Tonight at dinner my son totally shocked me …

“I’ll mow your yard every Sunday if you’ll feed me dinner” he said. I nearly fell over dead.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but getting Jon to mow the grass once a week these past few years has been a lot like hog-tying a greased pig. It’s hard is what I’m saying.

April, not to be outdone in the bargaining department or left out of an opportunity for free food, immediately piped up with “I’ll clean the kitchen after dinner if you’ll let me come too”.

Who knew I could have been trading Sunday dinner for chores all these years?

My children are pretty competitive so I’m expecting a pretty good offer from Vicki any time now.

I mean, I can’t just let her come to dinner for free any more, now can I?

Edited to add: Well, geez-louise, of course I can’t put up yet another version of that picture without putting up one of April too. What was I thinking!??! Here you go:

We left April alone with her pile of stuff at 3pm. By 5pm she had called to see if one of us could come pick her up for dinner.

Today, I got an instant message from April around 4 pm. After a few innocent inquires, she finally got around to what she really wanted. Could I stop by the dorm, pick her up and bring her home for dinner and The Closer?

After dinner, April did some savvy bargaining with her dad to exchange a haircut for yet another dinner tonight. And could I, pretty please, pick her up on my way home from work?

Then there’s the driving her back to her bedroom every night. It was so much easier when she could just walk down the hallway.

I really had high hopes for Wednesday evening when Jon moves to the dorm but it’s looking like I’ll just be adding another stop onto my daily commute.

If you wanted to be here but couldn’t, here you go…

More pictures here. Backstory here or here.

I can imagine how lonely and quiet her new apartment must be. All alone in a new city. It’s driven her to acquire a pet.

I was sure she would have gotten a cat. Nope - cat food. She got 2 white mice. Mice. Rodents. Those aren’t pets - they’re pests.

Eventually Amber hopes to get a cat so I’m thinking the mice might actually be a good choice because once she can afford a cat, the mice can be dinner. Amber doesn’t think that’s funny. She doesn’t think April’s funny either…

April says: Dad says Walmart makes these mouse toys…

Amber says:What kind of toys?

April says:and you put some cheese on them and then they go SNAP!

Amber says:harharhar

April says:peanutbutter works too

Amber says:lol

Amber says:Well, Dasha and Foxy aren’t getting snapped

Amber says:unless they get free

Amber says:which is unlikely in a wire cage

Anyway, yesterday she wrote an open letter to her family that had me laughing until there were tears in my eyes. April was sitting on the couch giving me strange looks every time I burst out laughing. I tried to share with her “what is so funny?” but she didn’t think it was as hilarious as I did for some reason. (he he)

It wasn’t just the post that had me cracked up either, it was the comments too. There are apparently a lot of people out there who could have penned that letter about their own families. That large number would definitely include me.

My 2 favorite comments…

• My husband won’t put dishes in the dishwasher because he claims he “can’t tell if it’s full of clean or dirty dishes.” Because looking at the plates in there is apparently a mensa level activity. So I started collecting his dirty dishes from around the house and putting them on his side of the bed, because I just wasn’t sure if he was done with them or not.-Overflowing Brain
  Why did I never think of this! This could be applied to children with equal effectiveness I’m sure.

• My oldest son came home one day to find his room stripped of everything and in the trash…he didn’t hide chicken in his dresser after that-Punxxi
  I think Punxxi must be my mother because her son is definitely my brother John!

Go on over and read it - especially if you are the “cleaner” person at your house.

Trust me - Fun-Nee

See, I had bought a cheesecake earlier in the week and hadn’t eaten any yet. I had had oral surgery and my mouth was sore for days (yea Vicodin!). The kids had a piece after dinner one night but I knew most of it should still be left. (foreshadowing here)

So, Steve and the kids picked up ice cream and I picked up some cherry topping - for my cheesecake - and we all headed home.

At home, everyone starts enjoying their ice cream and I open my cherry topping and head for the fridge to get the cheesecake. Only…..there’s no cheesecake.

Gone. All of it. 12 pieces. Not a crumb remaining.

Where had it gone? My gluttonous children had devoured it. April had eaten FOUR pieces and Jon had eaten SIX pieces. The other 2 missing pieces had been eaten by Steve.

Sadness.

So, no cheesecake for me. Fast forward to last night at dinnertime.

We eat dinner together pretty much every night. At the end of the meal, the kids (mostly) ask to be excused from the table.

Last night I refused to excuse first Jon then April. They were somewhat confused by this unusual refusal to let them leave the table so I explained that I had purchased CHEESECAKE for dessert (snickering under my breath at my nefarious plans to taunt them…).

I rose from the table and retrieved the cheesecake and the cherry topping and proceeded to plate a piece for myself. Then I sat back down and began eating it with much gusto. I accompanied each bite with exclamations like “mmmm” and “ohhhhh” and “this is so good”.

The children cried “Don’t we get a piece?” and I reminded them that they had eaten their cheesecake already and continued to “mmmmm” and “ohhhh” as I slowly ate my piece of cheesecake a la When Harry Met Sally.

I must say that April and Jon were good sports about the teasing/torture and were actually laughing each time I ooh’d or mmm’d.

I mentioned this story to someone today and their response kind of shocked me. I thought it was funny. They acted like I had emotionally abused the children.

What do you think? Also, I did let them have a piece of cheesecake after I enjoyed mine if that will sway your opinion to my side.

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah
Here I am at Camp Mintahama.
Camp is very entertaining
And it’s really hot but at least it isn’t raining.

We went hiking, stepping lively
Through the poison oak and ivy.
We’ve been canoing, I’ve learned to whistle
And I finally got a “license” for my water pistol.

Though they promised, there’ve been no s’mores,
And I need them more and more,
Cause I think I’m getting thinner,
That swinging bridge- it makes me lose my dinner.

Oh, I’ve been here for a week now
Showering and flushing, I’ve forgot how
But my new friends, they aren’t real picky
Cause they know I’m not the only one that’s stinky!

Though I miss you, dad and mother
And a little, sisters and brother
I must tell you, I have a confession
I really want to stay another session.

See you next week,

Love Violet

She’s completely legal and free to do whatever she wants. Free I say!

Completely independent in fact. Doesn’t need anyone or anything.

Well… except for the tuition money. But hey! She’d be crazy to turn that down!

Vicki and her boyfriend, Jaymes, stopped over on Wednesday night to get her birthday loot, have some birthday cake and share a drink with her father and I.

It’s been somewhat of a tradition to have a champagne toast with each of our kids as they turn 21.

I should never have let Vicki open the champagne bottle though! She (and the kitchen window) ended up wearing more than she drank.

She wasn’t a big fan of the champagne either. All those years of waiting to be legal and the taste - not so yummy to her.

Although the rest of us enjoyed the faces she made :-)

Happy Birthday Victoria - you’re all growed up!

More birthday pictures here.

We took a flying trip to Georgia over the 4th of July weekend. We went to Ft. Stewart where Eric is stationed to see the kids and hug a grandchild. That was the most important part of the weekend but we also got some bonus stuff tossed in as well.

First, we celebrated Independence Day with a Post full of soldiers.

I was happy to see that the community as well as a large number of corporate sponsors were really focused on showing their appreciation for the sacrifices that these soldiers and their families make all the time.

There was a huge carnival, burger/dog cookout, concert and fireworks - all free for soldiers and their families.

We had a great time - I particularly enjoyed the concert, which was 6 hours of non-stop music including a 2 hour Montgomery Gentry performance. Steph was really excited to see one the groups she idolized in her teen-hood: Boys II Men, although now they are known as Men II Old Men.

Saturday, we were honored to stand up as godparents for our grandson at his baptism.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is to blame for the bunchkin’s delayed baptism. Eric left for Iraq very soon after Alex was born and then was gone for nearly 15 months.

So, Alex is nearly 2 and too big for one of those cute baptism gowns. He was still handsome and adorable. And pretty patient with the whole thing - and just so you know, he didn’t cry when the water was poured over his head like babies usually do. Bonus!

We also spent some time at the Warrior’s Walk - Ft. Stewart’s Iraqi Freedom War Memorial. I had visited it before but unfortunately it has gotten much larger.

One of the memorials that we specifically looked for was Spc. Alex Rosa’s. Alex Rosa was the soldier (and friend) from Eric’s platoon who was killed in Iraq during Eric’s tour.

I remember the day the news was leaked that several soldiers in Eric’s unit had been injured and one had been killed. The waiting to hear the official news was horrible. I remember feeling so relieved that Eric was safe. Spc. Rosa’s family was not so lucky. He had a wife and a newborn daughter who was only a couple of months old. Very sad.

We also took the kids to Savannah for a celebration dinner. I wanted to go to Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons, but apparently it is so popular that you have to get in line at 9:30 AM (!) in order to get reservations for that evening.

We ended up going to a really tasty place. The Moon River Brewing Company is located in the old City Hotel Building, a historic building famous for it’s guests like James Audobon.

It is Savannah’s only brew pub and they make their own micro-brews right there. They offer a sampler that has a 4oz shot of each of the brews they are currently making. Steve and Eric each got the sampler - it came with 9 samples!

They liked almost all of them - there was one that was called Swamp Water something-or-other that neither of them liked. I give them cudos just for trying something with the name Swamp Water at a brewery in Georgia. Georgia has about 460 named swamps - who knows where that water came from!

One of the interesting things about the restaurant was it’s beer can collection. Steve and his brother had a pretty large beer can collection as kids. He remembers it fondly. Steve was pointing out all of the cans that had been in his collection (which was sold a number of years ago) and the brewery’s collection was a pretty close match to his. There was one can in particular that he wanted to check for a certain mark or dent or something just to see if it was his can but I wouldn’t let him climb up on the bar. I’m a spoil-sport like that sometimes.

It was a great trip. There’s a lot more of Savannah that I’d like to see. Maybe next summer we can vacation on Hilton Head and stay for awhile. More pictures on my Flickr site here and here.