and an aunt and a grandma that live in town, I talk to the uncles through work pretty frequently, but never see the others. I don't even know what they are interested in. And theres my two cousins that I don't even know. Sometimes I get down about it, but its just the way it is.

I was talking to a friend about Christmas stuff, seeing family and all that the other day and he said I was lucky to have family in town, his is all spread out. It got me thinking and trying to appreciate the fact that we get to go to 3 different Christmases. That we get to cart gifts all over town on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, that we are expected to be here there and everywhere toting the kids as we go. I am trying to appreciate it. I really am.

Tonight is another party. It will probably be my favorite of the season. We have a group of 6 (Les 6) that started to meet during happy hour over a year ago. Happy hour didnt last long enough so we started to meet for appetizers/dinner and drinks at someones house. We always have a great time. Tonight is our Christmas dinner. Last I heard we were having Tai food so it should be good.

Recap

They built gingerbread houses - note to self: next time, build the houses before the kids decorate them. They don't stay together very well.


We had dinner at the Mexican place. The owner loves our kids, so she came over and said hello.

The boys stayed up late (8:30) and then talked until late you know 9:30. Then they were up at 5:00 ready for the day (note to self: Best Buddy wakes up happy and early, just like Bubba, so get plenty of sleep the night before).

Bubba went to the classmates party Saturday (yet another note to self, this one I learned from someone else: NEVER HAVE A BOWLING PARTY FOR TWENTY 6 YEAR OLDS - they don't have the attention span to wait their turn). It was total chaos.

We started our Christmas shopping Saturday. We weren't very successful, found a few things. Then we dropped in on some friends who were sensitive to our need and provided margaritas! MMMMM, thank heavens for friends with well stocked bars! They also intrduced us to the wonderful David Sedaris. I had heard of him, but I hadnt heard him. Funny. We borrowed a CD to listen to later, we were all laughing hysterically at his story of being an elf during Christmas! Thanks guys.

Today, I had to an overtime shift. It was alright, not too busy but I had entertaining folks I was working with so the 6 hours went by pretty fast. And lastly, tonight we have My Honeys work Christmas party.

All in all a busy weekend when you look it at, no wonder I am tired.

A bit o fun and a rant

Big plans today! Its Festival of Trees this weekend. Me and a group from work are going to meet this afternoon (3:45 if you're interested) and tour the goods and have our kids pictures taken with Santa!! There is also a Teddy Bear Tea on Sunday I am thinking might be fun, let Miss I dress up in a fancy dress with ribbons in her hair? Bubba might even think that was fun too.
Did I mention he dressed in his suit for Miss I's birthday? It was so cute. He originally had his jacket and pants, shiny shoes and a tie on. But he started to look hot so I told him he could take off his jacket. It was so cute and it was his choice, he picked it out.

Speaking of Bubba, someone tell me what to do. HE WONT SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. I went off the deep end the other night when he woke at 1am and was yelling "MOM I'M SCARED" I ran in there and told him to shut up. I never use shut up, I use a loud voice (yell) often, but never shut up. I still feel bad. Anyway, even though we re-arranged his room, took the bunk beds down, took all the stuff that makes shadows off the walls, everything he asked us to do he still has trouble. Dang Harry Potter book. I never should have read it to him. Or maybe it was the Goosebumps he was watching unsupervised. I dunno but I am so done with it. Finally Miss I has been sleeping though the night and now him. UGH.

Miss I

I am thinking Punkin Head no longer suits my youngest. She is growing up and into herself and forcing us along the way. She is quite the sassy one, a careful observer and independent. Her new pseudonym shall be: Miss I. "I" for independent. I also like it because she has these EYES and I fear as two creeps up on us "I" will become a staple in her vocabulary. Miss I suits her in many ways. So from here forward "Punkin Head" is officially retired and "Miss I" it shall be.

Just today she pulled a Miss I. She went to the craft area, pulled out a bag of play dough and another of clay, marched herself to the table, set the bags on it then helped herself into her chair to play. And there she sits. Playing contentedly with clay. Its great having kids who like crafty junk. They get paper, pens, crayons, clay or play dough out and area occupied for awhile. Its interesting because each of them already have a preference. Miss I likes to play with clay. She is experimenting with drawing, but so far seems to prefer clay. Bubbas is drawing, and now writing stories with his pictures. Its been fascinating to watch his writing get so much better since the beginning of the school year and watch him put words and pictures together.

There is a school carnival coming up in a couple weeks. Bubba is selling raffle tickets (just a dollar each, pretty easy sell.) I took him into work to sell them a few days ago. He went to each person, used their name and asked if they wanted to buy a raffle ticket. His little sales pitch went something like this: (clears throat) "Lisa, would you like to buy a raffle ticket? I am selling them for my school carnival, they are one dollar each." Then he would answer their questions. It was precious. Who could resist? It was cute though, one gal wanted to buy more than one ticket and he said no. "Because then there wont be enough for the others to buy." Isn't that sweet?

Football

It was out elementary school night at the varsity football game last night.

The kids got in free with an adult, we had our own cheering section (on the visitor side) and then the kids got to go out on the field to welcome the home team back at halftime. It was a lot of fun.

Bubbas favorite part of the football game was "The whole thing, I liked the whole thing, it was so, so fun." When I asked him about going out on the field, did he cheer the home team he said "No, my mouth just did this (and he makes a wide-open mouth and eyes face) and nothing came out." It was funny. The larger-than-life-varsity football team left him speechless. (Finally! We found something).

In other parts of my life:
I had (another) weekend scheduled in November to try and get out of town. This will be my third attempt since June. My first was in June to a Women of Faith conference, I couldnt get the time off and had to cancel about 2 weeks before the event. Labor Day just didn't work out for a lot of reasons. Now I am trying for November. Its just a Female Family Gathering with the in-laws in Oregon, but it was AWAY.

Then, My Honey came home from work one day and said he had a training to go to. The weekend I was away. Normally it would be okay except my babysitter (MIL) is going to the Female Family Gahering in Oregon so that leaves me high and dry without a babysitter and another weekend canceled. It was really disappointing. I said to my sister-in-law that there better be something better waiting for me. (Little did I know)

So I sucked it up and tried to think of a solution (to get my way). Then the brains of our family operation came up with the solution. "Call your dad." Great idea. Only he meant "Call your DAD." Dont go through his wife, call him direct and make the plans. YIKES. I have only called him directly for things twice in my life. And neither time was a success. It took me 3 days to work through a lot of feelings and emotions (I couldn't even think of it without getting teary) before I could do it.

Finally I called, and I spoke to him and I asked. And he was happy to make the arrangements, take a couple days off work and watch the kids. So I get to go to the Female Family Gathering in Oregon in November. Lucky, lucky me. Part of the appeal is the drive. Alone in a car with the music turned up loud, loud, loud! What ever I want, just driving. Its been a long time since I went alone on a road trip.
At least since Bubba was born almost 6 years ago. Ahh. Just 3 weeks.

Mad Hatter

It was spirit week at Bubba's school. Each day the kid were encouraged to wear a specific color and today was "wear a hat to school day." Pretty big deal since hats are taboo. When I asked Bubba which hat he was going to wear I was thinking of baseball caps. He has a red one and a blue one. "My Santa hat" he tells me. Well there you go. I love his individuality! I never would have thought of wearing anything but a regular old hat. Clever. That kid. Clever.

Transition

Our school Open House was Tuesday night. Bubba's teacher let us look at the journals they have been working on. They can draw pictures and write words or just draw pictures. Of course Bubba is drawing and writing. My favorite page was full of yellow orange, some pink, red and a brown mountain-looking thing in the center of the page. He had written "sunset very prity" on the bottom. It was priceless. I can't wait to get that for a keepsake!

This week at school has been a lot better. I think he was missing his grandparents and just didn't know it.

Work went pretty well this past week. 3am sure comes early! I did pretty well getting up. I worried about Wednesday morning. Tuesday was the open house night and My Honey had a meeting until after 9. I had to do the open house, dinner and get the kids down and myself in bed. I hoped we would all be done by 7:30. And we were. In fact I think we were all asleep by 7:40! Yay us!

School daze

First day of school.

well, sort of. Wednesday was the official first day of school, but for Kindergartners it was just an orientation day. 1 hour to find the classroom, recess line-up place, bathrooms, meet the teacher, stuff like that. But TODAY, now today was the real first day of school.

I took Bubba to school, we were met by hundreds of kids yelling and running all around the playground. He was in heaven! "Look, they're playing with the ball that wraps around the pole, and basketball and.. and.. and.." it was great. When his Best Buddy found us it was all over. They ran off and played. It was so nice. Best Buddy spent the whole day at school yesterday because he is 1st grade so he knew the ropes. They ran off and played soccer and basketball.

AND THEN THE BELL RANG.

I haven't seen Bubba that excited about something in a long time!! His whole face lit up, his eyes got wide open, he ran to his class room line-up-place and that was that. Down the hall they went. Into the Kindergarten unknown.

And that's that so far. I don't have an after school report because hes not home yet. Punkin Head and I have a couple hours to do what ever. So we went and got an oil change, hit the farmers market and we're home already. With 2 more hours to kill. I could clean, do some laundry, but why? I'm on vacation. Oh yeah, did I mention that? 9 more days off. And yes, I am leaving town. Either a couple nights in Bremerton, Sequim or some unknown location yet to be determined. I would really like to go camping, but its been years and I don't think I even know how to start a fire anymore.

On and on

"Is this real . . . or has this been happening inside my head?"
"Just because it has been happening inside your head doesn't mean it isn't real."

I just finished the 6th Harry Potter. I like how the author tied all the books together in it. There were several of us at work reading it, but we started at different times so we all had to wait until the last person had finished to talk about it. It was kind of funny, those that finished first were using the new IM to talk to each other about it.

The new IM is one of the (few) good things from the upgrade. We can now IM anyone on duty, signed into their MDT/MDC. (Quite a discovery nightmare for those on the legal side of things.) At least it passes the time. One of the deputies and I were making up a story the other night line by line. It was actually fun and kept me awake until 1am when I finally got off work.

Hopefully the 1 am stuff is over soon. The person out on sick leave causing the 2 hour hole in the schedule is being checked off for duty this week. Yay! I just can't seem to get caught up on my sleep even when there is the opportunity. Like last night, I finally drifted off around 11:30, then the dog started to bark at midnight, Bubba had a nightmare around 3am (which brought him to our bed) and then Punkin Head woke around 5. So much for a good night sleep. And tonight is a possibility, but Bubba is talking about dinosaurs and what happened to the cavemen ("did they get eaten?") so I have a feeling it could be another nightmare night. I think that he's stressing about school.

We went for his Kindergarten assessment on Thursday. The school district where he will attend was using an assessment test to determine if kids would be in all day or 1/2 day Kindergarten classes. The "low-level learners" were being put into a full day class and the other were being put into the 1/2 day classes. Guess what Bubba will be in? Yeah, 1/2 days. The assessment went something like this:

"Hi I am Mrs. A and I will be doing the assessment for (checks her clipboard) 'Bubba' "
The first thing they assessed was his recognition of letters. They had a piece of paper with rows of letters on it and he had to point to and identify as many letters as he could in 30 seconds (I think). So off he goes. He gets to the end of the second row and says "Hey, why were there 2 H's in that row?" (So much for full day classes)

The next 20 minutes are a blur of questions like "What is another word for vehicle?" "How are a boat and a car different?" and "What rhymes with mat?" Some copying shapes (not letters) and then number sequencing. Mrs. A said a number and Bubba had to repeat it back to her. She added a number up to 5 in the sequence. When it reached 5 he says "I can't do that many." And he was done.

They were rating the kids 1 or 0. 1 meant they answered the question correctly, 0 meant that they didn't. Bubba might have had 10 zeros out of maybe 80 questions. Pretty sure he's going 1/2 day. Last year I wouldn't have minded, this year I think he's ripe for a full day experience. Oh well. (Maybe I will send him back to Montessori for the second half of the day? hahaha).

And then there's Punkin Head. She's . . . I don't even know how to describe her right now. Growing? I took her a bottle at 7:30 this morning thinking she would drink it then get up since she went back to sleep at 5 without any trouble. Apparently I was wrong. She slept until 11:30!! I could hardly believe it. She then took a nap from 3-4:30 and back to bed at 7:30. So I wonder what tonight has in store for me? She won't eat, she won't poo, she won't behave nicely.

Everyone seems to be going through a transition. Its making me crazy and angry. Nobody listens to Mom, they all just insist on disobeying. If this is the way the next few months is going to go, I am going to ship them out until they are better. The only thing they are doing nice is trying to play together. For about 5 minutes. But at least they are trying.

So that's the last week. I think. It was a long work week. We did get to take the boat out though. That was a highlight, how could I forget? We invited some friends of ours to go along. They were single and didn't have kids when we first started to boat together. Now they have been married 12 years and have 3 kids. It was a good time!

Today we took down the pool. It got, well, lets just say I could have sustained a pond with the water. It was a nice shade of green. So its all cleaned up, put away for next year. And soon the top will be on the jeep too. That's a sad day. Maybe we can get away with the soft top for a few months? Its so nice to have the top off, just the way a jeep should be driven right? Maybe we could take it off road once this season? Just to say we did. There's still Labor Day Weekend.

He

Weeks ago I bought some new shorts. They're men's shorts so they come past my knees, and they are probably one size too big in the waist, but they're comfy, oh and they're camouflage print.

I came downstairs wearing said shorts and a cool new black t-shirt designed by and for the SWAT team thinking they would go together. Camo shorts, SWAT t-shirt, how could you go wrong?

My son takes a look at me and sort of laughing says "Mom, you look like a He."

I wore the outfit anyway. (over and over again)

Mocha Girl

We went across town today for swim lessons. On the way I NEEDED a latte. (Bad morning). At the latte shop Bubba tells me that the mocha girl is "more beautiful than you" and that he wants to tell her so, will I roll down the window?

Now, understand, this is cute and all but my only son, my first born, my Bubba has just told me that someone is more beautiful than ME. I admit I had a little inner conflict. How do I feel about my 5 year old telling a mocha girl he thinks she is beautiful? How do I feel about him telling me he thinks she is more beautiful than I am? Who else will he think is (more) beautiful than me? Whats so beautiful about HER? Yeah, a little conflicted. In the end I rolled down the window. She was touched, she thought it was cute, and it probably made her day. Imagine a 5 year old telling you in a shy-5-year-old-kind-of-way that he thinks you're beautiful. It was worth it. (Kind of. Still a little conflicted)

Changed

Well, Bubba came back from Portland a little more .... grown up.

Its kind of strange, he seems a lot more independent since he came home. From that first day of playing in his room alone to sleeping ON THE TOP BUNK to his "aura" he is just a little more grown up. All of a sudden he seems like a big kid, not a small child anymore.

We went for a walk the other morning that passed his new school. As we were talking and passing by he all of a sudden exclaims he has a tummy ache. Curious, he was fine when we left. So I ask him if he might be nervous about going to school, and is that causing his tummy ache? Maybe he says. So we spend a little time talking about it. He was nervous about making friends. So I reminded him of his first days of preschool and how he made friends there. Later that day we had a new babysitter. Bubba had never met her and they hit it off right away. They were chatting it up, becoming fast friends (quite honestly, this happens for him very easily, making friends is the last thing I am worried about when it comes to school). Just before I left for work I noticed a teachable moment.

"Hey," I said looking from him to the babysitter. "What just happened here?"
"I dunno" he replied.
"You made a new friend." I told him. He pondered it a moment and then agreed with a grin that he did. So I told him that's how it would be at school too. That he won't have any trouble at all making new friends.

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Work has been hellacious. Busy and lots of overtime. At least the 12 hour shifts are going by pretty fast. It sucks that they are such the norm and a 10 hour day feels like a short day. And then there's the crap too. I notice myself being sucked in, being a part of the problem. I need to turn it around before it becomes my obsession.

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My dad and his wife and Little D are coming over tomorrow. I really shouldn't be sitting here posting anything, I need to vacuum, sweep, change the guest bed, put away laundry (that is sitting on the guest bed) straighten up the living room, family room, run a cloth through the bathrooms, and do the dishes before I go to work at 1. Seems like maybe I should have kept my Girl Thursday for the summer after all. Maybe I will call her, shoot with all this overtime I should spend it somewhere right? The challenge was leaving he an empty house. Oh yeah, that's right.

Stars

Bubba is home. All morning he has been telling tales of Portland. The Children's Museum, the Zoo, and some other place. At one of their stops there was an IMAX theater. He watched two shows, The Human Body, one of his favorite subjects and the other was about the stars. I was asking him what they said about the stars and he tells me he learned about the "star constipation".

It still brings tears to my eyes to think of it. I will get a lot of mileage out of that one today and for many months to come. Star constipation instead of constellation. Cute!!

He and grandpa had a good time on the train, which he describes this way "it was 3 times as big as our house," and "if I stand on the top bunk of my bunk bed and touch the ceiling, I am still not as big as the train." So darling.

And the bunk bed. What a hit! He has already spent a lot of time on the top bunk. We had to go buy a guard rail for it, not sure where the original is, so now he can actually sleep up there.

It was great to find him in his room, playing on his bed today. In 5 1/2 years that has NEVER happened. Thank goodness for the bunk bed. (Well until someone falls and hurts themselves.)

Bubba has been gone a week. He and grandpa are coming home on the train on Sunday or Monday. What fun. They are peas in a pod, they should have a great train ride just talking about boy things.

And still no baby. Poor SIL. Her actual due date isn't for a week or so but she is feeling so done. That's the way it goes. Babies have their own time table from the time you are making them until much, much later in life.

Speaking of which, still no actual walking out of Punkin Head. Maybe my Dad and his wife visiting will encourage her? They are due next Thursday and will stay until Sunday, then my sister (D) who is 15 will stay another week (give or take) with us. Me and the kids will return her sometime after the 12th because then I am on vacation FOR TEN DAYS. No work for 10 days. I am looking forward to it.

We have plans for a BBQ and my other sister (L) is going to be in Chelan so we will have all the kids out there for a few days and who knows what else. Hopefully the weather will turn summer again, for the past few days its been not-so-warm.

Memorial Day

Over Memorial day weekend Bubba and I talked about what it is ... That is to say with my limited understanding, I told him it is to honor service men and women who have died fighting wars.

We talked about cemeteries, funerals and a few other things related to dying. He is familiar with funerals, he attends funeral dinners with Grandma because she coordinates them for her church and sometimes he tags along because I am at work, so the idea isn't foreign or scary to him.

Anyway, we are at a local park today for the farmers market (mmm fresh snap peas) where there is a rock with a memorial on it dedicated to a woman who had a vision for a parks system to run along the river. I asked him not to play on the rock, I really don't know if its okay (proper) and he asked why so I told him it was a memorial. "Oh, did someone die?" I told him yes and started to read the memorial to him. He stood there, took off his hat and listened. It was quite touching to me. That all these things I tell him actually take hold and his actions reflect that he REALLY DOES HEAR ME. Thank goodness because I am just about hoarse from all the yelling this past week.

In other news, another one bites the dust at work. We are so short staffed now. One trainee didn't make it through the most recent academy, we have someone leaving in two weeks, one of our gals had a stroke last week (no shit! she is in pretty good shape, but will be out at least a month) and to top it off, the most recent "she's no longer with us" memo. Sounds like a long summer full of 12 hour shifts. UGH. Oh well, cha-ching. That's probably the only thing that will get me through.

I will say this: I so made the right choice stepping down from the supervisor group. I am not sure I would have agreed with this most recent situation, but I wasn't asked either. And its "nun-ya" anyway. Totally an admin decision, and thankfully I don't have to defend it.

What did you miss?

Starting with yesterday:

"Good times" in Chelan. Oh yes, the Lake beckoned and we answered. My sister was at her in-laws condo and so were we. Beautiful weather, comfortable pool, lotsa food, lotsa Mike's Hard something or other and cousins. All 4 of them were together, and they did pretty well. Turns out my son is kind of a brat. He hits a little more than I think is okay and we need to work on this. I don't observe him playing very often so I had no idea. Although I am pretty sure that the school would tell me if it were a problem. It might have been more an excited thing, being there with the cousins and all. Trying to share, toys, attention, that kind of thing.

I say "good times" because the other day we were driving somewhere and I hear my son say "good times Mom, good times" out of nowhere in the back seat. Funny stuff to me because a couple people use that phrase at work when things are out of control and I KNOW I didn't bring that one home with me. So I ask him where he heard that ... TV. Of course.

Sunday, Saturday and Friday - work, work, work. And it was busy, busy, busy. Friday night I was dispatching fire and EMS and I was pretty sure I would need a book to pass the time. Boy was I wrong. Not only was I busy, I was super busy. So busy that the fire folks (chiefs, firemen and EMS personnel) I talked to the next day even commented how busy it had been. Its must have been busy for them to notice.

The rest of last week? Uneventful. I don't remember anything major, I have a couple Bubba stories, but for the life of me I cant think of a single one right now. Punkin Head is practicing her standing alone. And she can finally walk behind her push toy she got for Christmas. All these are good things. She just might walk before she is 2 years old after all.