Friday, March 17, 2017

Mr. Musket and Mr. Steven Musket

Wednesday was Clementine's fifth birthday. Every morning for the week leading up to the special day, she would wake up and ask me, "Is it my birthday?"

For six of those seven days, I would have to tell her, "No, not today. Wednesday." Or, "No, not today. Three more days." Then, "Two more days." Until, finally, "YES! It's your birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sweetie-Pie!"

I am currently in my management class learning how to buy furniture on the government's dime before heading out to Jordan. No more shift work. At last, for a few more weeks, until I go back downtown for a few months before we ship out. That means, I get to be home for breakfast and dinner, though I have to head out the door by 8:00 to leave myself enough time to ride my bike to where my class is being held.

I spent most of the day sitting through my procurement class, occasionally receiving updates on how Clementine's day was going. She and Elise went to their new neighborhood lunch spot, Mike's Deli for philly cheesesteaks and pinball. Only the pinball machine was turned off, much to everyone's chagrin.

When I got home from work, I found everyone in the backyard, playing in the snow that had fallen the day before. After temps that reached almost 80 degrees in February, we received a few inches of late-March snow and mercury cold enough to keep it on the ground a few days (it's still too icy for me to ride my bike to work).

Clementine had requested an apple pie for her birthday, so when I opened the back door to the kitchen, I was immediately greeted by the aroma of baking cinnamon and spices. A few moments later, Elise would unveil a bubbling pie from the oven. The kids soon followed me into the house. Clementine has also requested sushi for her birthday dinner, and Elise was originally going to run by Whole Foods and buy some sushi and potstickers for dinner, but a neighbor stopped by in the afternoon with a present for Clementine, and after they all sat down for tea and before she knew it, it was time to run down to the corner to pick up the boys at the bus stop. We momentarily contemplated running to a small, cozy Japanese restaurant nearby, but no one could vouch as to its quality, so we decided to order pizza instead.

As we waited for the pizza to arrive, Clementine got to open her presents. She was visibly quaking with excitement, unable to physically hold still she was so excited.

Once the pizza arrived, we all sat down at the table and began inhaling the cardboard-like pizza. As the calories, carbs, and sugars began to hit Pete's bloodstream, he filled with energy and began his nightly comedy routine. Dinner manners are quickly set aside (despite our best efforts) as Peter breaks into stand-up. He finds himself hilarious. Fortunately, so do his brother and sister. One night, he told us about two teachers at his school, Mr. Musket and Mr. Steven Musket.

"Are they brothers?" I asked.

He said they were. One was a P.E. teacher and the other was a science teacher.

After dinner, the nightly struggle of getting them from the dinner table to the bath or shower began. We would put a candle in the pie and sing Clementine happy birthday once everyone had run through the rain locker.

Peter and I were goofing off in the hallway outside the bathroom. I was helping him take off his socks while he was pretending to pee on my head. It was actually pretty funny. We were all laughing when Peter walked naked into the bathroom, stepped into the shower, pulled the shower curtain closed behind him and fell.