BRAINZ! We haz dem.

::sigh::

My beautiful boy has received yet another stellar report card.

I am SO proud of him... I could BUST!

He is also thrilled by these grades... especially the "A" in math.

He's having such a great middle-school experience... I feel very lucky. And grateful.

2011: The Year of Losses

We just found out that my husband's beloved aunt Lois passed away.

We lost her husband Marshall just a few months ago, and she was in failing health, so it was not a surprise, but, still... These things are never easy, are they. You're never as ready as you think you are...

Lois was a lovely person and I feel so lucky to have known her.

I'm especially grateful that Ev got to meet both her and Uncle Marshall.

We'll miss them so, so much...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Warmest Thanksgiving wishes from all of us here at The Siegel Files!!!

This year, it's JUST US in our OWN HOUSE for the holiday! We're very excited! The last time we did this was in 2001... (Gee, I'm glad we got rid of that paneling...and those drapes...)

So, wherever you are, whomever you're with... enjoy the holiday and count your mitzvahs!

CONGRATULATIONS are in order...

It's an exciting day here at The Siegel Files... The Boy won several awards duriing the May awards ceremony at school! One was Student of the Month for Language/Literature, another was Student of the Month in Science, and the last one -- the big surprise -- was that he took 3rd place in the Science Fair in the Physics category! WE HAZ PROUDZ! Plus, they gave the kids TROPHIES! WTF?! How awesome is THAT?!

For more info on his Science Fair project, look here!

Open House!

Tonight, we attended our first Open House at Ev's middle school.

It was just LOVELY! We got to see all his teachers, and look at all the great work he's done of late. As usual, we're just exceedingly proud of our little fella, and continue to be delighted with this wonderful school we chose for him. I could not possibly be more thrilled with the education he's getting.

All the Science Fair stuff was up in the cafeteria (you might recall Ev working on his a few weeks ago, as chronicled here) -- so neat to see what everyone's experiments were! One of the older kids had made a hovercraft and was giving people rides!

12th Birthday!

The Boy seemed to enjoy his birthday...

He got many awesome prezzies from many generous friends & family members, and he got one of Daddy's yummy homemade chocolate cakes!

He also got his dream-gift: The Nintendo DSi-XL. So, yes. He was surprised and happy!

Such an appreciative little fella... He's fun to buy for.

One more year 'til he's officially a teen! Jeebus help me...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVAN!!!

Happy birthday

my beautiful boy
my trusty sidekick
my Scooby Doo
my greatest contribution to the world

You make me SO proud, EVERY. DAY.!!!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

My "baby" turns 12 tomorrow!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Here are highlights from Ev's b-days past.

Tomorrow, we celebrate #12!

::sigh::

Can somebody slow this ride down? I think I'm gonna barf if it goes any faster...

Our Sweet 16

On Friday, Mr. Siegel and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary! Yay!

We grabbed our trusty sidekick The Ev, and headed down to Sherman Oaks for dinner at Mr. Cecil's Rib Joint. Mainly cuz it had an attractive kids' menu. And indeed, Ev selected the kids' giant beef rib, and ate the whole thing!

After dinner, we bopped across the street to Freakbeat Records. What an awesome store! Fantastic selection of stuff! Plus they give our friend Davie his own section. A sign of an excellent record store. ;-)

Oh -- and that Donny Most album pictured below? Bri got it. ;-)

Science Fair!

The Boy has been workin' all weekend on his Science Fair project! It's related to balloons. And temperature. There is much balloon-popping going on, and data collection, and graph making! It's awesome and I'm glad @mrquizzical handles this stuff soz ah don't hafta.

I DID assist with balloon measurement for a time, as the boy's eardrums were takin' a beating from the really loud popping. And I helped shop for supplies like construction paper and glue sticks. So, y'know, I'm not *completely* useless. :-)

Sometimes, he goes with the NYT instead.

My 11-year-old child, readin' the newspaper.

SOMEBODY pinch me!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

::proudz::

Honor Roll

The Boy is once again rockin' the Honor Roll at Pinecrest Middle School! ::proudz::

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all... a good night."

#hashtaggery #ohnomyspleen

So, as some of you may know, I like to hang out on Twitter. There, I have met alot of awesome peeps, many of whom are non-stop laugh-riots. They enjoy engaging in what has come to be known as #hashtaggery. This is when a label is created, either specifically for fun or organically, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon trying to come up with a word or phrase that fits the hashtag. A good article on this phenom can be found here.

So anyhoo, yesterday my young'un was with me at the office, and he was drawing pictures. One of them was quite hysterical (see below), so I posted it as a Twitpic. Everyone was just tickled by it, but my peep @introvertedwife was downright INSPIRED. She immediately started engaging in #ohnomyspleen #hashtaggery! Much zaniness ensued. Many people found themselves weeping and ::falling off chair laughing::.

The Boy was absolutely THRILLED to be involved in the inception of a Social Media phenom! I like to think it's the librarian in him, since hashtagging is really just cataloging for New Media. ;-) I was thrilled to have him so entertained, and to have him really get a sense of what Twitter is all about (i.e., community and instantaneous information sharing).

The original drawing can be viewed below, along with a sampling of the ensuing #hashtaggery.

Good times!