S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Saturday night we celebrated Caver's birthday. We are classy, classy people and went to Hollywood Lanes. Yeah!!

Caver - center of photo - and the rest of the party.

It was Caver's family, our family, my parents, Lisa's family and Caver's brother-in-law's family. It was actually a really great place for a birthday party. We go there quite often, and the kids enjoy it. Finn just likes the chicken strips and not bowling, but they all have fun there. Sean got St. Cupcakes; they bowled; and, had lots of bad (but, oh so good) bowling alley food.

gray and ashe...really sort of cute to see them actually
working together on something.

Happy Birthday, Caver (Tuesday)!!

so - do you know what lisa and dennis are laughing about in this photo? see dennis' hand? he's teasing that andy should have broken his wrist the way he was tossing the ball. yeah, just laughing at a man potentially breaking bones. those two are evil! ;)

Before the party, both my boys had basketball games Saturday - one early a.m. and one evening. That is one of the reasons for bowling, as Cade's (my nephew) team was playing Finn's team near the alley. There couldn't have been a worse thing for Finn to have to play his cousin. He is not too keen on this basketball thing. He fretted about the whole game several days ahead of time and was not happy that he didn't know how to play. They had one practice prior to the game. Dennis and Ashe have been showing him a few things, but he was petrified because he was unprepared. Total fear of failure, like his mom...The game ended up being hilariously fun. Those kids crack me up to no end. Finn felt successful for two reasons: he decided he "liked the running"; and, they used his personal ball as the game ball - "the referee picked it because he liked the gold lettering". That kid and his little analysis...

Ashe had his first regular season game of the year. They lost but they played amazingly well. Just like the preseason game I went to, Ashe played as well as I've ever seen him...really had his head in the game. And, as evidence of how into it he was - I'll let you in on a little secret: he had the most rebounds in the game. Molly - his coach and my good friend - emailed me today and said that he will be recognized at tomorrow's practice (as she's going to do for all the high rebounders every week). I'm so proud of him. He will be ecstatic!! But, shhhh. It's a secret.

the chargers...ashe, fourth from right.

I always tell him I don't care how many points he scores - only if he's paying attention and trying. Yes, sounds cliche, but that's hard for him - paying attention.

Ashe lamented that he lost to a team with three girls. (See right for Ashe being guarded by a girl - awesome!!) I loved it! Dennis thought the girls were the best on that team!

It was a family-oriented Saturday. We had a good time. At least the boys got a little break from video games for the weekend. Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones have taken over our house. :)

A Best of 2008 Music List

About ten years ago and earlier, I would have had many albums to sort through from which to pick my top albums of the year. Sometimes it was hard to limit it to ten (only eight this year). As I've gotten older and less hip, it's easier, because I don't buy as many and/or the albums I purchased didn't come out in the current year.

I should be proud of myself, because browsing through my catalog, I liked almost all of the 2008 albums I purchased. That doesn't mean I purchased a lot, but I actually really liked what I DID purchase. I purchased a few singles from albums where I didn't want the entire thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed most that were purchased in their entirety.

My best of 2008 list:
1. She & Him's Volume One - by far my most listened to. I love Zooey's voice. I love the throwback feel to the record. I love every little bit of this record. Favorite track: Sentimental Heart.

2. MGMT's Oracular Spectacular - This is a close second in play counts on the ipod and inclusion on playlists. A completely different feel than the prior, yet just as inviting. I like the 70's feel to some of the songs on this, but others are completely pop-sounding, and others cannot be categorized. Favorite Track: Kids and Electric Feel in a dead heat.

3. The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia - Yes, a lot of this is grunge-tinged. Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees comes by it naturally, though, and I'm a typical girl who thinks Greg Dulli's voice is dreamy...so, I am a fan of this record. I'm fairly new to it, but I adore it. I dig the driving, ominous feel to it. Favorite track: Again a dead heat - between The Stations and God's Children.

Other records I enjoyed but don't feel the need to elaborate on:

4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Fave track - M79)
5. Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust (Fave track - Blush)
6. Santogold - Santogold (Fave track - Lights Out)
7. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Fave track - Grey Estates)
8. The Breeders - Mountain Battles (Fave tracks - German Studies or It's the Love)

Favorite song of 2008 (thanks to Rick Emerson for even making me aware of it):
Morgan Grace's "Valentine". The perfect pop ditty.

*rereading this i have to explain that i will always call them records. i know i'm old...

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Eve at home. Today (New Year's Day), we had "Christmas" with Dennis' mom and sister.

Happy New Year. 2009's gotta be better than 2008!