It’s been a busy weekend around here.

Friday night (well, starting at 5pm) we hosted a birthday/slumber party for Dragon (HAPPY #13!!!!). Four boys and one girl (Girl didn’t spend the night…though we’re glad she came– VERY BRAVE).

A night chock full of pizza, soft drinks, cake, ice cream and other various sugary snacks… Numerous Nerf gun wars, a scavenger hunt, Rockband, movies…etc. I’m pretty sure they were up until at least 3 or 4 am… based on the history on the web browser (the last site loaded at 2:58am)….

Then…  in the morning, we filled their bellies with pancakes, sausage, bacon and chocolate-drizzled glazed donuts.

And then there was another Nerf gun war.

And another…

And another…

And then there was some Wii action.

And then I left for work.

And then…one by one… they all went home.

And Jake took Dragon and Wildcat to spend the night with their grandparents in Knoxville.

And we had the night alone. Whew!

—–

—–

Grandparents took the boys shopping…got some new toys, new clothes and some new shoes.

These are Wildcat’s new shoes….

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

…. Wildcat’s new shoes…with MY feet in them.

Yep.

He’s wearing 5’s (which is a 7 in womens) — My toes are little cramped b/c I wear 8s… but DAMN!
THE SEVEN YEAR OLD IS WEARING SHOES BIG ENOUGH TO FIT MOST NORMAL WOMEN!!!

We JUST BOUGHT Wildcat brand new 2′s in July…….THIS PAST JULY!!!!

So… yeah, he’s been running around in shoes that are 3 sizes too small for him. (refer to “How to be a Bad Parent, vol 3″ … but you’ll have to wait…it’s still being written)

It also explains why the stitching on the toes was popping off.

————-

My toes come to the end of the laced section on Dragons new PAIR OF 10s !!

OMG!! 10s!!!

(That would be a 12 in womens…fyi)

—-
Ok- So.. I know I married a monster tall person..who comes from a family of tall people…and was probably SURE to pass those genes over to his children (cause I’ve been told K-genes always win….hmmph).

But his KIDS were A LOT SMALLER when they moved in here 2 years ago…. and watching it happen has been amazing.

And a lot has changed.

They have “little boys that are growing into some sort of really big monsters tall people” appetites.

They WERE picky eaters… and they WERE slow eaters… and we USED TO always have leftovers.

Heh. Not anymore.

Bring on the big feet!!

I love it!

YUMMY!!!!

I remember making pies with Grandma and Mom when I was little.

It was an art to my grandmother. They were her masterpieces.

And she ALWAYS said she was sure it probably tasted like awful… but it never did (and she knew that…)

From scratch crust … any flavor on the inside.

-

Grandma was famous for all her desserts…especially her pies.

And my mom learned from her…

And I learned from my mom…

And my brothers learned from my mom.

And tonight…. I taught Jake.

I’m proud of him. I bet it tastes awesome. Probably the tastiest apple pie he’s ever made

I suppose he’ll find out tomorrow. He’s taking them to his work for their Thanksgiving party.

I wonder if he’ll tell them I made it if it isn’t good.

Yesterday was my 34th birthday.

Last night, after we ate our yummy steak dinner, I was sitting at the dining room table…. all the boys were clearing the table and doing the dishes in the kitchen (I was told to stay in my chair).

I was reminiscing about the last few hours….. surprised by a bouquet of daisies, spontaneous little kisses and hugs, the new Wii Super Mario Bros. game, phone calls from family members and little nieces and nephews singing to me over the phone, grilling our dinner together on the back porch…what a great year it’s been…. I decided that I must be the luckiest girl alive. I love my life. I love my little family. This is the good stuff.

————

And then there was a blast of laughter from the kitchen… Jake appears in the doorway…he’s face is red, his eyes are watering..and he’s doing the “I’m NOT gonna laugh at my child’s question” face….. he says, “Wildcat….go ask your mom that question..”

Oh Lord…

Here it comes…

Wildcat cautiously walks into the dining room…looks at me like he might be in trouble… turns his eyes toward to floor while he twiddles his fingers into a knot…

Wildcat: Ummm…. Why do you have Tampax? I thought you LOVED Dad.

Me: ** blink, blink ** uh….

Me: ** awkward pause **

Me: ** holding in laughter **

Wow.

Me: What does that mean?

Wildcat: Weelllll… I heard that Tampax means you’re angry at the person you love.

Me: ** speechless**

At this point, I’m not really sure where I’m supposed to go with this conversation.

I told Wildcat to hang on a sec… I walked into the kitchen.

Jake and Dragon are LITERALLY doubled over on the floor laughing so hard they are almost crying.

WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY NOW? IS ANYONE REALLY READY FOR THIS PART OF PARENTING? I THOUGHT YOU PLANNED THIS TYPE OF CONVERSATION… WAS THIS PART OF THE DEAL??….

I decided to go for it.

I walk back into the dining room with a piece of paper and roughly sketch the female reproductive system… yep…. I went there.

————-

Wildcat knows a little about these things. When Jake had his surgery last year, we explained a little bit of it to him.

Consisting mostly of “To have a baby… the daddy has a piece and the mommy has a piece….and when those two pieces get together….you get a baby….and Dad’s surgery was so that he could help make a baby” — no major details.

————

SOOO– While my brain was saying “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!” — I tried to use what I knew that he knew…and educate him a little more.

On my birthday.

-

After dinner.

-

While my “support team” was hiding in the kitchen trying to unfold from the laughing cramps in their sides.

-

I drew a body shape…and a uterus.. and some ovaries.

I asked him if he remembered about the little bitty mom-part and the little bitty dad-part that make a baby. He did.

I showed him where the EGG was made… how it traveled down when it was ready to look for the boy-part…. where it stays for awhile waiting for the boy-part… why the uterus is full of tissue and such (to start taking care of a growing baby)… AND THEN… when the little bitty boy-part doesn’t show up, the egg leaves… with all the other stuff too.

And that’s why I have Tampax.

He was satisfied with that explanation. He was a little concerned that there was blood involved… but Dad chimed in and explained that it was normal…and not like an injury. That made it a little better.

After we put the kids to bed, we were trying to figure out WHERE THE HELL he would pickup the idea that  “Tampax means you don’t love someone anymore” –

The only thing we could come up with was that SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE has answered a question or described something to do with….

P. M. S.

And Wildcat turned that into what he could understand… he stored it away. When he saw the Tampax box that came home with the groceries, it caused him great alarm.

Sweet boy.

We’ve been busy.
Sorry for the lack of posts.
This summer…being crazy busy (Europe, concerts, promotions, camping, )… we couldn’t wait for the fall to get here so things would be “normal.”

And then there was this… and this… AND this…

Yes. That was silly of me to say. I know… what IS normal?
Well…we’re pretty good at appreciating it when we have it….whatever it is.

Fall is here. It hasn’t really calmed down any…

In the last 2 months, at work… Jake has learned to love and hate management…yes, both can happen simultaneously.
I’ve fired and manager…trained a manager…covered for 2 managers on somewhat of “maternity” leave… then been through 4 weeks of vacations (because we cram all the last ones in before the holidays start)…

We still have THIS…
and then we had Halloween…
and then we had lice on one of the kiddos…

This past weekend was busy (BUT SUPER AWESOME), too.

We headed down to the Blueberry Farm to celebrate Jake’s sister’s (Moose) 30th birthday…with a surprise party. It was actually pulled off!!! And it was fun. GOOD JOB to Damama and Bullet for awesome party planning (and scheming).

Jake’s lil sis (Lil Sis) had her 15th birthday, too. (there are actually 7 people in this family with birthdays in November)

We had lots of fun.

Here’s a video (could have been more, but my battery died….cuz I didn’t think about charging the camera before we left : P )

The party was awesome. Yummy food, friends and family..dancing, giggling, and Twister. Then we went back to the farm and had a campfire…chatted and sipped on yummy stuff…and played Twister some more. I’m glad all these people are my family. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it more with anyone else.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

(more pics coming soon…there are A LOT)

So this is a lazy Sunday (not necessarily a Lazy Sunday) with coffee, cinnamon rolls, and sitting around in the den on various electronic devices.  Bell’s on her desktop, Wildcat’s on the couch with the DS, and I was on the couch with the lappy.

I was doing my Wikipedia excursions, and today my wanderings had brought me to the SubGenius entry to check on ol “Bob”, when I found a link to Magritte’s Ceci n’est pas une pipe.

Sure ain't, Rene

I don’t know how I’d gone 31 years without fully appreciating this work, but upon finding it this morning I realized that I had to get a big ass print of it and either hang it in my house or maybe in my office (did I mention I have an office now with 4 walls, a door, and no windows? no?).

I told Bell about it, cuz I wasn’t sure if she was familar with it, when Wildcat piped (heh) in, without looking up from the DS,  saying “Hey, I know that painting!  Its got a picture of a pipe and it has words underneath it saying that ‘this isn’t a pipe’.  Its weird.  Its a surrrrealeeeism painting.”

…

I stared at him for about 10 seconds with my jaw gaping open.

Once my brain had worked enough to get past the fact that my second grader is schooling me on surrealism, I asked him what else he knows about it.

He said “Its usually weird paintings that don’t make a lot of sense.  I think that Sarvoladore Dali is my favorite surrealistic painter.  He likes to paint melting clocks.”

Melty clocks for the win

So I pulled up some Dali (now, I’m not as much of a rube with ol Salvadore as I am with Rene) and he pointed out Persistence of Time, saying that he recognized that one from his art class.

“See the thing underneath the clock [on the right]?  Thats his face peeled off.”

…

Wow.

So we went through other surrealism paintings, and he recognized some, and I had an intelligent art conversation with my 7 year old.

Before he went back to the DS.

So, holy crap, Oak Ridge public schools for the win.  I emailed his art teacher something babbling about how “OMG MY CHILD IS KNOWING TEH ART TALK !!!!1111!!”

So, now I really, really want to get Ceci n’est pas une pipe.

This one ain’t bad either, and arguably more my speed…

OK, so drivin to pick the kid up a few minutes ago i got behind a pickup truck from Putnam County with some bumper stickers that have me pondering…

One of em says “The best government is no government.”

Cool. Old school anarchism. I dabbled with anarchism for a while, in my youth.  Its the kind of thing like the Atkins diet where you say “WHOA, awesome, I get to eat nothing but meat and lose weight!!” and keep on saying it until you die of a massive heart attack on account of cholesterol, or something like that.

While I’d like to go on the record to state that I don’t believe that a lack of government leads to coronary issues, I’m also not going to come along to say that it doesn’t.

It’s an attractive idea for folks that just don’t really think things through.

Anyway, I’m down with the truck so far.  I keep reading.

The next bumper sticker says something to the extent of “How is this a free country if everything is for sale?”

Well all right.  Anti capitalism.  Now I dabbled a bit with that in my day as well, cuz lord knows mo’ money mo’ problems.  I’ll pour a 40 on the curb for Biggie just for that one.  Or maybe it was Tupac.  Hell, I don’t remember (editors note: Wikipedia says Biggie.  Word). Point is, when you ain’t got money, you ain’t happy, and for some reason (although I haven’t experienced it myself) when you do got money, you ain’t happy.

Roll with it, little truck guy.  Dude from Putnum County is laying it to the man with his bumper stickers.

Thing is, I started pondering it because I was driving through a school zone behind him and the music on the radio wasn’t that entertaining, and started wondering if he’s thought his stance on financial leadership through all the way.  Cuz see,  I see a bit of a disconnect between the two philosophies of nihilism displayed on his truck window, in that I think it’d be hard to not have some sort of market system, and not have a government at the same time…

Cuz who’s gonna lay the road down that he’s driving on?  And then paint it?

By now we were starting to move a bit more freely out of the school zone so I didn’t see if any of his other bumper stickers had a clue as to what his solution to the by now oppressively intimidating intellectual gap between economic policy and legislative policy is.  I’m positive that somewhere between the gate latch and the Toyota logo there would be a faded sticker that would lay out, in detail, his manifesto for maintaining public services and infrastructure.  Maybe a point system?  Is bartering involved?  Goats and chickens?

The mind boggled.  I tried to get closer to read it, while at the same time looking somewhat casual, but our paths shortly diverged, and I had to pick the kid up.  I’ll be working that over in my head all day, like a piece of overcooked meat stuck between your back teeth.

Still, one thing is painfully clear.  The unclear, contradictory,  and rather excessive political and economic opinions  so prominently displayed on the back of his truck makes this guy an obvious candidate for immediate citizenship into the City of Oak Ridge.

He’d fit right in with some of these other dumb bastards…

We LOVE the new Beatles RockBand. It’s something the whole family can play.
Jake and I are both music geeks, anyway….and now we’ve managed to pull the kids into it.

Sad part is…they already know the songs.

Reminder:
We love The Beatles.
We ARE NOT The Beatles.

Enjoy!

See you guys in a few days… we have some…uh… stuff to do
: )

Game on, people.

Oooooooo yes, Rock Band fever is fixin to hit the Bennu household.  And those in the know, know that it’s gonna hit big.

Because damn, who doesn’t like the Beatles?  Jackasses, that’s who.  And if there’s anything more fun that listening to the Beatles, its faking playing Beatles music with plastic instruments!!! Hell yes!

But seriously, even if being a plastic musician doesn’t appeal to you, just look at the craft and beauty put into the game coming out:

OPENING CINEMATIC

TRAILER #3

Now tell me that you’re not crying just a little bit.

Yep.

Now, here’s how its going to break down:

That’s right.  Pre-ordered this junk yesterday.

What?  Who said we’re broke?

So its been like 40 years or something since Woodstock laid down some music and peace and love and whatnot on a dairy farm in New York, and in celebration of it, Bell and I are listening to the Woodstock soundtrack record I acquired from a relative (who figured out now that I have it and wants it back), and grilling meat.

I don’t know for sure that grilling meat is peace and love, but I operate under the assumption that the peace and love aspect of the hippie generation turned into the ‘me’ generation that still permeates society and whatnot, and which I kinda sorta attribute to some of the crappy things that happened with my generation, so we’re just liking the music.

Cuz damn, its some good music.

Discuss amongst yourselves.