Siblings and Cousins

My sister Andrea and her family were in town this week and we all(Julie and her offspring as well) got together yesterday for a little barbeque at our place. It was pretty amazing that just a few short years ago I could get together with my sisters' families and we could enjoy a nice, congenial, quiet dinner out at a nice restaurant. Now when we get the whole brood together, no fewer than EIGHT tiny little people, none over the age of five by the way, add significantly to the size and also the noise level of the group. Eight is a pretty intimidating sum when you're talking about little kids but, in fact, when you get them all together the effect is more like having about 20 - one of those things where the total is greater than the sum of its parts - because they're running all over the place, goading each other on, trying to see who can hit the highest decibel levels, etc.

Its amazing though that in just a few short years, all these additional people could be added to our family who weren't ever there before but who we now can't even imagine not being part of the family! And any excuse for us to all get together is well worth it! Gracie LOVES playing with her cousins!

I'd have lots of really cool pictures to post here but our camera broke so we don't. Ryck was taking a lot of pictures though so hopefully we'll see lots of them on their blog within the next few days (click on "Tanner Party of Five" on the left) :)

Heather and I ordered a brand spankin' new camera though and we're very excited to break it in when it gets here on Tueday or Thursday! Check back soon!!

ENGRISH TOP TEN!

My group at work has started working with and recruiting for a lot more of our international sites lately, which has exposed me to some pretty funny "resume bloopers" from those folks who have the need to submit an application in English but who don't necessarily have a masterful command of its usage :)

So in that spirit, here are the ENGRISH TOP TEN! If you're not familiar with what Engrish is, you should get the idea by the time you get to the end of the list. Enjoy!!...


1o. What about "Wockstood?"


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9. No thank you, Yoda.


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8. Got some extra ducks?


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7. It's SO OK!


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6. It's a bit worrisome when even the Chinese won't own up to what's in it...


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5. The proper English translation should be "Bullshit." :)


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4. Where can I get a sign like that??


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3. Feel free, however, to bedevil.


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2. This is much better than the stuff made using the surley hamsters!

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AND NUMBER ONE... (drumroll please Mr. Shaffer)


1. We should've shopped around a little more eh?
(just kidding :) )

Our Weekend

So I sat down to write my blog today since I decided that it didn't make much sense to have a blog but only update it every two or three weeks, but I started thinking - "Hey is this background really the best one for my blog?" - Then I froze and thought, "wait a minute... am I scrapbooking? Has this whole blog thing been crafty attempt by Heather to get me into scrapbooking??" After that I wasn't nearly as concerned with my background. And as long as I don't have to use funny scissors or, more importantly, spend millions of dollars on every conceivable type of paper, sticker, cutout, fastener, soldering iron, etc, I'll probably be able to manage. On to our weekend!!....

So late last summer, Heather and I bought bikes and a pull-behind trailer for towing the girls and, confident that by this part of the summer of '08, we'd be practially silly with bike-related family memories. So it was with a heavy conscience that we finally got around to dusting off the cobwebs and lowering them from their lofty resting place on our garage ceiling nearly midway through July. And I genuinely felt bad about it......... for about 20 minutes......... then the reality set in that since the last time I'd mounted my steed, not only had I passed nearly an entire year to fall even further out of shape, but the mass of my progeney had increased by nearly 150 percent!! (Jane having been too young to ride in the trailer last summer and Grace having increased - surprisingly a lot - in size).

We finished off our weekend with dinner at my Mom's house (sorry Dad, Mom said its her house unless you're here) and an excellent lasagna that hit the spot and finished off the weekend on a definite positive note. Now I'm procrastinating doing the dishes before going to bed and thinking that this is definitely one of those weekends that could have benefitted from an extra day.

And... since I don't believe in posting without including a picture... here's one of some chickens playing soccer, or futbol to our south-of-the-border chicken friends.