Ducks, duct tape and lights out

According to the calendar it's spring, but you sure wouldn't know it by our weather. While we're dreaming of sunshine and blue skies, we're getting rain, rain, and more rain (and 47 degree weather). Needless to say, we haven't been feeling very spring-y.

Until today, that is. Today Mike and Carol arrived. They're my favorite part of spring :D



When your teenage son has a friend come to stay for 2 nights, you have to stop and ask: "Whatever will we do with them?"


This was the boys on Friday night. Why, oh why, didn't we tape their mouths??



You'd have thought we would have figured it out by the next day, but no, we forgot then, too.
On Saturday hubby broke out the heavy duty 8 inch wide industrial tape. First victim was Jason, who fought bravely, but was no match for Sasquatch. After he was all taped up, hubby went after bubba...



He fought a little harder, but still wasn't much of a match.



Afterwards, we taped the two of them together and they (tried) to make a made dash down the hall.




Squirm, little men, squirm!!!



Lest you think that we're horrible people, I should point out that hubby had to hide the tape from them so they wouldn't get into again ;) And this was actually one of the calmer activities of the day, if you count the airsoft battle in the backyard (which left hubby bleeding) and the wrestling match after dinner where both boys tried to take down hubby (and failed, as usual :)

We finished off the night celebrating "Earth Hour". For those few who may not have heard of it (they were hoping to reach 1 billion people this year), here's a quick little video about it:

We spent our hour playing board games by candlelight (and I was wishing that I'd had the good sense to use the bathroom prior to lights out ;)

So how about you? Enjoying your spring? Torment your (or somebody else's) kids lately? Celebrate Earth Hour??

Stick your head between your legs...

...and kiss your ass goodbye!





OK, there really is no reason to post this photo except to show you how bendy my son is. And to say - I wish *I* was that bendy. Not because I really have a need to be in the above position, but it would be nice to know I could, without requiring medical attention.

Eat Around the World - Thailand

Our most recent foray was to the country of Thailand and it was delicious!! I haven't had Thai food in more years than I can remember (partly due to hubby's insistence that he hated it). Well, guess what? He lied! I'm guessing that he had a really bad example of it once which made him think he didn't like it (kinda like when we started dating and he told me that he didn't like lasagna 'cause his ex-wife had made Hamburger Helper lasagna and he didn't like it ;P

So we arrived at the restaurant and the proprietor of the place was a delightful Thai man named Joe, who was not only thrilled to welcome our rather large lunch group, but also answered some questions we had about Thailand AND gave us free food! I know! He gave us free appetizers and dessert (sweet rice and mangoes). I was a little concerned that bubba wouldn't like the food, but when I looked down to that end of the table, I actually had to ask him if he'd licked his plate because there wasn't a single scrap of food left on it! It's now his most favorite place to eat.

In fact, after our initial visit, we took my dad there (and Joe gave us free appetizers, soup, and dessert) and again last night with some friends (and again - free appetizers, soup, and dessert).
So far, we've tried:
Pad Eggplant
Sweet and Sour Tofu
Pad Thai
Radna
Srivichai Fried Rice with Shrimp
Kao Pad with chicken and beef
Tom Kah soup with Tofu

And it's all been yummy! Joe told us our 10th meal was free, so we'll be going back again (and again, and again ;)

A "Tempest"uous Life ;)

Way, way back in December (which seems soooo long ago!), bubba had his second ever audition - for a local tween/teen production of "The Tempest". He was *thrilled* to learn that he was cast as the bad guy, Sebastian (and equally thrilled that his buddy Ira was cast as the other bad guy ;)

Over the course of the past several months (and 60+ hours of rehearsals), they were finally ready - or as ready as they could be. You see, some form of plague struck a large portion of the cast. In the weeks preceding opening, a good 1/3 of the kids were hacking and sneezing, and one kid *completely* lost his voice. But as they say - the show must go on! And it did. There was a nearly packed house every night.

Besides helping to tie-die t-shirts for the cast, I was there 2 hours prior to each performance helping with hair and makeup, and hanging out backstage during the performance - trying to keep the mob of hormonally charged kids quiet. Which is akin to herding cats.

Bubba, Katelynn and Ira showing off their Tempest t-shirts.

Bubba, Katelynn, Ira and Rebekah goofing off for the camera.

Bubba and Ira with the moustaches on. Is it just me - or does my son look like some smarmy Italian guy??

For the final Friday performance, we had a bunch of friends come and watch. One of the mom's (ever the homeschooler ;) did the math and found that just over 1/4 of the audience that night was there to support bubba! Not bad ;) After the show, 2 of the families came over to our house for dessert and general merriment.

Apple crisp, Cookies and Cream and Caramel Delight ice cream, chocolate cake, brownies, cheesecake and lemon meringue pie. Yum!

After the final bows of the final performance Saturday night, the kids sang a little ditty for the audience. (I tried to post a clip of it, but after an hour long fight with Blogger, I couldn't get the dang thing loaded.) And then we went and overran a local restaurant ;D

A Visit With My Dad

I know, I know - where in the hell have I been?? Well, we've been crazy busy the last few weeks. My dad came for his first visit since we moved back to Oregon, which happened to coincide with the dress rehearsals and opening weekend of bubba's play. OK, so technically it's Shakespeare's play since he actually wrote the dang thing, but he's dead and my kid is in it - so now it's bubba's play ;)

And I was going to do up a big ol' blog post last night, but somebody-who-shall-remain-nameless (unless you ask me. Then I'll tell!) spent 3 hours entertaining me by IM last night!

We took advantage of a brief moment of good weather and took my dad to see some sights. Here we are, overlooking the gorge:

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls (yes, we take everyone who comes to visit there!)
We didn't do the mile long trek up to the top, but we did make our way up to the bridge.

Here's the view over the bridge:

And what did we do with my dad when the weather was uncooperative? Bubba showed him the joys of XBox 360. And my dad discovered that he really, really likes killing zombies. Boys are weird. Even when they're 62!

Virtual Field Trips

Fellow homeschooling mom Jena over at Yarns of the Heart is hosting a virtual field trip. Topsy-Techie suggested that I submit one of mine, which I did. Because I do *everything* that she tells me to ;D So go through your posts and e-mail her the link by this Friday. She'll list them on Monday. And if you don't want to submit something, that's OK, too - you can still go and check out the entries for a little armchair travel!


Just click on this pix, and you'll head right over to Jena's!