New Year's Resolution

I'll tell you something you already know--I only posted twice in the last 2 months of the year last year, and I got severely behind in posting about our events even before that. In the first 6 months of the year I averaged 2.50 posts per month, but fell off significantly to only 1.67 posts per month in the last 6 months of the year (with the poor November and December postings being offset by decent showings in August and October).

Enter New Year's Resolutions stage right.

My goal for the year is to return to posting once per week (targeting Sunday nights for new material). So, since I was batting 1.000 after Week 1, I thought, "Forget about the fact that it's 12:12 a.m. and I have to get up early...let's keep this hitting streak alive!" So, here I am.

Now, I know I owe you a post about Christmas. And one commenter has already asked, "Think we'll get a Christmas post before Valentines?"

While I can't answer that question, I can post pictures tonight about 1) Kaitlyn's latest crazy outfit, 2) a "handsome pose" from Max, and 3) a stock photo of Alison.

#1:

#2:

#3:

2 for 2. Take that New Year's Resolution!

I Want to Rock and Roll All Night...

...and have surprise birthday parties for Kaitlyn every day!

The whole surprise birthday party idea came up during a Family Home Evening lesson several weeks before her birthday. We had just read about how President Thomas S. Monson was asked what he wanted for his birthday and he responded that he wanted all of the members of the church to do a good turn for someone else. Although Kaitlyn accepted that as an alright idea she quickly clarified how she would respond to the question and said: "I would ask for a surprise birthday party!" Later she expounded further that the surprise birthday party should be princess themed, and include a carnival "just like Ali's birthday."

With the help of our in-house Stampin' Up demonstrator, we had her stamp and make birthday party invitations sans the date/time/place--so that although she knew she was getting a party, she had no idea when it would be.

Max interpretted "princess party" to mean "heavy metal concert" and used Megan's mascara to put on his best KISS / Alice Cooper face.


Once that was done, my job was to take Kaitlyn Christmas shopping for Alison (if only to get her out of the house so her friends could arrive undetected). And, I must say, I did a pretty good job of arriving precisely at 2:10 p.m. at the house. It took "accidentally" driving the long way home (as Kaitlyn observed, "Dad! You missed the turn into our neighborhood that way!") to make sure we didn't arrive too early.

When we walked in the door, Kaitlyn wasn't quite sure what was going on at first...


...but she figured it out pretty quickly, and felt very loved.


While I was gone, Megan (with the kind help of her parents) had piled seven 5 year-olds (and 3 older sibling "helpers") into the kitchen to yell "Surprise!" when we walked in. After settling down from all that excitement, we had the girls make princess crowns to match the princess outfits they were invited to bring and wear to the par-tay.


The second part of the party was the carnival games (a-la Alison's birthday party) and the redeeming of tickets won at the games for worthless trinkets and treats at least as valuable as those exchanged for Manhattan (show below after being ransacked, er, bargained for).

We wrapped up with the opening of the following wonderful presents from her friends (so you can see what items are of interest to 5 year-old girls these days):

• Disney Princess coloring scroll and markers
• Pink skirt for playing dress up
• Box of candy canes and Dora notepad games
• "Alexis" Liv doll
• Littlest Pet Shop (or "LPS" as Kaitlyn abbreviated when she wrote her 'thank you' notes)

I think everyone involved had a great time. And, everyone involved over 18 had a good time enjoying the peace and quiet once it was over.

And since we're talking Kaitlyn let us provide another representative "Funny Things Kate Says (or Said)":

Megan was hugging Kaitlyn for no reason one afternoon and said, "Kaitlyn, you know we love you. We're so glad you're in our family. Do you know that?"

Kaitlyn responded, "I know. You tell me all the time...and it's giving me a headache!"

Buenos Dias Thanksgiving

Aah...Thanksgiving. You know, that holiday when the weather is just starting to be bitter cold, but you still play football with numb hands, and then go home and eat yourself unconscious. Unless you're spending Thanksgiving in Arizona, in which case it's mid-70's--just enough to work up a sweat while playing basketball games like "21" and "Knock Out" in the backyard. (The eating until unconscious part remains the same however.)

Max discovered a wonderful Thanksgiving tradition: pie.



Ali, Kaitlyn, and Max discovered (er, met) the first non-Nathan and Megan grandchild in the family--Bryan and Camille's son, Tytan. They did their best to love and adore him (which wasn't very hard). Max kept calling him "baby Ty Ty" all weekend long.


In addition to the pie and the basketball playing, the kids alternated having fun on each of the other entertaining items in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard and inside the house .


All three enjoyed playing in the pond, although Max probably enjoyed it the most. (It was a little too cold for me to get in, but I couldn't stop the kids from trying it out.)


Kaitlyn really enjoyed learning "Chopsticks" (or as she calls it, "Chop Fingers") and a few other simple songs on the piano.


Ali loved learning how to do mind-boggling and parent-scaring acrobatics on the trampoline.


I enjoyed taking the family to one of the cool teenage hangouts from when I was younger: Golf N' Stuff. It turns out that it wasn't quite as cool (or as cheap) as I remembered it. But, we did have a great time playing 6 or 8 holes on the 18-hole course, and chasing Max around for the other 10 or 12 holes. Oh yeah, and Kaitlyn was cold (see photo below).


Of course, Thanksgiving is about family as well. Megan's brother and sister-in-law live about 45 minute south of my parents, and my folks were gracious and invited them to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

The following Monday we went down to play at their house for the day. They had a little puppy named "Penny" that Kaitlyn and Max were terrified of and screamed if it barked or walked by them. Alison, however, made a friend for life and literally cried when we left and had to leave the dog behind. She cuddled and pet it the whole time we were there!

Of course, we had a great time with my family as well. We stayed up until maybe 2:00 a.m. every night playing Boggle and checking the answers via computer programs my little brother had created.

We made sure to visit our ward at church and we made time to see old family friends to decorate cookies and to have dinner. We also took advantage of the opportunity to take several hundred family photos (yielding several where everyone is actually smiling and looking at the camera).


So, let's recap: We ate. We played. We enjoyed family and friends. We sure have a lot of things to be thankful for...

Coming soon: a post about Kaitlyn's surprise birthday party. Coming eventually: a post about Christmas.

Trick or Treat

Aah, Halloween. Aside from Christmas, it's the single greatest day to be a kid. When else do you earn $20 worth of candy for doing so little all the while playing dress up as your favorite character, villian, celebrity or inanimate object.

This year Alison wanted to be a ninja (note the fighting position), Kailtyn wanted to be Sharpay (from High School Musical 3, and note the fashion pose), and Max found out that he was going to be a tiger again because his warm and fuzzy outfit from last year still fit him this year (note the roaring).

Megan wore signs on her front and back which said, "Go Ceilings!" (she was a 'ceiling fan'). I wrote the word "BOOK" on my face (I went as FaceBook--which I totally stole from The Office).

Everyone was excited about their costumes, except Max...


...until he found out that he got candy for saying "Tricker Treat" and "Thank You" as cute as he possibly could.


One of the reasons that Ali wanted to be a ninja was because her best friend, Jadon (or as Max calls him, "Don-O"), from down the street was also going to be a ninja.


We waited until the wind had really kicked up so that it was as cold as possible, and went out around 6:00 p.m. with our nice group of friends and neighbors. Our neighborhood streets were packed with kids in costume with their parents in tow. Several people even commented about my costume ("Oh, I get it...you're a book!" And, "What is 'Boo Awk'?")

Max rode in the stroller for most of the evening, but was still the first to tire (and the first to get his hands and face as sticky as possible). I dropped him off with Megan who was dispensing our sugared goods at home and continued making rounds with the girls.


Kaitlyn finished second and needed to be carried home, in the dark.


Ali would have gone all night until I made her come home with me because I was tired (from having to repeatedly deliver kids home). I walked in the door a little before 8:00 p.m. Ali was anxious to count (and defend) her take from her evening's work.


She was equally excited about sorting all of her candy into piles so she could see what she got the most of and graph it. (Last year at Halloween-time they were learning about graphs, and she wanted to repeat the tradition.) She was excited to find that she had accumulated 226 individually wrapped treats.

At first I thought Ali wanted to inventory her candy so she'd know if Megan or I had sneaked, er taxed any of it. But, then I found out that she wanted to find out which candies were most popular so she could invest in those companies. She was disappointed when I had to tell her that the clear winners, Mars (makers of Starburst) and Spangler Candy (makers of Dum Dum Pops) were both privately held.

Dear Technical Support

I received an interesting email from Megan yesterday:

Dear Technical Support,

I wish to issue a small, yet significant, complaint. My computer stinks. It may be the age of the computer, or it could be the age of a child who has touched it; either way, it is quite bothersome. I have to completely restart my computer each time I wish to use it; it is reminding of the days when I worked on a desktop computer--it's quite frightening. I look forward to your visit to our home, so that you can magically fix this proble

The computer froze and I had to turn it back on... I'll continue: lem. Thank you for your helpful service, and especially for the Milky Way bar you provided me the other day. While restarting the computer I was at least able to satisfy my palette.

Love, ahem, thank you.

Megan

Sorry--had to restart in order to be able to send

My response (now):

Dear Megan--

Your issue has been logged, and is important to us. All problems will be resolved in the order they were received. Your current estimated wait time is: 2 years. Until we are able to more fully address your concern, please try the following simple steps:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. Take you computer and throw it out the window. Video tape this and put it on the internet for the amusement of others.
3. Purchase a Miltope nearly-indistructable military computer able to withstand falls from 3-feet, temperatures of up to 160 degrees, and intense blowing sand (as found in Iraq). I recognize that these conditions may not be as extreme as those you describe, but are the closest analog.

Love, er, thank you.

--Nathan

Buenos Dias Mejico

Once upon a time, a couple in our ward invited several other couples in the ward to join them on a cruise. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for that couple, they became pregnant and were unable to join the cruise that they had organized. [Congratulations Darrel and Joanna on baby Audrey!] Fortunately (or unfortunately) for us, we were still able to go. This is the wonderous tale of Megan and Nathan cruising to Cozumel and Calica, Mejico in September. (Look I'm only a little over a month behind in blogging about this one!)

It all began one Sunday afternoon in September. My amazing (and brave) step-mom, Mary Lee, had agreed to come stay with the kids while we left for the week. At first we were concerned that the kids might have a hard time with us gone. However, our fears soon left when the children shouted "hooray!" when we told them it was time for us to go. (Mary Lee had wisely told them that she had some treats for them that they could eat as soon as their pesky parents were out of the picture. You can read about their adventures while we were away on Mary Lee's blog.)

We drove to Nashville with our fabulous friends George and Brittany and stayed the night there at an Aloft hotel for free (being a consultant and racking up the hotel points does have some advantages).

Monday morning/afternoon we arrived at the boat and after getting through the lines, were promptly told where the food was. Once aboard I quickly started in on one of my two goals for the trip--eating as much as possible and sleeping as much as possible.

Behold the boat:

After lunch, getting acquainted with the layout of the boat, having a nap (probably), and eating dinner, we enjoyed ourselves by playing a little putt-putt on the deck at the front of boat--Happy Gilmore style. Then we searched for (and found) the open buffet for some dessert.


That night, upon returning to our room, we discovered that our bed had been turned down by a wild, undomesticated fuzzy little towel elephant who apparently lived in our room under (or on) the bed.

The next morning we woke up at some hour. (There really aren't any clocks on the boat anywhere.) After eating breakfast, we decided that it was about time to try our hand at laying out on the deck and perusing our reading materials. I almost left my book in the car, but George had run back to get it (thank you!) while we were explaining to people at the check-in desk that we didn't have the swine flu.

Megan enjoyed her reading selection--The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I also enjoyed my choice--Applied Mergers and Acquisitions.


We spent the entire day at sea reading, eating and sleeping as much as possible. That night was the formal night at dinner and George showed off his mad Tagalog-speaking skills to all of the wait staff from the Phillipines.


Each night at dinner, the staff would sing a song and do a dance. I also learned that at dinner, if you order two entrees or two desserts, they don't respond with "you glutonous American pig who is trying to eat as much as possible and sleep as much as possible on this cruise." Instead, they bring you the food with a cheerful smile!

Our assigned hostess, Pranee, became a great friend during the week. We learned that she works approximately 6 months away from home on the boat during the year to take care of her family, earning much more than she could with her graduate degree back home.


The next day we arrived in Cozumel and made a highly-to-exorbitantly overpriced excursion to swim with the dolphins at Dolphinaris.


These mammals are incredible. They are able to jump out of the water like 10 feet in the air and dive back into the water without ever doing a belly flop.


We met and swam with the dolphins. They were very friendly.


In fact, they were a little too friendly. One of them made a pass at Megan and gave her a kiss on the cheek!


I also, then received a kiss on the cheek, and discovered that the cheek-kiss is just the dolphin way of saying "Thank you for not injuring me you crazy American tourist."


That night we cruised down to Calica. When you look at a map it appears to be only about 20 miles away, however, somehow it took us all night to get there.

We took a taxi into Playa del Carmen and found our way to the beach. Before arriving at the beach, Megan had successfully negotiated the purchase of a pink cowboy hat. (When the guy asked too high a price, Megan literally responded, "No way Jose!" How did she know his name was Jose?)

We rented a pair of beach chairs for the afternoon for $5 and tried our best to relax. It wasn't that difficult.



We also swam in the warm ocean for good measure. (You can't just sit on the beach chairs the whole time!)

We asked a couple of servers at the club where we rented the chairs to take our picture. Apparently they misunderstood our request and instead they flipped the camera upside down and took this picture:

When we saw an approaching storm, we decided to head into town for some authentic chips and salsa, then headed back to the boat for some authentic whatever-food-was-out.

The next day at sea we repeated our strict itinerary of reading, eating, and sleeping.

We pulled into port back in the USA on Saturday morning and booked it home to make sure the kids and Mary Lee had survived--which they all had! (In fact, they probably could have missed us a little more...)

All in all, after what has been a hectic year and schedule at work, it was a much needed time to relax, be out of touch (no Blackberry) and enjoy time together. We had a great time with our great friends George and Brittany, the kids had a great time with Mary Lee, as well as with Megan's parents and sister Jessica back home. The problem is I think we liked it too much. Now we're going to have to go again... (Do you hear me Utah friends and Darden friends?)

Funny Things Kate Says

Our sweet Kaitlyn says the funniest things. Check out this random assortment:

• We saw geese: She said, "There's lots of gooses, maybe they're having a family reunion."
• We're driving home from Kids Commons and she said, "Mom, I didn't like it there." Me: "You didn't?" Kait: "No...I LOVED it!"
• "Mom, when Max lost your keys, I was like, SNAP!, we're going to have to be here all night!"
• Megan asked Kaitlyn to think of new things to say in her bedtime prayers...things she's thankful for, things she needs, etc. She thought for a few seconds, then said, "I'm thankful for bananas. I don't like them, but I'm thankful for them." And that's what she said in her prayer.
• Megan was laying with Kate listening to the Primary Song "I Am a Child of God" and said, "Kate you are a child of God." Kaitlyn responded, "and so are you. We both are. Everyone here is. Everyone on this whole earth....and Africa. Everyone in the world is a child of God, except God, well, because he's God. And he's huge. Not huge, just big."