Who Lives in a Pineapple?

My nephew's party was the perfect mix of kids and adults -- enough of each for people to be able to hang out with their peers. The kids (except for my nephew, they were all older, like 8-ish) could entertain themselves in the backyard without a ton of entertaining or supervision, and they didn't have to listen to the boring conversations of the big people. My brother had also planned a water balloon toss, which the kids could do with their parents. Wow, are water balloons popular with kids. This was that really hot weekend we had, too, so it was the perfect setting for getting wet.

Now, I knew my brother was pretty good with kids. What I hadn't realized was that he may be the coolest grown-up ever. The kids figured this out pretty quickly, and paid him the compliment of making him the focus of plotting, scheming, and connniving. It started with extra water ballons, which they wanted to focus entirely on him. So he headed outside and made a show of bending over to look for drinks in the cooler: "Hmmm, let me get a beer. Here I am, looking for a beer..." The kids were so well behaved that they didn't pick up on the opportunity and were patiently waiting for him to finish. I waved them in, "Get him in the butt!" Boy, they didn't need to be told twice. But the balloons weren't breaking easily, and as they followed him around the yard throwing, the shots kept bouncing off him like bullets off Superman. Eventually he tried putting them in his back pockets and sitting down, and it still didn't work. Weird. But a valiant effort!

Next, they tried to give him a candy that was sweet and most definitely not sour at all, which he obligingly fell for.

The part that impressed me the most, though (perhaps because it veered into a skill set that I appreciate) was when he sang the complete Sponge Bob theme song, word perfect. In that Sea Captain voice.

It should be noted here, especially as we just passed Mother's Day, that my sister-in-law pulled off impressive feats of her own. She made Martha Stewart cakes! I didn't know people could do that. And the woman has gone without cheese for over a year-and-a-half because my nephew has had a problem with dairy, which I think should qualify her for a medal or something.