In elementary school, sometimes our teachers would make us put our heads down on our desks. Sometimes it was punishment…okay it was always punishment even when it wasn’t meant to be because that is just not a natural position to maintain for more than a few minutes. Who thought of this bright idea? Did a teacher one day look out at her students, find them a bit sleepy looking and think, “Hey, if I force them to hunch over and put the bowling-ball-weight of their heads on a nice, hard desktop, my students will really thank me!”

Last weekend, Anya and I went to Tennessee to visit our BFFs, Kimmie and Catie. They normally live far, far away over the sea, but every year or so they get to come back to the land of Chuck E. Cheese…where a kid can be a kid.

Can you believe that Kimmie and Catie were born in August?? It is true. I told you, August rocks for birthdays. We were lucky enough to be in TN for Kim’s birthday, and after a day at the mall buying Anya and Catie matching outfits and ransacking the clearance shelves at Gymboree and the Disney Store, we went to the restaurant where the dude in the tall hat waves around sharp knives and cooks things on the table. There were flames that tried to melt Cinderella and wooden clubs being tossed at little girls and a boy that slept through (almost) everything.

We spent a lot of time in the hotel pool. Catie worked on her jumping.

Kimmie worked on trying to keep the camera away…and failed.

I didn’t have a suit, so I hopped in with my clothes on. Anya sat on the edge and splashed with her feet. Every now and then, I’d race over, grab her, and carry her around in the pool. We played “keep away” with an invisible ball, learned how well crocs float, and ran away when the sun burned up all the shady spots in the water.

What trip to TN with K & C would be complete without a trip to Cracker Barrel? The last time I’d been was with Kimmie and Catie, and Catie was in a high chair. Anya ate two eggs, two pieces of bacon, and a bowl of grits, and the clouds parted and angels sang.

The last event of the weekend was to visit the Children’s Museum in the place where they made The Bomb. Alas, my camera batteries ran out part of the way through. I shoved Kimmie out of the way and stole her camera, but she said I can’t have any of the pictures until I remove the picture of her in the pool from the blog. I did manage to get a photo of Anya in some of the dress up clothes the museum had. They were mostly too big for her, and we picked a great mix of things….boy’s shirt…girl’s underskirt thingy….straw hat partially eaten by a goat.

It was a fabulous weekend, and when we got home we crashed and didn’t wake up for three days (no, I had work the next day). Too bad Kc wasn’t there. Next time!

August is a big birthday month around Loafkeeper Farm. (Can we still call it a “farm” when there are only two chickens and not much of anything planty growing besides weeds?) I think August is the best month for birthdays. Anya sure messed up.

For my birthday, I requested Andy make me a rainbow cake. Andy has never liked making birthday cakes, and every year I have to do lots of whining to convince him the horror of cake making is less than that of my whining. So, I’d sent him the link to the rainbow cake, and he’d purchased the pack of fancy-schmancy food coloring, and he decided to get started one hot August day when Anya and I were taking a nap. He was doing okay, when out in the kitchen I heard such a clatter that I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Well, no, I really didn’t because I knew what the matter was: Andy was making a birthday cake. There was banging and cursing and the sound of things being tossed about. It was really quite impressive.

After nap time, Anya and I emerged and I went to go find my cake. Poor little cake. It was so sad and mangled looking. The top layer was held together by frosting and a prayer, and there was no frosting on the outside of the cake…just between the layers. Andy later told me he’d run out of frosting. I wanted to take a photo of it, but Andy wouldn’t let me. He did, however, allow a slice of cake to be photographed. I think the colors are fabulous…and it tasted fantastic. (Even better after it’d been frozen.)

Kenny’s birthday is also in August. I made him a card, and I liked it so much I wanted to keep it and play with it, but I couldn’t find a charger for it.

Andy’s birthday is next (at least in the family), but he doesn’t like cake or small, hand-held video game devices. Whatever will I do?

Today I learned how to crochet, how to light a BBQ grill, and how to fill a squirt gun with a turkey baster.