So we did end up breaking out the paint and construction paper and making Mr. Ashley personalized creations worthy of such a highly esteemed father. It was a total mess and nowhere near as fun as I had hoped it would be. The little kid is wildly enthusiastic about crafts, but is somewhat of a loose cannon. He also had a hard time understanding that our goal was not to paint everything within a 10 foot radius and/or knock the paints over every time I wasn't able to respond with the ninja speed necessary to deter him.
The Big Kid alternated between squishing the paint between his fingers and obsessively washing his hands. He also enjoyed "rinsing" his brush over and over again to make the water cup a different color. Woo-hoo, we know how to party.
As you can see, we ended up making the most kick ass Father's Day cards ever, so it was worth the trouble.The Big Kid did the butterfly. The inside says:
My favorite things to do with daddy:
-Watch cartoons
-Clean up the grass
-Go on the boat
Why do I love daddy?
I don't know. Because I just do.
The little kid did the footprints and the front says:
I hope to follow in your footsteps. The inside says: Happy Father's Day! Thank you for waking up with me and for giving me baths. I love you!
Mr. Ashley was pretty impressed with our efforts. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was uneventful (read: boring and uncomfortable). We went to my parents' house and hung out with my grandpa and my dad's cousin, whose wife has a difficult time with small talk. For the record, I try to make it pretty easy, we don't even have to talk about anything interesting. However, the conversation would flow a lot better if you asked me some questions or at least elaborated on your one sentence answers.
So I spent the day prying nuggets of conversation out of that lump of flesh and chasing the little kid from room to room while everyone else was busy filling awkward silences and since it was Father's Day I couldn't even put Mr. Ashley in charge of him. I had to get up at least once every 10 minutes, it majorly sucked ass. I left the first possible second that it would be even marginally appropriate to do so.
Today I was very productive. I cleaned up the kitchen and....get ready for it....I cleaned my bathroom!! Toilet and everything!! This was enough accomplishment for one day (it really sucked, it was a good reminder of why I don't do it more often) but I also made an awesome dinner:
Chicken Roll-Ups
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tub onion and chive cream cheese, softened
6 slices of bacon (or however many chicken breasts you have)
1 stick of butter, softened
Pound each chicken breast until flat
Place 1 and3/4 tbs of cream cheese on each breast, spread approx 1 tbs butter on top of cream cheese. Roll the chicken, wrap the bacon around it, and secure with toothpicks. Top w/ remaining cream cheese.
In shallow glass dish, bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!
There are Special Olympics participants that are better cooks than I am. I recently had to call my mom to ask her how to boil a hotdog. I'm not kidding. I pretty much hate food, I hate cooking it, I hate seeing it uncooked, I hate defrosting meat, I hate touching meat, I hate looking at meat, I hate cutting things with knives, I'm scared of the oven and the grill, I don't like the mess, I would just rather not. But lately I've been trying more and more and it hasn't been too bad. Tonight's dinner was easy and delicious and I loved pounding the chicken! I didn't have a mallet so I used a pot. I got a little out of control and broke this bowl from Greece and I'm majorly bummed about that, but I'm trying to let it go and move on.
I also bought $400 worth of J Crew dresses (don't get too excited, I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding and had to order two dresses to see which fits better, I did sneak a pair of flip flops in too though) and I PUT THE LITTLE KID TO SLEEP IN HIS OWN ROOM. This is ginormous and I'm not sure how it will go. First time in almost 10 months. My theory was that I'd clean my room tonight but now I'm really thinking I have done plenty for one day. I also cancelled the pool party playdate tomorrow so I can get more done. Or hang out online.
