If you’re a fan of the movie Best in Show or Spellbound, then you’ll appreciate this…

I saw this sidebar article in today’s paper:

The proliferation of documentaries about competitions of niche, eccentric sports has long been due for parody. Spelling bees, competitive eating contests and Scrabble championships are just a few of the events that have become subjects of feature-length documentaries. Unflinching Triumph-The Philip Rockhammer Story is a mockumentary of those films, available for free downloading or streaming in full at: www.unflinchingtriumph.com

And if you want to play a virtual staring contest, visit www.staregame.com/facen3open.htm

Great fun if you’re bored on a dreary January day…

 ~ Erin

I’ve been tricked.  I’ll be turning 30 in a couple of weeks, and I had some suspicions that Doug would try to do something “special” to commemorate this milestone.  But I had no idea he had been planning a surprise party for MONTHS!  Apparently, he had set up a secret website to coordinate and plan everything.  That’s my geek! 

My dear sister Amanda was coming down for a visit this weekend, which all turned out to be a ploy to get me out of the house!  So sneaky!  So Molly and I went out to go pick up my sister, then visited Von Maur for some “retail therapy.”  At about 12:30, Doug called and informed me that “we have water in our basement… please come home and help me move boxes out of the way!”  Time to get back home!  I didn’t notice anything unusual as we pulled into the driveway… everything seemed normal.  Then I opened the door into our kitchen and “SURPRISE!!!!”  These were the first thoughts that rang through my head: “I’m so glad I put on makeup this morning!” “What has happened to my kitchen?!” “Where did all of these people park?!”

Yes, it was a big surprise!  Doug was smart to plan an attack early so I would be off-guard!  (I’m not 30 until the 30th.)  And he scheduled it during the day, knowing I would be expecting something like this to occur at night.  He had people park up by the clubhouse so I wouldn’t notice the cars.  Apparently, he’d been planning this thing for months.

It was so fun to see so many friends there!  These are some highlights from the party:

- Getting “confetti-bombed” as I walked into the house

- Watching a video (created by Doug) using my favorite songs and photos

- Webcamming live with my twin sis Steph as she shared her ”Erin timeline”

- Viewing a video from my childhood friend Keturah

- Eating my favorite meal – farfalle alfredo from Biaggi’s Ristorante

- Enjoying some DELICIOUS chocolate cake! 

- Remembering that Doug’s birthday is just six days after mine.  (Payback is a b*tch.)

Thank you all for joining in on the surprise - I will never forget it!  And thanks for helping Doug plan this event… I know it took a lot of hard work to pull this off!  I’m only sorry that the weather prevented my parents and my twin sis from coming out, but it was fun to webcam during the party!

You can view pictures from the party here.

~ Erin

Molly is singing her first song! It’s a silly little tune from our Kindermusik class:

“Toast, toast; I like it a lot.

Toast, toast; when will it pop?

(4 clicks) Time to pop!”

Our music instructor even gave us a cute little toaster toy that pops up a piece of toast. Very fun! Molly also enjoys watching Disney’s “Little Einsteins” on TV and screams “rocket!” whenever that red rocketship flies through the air. “Blast-off!”