In our family, I am the "serious" one. The kids, upon adoption, immediately inherited Dominick's Funny Bone and they all along with Dominick are a total crack up. They also love slapstick-esque humor, which I actually just can't get into no matter how hard I try to enjoy it with all the rest of my clan.
Yesterday though, I found myself laughing harder almost the entire day than I ever recall laughing, and I do mean non-stop. In fact, despite the chaos and travel of the week prior, this entire week (and it's not over yet, folks!) has been made of the little things that make a life truly happy. Silly stuff, like this:
It's not the big things, it's the little things that kids remember. We try never to forget that because it helps keep things in perspective. It's woodworking and hiking with Mr. Steve, it's baking cookies with Miss Lael, it's sleepovers and Chick Flick nights with Miss Jill...and so much more...that will be recalled about their childhood with fondness. It will not ever be "Remember when mom and dad bought us...?" that will bring a smile to a 40 year old Kenny's face, but I'll bet you a million bucks that laughter will ensue when they all get together as fifty-somethings and joke about trying to trick Mr. Chuck with a trivia question, and how he threw one right back at them as a challenge.
Here we were this week, with a borrowed food dehydrator and our first attempts at making dried fruits and beef jerkey. Josh has decided he is a total beef jerky fiend in pursuit of the finest marinade. The banana chips didn't go over so well, the strawberries were a total hit! Olesya oversalted the second batch of jerky to the point that even the dog turned her nose up at it :-) That's OK, it's a learning process, and we had some jerky marinated in teriyaki sauce that was gone in 12 seconds!
I have a feeling we might end up trying to buy a dehydrator. All the kids have really enjoyed it and are wanting to try all sorts of things with it!
Yesterday, the Fourth of July, we took part in another time honored tradition for all candidates, as we worked again on the campaign of our candidate, Greg Thornton. We were asked if we wanted to be in the parade and carry banners and flags, so Team LaJoy morphed into Team Greg for the morning! It was hot, humid, and fun!
Oh my goodness, he is the single most hilarious guy I have ever seen. All of us were totally rolling on the floor over him. He does stand up and musical parodies with the funniest lyrics ever. Those my age and older will recognize tons of oldies from our youth, and he does a darn good imitation of many of the original artists as he changes their lyrics. His humor is sort of along the lines of Bill Cosby, although I find him even funnier. What I loved most was he was totally, completely clean. It made me stop and think about how few times we can watch something that all of us will enjoy these days, that we don't have to watch for every nasty word or sex scene.
Yesterday though, I found myself laughing harder almost the entire day than I ever recall laughing, and I do mean non-stop. In fact, despite the chaos and travel of the week prior, this entire week (and it's not over yet, folks!) has been made of the little things that make a life truly happy. Silly stuff, like this:
Our Pastor and friend came over Sunday evening to display her talent for chocolate sauce creation. As you can tell, she had a crowd anxiously awaiting the final taste test!
It's not the big things, it's the little things that kids remember. We try never to forget that because it helps keep things in perspective. It's woodworking and hiking with Mr. Steve, it's baking cookies with Miss Lael, it's sleepovers and Chick Flick nights with Miss Jill...and so much more...that will be recalled about their childhood with fondness. It will not ever be "Remember when mom and dad bought us...?" that will bring a smile to a 40 year old Kenny's face, but I'll bet you a million bucks that laughter will ensue when they all get together as fifty-somethings and joke about trying to trick Mr. Chuck with a trivia question, and how he threw one right back at them as a challenge.
Here we were this week, with a borrowed food dehydrator and our first attempts at making dried fruits and beef jerkey. Josh has decided he is a total beef jerky fiend in pursuit of the finest marinade. The banana chips didn't go over so well, the strawberries were a total hit! Olesya oversalted the second batch of jerky to the point that even the dog turned her nose up at it :-) That's OK, it's a learning process, and we had some jerky marinated in teriyaki sauce that was gone in 12 seconds!
Olesya's eating as many banana slices as are going in the tray! Haha!
LaJoy Men will NOT go into adulthood without being able to at least cook up a
mean jerky for a hot date!!! :-)
Yesterday, the Fourth of July, we took part in another time honored tradition for all candidates, as we worked again on the campaign of our candidate, Greg Thornton. We were asked if we wanted to be in the parade and carry banners and flags, so Team LaJoy morphed into Team Greg for the morning! It was hot, humid, and fun!
Getting ready for the parade!
I think the kids would have done the parade just for the chance to wear the silly hats!
It was unfortunate that the kids also learned another valuable lesson. During the parade, there were folks who actually "boo'd' simply because Greg is a Democrat. We live in largely Republican territory, I am a staunch Independent, and Dominick is a Republican. The "boo's" led to a long conversation about what the Fourth of July and America stand for...freedom of speech, as well as the right to have representative government. We talked in depth about negative campaigning, and how it degrades the entire political conversation when folks prefer to point out the negatives of the opponent rather than focusing on what they see as the positives of their own positions.
Angela saw a friend in the crowd, and knowing that family's positions I told her "You just might have lost a friend over this." I was quite proud of her when she said "Then she isn't a friend in the first place. We shouldn't have to agree on everything to be friends. That's one of the things wrong in the world, that we can't agree to disagree without hating each other."
It was extremely hot, so we all went home to cool off for a few hours before heading off to a friend's house for a BBQ. Dominick was in the parade for work as well, so we were all in need of a break. We got home, closed the blinds and cranked up the swamp cooler. Then I ended up spending the next hour and a half laughing so hard I thought I'd die. Seriously. We had heard of the Christian comedian Tim Hawkins before, but I had only heard outtakes of his shows. Angela asked about him so we looked him up on YouTube, and found a taped version of one of his entire shows.
Oh my goodness, he is the single most hilarious guy I have ever seen. All of us were totally rolling on the floor over him. He does stand up and musical parodies with the funniest lyrics ever. Those my age and older will recognize tons of oldies from our youth, and he does a darn good imitation of many of the original artists as he changes their lyrics. His humor is sort of along the lines of Bill Cosby, although I find him even funnier. What I loved most was he was totally, completely clean. It made me stop and think about how few times we can watch something that all of us will enjoy these days, that we don't have to watch for every nasty word or sex scene.
Here is a link to his show we watched, I guarantee you it will be the funniest hour and a half you have ever watched:
And here is a little taste of him, one that had Dominick laughing really hard:
Thus began the LaughFestFourth! Later, after a brief storm arrived and swept through the area almost canceling plans, we went over for a late afternoon gathering with many of our favorite people in the world. Despite the fact it was cool, the kids had an enormous water fight, where Olesya was The Queen and it was that water that occupied her almost the entire evening!
You Go Girl!!
We played games all evening...shuffle board, horseshoes, and a Loncar Family Special...Poop The Potato! Oh my goodness, what a sight that was!
Everyone had so much fun, and came home exhausted. It was definitely an old fashioned Fourth of July, filled with friendship, laughter, hot dogs and apple pie and all the good things of life. I hope yours was as terrific as ours was!
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