Weekend Update

This weekend was another birthday weekend, but at last, it didn’t involve Alex’s month-long celebration. Alex’s friend and our neighbor, Kenzie turned seven and he is a really neat kid. Kenzie is whip smart, and has a gift for drawing that I’m convinced is Divine. I wish I had one of his pieces to scan in and show you, because I know I’m a bit dramatic, and you’re probably unconvinced of his talent. Trust me. It’s amazing.

Anyway, Kenzie is also a history buff, Civil War to be exact. Yes. I did say he turned seven. Kenzie’s mom is a former teacher, and she’s great with kids. Very devoted to learning and has the patience to raise three boys. She threw Kenzie a Civil War themed birthday party. The boys did a battle reenactment, which meant we had to purchase our first toy gun. Alex has a small pistol I begrudgingly allowed him to buy after riding Pirates of the Caribbean for the umpteenth time. I was nervous about it, but I actually think it’s reduced his aggression, at least toward his other toys. He’s much kinder to his Playmobil soldiers after an hour of shooting imaginary deer. For all my nervousness, the kids had a great time!

Saturday night we celebrated my favorite one year old’s birthday. Although Jill had doubts she would make it, she survived Kendall’s first year. Kendall is a great baby and really fun to be around, so long as you can figure out what it is she wants at that exact moment. In addition to red hair, I think Kendall and I also share the same temperament, which makes me love her unconditionally. :)

Our family adores this little one!

Jill and Scott had a small group of us over for a cookout and cake and, as is anything with the Ehnes Family, it was a blast! Selfishly, we let our kids play until they were near comatose and then we tried to get them all to fall asleep to a movie. All so we could continue to play Apples to Apples. (It’s boarding on obsession.) Meredith kept popping in and I kept ushering her back to their “bed.” I told her it was way past her bedtime and she should be sleeping and she retorted, “Well, then what in the world are we doing at Clare’s house?!” I wonder if I should include that on my mother of the year nomination form?

We were out late, but I was up hours before "Meet the Press" and was anxious to watch the tribute to Tim Russert. I know I’m a dork, and don’t need further proof, but I can’t watch Tom Brokaw get choked up without losing it. So I cried all the way through the show, and for an encore I watched Tim’s son Luke be interviewed on The Today Show this morning. What a good kid. They showed a picture of Luke touching his dad’s vacant chair on the MTP set and wow was it a reminder of how powerful photography can be.

Father’s Day was pretty low key at our house. We planned to grill, but a storm blew in and we opted for pizza at Brandon’s favorite place instead. They have a big T.V. so we could watch what was supposed to be the final round of the U.S. Open. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have left the house. The kids gave Brandon his presents, all of which they had a hand in for the first time. They were so sad to find Daddy left his new Crocs at home. I think they expected him to scoot around his office in rubber shoes in pride.