My hard-earned weekend

What better way to relax after a long week of work than an 8:30 a.m. game of Candyland?

My body has grown accustomed to waking up early, actually. My eyes popped open at 7 this morning and refused to close again. This is probably also because I have been going to bed every night at 10:30, tempted to fuss at my neighbors and demand that they keep that racket down.

I am so good at being a grown up.

My uncle picked me up yesterday morning, and when we got to Virginia, we went straight to Philip’s football game. As soon as I found my spot on the sidelines, a man walked up behind me and asked if I could tell him how to get to Mandeville. … I turned around and saw my dad.

Every time I visit my cousins now, I’m going to expect to see family members here to surprise me.

I have spent much of the weekend playing Thumb War. Philip’s thumbs are double-jointed so his Thumb War skills are quite exceptional. The games actually are quite challenging for me.

Another current fad for my cousins is calling things. As we drive somewhere, if you see a car you like, you simply call it. Then, as easy as that, it belongs to you and you may forever brag about the car you so proudly own in your imagination. (Although we usually forget within minutes what car we have just called. Instead, we move on and call new things.)

On the way home from church today, our calling got out of hand.

Philip: I call that haircut shop!

Zac: I call that bank!

Me: I call that statue!

Dad: I call that bulldozer!

Three-year-old Luke: I call that slingshot!!!!!

Slingshot? I don’t see a slingshot.

Philip: No, Luke, that’s a telephone wire.

Luke seemed equally pleased to call the telephone wire.

Today was Philip’s birthday party, which featured caramel apples, Capture the Flag, huge bumblebees and a piñata. After each kid took a few swings at the piñata, they drew some fascinating conclusions.

Kid #1: Man, I think this piñata is made of some kind of metal.

Kid #2, very wisely: It must be made of steel.

As the kids continued their futile swinging at the block of steel, I stayed on the sidelines, dodging bees.

Anyway, I go back to work on Tuesday. (I am eagerly awaiting my business cards!) I will probably spend this week as I spent the last – come home from work, eat dinner, sit in the library with my book and a hot chocolate and don't move until I’m ready for bed. It’s paradise, really.

For those of you who care, I’m reading American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. And I can’t stop. Please read it too, so we can discuss it.

My Internet situation should improve in the near future, so I will try to blog more. I really, truly apologize for any boredom I may have caused you.