Day 61: Basketball Game Day #6

It was another fun day of basketball games.  Illusive Middle Child dominates more and more of the court...

and Girl Friday becomes less interested.  Oldest Child served mass.  We also had MR and her son over for Pizza & Movie night (temporarily moved to Saturdays to accommodate meat toppings and the Lenten ban on non-seafood meat on Fridays).

We miss you!

Love,

Me

Translation: Company!

Well, basketball continues in its Saturday time suck vortex of our lives.  That is OK, at least it is close, so that only the player and parent need to attend.  Oldest Child and the non-playing basketball-er can stay home while the other one has court time.  Although, both Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday profess to still love the sport, so I have the feeling that there are many, many more basketball games in our future.

This week we also had our first house guests since Fabulous Spouse left!  MR and her son (remind me, I need to ask her for a code name, LOL!)  Tonight was Costco pepperoni pizza and Puss & Boots for the movie.  It was nice to have some company over, and a glass of wine with someone!  The movie was a hit with the kids, but I am glad that we waited for the DVD, as I would have been disappointed with the gargantuan cost to take the four of us (and I think it would have been 5 when it was released).

Day 33: Basketball Game Day #2

Dear Fabulous Spouse,

Today was basketball day.  That means a lot of back and forth in the car.  Especially as Girl Friday also had a birthday party, and Illusive Middle Child scored an overnighter from MR as we were back on tree clean up duty  with them.

Hope you enjoy your late start tomorrow!

We Miss you!

Love,

Me

Translation: On the road again…

The kids had a great time typing with you this morning.  I think, if nothing else, this deployment will help their reading, writing and typing skills.  It was cool to hear them babble on about how they got to "talk" to you afterwards.

So, today we started with boys basketball game for Illusive Middle Child.  I show up, I cheer, I take photos.  I have no idea what his position is (I am not sure if he does either). 

He is the official ball thrower inner.  My Sister-in-law says that makes him the point guard. 

However, he is in the middle when they throw up the ball to start the game, which someone said makes him the center.  In any event, he is having fun.

Girl Friday was up an hour after her brother.  To help her with her sport today, she channeled her inner Fancy Nancy, and wore "power" socks.  She has so much fun! She even stuck to her person this time. 

The only down side was a ball to the face, that caught her on the bridge of the nose. 

Tough girl that she is, she would not be pulled out of the game.

Following that, it was party time.  Girl Friday had a blast at a pool party with a Mardi Gras theme, and she had a blast.

The boys and I, meanwhile, continued to pay it forward and help our single mom friend cut down trees and light a bonfire.  Sorry no pictures this time.  We were too busy trying to race against sunset and rain clouds.  We probably cut a good cord of debris…and so that is a start!  Time to relax a little on Sunday!

Day 28: Week #4, Snow Day #5, & time to Clean Up!

Dear Fabulous Spouse,

Too funny that Oldest Child’s school ride never got the memo that there was no school today, and showed up ready to go…with all our kids still asleep.  Today was a cleaning day.  We also paid it forward to MR and helped with their downed trees in the evening.

Glad that you have gotten some rest! Happy 1 Month anniversary.  Tomorrow starts Month #2!

We miss you!

Love,

Me

Translation: OCD Me goes postal on the Refrigerator

Ok, the refrigerator did smell like death.  It was scary.  However, before we started to fill it up with food again, it needed a thorough scrubbing. So, I turned the refrigerator off and took it down to its “studs” with bleach and warm water.  The thought of food poisoning due to 4 days of warm food is just not on my bucket list!

We also helped out one of our Cub Scout friends.  They had a bunch of trees come down on their property, and in exchange for dinner and some red wine.  I was more than happy to have my kids help out as slave labor and pay it forward.  Girl Friday cut twigs and hung out with Ms. M, Illusive Middle Child was the primary hauler, but took a break to help cut when we were not fast enough for him.  Oldest Child kept trying to light the fire.  Even I could not light the fire, but that was ok, because I still got wine!

Day 26: Power Loss Day #3, Phone Lines Down Day #2

Just a few of the tree limbs in the lines.

 Dear Fabulous Spouse,

I hope that you are enjoying your one day layover in Germany.  Sorry that we missed you on Skype.  I hope that you get some sleep soon.  I know that I need some.

We miss you!

Love,

Me

Translation: Thank Goodness for Facebook

I think that I officially have to take back about 85% of the bad stuff that I have said about Facebook.  After talking with you in the car (aka the world’s most expensive cell phone charger) at 6AM, I posted that you were safe, and that we were still without power.  Within half an hour, I had two offers to house us for the remainder of the outage from those with power!  We had accepted Super S’s invite first, but thank you Miss K for the offer (and I was not so sure about going over the scary Tacoma Bridge with the ice dropping).

We packed our bags and spent the morning at Cutters Point again.  Yesterday’s post went up, and we kept hoping for a hint of you.  Alas, it was not to be.  I assured the kids that there was probably important military stuff you were doing that prevented you from showing up, despite our hustle to get there for our Skype date.  They may have been a little disappointed, but they know that you have no control over the military stuff.

By 12:40 the natives were restless and hungry.  So, we packed up and headed to Super S’s via McDonald’s drive-thru.   It was great to be someplace warm, lit, and customer free!  Super S and her family made us feel at home.  She really is the best. 

The kids played in the giant tree house, and in their rooms, and of course Oldest Child retreated to the basement for some quality time with his laptop and Bloons Tower Defense 5 (it’s not Xbox, but it will do).

Finally, he emerged for dinner, and just when he was going to retreat back into his cave heard those two little words: Hot Tub.

For the kids, it made it all better, magic even.  Thank you Facebook, and thank you Super S.

(Sorry, had to use the flash on this one and blinded everybody!)