Things Heard

The Mister took the Boy for lunch at a "quick service" spot. (Ew.) Then the pair headed off to clean out Don's desk at the Mother Ship. His last day with the company where he has toiled for the past decade arrives soon, and he did not want to cart a box o' stuff home when he goes in for his exit activities. We will celebrate the end of this era by resuming the 2nd Friday Potluck after its holiday hiatus in December.
Since the guys were off to do their stuff without any female companionship, it seemed like a good opportunity for a Girlie Day Out. Into the Mom-mobile and down the road for Erin, Kate, and I. We pulled in to pick up lunch at a deli before choosing to cruise the clearance bins at a handful of retailers. The girls talked non-stop. As in, "without cease". After four hours, Katie came up for air declaring, "Wow! I am really talking a lot today!" Uh-huh. True of both girls, and proof of how needed this time and attention was for each of them.
Not that there were not attempts made, or that they did not receive a share of negative attention. Case in point, the gingerbread sanatorium of '08, which ended well enough with the munching and crunching of gingerbread. Still, the Mister and I thought perhaps we should try to divide and conquer our kids' needs so we could avoid calling a halt on their fun due to the still oppressive arguing. Because that "quality time" thing tends to happen somewhere in the midst of "quantity time".
While the girls talked, and talked, and talked something rare was occurring elsewhere. The Boy actually came unplugged and had his nose out of a book long enough to talk to Don. Whoo-Hoo! Teen Boy and Dad bonding that does not involve any sort of scout commitment, the great outdoors, or athletics--- who knew that was even possible?! Evan was as much of a chatterbox as his female counterparts. Don and I were both glad for the time shared with the assorted no-longer-wee-ones, and there was a bonus benefit of no memorable arguing amongst the younger members of the clan right up to bedtime. Ahhhhh.