Mommified

I slept so well last night. I believe it was a combination of enduring another one of those near perfect family weekends and chasing granddaughters around. Probably more of the latter. It still confounds me that these little creatures can extract so much vigor from me; they are energy vampires (but in the best way possible). The official Mother’s Day celebration weekend kicked off Friday with the arrival of the New Jersy bunch. The FBR’s first question was predictably when her cousins would be arriving. My daughter’s family arrived in time for the First Friday Family Facetime call which was only notable for a vicious assault on my person by my Favorite Panamanian. I was sitting in front the screen and she was standing behind me when I made some sort of wise ass remark about her (as I am wont to do). She responded by giving me a sharp rap on the top of the head (as she is wont to do). She and the entire family gasped when they realized I still had the surgery incision healing on the impact point. She felt so bad that I decided not to punish her by saying it hurt (it did a little). My son, for some reason, seem to take a lot of pleasure in the action, laughing almost uncontrollably.

Official Fam Picture on Sunday

Saturday was the main event of the weekend as we were celebrating Mother’s Day a early since the New Jersey bunch had to depart Sunday morning. My son’s family, as well as Great Aunt, Keene Friend, and the ABFA’s parents were joining us. I tried a new tact when the FBR’s early morning questioning commenced about her cousins’ arrival time. Instead of answering I whipped out the phone and said let’s call your uncle to find out. She was appropriately shocked,  ran and hid when he answered. I thought I had successfully quelled the incessant FBR questions until my son ruined it. He assured the FBR she should feel to ask me about their arrival times as frequently as possible. A real dick move.

FBR with her mom and Abuela Upon Friday Arrival

FBR Helping Abuela with Cookie Prep

Flashlight Parade in Abuela's Shoes

We enjoyed the FBR’s company as much as possible because we knew as soon as the cousins arrived, we would become the proverbial chopped liver. While awaiting, she took to parading around the house with July 4^th flashing lights. I’m not sure why but it must have made 8-year-old sense. As we neared the cousin arrival time, the redundant FBR questioning took on an almost fever pitch. I suggested she go outside to keep an eye out for them. Remarkably she spent the remaining time out on the front porch waiting patiently (not her strong suit). She loudly announced their arrival for the entire house (and neighborhood) to hear. We got in a couple quick hugs from the BRS and BR3 before they disappeared with the FBR to do cousins things. They were soon traipsing around the house with each wearing a selection form my wife’s shoe horde which they had raided.

The FBR Vigil

My Wife is a Pinterest Fanatic
She Created this Fruit Plate

The rest of us settled down to celebrate the amazing moms we were blessed to be celebrating. It sounds like a hall of fame roster: my Favorite Panamanian, my daughter, the ABFA, Great Aunt, and the ABFA’s mom; great moms all. Based on the prior years’ endeavors with male culinary efforts, it was decided (decreed) that the main meal would be catered. That allowed more time to just hang out with and enjoy the company. That included Keene Friend who was at his snarky best with the dry humor zingers. Riggins patrolled the house which meant anything falling to the floor was his, although he is much more polite about it than Buddy the Wonder Pooch ever was.

Most of the Group

I picked up the food from Ciao Bella (great as always) and was able to set up the buffet line with only minimal (for her) help from my Favorite Panamanian. The food was well received and Great Aunt had a son grilled steak since Ciao Bella is great with most things but is decidedly non-Gluten Free (probably why it tastes so good). This was followed by a literal parade of desserts. I am not exaggerating. I’m not saying my family was playing games with me since they knew I was trying to lose weight but the assembly of sweets was breathtaking. We’re talking cookies, brownies, candy, etc. etc. This entire weekend was an acid test for my self-discipline. The word I am looking for is, “Yikes!”.

The Moms

Moms First in Buffet Line

Wife with Kids and Grandkids

All day long the BRS, my fellow family pyromaniac, had been entreating me to have a fire. Since part of the Favorite Panamanian’s backyard makeover including parking a huge flower pot in my style challenged fire place, I wasn’t keen on fulfilling her request, even when her cousins added their voices to the request. I told them since it was Mother’s Day, the requests would have to come from the moms. I thought I was safe as they received a summary denial at their first request. One thing I’ve learned about my granddaughters, they do not take an initial “no” as the final answer. They continued wheedling for the rest of the afternoon until my Favorite Panamanian reluctantly agreed to allow us to move the flower pot and have the fire. I was so happy my son was around to do the moving. I ventured into the back yard woods to gather some hopefully quick burning pine branches. The BRS was mollified, although we did not have the makings for s’mores in house which I think constituted the reasons the FBR and BR3 had taken up the call for a fire. It was still a lot of fun hanging out with them and letting them throw things into the fire when the moms weren’t looking. The fire was followed by a dance party in the living room as the granddaughters honed their bedtime delay tactics.

The Fire

Dance Party

The Macarena (God help us)

Great Aunt, Keene Friend, and the ABFA’s parents had to depart just prior to sundown but we still an assemblage of worthies to make a superb evening. The granddaughter going to bed ritual was the usual marathon versus a sprint as each took a turn at preventing the other two from actually going to sleep, despite a very full day. They eventually succumbed to the tiredness but not without their usual fight. Instead of moving down the Man Cave, we settled around the table for a very fun evening of talk and laughter. Wingman had brought a variety of board games which the “kids” enjoyed. They eventually coaxed my Favorite Panamanian and I to join them in a couple games. A truly great night to cap off a fabulous day, celebrating the remarkable moms.

Sunday Morning Early Risers

Sunday started off very early. The granddaughters have installed a system for wakeup time in the granddaughter room. Whomever wakes up first, no matter what the time, finds away to wake up the other two. The usual suspect in this initial endeavor is BR3. While she usually wakes up at home between 4:30 and 5, she normally just turns over and falls back to sleep. Of course, the granddaughter room offers a target rich environment, in the form of her soon to be awake sister and cousin. My son and I ran into each other in the hallway outside their room around 5am as we converged to tell them to be quiet. That never works and he eventually herded them downstairs so the moms could sleep in on actual Mother’s Day.

Wife Breakfasting Sunday with the "Kids"

The fun continued when the rest of us came downstairs to relieve my son. The BRS kept her crown as the family hojaldra queen, eating them faster than my wife could make them. My Favorite Panamanian received a dispensation to do some cooking on the holiday after last year’s attempt by my son and I to cook hojaldras went disastrously awry. After everyone was fed, the preparation for departure sadly started up. My daughter had a Curbside Girls celebration since most are moms now to make it to in the late afternoon back in Maplewood. The FBR was not pleased to be leaving and petulantly declared that she was not leaving with her parents. They, of course, overruled her attempted secession and got off shortly before noon. My son applied his recognized barbecue skills with some delicious dead animal flesh for a Sunday steak dinner. Sadly, they too had to depart immediately after the meal. They were barely out of town before we received a text from the ABFA documenting that both the BRS and BR3 were asleep. My wife and I knew how they felt as we both decided some recovery time was needed in the wake of the “granddaughter occupation”. It was a great weekend, especially since we got to honor those very special moms who have made all of our lives so special.

The Wifely Rolo Challenge

Today’s weigh-in, 14 pounds lost towards 25-pound goal. Which I consider remarkable considering the amount of sweets I was exposed to this past weekend combined with my Favorite Panamanian placing my favorite all time candy, Rolos, in the kitchen. Thanks to the Army instilled discipline, or remnants thereof, I didn’t eat a single one. Yet!

In my A-Z watch, three fell since I last posted, all keepers but a couple barely, In Harm’s Way, awesome John Wayne WW2 navy soap opera with the Duke being the Duke and a fantastic cast; In The Name of the king, extraordinarily silly with Statham as a famer who can outfight everyone with Burt Reynolds cringingly bad as a king; and In Search of the Castaways, one of my favorite movies as a kid that has aged incredibly poorly, still has Haley Mills though.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course