Shout Outs

May has been the month of "Smallie Shout-Outs"...speeches, newspapers, the world can't seem to get enough of us (ha.ha.). 

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At highschool graduation, during the valedictorians speech, she said something along the lines of..."there have been a lot of great teachers who have helped me get where I am today, but I would personally like to thank Mr. Smallie for being so influential in my education and inspiring me to do my very best".   A great honor considering he had her as a student five years ago and I know he's proud of himself for helping to instill her work ethic and the motivation to lead her class.  Everytime we see her, he asks about her grades and made sure she was still ranked #1.  I've had so many people stop me in the grocery store, restaurants, gas stations, etc to tell me about this speech and how wonderful Scott is.  (now if I could just get him to pick his clothes up off our bedroom floor!!)

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Cate about flipped out when she looked at the newspaper in Farm Fresh and saw me on the cover!  This must be how Brad and Angelina feel when they walk through a grocery store :)

Paparazzi caught me shopping for flowers at our local Melting Pot Market.  I thought for sure the sunglasses would disguise me ;)

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Not to be outdone, Miss Cate made her way into the paper the following week...along with Ben, Brady, and Annie.  They all spend a lot of time with my parents at the Community Garden and it seems like at least one of them makes their way into the press each week.  Ben was even quoted in this article! (I was so nervous to read what he had to say during the interview.  I had visions of the super freaks that are always interviewed after tornadoes and other disasters!  He did great though and I can tell he's been affected by the number of students in his school who pick vegetables out of the garden to take home because for them, food isn't always abundant and fruits and vegetables are rarely available to them).  Check out the full article  (there are additional pictures to view by clicking on them under the headline)  http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/illinois/news/community-garden-helps-bring-back-old-six-mile-museum-in/article_19552c59-f313-5b0b-832a-35e72d85f9da.html  No idea why Cate said she planted carrots for her pet bunny...her pet bunny is stuffed :)  But those are, in fact, her carrots.  Everyone else's are planted in the sun, but she hates the sun, so she planted hers in the shade and surprisingly, they're growing quite well!

Cate and her carrots!

Brady walks over to the museum every morning around 8:00 to help water and pick the veggies.  He is there a few hours each day and takes his "job" very seriously.  I think he has been a huge help to my parents and thankfully he has inherited my dads work ethic.

Brady and my prego niece Annie.  I told her back in the olden days, women gave birth in the fields and then kept on working til dinner...she didn't find it funny at all :)

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And last but not least, my favorite shout out of them all!  At the highschool spring sports ceremony, Scott was in charge of the baseball awards and he started his speech by thanking me for being a great "baseball widow" and for all of the sacrifices I make in order for him to coach.  It's nice to be appreciated, and especially in front of so many people :)

"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my wife for taking on the burden of having to raise all four of our kids while I'm coaching.  The cleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, scheduling, driving to and from practices, and especially for stopping by our home games and taking notes on all of the things I did wrong during the game and then going over her list with me when I get home.  I absolutely love being married to someone who knows more about coaching baseball than I do and is so willing to mentor me to be a better coach.  Love you honey"

Well, if that's not exactly what he said, I'm sure it's exactly what he meant to say!