A Family Friday

Today is Marley's birthday; she turns three but a trip to New Orleans for a zoo and aquarium visit turned into a bad case of vomiting, and they returned home after a half day.  That meant that her dad, Adam, could put together the electric jeep that Richard had agreed to build.


 Lane, the only grandson, wanted to come over for his regular "Friday night sleepover," so we convinced Will's family to bring over some chicken for supper.  

Adam quickly enlisted some help with the jeep work and in five minutes the living room became a Jeep production plant with paper, plastic, cardboard, plastic jeep parts, stickers and Marcotte children and grandchildren all over the place.  

They did have some fun playing, figuring out where the stickers go--usually after the sticker had already been applied--and removing parts to put them in right place.  Of course, the directions were sitting on the side, untouched, "cause that's how we roll."  

More than once I noted that I'm rather glad I don't have to work with these engineers.  Richard, in the meantime, who had originally agreed to do the work happening on the floor, found a comfy spot in a corner of the sofa.

Dusti and Alayna helped give directions for the jeep stickers.  Dusti even noted that she probably knew more about how to put the jeep together since it's a Barbie jeep and she's a girl, which makes perfect sense, right?

Stacey and Jolie played on their phones until Jolie realized that the empty box would make a great playhouse.  It didn't take her long to climb in with a pencil, her phone, and a few toys.  As soon as I took out the camera, Jolie began posing for pictures.  She is far from shy and loves to see herself in the camera.

Dusti and Alayna, on the other hand, are both quite shy.  In fact, Dusti's hair and makeup were in "no condition to take pictures" so there are none here of her.  Alayna is at that perfect age: before makeup and hair define a girl's life but past the little girl play.  She's quite happy doing her own thing and mixes with everyone else....or not.

Lane, posing here as "The Thinker," something he discovered he likes to do when we were in Washington, D.C., started the whole jeep endeavor and stayed the course until all the pieces and parts had been applied somewhere.  

That's our thing: every bit has to be used, but not necessarily in the place the directions specify.  In end the jeep looks fine, works like a charm, and everyone has a story to tell.  

That story likely will begin, "Remember that time we put Marley's jeep together at mom's house?" and end in fits of laughter.  That's one of the many things I love about this kooky family: we love to tell stories, laugh at ourselves, and be together.  

Oh, the jeep!  Well, here it is....one piece of pink and purple machinery that will probably need fixing in week or two.  

Not because the engineers did anything wrong, but because they souped it up a bit and Marley is one rough little three year old.  

Besides, she has some pretty big cousins who were quite jealous of Cotton--he got to sit in it for a photo op, although Adam did pick on him for doing so.  Honestly, Cotton doesn't look too thrilled about having to take the picture.  I sometimes think he doesn't like taking pics.

Isn't Will having a bit more fun than he should for someone trying to meet a deadline?  That's him with the huge laugh.  The guy with his head down?  That's Adam, the birthday girl's dad. He had spent the day driving and cleaning up vomit.  Since his little wife is at home with a sick child and expects a fully functional jeep to ready for the big reveal when Marley awakens in the morning, he is trying to be a bit more serious.  Believe me, it's a struggle for him.