Eight Is Enough

October 23 was super-social, #2 son's birthday.  But in hopes he maybe would forget about it, we hadn't really mentioned the "p" word (party) which we have been dreading since we unwisely broke an eight year tradition of not having any by having a ... birthday party for his older brother in March. 

As you may remember from an earlier post, we financially lucked out when first born son decided what he wanted to do for his birthday was have all his school friends over to play a big game of football (shunning the offer to go bowling).  This worked out well, however this was not the social son.  So for 6 months we have been living in fear of what super-social, #2 son will be requesting as a guest list for his obligatory birthday party. 

Knowing he was going to remember his birthday and that his big brother had a party, I finally brought up the topic ... about a week before his birthday -- which "un-conveniently" actually fell on a Sunday.  But to head off the expected 3 mile long guest list, I offered the option of taking just 2 friends to Build-a-Bear (the closest one to us is 45 minutes away) instead of having "everybody" over for his purposed baseball party ... just think 4, 5, 6 + Dennis the Menaces running around -- with bats!

To my surprise, he decided on 2 friends to do Build-a-Bear.  Great!  I forgot to price this out before I made the offer.  These 2 friends were going to cost me more than big brothers 12 friend birthday party!  Not to mention, this birthday party was in the middle of football season -- I love the kid, but this is starting to cross a line!  Hope sprang in my heart when my son remembered seeing an alternative brand bear building store in town, but was quickly dashed as I discovered they are closed on Sundays.  Ah, even better ... since it is in town, we do it after school one day.  "NO! I want to do it on my birthday."  But praise God for a bad economy, a small town and a cute 2-year-old, I was able to work out with "my new very best friend," to purchase 3 bears, clothes and stuffing to take home and do on the actual birthday. 

Now what are the chances of getting it all done before kick-off at 1 PM?  Turns out, better than the chances of them not showing up early -- before you are out of the shower!

All turned out well (except my football team lost), he got to do "build-a-bear" on his birthday with 2 friends, got 6 gifts (one friend has 4 other siblings--actually 6--that all wanted to give him a gift), birthday cake ice cream from his favorite ice cream shop and his football team beat his big brothers!

"HAPPY SABBATH"

I Scream for Ice Scream

(written a couple months ago, but not able to post because of ... ignorant computer!)
A 2 year-old knows what a 2 year-old wants, even if it is something they don't know anything about.

Today, Ben insisted on getting something from the freezer.  I put him off (ignored) for a little while, but of course I adventually needed something from the freezer and was right there waiting for his opportunity to GET whatever it was that he wanted.  Seeing that I still do not understand almost anything he says, we communicate with the "this? this? this?" point to, trial and error method.  By doing this I discovered that he wanted a 30+ year old kids ice cream maker--a frozen bowl that is kept in the freezer, with a little incilated holder and small plastic crank. 

In a moment of optimistic ignorance, I decided to put the 3 ingredents in the little mixer and let him "make" some ice cream.  To my surprise, he not only helped add all the ingredents, but began to turn the crank.  HURRAY!!!  I might be able to actually accomplish something (without "assistance")--if I do it QUICK! 

Not quick enough.  Ben announced it was my turn to turn the crank.  Something didn't feel right, so I lifted the top as I turned the crank and discovered that turning the handle didn't actually turn the paddles.  No wonder we have always seemed to have a difficult time "making" ice cream with this antique!  But I had ice cream on my mind now and it would be ashamed to waste 1/2 cup of half & half and 1/4 cup of sugar!  So, I tried just spinning the whole lid.  Once again to my surprise this method actually turned the paddles.  And even more excited was that this new method was of interest to Ben and now he wanted another turn at ... turning ice cream.

However, after 15 minutes of the instructed 6-10 minutes churning we still had just sweet milk.  So I decided to put the whole thing in the freezer.  Which reminds me ... I like ice cream (even if I have to drink it) more than I do blogging. 

Have a nice day, I "need" to go get my morning "frozen" snack!

Christmas-ween

Can you guess which one of my little superheros is going to be the same thing for the next 4 years and which one has been the same thing for the last 4 years?

Our "Christmas-ween" weekend started as un-characteristically "white."  We woke up on Sabbath to about a 1/2 of snow, which we were sure would melt before church started.  Instead, about 9:15 AM it started to snow more.  This time, quarter-size flakes.  This was inconsequential to me, as I had the opportunity to preach and had a great sermon ready -- Thanks to Jerry Mahn, via Brendon's recommendation. 

The snow was like a big slurpee.  I nearly fell 3 times before getting to the bottom of the steps by the street.  It was warm enough to not really stick to the street.  Which is good, because we would have been in big trouble if it froze, as wet as it was.  By the end of church it stopped snowing and the sun came out in a bright blue sky (thanks for that line Ed!).  It was beautiful ... from my warm couch, where I could only see the clear sky and none of the slush covered yard.

Sunday was the elementary school Fall Festival where I spent nearly 4 hours manning the Corn Hole (and an original ghetto creation of skee ball -- with 2 plastic buckets and 2 different size gutter pipes duct taped to a metal folding chair) booth, where approximately 6 people played during that time.  On a positive note, I became quite skilled at bouncing tennis ball into the bucket that was slightly larger than the ball that was taped to the top of the folding chair.  I believe that the highlight of both older boys was the opportunity to serve as deputies, collecting "fugitives" for the Jail.

My oldest spent all day asking if he could be Anakin for Halloween (no, he has not seen any Star Wars but is somehow completely versed in all characters from the series).  My wife finally solved the situation late in the day when she simply asked; "Do you have an Anakin costume?"  Resulting in a fourth straight year of a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.  Ben went as a Redskin, that was much more popular in Virginia then it ever was is Florida, reaping many supportive comments and much candy.  Seth was a original (as far as I know, un-named) super-hero. 

Having less trick-or-treaters than expected last year, I tried to limit my candy purchase.  I did well, however, we only had 2 kids come to the door ... glad I splurged and bought some Reeses!!!