The Rest o' the Fam

Apparently there has been concern among some members of the fam that I am a little biased towards certain members of my family (read: Burke). Upon re-reading my blog, it became quite apparent that this is, in fact, an accurate interpretation of my previous comments. It appears that I need to make some amends, or rather, more accurately express the love that I have for the whole bunch a bit more equally across the board. This may have to happen gradually as it is currently 12:30 am and my bed is calling to me. But before I forget, there are two things that need to be said.

1) I love my mother dearly. She's what you might call a "best friend." Whenever I have a problem that I don't want to talk about, she calls me up, quickly realizes that something is wrong, and within minutes has said just the right thing and I inevitably end up feeling infinitely better. Every time. It's almost uncanny. I frequently cry during these conversations, which makes her feel regretful for having brought it up, but really I'm always quite grateful. This reminds me of two eternal truths about crying: a. you always feel better after you do it, and b. you know when something really scary or distressing happens and you manage to hold it all together, right up until you see your mom? It's kind of like that, only I think it's unhealthy to hold it all in. So when Mom calls, I just let it out.

On a related note, my mom and I did cool things together over Christmas Break. Like decorate for Christmas. Go to Seattle and the MOHAI. Go shopping. Drive around Seattle looking at houses that we will never live in, only covet. See "I am Legend" at the IMAX theater. Play Rummikub, Yahzee, Scattergories, Phase 10, and most recently, Apples to Apples. These games are all fun in any group situation, but are much more fun with Mom. Especially Phase 10, where we know that she will complain about her hand, and then proceed to win. But really the best times with Mom are doing my make-up in the morning with her in her huge carpeted bathroom and talking about whatever while I shed hair all over, and how she lets me hang off of her (literally) almost all the time (seriously, I kind of just hug her around the neck and don't really let go and she drags me around the house) and has never once told me to get off, although I'm sure it must be really annoying. She's very tolerant. Unfortunately, because my hands were always tied up around her neck, I only have one picture of mom and it's already in the blog, but I do have one of a cool house that we photographed in Seattle. Hopefully the people who actually live there don't expect any reimbursement for this:

Oh, wait, here's one of Mom:

2) When I recapped Christmas break for my new (and faithful?) readers, I was sort of just thinking about those I spent time with over the holidays, which tragically, did not include some of my immediate family. It might have appeared that I only have 2 really, really good-looking brothers. However, I actually have three. Now, those who speak to me in person know this, but the blog may have given the wrong impression. There are some friends of mine who are part of the Burke Fan Club (and I didn't mention that Cam is gaining quite a following as well - I'm quite good at converting people), but my oldest brother Scott (who is funny and close to perfect), along with my beautiful sister-in-law Alexis (who is very funny in her own right and probably the most capable woman that I know - seriously, I kind of am under the impression that she can do anything), and my OH MY ADORABLE nephews Nate (4), Grant (2), and Bennett (brand-new baby!) (who are, of course, the cutest and the smartest of all nephews ever) have their own little fan club that resides in Bacaville (remember to swap the B for a V). You see, many moons ago I discovered that I could personalize my computer screen at work by adding a lovely picture to my desktop background. So every week or so, I check The Snow Family blog, read Alexis' witty blog entries and check out the pics of my nephews that make me giddy because they're so darn cute. One pic a week inevitably makes it onto my desktop, which almost daily is projected up in front of the classroom on the screen for all of my 71 students to see as I pull up or close different documents. Seeing these pictures usually brings a general "ooooohhhhh!!!!" and "cuuuuuute!" from all the girls, occasionally accompanied by, "Are those your kids?" "Do you want to have kids?" "Is that you in that picture?" "How many kids do you want to have?" Either way, the point is, Scott and Alexis and their boys have their very own fan club way out here in Bacaville, and every one pretty much knows how obsessed I am with them. :)

Here's the picture that's on my desktop this week:

There you have it.