Today’s post (and the last before I return!) comes to you from Laura at These Are a Few of my Favorite Things. Among many other things, Laura blogs about life and the follies that occur in her kindergarten classroom. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since meeting her almost four years ago now (hello, time flies!), it’s that she can really tell a story. So run, don’t walk, people!
-Kat
I must confess that I’ve actually known Marcus longer than I’ve known Kat. As such, I probably should start out by sharing some quality Marcus memories, to show you the quality guy Kat has married.
We go way back to elementary school. That’s right, approximately 20 years ago (man, we are getting old) we were in the same third grade class together (unless I have completely fabricated these memories. Sometimes it is hard to say what is truth and what I have dreamt up). But roll with me on this, because I’m really hoping Marcus won’t take away the 20 years of memories that I have banking on this post.
Back in third grade, we used to play Around the World. If you aren’t familiar with the game, 2 students compete to answer the math fact the fastest. The winner advances to compete against the next child. Marcus’ last name and my last name are fairly close in the alphabet, and so due to seating arrangements, I would frequently find myself competing against him (and losing to him 98.1% of the time). The day he was absent and I was able to win more than 2 rounds before getting out was probably my happiest day of third grade. (that is a lie – my happiest day of third grade was the day that our teacher bought hamsters for class pets from another girl in our class). I’m just glad that Marcus grew up to be a rocket scientist so that I would know that my losses in Around the World aren’t so much a reflection on my intelligence, but rather a reflection on his geniusness.
Ideally here I would have an embarrassingly endearing photo from our third grade yearbook to show you. However, I cannot be bothered by scanners, and childhood pictures live at my parents house, so instead I will show you this: a photo of us doing dishes. Perhaps in late high school? Perhaps in college? It is hard to say. It is the earliest photo I could find that was in the digital age of our friendship. You can almost see Marcus behind Curly Hair Boy’s head.
While I’ve known Marcus mostly forever, we became friends in high school. Then we stayed friends in college. Then I got to become friends with Kat at some unknown point after they met! It is all very exciting.
Look! We are all friends!
So far from my rambling we know that Kat’s hubby is smart. Now we will learn that he is nice! (yes, I do realize I could use a thesaurus and come up with more exciting adjectives).
After we graduated from college and became real adults, Marcus had a nifty job that sent him on lots of exciting (read: not thrilling) business trips. One such trip took him to New Mexico. I told him that my dad used to travel there for work and would bring us back Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. As a child, I was fairly certain that NM is the only place this specialty bean was sold. (As an adult, this was just one of the ways I realize how confused I was during childhood.) Back to the tale: when Marcus returned from his business trip, he brought me a souvenir! You guessed it: Jelly Belly Jelly Beans! Win!
At this point in my post, when I mentally prepared to write it 10 minutes ago, I thought I would launch into a hilarious story from one of my kindergarteners, because they really are quite ridiculous in the things they say. However, I see that I have already written you a novel, so I will probably just stop here. It’s been a pleasure!
[update: My mom happens to now work at my former elementary school. She smuggled out an old yearbook for me. Childhood Memories Confirmed.]
What stories do you have of Marcus or Kat?
What facts of life were you certain of as a small child that now you realize the absurdity of your logic?
Doesn’t she look like the Doritos dog?
Josie is insane at the beach, like the way I get around buffets and pony kegs. But that’s another story.
Ain’t he handsome???
Tofu is on the left (he’s scrappy!) and Willow is on the right.
Pugs are only ever that attentive for food. Om nom nom!
I think I am going to start training her to be a rescue dog. I mean, she could easily grab kittens from burning buildings and save grown men from avalanches. …right?
Picnic season has FINALLY arrived. Too bad it only took a few weeks longer than expected.
Worried about the possibility of running out of conversation topics during a mountain picnic because you’ve run out of things to comment on (the scenery can only take you so far)? Not a prob. Some that we came up with:
While it started primarily as a way to track baby items, which are insanely expensive and rarely on sale, I began realizing it had its advantages in other areas too. My particular list has changed now because Wee ‘Burb is eating mostly (ok, in theory) what we’re eating. So I deleted my baby items from the first list and focused more on produce, which is something we eat a ton of here in Casa Suburbia, and also something that’s frequently marked as a deal when it most certainly is not.
Photo courtesy of
