Charlie came home yesterday and announced, “Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday!  We’re having a party and I need to bring a treat.”

I texted Chris and said, “I need more notice.  No last minute treats.”

She suggested that I get Charlie some beads and tell him to give them only to the kids who lifted up their shirts.  Tempting, really, but probably not.

Charlie’s class celebrated Mardi Gras by eating themselves stupid; at breakfast, he announced, “I’m only having ONE bowl of cereal because we’re going to make PIGS of ourselves today.” He was right; he had cake and brownies and at least one doughnut, and there was something about cookies, too, but it was hard to understand what he was saying because he was jumping around and talking really really fast.

Apparently the whole idea of Fat Tuesday is to create a sugar high that will last the entire forty days until Easter, when it can be renewed by massive quantities of Peeps and Jelly Bellys.

Henry was a little bummed that his class didn’t have a party for Fat Tuesday (because cake! and brownies! and doughnuts! but mostly he just wanted some beads, although no way was he lifting his shirt up) but he made his peace with it because on Friday, his class is in charge of presenting the Stations of the Cross.  And this year, instead of doing one of the readings, Henry is a soldier! with a SPEAR!

Let me say that again: A SOLDER! WITH A SPEAR!!!  God bless Catholic school.

Charlie may have gotten King Cake, but clearly, Jesus loves Henry best.

Today we had an impromptu playdate with my neighbor, and while we were sitting on her porch sipping our Cosmos while the boys all jumped on her trampoline (OMG I LOVE MY NEIGHBORHOOD!!!) I was whining about having to make a SPEAR for heaven’s sake!  I mean, we have a whole basket of SWORDS in our playroom, but NOOOO he has to have a SPEAR!

And she said, “Do you have a broom that unscrews?  You could use the broomstick.  And maybe do a foil thingy on top for a tip.”  And I said, “Geuh?!?”  Because perfect!

After dinner, Henry reminded us that he needed a SPEAR! for Friday, and Wade said, “Do we have a broomstick?  Because we could unscrew the broom part and make a tip out of tinfoil.”  And I said, “Geuh?” because I am surrounded by geniuses.  And then he made a tip for the spear out of a box and some tinfoil and blue masking tape and voila! we’re all ready to observe Lent.

Except that Charlie is saying both that he’s hungry and that his stomach hurts.  I have no idea what that’s all about.  Maybe Jesus knows.