Another day with the cutest Nephew in town. Ohmygosh is he a sweet baby. He got vaccinated yesterday so he was sleepy today but he still had some periods of wakefulness and cuteness. I did spend about 2 hours holding him while he slept. I watched an old episode of L@w & 0rder and caught up on my telephoning. There's something tremendously seductive about holding a sleeping baby. It's almost like a drug. A very good drug.

I took the Nephew with me to Joey's school barbecue and he was kind enough to stay asleep until I finished my lunch then he woke up and wanted to be held and smiled at everyone. That kid has perfect timing.

This evening was Joey's year end recital and I brought the Nephew to that, too. He slept or ate through all of it. When he was awake and eating, he'd furrow his brow when the music got loud or when the audience clapped. It was pretty funny to watch him relax and re-furrow his brow several times during a single piece of music. He kept his eye on my the entire time watching me to make sure that the loud noises were nothing to be afraid of.

Joey played her songs perfectly and she looked so cute at that big piano. She got a silver medal for completing her second year of piano and when we got home, Ed took this picture of her wearing last year's bronze medal and this year's silver medal. She's very proud of both of them.

If you look closely, you can see a photo of Joey when she was 2 years old on the bookshelf (that Ed made) behind her. It's one of my favorite photos of her.

Megan asked for more photos so here's another one. I took this picture of Amy when she was in labor. She wasn't having a contraction at that very moment, though. She's the one on the left and the one on the right is her best friend (besides me, of course). They've been best friends since about 5th grade. Her baby was born almost exactly one month after the Nephew.

Tomorrow I'm having a Rib Teaching Day for my friend Kelly. Her husband absolutely loves ribs and really liked the ones I made in January so I told her that when she got a barbecue, I'd show her how to make ribs. Last weekend they got the 'cue so this weekend we're ribbing. We're actually making them on my 'cue because theirs is too small to make the 3 racks that we'll need for the five of us (Joey's a big rib eater) but I'll show her how to modify it for her rig. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll make my sauce and some baked beans, too. And something chocolatey for dessert. And then, after dinner, we'll settle in and play Sett1ers of C@ttan. It's a fun adventure sort of game that we got for Christmas and then discovered that Kelly and her husband knew the game so now we have several friends to play it with.

I was going to put the garden in today while the Nephew slept but I was so tired from waking up at 5am to receive the baby that I just didn't have it in me to finish up out back. I started yesterday evening so all I need to do is stuff my starts into the soil but it'll just have to wait until tomorrow. I bought 2 organic, heirloom tomato starts. One is a red tomato and the other is a pink and yellow stripe. It ought to be interesting. Then I got a roma and an early girl. Or was it a beefsteak. Hmmm...now I can't remember. I also got some basil starts along with some basil seed (so I can have plants at varying stages of readiness) and some W@lla W@lla onion starts. That's all I'm growing, food-wise. (Well, I have rosemary, sage, marjoram and chives in my various herb gardens but they're perenniels.) I have the stuff I need for a good summer pasta or pesto. (I have grown garlic before but I'm not doing it this year.) I'll let you know how the planting and ribs go tomorrow. Should be a fun day around here.

Ed and Joey are crashed in our bed. They read a couple chapters of H@rry P0tter book 4 (they want to be finished by the 20th of June to be ready for book 5 on the 21st) and then just fell asleep. It's pretty cute. I'm just hanging out. Boy--we're pretty boring for a Friday night: piano recital, Burger King dinner, and then crash before 9pm. I'm not asleep, obviously, but I'm in my jammies and ready to go to sleep myownself. Woo hoo--don't you wish you could hang with us?

Later,

--L