A Visit from the Parents

Aaaahhh...I am breathing a sigh of relief right now. At this very moment, my Mom is sitting at our kitchen table, drinking coffee and entertaining the Goombas. Words cannot even begin to describe how happy I am that Zazzy and Papa are here.

When they arrived last night, the house filled with shrieks of joy. And the kids were pretty excited, too. Peach clamored over Zazzy, while Mario and Luigi glued themselves to Papa's sides. At dawn this morning, all three Goombas were standing at their door trying to decide if it would be ok to go wake them up. I, myself, was thinking the same thing.

I love when Zazzy and Papa are here for so very many reasons. The first and foremost is that I miss them so much. When I was young, I couldn't wait to get out of my parents house. College couldn't come fast enough. Then I got married and, sure, I missed them, but there was always the phone and email. Then, the Goombas came. I decided then that, given the chance, I would just move back in with them. I call them three times a day, and I count days in between visits.

A close second, in my favorite things about a visit from the 'rents, is that they LOVE to play with and spend time with the Goombas. Which, in turn, means free time for Mommy! Not that I go out and do anything by myself. But, I actually have my hands free to do things like unload the dishwasher in one fell swoop, rather than having to sneak in a dish here and there throughout the morning. The Goombas love the undivided attention and the fact that Zaz and Pap don't yell as much as their crazy mother.

Some more things that make their visits the happiest of times...
~Zazzy always tackles and destroys Mt. Washmore for me. When she leaves there is not a spot of dirty laundry left in the house. Of course, by the next day, the mountain is piled high again, but for that short, glorious time, there is no laundry to do.

~Papa always does a project for me. You know how you can ask your husband over and over again to hang up that picture in the hallway? And there just never seems to be time to get it done? I save all those projects for my Daddy and he does them with glee. Well, maybe not glee, but he does them and it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to finally see our family portrait from 3 years ago hanging outside my bedroom.

~When my parents are here there is an endless supply of beer and food. I don't have to count points, or cut myself off. The kids also thoroughly enjoy this because in addition to beer and food, this also means there is an endless supply of sugary treats. Which is fine with me. (*See above, RE: they watch the kids)

~We play lots of card games and laugh a LOT. I feel I must tell a story here...
One evening, Bowser, Zazzy, Papa and I were playing a heated game of Phase 10 (if you have never played this game, I highly recommend it) when we started discussing song lyrics. I said, "You know that song, Muskrat Love? How dumb is that? Nibbling on bacon, chewing on cheese? They must have been on crack!" Now, I will preface what is about to happen with the fact that I am notorious for mis-interpreting song lyrics. So, Papa said, "Yeah, right. That is not what they say. It was a really popular song." A friendly argument ensued and so I went to my iPod and played "Muskrat Love," by The Captain and Tenille. (Please, don't ask why I have The Captain and Tenille on my iPod. Maybe it is me that is on crack.) Sure enough, the lyrics belted out, "Nibbling on bacon, Chewin' on cheese..." Papa laughed so hard that he actually fell out of his chair. We laughed so hard at Papa falling out of his chair that Zazzy and I might have pee'd in our pants just a tiny bit. Now it has become tradition, every time we get out the card game, we also have to put "Muskrat Love" on the iPod.

And now, as I am relaxing with my coffee, writing my humble little blog, my Mommy is sweeping my floor and making plans with the Goombas. Papa is holding Peach and letting her pet his beard. Oh happy, happy day! I can tell this is going to be a GREAT weekend! Oooh, look! Beer and donuts for breakfast...I just LOVE when my parents are here!

Cheers!
~Daisy