This week, all of my children have actually been in residence, and I have been constantly amused. The boys accompanied me on a late evening run to the pharmacy and grocery. As we finished at the pharmacy and turned to head into the grocery area, Zydeco waved his arms in the air and chanted "Deli samples, deli samples" while running off toward the deli. Classic Rock strolled next me and, with a deadpan tone, remarked "I don't know that I would have taken the feminine hygiene products aisle and been that excited."
And that's why I miss him when he's sailing or at camp or on a mission trip!
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Last Saturday was a house cleaning/ chore finishing/ yard work type of day. We were watching a sweet little friend of Irish Jig's and tending to various projects inside and outside. Children were trading their television usage and, during a time that the program wasn't preschooler appropriate, Irish Jig and Samuel had their block building fun moved into the main hallway. Imagine a hundred or so wooden blocks and two small people scattered up and down the hallway. In the midst of this, I was folding towels at the kitchen table and starting dinner preps. The doorbell rings. Two very clean cut, white button down, black tied gentleman were standing on the doorstep. Smiling even though they were dripping in late afternoon humidity, they greeted me warily. We don't live in a high Mormon area, so they never know what type of welcome they'll get. Lucky for Elder Smith and his buddy (I can't remember his name!), they got me :)
"Come on in, guys! It's hot and you could use a break." Says I.
"Do you know who we are?" Says Elder Smith, tentatively.
"You're The Mormons! We're the Catholics! I promise we can get along. Come have something cold to drink and maybe even to eat." Says I.
And so began a delightful half hour. I guided them through the landmine of blocks and around the basket of laundry (thankfully towels and not undies, ha). They chatted about their new Meeting House in the area. Classic Rock asked some questions and then seemed surprised that I knew the answers. Hello? Your mother has a life and is quite intelligent. Most of the time, anyway. They asked us some questions and promised to make sure the missionaries actually assigned to our neighborhood knew we were a welcoming house.
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When our Girl Scout troop adventure had to be cancelled due to impending thunderstorms, Jazz and I were invited to accompany my co-leader and her children on an adventure. We started with the intention of touring Endview Plantation, only to discover it closed. We quickly improvised a visit to the Jamestown Glass Blowers. The children enjoyed watching the craftsmen work the molten glass into treasures.
We arrived back at our home as the torrential rains began. Being Girl Scout leaders, we were prepared for inside time with a craft! We used Sharpie markers on plain white tiles, then sprayed the tiles with isopropyl alcohol and watched the colors spread. I added felt feet to ours and we have a whole set of dinner coasters now. While the finished tiles were sprayed with a fixative and a lacquer coat, we find that the color does scratch off.
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Zydeco decided that we should increase our vocabulary and challenge our minds. Apparently, the daily maths sheets I'd assigned weren't enough work for him. I found this in the kitchen a few days ago. Once I corrected the spelling of "sentences" we were in business.
Each morning, there's a discussion about what the word of the day should be. Some mornings, Classic Rock throws a ringer up there before the rest of us are awake. Vernacular? That's a Classic Rock choice. Zydeco chooses "wheedle", "maw", and "gratuitous". I have fun concocting sentences.
"My children attempted to wheedle their mother into visiting the snowball stand.
They were sadly unsuccessful."
"I have considered rearranging the dinner table seating in order to avoid gazing
into the gaping maw of my oldest child."
"My children were treated to a gratuitous baking of chocolate chip cookies."
They do not appreciate my humor.
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During the week, the boys and Mr. Neoclassic have been collecting all of their Scout camp needs. They leave on Sunday for a week of merit badge earning, sailing lessons, and camp food (yuck). I readied myself for their departure by visiting the paint section of Home Depot (gallons are $5 off this week, BTW). My husband should be afraid, very afraid.What's making your summer so hilarious your sides ache daily????
Today's post title from The Cars' Magic
We should do a word of the day! It would be interesting to see what words my children would choose. I wish there were more neat museum's and such to visit around here. The glass blowing would have been a terrific thing to see!
ReplyDeleteI saw an interview yesterday with a Boy Scout who earned all of the Boy Scout Merit Badges. It made me think of your boys!
Glad those Elders found a friendly face. I'm afraid they received a better reception than the Jehovah Witnesses that stopped at our house in May did. Here's a copy of my status update on facebook about it:
Embarrassing moment for the week:
I stepped outside to talk to the Jehovah Witnesses who stopped at our house. Just after I told them we were Mormon one of the women got a horrified look on her face. I turned to see Gideon {22 months} holding Ira's play rifle and making shooting noises. Of course it was aimed in our direction. They promptly left. I can't decide whether it was because of Gideon brandishing a play gun or because we were Mormon." {{{sigh}}}
I felt really bad because we were having a lovely conversation about the importance of families. Oh well.
That's hysterical!!!! At my house, one child would have been duct taping another into submission :) We really enjoy the variety of museum's and historical areas here. Over the years, though, we've figured out how to visit portions of the historical areas without buying full tickets. At nearly $20/ head, a simple day trip gets outrageous. I shudder to multiply that by 12 my friend!
DeleteWhat art camp did you sign her up for? I looked into a few but it was out of the budget, especially for two, and with Girl Scout camp.
ReplyDeleteLong story, but she's attending a PFAC art camp with the youngest Velkey. I hadn't intended to send her, but the timing and buddy part worked out nicely. Meanwhile, my grocery budget and my sewing budget have been sliced to accommodate all the children's camp requests.
DeleteI'm sure. I looked into the PFAC and have heard some wonderful things about it but x2 was just too much. Hope she is having fun!
ReplyDelete