{Ok, go on with your Polack jokes…I can take it!}

So I’m out of here for the weekend. 

Thank you for all the 1st Birthday wishes for Pinkie and 2nd Birthday wishes for MyBuddy this week.

So they have their dreaded 1 and 2-year-old check-ups tomorrow.  I hate that they have to get shots, but I’m way behind in scheduling them and well, feel it’s perhaps time.

Then we’re off to cetral-ish PA for our once-every-other-year BIG Family Reunion on Saturday.  We missed the last one because well, I was giving birth to our son.

So I’ll (ah-hem) set the stage for you:

– my Father’s cousin’s house on lots of land (which to pitch tents on) out near Harrisburg, PA

– 130-150+ Polish descendants/family members…lots of children!

– Everyone in must-wear! matching red and white T-shirts with their “number” on it (as to when they entered the family through birth or marriage) [I'm #46, hubby is #106, myBuddy is #107...and I think Pinkie will be somewhere around #114?]

– Lots of kegs Kelbasa & Kiszka

– Mutiple turkeys in deep-fry baths and a roasted pig (that should be a fun one for my son to see…that’s enough to stir up some “Old McDonald Had A Farm” nightmares)

– Three-legged races, sack races, egg toss, the “schlong dong” race (oh boy!…that’s not good for indexing in the search engines), beer pong and much more! (says the flyer) — last reunion I attended keg-tossing was included in there too…oh it gets pretty rowdy.

– Lots of laughs!

– port-o-potties (and big lines to go with ‘em)

– Food out the Polish wazoo!

– Polkas, singing, family meeting, more eating, more drinking, more beer pong, drunken tent-assemblage, over-tired cranky kids…coffee…

…then we’re heading home.

(when the kids get older perhaps we’ll “tent it” like everyone else, but good-grief could you imagine attempting that with a 1 year old and a 2 year old — no thank you :)

You know I’ll have some photos to post of THIS EVENT :)

So, what are YOU doing this weekend?

Na zdrowie!

Literally the ONLY TV I sit and watch (Sesame & Yo Gabba Gabba don’t count) is ‘LOST’ & ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8′ – that’s really IT!

I’m a HUGE fan of this show (as hubby rolls his eyes)…so if you are NOT, feel free NOT to read any further (and visit this blog) — [but I can't stand A.I., so you can also make fun of me for that one]

So they just released the trailer (if you will) for the NEW Season of Jon & Kate Plus 8 – airing on May 25th at 9/8c. on TLC and well, just watch it first…

How SAD was that?

They are NOT even sitting next to each other on the couch for the interviews…like they ALWAYS have.  The sound of both Jon and Kate’s voices are almost unrecognizable and VERY shaky.  They are both admitting that there are problems and and the infamous “…this is OUR life” quote takes on a whole new meaning.  If you’ve been under a rock, here is what I’m taking about.

Now when I first started watching this show 3 years ago (out of pure intrigue), I knew that there had to be money involved to entice a family (any family, nevermind a family of 10) to be filmed all the time like this.  Then there was the whole issue of exposing all those little (innocent) ones on national television – I continued to watch…every. monday. night.  There was the drama with Aunt Jodi and then all this broke this month.  Now the paparazzi won’t leave them and their 8 small children alone. So sad.

I WILL continue to watch.

Kate is a Mommy-idol of mine for her astounding feat of carrying and giving birth to SIX babies at once!  You can’t deny that is amazing and she was NOT “all Octomom” about it. 

She gave me courage when I was pregnant with my first baby.  I remember watching the show thinking “if she can do it will all of them, I can do it with one.”  I’m still reading her book Multiple Blessin8s (shout out to my sis for the Christmas gift!), and you really wouldn’t believe all that she went though (like many women out there trying to have a baby) to be able to have a (single, so they thought) baby.

The TRUTH about what they are going through and why…is something only THEY know.  They are like the rest of us with problems-all- over-the-place…but just like with the rest of the celebrity-world…when something goes wrong, it gets MAGNIFIED and EXPLOITED.  They are undoubtedly “in contract” with TLC and as they say “the show must go on”.  I’m sad to see a family and Mom who has been portrayed so positively in the past, now how to deal with all of this negative media exposure.

And of course, let’s not forget about the children.  Ugh.

Let me know what YOU think — fan or not.

Oh and here’s the book if you want to give it a read.