Audition

Geo auditioned for a regional orchestra today. It was a last-minute decision and he didn't have much time to prepare. He was nervous but got through it and sounded great. We will hear back at the end of the month. 🥺🥺🥺

Warming up

World Tapir Day 2023

Today is World Tapir Day. We didn't forget this year and made sure to appreciate our tapirs.

My precious

M's most valued possession is her Charmin stash. She has always had hoarder tendencies, but the pandemic pushed her over the edge. The thought of not having a steady supply of Charmin freaked her out, so she bought way too much. She kept the stash in her room, where she works and sleeps, so she could be near it all day. We liked to stack our annoying Minecraft animals on her stash so they could stare ominously at her. M liked to take artistic pictures of them so she could stare right back.

Alas, M cleaned her room and moved the stash to D's office area so we couldn't have Pixel and Vasco staring at her all day. So we moved Pixel to another vantage point on the bookshelf where he can watch her sleep.

Duck huggers

A few years ago, Geo tricked M into buying a gigantic stuffed animal for Easter. M said she would let D decide, then called him and he didn't say no like he was supposed to. So we are now stuck with him. His name is Duck but don't be fooled--he is actually a chicken.

Geo is very possessive of Duck and doesn't want Henry to hug Duck unless he redeems a "Duck ticket" good for one hug. But this leads to H stealing Duck out of Geo's room to steal hugs. Geo even once forced D to take Duck on a camping trip to keep him away from Henry, who was staying home.

Duck is definitely the source of a lot of drama.

Cones of encouragement

Geo is a master manipulator. When he was conducting animal school, he could get M to buy whatever he wanted by claiming it was for animal school.

One time, they were at Dollar Tree, and Geo was trying to convince her to buy these cones with motivational phrases like "Great job!" M was dubious and said no. Then Geo had a brilliant idea. He added, "But these would really encourage my animals in animal school!" Guess who won the battle?

Now we use them to reward animals for a job well done. Well, maybe just for being cute.

Enrico in Italia

Our favorite 15-year-old ventured out of the country for the second time in his life over spring break for his long-delayed 13th birthday present. He saw the sites, ate pizza that has apparently ruined Domino's for him forever, and came back with nice gifts for his whole family (but did not deign to replace M's beautiful Italian cashmere-lined leather gloves he ruined while sledding). 

Now Geo needs to figure out where he wants to go when it's his turn...

A fifth member of the glasses club

R had his eyes checked and was dismayed to learn that his 20/15 vision has deteriorated to 20/20. To regain 20/15 vision, he got glasses. Behold, R with glasses in 2023:

Also, a blast from the past before his eyes failed: