Oscar Stew

Eeesh, it’s been almost 3 months since our last post! We can easily use the excuse that there’s been a lot going on. We’ve dealt with more than our share of illness since we last posted while trying to handle the ever-growing stresses of life, the end of the school year, computer problems, and other hobbies like sewing, letterboxing, gardening, and chasing the dog. But summer is coming, and if we have any hope of cherishing any family memories that we make over the next few months we had better sum things up quick!

So yeah, school’s out for summer. Drew & Brinley are pretty bummed:

This post is going in reverse order by the way. Before D&B could make summer official they had to rip down the sign. This task may have taken more than one attempt. A little bit less tape next year Ryan…

That’s using your new 4th & 2nd grader heads! The full weight of the Scoob plus Brinley’s sucker stabber brought that banner down like hail in July. (that’s my reverse psychology weather jinx: if I talk about hail all the time, then the garden will stay hail-free & safe, right?)

It’s important that we have this tradition so that all the neighbors on our block will be warned about the potential pandemic on their hands, vermin running loose, spreading disease and lowering their property values. Did I just say that?  

No more elephants. That reference will remain top secret. We can neither confirm nor deny. Black helicopters, grassy knolls. Suited men with wires in their ears.

Where are your backpacks? Lunch boxes? Textbooks? Ah, the last day of school is a good day to come bearing gifts for teacher. Earn that A!

This is not the only close-up view of these multi-purpose bags…

What would a completely unique, custom-made creation be without a permanent personal note sewed into it? Just a bag.

The reviews of each teacher are glistening!

One of Drew’s final school projects was to participate in a “live” museum. Can you guess who he was?

Not the Cat, but the Cat’s owner, Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss. Nobody would’ve guessed if he was just an old dead guy in a suit.

The live museum had an interesting lineup of characters…

When no kids were around, Drew…er…Dr. Seuss would remain completely motionless…

But every once in a while, a student would come by and push the button…

And then Dr. Seuss would fill your mind full of all kinds of factoids & foolishness!

Brinley’s class was assigned to run some how-to seminars. Can you guess what topic Brinley chose? No, it wasn’t how to pick your nose or how to annoy your teacher. (those were real topics that other kids “performed”!) 

Brinley’s demo might as well have been on QVC, she was talking and demonstrating at the same time. Even the boys were riveted!

After sewing for only 3 seconds she pulled this finished quilt off the machine. Just like the infomercials!

‘Nother day, ‘nother reading of poetry and movie scripts down at Central Perk.

Brinley’s romantic comedy got 2 enthusiastic thumbs up. One each from Mommy & Daddy. How come not 4 thumbs? Because Rowan & Ellie were in the other hand. HA!

Drew’s car may have not been the fastest. It wasn’t the slowest either. But it certainly was unique, and getting the award for most creative is something he earned.

The drag strip isn’t such a drag, is it Drew?!

Here’s some glamour shots of Drew’s custom ranch truck, complete with doggie.

It appears the dog is guarding a rather large loot of chocolate bars. And really, if this is to scale, that dog is a bear with a crowbar in its mouth. Yikes!

Nice cuts Scoobie. That truck is starting to come together!

Daddy ensured that if there was amputation involved, it would be his finger, not Drew’s.

Meanwhile, Drew made cutting out a pinewood ranch truck while wearing safety glasses look cool.

Brinley’s kindergarten teacher made a get-to-know-you poster for herself, and included some of Brinley’s memories.

You make a fine weather girl B-Rock. Speaking of rocks, any ice rocks in the forecast?

During each other’s parent teacher conferences the schooled siblings honed their computer-hacking skills, complete with noise-reducing headphones. Rowan was convinced that dimples would help swindle her way into another turn on the PC…

And if that didn’t work, Ellie would try the bit-lip technique. Who taught you girls these tricks, or were you born with them already installed?

Take it easy on the world today, ok kids? No stealing identities, no DefCon 1, no power plant shutdowns. How about Angry Birds? That’ll keep you occupied for hours!

It was kinda funny/scary how they just innocently walked up to these computers, entered a 12-digit password (no joke!) and gained access to the world.

Those pouty innocent looks weren’t getting them anywhere at the book fair:

1st grade is for field trips, and I am on the bus with Bean-Bob once again. She gets really embarrassed when I come with her on these things.

February’s pack meeting theme was “camping”. All the cubbies made themed cakes. Drew’s was definitely the hottest!

I dunno, do you really think all that chocolate and sugar make you warmer? Drew seems to think so.

Those flames and logs sure are enticing me. Can I have a nibble? Just a spark?

How did you make those flames anyway? Draw the flames on paper, put melted chocolate in a bag and draw on the wax paper? Ingenious idea Scoobers!