Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Messy Moments....Spaghetti Please?

Left to right, My sis, Cousin1, Cousin2 & Me




Me and my cousins when we were much younger. I'm in the back corner.

Okay, so when I was younger my family moved around quite a bit. Home is where your family is, right? Well, that was Mom and Dad's motto anyway... Mom joined the military when I was in Jr. high and we ended up living in 4 different states within two years. (Not ideal in a teenybopper's mind ;-) but that's another topic :) ) One of the states we moved to was Michigan where she grew up. Well, for a short time my Aunt and Uncle were so gracious to us and let our family of four move in while we were getting situated. They had a son and daughter close to mine and my sister's ages and we got along pretty well (for the most part). I remember their family was very tidy and my family...umm...kinda like a tornado at times...my poor relatives... Well, as with any house guests things get turned upside down sometimes. This was one of those nights...My aunt and uncle were working late and my mom made us all some spaghetti for dinner. At the time I was twelve, my cousin was 11, the other cousin was 10 and my sis was 9 and for some odd reason we didn't want to eat our dinner. Seriously? Are we 5?  Well who knows why, I don't know maybe we snuck a snack earlier, I really don't remember. So my dad (who is like a tornado himself...love ya Daddy!) decided to create a way to get us to eat without us realizing it...pretty sneaky I must say. (Now that I'm a mom of 3, I totally appreciate this) So anyway, Dad decided we all had to have a contest. WHO was going to get the messiest face while slurping their spaghetti. You'd think we'd all have thought we were too cool for something so childish...NOT. Sooo... game on! And let me tell ya...we didn't just get spaghetti on our faces. Each of us took our noodles and rubbed them in as much sauce as possible and slurped as rudely and as messily as possible. Sauce was everywhere! On the table, on the walls, on the floor, on our clothes I'm sure...and my poor parents had to clean it up (hey, they brought it on themselves). So finally through giggles and laughter and spaghetti sauce there was a cheater in our midst. My little sis was rubbing her face in her plate when we all weren't looking...and the cheating began! Now it was a fight to the finish...there were many little hands full of spaghetti shoving in faces. But the funny thing was, it wasn't a food fight, it was self destruction at work. Insane! Sauce was really everywhere this time...and the kitchen was filled with laughter and competition (us Baileys/Croswaits don't give up easily). Talk about quality family time! :) WAIT! STOP! In walks my dear Aunt with a look that tells it all...utter shock and amazement. Mind you, it wasn't like she was walking in to a kitchen with preschoolers, where messy faces were a norm. (I should know, I teach two year olds). No. We were between 9 and 12 and way past that stage of life. I can only imagine what she was thinking since we were used to having 'good' table manners. One night away and all heck breaks loose?! She asked what happened and my cousin filled her in and she laughed, but I'm sure it wasn't what she expected to walk in on. (btw she's awesome, I love my aunt) Well, after all that, my dad's sneaky plan worked. We went from barely touching dinner to having two plates full each. Ingenious. After reminiscing about this story it makes me think of my own kids. Sometimes I get so worked up myself in teaching them table manners that I forget to enjoy the little moments. I need to remember, having a great time and making a memory is what counts. I don't have a ton of significant memories from dinners growing up, but that dinner I will never forget and I will always look back on fondly. It was a great time with my parents and my cousins that I'd never give back...as silly as it was. So make a messy memory with your family today!

I received information about Clorox’s Bleach It Away campaign and am sharing my messy moment for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls. To learn more about the messy moment program, check out www.BleachItAway.com. Sharing your story on the Clorox fan page gets you entered for the chance to win $25,000 and daily prizes, and you can grab a coupon for Clorox® Regular Bleach.

6 comments:

  1. AHHH YES! I remember that "moment". I was the Aunt that walked in on the mess! I also remember the spaghetti on the walls! My kids also still remember their Uncle and how he got them to eat their dinner. I also agree with you Jess...take time to cherish each moment. Each one is precious! Thanks for the memory!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will never forget the look on your Aunt Nan's face when she walked in on the "mess!" "Oops." LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh I am so glad I clicked through to read this. It is so very funny. My hubs is from Michigan; he is the oldest of six and there were other large families full of cousins - I don't know if there was ever a messy spaghetti-fest like this but I can only imagine they made their share of messes!! Thanks for sharing these memories!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Paula! Thanks for reading :) Mom is one of 5 so yeah, good size family :) I'm sure in a large family like that, messy moments are inevitable. Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just remember Sam cheating when we weren't looking :) lol so funny!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for stoppin by Aunt Nan! It was a fun night, though I'm sure you "loved" cleaning up after us ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...