Ta-Tas

We recycle & it's Jackie's job to take the recycling bins downstairs when they get full.  Our "bin" for paper goods is a Save the Ta-tas reusable shopping tote.  Last week, Jackie was putting it back into the pantry after emptying it when she asked me, "Mom, what are ta-tas?"  I honestly thought she was joking, but when I asked her to repeat her question she said, with all the seriousness in the world, "What are ta-tas?" and pointed to the bag she was holding.

I said, "Ta-tas are boobs."  She thought about that for a bit, then came back & said "Why do we have to save them?"

Now, if you know my child or follow my blog at all, you know my red headed child is no dummy.  And obviously ta-tas have been talked about a lot in her short 9 year life.  Even with the Save the Ta-tas poker tournaments we've had, all the t-shirts, car magnets, key chains & bracelets we own, she just didn't get why we were saving them.  She was only 3 yrs old when I was diagnosed the first time & had my bilateral mastectomy.  My reconstruction was complete before she was even in Pre-K.  When I was diagnosed the second time & had the numerous reconstructive surgeries, she knew they were operating on my breasts.  She understood that the doctors were taking away the cancer so that I would not get really sick.  She's seen some of my scars and knows that I have had *work* done on them, but for some reason--probably because she's so young (duh, Mom)--she never connected the removal part of my surgeries and that we're saving other women from having to have their breasts taken off their bodies.

So, I start by explaining that when you have cancer in your breasts, like Mommy, sometimes they have to take that cancer out of there.  And depending on the size of the cancer and the size of the breasts, many times they doctors have to cut the whole breast off of the woman's body--like they did for Mommy.  Then, when all the cancer is gone, the doctors can come back and make new breasts using different reconstruction--which is why Mommy has had to have so many surgeries.  We want to save the ta-tas by helping find a way to make the cancer go away so no one else ever has to have their breasts cut off.  So, we're Saving the Ta-tas.

Whew, this is a lot of info for a 9 year old brain.  She thought for a bit...obviously working through in her mind that I actually had my breasts cut off.  And she said that she understood, gave me a hug, told me she loved me & was off on her way.

The next night at dinner, Joel was wearing one if his Ta-tas shirts...

If loving ta-tas is wrong I don't wanna be right.

Jackie read Joel's shirt at the table, looked at me and said, "Now that I know what ta-tas are, I can never look at you the same again, Daddy."

While we got a HUGE chuckle from that, I know that my girl didn't stop thinking about ta-tas that day.  Just last night as we were fixing dinner a commercial came on the radio for the 2012 Washington DC Breast Cancer 3 Day this October.  Jackie asked me how many years I had completed that walk & I told her four.  She knows I'm not walking this year & understands why, but after a few minutes she looks up & says, "Momma, if they still have this walk when I'm old enough, will you maybe walk with me?"  

Absolutely, my little sunshine. 

 I know there will be many things that will become more clear to the girls as they get older about our 5 year journey when they were so young.  And I want to be honest with them when they ask questions.  But, even though I know they'll be very passionate about the cause as they grow, I pray that the walk will no longer be needed by then.  

Boobs

This totally cracked me up when I saw it online today because I just had a conversation with my boy on the way home from school that went like this...

Boy:  Do boys have boobs?

Me:  Boobs?

Boy:  Yeah, boobs?

Me:  Yes, everyone has boobs.

Boy:  Oh...the girls said boys don't have boobs.

Me:  Yes, boys have boobs too.

((pause))

Boy:  But our boobs are little.

Me:  Yes, you have little boobs.

Boy:  Yeah, all of us have little boobs....'cept YOU!

Me:  What?  I don't have little boobs?

Boy:  NO!  You have BIG boobs!

Yep...that's how we roll around here.  It's just not a normal day if we're not talkin' about the boobs.  And I don't know exactly why the word boob has stuck for my children, but it seems everyone really enjoys saying it!

Wealer Easter sponsored by Pinterest!

I really like Pinterest.  I don't need an intervention yet, but I do find myself getting distracted from time to time. My favorite thing to look up is recipes.  I have already gathered & printed enough recipes to fill a one inch 3-ring binder.  And dinner conversation usually starts like this..."So, is this a pinterest recipe?"  And at the end of dinner the kids give it a rating so we can decide if it goes into the rotation.  So far we've found about 90% are keepers!

It's no surprise that we found some ideas on Pinterest to help us with Easter weekend this year.  It all started with Kool-Eggs!  Who knew you could dye the eggs just using water & kool-aid packets?  They were beautiful!  (And I used all the eggs the kids dyed to make my deviled eggs for Easter dinner.)

Artists hard at work.  

The colors were really pretty!

Our next project was a little Easter treat for our guests on Sunday.  We made m&m pretzel flowers!  These were super simple & the kids were able to do them mostly on their own.  All I had to do was put them into the oven & then remove 5 minutes later.  

Put chocolate kisses on top of pretzels.  I think the rule was place one, then eat one.

Ready for the oven.  5 minutes at 200 degrees.

Adding petals to the flowers after the chocolate kiss is warm & soft.

Peanut m&m for center and regular m&m's for the petals.

The artists are proud of their work! (Yes, that's chocolate on Bubba's forehead.)

Sunday morning we woke up to create our special spring dessert.  Jackie & I looked online for some time trying to find the one that *spoke* to us.  We decided on the Strawberry Lemonade layer cake.  What does it taste like?  Well, strawberry lemonade, of course.  But if that's not a good enough description, I would have to say that it simply tasted like summertime!  YUM!

 Josie adding the lemonade layer.

Jackie creating the strawberry smiley face on top.

Proud artists again!  They said the strawberries were a lion smiley face.  Do you see it?

I must admit that it took a bit of self control not to take over on the layering process of this cake.  In the end, it may not look like a professional cake, but there were NO complaints when we dug in after dinner.  This cake certainly got some compliments as it was a perfect end to a perfect day!

But that wasn't tend end of our weekend--the kids had ONE more day of spring break today, the day after Easter.  And they started in first thing this morning needing to be entertained!  So...Pinterest to the rescue again!  We whipped up some Washable Chalk Spray Paint  for outside fun!

Pink & Blue

The boy chose green.

Outside art is just as fun as kitchen art! (And easier to clean up!!)

We finished off our evening with a new recipe for dinner--not springy or Easter-y, but super YUMMY!  Kids all go back to school tomorrow (whew!) & I'll be working on rounding up activities and recipes for the next break this summer!

Thump, Thump, Thump

Yep, that's the sound the basketball makes when it bounces on our driveway.   And if you add in the kids' voices it sounds like this...((THUMP))  SHOOT IT!!!!  ((THUMP))  ME ME!!!  ((THUMP))  OVER HERE!!  ((THUMP THUMP))  ME ME!!!!

We live on a street that dead ends at a cul-de-sac and there's only one other street off of our street that ends in another cul-de-sac.  We have kids of all ages up & down the two streets.  A couple years ago, a family on one end of the street asked us if we wanted the basketball hoop they had because they never used it anymore.  And yes, we ARE the people you SHOULD ask if you want to get rid of ANYTHING, thank you very much!  We thrive off of hand-me-downs!  Joel brought it home, built a new backboard and we were good to go.

Jackie loves playing basketball.  Anytime we have friends over, the men-folk end up outside playing basketball in the driveway...sometimes WITH the kids, sometimes AS kids.  And about two weeks ago, our  across-the-street-neighbor (college) came over to ask if he & his cousin (7th grade), who has been living with him, could play basketball in our driveway.  It was about 7pm and our kids were already bathed and getting ready for bed as it was a school night.  Absolutely!   They played till dark.  The next day, the younger neighbor, came over to play with my kids after school.  He lowered the net so it would be easier for them & was very patient with the younger children and my kids had a blast.

A couple days later, I was out of town, Joel was out with the kids getting dinner & the boys across the street came over to play ball--about 5pm in the evening.  As the story goes, apparently my next-door-neighbor, on the side of the house closest to the driveway, came out and asked the boys to stop playing because the bouncing was too loud while they were watching TV.  Being that the boys didn't want to cause a stir & neither Joel or I were home, they just agreed and left.

Fast forward about a week--I'm home.  There are kids from up & down the block coming and going, older & younger--all playing basketball.  No one has been here later than 8pm.  No one has been obnoxious or disorderly.  Everyone HAS been active & having a good time.  Then the phone rings.  It was about 7:30pm on an April evening, 75 degrees outside and still light.  "Jenny, this is XXX.  Is Joel home?"  It was *the* neighbor.  I told her he was busy but I'd go tell him she needed to talk to him.  She said, "Yes, we NEED to talk as soon as possible."

After a tall, cold drink, Joey made the call next door.  Apparently, the neighbor said, "Joel, we NEED to do something about this basketball noise!"

I didn't hear the whole conversation, tho I was able to watch Joel's face while he was talking.  From what I understand, the week before, when the boys were playing in the driveway without us being home, she actually made a trip to the POLICE STATION to see if there was a noise ordinance!  They told her--OBVIOUSLY--there's nothing she can do about kids playing basketball on private property.  Joel was nice enough not to laugh out loud when she told him about that--but he did giggle to himself & cover the phone.  When she asked Joel if he could move the goal to the backyard, he politely (oh, so much more politely than I would have...) that they cannot play basketball on the grass but if she wanted to pay to put a court back there, he'd be happy to move it!  After she suggested that we give the basketball net to the boys across the street, he kindly replied that it was here for OUR kids to play with it and he would not be punishing them just because she didn't like the sound of the ball hitting the driveway.  Her complaints of having all the kids from the neighborhood in our driveway led him to agree that while it could be a lot of kids at one time, it's better that they're here playing basketball than walking up and down the street smoking & drinking!   Basically, the conversation ended with him saying, "Everyone has different pet peeves.  This is obviously yours, but there's nothing we can do about it.  Sorry."

When another neighbor told us that about 30 years ago, when her son was 8, this same neighbor forbade him from riding his hot wheel up & down the street in front of her house because of the *clicking* noise it made and she didn't like it!

Let's just say that as I write this, we have 4 kids playing basketball in our driveway.  And in about a week, we're gonna start a 15 yr old+ basketball tournament at 9pm each night.  Just because we can...