Phase 1: Complete.

It's pretty sad when your first step toward decorating for Christmas is boxing up your Halloween decorations!

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Here's the story of a Bradymaniac.

OK, so I may be just a little obsessed with the Brady Bunch.

Yet another part of Project GOOD has been packing up our collections. (Yep, that's "collections," plural. Sad but true.) In our current house, we turned our "fun room" into a pop culture mini-museum; his sci-fi stuff, comics and monsters mingled with my Bradys, Friends and UT items. Who knows what our set-up will be in our next house, so as I packed these treasures away, I figured I'd better document what's in my collection in case I never see them all together again!


The whole* collection is documented on Flickr:

Click the big image to see the individual pix.

And just because no Brady collection would be complete without a singing and dancing hamster, I offer this:

*Sadly enough, this digital archive's incomplete! My Brady T-shirts have already been packed away, and I didn't shoot our Columbia House Brady VHS collection or either of the two complete series DVD sets. We have a slew of other videotapes—Brady Brides, talk show appearances, etc.—that I didn't document, either! And yes, I know that my Bradymania is WEIRD!!!

Beach bash.

For Ryan's 12th annual pool party, he chose a beach theme, so out came the palm trees and coconuts!

I threw some rubber duckies in the pool before the party (they were left over from my ducky-themed bunco), never realizing they would be turned into grenades during the party! It was fun watching the kids chunk them back and forth across the pool.

Conspiring...

...and then attacking!

The adults found what shade they could to stay cool and (mostly) dry.

We commented that in the 12 straight years that we've been having these pool parties, our pool seems to have shrunk! These big kids take up more room than the little ones did back in the day!

It's become a tradition for us to serve Utz cheese balls, and this year, one partier discovered that they are delicious when dipped in the chocolate fountain (a.k.a., the chocolate volcano).

When it was time to cut the cake,

...we had a kitchen full of friends and family!

He's been 12 for three days, and I still can't believe it.

Several of the guys took a look around Brett's collection, and at one point, Brett got to show them his book. Pretty cool!

Present time!

Ryan was surprised to get a dock for his iPod. He was so tickled with all of his gifts! At one point, I think he had dollar signs for eyes.

So another crazy swimming party is in the books. Since our house is for sale, this may be our last one of these parties here, so we really tried to soak it all in. Have we really had 12 of these parties? That's a lot of cheese balls!

Just another Saturday at Chez Dub.

After so much traveling, it was nice to be back in our own house!

Ryan played Mario Kart,

Katie checked out the Disney Channel,

and Brett worked on his book.

Later that afternoon, we took a pool break.

And oh, yeah... Did I mention we now have a dog? No?

Meet Frisco!

Dads' day.

We honored Brett with his Father's Day cards and a GameStop gift card before church this morning.



After church, Brett got to pick our lunch destination: Golden Corral. It was really crowded, but at least it wasn't Pancho's!

Then tonight, we gave Papa his gift and card during the Amerikids cast party:


It wasn't our usual Father's Day routine, but we were glad to take time out of this crazy week to say thanks to these great dads!

Another Thursday night = another project.

For this week's English project, Ryan wanted to make a skyscraper to use in his retelling of Weird Al's Spider-Man song, "Ode to a Superhero."

This time around it was Brett's turn to take on the duties of Chief Homework Helper.

He helped Ryan cover and stack boxes to make the tall building.

I sat this one out because I was sorting hundreds of nameplates for tomorrow's yearbook distribution.

Ta-da! Here's the skyscraper, ready for Spidey!

photos courtesy of MoJo Katie

Why I blog.

There's nothing like the blog to unite these feuding siblings!
They're even sharing (SHARING—What a concept!) the same chair.

Here are my hams after they realize I'm taking their pictures.

The smiles we left behind.

So I pick up the latest Texas Monthly* from our bar (where all of our mail piles up—please tell me we're not the only ones who throw our mail in a pile!). When I plop the magazine down on my lap, I feel something...furry. EW!

I throw the magazine on the floor, and when I pick it up again, THIS is what's left on the floor:

Ah, memories. Misty water-colored memories of the way we were! (The story behind the 'stache can be found here, here or here.)

*I recommend this issue—April—because it has a list of "68 Awesome Things to Do with Your Kids." We've managed to do quite of few of those 68 and can vouch for the fact that yes, they're awesome!

Separate Ways.