The Week that Was

You have all been so kind to ask about the week! I don’t know how everyone else can get a blog done so much faster than I can, but it looks like everyone can do just that. I can’t even claim any “BirthdayBoyBob” excuses…but I’m going to, anyway.

We do a wonderful party for him every year (although this may be the last), with only a few kids but a lot of “stuff” for each one. I am the only mom who allows guns of any kind…including squirt guns. Well, you can’t have a water fight party with only one (well) armed child (that would be BoyBob), so you have to go get 5 waterguns. As part of the bribe for BoyBob to keep a short invitation list, I get a really cool spy toy for each kid. And a bunch of other stuff just because I am a soft touch—magnets, magnifying glasses, silly straws, and ONE bag of candy. Would you think Toys Backward R Us would be a good place to start? You would be wrong. They really should rename that store “Commercial Collateral and Dolls for Boys Only We Call Them Action Figures and Even If We Do Accidentally Sell What You Want It’s Not In Stock Backward R Us”. But the party store and the locally-owned toy store are wonderful. They even take care of the bags you leave behind (“But I thought YOU had it!”) so you can drive back and get it later. So, add in errands to get general life accomplished and errands to start the quest for a BigBoyBobBike (read: one that has more gears than FriendBob’s, according to BoyBob but MomBob ain’t going there), a stop at the pool, and you’ve got 100 more miles on your car, and a day gone with no blog to mark it.

We had a lovely TWTM/Cannon Beach gathering. There were 6 of us, and the corresponding attending husbands and children had their own gathering at the other end of the beach. A good time was had by all and this year it did not rain. We missed LB (but it was good that she didn’t come, as her car broke and she helped bring a new baby into our world) and Leslie (who came last year but her baby-sitting fell through at the last minute, much to our loss) who had intended to be there, and others who could not this year. But Mindy, Terri, Amanda, Diane, Tonia and I burned through fruit, cheese, and wonderful conversation in three hours. I have the lasting impression of thoughts unfinished, questions I still would like to hear answers to, and people I would like to know better.

DadBob did a great job getting the wine set up, and I did my part to show by action my appreciation for his efforts—the rest were pikers in this arena.

Before and after the Official Party, we had some of the families and people from this grouping as well as others from “the rest of my life” and one other enduring impression is that kids eat often and a lot! It was quite a shock to this mom of an only…I have a greater appreciation for the threads on TWTM about “food budgets”—huh. “Budget” and “growing boys” are oxymoronic thoughts. I’m glad I supported one of the endless private school fundraisers last year, which supplied me with a huge box of microwave popcorn that came in very handy as “filler” once I had exhausted the supply of food that had actual nutritional value.

We had a wonderful time. I’m so glad for every person who was able to join us.