Grandma Sprenger's birthday

Last weekend we traveled to Genesee, Idaho to help Grandma celebrate her 90th birthday. We brought the party to her, at the farm, and she seemed to enjoy having all of us there. We had a picnic dinner, a little recital by Andrew, and delicious homemade cakes from Janet.

We stayed in Moscow for the weekend, and it was fun to get to know that town better. The University of Idaho is a beautiful campus. The kids especially loved the hotel pool - Andrew probably did the jump-catch you see in the picture about 50 times.

Catching Up

These pictures have been in my camera for a couple of weeks, but we've been busy since school let out, and I haven't had a chance to share them.

First, Sam's shoes. Sam is our resident fashionista, so when I bought him these awesome new shoes on clearance at Fred Meyer he was pretty excited. For the record, Andrew got new shoes too, slip-ons with pictures of flaming tires, but he could care less. Sam planned his outfit around his new shoes, as you can see by the flames on his sleeve.

And, then there's Bailey, who turned 10 earlier this month. She has a knack for finding any patch of sun in the house, and laying in it. I thought this one was cute because she looks like she's smiling.

Sam's concert, and quote of the day

School's almost over! Sam and his preschool classmates had a musical program last night. To prepare me, Sam said, "In the song '5 Little Monkeys', I'm one of the monkeys. So, make sure that you look for a monkey who looks like me."

Continuing the festivities....

For our final graduation celebration, we went to Salty's for Sunday brunch. On the way there from church, I tried to explain to

the boys what it was, but they couldn't imagine a place that you could eat out for breakfast other than IHOP. Before we do this again (probably in 10 years), we'll have to have a course on eating at a restaurant that has cloth napkins and no kids menu.

Anyway, brunch was amazing. The food spread was unbelievable. The chocolate fountain (in the shape of the Stanley Cup, according to Alan) speaks for itself. There were marshmallows to dip in the fountain, so guess who ate a bunch of those? They also ate tons of strawberries, cheese omelet, muffins, bacon, etc. etc. The adults enjoyed the seafood (esp. Tony), eggs Benedict, strawberry-rhubarb pie, etc. etc. Some people came home after and passed out in a food coma.

Alan took Tony to Ocean Shores later in the day, and sent the picture above from last night. It seems the weather is clearing up at the coast, so there's hope for us over here, still freezing in the 2nd week of June.

Baseball Parties

Baseball season has come to a close! Andrew and Sam celebrated with their teams this week after their final games. Andrew finished on Wednesday, and we had pizzas delivered to the field, a Costco cake, and a nice post-game party. Sam's coach invited us over for a barbeque at his house on Saturday. It was a real baseball extravaganza, complete with tons of food, an ongoing wiffle ball game, and the entire team on the playground big toy at the same time.

Graduation

Now, it's really official. Alan is totally, completely and absolutely done with his doctorate. It was fun to attend graduation at Qwest Field yesterday. Andrew and Sam loved seeing their dad up on the big screen, receiving his doctoral hood from his dissertation chair, Dr. Ellis.

Found in my (Shannon/Mom's) car backseat this afternoon

1 rock collection (extensive)
5 Hot Wheel cars
1 baseball
1 left-handed t-ball glove from last year
2 bouncy balls
2 plastic rings shaped like footballs
1 pair of shoes (matching)
2 socks (not matching)
$1 Canadian
$0.26 US

Let's Play Two!

Sammy and Andrew had another big baseball day yesterday. Sam's game was a part of a big festival put on by our neighboring league, complete with lineup announcements over the PA. And he got to play against his friend Emma! Andrew launched some big flies in his game later that day, including a double, and drove in an important run in the final inning of a 12-12 tie game. Too bad for him, we just had the cell phone camera for that one.

Sam's form reminds us of Japanese home run champ Sadaharu Oh's famous leg kick...which the delightfully goofy Andrew appears to using in the field.