Studer's Invitational Beer Olympics Video - Anchored Films

Our 5th annual Studer's Invitational Beer Olympics will take place in a mere 10 days and we are busy getting ready for the big event.  Tshirts have been ordered, to do lists are being checked off, and Rules & Regulations being edited.  It will be our fifth year holding the Beer Olympics to raise money for charity.  Fifth Year!!  For these past four years, we've been able to talk our friends and family into spending a hot summer day participating in hilarious games and drinking an extraordinary amount of beer all with the purpose of raising money for someone that could use a little support.  It makes me so proud to surrounded by everyone who helps make these big, amazing, and hilarious dreams come true.

This year,we have some exciting plans in the works.  A new game addition, new 'quick-points challenges', and some other surprises.  But maybe the most exciting addition to this year's Beer Olympics is our new pump up video recapping the last four years of events.  We reached out to Anchored Films  and they used their professional skill and comical insight to put together this awesome compilation of the photos and videos that we've captured at the Beer Olympics into one seamless film.   To say that we're obsessed with it would be an enormous understatement.

Disclaimer:  If you're at work watching this - turn down the volume! - also, you're at work watching this?




What is most amazingly fantastic about our Anchored Film (Like them here on facebook!) is that they perfectly blended the fact that the day is a bunch of fun, games and hilarity, but also that it is clearly a day of competing together for a greater cause.  That we spend the day making new friends, laughing, and competing with respectful sportsmanship.  Sure, we're a bunch of grown-ups drinking copious amounts of alcohol, but at the end of the day it's within the confines of safety and gracious merriment.

In past years, we've made personal donations* to both Make-A-Wish foundation and Miss Tay (a little girl from our community with hydrocephalus).  One of my favorite parts of Beer Olympics each year is during the awards ceremony when we announce again that we are grateful to spend the day playing and laughing all in honor of making a donation to someone in need.  You should hear the cheers and applause from our participants; it is truly a great day with an even greater meaning.  Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all of you who show up for some 'boozing for a cause'.  And a huge thanks to Anchored Films for making this video that perfectly reflects exactly what we hope our Beer Olympics stands for:  fun, friendship, and kindness.

[To share this video - you will need to use the direct link as it is set up as private on youtube.]

*personal donations are made to the organizations in our names on behalf of the participants, spectators, and event.  Make-A-Wish and Miss Tay in no way endorse our event, nor do we promote our event by using their name/organization.  

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If you're interested in hosting  your own Beer Olympics (and we hope its for a cause!!) - here are the links to our 'official' game rules.  They are organized in the order that we play them.  Feel free to change, alter, or use as is.  Its all for fun, right?  Do I need to put a disclaimer here? Unfortunately-probably.

- Team Studer (www.studerteam.blogspot.com or Tabitha and Brandon Studer) is not responsible for anyone's actions after following or using our Beer Olympic rules & guidelines.  Each person is responsible for his/her own body and personal decisions.   If you decide to use our Beer Olympics rules & guidelines,  you are agreeing to take full responsibility for any actions, accidents, or injuries that may be caused due to using them.  Don't be stupid- but if you are, it's on you, man.-

What's in a [Knick]Name?

We are big on knicknames in our family.  All of the grandparents have their own non-traditional knicknames (Abba, Chum, Gigi, Pappy, Mimi) and our kids' Aunts/Uncles/Cousins/Friends are known to them almost exclusively by knicknames (Kitty, Uch, Juice, Tete, Kuma, Ninna, BigK, Jojo, Siri, and Dobber).  So it's probably not a surprise that we each have a variety of names that we recognize as our own or answer to when called.

Brandon James

Also known by:

Bud, B, Dadda, Honey, Babe, StuderB, BJ, Kingboy

Brandon got his knickname, 'Kingboy' from his Uncle Dave when he was a little kid.  He is the only grandson on his Dad's side and since he was always getting special treatment, Uncle Dave started calling him Kingboy.  As he grew up, Bud has always been surrounded by women in his life that were happy to step in and enable him offer a helping hand (hehhhe, ahem:  Gigi, Mimi, Me, Taryn, Abba, etc), he was also named Homecoming King, and captain of almost every sports team he's been on - so the 'King' name fits.   And even to this day the name has stuck because Brandon has an insane amount of good luck on his side (as it seems at least) and whenever good fortunate swoops into his life, everyone that knows this knickname just shakes their head and says, "Kingboy strikes again."

Tabitha Irene

Also known by:

Tab, Mum, Mumma, Tabi, Tabers, Irene

I received my knickname as 'Mumma' long before actually becoming a Mom.  Brandon and Jon (his bff) started calling me Mumma when they were in college, I think at first as a joke since they say I like to pretend to be Mother Theresa with all my volunteer projects and ideas.  A little of the knickname can probably also be attributed to the fact that I boss them around all the time.  Now that I am actually a Mom and more than those two smart a$ses are calling me Mumma, it's become the most frequently used name I hear these days.

Greyson Rudy

Also known by:

Grey, Booboo, Buddy, 'my Darling', Sonny Boy

I started calling Greyson, "Booboo" when he was only a few months old.  I was playing with him on the floor and it just sort of came out on its own.  From then, everyone picked else has picked it up. Our entire family calls him Booboo (more than Greyson) including Gemma who can now say on the phone, "Hiya Booboo."  Booboo suits him as a name since he is constantly sporting new bumps and bruises.  I secretly hope his knickname sticks forever and he's walking around as a 16 year old and we're still calling him Booboo :)

Gemma Rose

Also known by:

Gem, Gemmer, Gemmi, Chicken, Gemmi Bear, Little Sweetheart, Rosie, Miss Rose

Gemma's knickname, "Chicken," happened in the same way that Grey's knickname appeared; it just sort of came out of my mouth one day and seemed to stick.  My Mom and I are usually the only ones to call her chicken, unless her little natural mohawk hair is sticking straight up and then Greyson and Daddy like to say, "Gemmi Chicken Hair girl."  Chicken as a knickname for Gemmi is also hilarious because she is the exact opposite of a 'chicken;' the girl is fearless.  She climbs on top of everything and walks right to the edge of stairs and hangs her toes over them.

Bullet & Trixie

Also known by:  Bully, Bull-boy, Bullseye, Bulls and 

Tricky, Tricky-Icky, Trix, Tricky-Icky-Ding-Dong

Having them all written down here and in one place is actually pretty hilarious for me.  It might be a little obnoxious, but we tend to go overboard in the names-of-endearment category.  We actually tend to go overboard in quite a few of categories of life, but it's just how we roll.


Love,
Bud, Tab, Booboo, Gemmer,
Bullseye & Tricky

Spring has sprung and gone.

oh boy, somehow spring has already come and gone and we are knocking on summer's official door (tomorrow!) so I guess it's about time I do a quick wrap up of our spring happenings, eh?

We were invited to spend an afternoon stocking trout in April with our friends Dave & Addison at their family's fishing camp.  This was Grey's second year helping and Gem and my first year (since she was just a brand new baby at this time last year - crazy how much changes in 12 months).

It was a beautiful, crisp day and the kids loving playing with the other kids and helping to dump the fish in the creek.  We also go to enjoy a delicious deer roast on a spit over the fire that I honestly was embarrassing myself with how much I kept going back for me.  And also, I'm convinced we need a rotisserie set for our firepit.  Like, now.

Later in April, Brandon participated again in the Alumni Basketball tournament at Conemaugh Township.  This year, our Valley Alum team came in 3rd place (out of 4) which is an improvement from last year (last place).  We had a great time watching Daddy play basketball and the kids went total bonkers on the court at halftime and after the games running around dancing and being just wild.  

The first day of trout is basically a state holiday where we come from - so we all got geared up for that.  Grey got to spend the night (woohoo!  sleepover!) at the Gilmore fishing camp in Bedford with Pappy Butch and Daddy this year.  He was so excited to get to wear Brandon's old fishing vest. 

And on opening day, Gigi, Gemmi, and I headed out to the nail salon - as is our Studer girl tradition - to get pedicures.  Gem had her first pedicure complete with Piggy Paint.  In total Diva fashion, she sat on the chair and waited patiently while her toes were painted, and then sat under the dryer.  She's ridiculous.

After we got fancy toes, the three of us headed out to meet the boys at the creek for a little while that afternoon.  Grey was happily traipsing about handing out mill worms to everyone from his coat pockets  and Gem was content to sit perched in her Dadda's arms while he cast his line out.  #countrykids

Booboo had the time of his life with his cousin, Reid - and to this day talks about him randomly and occasionally will announce that he is Reid and 'look, I don't have my teeth,' (since Reid had lost his front teeth).  It was great to see the Studer/Gilmore crew all together as they have done for every first day of trout for all of history.  It's sort of hard to find anything that we love more than traditions.

We had a mini wedding dress shopping adventure with my bride-to-be sister.  After Kayla tried on three dresses that all looked equally amazing on her and I said more times than necessary the word 'sexy,' HAH - My sisters (scf), mum, and I all headed out for a quick drink and then later met up with our surrogate mom, Becky, for appetizers and drinks later that night.  What a fun afternoon of major girl time and wedding talk.  Loved it big time.  (thank you B for keeping the kids!) 

Katie and I mustered some serious ambition to take our four kids to the Jaffa Circus.  It was jam packed and the kids were mesmerized for a solid 15 minutes.  Then my two decided to put on their own circus act:  Gem teased the little boy sitting behind us by attempting to take his shoes off while Grey leaned/laid on the man's shoulder in front of us.  Needless to say, we hightailed it out of there at intermission.  

We had much better luck with the kids back at the Fiore house.  Grey and Soph played romantically (at least in their mom's eyes that are constantly looking for hints of their future marriage, HAH) and the girls played house for a little while.  It is always a good time when the Studer and Fiore kids (and moms!!) get together.

Brandon and I played in an indoor volleyball league all winter (did I not say this yet before?  oops) but after a whole 8 months of playing (seriously), we ended up as the champs of the league!  Our inappropriate team name "I'd hit that" is the reason for the obnoxious faces.  Sorry 'bout that.  [and in case I forget to mention it, we're playing in outdoor summer leagues now!  yay for physical activity!]

Brandon participated in a charity golf tournament with Jon and Mario (another spring tradition!) while the kids and I met up with Ninna at a nearby park & playground.  Afterwards, we all headed over to the Sacco's house for a fire and some drinks and Booboo was convinced that Mr. Sacco was the Once-ler since he mentioned cutting down trees and had a shed in the backyard.  Typical Booboo.

We frequented (maybe too many times) our new local ice cream spot where you pay by the ounce [and Brandon cannot contain his topping obsession]: Sweet Frog.  We've been there two separate times with our Uzelac cousins!  Once we ran into Kyleigh where the three of them giggled and hugged the whole time = adorable.

And another time, we headed over with Mallory, Hunter, and Tete to chow down on copious amounts of frozen deliciousness.  And then the kids spontaneously started a dance party in the middle of the shoppe on our way out.  They make their mommas real proud.

Booboo had his first dentist appointment.  He was very well behaved and also got great marks on his nice, clean teeth.

And I took this picture of Gemma and Trixie in which it is unclear if they aren't actually the same species.

For Mumma's day - I attempted to start a new tradition with the kids that we 'sleep out' in the living room and watch 'Mum's favorite movie' (The Princess Bride) and it was a total bust.  The air mattress deflated, Gem wanted to go to her crib and Booboo woke up at 12:30p and told me, "I WANT TO GO TO  YOUR BED.  NOW!"  I'm going to keep trying it every year though - a little whining, back pain, and exhaustion can't dissuade this Mumma!

We spent Mother's Day at my Mum's house (B had to work and Gigi & Pappy were vacationing in the DR) enjoying delicious dinner and letting the children run wild and free (getting tired all the while).  My Mum got the kids and I matching shirts from Universal Studios when she was recently there.  I seriously love them:  Thing 1, Thing 2, and 'The Mother of all Things'.

with my parents' family tree wall mural

My mum and all her girls

And then right before we were heading home, Greyson got Nanny's Elbow and my dad and I had to take him down to the ER to get it popped back in place.  He was fixed up in a matter of a half hour and my mom and Sis met us to hand Gemma over.  We made it home at around 11:30p and I still had a half hour of Mother's day to enjoy a glass of wine and a little reading.  Boom.

A few days later, I got to 'cash in' my Mother's day gift from B and the kids - we set up our garden! We planted tomatoes, sweet peppers, broccoli, sugar snap peas, and corn!  It's growing great and I think our corn will be 'knee high by the fourth of July' at this rate!

And my friend and previous Brooklyn housemate, Alana, stopped to visit on her travels back to DC.  It was so good to catch up with her after five years (!! the last time we saw each other was at my wedding!) and it was just like old times laughing and gossiping like no time had passed at all.  In thoughtful 'Alana fashion', she brought along gifts for the kids (thank you, Lana!) and they quickly used up all the bubbles in a matter of minutes.

We finished out the month of May with Gigi's birthday dinner (yay!), and Grey and Gem chased a tiny frog all over the deck for a large part of the night.

It has been a busy and fun springtime for the Studer zoo crew.