In which Alex learns a new party trick

My house is finally about as clean as I can manage to get it.  I scaled Mt. Laundry on Friday morning only to have it return again, this time with a vengeance.  I ruined an entire load of mostly Alex's clothes by washing them with a blue ink pen.  GO ME.  Good thing I'm not the type who cares all that much about what my kids wear.  A few ink spots on a pair of camo sweat pants isn't really going to make much of a difference now is it?

Dinner with the neighbors went really well, a lot better than I expected it to actually.  I always freak out a little when we host people we've never really met before.  What if they hate us?  What if we don't get along AT ALL?  As I made the potato salad and mopped the floors, I imagined every potentially awkward social glitch possible and yet NONE of them happened.  Everyone got along great!  Just like everyone else in Washington, they are almost obscenely nice.

Alex did not have a great day on Saturday.  Dave took him to soccer without me and apparently he completely goofed off the entire time, much to the dismay and disappointment of his father.  The strange thing is that after the first class (during which he wasn't the best listener), we kindly suggested that he pay attention and he'd been doing really well ever since!  We were usually delightfully surprised to see him so enthusiastically participating.  Who knows what happened this week.  Dave said he was Terrible.

As if that wasn't bad enough, when the neighbors brought their two girls over (ages 4 and 2.5), the kids initially seemed to get along pretty well.  They chased each other around the back yard (in the rain!) and much giggling was overheard.  At one point, the neighbor's eldest daughter ran downstairs to report that someone had been PEEING ON THE FLOOR upstairs.  I rushed to scene to find my son shuffling his pants back up to hide the evidence.  While the girls were all jumping on the bed (AGAINST THE RULES) he thought it would be HILARIOUS to PEE ON THE FLOOR.  This in turn spurred the younger two girls, both having recently disrobed for more efficient bed-jumping, to ALSO pee on the floor.

GOOD TIMES. 

Needless to say, punishment was administered and I promised to teach him a few knock-knock jokes for the next time he feels the need to be the life of the party.  The meat stick has to stay in his pants.

 

When Dave asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, my response was both immediate and simple: I wanted him to feed everyone for the day, including me.  No matter how much I love to cook, it is probably the most relentless part of my job.  And let's be honest, I'm not exactly patting myself on the back every morning for the culinary skill it requires to make a toaster waffle.  I tried my best to let Dave do it all yesterday, but the kids made that pretty difficult by constantly asking me for stuff.  My mantra for the day was ASK YOUR FATHER. 

Dave was a Saint about it, too.  He catered to my every whim (BOW CHICCA WOW WOW) and topped it off with a fabulous BBQ'd dinner.

And we finally went out and got the TV table we've had our eye on at Fred Meyer.  Our old one was looking pretty ragged and would never fit the new TV we're hoping to get soon.

We spent the ENTIRE evening painstakingly building the stupid thing.  While the quality of the wood and materials seemed really solid, the instructions were RIDICULOUS.  They were basically one step short of illustrating a bag of nuts and bolts on one page and the finished product on another.  My fondness for IKEA has never been stronger.  It looks a lot better, though! 

Comments

[Tana]

Looks very nice!!

[1hot&tiredmama]

The story about Alex peeing on the floor is HILARIOUS! Only because I have boys ages 5 & 6 and feel so not alone in my plight to raise them!

Love the table.

[Rhi]

That burger looks delicious!

Fred Meyer has totally been shocking me with their furniture selection! They have some really cute stuff!!

[DebbieS]

Happy Mother's Day! Tell Dave, "Nice meat", LOL.

Alex looks just like you in that pic!

For the pen stains on the laundry, try getting some "GOOP". It sells in the automotive section of Walmart for $1.26. or so...looks like cold cream but it took out an entire load's worth of melted red crayon stains...worth a shot!

[Xangelle]

I feel for you with the peeing on the floor trick....I'll just let you know that you're not alone.

[G-mom]

Hey you gots my TV!!! We have had that TV for easy 15 yrs. LOL
I had HB, Bratwurst on the grill for Mothers' Day too. Yours looks totally awesome.
1/2 naked kids and peeing on the floor! LMAO

[allie]

"Meat stick!" I laughed so hard, then told my 6 and 8yo boys. Big mistake. Now I am afraid I will get a call from school tomorrow for "inappropriate language"!

[Jamie]

OK, here I was thinking "Amanda comes up with such intriguing yet appropriate titles to her posts" and then I read "BOW CHICCA WOW WOW". OMG, my dear, you SLAY ME. Not that it's a mental image I need to see, knowing you both, but seriously? Busting a gut!!!

I sooooooo need to catch up w/ u!! Mornings are better for me, but lemme know when is a good time to call, 'kay? After all, you have TWO children at home at the moment to my one (4 days a week, at least!) Miss you, sistah!