Drama Queens

4th of July was a lot of fun this year. The girls and I (Smoke was working of course) went over to my friend KD's house and had a barbecue and swam with many other good friends we love to hang out with. Tink can finally swim without assistance so being in the pool is so much more enjoyable. So we ate good food and enjoyed hanging out with 25 or so kids ranging from 9 1/2 to 4 weeks old.

So a few of the families decided to go see fireworks at MCC. I should admit here that I am not really that patriotic. Don't get me wrong - I love our country and am proud of our soldiers and respect the flag and all of that, but going to parades and fireworks to celebrate our independence has never been my thing. Well this year I decided to take my girlies to see the fireworks since I really did not have a good reason not to.

As we are driving into the parking lot, the guy directing traffic asks me for $5. I was like, "UH - I don't have $5 - I did not know this cost money" He says, "sure you did - if you know about the fireworks here, you must know there is a cost." I declared that I sure did not and that I did not even have my wallet with me and that I only came because my friends in the van in front of me invited me. So Mr. Traffic guy says, "well make them pay for you" so he starts yelling to the other traffic guy by my friend SD an KD and tells them to pay my $5. By this time the line of traffic behind me is ridiculously long and SD does not have an extra $5. I was just getting prepared to turn around when Mr. Traffic guy gets all irritated with me and basically growls, "just go ahead, you are holding up traffic"

Next we get to the spot on the grass we like and all 4 families that were there sit down with blankets, get kids situated and calmed down after major drama over who had glow sticks and who didn't and who had more than someone else. I am sure you can get the picture.

As the first set of fireworks goes off we see that we are literally right underneath them - it was fantastic and amazing. Because we were so close they were actually very loud as well - everytime they went off it sounded like gunshots. So picture the fireworks begin and then picture a 6 year old blonde girl named Tink begin to have the most traumatic and shocking reaction to them. Tink lets out the most blood curdling scream you can imagine - it was something right out of a horror movie. As she is screaming she begins to cry hysterically as if she is being beaten or like someone is performing surgery on her and they forgot to give her anesthesia. Tink keeps on holding her ears and burries her head in my shoulder.

I look over at Monk and though she is not crying, she is covering her ears too and looks pretty scared. I was in absolute shock. My girls aren't afraid of much, they both love to watch scary movies and don't get scared at all and then here they are acting like the biggest drama queens I have ever witnessed. Tink continued to scream and cry until I literally grabbed everything as quickly as I could and took off like a bat out of you know where. All I could think about was getting out if there as quickly as possible to avoid any more drama or embarassment. I also wanted my friends to have a nice time and there is no way that was going to happen with Tink flipping out publicly.

So I ushered my kids back to the car with a very "unhappy" face and we watched from the car. The next day they had the nerve to be disappointed when I said I would not take them back the next year.

So our celebration of Independence Day ended with more from the Drama Queens, a very very late night.

Happy Belated 4th of July to all of my friends!

Sloppy Joe's

So anyone who knows me knows I don't like to cook, but I have really been trying to cook more at home so that we eat better and save money. Well everyone has to have a few "quick" dinner items and since I am very much against Macaroni and Cheese (albeit that once in awhile crazy craving for it) I thought I would try sloppy joe's. Believe it or not, I have never made them before and the last time I ate one was at my friend KD's house last Halloween. They were very yummy.

BTW - I should mention here that Smoke LOVES it when I cook anything. He loves coming home and having actual food in the house to eat. So Smoke sits down and eats one sandwich without much ado. Then all of the sudden, Smoke lets out this loud grunt and literally begins spitting sloppy joe mix onto his plate (okay I am alreay laughing hysterically as I remember it). He is just grossed out and keeps spitting. In between spits he manages to say, "it tastes like dish soap" Once he says this, I begin laughing uncontrollably and my mind wanders back to a few hours before when Jade was in the kitchen washing her dish out in the sink. I remember telling her to stop playing in the water. I also remember going to the kitchen sink and taking the "tupperware" container that was sitting in the sink and seeing that it was clean, I put the leftover sloppy joe mix in it.

Well Jade must have poured a little dish soap in the container and I could not tell it was there and Justin must have mixed the dishsoap in with the second batch of meat he took out. *Flash Forward - My hubby literally did eat dish soap. It was a priceless memory that I had to blog about so I can laugh often when I re-read this. I'll never forget his face as he was spitting out the sloppy joe mix and wiping off his tongue (much like Tom Hanks in the movie "BIG" - my total favorite scene in the entire movie - just ask my friend Stacers...)

The moral of this story.....there isn't one, except maybe I should wash out my dishes before storing leftovers in them.