Brian's Art Show

The annual SPS faculty art show is timed to coincide with Parent's Weekend so mom and dad can see if jr.'s teacher really knows what he is about. This year Brian had a record 30 pieces in the show, ranging from traditional oil paintings to computer illustrations, digital prints, and a projector slideshow of portraits he completed out west last year. Special thanks to photog Tracey for helping me output all the digital stuff from White House Custom Color.

Progress Report: Libby

And in other news, the dog has gained a pound, bringing her up to 3 pounds of hulking Coton de Tulear, and she remains ridiculously adorable.

Kayla's Spooky Party!

With the girls birthdays so close together we alternate years for big parties. With our recent move we delayed Kayla's party and rolled it into a "BirthdayWeen" celebration. Seven years old!

Spooky treats included Hershey bars costumed as mummies.

Well-attended by friends at school (Strong Foundations) and faculty kids here at St. Paul's.

Achievement Unlocked

Yesterday, in the comfort of his home and surrounded by his family, Brian was promoted to the final rank of "Inheritor" in Halo: Reach.

13 months after the game launched Brian is now one of the VERY few players (0.0028% of all players world-wide) who are sporting the coveted "haunted helmet" with a skull seen through the visor.

Yes, the helmet comes with blue flames

For the non-gaming crowd think one of Willy Wonka's Golden Tickets that can only be earned via dominating hordes of people online (67,659 multiplayer kills online, not that I'm counting).

Brian is one of 924 Inheritors out of 182,380 online ranked Halo players, or one of the top 0.5% of all competitive players. The ninth graders I teach totally worship me now.

Wild Birthday!

All three of our kids attended a birthday party the other day with some pretty wild guests from the Granite State Zoo.

Kayla gets a handful of South American Chinchilla.

Brogan admires the spikes of a South African hedgehog.

African porcupine with prehensile tail. Wow.

And to top it off, the kids let a 40 pound Burmese Python slither across their laps. The most disturbing part of this picture is how Brogan and Kayla are NOT freaking out.

The cool thing about the Granite State Zoo (other than the house calls for friends) is that all their animals are rescues. They believe wild animals should be in the wild, and are looking to help out animals that SHOULD'NT be in domestic situations. Why anyone would want to live with a forty-pound python or a three-foot porcupine is beyond me.

We have a new family member...of the furry kind...