the sleppys

watched Food Inc last night on PBS. I saw that “poor” family of four spend $11.48 on crappy fast food because “its all they can afford.” Today I went to the grocery store and spent $11.48 to feed my family of seven and we have our work cut out for us eating all of this food. BTW half of the money went to buy fresh produce, something completely foreign to the “poor” family.

Bonnie came over this evening with her daughters. She had called me earlier this afternoon, asking us to go over to her house, but it was really short notice. Piling all of us into the van and staying out until nine wasn’t really in the cards for us, but we told her that we would appreciate her company. We already had plans for dinner as did she, so we kept them. She came over with some Pollo Tropical and sat at our table to have dinner with her daughters. Dad had already started a tomato sauce for our Mexican pizzas that we were going to have for dinner.

After they ate, we all went outside, where the children (our five and her two) played hide-n-seek and chased the dog around the yard. Her older daughter brought out the guitar, and we sang “The Blue Tail Fly” and other songs. Taylor kept bringing us beers from the refrigerator.

Karina and Natalie (Bonnie’s daughters) got acquainted enough with our dog, Isis. Toward the end of the visit, Natalie, 2, was petting the dog.

Dad started a backyard fire. It was small enough to fit in our home made pit. As it got closer to dusk, we brought out the skewers and marshmallows and roasted them in the backyard fire.

Our children were getting really hungry as they hadn’t had dinner yet, so I toasted flour tortillas in the oven and made Mexican pizzas with a side of the pasta and artichoke salad that Dad made for lunch. Bonnie’s daughters had some leftover pasta, and the children all ate together at the table – after Ty led them in grace, of course.

After dinner, we cleaned up, found Karina’s shoes using teamwork and our flashlights, and Bonnie and her daughters went home.

The Saturday before Easter, we went camping in the Everglades…. again. I think this whole camping thing is beginning to be a hobby. So, after Dad had put up the tent, I sat with the children while Dad had some quiet time in the shade.

We played some hand clapping games, and the easiest, funnest one that we played was one where we sat in a circle. We rested our right hand on the left hand of the person to the right of us. On each beat, the right hand slaps the right hand of the person to the left, and the slapping continues around the circle. The song goes, “Down by the lake of the Hanky Pank, where the bullfrog jumps from bank to bank, A-E I O U, your Momma stinks and so do you. Say, Ping pong, Ding dong, Your Daddy smells like King…” And when we’re about to sing, “KONG,” the last person has to be fast enough to slap the neighbor’s hand. But the Neighbor has to be fast enough to take his hand out and get the Last person to slap his own hand.

So anyway, a week later, the children are still singing their favorite part to each other, “Your Momma STINKS!” really loudly.

It’s kinda funny.

“And so do you!” That’s even funnier.