Last night, several sundry and diverse relatives conglomerated at my patriarch and matriarch’s house for an evening of fun, food, and fellowship.
You cannot deny the fact that the above sentence was lots of fun. It amazed even myself.
My parents (aka, the previously mentioned Patriarch and Matriarch) always prepare fantastic cuisine.
Always.
I am sure my Lumberjack is sorely disappointed that I do not share in their genius cooking skills.
Tough break, Lumberjack.
Tough break.
First of all, we must discuss Little Dude.
Little Dude really likes to eat.
Everyone was finished, but he kept going.
“Mo! Mo!”
(translation: more! more!)
Tonya, my sister-in-law, and I were intrigued at the size of potatoes my mother found to serve our guests.
Let us take a moment to admire mother’s find:
I mean, who needs to eat a potato that large . . . really?
It’s a good thing I am only pretending to be on Weight Watchers.
That could have been detrimental to my weight loss plan.
Naturally, after dinner it was time for presents.
Naturally.
Shoot!
I do believe I forgot to mention that we were having a small birthday celebration for Auntie Datenut.
I tend to be forgetful.
It happens.
Anyways . . . the above picture is Sweet Pea giving her a pot holder that she had created with love.
Not with help from me of course!
No.
I do not know how to even sew on a button.
Her grandma helped her.
Everyone smile!
Auntie! You forgot to smile!
Try again.
*sigh*
Focus, children!
Focus!
Oh, well.
Little Dude has this new little habit of sneaking off and reading books to himself, and he found some books and found a quiet spot to read away while the gift-giving commotion was commencing.
Let us have a bittersweet moment of love mixed with sadness as we gaze upon Little Dude ,and all his cuteness, and remember that he is growing up too fast.
*Thank you*
After gifts, it was time for dessert.
And now, ladies and gentlepeople, I would like to present to you the pies that I, yes, I, Taylor Mal-a-blah-blah, created from scratch (minus the crust, of course. I have 4 children, people!) for this momentous and joyous occasion:
TA-DA!!!!
Interruption: Update from yesterday’s post: My oven is, most assuredly, broken. The stove top burners still work, though.
Massive Interruption: Clarification from yesterday’s post: Cousin Shane was not being hateful towards me when reading my post. He was, in fact, being hilarious. I just was uncomfortable having my post read aloud. Cousin Shane is a very nice guy and was not being mean in the least!
That concludes this massive, and almost unneccessary, interruption.
The Lumberjack, Brother Danny, and I were in charge of the candle placement and lighting on the pies.
But, alas!
We could not find matches, nor any other sort of fire-igniting device.
But, my Lumberjack, in all his handsomeness . . .
found a solution.
You can’t see the flame, on account of my poor photography skills, but he just lit a burner and used that.
What a weirdie.
Aaaaaannnnnnndddddd . . . I love him.
Happy Birthday!
***
While we were eating our delicious (if I do say so myself) pie, we began to reminisce about the days of yore.
And now, dear readers, I would like to present to you:
Goober Parent Update: Days of Yore Edition
Auntie Datenut has a son, Neil. He is close in age to my brother and I.
Back when Neil was about 11 or 12, Auntie Datenut and he lived with our family for a time.
Neil became sickly and had to miss some school.
I think he had missed a few days at this point.
My dad came home from work and the following conversation ensued:
Dad: Did you go to school today, Neil?
Neil: No.
Dad: Why not?
Neil: I still feel sick.
Dad: That’s ridiculous. Go out to the garage and find me 2 National Geographic magazines.
Neil did as he was told.
Dad: Ok. Now read 2 articles and write me a 200 word summary on each.
Neil: Why?
And my dad,
in all his uncle-ish wisdom and general intelligence, made this statement that shall never be forgotten:
“If you can swallow, you can learn.”
Brilliant!
Happy Wednesday!
P.S.-I will soon be doing a questions and answers post if you would like to leave a question for me, LJ, or the both of us.
Did you see that I copied you today?
Because I am both shameless and unoriginal on this particular Wednesday.
Also – please bring me a pie. STAT.
I saw…oh yes I did.
I thought it was hilarious.
Ahh – my favorite pic of your Dad again. Never get tired of the laptop in the ear! And I love his words of wisdom – much truth lies within!
hahaha you are so funny taylor!!! i love reading your blog!! your pies look fabulous, btw, you can send me one if you want,no really, you can!! =) i love the if you can swallow you can learn statement cause it’s so true!!
question #1 if you could be anything you wanted, what would you be (can be animate,inanimate, whatever) =)
question #2 what is your favorite recipe of all time??
question#3 why does my cursor mysteriously wander when i am on your site?? =)
Ah, yes, we use the burner trick in our family a lot as well. The real kicker is that, on more than one occasion, when we could not find candles, we used “strike-anywhere” matches in place of the candles on the cake. Yes, folks, it doesn’t get more redneck than that. That is my family and I will embrace them! They also used to have a non-working fridge outside under the back deck to use in the winter as an extra “cooler”. It was so embarrassing for a teenager. They still like to tease about that…
I love your dad! He is so photographic and so wise. 😉
If you cannot find matches but have a burner you can use a spaghetti noodle. Of course you have to have a spaghetti noodle handy to do this but they are at least longer than a birthday candle.
I sent you the recipes. And now I think you should send me some pie.
Oh, and the book picture. Too precious!
I think can learn even if you CAN’T swallow!
Sorry about your oven! Yuck! At least the stove still works!
I would like to know things you make yourself and your kids for lunch most days. It’s lunchtime and I’m starving and need some new lunch ideas that don’t consist of peanut butter and jelly. So if you make pb&j everyday…never mind. 😉
Love all the pictures.. and the smiles! 😉 And the dessert is fantastic! 🙂
Blessings-
Amanda
Any explanation following those words of wisdom?
I was waiting for you to say that LJ rubbed two sticks together and made a fire that way!
Priceless…just… priceless.
I think Cousin Shane paid you to make that little announcement. Just saying.
Congratulations on great pies!
My son has been sneaking off to read too, and it KILLS ME! Why? WHYWHYWHY WHYYYYY!!???!! Do they have to grow up so fast?
Also, why do they have to be so cute during a time in life when we are so tired? Can’t they be cute when we are well rested? But Nooooo, then they turn into teenagers. The humanity!
Your dad probably loves this blog. I’m always teasing mine too, and he’s always pretending to get his feelings hurt. HA!
The pies look great 🙂
I love that Little Dude is reading one of my favorite children’s books, Love You Forever! I even made up a tune to sing a Love You Forever song to my kids.
Where does Auntie Datenut’s nomenclature derive from?
(That question sounds smart, don’t it?) 😉
Also, when lit, your pie looks like a circular torch.
Just sayin’
Ha, that saying is true…unless you are puking! 😉
I wish I could learn not to swallow so much.
Which I suppose means I can learn such a thing because if I want to learn to not swallow that must mean I CAN swallow which means I can learn not to swallow.
And now the word swallow looks weird.
Good Lord, I need help.
http://www.themusicianswife.com
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I can only imagine what those yummy huge potatoes tasted like. What else was on the menu?
Little Dude is sooo adorable. How sweet is that?!
And I had a feeling that Shane was not being hateful.
I think you should share your pie recipes. Did you already do that? Uh-oh.
Your dad is hilarious and they way you can tell a story, woman – genius.
I hope you are having a wonderful day – just a little plug for you over at herhousehold today.
& the question… dun dun duh
If you could go anywhere in the world – current, past or future – Where would you go and why?
Sounds like something my dad would say.
I would probably roll my eyes.
Dads are genius, aren’t they?
I have an award for you over at my blog.
Your dad and Confucius! Amazing! Little Dude is awesome in wandering off by himself to ‘read!”