You should eat cake!

Saturday at the Bat Mitzvah the boys made me chuckle -- I am amazed at how differently Kevin and Mark's brains work when it comes to certain things.

I think I mentioned that there was an ice cream sundae bar. Both boys were right there on line almost immediately when they announced that it was available -- kind of like magnets. They both created their masterpieces -- very similar, I might add, and returned to our table to eat (with love in their eyes).

Just as Kevin was putting the final spoonful of ice cream in his mouth the waiter put down a piece of cake in front of him. He looked up in despair and exclaimed "Ugh, if I had know there would be cake I might not have had the ice cream. I can't eat both." Are you kidding me? He is 11 years old, lean and mean -- and he is "weighing" (no pun intended) whether or not he should eat a piece of cake!

Mark, on the other hand, heard Kevin, looked up and noticed his own piece of cake and said "Where's my fork?" Not a second of hesitation. Never did he even entertain the possibility of not eating that cake -- regardless of the ice cream sundae he had just polished off.

Now that's my boy!

PS I did convince Kevin that he could eat the cake. I said, "There is no dinner being served at our house tonight, so you might as well eat up."

Wow! What a party!

We just got home from a Bat Mitzvah party. It was the first one I have ever been to and all I can say is "Wow!" That is one hell of a party. Kevin and Mark are both wanting to be Jewish now. Obviously their very short memories have already forgotten about the 2+ hour service that lead up to this amazing party, but...

This party was pretty incredible. Probably more impressive than most weddings I have been to. Mostly because of the amazing stuff that they had for the kids (which the adults benefitted from as well). First -- two separate cocktail hours -- one for the adult in one room and a "mocktail" hour for the kids in another room. The adults had adult food and drinks and the kids had Shirley Temples, mini weanies, pizza bagels, etc. Then, when cocktails were over we were all in one room (kids still sat at separate tables -- a bonus for a mom and dad of 4!). The kids had their own buffet for dinner and the adults had a sit down dinner. While the adults ate the kids were entertained by a DJ who had all kinds of hats, glow things, etc. for the kids, trivia games about the "Bat Mitzvah girl", line dances, etc. And the most fun of all (in my humble opinion) was the photographer who took pictures of whoever wanted and put them in fun frames for them to take home. We walked out of there with a very embarrassing number of pictures (we look like a bunch of egomaniacs we had so many pictures taken!). The kids also got amazing goodie boxes with boxer short that say "Hannah's Bat Mitzvah 3/14/09" and all kinds of other treats. There was an ice cream sundae bar, cookies and chocolates on the tables... and then cake! YIKES! My kids may never come down off the sugar high (not to mention what THAT did to my waistline!).

Anyway... do you blame the boys for wanting to be Jewish?

When I think of the price tag for that party, I, for one, am glad we are not!

What's in YOUR freezer?

A few years ago when we purchased an extra freezer for the basement I envisioned sale shopping for large quantities of meat and other frozen food, fully utilizing my Costco membership, and maybe even one of those delivery services...you know, the ones where they deliver your meats and other "staples" twice a year in bulk.

What I didn't have in mind is what I have now.

First of all, every year on the Fourth of July, my neighborhood has a parade. The parade ends at the playground around the corner from my house and culminates in some family friendly competition -- egg races, egg toss, frog jumping, turtle races (kids collect frogs and turtles from the lake), and a snowball contest. The snowball contest is ours. My boys have won every year for the last 4 years. Sometimes 1st and 2nd place. The idea is to save the largest snowball from the winter.

Well, the largest snowball from the winter lives in my downstairs freezer from January - July 4th every year and takes up ALOT of room. One whole shelf to be exact. I am quite a sport, aren't I? I remember one year when I was taking advantage of earlier mentioned food delivery service and the woman called to set up my next delivery and I had to tell her it had to wait until after the Fourth of July. She seemed confused... and then befuddled... when I told her there wasn't room in the freezer because of a large snowball. Anyway... I digress.

So, as with every other year, I have a large snowball in my freezer.

I also currently have a dead hamster in my freezer! Buddy passed away on Thursday and wasn't found until rather late in the evening. The ground was still somewhat frozen and at 10 pm Eric wasn't quite up for the task of chiseling through the hard, frozen shale that is our back yard to bury the poor little guy. So, with a forecast for warmer weather this weekend we had no choice but to wait. But what to do with Buddy in the meantime?

Then I remembered a Tastefully Simple party that I did a couple years ago at a friends house. When I went to open her freezer to get some ice the host said "Wait! Let me get it! There is a dead hamster in there." I was pretty grossed out, but she explained that he had died and that the ground was too frozen for a proper burial and they were "keeping him on ice" until spring. I spent the next two years thinking she was a wack job. Well, no more! Because if she's a wack job, then I'm a wack job -- because I have a dead hamster in my freezer. Yuck!

He'll be buried tomorrow and then I just have to sit tight until the Fourth of July. And then I will have my freezer back for its intended purpose -- at least until the first snowfall of next winter... or until another small pet meets an untimely demise.