Senior Pictures

These are two pics I snapped with my phone while daughter was having her Senior pictures taken. The first one was taken using the Hipstamatic Ap for iPhone and the second was the regular iPhone camera then edited with Picnik.

I cannot believe this beautiful creature is related to me - she is growing up so fast and we are unbelievably proud of her!

Oh Deer!

I have so many questions about the sign I took a picture of yesterday at an intersection outside of Shelton, Washington...

Who would steal a deer?

Who would miss a deer?

Who is it that expects a deer to be returned to them?

WTF is so special about THIS deer? On the same trip I got pictures of a Mama deer casually grazing in someone's front yard. Deer are EVERYWHERE in this area, why don't the missing their deer people just get a new deer? A younger deer? A better deer?

Deer me, I just don't understand.

More Australia Pictures

I took an insane amount of pictures on our trip (not as many as Marvelous Mom did though!) and looking through them I'm so glad I did. Even though the big camera is kind of a pain in the ass to carry around everywhere. These are just a few of my favorites.

Here is SGB's Best Beloved and I on the beach. She asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding - I was completely gobsmacked! She is a lovely person inside and out and I am thrilled that I get to be a part of her and SGB's special day. A sister! I get a sister!!!

Twelve Apostles - the pictures don't even begin to do justice to the beauty and power of the ocean beaches.

Rainbows were a constant theme of the trip. I saw more rainbows in the three weeks we were there than I have seen in the entire rest of my life. I'm choosing to believe that Nannie was watching over us and that the rainbows were messages from her. This picture was taken off the deck of Best Beloved's family holiday house in Rye. Gorgeous!

Another rainbow over the ocean beach.

And finally the two reasons we went so far away, Scientist Genius Brother and his Best Beloved. It was so awesome to spend time with them and see how happy they both are. Her family welcomed him and us with open arms and I can't wait to go back for the wedding. Sightseeing was fun but the real treat was spending time with the best brother in the world, his Best Beloved, and her family. I am so proud of him I could burst!

Port Macquarie

The weather was hideous but the company was wonderful.

Totally insane crazy lunatics surfing. It *might* have been 50 degrees and was definitely pouring with rain and super windy.

Me and the very best brother in the world.

SGB and his Best Beloved in front of a very cute church in town. They were having services as it was Sunday so we had to sneak around very quietly taking pictures.

Hanging At Home

I realized I need to make time to blog because it gives me a much-needed break from all the academic writing I do for school and it is just fun! Everyone needs a hobby no matter how busy and this is mine. So. Marvelous Mom came over yesterday just because she was missing her kids. Daughter didn't get to visit with her but they have a lunch date next Sunday. But the boys were thrilled to have a willing participant for their game The Settlers of Catan. I haven't played it yet but I am going to - Marvelous Mom assures me that it's not nearly as complicated as some of the games they like. (Risk sucks donkey balls IMO.) My kids may never realize how lucky they are to have such a fabulous Nana but I sure do!!!

Puppy has survived the trauma of having his name changed - he was just too bossy and rowdy to be a sweet little "Peepers". He is a CHARLIE. And he isn't Grandmother's puppy, she will look after him while I'm gone for school during the day but is bound and determined not to get attached. "I don't even buy green bananas for God's sake Katy, I can't get attached to another dog!" (Stubborn old bat.) So while I am his favorite person, we have decided he is really Penny's puppy. Check out these pictures. Most adorable thing EVAH!!!

They are super good buddies and as soon as the little shit learns to go up and down the stairs so he can go to the door and let me know he has to pee, they can keep each other company while I'm at school.

I know he is big enough to go up and down the stairs now. (Such a big boy, weighs FIVE WHOLE POUNDS! LOL) But I haven't been able to convince HIM that he can do it. We spent half an hour on the stairs Saturday. I was armed with super yummy meat treats and lured him up one at a time. He got up three. Three stairs in half and hour. Gah. Having a tiny dog is a whole different set of training challenges from a goofy golden retriever puppy!

Dying of Cute

see more Daily Squee

Lucky Me

My greatest wish came true - Daughter CLEANED. HER. ROOM. She also put together her new bed using power tools and everything. Her father and grandfather are so proud.

Even two inches of snow is deep when your legs are only two inches long!

Marvelous Mom and Beautiful niece #1.

Husband and Beautiful nieces #1 and #2 being silly - he's missed having little ones as much as I have.

But best of all was having Scientist Genius Brother here from Melbourne, Australia for a visit. It's a lot harder to say goodbye when he's going to the other side of the planet rather than just a couple of states away. We had a lovely Christmas and I can't wait to visit him in Australia. With the SHARKS WITH FRICKIN' LASERS!!!

Happy New Year!

Weeks into Minutes

October 24th was Daughter's sixteenth birthday. The extended family came, I ordered fancy cupcakes, the house was decorated in black and white Halloween decor, I hung a fancy banner I made in AUGUST (knowing I wouldn't have time to make anything after school started) and we all had a fabulous time - while Daughter spend the entire party in her room, sick with what we later realized was a very nasty case of the flu.

The Undertoad had struck with a vengeance.

But Grandmother got to hold the newest member of the family for a long time while he napped. Here they are, the newest and oldest members of the family - Grandmother 94 and Bubba 7 weeks.

The Undertoad was nowhere to be found the following weekend though! BFF Cousin and I took Daughter, Bee, Baron Munchausen, and Monty to Seattle for an overnight adventure. We shopped, took a limo from the hotel to dinner, our limo got INVADED by zombies leaving ZombiCon at the Seattle Center, Baron M tried to start a food fight at Buca de Beppo's, we played games at GameWorks and then walked back to the hotel in the rain stopping for lots of funny pictures on the way. Like this one...

Four teenagers = three 6s Get it? Six-Six-Six? Teenagers are evil? Nevermind...

Then this past weekend, the Undertoad returned. Grandmother's sweet little dog George went to the big pet park in the sky. He was fourteen - born the same summer as the Things - and will be sorely missed by everyone.

It's been a roller coaster for the past few weeks, and with the holidays fast (way too fast) approaching it promises to continue. But we're hoping for no more Undertoad in our lives for a very long time.

The Politician

My and my boy, Thing 2, the politician. God I love this kid!

My Beautiful Girl

The Homecoming Dance was a lot of fun! We all went to dinner - and I do mean ALL. Daughter, Bee, Monty, Baron Munchausen, Thing 1, Thing 2, Grandmother, Husband and I all enjoyed a nice dinner. Here are the dance-goers in their finery. Isn't Daughter beautiful? She makes my heart ache I love her so much.

And this is a terrible AWFUL pic of me (Daughter is beautiful as always) but I think it's funny because I am such a shorty next to her!!! She's had another growth spurt and is fast approaching 5' 10". She's taking after Scientist Genius Brother. Me...well, I took after Marvelous Mom's side of the family. The Seven Dwarfs only four and all girls. It's all good. I'm not really short - I'm FUN SIZED!

Homecoming Game 2010

The past two years have not prepared me for the total chaos of Homecoming Week with three kids involved in three different school activities - all of which are part of the Homecoming bru-ha-ha.

Here is our politician, Thing 2 Freshman Senator. He came to me a couple of weeks ago asking if I could make a flag that he and his fellow freshmen representatives had designed. I cut, I sewed, I ironed and voila - it turned out great. The best part is they can use it for the next four years. And the Freshman Golf Cart (each class decorates one) was the BEST EVER! Ha!

He was at school at 7am three days this past week (which of course meant I had to drive him instead of just kicking him out the door in time to catch the bus), had three evening events to set things up for assemblies, and then stayed after school Friday to set up for the dance on Saturday, decorate the golf cart and worked at the game.

Thing 1 plays trumpet in the marching band. They've had three evening practices in the past week on top of all the prior practices plus have been practicing every day at school. They ROCKED the halftime show!

This is a shot from the halftime show. Thing 1 is one of the trumpet players and Daughter is the tall dancer in the back (the girls with their hands over their eyes). The Dance Cats have also been to all the evening marching band practices PLUS practicing twice a week after school. This was - without a doubt - their BEST PERFORMANCE YET. I was up in the stands watching the whole show and they were amazing!!! Daughter had never danced before joining the school dance team (1 year in ballet at age 4 hardly counts, I just wanted the tu-tu pictures!). She has worked her ass off and I can't believe how much she has improved. And the whole team has really come together - their performance was polished and seamless.

This last pic is "my girls". Daugher is on the left, her BFF Monty - who pretty much lives at our house - is in the middle and her other BFF Bee is on the right. Daughter and Bee have been friends since middle school and even though Bee goes to a different high school now they have stayed close.

I'm exhausted but so proud of my kids. We had a great time at the game and I'm looking forward to chaperoning the dance tonight. If I can stay awake.

Baby Bubba

The newest member of the family, Baby Bubba. He is absolutely beautiful and perfect and very very loved.

Bubba had the good timing to arrive while Dad and Stepmonster were in town so Uncle Al got to meet his great-nephew in person. Dad and I tried not to fight over who got to hold him. (I won, obviously!)

Welcome to the world Bubba, we love you!

Parade Day

Saturday was Parade Day for our high school marching band which includes the flag and dance teams. Thing One plays the trumpet and Daughter is on the dance team so we left the house at o'dark-thirty to drive over the Cascades and into Leavenworth. The parade was part of the Autumn Leaf Festival and last year was our school's first year participating. They won FIRST PLACE in their division last year and guess what...they won FIRST PLACE again this year! Woot! Their band director and assistant have built an amazing performing arts program at our school and they get the kids to perform above and beyond every time.

Here is the band marching down main street in Leavenworth, a funky little Bavarian themed village in the gorgeous Cascade Mountains. If you are anywhere close to driving distance, I urge you to visit it during the fall when the leaves are changing. It will take your breath away.

Here is daughter posing - I was going for an "artsy" shot with her shadow in the background. It's not fine art but she loves it and I think it's pretty cute. Dance Cats is the name of the dance team.

And here is daughter and Thing One - posing together against their will. I told them if they didn't pose for a picture then I'd make them walk home. Ninety-five miles. They knew I meant it too.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we all had a great time. Good thing I got some sunshine because it's gray and rainy today. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Gratuitous Photo

Just to show that Daughter is not ALWAYS a sullen, pouting brat, here is a pic of her with one of her best friends and my bonus son, Baron Munchausen. I love them both!

Leaving Berkeley

Five years ago this month, Dad and I loaded most of Scientist Genius Brother's belongings (Marvelous Mom points out that she is STILL storing some of his crap for him at her house) and drove him to Berkeley for grad school. In that five years he worked his ass off, finally earning the title 'Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry'.

On Thursday, Marvelous Mom and I drove down to Berkeley to do the whole move in reverse. It was a wonderful trip! We are all so proud of him that our buttons have burst off our clothing. His final thesis was signed off on by his professor and two other advisors and he is DONE! Check out his thesis title:

Ion Nanocalorimetry: Measuring Absolute Reduction Potentials, and Investigating Effects of Water on Electron Solvation and Ion Fluorescence

I've got no idea what it means but it sounds very smart!

For the most part the entire moving out process went smoothly. Except for one thing - Satan's Couch. This is a piece of furniture he got for free from some friends. They got hosed on it, paying $75 on Craigslist for a couch they were told was leather but was actually very cheap, squeaky, hot, icky vinyl. When they gave it to Scientist Genius Brother they were happy to see it go. I suspect they avoided even sitting on it when they visited him.

Now when he moved in to this apartment, he got Satan's Couch in through the front door. The apartment complex was built in 1914 so we know for SURE that it wasn't built around Satan's Couch. And yet he could not get it out.

Let me tell you, it is not easy to take non-blurry pictures with your iPhone while laughing hysterically! Four big, strong, college guys could not get Satan's Couch out of the apartment. They tried for half an hour, turning it every which way, taking the legs off, shoving it into the shrubbery, even sacrificing the paint on the door, but could NOT get it out. Even funnier is that Scientist Genius Brother doesn't remember it being that hard to get in - he wasn't even sure who helped him move it!

But by that night he was pissed. He was gonna get that damn thing out no matter what. So we broke out the tools...

...and we cut it in half. We murdered Satan's Couch. Then he had to pay a guy $65 to come and haul it out which was extremely painful to the second-cheapest person I know. (Husband is the first.) Not really a freebie. But once it was gone the aura of the apartment lifted and we knew we were no longer in the presence of Satan's Couch.

Then with much prodding from Mom and I, Scientist Genius Brother got rid of a LOT of stuff he wouldn't need or didn't want to pay to ship to Australia. The remainder of his crap got crammed in the back of my van (you would not believe how much stuff you can get in a Honda Odyssey!!!) and we brought him home.

He will stay with Marvelous Mom until Friday and then he heads to the University of Melbourne to do his post-doctoral work on the molecular and physical composition of the atoms of zzzzz....he's gonna do chemistry stuff. He also gets to join Awesome Aussie Girlfriend and they won't have to do the long-distance thing anymore!!!

I am proud and sad and excited for him all at the same time. He is the best brother, son, and uncle anyone could wish for and he will do amazing things with his life!

Vegas Vacation 2010 Part 4

This is in Dad's "Man Room". He got a beautiful pool table from a friend and taught the kids how to play. Husband flew out for the second weekend we were there - the first time he's ever been able to join us for part of our road trip vacation!

This is Baby Boy - he belongs to a friend of Dad and Stepmonster and is absolutely the cutest thing! He just turned one and was happy to bask in the attention of the baby deprived in the family.

Here he is with the Playboy who works with Dad and has been adopted into the family. I took Baby Boy away from the Playboy pretty quick though, can't have him learning any bad habits!

And Baby Boy covered in Popsicle juice. So cute!

This was taken at a little rest stop in nowhere Oregon on our way home. I was hoping for a Christmas Card shot but no such luck. *sigh*

Vegas Vacation 2010 Part 3

Thing 1 giving Thing 2 a piggyback ride - it's amazing that those pipe cleaner legs can hold them both up. I love this picture!

When Dad and Stepmonster bought the house with a pool, the Things decided our housewarming gift to them would be a floating ping-pong table! They found out it was harder than it looked and quickly gave up but Dad and I got the hang of it after awhile. It's just a matter of time before Chuck the Party Animal organizes a game of floating beer pong on it.

Daughter and I ran away one evening to the strip where we shopped at the Caesars Palace Mall, ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and laughed at all the weirdos who come out at night in Vegas.

The Paris Hotel at night is beautiful!

To be continued...