Our Over-The-Hill Party

Our neighbors had a yard sale today, so I gave the girls each a dollar and told them they could buy whatever they wanted. Lilly chose 4 toys that were .25 each: A kazoo, a guitar key chain, a Dr. Seuss puzzle, and a wand. Rachel chose a bag of over-the-hill party favors. The mother in me wanted to talk her out of it, thinking it would be disappointing and less practical than a toy, but the free spirit I try to be at times decided to back off and let her make her choice. Turns out she picked a great item. The kids spent the afternoon playing with the decorations. Shelby and I were planting the garden when they came out and told me they had a surprise for me. I went up to find a nicely set table with over-the-hill napkins, plates, and forks, along with matching confetti and a banner. We had ourselves a little over-the-hill lunch party.

I think Lilly might be a future vegetarian. A while back we got meat chickens to raise and butcher. We thought it would be a good experience for the kids, and it was. However, Lilly was traumatized when she realized we were killing the baby chicks. Of course when we actually got around to killing them they were big, ugly chickens, but she was still upset. We tried to be subtle when we did the butchering, but inevitably she would catch wind of what was going on and lose it. "Please dad, don't kill the baby chicks, don't kill the baby chicks!" Lilly feels this way about all living things, ants and worms included. The other day we had pork for dinner and she said she wasn't having any because she didn't want to eat the baby chicks. I explained that the meat we were eating was not chicken, but that it came from a pig. BIG mistake! Apparently Lilly is just as opposed to eating Wilbur as she is to eating chickens. She would go nowhere near the pork. Tonight we had pork again, but I made a point of referring to it as pork, and not pig meat. She ate it right up.

Carson is turning into a mini Shelby. He is so darn cute about it, too. When Shelby is in the garden, or mowing the lawn, Carson likes to be right there. We were at the park the other day, and he kept pulling his sleeves up, just like Shelby does. He will also stand at the back door with his arms folded across his chest while looking out the window (one of Shelby's nighttime traditions). And while he is walking around the yard he does it with hands-on-hips, as though he is inspecting everything, just like Shelby does. When we pull into the driveway at night or into the parking lot at CCS, Carson always shouts "Daddy!" And anytime Shelby walks out the door without inviting Carson along, Carson flips. He is still indisputably a mamma's boy, but he is crazy about his daddy.