The Big Apple

As many of you know, my job requires quite a bit of travel. Over the past year-and-a-half, I've frequented such exciting places as Washington D.C.; Basking Ridge, NJ; Charlottesville, VA; Battle Creek, MI; Pittsburgh, PA; Princeton, NJ; Memphis, TN; and Chicago, IL. Recently, however, I've had to go to Manhattan. You know, New York City.

Most of the time I don't have much (that is to say, any) free time to see the sights. However, several weeks ago, after a particularly long day, I heard that I was within just a few blocks of several notable NYC landmarks, so I decided to take the scenic walking route back to my hotel from the office and search for this "Big Apple" that I've heard so much about.

I found a "Big Christmas Tree"...

...a "Big Building" (the GE Building)...

...with a "Big Address" (or at least one with a TV Show named after it).

But, no "Big Apples" any where. I did find some "Big Ornaments" though.

I also passed a "Big Sign" where "Big Name" shows take place.

If anyone knows where this giant-sized apple is located, please let me know.

The Art of Sledding

Earlier this month we were the beneficiaries of the Great Midwestern Freeze. It snowed enough to actually play in the snow. (The cold temperature to keep the snow around was never an issue.) Megan's sister has a great hill at their house for sledding and were gracious enough to invite us over to use it with them without requiring that we sign any waivers beforehand.

As we starting playing, it quickly became apparent that each person in our family had their own idea of how to have a good time in the snow.

Max's Perspective:
Step 1: Try to be convinced by your father that this is actually a good idea. (Why would anyone go outside in this weather? It's freezing.)
Step 2: Fight tooth and nail putting on your new winter snow coat that Megan bought. When you lose that battle, fight tooth and nail putting on your hat and gloves.
Step 3: With your coat, hat and gloves on, cautiously sit in your father's lap on the sled at the top of the hill.
Step 4: Go down the hill. When reaching the bottom exclaim, "Again!"
Step 5: Repeat Step 4.
Step 6: Repeat Step 4, but get a lot of snow in your face as your father steers the sled into some undisturbed powder.
Step 7: Ask to go inside.
Step 8: Stay inside until everyone else is done.


Kaitlyn's Perspective:
Step 1: Find your cutest skirt to wear.
Step 2: Determine that your legs will get cold and put on some tights. Also find some cute boots to wear.
Step 3: Pose for anyone with a camera.


Step 4: Take some trips down the hill with your cousin and with your mom. Try to avoid crashing into the trees and sheds. Run over your father who is trying to ensure your safety.
Step 5: Go inside for some hot chocolate. Say "hi" to Max.
Step 6: Repeat Steps 4 through 6 until it's time to go home.


Ali's Perspective:
Step 1: Put on your snow pants and heavy snow coat, hat, gloves, boots, and extra layers of sweaters so you can stay outside the maximum possible time before having to come inside due to snow down your back.
Step 2: Bypass the sled action and try to become proficient at the standing sled/snowboard-thing that your boy cousins are using.
Step 3: Devote your entire time and attention to learning how to do the standing sled/snowboard-thing until you have a successful run without a wipeout at the end, nevermind the fact that you have snow caked on you from head to toe.

Step 4: Show your mom how to do it.



Megan's Perspective:
Step 1: Nobody calls me chicken.
Step 2: Take Ali's challenge of using the standing sled/snowboard-thing that she is using.
Step 3: Wipeout.
Step 4: Try a second time and make it to the bottom before wiping out.
Step 5: Successfully make it down the hill sans wipeouts.

Nathan's Perspective:
Step 1: Pretend you are 10 or under again and go down the hill on the sled as many times as you can with Max in tow. (In other words, go down the hill 3 times.)
Step 2: Try to get some other runs in while taking turns with Megan watching and snapping photos of the kids.
Step 3: Blog about it.

Happy Merry!

The Christmas Post! The Christmas Post! (Take that New Year's Resolutions! In your face!)

Now that we're a full family of 5 with commitments to both Arizona and Indiana in-laws, it looks like we're officially on the "Every Other Year Every Other Holiday" plan. We spent last Christmas in Utah, which meant Thanksgiving was spent in Arizona so that this Christmas could be spent in Indiana.

We officially began the official activities on Christmas Eve by having the missionaries over along with Megan's parents and brother. After a delicious and delectable meal, we sat around the piano to sing Christmas carols (despite the poor accompaniment by the pictured below) and hymns. After we were all sung out, we moved into the family room.


In the family room we read the Christmas story from a beautifully illustrated book which compiled the relevant events from all of the standard works. This has been a Christmas tradition of ours for several years (ever since we got the book).

After that, we allowed the kids to open one selected gift each (which gift was, of course, selected by Megan for them to open and which contained...

...Pajamas!)

We're not sure if this is going to be a tradition or not, but we tried it this year. Let's see if it sticks next year.

After the pajama-ing, Max thought he would contribute to the festivities by starting a new Christmas tradition of his own: eating toothpaste.

While this was certainly sticky, I hope that this tradition doesn't stick around next year.

Then, it was off to bed for the kids with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. While the kids were busy trying to figure out what dancing sugar plums looked like, we conned the Elders into playing a few rounds of Boggle with us before they had to head home themselves.

Before sending the children to bed, I gave them strict instructions that they were not to wake us up before 8:30 a.m. the next morning. As I was giving them those strict instructions, Megan reminded me that we had a scheduled meeting (involving delicious and delectable cinnamon rolls) with her parents and her sister's family at 10:30 a.m. and that we needed to be sure we had enough time to open our presents before heading to that meeting. We settled on a start time of no earlier than 7:00 a.m.

At 7:01 a.m. I felt the gentle shaking of 3 sweet, excited children.

We made our way downstairs, but not without peeking over the edge to see what, if anything, Santa had left for us.


Kaitlyn examined the stockings which were overflowing with sugar related items (perhaps the very items about which she had been dreaming). Max thought another great new Christmas tradition would be to consume all of the candy in sight as quickly as possible without regard for pesky chewing.

We quickly noticed a note from Mr. Claus indicating that we should go downstairs to the basement for a family gift he had left:

Foosball! (Or as we now call it when we all play, "Family Foos.") Santa also left a treadmill downstairs (my new favorite gift--also New Year's Resolution related). However, he must have spent too much time assembling the foosball table because the treadmill was still in the box!


Additionally, each of the kids got a bunch of presents (more than they really knew what to do with), but the unwrapping was done in a comparatively orderly manner--with enough time to capture at least 2 pictures. (Note Kaitlyn's nose scar from "sledding" down the stairs on Max's old infant mattress and coming to an abrupt stop when hitting the last stair).


We wrapped up the evening with a round of "Pass the Pigs." I was unable to win (or even come close), so I developed a strategy measuring the number of rolls (or "tosses") taken before losing your turn. It turns out that the distribution has quite a long tail, but that the optimal number of tosses is between 3 and 4. Of course, once I had developed this new knowledge, we were done playing.

In closing, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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.