So Girl Next Door comes over today while I'm in the playroom with the boys assembling a LEGO steam roller for Jake. She lays around on the floor quietly waiting for their attention. Grampy calls on the phone and she seizes the opportunity to whisk them out of the room while I'm distracted. They go downstairs to color and I'm pleased that Jake is participating and everyone is getting along. I come down after my phone call and then Parker and GND go upstairs to play Alvin and the Chipmunks. Jake does not follow.
After a while Jake says he's going up to see what they're doing. I hear him say, "Can I Play?" GND says, "Yes, but (I'm assuming to Parker she says,) don't let him see us kiss!" SAY WHAT?!?!
I walk over to the bottom of the stairs and eavesdrop. I hear GND telling Jake that they're playing wedding. So I walk up halfway and catch Parker and GND in the hallway and I ask them what they're doing. They say they're playing Alvin and the Chipmunks. Uh-huh, what else, I ask. GND says, "nothing, come on Parker." Um excuse me, I'm talking to my kid, don't tell him come on!. WTF? So I tell Parker to come downstairs. I asked him what they're doing. He finally chokes out that they're playing wedding and they're pretending to get married. They're pretend boyfriend/girlfriend. I said, "Are you kissing??" He said, "'GND' just kisses the top of my head and we hug." "Yeah, no, that needs to stop. You don't need to be doing any of that. And keep the door open!!", I said. "Ok Mom!", and he runs back upstairs.
Obviously my five year old boy did not conjure up this game of make believe. This hussy is sneaky! I do not like it! I come downstairs to think about all the reasons and ways that this situation is so not cool.
The game ends and they come back down to play Wii. Have I mentioned that GND has been here for three hours with no check-in from her parents? Yeah, that's how it works. Nice, huh? Suddenly, Parker comes into the kitchen and bursts into tears. What happened??, I ask. He crawls into my lap and buries his face in my neck and says, "'GND' said she thinks my Mii is ugly!!" Ugh. "Oh buddy, that wasn't very nice, was it? Does that hurt your feelings?", I asked. "Uh-huh. Riddle me this, Mom...when you say something not nice Santa is listening and she's not gonna get a present for Christmas now!" Whoa. Riddle me this? Santa? His wheels are spinning. Still not sure what to say yet, I just rubbed his back and told him I was sorry. He said, "It's not nice when she tells me what to do all the time." I said, "Well, that's probably why she and Jake don't get along, bc Jake doesn't tolerate being told what to do. That's not fun for him so he'd rather play with me or by himself and that's ok! You don't have to do any of the things she wants you to do." He said, "But she told me that if I don't she'll never play with me again!" Mother Fu..... I said, "Well, why would you want to be friends with someone that's so bossy anyway? That's not very fair of her don't you think? She shouldn't be threatening you like that. It's not very nice" He said, "I don't think she is very nice." I asked him if he wanted me to tell her the playdate was over and he said yes. So I kicked her ass to the curb and went back to console my heart broken baby. I tried to explain to him that sometimes it shouldn't matter what other people think. As long as you like your Wii and you're proud of it then that's all that matters. You know better than to say hurtful things to people and I'm sorry she hurt your feelings. He just cried and hugged me and said that I'm his best friend :( He was SO affected. I couldn't believe it. I don't know if her opinion really meant something to him or he was just surprised she would say something like that to him. He was so distraught though. My poor thing. I am seriously going to struggle if/when some 16 year old that thinks she's got the world figured out and her sh*t don't stink treats my boys in any way that hurts them. How will this Mama Bear not pounce?!
Do bears pounce.....?
My apologies for how wickedly unhappy he looks here. I don't even remember why he looks this way, but Parker in the background is pretty funny! Anyway, he made a sock puppet by taping lego pieces to make a face. 
Stringing popcorn and macaroni noodle necklaces. Of course they ate more than they strung. Is that a word? 
Jake constructed vehicles out of tupperware, jewelry boxes, crayons, pencils, tape and legos....etc 
We did a Home Depot workshop where they built and painted moving trucks. That was awesome 
And here's a drawing of Cousin Tate flowboarding that we sent to him at sleep away camp. I wish we had done more crafty things, but I'm not gonna lie, I prefered leaving the house and going somewhere than staying home to do such things. Oh well. We still had a great and memorable summer.
