Jerry Chicken

Look on Sammy's shoulder - it's Jerry Chicken, his birthday present and new pet. Jerry is a Leopard Gecko lizard. We don't actually know if Jerry is a boy or girl yet, but we figured that Jerry can go either way. Chicken is all Sammy - I think it's from some silly cartoon he watches, but I'm not really sure.

Celebrate Good Times

Ellie and Sam shared a party at Pump It Up this year for their birthday. I did a bang-up job decorating their cake. A friend had told me that Walmart will make a sheet cake decorated in two different themes - 1/2 each. I asked our local grocery store and the lady at the bakery told me she couldn't do it. She said she'd done it once and her manager got mad at her. Whatever - I decided I go to Walmart, except I never made it there and ended up buying a generic cake at 11:30 pm on Friday night. When I tried to decorate it myself, I discovered that all the little containers of decorative gel were pretty much empty. Oh well.

New Digs

These are some pictures of my new office. We finally moved into this space a few weeks ago. It's more modern than my taste, but it's a very nice place to spend each work day. Check out the pictures of the sink in the bathroom - it's a solid piece from New Zealand, and the water drains off the back. When Sammy came to work with me this week, he jumped back when I turned on the water to wash his hands.

Mm Mm Good

Every year our neighbor Jay takes our kids to Vacation Bible School. They have so much fun there, and we really appreciate him driving them, since I can't do it with my work schedule. To thank him this year, we made chocolate covered pretzels. They were really easy - we just melted semi-sweet chocolate, dipped the pretzeles and laid them out on foil to cool. For something special, we added sprinkles.

NFU (Nature Friends United)

Ellie is with her friends Shaylan & Michael, at the end-of-school celebration their class put on for the parents. Together with Faryal (who's not in the picture) they created their own club, called Nature Friends United. The want everyone to take care of our earth and to recycle. Ellie has been really good about reminding us to use the recycling bins we put in our kitchen, and loves to help take them to the recycling center each weekend.

Spoiled

These are the two hotels I've stayed at on my trips to New York. If I was visiting on my own, I probably couldn't afford to buy a pack of gum in the lobbies of these places. The beds at the St. Regis are the only hotel beds I've ever liked better than my own bed at home - it was like sleeping in a cloud. I'm so glad my job gives me the chance to visit NY and stay at these places.

Ground Zero

I took another trip to New York for a business conference. On the second day, my friend Laura and I braved the subway to visit the memorial at Ground Zero. It was very sobering, and interesting to see all the construction and rebuilding that's being done there.

Canoe Trip

Ben got a bunch of fancy new equipment for his Boy Scout canoe trip. Unfortunately, in our excitement of packing all the new stuff, we neglected to pack him a bathing suit or swim shoes, but he didn't care - shorts and tennis shoes worked fine. He cooked his own dinner of chicken noodle soup and set up his personal tent. He also claimed that the glasses he's wearing in this photo were broken when he borrowed them from his dad. I think the photo shows otherwise, but it was worth a try, right Ben?

Grasshopper

Ben did an excellent job on his belt test to move from Green Belt to Green Stripe. Don't mess with him or he'll mess you up.

Plastic Man

We have no idea who Sammy inherited this from - no one else in our house can do it.

Speed Race

Riding in very fast circles around the cul de sac.

Hittin' the Links

A new minature golf course opened by our house, so we tried it out. Sammy boasted of his impressive golf skills, but his most prominent skill was that of yelling "that doesn't count" and demanding another stroke for free. I wonder if that would fly in the PGA?

Reading Restaurant

In first grade the kids at our elementary school always have a "reading restaurant". Parents come in and are seated by the maitre d' (the teacher) and given a menu of books by their waiter (their child). Sammy read us three non-fiction books, because those are his favorite.

Bunny

Ellie found Bunny when we were visiting Granny & Pappa Haddow years ago. Bunny has been her constant companion since then. Bunny was actually AWOL for over 6 months last year - Ellie and she were playing hide and seek in the front yard. Bunny was hidden so well that we couldn't find her, and I eventually assumed we'd lost her at a store somewhere. Then one day we hired some guys to clean up our front yard landscaping. They took a chainsaw to our big fir tree and laid the branches on the ground - lo and behold, there was Bunny. Thank goodness she didn't get chopped up. The tree was so thick that she was perfectly dry, and good as new after a spin through the washing machine.

Summer's Almost Here

Actually, our ice cream man comes year-round, but I liked Sammy's face in this picture.