She's So Shy

Mam has largely recovered from her ear infection. Back to sleeping through the night and enjoying time away from Mommy. Thank goodness. Of course, Typhoid Mam gave her disease to both Daddy and me, so I haven't been quite up to par this week.

On Wednesday, in the wake of my newfound (well, not really) inability to get motivated to cook, we went on over to our favorite downtown pizza spot for dinner. Daddy and I love this place. Mam professes not to like it, but always eats dinner, which is an improvement over eating at home. Smunch loves it because they always have sports on the TVs in there. Wednesday's match-up was college basketball between Texas Tech and Kansas State. And yeah, I had to look up the final score for him the next day. It's that important.

Anyway, both kids know that this pizza place includes a tiny glass-fronted freezer full of ice cream sandwiches. They both did a great job of eating dinner and they also know they can have an ice cream sandwich if they do. Smunch was still eating (and glued to the TV) when Mam declared herself done, walked over to our side of the table and loudly announced

"I want an ice cream sandwich!"

shortly followed by:

"I want the money!"

Yikes. Trying not to laugh, Daddy handed her $5 to take up to the counter. Naturally, she dragged her big brother with her and made him order, which was no mean feat since he couldn't get the first word (which was 'two') out due to the stuttering. So, he stood there in front of the puzzled, but gamely patient clerk, struggling with the 'T' until the whole sentence came tumbling out..."Ttttttttwo! Ice cream sandwiches, please" (OMG, he was totally polite!).
I wonder how long it's going to be before he realizes his sister is not too shy to demand money and doesn't stutter, so should be forced to order the ice cream for him, not the other way around!

Harry Potter Arrives!

Our little town ranked #77 in the nation on Amazon's list of Harry Potter-est towns. It's kind of hard to imagine our little community being that into books that are ostensibly for children. Even though it prides itself on having an excellent school district, it still maintains a slightly-too-upscale downtown for doing any real shopping and restaurants too pricey for a casual dinner. Then again, despite the prices, some folks around here seem to think they're just fine for casual dining. Must be something about the slightly-too-high average income around here. But check this out... Know what this picture is?

This is Main Street on Friday, June 20th and yes, that's a movie screen in the middle of the street. And if you look carefully, you can see rows of folding chairs set up in front of it. The movie doesn't start for another hour or two. And what would it be on this particular date besides Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was just a little entertainment to help pass the time as the crowd waited for our local bookstore to open at midnight to get the latest and final installment in the best-selling series from Britain.

Not only did they shut down Main Street for the movie, but there was a big inflatable slide (with Smunch) and there were two bouncy houses. There was face painting (for $7 a pop) and there were fake tattoos. There was Bertie Bott's Ice Cream (a poorly disguised Baskin Robbin's booth).

And everywhere there were people...regular ol' people from a slightly snooty little town...dressed as wizards and witches. They had brooms (no doubt emblazoned with 'Nimbus 2000') and lighting bolts drawn on their foreheads.

Smunch and Mam were only slightly amused once the fun with the slide and bouncy houses were done, so we took them to the real Baskin Robbins for some ice cream (Bertie Bott's sold only sundaes with vanilla ice cream) and headed home. I tried to explain to Smunch why this was a big day and how excited all these people were. I don't think he really got it.

I got it. I secretly wish to be a child again so I could go to these midnight parties and stay up all night reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But no. I get to go home and perform...yet again...our elaborate bedtime ritual, mercifully cut short since we were out past bedtime.

I ordered my own copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows back in...uh...(should I admit this?)...April. Although I passed up Amazon's offer to guarantee a Saturday delivery if I wanted to pay for shipping, I secretly hoped that the Owl Post would magically arrive on Saturday and deposit my book in the mailbox. What do you know? Those owls are really something. I was so excited to get my book that I actually believe it's a pity no one saw me bouncing back to the house with my box.

So, here it is. THE BOOK. I like having it. It makes me feel like a true fan, despite missing out on the midnight parties. I'm in the middle of another book right now, so I'm not going to start it right away. But I have it and it makes me feel all warm inside. There's a teeny little part of me that doesn't really want to read it. I don't know what happens. (Don't you dare tell me.) But I know Harry Potter lives again in that book. And once it's over? Who knows?

On a side note, Daddy is now reading a little bit of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Smunch every night. Smunch seems to like it. I just wish he'd been old enough to take him to the midnight party on Friday. If I can't be a kid again, I'd at least like to see Smunch excited that he's got a mom cool enough to take him to these things. Hopefully, J.K. Rowling, or some equally talented writer, has something else awesome in store for us in the next few years.

Our 4th of July

It's only been since we moved to our current house that I've felt like we're really living the American Dream. And nothing illustrates that like our neighborhood on Independence Day. It's kind of surreal to have our own little slice of Americana, right here on our own street. Each year, our little cul-de-sac has a block party. We all bring our own meat to barbeque...although a lot of sharing goes on...and we bring something to share. This year, I brought fresh squeezed lemonade and a rather patriotic spinach, strawberry, and blueberry salad with feta cheese.

Our neighbor, Bob, introduced the kids to making ice cream the old-fashioned way...in a hand-cranked ice cream freezer. As you can see, they were enthralled! Since it's a pretty laid back affair, I also invited Kirsten, my friend since kindergarten and maid of honor in our wedding. The kids had a great time hanging out with her too!

We left the block party a little early for our annual pilgrammage to Cupertino for their fireworks display. We arrived just before dark and had about an hour to wait. The kids passed the time by running around like maniacs in their pajamas. Smunch waits for this night for the entire year. Sometimes I'm not sure that even Christmas compares to fireworks in his mind.


Smunch and Mam were both absolutely thrilled with the show. They both spent the entire time with wide eyes, exclaiming about the size and colors and noises. Interestingly, Smunch was completely fluent the entire time. We've noticed that's usually the case when he's excited and speaking almost accidentally.

It was a fun night and after all the food, racing around and excitement of fireworks, neither of the kids made it home awake. It was the easiest bedtime we've had in ages!

A First Trophy

It's catch-up day again. See, I told you I couldn't keep up with this stuff, folks! In the last week or so, *so* many of the kids' activities have been wrapping up.

Perhaps Smunch's most prized new possession is the trophy he was given at the end of T-ball season. Now, T-ball is a completely non-competitive venture, but Smunch loved it...even on his off days. And he had some pretty impressive off days. But he still wants to go out in the backyard and hit the ball, so I guess alls well that ends well. He can't wait to haul out his bobble-headed trophy for every single person who steps in the house. We've been interviewing babysitters, so he had lots of opportunities to show it off. He even dragged his yet-to-be-washed Sidewinders shirt out of the laundry to show it to a babysitter yesterday. He's so proud of his team and his trophy.

Smunch really made some big strides since my last T-ball post on Opening Day. The whole team went from hitting off a tee to hitting coach-pitched balls. They figured out which direction to run and that they really wanted to catch the ball.

It was a fun season. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year...even though I'm really relieved that we don't have that commitment twice a week anymore!