Sleigh Bells Rung

Well, the whirlwind associated with Christmas has come and gone for another year. Our family enjoyed the company of my best friend, Jim Jardine and his family, Jessica and Billy this year in our home. Jim and I usually try to see each other once to twice a year, with us coming over to Pittsburgh or them coming over to see us. They came out earlier this year for my birthday weekend in March, and we took the boys with our family to see them over Memorial Day weekend. We were trying to find a time where we could visit again this year, and I invited them to spend Christmas with us, since Mom was going out of town, and Nancy as well. Since we weren't sure if the boys were still going to be with us or not, we decided not to make the trip down to Virginia to spend with the remaining family down there (Sorry Thad and Andrew, et al). They agreed to spend the majority of the week with us, since I was on vacation that week from the "salt mines".

They arrived Sunday to a steaming dish of lasagna for dinner, and we spent the night just chilling out, talking and visiting with each other. Monday was spent with me in the kitchen getting the dinner ready, with Rachel, Jim and Jess, ready to help at a moments notice. It ended up working out well, except for the mashed potatoes. I freakin' started them too early, so they sat in the strainer while I got other dishes cooked, until Rachel went to make them and they were GLUE. That just blows. Thank goodness Mom sent up potato pearls, so we had to fake that part of the dinner, but it was that or serve glue. We used the Safeway 2-hour turkey recipe again, and the turkey, again turned out fabulous. We invited John and Kim Wright, from church, over for the meal since they are quickly becoming good friends of ours. Dinner went off without a hitch, and Allison helped me make cookies for Santa. Next time, I'm using less peppermint chips in the recipe, since the oil made my eyes water each time I removed a batch from the oven. With the kids in bed, and the adults soon after, we all settle down for a long winter's nap.

Christmas morning, for the first time in years, I slept until 8:30 AM. The girls were still asleep, and we didn't have older kids anxiously biting their lips in anticipation of presents. I'm sure that's coming in the next few years, though. The girls came downstairs, along with Billy, to the joy of Santa's visit in the form of presents. We exchanged gifts with the Jardine's, and just basked in the warmth of family and being together. I received a few text messages from a dear friend at work (that's you Kirsten *wink wink*) while making pancakes for breakfast, wishing me and the family well. We played with all our presents the rest of the day, until the smell of Rachel's traditional Christmas dinner of steaks and baked potatoes wafted through the evening air. It was a good day, in large part because of the company it was spent with. Throughout the day, phone calls were made and received from family, which made the day seem complete. Thank you to all who called, or wished us well through emails and text messages. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Say it Ain't So, Santa .... Say it Ain't So

Rachel's Dad and his wife, Becky, stopped by our home on Wednesday night for a holiday visit with our family. They had spent some time with Wes' family (his mom, and brother) in upstate New York and were returning to North Carolina to spend a few more days with Becky, Zach and Daniel before flying home on Christmas Eve. They originally planned to stay with us only a night, but decided to stay and hang out with the girls for a whole day before leaving on Friday morning. We decided to go to the mall, and have the girls visit Santa, so that the grandparents could see the magic of Christmas through the girls eyes. I waited in line with Allison and Ryleigh, and Rachel gave Lindsay to Santa when it was our turn. Wes had his camera to snap a few pictures, as apparently even Santa Claus at the mall has turned evil.

The trend of charging out the whazoo for pictures of kids with Santa now is annoying. It used to be a service that the mall would provide for the customers of the particular mall, with parents being able to take pictures at will for FREE !!??!! Now, they have people and stuff blocking Santa with signs telling you to be respectful and not take pictures of your kids with Santa (see green sign in foreground). What does that mean? Be respectful? I think that loosely translates into "Please don't take pictures of your kids with Santa, but you can pay 15 bucks for one 5x7 photo from our camera". They also claim that "Visits with Santa are always welcome" on the sign, but don't tell you that it also comes with a high-pressure, guilt laden sales pitch. I almost expected the freakin' lady to tell me about the cost savings of a Time Share in the Napa Valley, in addition to the photo. They were awful, especially since they knew that Wes snapped a couple of pics of the girls. I almost don't ever want to go to the Mall again during Christmas with the girls, because Santa is now a sell out. Just another childhood memory ground to dust, sacrificed at the altar of the Holy Dollar.

Survivor Ends - Todd Herzog victorious

Okay - in a previous post, I spoke about my love for reality (or not so reality) TV. Sunday was no different, as we were looking forward to seeing how the season ended. Rachel and I run hot and cold with Survivor sometimes, but it's always fun to see how the drama plays out. We were both rooting for Todd or Amanda to emerge as the winner, as they both backstabbed their competitors to get where they ended up. Glad to see that Todd was unapologetic for his actions, and basically said, "I started playing as soon as I got to China" as opposed to Amanda, who was counting on her doe-like eyes, and pushing the "I was following Todd, so I'm not that mean" card on the jury. So, in the end, Todd took everything like a man, and turned at least two votes his way to take the million dollar prize. It was nice to see that James took home the most popular survivor cash, and that multi-billionaire producer Mark Burnett decided to "tip" poor Denise fifty grand to "make your life the way you want it." I'm guessing she'll spend it on Cheez Whiz and scratcher lotto tickets, maybe upgrade to the 1990 Ford Tempo 4-door model. Come on Burnett, fifty grand? I hope that's coming out of your overflowing pockets, and not being charged to the production budget that CBS is footing the bill for.

Now for my annoyance part of the post. What is it about Survivor and making sure that everyone knows that so and so is a Gay Mormon? This is now the second Gay Mormon contestant (that we know of) to compete, and third overall. Raef from Survivor: Guatemala was a Gay Mormon river guide, Neleh was a Mormon student, and now Todd the Gay Mormon flight attendant. All of them did very well in their respective seasons, with two of them making it to the final vote. I mean, what's the deal with bringing that out and sticking it front and center on their nameplate when they do their "aside" interviews? Does it matter? You would think that in the day and age in which we live, that being gay is a non-issue anymore, let along on a freakin' reality game show. I guess they just love to do that kind of thing as a thumb of the nose to a known conservative religious sect for some reason. Just annoying that they don't match a Gay Catholic or Gay Baptist tag on the other contestants who happen to be gay along with holding a job. Just annoys me to a degree, but that's me.

Way to Go, 'Skins

In a windswept Meadowlands Stadium, the Redskins pulled out a solid victory over the division rival New York Giants, 22-10, on Sunday night. Rachel and I were watching the Survivor finale on CBS, so I was completely unaware of the score, or even how things were going in the game. After we had caught up with the DVR (which I love), I switched over to the game to get a score while we were watching the after show of Survivor (more on Survivor in my next post.) First thing I saw was WAS 22 and NYG 3, first thing that Rachel saw was Jeremy Shockey being carted off the field. I started laughing, as I thought the Skins had no shot of winning this game. Well, as I kept swapping between channels, I saw the Giants go down to score a TD to pull within 12 points, and I thought "Here we go again" as the Skins were stomping the Giants into the fourth quarter in the game at FedEx earlier in the year that ended in a loss. Well, this time, the defense held - in addition to the Giants continued trouble hanging onto passes from Eli Manning. There was no more scoring the rest of the game, and a very happy Aaron celebrated by doing two loads of laundry.

Can you Believe the Time?

Can you believe it has been over 6 weeks since Lindsay joined the clan!! I can hardly believe it. Lindsay had her one month check up a week ago (I know, a little late in posting the details). She is in the 75th percentile for both her height and her weight. I was a little shocked, since both of her sisters barely made it on the chart at the same age. See what happens when they get to cook a little longer I guess. She weighed in at 10lbs 3oz and measured 22.25 inches long. Her nickname is fitting more and more. Allie and Ryleigh have both taken to calling her "tank". Although Allie calls her Lindser Tank. It is really cute.

Ryleigh also had an appointment the same day. She needed to get the second half of her flu shot. She did great. No tears or whining at all from her. And as a reward for her bravery she received two Backyardigans stickers. You would have thought she won the lottery. It was so fun.

Lindsay is really a good baby and has been getting better at sleeping at night. She does really well with her sisters always wanting to love on her, but lets us know when she has had enough. She loves to be held and has begun to smile. It is really great.

Just thought I would share Lindsay's progress with everyone. We are so grateful to have her in our family and look forward to all the "firsts" again.

Lindsay's Blessing

When we were down at Mom's at the beginning of November, one of the things that we needed to accomplish was find a date that would work to bless Lindsay, so that as many family members could attend as possible. After a straw poll was taken, it was decided that December 2nd worked out best for us, as that date was also working for Rachel, as her father would be in North Carolina and be able to possibly participate as well. I talked to Bishop Duersch, and he said that would be fine.

Well, it turned out that we picked the weekend that they were calling for our first ice storm of the year. Great. Well, Rachel's father, wife and Zach/Daniel came up on Friday night, and ended up staying in a hotel room that Becky rented for them. Mom and Thad came up Saturday night, then Andrew/Amy and Nancy all came up Sunday morning. Andrew called Saturday night to see if what time that church started, and said he would call in the morning for directions. Well, we weren't up when he called the first time, but the second time he called we were. They ended up getting a later start than they would have liked, but started out for the journey, determined to get here. Well, as time passed that morning, and showers were finished, and people getting dressed, it was looking close as to whether or not Nancy, Andrew and Amy were going to get to our house in time. We got a call from Nancy, giving her "40" and not even 3 mins after that call, Andrew called to give us same. Even with leaving after Nancy by about a half-hour to fourty five mins, Andrew was now only about 3 miles behind her. So, we all piled into the cars and got to the church only a few mins late. The blessing was pretty much what you'd expect, I was nervous that I was going to say something wrong, or bless her with the wrong name.

Wes and Beckie (Rachel's dad and step-mom) left church right after sacrament meeting with the boys, because they had such a long drive back. The rest of us returned to our house for a family dinner we put together, before everyone returned home. It was a nice weekend, and I am glad to have everyone show up that could have. Pictures to follow.