This is what happens when you let a 5-yr old cut his own cookie

We made two batches of cookies: peanut butter and a pan of banana-chocolate-chip bars, or something like that. Yup, bake them in a pan and cut them up like brownies.

Meatball: Mom, can I have another cookie?

Me: Yes [assuming that he would take a peanut butter cookie that didn't need to be cut]

This is what you get, and really, who cares? I thought that it was hysterical.

He just needs to prove that he’s grown up and can get his own stuff. Don’t worry. ANYTHING sharper than a butter knife has been located on top of the fridge for about three years now. At the same time, Peanut has to pour all of his own milk now. We quickly learned to buy a ½ gallon and pour milk into it from the big jug so that we’re not wasting as much when it gets spilled all over the place and so that our kitchen rugs don’t smell of sour milk.

Soccer is so 4-years-old

So, our first season of soccer was completed in early June. THANK GOODNESS. I truly don’t think that anyone is going to be sad if we don’t ever play soccer again. OK – I take that back. Nana will be sad because she actually likes and understands soccer. Or, she just wants the boys to do one thing British. (Which they do! Thanks to Nana and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, they both have awesome British accents. I don’t think I could pick it up if I lived there for ten years!)

So, anyway, soccer was an exercise in patience for me and Bub. Frankly, it was for Nana and Papa, too, and grandparents think everything that kids do is adorable. Well, this got old fast. Meatball didn’t want to sweat, and Peanut only wanted to kick and run until the game started. Then, he was done.

I think that they just aren’t old enough to really understand team sports quite yet. There isn’t a huge focus on team sports in our house. We love football, but we don’t make the boys watch it with us. (And, frankly, we watch a lot less now that we’re constantly distracted by requests to play trains, read this book or that book, make something with clay, make a snack/dinner/lunch that ultimately doesn’t get eaten, play outside, pour a bath, stop a fight, etc. etc. etc.)

We’ll keep trying because it is important for kids to learn to play well with others, and it’s important to be physically active, and it’s just fun. But, we’re going to take our time. They both love swimming, and they are doing well, so we’re going to focus on that for now.

Is it me, or do they seem a little TOO excited to be done?
Just kidding. They were really pumped about their medals.

Well, not quite!

Peanut was busy pulling out about 50 old VHS movies in an attempt to stay up even later. He pulled out the Star Wars trilogy. He brought it to me:

Peanut: mom, can we watch this?
Me: um, no. Not until you are seven or eight.
Peanut: well, it is three movies!
Me: uhhhh, no.
Peanut: what about just Star Wars?
Me: nope
Peanut: Return of .... Whatever?
Me: nope
Peanut: well, what about The Vampire Skates Back?

How is it possible that people can be so cute?
Not bad for a dimly lit room and a 5-year old who hasn't gone to a day of school in his life, yet.
We're still not watching it/them, adorable or not!

Mystery Solved

After a full weekend of fun, we were all tired and hot and cranky when got home from movies and lunch with friends on Sunday. So, we just threw some garbage away, got a couple of things from the car (not wanting to unload everything), went into the baking hot house, and that was that. We didn't do much else.

On Monday, Bub called me and asked me where the keys were. How would I know? She drove it home. She had the keys. I didn't touch them. Well, she had placed them on the table, but they were no longer there. So, she tore the house up looking for them to no avail. She finally had to call my dad. He stopped what he was doing, picked them and the car seats up, and took them to Stansbury where they all piled into the big truck so that they could go in to SLC for some appointments. That was money we hadn't planned to spend on gas....

So, on Tuesday, she kept looking and looking and looking for these keys. Finally, she called me and said "I may have thrown them away when I got out of the car. They were in my hand, and I was throwing some other stuff away." Now, this wouldn't be a stretch since she recently threw out a remote control. It also wouldn't be a big deal except that Monday is our garbage pick-up day. If they were thrown away, they were also already in the landfill. Son of a....

About four hours later, she called again with an update:
Car keys: found
Location: window sill of front room behind curtains
(Of course they were. Why wouldn’t they be there?)
Culprit: Meatball
Response: Oh, yeah!
(Kind of like – “hmmm… now I remember.”)
Number of copies being made TODAY: 4
(along with house and big truck)

Tooele Arts Festival 2012

So, in short, this was an amazing event. It took loads of planning and preparing and even then I don't think that I was really ready for what was in store. All I know is that without the help of some of the former committee members, we would have been sunk.

Besides the months of planning, we met on Wednesday morning to start marking the park. Interesting. All of the artists were given dimensions for their booths. We have a form made out of PVC pipe that is just a bit bigger than the dinsions that we told the artists. We have a map of the park with every booth space identified. Then, we just walked around, moving our PVC pipe and spray painting the grass with squares and booth IDs. Easy.

Thursday was another story. We dragged everything out of the storage unit and put everything together. A rental place brought the tents, stage, beer garden fence, and chairs. We had to set up the Coke trailer where we would be selling drinks and hot dogs. We had to set up the bar in the beer garden along with tables and chairs there. We also had tables and chairs in two tents. We moved picnic tables. We set up the information booth. We had road barricades and delineators. We had to put up signs. Ice. Cups. Make sure the porta-potties were ready. T-shirts. Etc, etc, etc.

And then the vendors started to get set up. Food and visual, everyone arriving at different times, going to different places, needing different electrical currents. Then we had to get the electricians to fix that over and over and over. Then the wind started. Boy, did it ever blow. It was awful. Luckily, the city had brought some sandbags by. We delivered them to any vendor that wanted them. It was crazy.

The wind didn't let up all night. So, I let awake and worried about it. I was tired at 5am when I finally got up, but I had to get to the park by 6am to relieve the security folks. Luckily, only three tents were damaged and not a lot of merchandise. Some, but not a lot.

Everyone was in their booths and ready to sell by 10am, and the people were ready to buy! The wind howled the entire time, and the city delivered more and more sandbags. People just kept coming, and it wasn't even 5pm! Lots of folks weren't even off of work yet! By the time the entertainment headliners came on, the park was packed in spite of the wind! Turns out, it was the best opening night in beer sales ever. The beer garden was packed, and we had to almost double its size for the next night.

I didn't get home until almost midnight, and I had to be back at it at 6am again the next day.

Saturday and Sunday were basically he same. It was a success. The wind didn't let up until Monday when the festival was over (of course). I took the boys to the zoo to make up for the fact that I hadn't seen them much for a few days. They were awesome, and we baked in he sun since the wind was now non-existent. Below are some pictures of the festival grounds.

This guy makes bowls out of tree trunks. What? I know!

We had a bonsai tree artist come from California. His stuff was really popular.

This gal's ceramics are very well done. Unfortunately, ceramics weren't a hot seller this year.

Ah, Fiona. A local art teacher and free spirit. She is so funky, and it's impossible to leave her booth without knowing something about her and the life she's lead - even if there is no verbal conversation involved.

These guys are just the sweetest! They do the metal art seen behind them.

Our rootbeer seller who came from out of state. It was good, good rootbeer.

Crowd favorite, roasted corn - this place is always packed!

This is the kid from a local artisan bread company. What a sweet guy.

This is the main food "aisle" at 1pm.

This is the main food "aisle" at 6pm. It was busy during the day and packed in the evenings.

AND, I don't know why the pictures are turned like this. They certainly aren't saved this way! I'll try to figure it out.

So, no on the extra color...

File this under "seemed like a good idea at the time." So, our house is cream. Our shrubs are green. They obscure any flower beds that might be visible from the street. So, in a word, drab. So, I had the brilliant idea to add just a smidge of color by putting a flower pot at the end of the driveway, next to the sidewalk. So, I planted some pansies and dragged an enormous pot down he driveway. Turns out, I planted all cream colored pansies in that pot. So much for color. So, now that I have run over TWO pots while backing out of the driveway, I finally dumped the dirt and gave up on it today. Like I said, I seemed like a good idea at the time.

It's about time

Oh, I know. I've been busy. I swear. I'll post about the arts festival soon. Today, I just need to say something. So, I have a friend at work. New friend. Ok. Getting to be a friend. We're not quite there yet. Ok. We're friends, but we're not FRIENDS. So, this new friend is in his 30s, probably. Middle to late 30s. He has a gay brother. The brother has been gay for, like, forever. We've talked briefly about this. He (my friend) is trying to understand. He is trying to accept in spite of his religious up-bringing. So, I came in to work on Monday, and my friend said "Guess what I did this weekend?" Playing along, I said "kayaking." Nope, wrong answer, but it was still a smidge clever. ( I love it when I'm clever.) "My family and I barbecued with my brother and his boyfriend. First time, ever." He was proud of himself, and he wanted me to be, too. And I am. You know, good on ya'. He's opening his home, heart, mind to his brother. That is cool. That is commendable. I am proud of him. But; at the same time, I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me? This is your brother! You're both in your 30s! You have a 14 year old daughter (and 3 more) who have never had the chance to barbecue with their uncle and his true love?". I'm so sad for his brother. I'm so sad for his daughters. I'm so sad for him. All of those years lost because of some stupid religious belief. All of those childhood bonds and connections, not carried through, not fulfilled. Such shit. but, at least he's trying. Better late than never, right? And, then you have me. Let's face it. My sibling relationships aren't much better, and I can't even blame organized religion.