A Goddess in a Cave in the Woods

33 years ago, my dear hubby was born! We celebrated in a low-key way today. Aaron went to work, went out for lunch with the work team, then came home to a find a “fancy restaurant” at home. Meemaw picked up food from the wonderful German restaurant in downtown Sanford, FL (The Willow Tree – it is awesome!) Then she helped Max become “the server” and he served us dinner. He was adorable – even had a towel on his arm. Yummy food, and so much less stress than eating out at a restaurant.

Presents were limited this year, by choice, as part of our simplified living goals. Max picked out a Star Wars action figure for Daddy, and “helped” Emma choose a laser light strobe keychain. I gave a new Wii game, Big Brain Academy, which is fun and educational for all of us. I also signed Aaron up for the Pencil of the Month Club. Yes, my husband actually collects pencils. He is a pencil fanatic. If you ever need a pencil, you know where to come. And, no, we don’t allow mechanical pencils into the house.

The BEST gift though, by far, was Robot. Robot is, well, a… robot, designed and built by Max, with a bit of help from me. Max came up with the idea all on his own, because “Daddy LOVES robots!” Max had definite ideas about what he wanted in the robot, and many early designs had to be modified (“but Max, Mommy doesn’t KNOW how to make it turn left and walk to the door… sorry, honey, I don’t know how to make it respond to voice commands… no, Max, I don’t think that just putting in a bunch of wires to make a brain will make it walk… Max, Mommy was a liberal arts major.”) Finally, we worked out that Robot was going to be more decorative than practical. But, he still had to have a brain, a head to cover the brain, and, most importantly, Grabber Nabbers. (If you don’t know what a Grabber Nabber is, ask any five-year old.)

We headed to the coolest store to get supplies (specifically, Grabber Nabbers) – Skycraft Surplus! After looking around at the endless glass jars full of teeny light bulbs and bin after bin of coils, springs, motors, cords, wires, solder, and even clip-on sunglasses, we selected a bunch of neat things that looked robot-y. Then, we discussed final design and assembled. The finished product is really awesome, actually. I will try to post a photo of it tomorrow. Needless to say, Aaron was thrilled and Max was totally in his element, explaining and demonstrating all of the Grabber Nabbers. If only Robot could do these birthday dishes….