Best Man I Have Ever Known

And, probably, will ever know.

Snakes and Cyclopses and Monsters, Oh, My!

T's class performed a Greek Play as their finale to the Greek Myth's unit. T played two roles. TWO! Shane and I kept saying how very confusing that must be! Her first part was Hestia the Greek goddess of the Hearth and Home. T's second part was Medusa, a monster with SNAKES for hair. Oh. My. Word. The play was good. T speaking her parts loud enough so everyone could hear was great! She was so excited as we walked into the school she could barely contain herself. She was jumping around and talking a hundred miles an hour. As the kids performed the play I noticed that I had all the lines memorized from helping T practice. Go, figure.













Most of the pictures happen to be of T playing Medusa. But she did a great job as Hestia too! Here she is as the monsters come on stage to try to capture Mount Olympus. Yikes~!




















Medusa after the play. Shane and I thought she looked a teensy bit like Captain Jack Sparrow. T was okay with that.



















Enjoying some Baklava after the show. Homemade. Because all the parents brought some Greek food for the after-party. After-Party, you may ask? Well, yes. Because it was their grand finale and she does go to school on BI...so...yes, there was an after-party. Homemade Baklava, you may, also, ask? See prior explanation. And, as it turns out Baklava is fairly easy to make. A lot of butter, some honey, sugar, more butter and BAM you're done.

We can't wait for summer vacation to start! Shane and T have 3 more days. I have 3 days plus 1 week. Shoot. Me. Now. Hopefully, I make it. If I don't, it's been a pleasure.

We got Bageled

Which, in volleyball jargon, means zero.
We caught zero fish.
But we had fun trying....
Next week we're going to go earlier (because the early fish catches the worm...or something like that).













T is an expert at casting. I am an expert at nothing.














They are standing on this cool log that had tumbled out into the lake it was a bit wobbly so no more than two could fish on it at a time.














Shane gave me the last cookie.














Before T was an expert at casting...she cast right into a tree :).
We were both staring at the very high and very stuck hook and thinking, "well, now what?"

Idaho Falls? You may ask.

No big epiphanies here. 

But I am pretty ready for summer to start.  After the heat wave (90 degrees!) I am SO ready for summer to start.  Shane and I were pretty certain last night was Friday.  Right up until we actually thought about it for a few minutes and realized it was Thursday and we actually had to get up and go to school tomorrow.  No good.   We were watering plants, drinking lemonade drinking corona, chatting, playing fetch with the dog, wandering around the yard, sitting in lawn chairs, eating burritos, having a grand ol' time.  And then.  BAM.  It's. not. Friday.  

It had better be hot this summer.  Last summer was a dud.  And my plants did not grow which did not make me happy.  My plants are off to a great start this summer so I hope they don't peter out.  I would love to actually grow some plants successfully this year.  I love to plant things.  I do not like to water them.  So, they have a tendency to die.  Go figure.  

I am looking forward to going to Idaho Falls in July.  Idaho Falls?  Yes, Idaho Falls. 

Shane was accepted into a Nuclear Physics workshop in Idaho Falls.  They only take one teacher from each state and 30 teachers total.  So, I am very proud of him and very impressed.  I also told him that he better "Nerd Up" before we leave because I am sure these other workshop candidates are pretty smart!  And although Shane is a total Chemistry Nerd...He might need to brush up on his Nuclear Physics Nerd level before we leave.  

Anyway, T and I are going to do all sorts of fun activities while Shane is workshopping.  And since Shane only has to workshop for a few hours each day we will let him come along sometimes.  What are we going to do?  Well, I'm not sure yet.  But as soon as I have an idea I will let you know.  I do hope we can find an outdoor pool because indoor pools are the bane of my existence.  Okay, maybe not but they are yucky.  And we are definitely going to visit Yellowstone and there is a zoo...

Look what's been flying around our house...

We installed a wood burning stove over the summer last year...birds keep flying down the chimney! It happened a few weeks ago too...we heard chirping and it took us FOREVER to figure out where it was coming from. This time I knew right away! Plus, it might have helped that, Chocolate was yapping at the doors of the stove... When I opened the doors the bird flew up and hid for a few minutes until I walked away and pretended to ignore it. Then it flew like mad around the house, and crashed into several windows, as it tried to regain it's freedom. Finally, it found one of the MANY doors I had left open. The bird caused a bit of commotion as I may have been yelling shrilly while trying to contain both the dog and the cat while the bird flew around. A-hem. Anyway, the dog, cat and I all ended up in a pile on the floor by the time Shane came in to see what all the yelling was about.

1st Mariners Game...this season

We made it to our first M's game of the season last weekend to celebrate our friend Brian's graduation from law school. Congratulations Brian! We bought the obligatory "family pack" of licorice, peanuts and cracker jacks on our way into the game. Dinner done. Which, is so gross and hard for me to admit. But, that's the way we roll...

Introducing...A NEPHEW!

T was fascinated with his tiny little newborn ears. She kept telling me to "look how tiny his ears are!" In an excited whisper.

Yep, we finally have a BOY nephew in the family.

Let me just pause and say that we do have TWO boy great-nephews (shout out to Brayden and (little) Shane). But this is the first, and quite possibly only, boy we have in the family.

Welcome to your crazy family Scotty Dean.

Let me clarify, by saying that, I think we are probably the most crazy branch of the family tree. You, will probably have a totally normal, non-crazy life with your branch of the family. Uh, huh...

We are all very excited and already planning all of the boy things we should buy for him. We drove down Saturday morning after he was born on Friday. I was very exicited for this because, well, let's just say I have a thing for newborns. I could barely contain myself. And because there were so many other youngsters (Scotty's big sisters) distracting the other adults I was able to steal Scott and hold him for a good hour with NO interuptions. I thought a couple of times that I should check with his Mom or Dad to make sure they didn't want him back. Then the competitiveness in me kicked in and I thought, "You snooze you loose. Let's see you get out of that bed and get him back. Not gonna happen." Now, as my sister-in-law had just GIVEN BIRTH this probably wasn't the most gracious of thoughts. But, that's the way it went down. I only relinquished my hold on the poor little guy (who is probably going to remember my scent and cry every time I come around in the near future) when my brother-in-law (Scotty's Dad) wanted to say bye before he took the big sisters home for a nap.

More pictures of to come... Shane thinks that newborn babies do not really like it when a flash goes off right in their face. Whatever, Shane. That boy will be glad to have such cute pictures when he is an adult. So, my pictures of just Scotty Dean will have to be taken on the down low when we visit next time.