It Was the Best of Times.....It Was the Worst of Times
Fourth of July.
Perfect.
Ernie made pulled pork, Owen grilled his chicken, I made coleslaw and green beans, panna cotta and shortbread....grilled corn. And this was all for only two guests, our dear friends Teri and Brian...who ALSO brought amazing food...spicy guacamole, fruit, melon with proscuitto and my deep weakness, pepperoni! We sat in the front yard and ate and laughed and drank and talked. Leo minecrafted, Owen bobbed in and out. Not long before dark the neighborhood fireworks displays started and friends and neighbors crowded into our yard and hooted and hollered.
Perfect.
Although I gotta say, halfway through the fireworks I thought, WTF....it doesn't seem right without Kirsten and Jim. Sigh. My mind. Next year though.
Yesterday was a lazy day with lots of leftover food and naps and novels.
In the middle of the night however I woke to the sound of squabbling boys. I thought they were in their room...I nudged Ernie and asked him if he'd go see what was going on. Turns out they were downstairs and were having a battle which actually led to BLOWS.
Sniff, sniff. I KNOW.
My sweet boys.
So then I got out of bed and bellowed "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" All the while trying to face everybody because I knew I had a tear in the back of my underwear. You know...we're due to do laundry. So I finally sat down at the top of the stairs and yelled at them from there. There was no way to make sense of the situation so we got them calmed down and into bed. I laid there and didn't know what to think.
My sweet baby boys.
Ernie has assured me that brothers do these things. I asked him what his parents did and he said, "Oh, threaten to whip us." Well, that's a whole lot of help.
This morning we had a talk with the guys and then they were sentenced to work cleaning up the patio.
Later Leo came in and said Ernie had told him there was nothing left to do outside. Jesus H. Christ Ernest (sorry Debbie)...nothing left to do? Has anyone SEEN our patio? I told Leo to turn right back around and where he could work on weeds. He grumbled about his shoelace being untied and I said, "OK.....you have two choices...you go outside and weed or you learn to tie your shoelaces." He grumbled and finally handed his shoe to me....he's no dummy.
Yes, my brilliant son, who is ridiculously intelligent and yet phenomenonally stubborn, has refused to ever learn how to tie his shoes. There have been a few battles about it but the thing is....with Leo...you have to choose your battles and this one hasn't quite been important enought.
However...I caught him in a weak moment....he's good about doing stuff outside but he HATES weeding.
So now, in some strange twist of events, Ernie is outside by himself sweating and working and the two boys, who BOTH know how to tie their shoes, are sitting inside together, peacefully watching some piece of trash on tv.
I guess it's still the best of times....little jerks.