Last Saturday (7-6-13) was the Peters Family Reunion. This is a reunion on Ronnie's paternal grandfather's side that they put on every other year. Lately they've been having it at Brackenridge State Park on Lake Texana. They cater dinner, people bring desserts and items for the silent auction and white elephant game.
We met Paw Paw (Grandpa Simicek) and Grandma (Great Grandma Simicek) there. We were late and they had already started serving dinner. While in line, Mellie noticed a carton of donuts and kept asking me for one. I said no. Ronnie has created a little donut monster. I made us both plates and went and sat down.
Mellie began cutting her bread with the plastic knife and LJ was screaming, so I made him a bottle while Ronnie ate. We switched off about halfway through so I could eat. Mellie was eating her pickles and buttered potatoes and playing with her steak. Next thing I know, SPLASH! Mellie had knocked over my iced tea. My first thought was relief that it wasn't me that knocked over, which is usually the case. We cleaned up the mess and finished eating. I was surprised Mellie wasn't interested in dessert, just the watermelon.
After dinner, everyone is catching up, bidding on items, taking pictures, etc. Mellie discovers an auction item that is a bunch of toys - kid sized chair, ball, bubble gun, slip n slide, etc. Mellie immediately starts referring to it as "my toys." That was the beginning of the end. Entirely too soon, the bidding is up to $45, with $40 being my top bid. I really didn't want to spend anymore, and Mellie was still calling them "My toys!" Grandma Simicek leans over and whispers to me that she will pitch in another $10, so I bid up to $50 and start stalking the auction.
While I am stalking the silent auction (and I have a LOT of experience doing that -- just ask Ronnie!) they start doing the prizes for youngest/oldest, longest married, farthest traveled, etc. I had JUST managed to get Paw Paw to take LJ (let's face it, being able to pass the baby between more family members than just me and Ronnie is the most exciting part about being around family) when he wins "youngest boy." Paw Paw immediately gives LJ back to me and I take him up to the front, introduce him, and accept the gift - a Thomas the Train folding chair which I KNOW will immediately become Mellie's. We are all familiar with the toddler rules of possession.
Finally, it was time for the white elephant game. For those of you who are not familiar, this is when everyone brings a gift, usually it is wrapped or otherwise disguised, and everyone draws numbers for the order that they get to select a gift. If you see something you like, you can "steal" it and there is usually a max amount of steals. In this case, it was only two. We brought three gifts, so me, Ronnie, and Mellie all drew numbers. They had more numbers than people who wanted to play, so LJ almost played as well. Mellie takes a seat next to Ronnie and LJ in her new folding chair.
Of course, Mellie drew the lowest number of the three of us -- 12. Around 8 or 10, someone picked the birdhouse I had put in a bag with tissue paper earlier that morning - while Mellie watched. She saw the lady pick the gift and open it, and kept telling me "Mommy, my present!" So, when it was her turn, I thought she would pick it back (much to my dismay - I was trying to get rid of it). Fortunately, I was able to convince her to select a giant tootsie pop that an older lady had selected and was very glad to give up. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble keeping Mellie from opening it up in case someone wanted to steal from her (even though I doubted this would happen). I also didn't want to deal with her and a giant lollipop (later I learned that it actually contains 10 regular tootsie pops, but I didn't know that at the time). No one actually steals it from her, but I didn't want to take the chance.
The next thing I notice, Mellie is running to me at full speed from the other side of the circle, gift bag with the birdhouse in tow. Everyone there starts laughing. I quickly chastise her and we walk back to the woman and give her the gift bag. Mellie gets very upset, so I ask the woman if we can just have the bag and tissue paper. She agrees, and Mellie happily brings her bag back to our seats.
Mellie disappears for a while, I know she is over by Paw Paw and Grandma Simicek who are not playing. I don't really think anything about it. After a while, she comes back with a prize - a fresh pull up from the diaper bag, one with Sulley from Monsters Inc on it (the most coveted of the pull ups). Ronnie whispers to me that I better go change her. I blow him off, but sure enough, moments later she pulls her dress up and goes to pull her diaper off. I leapt out of my chair, grab her, and RUN to the restroom. Everyone is laughing good naturedly, but I was MORTIFIED.
So, in the bathroom, I have her stand on the sink and go to change her diaper. ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THE DAMN THING IS COMPLETELY DRY!!! She just wanted to change her Ariel diaper (the LEAST coveted diaper) for a Sulley one she found in the diaper bag! Rather than risk another incident, I change her, but let her know that I am very upset and that stripping in front of a large group is not appropriate.
We return to the game, and the game continues without any more issues. I wind up with a twirly outdoor thingie I plan to put in her bedroom and Ronnie gets a hand painted wine glass that says "60 is sexy" and Mellie gets to keep her tootsie pop.
A couple of minutes later, I am fussing over the silent auction (which I am still the high bidder on) and suddenly I notice Mellie carrying around a topsy turvy box. I think back to who won it, and I realize it was the same woman from which Mellie attempted to steal the birdhouse. What the frick, my child stole something ELSE from the same woman? I take it from her and frantically look around to identify the woman, and I don't see her. I try to remember what she looked like, and NOTHING is coming to mind. I walk around and finally find her and attempt to return the item, only to be told that she gave it to Mellie. So, much to my relief, Mellie is NOT a thief. Whew.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We won the items and Mellie helped me carry them to the car. A little later, I couldn't find her and was about to freak out when I send Paw Paw into the men's bathroom to see if she had followed Ronnie in there -- she had.
She slept like a champ the whole way home.
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