Oh. Hey. Life has been bizzzz-y. I can't believe how quickly time goes. Double digit March?!! Really, now. And although I would be okay with time going a little bit slower, I'm also just plain excited to meet our little baby guy aaaaannd to sleep on my stomach again. So I guess I'll take the quickly passing days.
The new year has been good to us. We've celebrated Shawn's birthday, Valentines day, watched Olympics, went to a Jazz game in a suite (thank you o-so-kind work), hosted a slew of Ukrainian's at work for 10 days, got the new Coldplay song (that I am in fact currently listening to. again.), and baked a few delightful treats. Another huge announcement/milestone/event/celebration is that we have heard back from the grad schools Shawn applied to and he's one incredible guy. We have chosen to attend Columbia College Chicago. So here we go---Chicago bound in August (or so)! Wrigley stadium. Architecture. (cold cold cold winters). Lake Michigan. While You Were Sleeping. Hopefully some good concerts will come touring through while we're there and I will be able to hold a bake sale to earn my ticket. ha! But please know, all are welcome for a visit! It will be my first time living away from any friends or family and I just keep thinking how lucky I am to have an adventure like this with my love. But family and friends are most definitely welcome.
One more recent event is our new game we play. I'll give a little tutorial here:
Game: Expelliarmus
Supplies: One deck of facecards for every 2-3 people, one 4-sided die, one percentage die, one notepad of paper, one pen or pencil.
Goal: To earn 100-points first in each inning and ultimately, have the highest score at the end of 9-innings.
Scoring: All cards are worth face value. (Aces are worth 1 point. Jack, Queen, & King are all worth 10 points each. Jokers are worth 50 points.) Suit does not matter except in the case of the King of Clubs--if you end the inning and have the King of Clubs, your score is multiplied by 4. If you do not end the inning and have the King of Clubs in your hand, your score is divided by 4.
How to Play: Shuffle cards. Each player is dealt 7 cards. The player to the left of the dealer rolls the 4-sided die. Whichever number it lands on (1, 2, 3, or 4) is the number of cards that player discards. The player then rolls the 4-sided die again to determine how many cards will be drawn. The player can draw from either the fresh stack of cards, the discard pile, or a combination of both. Play continues in clockwise manner until someone reaches at least 100-points, at which point they call out "Expelliarmus!" This can be done at either the start or finish of their turn. The inning is then over. All players now count the points in their hand. Once points are counted, the percentage die is rolled by each player and the percentage rolled is applied to the total points in the players hand that inning. Play continues for 9 innings, and the winner is the player with the highest total at the end.
Yep. That's it. Shawn is a regular ol Mike Bailey. He did a good job coming up with that game. It just so happens that he has also won both times we have played...hmmmm...sounds fishy if you ask me.
Alright. Here are some pictures.
