Frolicking Flamingo

Here are some things we did this weekend (and by "we" I mostly mean "Joe"):

Friday evening, we built a gigantic fire in the backyard to burn out a stump. And that's not snow you are seeing floating so softly down from the sky -- it's the still-glowing ash that has floated up off the dead branches Joe tossed onto the top of the fire, only to rain down upon his unsuspecting toddler's head:

Actually, the Mt. St. Helen's ash storm didn't bother Mace, who stayed on the porch yelling, "Goggin! Goggin!" That's Mace-speak for tractor -- Dad had the tractor parked right behind the fire. So I'm not sure if Mace was trying to keep Goggin from getting burned up and was warning everyone, or if he just loved seeing Goggin in the romantic glow of the firelight. He really loves that tractor.

Immediately after Joe started the raging inferno in the backyard, he left for setup at church, so we carefully monitored it (by promptly forgetting about it) until after Mace went to bed. Then Casey decided he wanted to roast marshmallows:

I'm not sure why Casey even bothers with the roasting part -- it's like he thinks I won't let him eat marshmallows unless he pretends to roast them (like they're raw meat or something). He smushes the marshmallows onto the stick and then holds the stick over the coals for about 6 seconds (or less) and then crams them into his mouth.

While we were outside roasting marshmallows, Joe called us from church and said that the space shuttle had just taken off and if we would look in the sky, just below the moon, we would be able to see the shuttle going up.

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So Casey and I got all excited and looked around for the moon -- there it is through the trees. Do you see the shuttle? No? Me neither. Apparently we started cutting down those trees one day too late.

On Saturday, our friend Mike came over to help Joe cut down a couple of dead oak trees in our yard.

Mike was on Goggin. Mace was not happy. Do you see those green shoes right beside Mace? Those are Casey's old Crocs that Mace digs out of Casey's closet every time he's in Casey's room and then shuffles around in them. This weekend, Mace shuffled around in them all day, Saturday and Sunday. He took them off here because they were hindering his ability to climb through those slats on the porch and body slam Mike off Goggin. And yes, pants are optional in our family on the weekend -- while I am a stickler for cutesiness and proper shoes for church, once we are home, the pants come off and the crocs are acceptable once again.

After lots of chainsaw revving, sweat, and other activities only a man can really describe and having to do with tractor throttling, etc., the tree conceded with a whimper.

Can you hear them? The men are "Grrrrrrr"-ing.

Saturday night, however, was the highlight of the weekend (for me, anyway). Mike came back for dinner and our friend Dez came too. I made a boatload of spicy shrimp and we ate on the porch and had a great time:

Look at that shrimp, people. It was deeeeeelicious and if you want the recipe (be forewarned, it involves worcestershire sauce and no less than 2 sticks of butter), you can find it at http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/08/spicy_shrimp_yu/. I made three pounds' worth and we ate it all (to be fair, I was having to literally shove the last few shrimp into Joe and Mike's mouths just to be able to say we ate it all). Casey and Mace are sitting at the table behind Mike and they're eating gruel while we eat yummy delectable shrimp because that's just the kind of mom I am.

We concluded the evening with a rousing game of Singstar (kind of like Karaoke) for 2 hours. "Game" is probably not the right word -- Dez and I let Joe and Mike have the microphones for no more than 3 songs and then had to yank the mikes away to let our own diva selves shine for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow maybe I will try to explain the picture below, but in the meantime, maybe you can ponder what Joe and Mike were trying to accomplish (the first one to figure it out will get a prize --here's a hint about the prize, it will be pink and shaped like a bird):