Insanity Reins Supreme

I have made a tactical error. We tend to like more, um, creative birthday presents. And since it is Second Boy Cub's birthday today, and it's 2 weeks till Christmas, and I feel guilty that the poor kid has a birthday that gets blown over sometimes, (as do all my kids- it'll give them something to tell their therapists), I tried to get a cool birthday present. So since First Boy Cub got an add-on to the game Carcassone, Second Boy Cub also got an add-on. It was pretty cool actually. After FBC opens his, they both assure me there are more add-ons. Little did they know that Mom was on her game. And Mom is thinking- quiet strategy games on the floor. Yeah.

Anyway, the other present, which was the minor tactical error, was a solid 24 foot long piece of racetrack. And 10 Matchbox cars to go with it. Did you know that 24 feet of track will attach to your hall window via suction cup, go down the hall, through 2 loops, over the kitchen table, and continue across the kitchen floor? And did you know that it is possible to get a Matchbox car going fast enough to actually crack one of your windows? 'Nuff said.

The Great Pumpkin

For those of you who don't know it, owing to the fact you live overseas, tonight was Trick-Or-Treat night in our neighborhood. And I knew within 10 minutes of waking up it was going to be a long day. I had 4 cubs on my bed before 9 am, with various pieces of their Halloween costumes, wanting to discuss nitty-gritty details with me. Please wait until your mother has put her contacts in and had at least 1 cup of tea, before you expect her to focus, let alone be rational. And please check your swords and rapiers at the door.....

So later this evening came The Great Sortation. Did you know that tonight is the night The Great Pumpkin comes? Yes. The deal is this- the more candy you give up, the better the present you will find in your chair at breakfast tomorrow. The best giveaway ever has been the year #1 Cub gave away all but 6 pieces of candy. This year Small Girl Cub kept all but 14. The Great Sortation comes after the gathering/snacking, when they winnow out the Best of the Best, and put it in a Ziplock bag. My family room looks like it's been hit by marauding candy elves. But the sortation is all finished, all small cubs are upstairs, if not sleeping, and it appears The Great Pumpkin may have to make a Walmart run. Sigh. Whose stupid idea was this anyway?

By the way, the Cubs were quite creative this year- we had a Pie Rat, complete with pie pan shield and fork, a Tigger, a Musketeer, a Knight, a Fairy Princess, and the best- #1 Cub dressed in a pair of jeans with stars she'd sewn on them, layered t-shirts, blue stripes in her hair, mp3 player, and a sign that read 'Trick or Treat' on one side, and then on the other side, to answer the question, "What are you?" 'Bored Teenager.' Yup, just the best. She even has the eyeroll modeled to perfection.

Compliment of the Day

"Mom, did you know that shirt exactly matches the circles under your eyes?"

I *knew* I shouldn't have gotten up this morning.

Sunday's Question of the Day

So the Cub that generates the deep questions, on Sunday comes up with this zinger. He starts off in his usual fashion- Mom, I have a question. "So when Jesus comes up out of the river after He's been baptized, and the Spirit of the Lord descends like a dove, is this the first place in the Bible that the Trinity has appeared all together?" Mom's educated response? "We're at church. Go ask Pastor John." And I have a college degree.....

Life with Children

So Saturday's event that definitely falls under the category of "Why I never get anything done around here" would be Cat 1 coming in, bringing presents. More specifically a small, mostly-dead squirrel. Which he proceeded to toss around the kitchen floor, trying to get it to play with him further. And then of course, the dog wants it, since it's clearly a really cool toy. So Oldest Cub goes to pick up cat-and-squirrel, since he now has his toy firmly anchored in his mouth, and he has the audacity to growl at her around the squirrel!

And I'm such a good scrapbooking Mommy, I made her wait to toss the cat-and-squirrel unit outside, until I'd gotten a picture of them. ;-)

Oh, and did I mention, our pastor's oldest daughter was here, spending the night? Yeah, we really furthered her education....

Since I have one...

I figure I could at least update my blog infrequently. So I thought I'd start sharing some of the humorous things that strike me throughout the day as I walk this path God has called me to. One of my cubs is the best generator of most of the humor, so I'll share the Question of the Day with you. And they always start out the same way, "Mom, I have a question." I say, "OK." "Here it is." And then he goes on with the question. So I always have warning that a doozie is coming!

Today's Question of the Day- "Mom, what's the difference between a hillbilly and a redneck?" Any suggestions? :-P I wish I could remember yesterday's. It was even better.

Home again, Home again

Well, we made it! My brother is successfully married, in what was a beautiful service, in a gorgeous setting, and with amazing food! The next day, we left for the little resort town, where we were planning to spend a couple of days with my parents. We drove 8 hours across Spain, to find we'd landed in our new definition of Hell on Earth. This small 'family-friendly' resort town was mobbed with German tourists, too many people, and the hotel was something like a cruise ship gone bad. It had a game room/arcade, 2 cinemas, a discoteque that played till 2 am, and a cafeteria that would seat 2000 people. There were 500 people waiting for breakfast the morning we left. We arrived at 9.30 pm, I spent about 5 hours trying to resurrect us from there, and we left less than 12 hours later. But the rebound from this bounce was amazing. We decided to head off to the city that Gaudi and Picasso made famous. Lots of art and architecture for our last few days.

(Spoiler paragraph- stop reading if you don't want to know where we were.....)
Barcelona is an amazing city. I think we all fell in love. We hopped one of the tourist buses, and rode around to see all the major sights. Its history dates back to Roman times, and it was then a critical Medieval sea port. And then there's all the Modernisme art- I LOVE Gaudi's work. He studied nature, and took his lines from there, so these buildings have flowing curves like waves, and balconies with wrought iron that looks like 3-D leaves. And one of his buildings has a roof that's shaped and shingled like a dragon's back. Amazing. I'd have loved another day or two there. He also started a cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, that won't be finished for another 50 years or so, and is all funded by private donation and admission fees. It's amazing to see his ideas being carried out, some not so accurately, apparently, much later. I definitely need to do some more research on him.

So we made it home uneventfully, which is always good, except for the torrential downpour that occurred just as we were unloading and getting the last things from the car. Since we all got soaked to the skin, that necessitated changing clothes before checking in. I didn't get to, so was a bit soggy till about half way through the flight to New York. I pity the poor work crew that has to put that car back to rights. Yikes. My children now understand in spades why we don't eat in my van here.


So all in all, it was an amazing trip. There was so much that we did, we can't even pick one country that was our favorite, although the Lion King says his was France. Which is good, since he doesn't like to travel like I do. There's a good chance we might get to go back some day! It was great for my kids to get to know their cousins on the other side of my family, my brother got to finally meet my little guys, and we just all around had an amazing time. Now I can bore you all with the 1600 pictures I took!