Hello Penguin, Goodbye Penguin

A few months ago before I chopped off my hair, before school schedules were life again and before we had packed up our sand toys for the season the kiddies and I attended another amazing National Night Out in Santa Monica. This event, put on by law enforcement in communities around the country, is a way for people to connect with firefighters, police officers and others who protect our specific area. It's also a way for people who hate to cook (me) and love twilight fun (also me) to have a great evening with free dinner, so many games, and such wonderful live music. We try to make it every year, and us Wigs have had a pretty good run!

Last year, Everett won a giant panda stuffed animal and four tickets to the Santa Monica Pier. Did he think he'd won the lotto? Yup. Hasn't stopped talking about it since. This year there was a raffle for a penguin stuffy that put the panda to shame. This thing dwarfed my children and was seriously the most ridiculously large and super cute penguin I'd ever seen. When my kids begged to put their name into the free raffle I said yes with a smile--there were hundreds of tickets in that pot and I thought there was no way it would clutter our little house anytime soon. I was wrong, boy I was wrong.

Everett won the penguin. His screams and smiles are something I want to always remember, and I wish I had a photo of the look of shock that must have been on my face. You know what our little home already full with six bodies needed? A giant stuffed penguin, that's what. Eye roll. Eye roll. Face palm. Eye roll. 

For weeks it was moved from one corner of the house to another. I tried to find the perfect spot to house our new friend but it inevitably ended up in the middle of the boys room, or even worse, in the middle of my living room, with holes in the seams and styrofoam stuffing flying into the sky. It took me a few months but finally I came to a realization: something had to leave--me or the penguin. (Clearly it was not going to be me, who would make their darn dinner?) There were some tears when I said it was time to bid adieu to this giant friend, until I offered Ever a fresh $5 bill in exchange for the deed to the dude. Did he think he'd won the lotto? Yup. Hasn't stopped talking about it since. And I'm sure someone at Goodwill was thrilled to bring this guy home, but not as happy as I was to drop him off.

Hello Penguin, Goodbye Penguin. And like I told Everett, things come and go but we have the picture to prove how awesome this moment was FOREVER.