Mama On The Move

We have discovered the best BBQ in the world...... It's at Pappy's Smokehouse in St Louis.  I've had a lot of BBQ in my life.  I grew up in the south and I used to go to the Big Pig Jig every year.  I spent four years in North Carolina where we learned that BBQ can be vinegar based instead of tomato based.  The first time we tried it, we thought it was spoiled, but we gained an appreciation for vinegar based BBQ while we were there. Don't be alarmed by the decor. And don't be intimidated by the line.  When we arrived we were pleased to fine only one person waiting ahead of us in line. Then we discovered that we were only at the head of the line waiting to get inside to get in line .  The first time we ate there, we made it to the inside line in about five minutes.  The second time we ate there, we waited about thirty minutes to get to the inside line.  It just depends on how busy they are, but truly the lines moved fairly quickly. When

Kerry gets up to exercise at 4:30 am several days a week.  I know, he's crazy. He has a workout area set up in the basement, right next to Ben's bedroom.  This isn't generally an issue  because 1) Ben is usually at college during the week and Kerry doesn't get up as early on the weekends when Ben is home and 2) Ben is a rock solid sleeper and doesn't wake up before noon even if the fire alarm is going off, much less if someone is merely exercising nearby. Now that Ben is in college and in charge of his own schedule he often stays up until 2:00 in the morning playing on his computer which in turn makes him sleep extra late the next day.  He tells me regularly that he is "technically an adult", a statement which makes me roll my eyes so far back in my head I can see the back of my skull some days.  Most adults don't stay up all night playing games and then sleep in until lunch, but whatever.  He makes good grades, hasn't formed a drug habit, does

We have a "chore jar" in our house.  It contains slips of paper on which are written lots of little oddball chores that don't get done on regular basis: scrub around the handles of all the faucets on all the sinks; clean every light switch, etc.  There are also some goofy ones:  give Daddy a head massage and tell him how much you appreciate him; get out of chore free but consider this a warning, etc.  When the kids forget to clean up after themselves and I have to tell them to do it, they have to pull a chore from the chore jar. Emily has an amazing knack for pulling the slips that are goofy instead of pulling a slip with an actual chore.  This week, she pulled the slip of paper which had "write a song about cleaning the house and perform it for your family" on it. Here is her contribution to the musical cleaning industry:

Miss Katie eyeballing a frog leg. Miss Katie actually eating a frog leg! That girl's got gumption!

We recently decided to go check out the Missouri Botanical Garden.  I wasn't sure the girls would enjoy it.  Looking at plants just doesn't hold the same appeal as going to ride roller coasters.  But Emily had been on a field trip to a botanical garden with her Biology classmates and had actually been pestering us to take her again.  So off we went! One of the first things you see when you walk in is this amazing glass sculpture hanging thingy.  It is incredible.  The bottom portion is clear glass.  It gets bluer (more blue?) as it goes until the top is made completely of  deep blue glass.  It looks like a giant plant.  The clear part is the root under ground and the blue part is the flower.  At least that's what it looked like to me. Close-up of the "roots" Even closer close-up of the roots. Even if you are not huge fan of plants, there are plenty of other things to see there. Like these sculptures! And even these cool glass

 Ben just finished up a production of "Little Shop of Horrors".  He played Mr Mushnik, the man who owns the flower shop.  This is one of my favorite musicals!  I made the kids watch it years ago because I think it's hilarious.  Emily and Katie both thought it was more horrifying than hilarious although now that Emily is older she finds it funny.  Katie plugged her ears through portions of the show.  She doesn't think a giant man-eating plant is amusing. Warning:  While there are plenty of photos of the entire show, I am frankly mostly only sort-of probably interested in the ones that contain my personal child whom I produced after seventeen hours of labor.  I think there were other people in the play too, but I don't know any of them, so the following pics are mostly just because Ben is in them:  And....having said that - here's one without Ben in it.  Mr Mushnik and Seymour The guy who played Seymour was very good. But Ben was awe