Update

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I'm sure all my imaginary loyal readers are terribly disappointed. :-)

I've been busy (read: lazy) and haven't even been keeping up reading, much less writing blogs. I've also seemed terribly boring as of late. I know that a boring life is a good one, no major turmoil and all, but it doesn't do much to engage my creative side.

That being said, I am also happier than I've ever been. I hesitate to say anything because it always seems like asking for trouble from Murphy to brag about how happy I am, but - I'm seeing someone :::big, giddy grin::: and it's going incredibly well in this newborn phase. To be completely honest, it wasn't that big of a leap. I started dating my best friend, Doug, about a month or so ago. He was married up until January so I didn't even put him in the "datable" category, but when he wasn't married anymore I started to see him in a different way. It is nice to be so comfortable with someone that everything seems so easy with. Plus, he's awfully cute, I hadn't really noticed before we started dating, but he's cute on his own and we are really stinkin' adorable together (if I do say so myself). Another plus to dating your best friend is that my kids already adore him so there wasn't any awkward introduction. Sure, it was a little weird for them to see us be affectionate, but they were used to us being happy together.

Doug, kidlets, and Missy

So, what else is new? I've been working at the Pirate and just love, love, love it. There are some of the same little gripes that there are at other restaurants, but they are so much easier to handle when it is a job I truly want to go to every day. They are so accommodating with my schedule, I've been able to see the kids ball games and practices every week, he lets me work single shifts on kid weekends and doubles on kidless ones. I know it's a pain to keep track of my odd schedule on top of everyone else's, but he does it happily.

We have rats, as you know. We started with Snowball and Skunk, but then Skunk bit my Paigey and off he went to be snake food. We traded him in on Ice Cream who is just adorable and sweet. The pet store only sells male rats, so imagine my surprise when we ended up with babies. Ice Cream, apparently, is female. So, we traded the six babies to the pet store for a water bottle holder to put in a separate cage to make sure Snowball wouldn't eat them. Because this batch (yes, she's pregnant again) will be his, I *think* they will be okay in the same cage, but we'll see. There is plenty of food and water and space, so he shouldn't feel threatened enough to eat them, I guess we'll find out. They should be born today or tommorow if I've calculated correctly.


My dad and Pam and Kara, Tuesday, and Kane all came in to town for Fourth of July and that was really fun. I wish we lived closer, it's awful seeing the kids and barely recognizing them because they've grown so much since last time they were here. And, they all got to see Ice Cream's babies (because, you know, my dad thinks it isn't weird at all that we have pet rats, having pet rats with babies is just dandy). It was a great visit. I got to see Kara's new engagement ring. She seems very happy and she deserves it! They all like Doug, even my dad, whew!

I am officially the mom of a teenager. Levi turned thirteen last month and I have to say that if I have to have a teenager, he's an okay one to get. :-) He really is a great kid. For his birthday, *I* wanted to go to The City Museum in St. Louis on Monday and then stay the night and go to Six Flags on Tuesday. As it turns out, it wasn't *my* birthday so we went to Levi's last ballgame on Monday and then to Six Flags. I guess it's good that he didn't want to miss a ballgame, but :::whine::: The City Museum is so fun! LOL My favorite ride is the Superman (below), I love that free-falling, flying feeling. I forgot my camera (and I probably would have ended up losing it anyway), so that's the only pic I took with my phone, but trust me that a good time was had by all. Levi's favorite was the Tony Hawk. Both kids went on two other coasters, too. I was so proud of them for trying!

Other things we've done since I last posted:

The kids and I went on the coolest slip and slide ever at a homeschool play day. Super fun!

Paige went to Anna's 8th birthday party. It was a "glamour" party where they had a fashion show, did hair and makeup and nails, the whole nine yards. I thought my tomboy would be bored, but she had a lot of fun.

We went swimming lots.

We had lots of ball games.

I think that about wraps it up. Pretty good life, eh?