Kiddos

Christopher, one of the most recent roomies to leave the bachelor pad for a married life, was generous enough to come over and help get my rear in gear early in the morning. There are several projects around the house which need doing, and by coming over during his vacation, it got me going on one of the smaller ones, and helped with some of the decisions that needed to be made. I am not a decision maker. Very sad. Anyway, thanks Chris! We removed the door between two 2nd floor rooms, studded it and put up drywall. It will need plaster eventually.

Check it out. Is there a stud in here....besides me? LAUGH!!!


Well, today was the long awaited day dedicated to hanging out with the cousins. Actually, 1st cousins once removed. Thank you Jerelyn! :-) My cousin Melinda and her husband Don have three cute and very fun 9-year old triplets, Grant, Erin and Kira. The kiddos are staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of weeks, and I snagged 'em for a day. Sadly, Erin could not join us because she broke her hand this weekend and went back home with her parents to St. Louis :-(

Ice skating was the only thing on the agenda originally. Their aunt took them last year and they had alot of fun. I like to think of things on my own, but never can when I'm trying. It's kinda like stressing over big decisions in life. If you just let go and be patient, you'll be surprised at how many things fall in place. I'm learning alot about that this year. With things falling together last minute, we ended up with a VERY busy day!

Cookies!

They were sent to me with a cookie recipe and ingredients. Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. It was a very easy recipe. During the 10-minute baking breaks, we checked out my blog (they're famous now!) and watched their favorite scene from the movie "Cars". Back in the kitchen, I see that their modest portions worked out nicely, whereas my monster size dobbles turned into one huge cookie. I never learn.




Puppies!!

Remember how Jon and Joy needed some dog watching help this weekend? A last minute request last night turned into fun today. We went down the street to play with the dogs and let them out. The extra hands actually helped out alot since the tiny ones have to go separately.

I just stuck this in here to show you what a safe driver I am. And that I still have SarahK's tradition exchange gift in my car. Sorey!


McD's

The triplets FAVORITE place to eat is McDonald's, and it was their Mom's idea to send us there for lunch. However, it occurred to me as Chris and I were working this morning, Jerelyn could probably have lunch with us! She runs alot of promotional stuff and training for the area's golden arches and is GREAT with kids. Thanks for meeting and enjoying my awesome cousins Jere!


The kids introduced me to a special drink called a "suicide". From Jerelyn and my roomie's reactions, I'm apparently the only person in the world who DIDN'T know what this was. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I'll keep their exact measurements a secret until Jerelyn can tell us how they make the Big Mac secret sauce.

Ice Skating!

The main event - ice skating at Owen Center. We got there a little late, but that worked out because none of us had the footsie endurance for more than about 30 minutes total on the ice.


Another sweet thing falling together was running into some church friends, Craig, Debbie Jo and their family. Such an encouraging and entertaining (I want my book back Craig) couple. They found us while the ice was getting cleaned (an extra long cleaning for some reason) which gave us a ton of time to catch up and for Debbie Jo to get to know the kids. We have to work on how Grant explains his new internet popularity in public...




This is Grant falling....maybe.


Hammer Time

Before leaving the house, I showed them our punching wall. Chris and I didn't have time to take it down this morning so it was fresh on my mind. One whack at the wall with a hammer, and they were hooked. After coming back from ice skating, I think we got 1/3 of the wall demolished. Who woulda thought that the highlight of the day would be whacking holes in a wall with a hammer. Grandpa is going to be on edge until they go back Friday, making sure that they don't turn his walls into swiss cheese.






Special Delivery





Last but not least, the kiddos helped me deliver Jed and Julie's Christmas present to their doorstep.





I am legally obligated to tell you that Grant is cool in order to fulfill my payment for a piece of gum.

My cousins impress me so much. They are SOOO smart and observant. While I was tying their skates and thought we were having a conversation, they were figuring out if the lady at the snack machine was getting ripped of from the amount of change she got. You can especially tell that Kira is thinking hard in the back of her head about everything you say. Their conversations are really interesting to hear too. Since they share so much time and so many experiences together (ie school), they communicate really quickly. Many sentences are only half said because they know what the other half is. And they remember everything you say, so be careful!

You guys were so much fun. Thank you for coming over. I missed you Erin!! I wish I could sign your pink cast.


Capped off he night with small group time a few hours later. It was great meeting with the discipleship guys again after a three week winter weather hiatus.

The Classics

One more flashback and then we're caught up.

"You've never seen White Christmas??? (GASP) AND Miracle On 34th Street?!? (DOUBLE GASP)" This was the response from a few friends during the annual "Elf" viewing a couple of weeks ago. A week later, the gasps were remedied. Pete (the repeat) hosted a Christmas movie catchup for us poor sheltered souls.

First in the lineup was "White Christmas" I don't think it was as funny (on the whole) as everyone made it out to be, but maybe that's because I just don't pay as much attention to details. The second sisters act was definitely one of the funniest things I've ever seen though. And the final scenes for the general made me all gushy inside.












It was a great opportunity for everyone to try to unload leftover holiday desserts. It was a rough year for me in the sweets department. The veggie tree was healthy though!






Settled back in for Miracle On 34th Street next. Now this one, I am disappointed in myself for not seeing it sooner. It supported my cynical attitude toward the corporate world today. Doing what's best for your customer instead of what's arbitrarily best for your company today, bring it back please. Creating a new proprietary standard for USB or power adapter cables on every product....not so much. Even though Santa in alot of ways replaces the importance and focus of Jesus Christ and his loving sacrifice coming down to our painful world simply to give up his life, I saw a ton of parallels that really just proved how much people need a savior and must understand what faith in Him is. Thumbs up for that and for cracking me up. I thinks it was funnier than White Christmas for some reason.

There, all caught up. Well not completely. But yesterday wasn't much. Spoke at the Benevolence Center again. Got tires rotated. Ran errands including materials pick-up for today's home project with Chris and made plans for hangin' out with my 9-year old cousins. There, caught up.

Weekend High-Points

TV is depressing to me for several reasons. It sucks me in immediately. Brain shuts down and everything. Values and quality are diminishing. TV is also a great source of stupid facts for gullible people. I caught some news stories on Friday revealing new discoveries made in health research. Apparently your waist size can be a health risk, as well as poor eating habits. Another special report brought to us by DUH!

Unemployment updates:

-I discovered Friday that my unemployment benefits are starting a week later than I had hoped, but I received a deposit from my old employer on Christmas eve which was also unexpected, and almost canceled it out!

-Had a great conversation over coffee with a someone who I'll get to work with on a programming project. He's also a potential boss and I look forward to where that might go. Still trying not to be too excited about it.

-Setup an interview with State Farm early next week.

On to the fun stuff.

JoshT was free from the new wife for an evening on Saturday and invited Jeffrey and I to tag along. We snagged Pauli-boy along the way and had a nice Guys night at BWW. The wait was terrible so Jeffrey accepted the challenge of Captain Claw and won himself a little something for his girlfriend...when he gets one. Afterwards we hung out at my place and I was very grateful for the opportunity to catch up with these guys.


The B-mans down the street had a busy day and a house full of dogs. That doesn't mix well (one of the reasons I haven't gotten a dog yet). They let me peek in on the puppies a couple of times, and peek in I did. A couple of old yellers and a couple young'ns, each with their own special instructions. As long as playing with them is on the list, I'm in.



Got to enjoy another night at the mission where Mrs. Beth sang for us and JonnyB brought God's word to our ears. If you ever need a refresher in praising God through trouble, rather than trying to wiggle your way out of it, check out the South Side Mission evening services.

Sunday was another attempt to slaughter those cute, cuddly and deadly bunnies. Becky acquired the Killer Bunnies card game this summer and played it like crazy since then. So...why did she have to spend so much time reading the rule book? It was just for our benefit I'm sure :-)


Mini-potluck and Mrs. Duncan's amazing wassail...saweeeeet.



Tonight's winners - Round 1 to Holly, round 2 to Paul. Not pictured is Lisa, who finally learned how to be evil. Watch out! Thanks for suggesting and hosting Duncan!

Appetizers Shmapetizers

With an incredibly disappointing lack of photos from the Storm and Katie's appetizer party the Saturday before Christmas, lets use up all of the cool ice pics I took before they go to waste. We got pounded with a couple of nights of freezing rain or melted and re-iced water a couple of weeks ago, and it lingered for almost a week.

Icy wake-up call before and after.


Road block down the street. No clue why. Maybe Albertson's power lines were being a pain again.


After the refreeze, things looked pretty cool.

Looks like this guy was ready to die already.













Storm and Katie hosted an enjoyable evening of appetizers (enough to feed a small army or the Deutch family) and games about a week ago. All I got was Tim trying to warm up his coffee after being advised by Jon about pre-marriage topics and becoming an American. It's all about the R's Tim!




Next time, I promise Jack, I won't leave you hangin' at chick's night. I MEAN girls night. You look miserable, simply miserable.

Unwasted Traditions

Last Friday was our co-ed Bible study Christmas party. Not to be confused with the Sunday School class Christmas party, this was another open invite party for the class, organized by the folks who have been leading and attending Bible study at John and Sarah's this Fall.

I tried to be negative about the fact that Sarah dressed Peyton for the party, but I just couldn't. She's too cute.




Awwwww, look at the Josh, all cozy by the fire.












Levi's hot wheels track was cooler than ever and everyone got a chance to use it! :-) Thanks Levi.




Too many engineers in one place at one time. It never gets old.





Sarah upgraded the white elephant exchange idea to a family Christmas tradition exchange. At first it seemed easy because I thought it had to be a food. Meaningful or not, I can think of plenty of food traditions in our family. But it turned out not to be limited to food. That meant people would have interesting traditions to share. Darn. I did think of one, but it was too late to get it. Went with a chocolate stocking stuffer instead. There were some great traditions.


We have an interesting gender ratio here. It's nice to know there are qualified people with priorities working hard at reducing the fraction and making happy couples. We've come a long way since chapter 1 of Piper's book.

Thanks boss! :-)