Captain Kippur: Sailing the Seas of Cheese.

Cousins and Pumpkins!

2011-10-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

We had a busy week last week. First off it was our wedding anniversary- 9 years! And then we had cousins come visit from Philadelphia. We were happy we were able to get together with Lilli and Mia. Avery sure loves hanging out with them. They have a great time running around and dressing up together.

Then Grandma Jan came to visit. We got to do a lot of fun things including visiting the Louisburg Cider Mill pumpkin patch.

Of course, Avery picked up the weirdest looking pumpkin. We made it cool looking though. We'll post that picture with Halloween stuff.

As you can see from the pumpkin photos, Griffin was a little tired. When we got to the play area though he perked up- he liked climbing on the tires.

And of course, we had to do the corn maze.

Avery was our leader. Last time it took us forever to get out of here. We didn't have to callo 911 or anything, but it was hot & sweaty. Today, we entrusted the instincts of our 5-year old and it worked! Record time.

We're Number 1! We're Number 1!

2011-10-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

We're number one and a week overdue. Griffin turned one last week and we had a nice little party.

He enjoyed receiving his bouncy horse and his squeaky giraffe.

Come party time he wasn't quite sure what to do with the whole candle thing and singing, so Avery & Chris had to help.

And when it was time to eat the cake he just couldn't believe it. He picked at this thing for quite a while.

At one point he put his face down to eat it "piggy style" but people sort of gasped and it made him cry. He got a hang out of it after a while though.

And of course he had to get cleaned off.

And here he is with Avery testing out his new personalized chair. He hasn't been using it for sitting, but for climbing and boy things.

Stay tuned...cousins and pumpkins are coming in the next post.

Chicken and Hot Air Balloons

2011-10-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

What do these things have in common, you ask? Well, nothing usually, but yesterday we visited southeast Kansas to have dinner at Chicken Annie's (world famous) near Pittsburg and to see some hot air balloons launch at Columbus Days in Columbus, KS. We have tried to visit hot air balloons several times this year but it's been too windy. We got lucky this time though.

Once Griffin realized that big balloons were blowing up right in front of him, he did the equivalent of a "holy cow" in baby speak- it was like "whoompf" and this is what his face said.

Avery was totally concentrating on the action- as usual. She's the observer.

This guy was seriously 10 feet away from us. We were able to get so close. We had no idea that they would actually take off until a lady said, "you may want to back up in case they take off."

And Griffin was like "what?!?!?!"

And then they took off! Right above us!

And then it was time to let go of some energy and make friends with strangers. Usual stuff.

We had a great time and had great traveling weather. Avery loved her chicken at Chicken Annie's, although Grandma Elley, now on a gluten diet, was pretty disappointed that she couldn't eat the fried chicken.... Boo.

The Month of Avery

2011-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

As September ends, we thought we'd give you a little summary of birthday activities that occurred last week.

Avery loves to receive packages. She received one from Grandma Jan and loved the presents in it.
She went to work right away to test out how good the present really worked. It works. We have stamped things everywhere now.

On the actual birthday she gets presents from mom & dad. She used to love ballet, so we're just sending her a subliminal message, reminding her that she used to love it. She fell for our trick.

The look on her face when she opened the door to find....

A bike! She's already really good at pedaling. Good thing for a helmet though- we've had a few minor falls.

And of course you have to blow out a candle and eat cake on your birthday.

At her birthday party, my friend, Becky made a beautiful cake. It turned out yummy and just perfect. Thanks, Becky!

Spotted! Cinderella waiting to eat another Cinderella... If you look closely on the left you can see part of Grandma Jan. She joined the birthday party by Skype.

A little friend time with the boys.

It's so sad when friend time is over.

Spotted! Snow White in a cake coma after the party hanging out with her new snuggly guy, Rainbow.

She'll share, don't worry, Griffin.

Spotted! Snow White and Griffin having a great time swinging together and singing songs.

Spotted! Rapunzel getting hugs from her little brother.

Spotted! Rapunzel acting wacky with Grandpa Gary.

I think Avery would say she had a great birthday. Looking at these pictures reminds me that she is getting so big and that the past 5 years have just flown by.

Now it's time to prepare for busy month #2. Stay tuned!

The dangers of sisters

2011-09-07T18:58:00.002-07:00

Well, we've been busy folk and now that we have birthday season rolling around it will get even busier. Here is an update on some things we've been up to, but mainly it's a recap of all things sister. It's dangerous having a sister.

While Avery's off having fun and playing soccer...

Griffin has to read books...

When Avery wins something out of the treasure chest at school, Griffin has to play with it too...

For the record, he was NOT amused.

No one is safe- even dogs...

When Avery plays dress up, Griffin has to play along...

Even older grown up sisters (like my own) are cruel. (Someone please tell my mom to stop buying games off of QVC in the middle of the night). Yes, we see you, Chris.

Yeah, I know what you mean, Griffin.

First Day of School

2011-08-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

Avery's first day of preschool is today. She gets to go in the afternoon five days a week, so really it's like kindergarten practice. I think she was a little nervous, but as soon as she saw her boyfriend, everything was just fine. He sure is funny...

Steve says we have to use the crosswalk. Even though Steve was sick and couldn't join us today, we still followed the rules.

The look on her face is from irritation in that I made her do this twice because the lens cap was on the first time. She really was happy.

Griffin even enjoyed the whole excitement. For the record- his hair is like that because it's windy.

Here's to a new year! Chris gets kids for the first time tomorrow; I'll post some pictures of him too.

10 Months!

2011-08-15T08:28:00.001-07:00

Well, he's officially been out longer than he was in. These past 10 months have just flown by. I'm not sure if it went as fast the first time around, but she's almost 5 now, so who knows!

Griffin is testing out the walking technique. Avery is really helping him too. She is just the right height to hold his hands and help him along. He also pushes along his little bus.

Here are some photos of the two having a forced sibling moment.

And here is Chris attempting to put a diaper on Griffin while he is trying to get away. An incident that occurs more times than not!

Trail Ridge Road

2011-07-23T19:37:00.001-07:00

Just a few more pictures from the mountains. This is our trip up Trail Ridge Road on our way out of RMNP. Amazing ride, albeit a tired one. A long hike the night before and then a cold night in a tent was a enough to wear out one or two of us that were in the van. We all still had a blast, just a little tired and some of us were just not as peppy as usual.

A nice view of Long's on our way to the trail.

The first point where you could really get a feel for the elevation. This was a much needed pull-off. I have a new appreciation for my dad and how calmly he drove up this road. I caught myself looking over the edge a few times before I thought better of that move. A hunk of curb is not much of a guard rail. Curious how many people make that same mistake and end up down the mountain. At least that was what I was thinking of when I looked over the edge. And...that is why I stopped looking over the edge while I was driving. :)

Almost at the top. The sky was unbelievably clear and crisp. Very refreshing.

Hugging Dad...or keeping warm, not sure which.

Mom, deserves a hug or two as well. There were so many Marmots at this stop i thought they might hop up and give us a hug as well. But they didn't. Must not be into PDA.

Saw a few really impressive Elk at the top.

A few pictures of the alpine tundra for your viewing pleasure.

Yes there was still snow. Quite a bit of it. And snow is still cold...even in July.

Erin told me what these mountains were named but I forget. Something like Neptune, Alpha, Scooby, and Papa Smurf I think. Or maybe that was the show Avery was watching in the hotel before she fell asleep tonight. Either way.

What an amazing experience. I am thrilled that my family got to experience it. Erin said that she was equally amazed and even got a bit emotional a time or too looking at the view. It's hard not to. The stars at the campsite Wednesday night, then the mountains here, puts everything back into perspective quickly. My inner mountain man has been appeased...for now.

Camping at RMNP

2011-07-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

So after a longer and steeper than expected drive from Dillon to Estes Park we made it to RMNP. We found our campsite in Moraine Campground and Avery was excited to see that we had our own mini-mountain on our campsite. Had a hard time figuring out how to pitch the tent on that thing but after a little thinking and a lot of rope we figured it out.

This one is for Grandpa Hamm. Saw this on a boulder next to the river on the Fern Lake Trail. Just checking to see if this was your handy work.

One of my favorite flowers on the trail. Beebalm. Erin took a mighty nice picture of it.

This is a rock.

Notice the pep in her step. A sure sign that we are on the First leg of our hike.

This guy doesn't have to worry about maintaining pep, just as long as his papa does.

(Mom even took a turn with this one when dads pep was required to give a piggy back ride to the pep-less one.

Another rock or two. Avery tried counting them and determined that there were 16.

This one was in the wrong spot so she moved it over.

I was certain we would run into some Sand People in here but no. Erin and Griffin were on bear alert. They just don't understand the real danger that Sand People pose.

Proof.

And finally, this one is for Paul. He says Hi.

A little Apple pie in the pie iron does the body good after a long hike.

We have a bunch from the next day on Trail Ridge Road which we will be posting soon. But for now, just look at these over and over to pass the time.

More Colorado Excitement

2011-07-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day in Breckenridge. It's only like a 20 minute drive from where we're staying. We took a gondola (free!) up to Peak 8 where they have lots of kid activities to do. You can buy a pass and do the stuff all day long, or just buy passes a la carte- that's what we did. Chris & Avery decided to do the Alpine Slide. I really wanted to, but I had a bout with altitudeness yesterday (yes, that's a real word) and after taking the gondola up, I didn't think I'd make it up a ski lift too. Anywhooo...check out Chris & Avery behind the girl in the forefront.

Here we're taking the gondola back down. It was a pretty view. We didn't get to stay up high for long because it started storming. We paid for a bouncing thing for Avery and she did it for like 2 minutes- seriously. Oh well.

Here is another gondola passing us. We went over a fire truck soon after this and we were low enough that the firefighters waved at us. Griffin is actually falling asleep here.

After lunch at a really good pizza place in Breckenridge, we went to Country Boy Mines, an old gold mine. They have burros there (donkeys). Avery & Griffin got to pet them- they were very friendly. What was not friendly was the pit toilet.

Here is a snort that they have on the property. Avery loves the book "Are you my mother" about a bird looking for his mom. One of the maternal possibilities is a "snort" and here we witnessed a live one. It was very exciting.

Everyone had to wear a hard hat in the mine. We just walked in about 1/4 mile- we didn't have to go underground because we were already underground- like 1,500 feet. It was thundering a bit while we were in there and it was really, really weird sounding. Avery actually liked this a lot. The yellow sack thing is for ventilation if needed. There is a lot of water being pumped out of the mine right now because of the record snowfalls this year and all the rain they've been getting. It was under our feet- some in a pipe and some just trickling out.

After the mine tour we got to take a stab at panning for gold. Avery (in yellow) didn't have much luck. Chris was able to get a tiny piece though.

Can you see it? It's the tiny bread-crumb thing at the bottom left of the quarter. We'll put in the bank for the kids' college fund.

We got home in time for some storms to billow up. Chris had just said earlier in the day, "man, the storms never make it to us". Well he shouldn't have said that. The storms started out nice and rainy like this.
And then got all crazy like this. This is only one of 5,000 lightning strikes we saw within 30 minutes. It then rolled in to Dillon and it was totally crazy. We tried to catch so many of the strikes but were always a little too slow. Glad this one turned out. Reports said that Breckenridge had 2 inches in an hour. I overheard a lady in the common area this morning say it was the worst storm she's experienced in the 4 years that she's lived here. Impressive! Stay tuned to what other information I hear from eavesdropping on another lady tomorrow.

So, this morning we went on a hike. It was next to a creek and you can see what happens to creeks when it rains a whole lot. Don't worry parents- I zoomed in on this.

It was a really nice hike, although it wasn't the trail we thought it was. We ended up on the Straight Creek Trail, called that because it followed a creek that was pretty straight- that's my guess anyway. Avery spent most of the time picking wildflowers. Shhh...dont' tell the rangers.

It was a cool, brisk morning after a good rainfall, so there was a lot of evidence of runoff, but it was also very beautiful. Buffalo Mountain is in the picture below.

Stopping for a snack. We saw a mule deer and her fawn right after this.

And of course a little boulder climbing. Chris first, then Avery.

We went to a fun place for dinner, but I don't have pictures. They actually have a hamburger called the "Pregnant Elvis" that is topped with peanut butter, bacon and pickles. Chris was too afraid to try it. I had the Breck Mac which was their version of the Big Mac. I've actually never had a Big Mac so I felt like I had a rite of passage or something (even though it was a veggie burger).

Ok, until next time!

Colorado Part 1

2011-07-17T19:06:00.001-07:00

We made it to CO! So far we've had some beer, taken a few walks around town, taken a little hike to see chipmunks and walked along the lake.

The view from our place is pretty special. You can actually see Tenmile Peak (Breckenridge) when you walk through the front door. You can also see Swan Mountain and Buffalo Mountain from our deck, but my directions are messed up so I can't tell you which is which.

We really have to time our outdoor mountain activities for the mornings. Pop up storms have been an occurrence everyday so far and looks like that is the plan for the rest of the week too. Very pretty though. We saw a rainbow around the kid's bedtime last night and then soon after the sky got red. Can you find the rainbow? It's not a double.

We went to see the chipmunks today at Sapphire Point. There were some kids there with bags of sunflower seeds, so they weren't really interested in us. Some of those chipmunks are sure fat.

Griffin had his inaugural hike in the Kelty backpack. He liked hiding under his hat and just relaxing. He's ok. He's not smooshed. He loved watching the chipmunks too. Griffin will be the one who saves us from a wild animal attack because he is always on alert for any sort of wildlife. Anytime he sees an animal (bird, chipmunk, dog, etc.) he does this blowing thing with is mouth and goes "mmmppphhfff". Save us from the bears, Griffin!

And Avery was excited to take a break and have her sandwich. Obviously.

Later, her and I went down to Dillon Lake and threw rocks. She insisted that we take our shoes and socks off and put our feet in. So, we did. My feet felt seriously frozen after a few minutes. It was kind of refreshing though. She looks goofy because the water's so cold. Or maybe not.

P.S. there are a lot of dead pines in the area due to the Mountain Pine Beetle. Sapphire Point is currently being logged to get rid of the dead trees to prevent a forest fire. I overheard some lady say it was "disgusting". I'm not sure about that assessment. Chris thinks that once the dead trees are gone (due to logging or forest fires), more Aspen might emerge, which would be pretty.

That's all for now! More things planned!

Feels like ...tube socks.

2011-07-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

It makes sense really. Well at least in my head. You see, tube socks were a staple of my wardrobe when I was a kid, yes even in the middle of the summer. Nothing goes with short-shorts quite like a nice pair of tube socks with blue and red strips at the top. Wait, what was my point again? Oh, tube socks equals me as a kid in Minnesota in the summer. No obligations aside from the daily exploration of the backyard and the lake, looking for the elusive lake gator (which Avery found), swimming at the lake(except the water was flippin cold and we didn't "swim"), fishing for a few pan fish for dinner, and (now that I am a grown-up of sorts) relaxing on the porch with a cup of coffee.

I have a hard time believing that the water is really still 42 degrees in late June so I am convinced that some cold water just happened to blow up from the bottom the day we were there. It was lake superior cold. Still a nice day at the beach and Avery made a few fast friends. She is a skilled friend maker, that is for sure.

Fishing round one. A little too windy for any real luck but it was still fun. She is a natural with the fishing pole. AND, her bobber even matched her life jacket.

I ventured back out to catch us some dinner later. (Thanks Ginny for the use of your fruitful dock!) There are a few more fishies hiding behind the others, including a real nice sunny. Even tried my hand at filleting that Bass. Let's just say we had bass nuggets for dinner. Never filleted before + Not a fillet knife = really hard to do. But once they had a little corn flake breading on them and were fried up in the pan, they were very tasty.

We had a few calm days to do a little canoeing. On this day a loon landed right out in front of us as we were pulling out. We decided to see how close we could get and it let us get nearly 10 feet from it before he dove and swam away. Quite a sight.

The little man likes the piano.

And a few pictures of the countless hours spent running around grandmas back yard.

There were even a few of these guys there. Even though this isn't a mosquito, it's at least one of his ugly cousins.

And there was also one of these there. I mean, we were all glad to see Erin when she arrived. :)

I think this was from one of our many attempts to scare away the lake gator that Avery found under the dock.

It was a wonderful trip to minnesota. The weather was perfect for a guy that cries about the stinkin hot weather in Kansas in the summer. 70 and NO humidity. I am realizing every day that I have something back in my life that I have been dearly missing for the last 17 years. I am so thankful to have summer vacations again.

dance recital

2011-06-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

After a great deal of practice avery and her classmates were ready to show off their skills

A little downtime...

2011-05-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

This time of year is a little crazy for us as it is with most people! We had an opportunity to relax over the weekend though and here are some pics.

Parents of young children out there- if you are not aware, moon sand is evil. It's messy and just awful. We had to take this stuff out to the garage (we tried to throw it away and she busted us). I think the pictures do a good job of showing what I'm talking about. Imagine doing this inside...

Un(fortunately) we had to sweep the garage and we lost about half of it because it mixed with the dirt on the floor.

Avery loves to hold Griffin and sing to him. I have no idea what she is saying here, but he seems to be ok with it. By the way, my kids actually do wear pants most of the time.

"Must...get...tail..."

Here is a good display of G's spikey hair. No, it's not from the static.

Have a nice day!

7 Months Old!!!

2011-05-16T06:48:00.001-07:00

Griffin turned 7 months old over the weekend. Boy, has time flown by.

He is really on the verge of crawling and is still just a happy little kid with spikey hair.

He thinks it's pretty cool to stand up. Avery better watch out!

And of course, I had to throw in some pics of my favorite girl. And one of her playing with my favorite toy growing up (little people!)!

Easter and Things

2011-05-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, Easter was a week ago. But it took us this long to recover.

We went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a place where I went when I was a kid. I'm not saying where because it was lame and Avery got jipped. Here is Avery attempting to run and get some eggs before a deluge of kids engulfed her and she wasn't able to bend down and pick up ANY eggs. That's right, she got nothing.

Luckily there was a playground nearby...

What Easter Egg Hunt?

Griffin is getting a little anxious to play on the playground as well.

"Oh, well. Maybe when I'm older."

And then the piece de resistance...Easter. The Easter Bunny came to our house and came to Grandma Elley's too. He left a lot more eggs at Grandma Elley's house for some reason.

And then a bunch of relaxing and releasing of one's energy to round out the day.

Stay tuned...crawling will be happening any day now.

Milestone Week

2011-05-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

We're a week or two behind, but Griffin has had several milestones lately. Just one day after his 6-month birthday, he decided to bust out a tooth. The next day he sat up for the first time. And then less than a week later- he busted out another tooth. We'll post pics of the tooth as soon as they show a little better.

Here are some pics of him practicing his sitting up skills.

6 Months Old!

2011-04-16T07:43:00.001-07:00

Griffin 6 months = Avery 9 months. Yes, that's right. At 6 months, Griffin is roughly the same size (actually a little bigger) than what Avery was at 9 months. Maybe it's a boy thing.

He is getting real close to sitting up by himself and he really wants to crawl. He's just a happy little baby- even after getting his 6-month shots yesterday. Avery saw first hand what that was like- she was a big help.

Sorry the photos are a little weird. The battery on our good camera died. We'll post some new ones later.

The old homestead

2011-04-09T18:20:00.001-07:00

Weather was wonderful last weekend so we took a trip out to the old homestead. First we had to make a few silly faces. Then we were off.

The minute we opened the door of the van Lucy ran straight for the door, sat down and waited to be let in. I guess she remembers the place.

The flowers also came out to say hello.

"Spring" Break

2011-03-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

We were able to take a true spring break this year...it was spring here, but not where we went. :) We went up to Minnesota to see Grandma Jan and on our way back home, we were fortunate enough to stop at Janine & Curt's house to celebrate two of our nieces' birthdays! Sarah turned 16 and Becca turned 11.

While on our trip, Griffin went swimming for the first time. He really didn't know what to think. He had this open-mouthed expression the entire time. And Avery had fun playing in the snow at Grandma Jan's house. See our pictures below!

Grandma Jan's frozen lake. It was, in fact, melting while we were there, but still....

Avery was very excited to play in the snow, but notice her skirt. It is from her swimsuit set.

Apparently leprechauns frequent Grandma Jan's house. We happened to be there on St. Patty's day and after following some clues, Avery found the pot of gold!

Griffin is rolling all over the place now. He forgets how to roll back though. This is the moment where he's excited, but not quite to the moment where he cries and gets frustrated.

We had the whole pool to ourselves!

5 months old

2011-03-15T05:43:00.001-07:00

Here's the boy after 5 months.

Practicing her moves.

I remember when I was 5 months old I thought everything was hilarious too.

Baby Laughing

2011-02-18T14:07:00.001-08:00

There's really nothing better than a baby laughing. In case you need a little pick me up, here is a video of Griffin laughing.

Or here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnBNXm4tyU4

4 Months!!!

2011-02-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Griffin turned 4 months old today, Valentine's Day. After eating our heart-shaped pizza, Griffin got to try out solid food for the first time. It looks like he's digging it, but actually he wasn't quite sure. He was leaning in for more after a while.

And while Griffin was eating, Avery was making a few calls. This girl sure knows how to talk on the phone. We're in trouble. Notice she also appears to be getting into something....

And finally, just a shot from what a snow day looks like in our house. Tough life, that's for sure. I think we've finally gotten out of ths now for the year, but we'll see!

After the Blizzard

2011-02-02T06:12:00.001-08:00

Well we survived the blizzard! It's cold and sunny today and very beautiful. We ended up having 13.5 inches here but it was hard to tell since the snow was blowing around.

Chris and Avery got out it early to shovel.

Here is our pile before we were done. Someone got too cold to stay out long enough to get a picture with the pile at the end. Also, for Janine...this is the pile by the garage. The snow plow pile is about 6-12 inches higher.

On a side note, Griffin decided to give dad's arms a break yesterday. Still working on holding it still for very long...but it's a start.

Kids

2011-01-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

First thing, Erin thought she saw something familiar when going through pictures of Griffin. This is each of them at 17 weeks. Only Griffin is about twice as big.

Pretty funny.

Here are a few pictures from the last snow day we had. Just got the call about 20 minutes ago that we have yet another snow day tomorrow. It's been hard to get rolling at school this semester but I guess I shouldn't complain.

Didn't get a picture of the sweet snow fort Avery and I built but I must say, it was pretty nice.

And now for a random assortment of picture of the boy.

He's a very happy little fella.

Winter break

2011-01-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

My first winter break in about 17 years. I'd say this first picture about sums up how it felt.

Griffin loves his new glow seahorse. Must be the result of some cloning or cross breeding experiment or something. Glow worm crossed with a pony I think. Either way, Griffin likes it.

"Where oh where could my handsome prince be?"

We were just talking about the vikings season.

Ooh, what's that thing?

Hmm, and it's even got one of those things... I wonder...

Mmmm.

The first pony tail ever...in the whole world.

The "whole family" decided to plant some tulip bulbs since we had a nice 60 degree day.

Helper number 1.

Helper number 2

(Helper number 3 was too busy with the squirrels, Helper number 4 was taking these pictures, and Helper number 5 could give a "you know what" about tulips).

What a sweet face.

The end.

Captain Kippur: Sailing the Sea's of Cheese.: Busy times

2010-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Captain Kippur: Sailing the Sea's of Cheese.: Busy times

Busy times

2010-12-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

Well with the holidays, illnesses, computer viruses and the like- we've been too busy to get on here and share pictures. Griffin is now driving and Avery just went off to college...ok, it hasn't been that long.

This past weekend was our extended family Christmas party. Avery actually sat on Santa's lap this year. As you can see from the pictures, she was still very cautious. A shout out to Grandma Elley for the beautiful Hello Kitty party dress too. Avery is on her second cold in 6 weeks, broken up only by the stomach flu. She was a little whiney that night.

Griffin just had a good time being held by Grandma Elley.

In other Griffin news, he and Gwen have become close friends.

And Chris had fun making Christmas cookies called "curoivie" (pronounced kuh-rah-vee)- a recipe from Grandma Emma.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays if we don't get on here any sooner.

Santa!

2010-11-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

We are behind on posting pictures again, but for those who are out there, here is a picture of Avery and Santa. We were able to visit him when we were up north this past weekend. This is the closest she has gotten to him yet (without crying!)! She sure looks like a big girl and certainly acts like it as well.

Weeks 3 and 4

2010-11-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

We've been busy over the past few weeks, particularly with staying healthy! Avery has had a nasty cold that we've managed to keep away from Griffin (fingers crossed). Chris was not so lucky.

Griffin is growing and growing and is starting to smile more and react to weird things we do.

Check out our pictures over the past few weeks!

Griffin- 3 weeks old

Griffin and Grandma Elley

Griffin and Mama

Avery received a fashion doll plate from our old neighbor's, Mark and Leslie Schmitz and their girls. She absolutely loves it!

Griffin- 4 weeks old

Griffin doing some smiling

Chris & Griffin taking a nap

Halloween & Fall Fest

2010-11-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend! We went to the Mildale Fall Fest this past weekend and Grandma Jan and Uncle Rick were in town and came with us. This was the first time Chris didn't have to work!

On Halloween Avery was dressed as a bat and Griffin was dressed up as a Chipotle burrito. He didn't leave his car seat because it was a little chilly out. We had a fun weekend!

Week Two

2010-11-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Griffin was two weeks old a few days ago. We had some visitors over the weekend- Grandma Jan and Uncle Rick. Grandpa Ed also came to visit!

More Griffin- Week One

2010-10-24T18:24:00.001-07:00

So we were bad and didn't post pictures of our new kid right away. So, check out this post as well as the previous post- we had a kid! And now he's 10 days old. Today was his due date, so happy due date day to Griffin!

We will do our best to take weekly photos of him like we did Avery so you can see how he's growing. Check out some of our pictures from his first week!

Welcome Griffin James!

2010-10-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

We'll we've been busy this month and had a kid. We welcomed Griffin James on Thursday, October 14th. He weighed 7 lbs. 14.6 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Like his sister, he decided to come early- 10 days early. We were ready though. Avery loves being a big sister and keeps telling every who will listen about it. Check out our pictures!

Happy Birthday Avery!

2010-09-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a wonderful day and I think that it wore her out. Lots of smiles and lots of fun.

Bike Riding Barbie was a major hit. Now she can give Ken a ride on her handle bars.

Sparkle Toes! She'll never have to turn on the lights again.

The big cake is for Saturday. Cupcakes will have to do for now.

And a nice, fuzzy new woolly mammoth named Robot from Oregon! Thanks P & S!

Happy Birthday my baby girl!

Vacation Complete.

2010-07-17T17:36:00.001-07:00

Last Hoorah

2010-07-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

Teaching my girl how NOT to walk into an ambush.

Erin still needs some practice.

Do you think those look like rain clouds? Nah!

Wave LaFontaine

2010-07-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Another Early morning shell run.

Tubing in the ocean is a lot of work.

Mt. Seaweed.

*Question of the day: Why is it called Sea weed and not Sea plant?

Let's see if this works

2010-07-15T18:45:00.001-07:00

This was a little something i did on my 6am walk on the beach. Hopefully you can click on the image and it will get larger for you.

Shelly Seashore

2010-07-14T18:10:00.001-07:00

Say hello to my little frien'

2010-07-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

I think...
Hemidactylus turcicus
Common Names: Mediterranean Gecko

Midnight snack

ick.

Sandy McBeacherson

2010-07-13T18:25:00.001-07:00

My only goal on this trip is to get rid of my sock tan. Makin solid progress on that one.

Life's a Beach

2010-07-12T18:42:00.001-07:00

Holy Buckets, Number 200!

2010-06-06T14:28:00.001-07:00

Well it only took me who knows how many years, but i made it to post number 200. Enough about that. We took advantage of a wonderful, not so muggy day in KC to go to the zoo.(Thanks A&L)

Best investment ever was an all day train/tram/carousel pass. It's a big zoo so your feet get pretty tired if you walk the whole way. Besides, trains are fun.

A natural at the Crane Kick.

Sigh~ Yes, i'm tired.

Goin to the lake, ya wanna go with?

2010-06-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone still checks this thing but what the heck.

We went up to Minnesota to visit last weekend. It was great to see(almost) everyone.

It was a bit rainy the morning that everyone came up so we spent a little time in the garage. A good ol' garage-b-q. While there Erin practiced her hand modeling technique.

Avery was my spotter. Apparently I wasn't quick enough on the cast because I didn't catch any of the fish she spotted.

Easter Part 3

2010-04-04T18:24:00.001-07:00

Finishing up the day we grabbed the kite and headed to the park.

Everything went very well. A little windy but the kite held up well. We even got some compliments from the neighborhood kids on our kite flying skills. That's right, we've got kite flying skills.

Easter Part 2

2010-04-04T18:12:00.001-07:00

After hunting for eggs and sampling the goods we headed over to Grandma Elley's house for brunch. First we had to make sure the dress was pretty. Yup, it is.

Brunch was very tasty. After it was outside for a little exercise and a good ol game of Red Light-Green Light. At least I think that's what is going on here. I'll let you be the judge.

I win! I think...?

Easter Morning

2010-04-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

Morning came early today. First time in a while that mom and dad actually woke up before Avery. Once she was up it was game on for Easter Egg hunting. (bed head and all)

The Easter bunny had a sense of humor this year. Who puts an Easter basket in the fireplace?

What are these things you call Peep's? Hmm, I guess I'll give them a go.

Hmmm....

Ok, not so bad. I'd say this was a successful morning.

Some things

2010-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is Erin. I have been given the ok by Chris to post things on here while he's busy. So, here is my first official post! One major thing that is different between Chris & I is that I can spell. :)

I got to take the day off today and spend it with Avery. I took her to her soccer class (see previous post about the bobcat thing). Let's just say she believes kicking the ball is the hard way of doing things. It's much easier to pick it up and carry it around to where you need it to go first. Here are a few pictures from her class. Sorry I couldn't get any action shots. I didn't have our good camera with me.

And of course, a hands on the hips pose. This little girl's brother is in the class but she really wants to play.

And here are some other random photos I took the past few days.

First, Avery got this foam sword from Michael's. She really likes to stab us with it. Chris has also taught her to play baseball with it and a pair of socks. She's got good form.

It was nice enough today that we were able to go outside today to play with chalk and to ride our tricycles. Yes, I have one...no I don't.

And the infamous...Puppy! Or "Cheese" as he's been referred to lately.

And finally, here's Avery reading about the woes of our local school district. As you can tell by her reading the paper upside down, we have some work to do.

Until next time!

Hijacking!

2010-02-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

I'm highjacking Chris's blog to tell you all what we've been up to! Chris has been way too busy to get on here. He is in deep with his student teaching and even attended his first Parent/Teacher conferences session last week as the "Teacher". He has to dress up everyday and even irons his clothes.

Avery has started dance class up again and is also taking a soccer class on Thursdays. They have to pretend the ball is a bobcat to remind them that they could get "bit" if they pick up the ball. I'm not so sure about this, if you can imagine.

I'm busy at work right now and trying to watch my shows at night and reading books and staying out of Chris's way when he's on the computer.

And the whole family is feeling a little bittersweet that the football season is over with. Maybe next year (for both of our teams!)...

Ok, I'll have Chris post or I'll do it myself another post with pictures soon!

Big Apples

2010-01-06T05:25:00.001-08:00

Well, Erin and I made it back from our big trip to the big apple. We had a fantastic time. When it was all said and done we were pretty tired but we saw a ton and had a blast.

We got to the city Friday evening and walked over to Times Square to see what all the fuss is about. Just about what you would expect. People everywhere and lots of lights. It was neat to see but the best part of this hike for me was the pizza. Stumbled across a hole in the wall pizza place that was fantastic. Top 3 pizza I have ever eaten. I have no idea what the other two are but 3 just seems about right. No, we didn't get any hot chocolate!

The view from our hotel room. Aside from the obnoxious billboard it was great. No hot chocolate in the hotel room either.

First stop on the insane, whirlwind, freezing cold, non-stop, whirlwindy, non-hot chocolate drinking day around the city. 6:30am at Rockefeller Center.

The "The reason we went to NY" stop. NBC. Got to see the whole deal and actually made it on T.V.. It was fun and worth the early alarm clock. Well, except for the Dunkin Donuts coffee. Shoulda got the hot chocolate.

Traded some picture taking in Central Park with some Frenchies. We only knew they were French because they kept saying "We we, huh huh, we we." Well, that and the thin mustaches and berets. I tried to ask them for directions but I didn't know how to say hot chocolate in French.

We saw a movie star in Central Park. Erin thought I was being rude taking a picture of her but I did it anyways. She was that one lady that was in that movie with that other guy...you know. I think the movie had something to do with hot chocolate.

Spent a lot of time down here. We took some good advice and got a day pass that took us all over the city. It was quite a memorable experience seeing all the different subway stops and riding all the different trains. Best part was walking up the stairs at each stop and not knowing what you were going to see. Kept hoping for a hot chocolate vendor but no luck.

We did one more thing decidedly touristy. We heard they had hot chocolate so we went to the top of the Empire State Building. Aside from the INSANE lines from beginning to end and the fact that tall buildings give me the willies, it was an amazing view. Really amazing. Oh, and there were 80 mph winds out there too. That was helpful to my nerves. Had a very calming effect. ...no hot chocolate.

Our crazy day came to a close with a wonderful sunset next to the ol lady. It was a quite a way to finish our day. If it wasn't zero outside we might have stuck around longer to enjoy it. From here we went to a very tasty hole in the wall place called Supper. No idea how the heck we found it since there was no sign anywhere. Good thing we had the address. Once we got there the curtain in front of the door almost didn't let Erin in either. This place REALLY wanted to keep itself secret. It was good though. Warm food in my belly was just what I needed.

I know I missed a bunch of stuff we did but there was almost too much to remember. It was a great time and loved spending it with my lady. Maybe next time we go we can get some hot chocolate.

A recipie for a tasty Christmas

2009-12-30T18:48:00.001-08:00

It's Christmas time and lots going on. Here is a taste. (I cannot guarantee that your computer monitor will actually taste like Christmas but you are welcome to give it a try).

First ingredient: Tree.

A dash of hot chocolate and a pinch of strangers singing carols by a fire

A generous portion of family portraits

An ounce of sarcasm

A gallon of disbelief that she is actually sitting on Santa's lap!

One big ass pile of snow at 6am Christmas morning.

Splash of "dog has to pee but snow froze the screen door closed so you have to go outside with a chisel to get it open for her...at 6am".

Let rise for 1 to 2 hours and bake at 12 degrees for 3 days.

Let cool and enjoy.

Now let's Limbo!!!

Delayed by snow: Christmas part 2.

Oh the stories we could tell. And we did tell.

So... when does Santa come back again?

(In a lovely bit of irony I forgot to take pictures of the one Christmas thing that I actually DID bake. The cookies! You'll just have to trust me that they turned out looking good and tasting yummy)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Anybody hungry for an apple? A BIG apple.

Working backwards

2009-12-10T17:55:00.001-08:00

A little over due for a post I'd say. Let's work backwards to the last one, just for fun. Right before we left for thanksgiving we got to visit with Anthony, Liana, Lilli, and Mia. There was a lot of running around going on so it was hard to get them all in one picture. This is about the best we could do.

Few weeks before that, the family decided to take a trip down to Pittsburgh to get a little Chicken Annies...or was it Chicken Patties??? Took a little stroll through campus to let the food settle afterwards. Avery and Rob were having a sitting contest.

Group photo.

Cameron the Red Nose Old guy. Had a very...silly nose?

I believe this was a technical discussion on the anatomy of an acorn.

Ah, the Mildale Farm fall festival. Fun times, fun times.

I'll let you figure this one out.

I don't know who these guys are.

And finally, it was time for the winter hair cut. It's amazing how much money you can save when you let your kid do it for you.

All kinds of birthday stuff

2009-10-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Scary ghost or friendly ghost?

2009-10-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Dance class had a Halloween party tonight so we had to suit up for the big occasion.

I think she's got this ghost thing down. What do you think?

The dance party was quite a hoot. Lots of kids, lots of costumes, lots of candy.

All Sorts of Wedding Fun.

2009-09-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

Bubbles, flower girls, cousins, forgotten dress cloths & last minute trip to the mall to replace them, dancing, cake, playgrounds, hotels, swimming pools, road trips, polka dots, and fun fun fun.

Zoos-a-ma-froos

2009-09-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

No summers complete without a trip to your friendly neighborhood zoo.

Hoops

2009-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note

2009-09-10T16:49:00.002-07:00

Considering that it is officially no longer summer I will be posting an assortment of things, stuffs and ta-dos that we either did, had, ate, or participated in over the summer. As to not create any undue burden on my loyal viewers by overloading them with oodles of beautiful images all at once, I will release them a little at a time. Please enjoy.

Without further adieu, for your viewing pleasure I present:

The Pink Car.

& Bros.

2009-09-10T16:49:00.001-07:00

Bugs

2009-09-10T16:48:00.001-07:00

Slugs

2009-09-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

up north

2009-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip north. A little fishing, a little horse feeding, and a little bird/squirrel feeding. Also spending a little time in St Cloud catching up with some old friends, riding burros, and hanging out in the street. Just a few housekeeping issues...Not sure if it's the laptop or the camera but some of the pictures are a little washed out. Also, blogger thinks that burro's look better sideways. We are terribly sorry for any inconvenience.

A Rainy Day and a Trip to the Park.

2009-07-07T19:26:00.001-07:00

Had a free day to enjoy a little rain.

The next day we all piled in the car to go help water the flowers.

Erin found some pretty flowers to take a picture of.

Birthday fun

2009-06-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

Well, another wonderful birthday in the books. Got a few fun new toys, one of which I will be sharing with you in new and interesting ways in the very near future. I just need to practice a little...and try to get the darn thing to work on our desktop.

I also learned a wonderful new song on my birthday this year. It may very well be one of the greatest songs ever written. Let me share it with you. The sound is a little grainy but you should get the idea.

The Beer Song

On that note, I had a great birthday. Let's do it again next year.

PS, haven't quite figured out how to embed an MP3 so this link will have to do for now.

Winter is officially gone.

2009-05-24T07:52:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of our new neighbors. Mama Robin was not at all pleased with me up in the tree. I thought she'd give up after a while and settle down...but she did not.

Warm weather also means the return of Sunday morning coffee time on the deck.

Sleeping with sunscreen in your hair can make for some real special bed head.

New haircut, new dress, new shoes.

2009-05-22T18:09:00.001-07:00

So we have a wedding or two coming up this summer and Avery is the flower girl in one of them. This will be her first attempt at "between the toes" sandals so a little practice was in order. It was also a good picture of her new haircut. This was actually her first cut that wasn't just a get the bangs out of the eyes cut. She was very proud of it.

Spring time

2009-04-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

We had our spring open house at the park this weekend. Weather wasn't perfect but we still had a good turn out. Here are a few pictures. Erin took most of them, except for the ones that she is in. Not feeling very wordy today so you're in luck. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

To Grandmothers House We Go.

2009-03-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

FAIR WARNING: I posted a lot of pictures.

So we took ourselves a trip up north to see Grandma. As you may recall from my previous post we got a new picture making toy, so we brought it with. Needless to say, we took a lot of pictures. We're still trying to figure out a good photo edit software. The one's I have tried so far have not worked so well. Ok, enough about that.

No trip to Grandma's could start without a music box session, or eight.

Or a good round of story reading. Notice the stack of books next to the chair. Avery made sure they read every one of them. Some of them twice.

Oops, I got paint on my hand.

Ok, day two. Time for some fun in the snow. First we took a moment to strateegerize.

Then it was go time. Avery kept an eye on the shoot to make sure it didn't clog up. Team player!

Rest.

And go.

Success!

We were standing on a crusty layer of snow. If we would have broke through ONE of us would have been over our heads. Guess which one. I think I broke through right after this picture.

So did Grandma. Avery pulled her out so it was ok.

By that look in her eye I think I have a pretty good idea what she was thinking.

Yup, sliding!

And again.

It's not a day in the snow without a good snowman.

But what good's a snowman if you can't knock it's head off.

I think she finally conceded that she was a little cold.

That night we went to visit the old man of the lake. He says hi, and that he and the misses are doing quite well. Not sure where she was, musta been going for a swim.

Avery helped scrub the potatoes. Well, right after I finished cleaning the bathroom.

Group picture.

Yes, we looked through every photo album. Couldn't stop in the middle or my brain would have thought it was 1983. And I was a little squirrly in 83 so Erin might not have liked that.

The one and only...Tuppy.

BOWLING!!! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

Hey, you forgot your ball! Oh yeah, the ball. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

Ummm, a little help here people.

"Just don't forget to let go."

Yes! I got it past all the pins without knockin a single one down! (She almost beat me in the end, it wasn't pretty)

A peaceful morning on the lake.

Avery got her hair curled so pictures were in order.

Whew, that's a lot of pictures for this little ol blog. I hope that you enjoyed them. There will be a quiz in the morning.

Testing...

2009-03-17T12:51:00.001-07:00

So we followed the lead of my brothers and bought a new toy. Well worth the investment I'd say. Here are a few pictures from the trial run.

Last Gasp of Winter.

2009-03-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

Winter decided it wanted to visit us one last time this year. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow so we thought we better get out and enjoy it. Just so you don't feel bad for us I should post a picture of us out at the playground in short sleeves last month when it was 70!

Made her a show chair so she could sit and watch me shovel.

Yes that is her leg uncovered. We didn't get much snow this year so we are out of practice packing our kid into her snow suit.

Here is mom...Also watching me shovel.

"Roasting children by an open fire." Wait, that's not right.

Wishing for a marshmallow on a stick right about now. Sometimes I think the only reason we go out and play int he snow is so we have an excuse to sit by the fire with some hot chocolate. One of the finer things in life!

A Smattering of Pictures.

2009-02-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

Obviously I have been a little lax on posting pictures lately so I decided to unload the camera and appease my followers. Here you go, a montage of the last few months if you will.

Mrs. Erin.

I think she was feeling a little bit like a super hero this day. She's almost got it down, perhaps a little tweeking of the outfit is in order before she can make her debut.

Gathering up supplies for her super hero belt.

Just practicin for when she'll have to help her dad with this I guess.

(Ok point of clarification. I was talking about when I get old and have to start wearing them. Let's not be jumping to conclusions.)

Goofin around.

Kids decided to have a dance off during Erin's party. Not sure who ended up winning, Ill have to ask her.

Talkin to Martha about Octopus Bob.

Lucy and the pigdogcow.

And just a little reenactment of this.

Finally!

2009-01-26T09:49:00.000-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"My administration will not deny the facts, we will be guided by them."
-Obama

Better Late Than Never.

2009-01-07T18:24:00.001-08:00

Well it's that time of year again. Time to sit on some strange mans lap and answer ridiculous questions in hopes that he will give us something good. This is our second attempt at visiting with Santa. Let's just say we're 2 for 2! (What in the world is that in your left hand Zach..I mean Santa, is that my wallet?)

Things did get a little better once he gave us what we came for.

Then it was time for Christmas morning. Santa left an awesome Little People play set. I know this picture is a little blurry but it really caught the perfect Christmas morning expression so I had to include it.

...Someone's been eattin on these cookies. ...Maybe there really was someone here last night.

To the winner goes the spoils.

Yeah, I took care of it for ya. Turns out you had some cookies jammed down in there. That musta been some party last night, guess that's none of my business. That'll be a hundred dollars.

At what point on Christmas morning does it become inappropriate to STILL be in your PJ's? Is 3pm too late?

And, I just thought I'd throw in a picture of Avery playing on the frog for good measure.

Yet another Christmas season come and gone. All the cookies have been eaten and unfortunatly I have put a large dent in the stash of coffee and summer sausage that I was gifted. Why do you suppose they call it summer sausage when the only time anyone ever gets any is in the winter? Something to think about for next year I guess. Hope that you all had a splended holiday and that you didn't have too much trouble getting used the the alarm clock again.

Best seats in the house

2008-12-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Someone I know has a loving wife that got him seats to tonight's vikings game in the 1st row in the end zone for his birthday! Now that's a birthday gift! If she could have only included a vikings win...Anyways, we saw him on TV and thought he would like to see how cool he looked. Sorry to say, the loving wife that bought the gift didn't make it on TV.

For those of you who are not quite sure...No he is not the one with the painted face.

Curoivie

2008-12-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try my hand at the old family Curoivie recipe this year. I think they turned out pretty good. Well, aside from the fact that I only had green sprinkles (No those are not chives Paul)and target only had 3 cookie cutters and they were not especially festive. Now that I think about it I think those sprinkles were a wedding present. I knew they would come in handy sooner or later. Thanks Sis.

I did get a little tired of cutting cookies towards the end so I decided to expedite the process a little.

And wouldn't you know it, the "Jedi Master" had to send me a box in the mail to show me how it's supposed to be done. (Which I REALLY appreciate). No kidding, Erin went out to get the mail while I was making these and they were there. That's some timing.

Thanksgiving in Minnesota

2008-12-10T18:22:00.001-08:00

We just got back from a Thanksgiving trip to Minnesota, and when I say "just got back" I mean two weeks ago. We had a great time visiting everyone, only wish we had more time to visit and catch up. It seems like there is never enough time for that. The grandkids made good use of their time anyways. Got in some great eating, played some Wii, talked a few old men into playing football even though they would regret it for a few days afterwords, and even took some time for a picture. Notice the uncooperative one on the bottom right. This was the best one I could find.

We also had a few days to visit up in Alex and got in some QT with Grandma, PAul and Sonja.

Some of the younger cousins were smart and spent most of thanksgiving day hiding out with all Alondra's great toys. (sorry this picture is out of order but if I tried to fix it it would only make things worse. I hope you can forgive me.)

Took advantage of some of the time at grandmas to raid her craft station.

Painting?

Painting.

Painting!

And....a little mac n cheese

It's not hard to figure out who was Avery's buddy this trip.
We had a great time visiting. Thanks to Bro+12 for the great turkey, I wanted to eat about 3 more plates full but I held off. It was great to see everyone and we will see you again soon.

"Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here."

2008-11-15T07:06:00.001-08:00

Campaign "Fun Facts"

2008-11-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

I just read part of a Newsweek article that talks about the inside stuff that happened during the campaign. I saw this quote and laughed out loud. I figured you all would like to read it.

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

I love our new President!

Here is a link to the full article if you want to read it.

--->Click Here<---

What a beautiful day.

2008-11-06T17:46:00.001-08:00

I don't know about anyone else but I just can't seem to wipe the smile off my face lately. I guess it's just been a good couple of days.

"Getting better all the ti-ii-ime, better, better, better."

In honor of happy things(and the beatles) I thought I'd post a few smilie pictures.

~sigh'

NOVEMBER 4th

2008-11-04T06:19:00.001-08:00

A Bug's Life.

2008-11-01T17:47:00.001-07:00

Another wonderful Halloween for the record books. Ok, so no records were broken that we know about but it's just more fun to say that way. Avery was very excited to get her Lady Bug costume on but once it was showtime she got a little shy.

But only for a second, then it was off to the races.

After we did the rounds we spent the evening on the front step handing out candy to strangers. I guess it's ok when it's the other way around. Avery made certain that everyone got a piece.

Then she danced a little in hopes that it would lure more kids to our door.

Here is Tuppy in her Bee costume. Avery asked me on Thursday if Tuppy could come with trick or treating. Obviously we said yes but we said she would need a costume so Avery suggested that she dress up like a bug. So there you have it. Tuppy as a bug.

Round about 8:30 we were all starting to wind down and get ready for bed.

But not until after one last dance!

Bare with me on this one.

2008-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

The sigh at the end of this video sums it all up in less than a word.

Pumpkins!

2008-10-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

We're all pretty big fans of pumpkins around here. Avery found a good one at Mildale's Fall Festival last weekend.

She even shook it to make sure it wasn't broken. Nobody likes a broken pumpkin...except maybe the pumpkin repair man. That's kind of a small demographic though so I don't think we'll spend too much time worrying about them.

Grandpa's visit.

2008-10-30T18:58:00.001-07:00

So I know this is extremely outdated but you have to cut me a little slack. I've been pretty busy with school and writing papers. I know, lame excuse but it's all I got. If it's any consolation Grandpa and Avery had a really fun time together. We had a really nice visit and Avery now knows that Grandpa Gary lives in San Diegogo.

They both really liked playing with this toy.

As a matter of fact, they played so hard that Grandpa needed a quick check up when they were done...just to make sure.

Since grandpa was the last person to stay in our guest room, that bed has now been dubbed "Papo's bed". ...At least until the next person sleeps there, then it will probably get to be theirs for a while. She's very diplomatic that way.

Yes, I'm a political junkie.

2008-10-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

If you're a political junkie like me this might be interesting for you to look at.It is a graph that shows the national trends. It collects data from ALL the polls and averages them together to give a "more accurate" picture of national trends. Does that make sense?

I am starting to grow a little tired of the whole thing but I just can't help myself. I am just really looking forward to this being over. In the mean time...Let's look at the latest polls! ;)

Yes We Can!

2008-10-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

...and we will.

A Happy Number 2

2008-09-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

As most of you probably know, Avery's second birthday was on Monday. It was a wonderful weekend filled with fun and relaxation that couldn't have been any better. I think Avery had fun too. What made it extra nice was that Gma Ollig was able to come for the party and stay for a nice weekend. As you can see, the two of them were best buddies this weekend.

I really cannot believe that it has been two years but I guess it's true. Or at least that's what Avery keeps telling me. I am sure from the next picture that you can guess the theme of the party. Starts with Strawberry and ends with Shortcake.

I can assure you that she read EVERY birthday card! As you can see here, that took a lot out of her. She held in there thought, afterall there was cake waiting for her upstairs.

Special Request: The Renslows requested a picture of her opening her card from them. ...there you go.

Had to put this one on here because it reminded me of a picture from her first birthday. Don't have time to look for it now but in the near future I will do a before and after for you. Kinda like Bro +1.5 does at work. I'll explain later.

Had to have a picture of the cake. She's been talkin about it for 4 weeks!

We spent the last day of Gma's visit at Deanna Rose Farmstead. A great city park with all sorts of farm animals for the kids to interact with. We had a great time.

Not sure what they were looking at but it sure was interesting.

We sure love those goats. And this one loved the metal fence.

She had to wait for her actual birthday on Monday for this present since Dad built it and I was too slow to finish it for the party on Saturday. She loved it all the same.

She also loved the bubbles she got.

The whole weekend made her so happy she made Mom dance with her in the front yard. Might as well let the whole world know how happy you are...Well, at least those people lucky enough to be driving by our house at the time.

You aint just whistlin Dixie.

2008-09-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, yes I will be posting some birthday pictures. But first I had to give you all a little insight to my little world. This is the kind of thing I find setting on our desk at home when I sit down to post some pictures. I guess that's what you get when your wife works on a big ol city sewer project. "Hi Honey, how was your day? What did you talk about at the office?"

Click Here to learn more about poop.

Hey look...

2008-09-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

...A worm.

His name is Eliott.

Oops, I broke him.

Perfect

2008-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

For everyone who has been wondering what has really been on Hillary's mind lately, you should watch this. This is the funniest (and saddest) thing I've seen in a long time. I love these ladies.

Doing homework??

2008-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok I am supposed to be doing homework right now but I can stop thinking about the episode of the daily show that was on Thursday night. You all should take the time to watch this. The way they lay out the absurdity of what the republicans are saying right now is brilliant. FYI, you may want to fast forward past the first 4 minutes. There is a not so appropriate bit on the "Minneapolis Airport Men's Room" if you know what I mean.

There was also a good episode on Friday night as well but I'll leave that to you all to look up yourselves.