"Dress up days" at school

You know the drill... it's the last week before school is released for a break, so the school pretty much throws those days away.  "Color Day" "Superhero Day" "Crazy Hair Day" "Neon Day" etc

Today the Boy child had "Pajama Day"

Ah yes, the mainstay of Spirit Weeks around the country.  Party theme extraordinaire.

My son does not understand that pajama day means "Wear your coolest pajamas"

This morning was a 40 minute battle to get him to wear pajamas.  He insists that it is "What you wear to bed" day.  Therefore, he felt that he should wear basketball shorts (against dress code at school and not acceptable to our house rules) and a tank top (also against dress code and house rules)

Yet, he argued, "THAT'S WHAT I WEAR FOR PAJAMAS!"

Our explanation that "Pajamas" are listed on the labels of many pajamas.  It actually says "Pajamas" on the tag

Parents often sleep in undies.  Would they go to a pajama party just in undies? (shhh.  He doesn't know that, you cheeky monkey)

People wear pajamas to Wal-Mart.

Remember when you went to Aunty Prune's house to spend the night with your cousins, and you insisted that I go BUY you pajamas?  That was 3 weeks ago.  You loved those pajamas.  Wear those pajamas.

Oh no.

So- eventually he ended up wearing the pajamas from Aunty's house. After 40 MINUTES of arguing, rolling on the floor crying, standing up and giving the evil mad face.

Children- good times, good times...

The Waste Basket

Got up at 6:00 this morning to explain to the boy child how his behasvior the night before was not acceptable.  I was at work, but it ended up with him going to bed without dinner because he sassed back to his mom.

I had made a list of things for him to do, prior to going to work and he blew it off.

SO- one of the things was his usual Wednesday night chore of emptying the waste baskets.  A perfectly reasonable chore for an (almost) 11 year old boy.

You all know the struggles with the waste basket.

"Can I take the trash out now?"
"Did you finish the waste baskets?"
"Yes"
"Did you get the one in the laundry room?"
"No"
"Did you get the one at the tech center?"
"NO, but that's the hardest ONE!"

Yes, people.  There is a waste basket in the house which is difficult.

A waste basket.  This is a woven basket with an open top.  Into which persons walking by, toss trash.

There is not a secret code which must be entered to insert or remove the waste.

A drop of blood from a newborn lamb is not required to be placed into a port in order to open the waste basket.

The president's fingerprint is not required to open the waste basket.

Ahhhh good times.

Some days RULE!

Way to turn it around!

Girl Child: "Do you know where my blue pencil is?"
Boy Child: "Nope"
GC: "I left it on the counter when music lessons started and it's not there"
BC: "Nope. I don't know where it is"

---Girl child searching for 5 minutes under couches, in cushions, etc etc---

BC: "Oh, I think it might have fallen into my backpack"
GC: "UGH!  Well can I have it back please?"
BC: "I think it's in my desk"
GC: "UGH!"
BC: "FINE!  IM SO SORRY FOR RUINING YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!  JEEZ!  I MEAN, IT'S JUST A PENCIL!  I GUESS I SHOULD JUST GO LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE!  FINE, YOU HATE ME!  I GET IT!"

Little punk.  Way to turn it around and blame her.

I also, in following up on this discussion, said it's "on" his desk which he vehemently denied.
BC: "No it's not.  It is not on my desk, I swear! "
Me: "Oh, I thought you said it was on your desk at school?"
BC: "No, I NEVER SAID THAT!"
GC: "Dad, he said it was in his desk, not on his desk"
Me: "You. Have. GOT. To. Be. Kidding. Me."

Hello Officer!

The boy child was roaming the neighborhood with one of his buddies when they found a 20 month old little boy wandering the neighborhood.  They collected him and called the police.

The little boy cried every time the police came to take him from the Boy child, so the cops decided he should hold him until they found mom and dad, which was shortly thereafter.

Officer Anderson brought him home in the police car and wanted to let us know what a little hero the boy child was.

Way to go Boy Child!

(I would have put more enthusiasm into the post, but I have just barely managed to keep from taking all his possessions away again this morning due to a failure to cooperate, so...)

Some Weekends Rule

This 3-day weekend was quite possibly the best weekend in recorded human history.  True Fact.

Friday after work, the family headed to my parents' home where my sister and her family were in town from Portland.  The 4 grandkids got to sleep out in a tent and the adults all played cards till 1:00 in the morning.

Pretty awesome on the awesome scale.

Saturday morning I got up at 7:00 and went to "Market on the Move" where they "rescue" food from the inevitable trashcan.  No-- I wasn't dumpster diving.  If produce is picked in a field- say- a cucumber.  But the workers pack them in Tomato boxes.  Nothing is wron with the food- it's just in the wrong box.  Grocery stores will reject the food. So rather than simply tossing SEMI TRUCKS of food in the landfill, they donate the food to Market on the Move.  For $10, Market on the Move will let you choose 60 POUNDS of vegetables and fruit.

Pretty awesome, right?

I returned to my parents' place and everyone was eating bacon and eggs and PECAN PIE for breakfast.

No arguing that is pretty awesome.

Sat and chatted, then played cards some more.

Packed up and headed home- then visited with our friends who are moving to Tennessee next week.

Got home and set up Netflix to watch Ferris Beuler's Day Off with the children- fell asleep laying on the floor while the children quoted the movie.

Pretty awesome!

Sunday morning- brewed beer with my dad who has now caught the homebrewing bug. He brought over bagels and deli meat.

AWESOME!

The wife went to a "Beer Brunch" with 20 other gals with the "Arizona Girls Pint Out" group, THEN went to see Fast and Furious with a friend.

Pure awesome.

I went to work and worked at a 40th birthday party where I got to play with Dry Ice. Made a graet party happen for some nice people till like... midnight. Got a $100 tip.

Not. Too. Shabby.

Got up in the morning, took the kids to Aunt Pat's house where they helped her tidy up the place, do some light yard work, and got to drive the golf cart :)

Wife and I went golfing, where I hit a golf ball into a lake. But WAIT!  It skipped across the water and landed on the 18th green.

AWESOME!

Went to retrieve the kids and eat brats and swim at Aunt Pat's house.

RIGHTEOUS!

Realized that there was a late baseball game and took the boy child to experience it.  The game started at 6:40. This means it will end some time in the 10:00 hour- 2 hours past his normal bed time.  This is a bit scary.

I bought 2 cheap seats from a scalper for $10 each.  Traded them to another scalper with a $20 bill and got AWESOME seats in the lower level.  Then while the boy and I wandered the stadium, we held the door open for a family (the parents were struggling with an infant and a toddler...) The man said "Wow- that was really nice!  Want an upgrade in your seats?" we were now sitting in the 3rd row behind the dugout, directly even with 1st base. There was an open seat in the front row and the Boy Child got to hang out there with a couple of 14 or 15 year old boys who graciously explained everything happening on the field to him. (You know how 10 year old boys like being entertained by older boys- so adorable)

At the end of the game, one of the players threw 4 game used batting gloves to the Boy Child.  The boy then threw his glove in the dugout and the player signed it, and threw it back with a game-played baseball in it. Boy child saw a little boy who looked like he could use a souvenir so he gave the other kid a batting glove.

I mean seriously, I challenge anyone to beat that weekend.

Signing off from a happy place-
Andrew

Hilarious

So a friend who also works with me just sat here and we exchanged "little boy" stories.

Apparently, this behavior is never going to end, considering the behavior or her boyfriend ;)

------

Last night the Boy Child comes home from school, nonchalantly skipping in... "Hi Dad!"

Now, this in itself, though refreshing, is a boy who has basically been grounded for a month.

It IS the 2nd to the last day of school, so I guess I get it-  So I ask the Boy, "Boy- do you have any homework? Any missing assignments to finish?  Any in-class work you have to complete at home?"

Because, of course, if I didn't ask all 3 of those questions, the assignment would have been overlooked as "WELL YOU DIDN'T ASK ME! It wasn't HOMEWORK! UUUUGhhhhh..."

The reply is "Yes, I found out that I have one missing assignment and my teacher said that if I turn it in I can still get credit.  She said she would be at school until 4:00 today"

So, it's now 3:40.  I have 20 minutes to get it delivered back to school.  Marvelous.

I say "OK, well you better get going and finish it then"
Boy: "Yep."
He then proceeds to go to the kitchen
Me: "Where are you going?"
Boy: "To get a snack. I'm hungry."
Me: "BOY!  We have 10 minutes for you to find and finish the missing assignment!  You don't have TIME for a snack right now!"






Boy: "But I'm hungry."

The pain of learning something new

This morning the boy child wanted to make his own breakfast. So scrambled eggs it was.

I am a sunny side up guy, but he sees mommy make scrambled eggs all the time. Whereas I scramble the eggs in a bowl then put them in the pan, mommy cracks the eggs into the pan and scrambled them in the pan.

As I see it,  all this does is serve to remove the butter from the bottom of the pan, and allowing the eggs to stock and consequently burn.

Mid - egg cooking,  the boy, ON HIS OWN ACCORD,  decided to take out the trash. And since it is Thursday he also dragged the trash can to the curb. This is A WIN, right!?

Well it's a win for the ongoing trash struggle,  not so much for the eggs.

The eggs were overcooked to a very high degree. I outlined what we learned today and put salsa on the eggs.

Delish!

To sum it up - pre scramble your eggs and do NOT constantly air them in the pan,  and do not walk away from food cooking on the stove.

Happy Trash Day my friends!

Oh,  the pain part? Yeah,  he closed the cheese drawer on his thumb and there was a complete freak out and very much crying . Who knew a little plastic drawer could cause so much pain?! And got raw egg on his shirt. So he had to change. In doing so,  the collar of the shirt scratched his eye. More crying and freaking out. Yes. This is the way it goes.