We had our annual trip on our favorite holiday on Wednesday. Dave Day!! The day was heavily policed but we still had a good time. The show was amazing and Dave danced like a crazy man! This is the whole crew in our first ever full group shot. Took us seven years but we finally got a picture!

Root, root, root for the home team!

Kacie had the last games of her softball season last Saturday. Her team played a double-header for the championship- and lost. It was a very disappointing loss for the girls, coaches and parents since they had kicked serious ass all season long. The worst part wasn't the loss though. It was the coaching on the other team. The ump spent half his time arguing with the belly aching and bad mouthing of the other coach and had him on a "this is your last warning before I throw you out" basis for half of the first game and all of the second. None of us know why he didn't throw him out, especially since the ump himself said that this guy was the biggest slimeball he had seen umping. He actually said slimeball. His team was on the field saying things to our girls like " you suck" and " you guys can't hit anything" while they were on base. That makes a lot of sense since they were on base. I digress.

This coach, a fifty something year old guy coaching 8, 9, and 10 year olds would stand on the side and when our girls were up top bat would yell "swing!" and when our team was trying to field a ball would yell "throw it!!!". It was gross. It got so bad that our coach felt the need to go over to the other dugout and rally their girls to just have fun out there. That's the kind of coaches we have. I am so proud of her for that. She's a bigger person than I am.

It used to be parents on the sidelines we had to worry about being jerks and stressing the kids out. I was so horrified to see a head coach act this way. I need to report him to someone. I know from another parent on his team that he yelled at his girls all season long. No one deserves that. Not when you are eight years old. We are so lucky to have had the season we did. The kids worked hard and improved every game. Kacie started the season afraid of the ball and in the last game caught two fly balls in a row. So, it turns out, it really was a good day.

Rules are rules!

So, Jimi came over the other night and we got talking about the subject of swear words. I, myself don't get it. I never have. Who made up this rule? Who decided that there would be certain words that we were not allowed to say? As we all know, the list gets shorter and shorter as the years go by and I am looking forward to the day that no words are taboo. Don't get me wrong, I am not looking forward to six year olds dropping mad f-bombs. I just think the whole concept is dumb. Who picked those certain letters to make forbidden words? Now that's power, I say. Maybe I will make one up. If I tell you what it is though, you can never say it. It's the rules.

GOOD NEWS!!!!

I don't have the whole story, but my brother is back at the halfway house!!!!!!!! Something about not having a job but my mom seems pissed about it. Like pissed at him. This could be the little girl in me hoping beyond all hope that she really has had it with him but, one thing is for sure, she's pissed. All that matters is that my kids are having dinner at my parents house and I am sitting at the computer, kid-free. It seems like it has been so long but it has just been the craziest two weeks ever. Between softball and dance recital rehearsals we have been non-stop. You have no idea. I don't know how parents with six or eight kids does anything. Two in dance and softball for six weeks at the same time has been close to unbearable. All we have is three playoff games left and two are a double header. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today has been a good day.

Here goes nothin'!

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to start off on a serious note. I am not an entirely serious person, you see, so don't think that this tone will be followed with more like it. I am generally lighthearted and, some would say (I hope!) fun. Alas, this is the most pressing subject on my brain to date so I feel like it's the place to start. Y'all ready for this?

Most that know me know that I was adopted and grew up with a "brother" that was also adopted. More on the quotations later. He is three years younger then I am and we are not blood related in any way. Adopted kids grow up on the mantra that "it doesn't matter, it takes all different ways to make a family!". I never fell into that thought process. If you knew him, you would understand why I put quotations around the word brother. He is not my brother in any form except legally to me and he was the one that put himself there. I won't bore you with the "one time he..." "and then there was the time he...". Just know that he did bad stuff to everyone he comes into contact with. He's that guy. Bad stuff to me as a kid, adult and parent when he did bad stuff to one of my kids. That's all I will say about that. (ok, forrest gump, anyone?)

He is, yet again, out of jail. And moved back in with my parents. Into the room that was, until now, my kids room. All is well at their happy home. They get their boy back (again) from federal prison this time where the really big bad wolves live, safe and sound. My kids now cannot visit their grandparents or great grandmother because he has proven many times that he can not be trusted around the kids. What kind of a mother puts her kids in harm's way so she can get an afternoon off? I know you may be thinking "they should still be able to see their grandparents!" I agree. The problem here is that my parents have been so wrapped up in him that all of their time is spent on meeting his needs and life is "just so crazy right now". I guess taking the kids for an ice cream is very time consuming. Maybe they don't fully trust him and his high fashion house arrest anklet to be home alone. Who knows. All I know is that my kids are getting the shaft and I can't help but wonder if it is some kind of twisted punishment sent my way. I could go on for hours about this and I have another point to get to so I will just leave it at "I'm pissed" and move on.

This gem of a sibling I have has been in every detention center facility there is. He has done group homes, juvvie, county jail, state prison, and now fed with a few halfway houses here and there. Am I missing any because I think he has all of his bases covered. This all started when he was 16 (with the law) and he is now thirty one years old. Lots of accomplishments. My parents are at a crossroads right now. My mother has just about had it. Still in the "just about" stage but her fuse keeps going lower. My father on the other hand, still thinks that my brother has been wronged and none of it is his fault and it is his job as father to make sure he has all he needs to attempt success once again.

I am a parent. I get the idea of how horrific it would be to lose a child so how could you write yours off as if they were dead. This, I never expect. It will never happen. When does one run out of chances????? I mean, come on! There has to come a time when the right thing to do as a parent is to say "we have done all we can for you and we don't feel like we are helping you. It's time to go it on your own." Not even an "I hate you !" Just maybe a move out date or job deadline or, I don't know, CONSEQUENCES?!? How many times can one hear "I'm gonna be better" until they start to think, even in the tiniest of voices, "yeah, right". I just don't get it.

I see this as being an ongoing saga in my life that may carry onto blog. I know that some people will read it but maybe not tons. The title is confessions of... so if you like to be nosy, you might enjoy my own personal journal about this. I give my permission. I have no problems with friends or strangers crawling into that part of my brain. I'm a talker. I guess no matter who is listening.

The kids had their dance recital this past weekend. It was a wonderful show , as always, and a good time was had by all.

Hello and welcome!

I decided today to be a copy-cat. I like to talk and tell people stuff about me so I figured I would do what any self-respecting hot mess would do, blog! I don't know if anyone will even read this (my sister probably) but it's just as much for me, I suppose. For those that don't know me I am a lesbian mom of two girls. One is almost 8 and the other is 9 1/2. Can't forget the 1/2. I have an amazing partner of almost five years named Cyn and we live in a tiny shit-hole of an apartment with our three cats and one foster cat. It can get cramped at times especially with the mess my house is always in but, it's cozy, lived in, and home. That's the basics of me. We spend our time going to dance class and softball and we play video games (guitar hero like it's our job!) and watch tv. It looks so much less exciting when I put it like that. Not that I would call my life exciting, but it definately isn't boring. I can be long winded at times. I am a talker. Love to talk so check here when you have a minute or five. Just a heads-up. I always have a lot to say and plenty of things to talk about. It's part of my charm. I am not very computer savvy so we will see how long it takes me to figure out how to put pictures up here. I think I should close down now and spread the word to try to score some readers. I mean what's the point in talking if no one is listening, right? Stay tuned.