We are THAT family...

or maybe not "that" family, but definitely one of those families that you probably shake your head going, huh? really?

Case in point:

Our neighbors in the back, with whom we have a good relationship (and I have a tendency to think merely "put" up with us sometimes) are in the process of buying a second car. "Mique" has a new job that requires a 20 mile commute (instead of a bike ride) and her husband Tom will be away this summer doing research in the Sierras (he studies frogs) and usually takes the car all summer. So, after they found out that Steve is a regular "Car Talk" kind of guy, they have been occasionally stopping by to ask a question here and there about cars. She practically made Steve's month last night when they stopped by and she asked if he would go test drive one with her. But tonight, they stopped by to say that they may have put a deposit on one this morning and was that the right decision?

Enter the Germonskis - at 5:30pm on a weekend - which involves dinner prep as well as the tettering-tottering point of Stella between totally pleasant and utter meltdown because she needs to eat. They knock at the door, the dog goes crazy, I'm up to my ears in prep, so I ask them to come towards the kitchen so we can chat and continue cooking.

Me: I have chunks of chicken in a bowl and I'm smearing bacon paste on the chicken and then putting it on kabobs. (new recipe-- the bacon paste keeps the chicken skewers moist)
Steve: Scraping a vanilla bean over a pot of cream and milk, in the process of making homemade ice cream
Scupper: alternately begging between the raw chicken on the counter and asking Tom to scratch his butt
Stella: running around screaming "Mique! Mique" at the top of her lungs, and then in a lull in conversation, running from her bedroom with a pile of Hello Kitty underwear to show them, screaming "Cat!" (we started slowly entering into the world of potty-training this weekend)

What did they think of us?? The kitchen was a cooking explosion - i'm up to my elbow in bacon paste, Steve's trying to figure out how to scrape a vanilla bean, Scupper is shameless in asking for affection, and Stella is parading her underwear screaming "Cat."

So yah, when you put it that way, we ARE that family. Go figure. God only knows what's going to happen when Stella may start to have friends over to play...