More About the Secret Agent Family in the Burgh

I wasn't able to do a proper post regaling the majesty that is Secret Agent Mama's kids last night as I was knee deep in the crud that Mr. Husband was piling up all over the place as he dug himself into the world's deepest hole. As his parents have been known to read this here blog, I won't completely humiliate him, but rather just say that he found himself quite the bulldozer last night and dug real deep. The fact that he was a putz and didn't even manage to call his Dad to say happy birthday was the LEAST of his transgressions.

Anyway.

Happy birthday, Dad! Love ya!

Ahem.

A few weeks ago Mishi emailed me to let me know that during her grand voyage, she would be passing through Pittsburgh and did I want to meet for a few minutes over coffee or something? I am no fool, so of course I was all Where? When? Yes, Please! I gave her my top secret cell phone number (seriously, like 10 people have that number which is good because I never answer it) and anticipated her call yesterday afternoon.

When she did call, it was to say she thought she was perhaps an hour away. Or at least, that's what I think she said because there was much noise and giggling and goofiness going on in the background. You see, she and four, yes FOUR, kids had been in the car for about 13 hours at that point. As we made our arrangements to go the route of McDonald's (so that the kids could run around and rediscover the joys of using their legs for something other than kicking the seat in front of them), I admittedly thought to myself that Mishi must be a little bit coo-coo. In my defense, who in their right mind spends over 17 hours in the car with four kids INTENTIONALLY? Exactly.

So Alexis and I pulled into McDonald's and were greeted by, quite simply, some of the most outgoing, sweet, and polite kids I've ever met. I think we've already established that I am a crazed lunatic about manners, so it was a joy to meet kids who all said 'please' and 'thank you' and were nice to one another. Seriously. I think those kids actually like each other. And the polite? Oh, it made me swoon. I very nearly fell over when I heard one of them refer to Mishi as Ma'am. That is the stuff dreams are made of right there.

Of course, she may have paid them all to pretend to be good kids, or maybe it was all part of some crazy version of Punk'd where kids act wonderfully while cameras capture people's reactions of awe and amazement. If so, Ashton is gonna' love some of my facial expressions.

After not nearly long enough, the Secret Agent Family had to pile back in their car so they could complete the last four hours of their journey. It was most certainly fun to meet them.

Thanks, Mishi, for stopping in my 'hood!

When Secret Agents Pass Through the Burgh

Look who I got to meet today:

Random Tales and Stuff

- Because my life is awesome, this morning when I went into Alexis' room, Perc was missing (again). I found him in the filters (again). He decided he would leap for joy (again). BUT! This time I was prepared. I slapped the lid to the tank down so fast the dang fish bounced off the lid with a loud thud and then ricocheted back into the water. He's probably feeling a bit woozy after the whole fiasco, but at least he didn't end up with a fur coat.

- Alexis has discovered the joy of those stupid little quarter machines in stores. I'm OK with it because for 50 cents, I can shop in peace while she plays with whatever random toy I choose for her (this isn't a democracy, she isn't getting candy, tattoos, or slime out of those machines until she's old enough to know that snorting slime will not end well). Today's choice was a little bitty Winnie the Pooh. It was a good choice because it led to many amusing Toddlerisms.

"Mommy, I eat Pooh!"

"Where's Pooh?"

"My Pooh is lello." ("lello" is Toddler for "yellow.")

"Pretty Pooh!"

Yes, I am a 13-year old boy for laughing at each and every one of those. And then encouraging her to say them again. And again.

- A couple of people requested photos of the new 'do. The problem is that there is nothing new about the 'do. It looks exactly the same as it has for the past eight years. You can just refer to the About page for a photo. Yup, I still look exactly like that. The Toddler, on the other hand, has grown approximately too many inches in the year since that photo was taken.