Quality Time with the Nephews...Legos, Pizza and Chaplin!

After a blissful three "kid free" weekends, the second round of "Quality Time with Auntie" came about. No giggling girls, random conversations about the merits of Edward vs. whoever the second vampire was, and suitcases full of makeup, outfits, and jewels this time. No, it was boys bearing sleeping bags, jokes regarding gas of all types, and enough energy to run a nuclear plant.

The day started out with rain and lots of it:

This did nothing to dampen the spirits of four boys who wanted to rip into Auntie's extensive Lego collection:

While listening to kids argue over ONE Lego block that one cousin had that another cousin HAD TO HAVE, while ignoring the 4,237 other Lego blocks around them...I managed to get some boboli pizza's going for lunch. Check out my pizza creation below. I call it "The Weight Watchers Special" - boasting vegis, reduced fat asiago cheese and 70% less fat turkey pepperoni:

No, it didn't taste as good as it looks, as a matter of fact.

We were supposed to go Bowling at the local lanes after lunch. Upon arrival, I took one look at all the people dressed in matching outfits, the personalized bowling bags bearing monogrammed names like "Biff" and "The Big Kahuna" and knew immediately that we had run into a tournament. So, no bowling for us. You can't see it in the photo below, but I think Mr Pins was flipping us off!

So, while the rain fell and my panic mounted, I buckled the troops back into the car and started thinking...WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO NOW? Thankfully, DP (who had been smuggled into the car) had a splendid alternative idea:

You guessed it, back to Clay Creations we headed. Now, this place is right on the shoreline in our town, the earthquake in Chile had just happened, and all I heard the way there was this:

"that tsunami is going to wipe us out!"

"I can't wait to see the waves come at us"

"why is there a T in front of tsunami?"

I wasn't much comforted by the coast guard helicopters and the closed off streets any myself. But then I thought...a tsunami is nothing compared to having 4 boys, 6,000 Legos, junk food and did I mention FOUR BOYS in a tiny one bedroom house for a weekend. So we parked and went on in:

Much to my relief, there was room and plenty of boy themed items to paint. The artists dug right in:

DP, ever the critic, gave lots of unwanted advice:

Some kids didn't keep their mind on their work...I WON'T SAY WHO:

Here's a short video of the end results, interrupted by you know who:

Homeward bound after a few hours of painting, re-painting, and painting. The efforts exhausted them, as you can see:

But soon enough the gang decided it was time to get Auntie up off her couch and demand some fine dining. I wanted to get a nice group shot before we headed out. This was what I got:

So I will freely admit, I had no idea that Olive Garden at 4:30 on a Saturday was such a hot spot. For oldsters, that is. We waited half an hour for a table, and the kids barely tolerated the starvation they suffered through:

Someone managed to smuggle himself into my purse again:

Here is a video of one of the kids, obviously high on Dr Pepper, answering my very simple question"How was your dinner?" in a very complex and funny way:

After THAT, it was obviously time to get home and settle down for the night with Chaplin movies and dessert. All kiddos were asleep by 11:30, THANK GOD.

To my horror, they were all up at 6:45 the next morning. What is with these kids who can't manage to drag themselves out of bed by 7am every other day of the week, but are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:45 on a Sunday? SICK, I say...SICK!

I managed to drag my sorry corpse to the kitchen and make them HOMEMADE cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast*

*Please note, if you make something in a home, it is homemade. Therefore, my canned Pillsbury cinnamon rolls qualify as homemade.

Below you see the "perfect breakfast":

Below you see "perfect children" chowing down on the breakfast, while managing to maintain their Lego constructions simultaneously:

Below you see what the children did to poor Dr Pepper after having watched three Charlie Chaplin movies the night before:

The skies had cleared enough by Sunday to allow me to fumigate my house by taking the boys OUTSIDE. Here they are being so very very "gangsta":

and here they are being so very, very "not gangsta":

another attempt at coolness:

Some great shots of the kids at the park:

and a shot of DP "tasting the rainbow":

only two of the four kids managed to look "gangsta" in one last group shot:

and this is the kind of photo you get when you allow the kids to control the camera:

...and any good auntie worth her salt knows it's time to go when the kids start throwing rocks down the slides for fun:

another boboli pizza lunch with extreme cheese:

Then we spent quality time re-establishing bad habits for them to take home with them. Sucking Jell-O through a straw is a favorite:

ice popsicle madness was only appreciated by three of the four: And the weekend came to a merciful end.