Meet 'Princess'

The decision to annually name our Christmas tree was made by Lauren last year. After little discussion, it was decided that "Bee Bee" would be the name for the "Charlie Brown"-type tree that adorned our living room last year.

This year, the naming rights were secured even before we were halfway home from the tree farm. And once again, Lauren took it upon herself to make a suggestion. So "Princess" now enjoys her spot near the fireplace.


Grandpa YD secured the tree and put the angel on top (left) while Olivia (center) and Lauren helped put on the ornaments. Emily (below) used her height advantage to hang ornaments higher on the tree.

Do You Have A Public Restroom?

There is a good explanation to Olivia's look of uneasiness in this picture. Read on...

Think "tradition" and you usually conjure up the familiar images of birthday parties, holiday celebrations and the Nebraska football team running up the score on hapless opponents (uh, maybe not that last one anymore).

Anyway, it is a tradition of ours to venture out to some faraway field and pick our Christmas tree. And it always proves to be quite an adventure.

Out of the nine years we have been carrying on this tradition, at least half the time one of the girls has wet their pants. And more than half of the time the day we pick to go to the tree farm is a cold one.

But this year was different. With temperatures in the 50s, we knew we wouldn't be shivering while mom led us up and down the rows, aisle after aisle, looking for that "perfect" tree. Now you have to understand what mom considers to be a suitable Christmas tree. It cannot have the typical "Christmas tree" triangular shape ("Trees don't grow like that," she says) and it has to be fairly big ("We have a lot of ornaments, you know").

So the decision-making process normally leads to us sloshing through soft mud (or snow) until darkness — or until they chase us out of the place.

This year, mom's openmindedness to change gave way to a new tradition: Every other year, we will get mom a "Charlie Brown" christmas tree. Here is a picture of what we're talking about. This is "Bee Bee," our christmas tree from last year.

With that in mind, the process of choosing a tree went so much more smoothly. Except for one thing: shortly after we arrived, Olivia informed us that she "had to go potty."

Danielle quickly asked the tree farm owners if they had a public restroom. "No, ma'am," came the reply. Great.

But to Olivia's credit, there would be no wet pants this year. She bravely hung in there, patiently straining through 20 minutes of choosing, cutting and loading our tree.

And what a surprise we would have when we got it home. Suddenly, that "good-sized" tree that we posed for a picture beside had transformed itself into a monstrosity that was much taller — and wider — than we had anticipated.

One last notable memory from the trip to the tree farm: It started pouring rain just as we pulled out of the parking lot. Good timing. One wet tree when we got home...

The Big Man in the Red Suit

Everyone but Julia was pretty happy to see Santa in the candy aisle of the Hy-Vee store at 96th & Q.

There's always one.

Yep, the child who has a little fear and trepidation of getting within an arm's length of Santa Claus.

In the YD family, that would be Julia.

Yep, the one some have dubbed "fearless" was so full of fright, she clung to dad's leg as if she were about to fall off a cliff. All this, while her other siblings chatted away about how they have been (trying to be) good, how anxious they are for Christmas to come and, of course, what they would like to see under the tree.

Because Saturday was so unseasonably warm (in the 50s), Santa couldn't rely on his reindeer to get him to Hy-Vee. Instead, his friends at Extreme Limousine gave him a ride in style in their new Racing Limo. We're very familiar with that luxury automobile, having ridden in it when Danielle and Veronica came home from the hospital.

If you are thinking of enjoying a night out to see the holiday lights, consider calling Extreme Limousine to take in one of their special two-hour tours. The price is reasonable, there's no better way to relax in style and take in the sights of the season. Visit their website by clicking here or call 393-5466.

YD Weekend Gathering

Emily and her cousin, Devon, were fearless on the tire swing.

Another Thanksgiving weekend tradition for the YD girls is the annual YD gathering in Glenwood at the home of their great Uncle Jack and Aunt Marilyn. Joined by great Uncle Eugene and Aunt Sarah and their second cousins, it is a day of games, fun, delicious food and the annual family picture.

This year’s unseasonably warm weather meant playing outside was the activity of choice. We have also included the traditional “stair step” photo that has featured so many of the cousins (now parents) over the years.

007's Next Villain

”Vergonicka,” as Olivia refers to her, catches a little shuteye.

The next James Bond film will feature a beautiful, seductive villain named “Vergonicka” who can kill people just by uttering her powerful scream.

Not really. But it sounded pretty believable, didn’t it? I know that several of us can vouch for the veracity of Veronica’s screams when she is hungry, left alone or has a wet diaper.

Thanksgiving Day, 2005

The “children’s” table at Thanksgiving had quite a few YD girls.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving parade is traditionally a big draw for youngsters waking up to a day of no school, turkey and the trimmings. In the case of the YD household, the sight of SpongeBob being pulled face down through the streets of New York had the girls belly laughing. But less than an hour later, the TV had been switched off and the girls were downstairs working on craft projects.

Thanksgiving was split between two locations again this year: we hosted the YD portion of the festivities while the OB side was hosted by Dani’s sister, Angie. The picture above is from the OB Thanksgiving, which featured a special screening of the newly-released DVD of “The Polar Express.”

Don't Look Down

Where can you see a TV in the floor? At Zio's Pizza, of course!

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut...

As you can see, Olivia has a penchant for purses. She is also not afraid to dig deep into our "dress up" closet and come up with some "interesting" outfits. What you don't see here is the wild dance she did to twirl her skirt.

With just two days to go before Thanksgiving and no school on Wednesday, she and her sisters will be doing more cleaning than playing as we get the house ready to host the big dinner. First, we'll be taking in the UNO-Mankato hockey game Tuesday night. Look for pictures and a full recap of the excitement soon...

On Board 'The Polar Express'

We have had a special event on our calendar for more than a week and today was the big day.

The IMAX theater at the Henry Doorly Zoo will be showing a special 3D version of "The Polar Express" throughout the holidays. Tonight was the highly anticipated sneak preview.

We invited Aunt Jean to join us (pictured at left) and left early to try and beat the crowd. But hundreds of other families had the same idea, which meant we barely squeezed into the lobby to avoid the chill.

Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better. Since we didn't have tickets, we were relying on our friend, Larry, to get us in. But he hadn't yet arrived when the line started moving. We made it all the way to the front ... and still no Larry. So as we stepped out of line, dozens of children and adults grabbed their 3D glasses and walked inside.

Finally, Larry arrived. And none to soon. After he shooed us in, only a couple more people were allowed in, as the theater had reached its capacity. Not only that, but the only seats remaining were in the "non-3D" area on the fringes of the aisles. Here's where things started getting better.

A few people decided to leave because their friends had not made it in. That put nearly all of our group of eight into the 3D seats. Then we got the surprise of the night. Mom had the winning ticket for a door prize drawing. And what a loot we won:

The not-yet-released DVD of "The Polar Express"

A Polar Express set of pajamas, complete with "Polar Express Conductor" patch

An embroidered Polar Express ballcap

A Polar Express t-shirt


The girls show off all the great Polar Express schwag we won.

The movie, which some of us had seen last year, was great. The 3D effects were incredible — even from our "fringe" seats.

Veronica Turns Two Months Old

It's hard to believe it was only two months ago that Baby YD No. 5 arrived on a sunny September afternoon. But a lot has changed in that short time.

The constipation problems appear to have worked themselves out (thanks to that Friday night enima at Children's Hospital on Nov. 4). The flip side of that is that when things do happen, they tend to be of "blowout" magnitude. We'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that a recent incident — during a diaper change — had us changing our bed sheets.

Here is a snapshot look at some other notables:

Veronica has no trouble holding her head up. Doctor Williams said she is "very strong."

She weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces and is 23 inches long.

Veronica sleeps about five hours at a time during the night.

She is beginning to smile and "coo" and does NOT like to be left alone.

Thanksgiving ... At Our House?

Could it get any messier than this at our house on Thanksgiving?

Here is a memo we recently received from The War Department (Grandma YD):

Thanksgiving will be at Sean and Dani's house this year. We will bring turkey and dressing and gravy. Dani will do smashed potatoes and rolls. AJ will bring the pies. Any other offers are fine.

I don't know if we should be surprised, feel overwhelmed or be pleased that we won't have to drive all over the place on Thanksgiving. The only question we have is: Does this mean the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Dad and his brother (Uncle Neil) will be played in our back yard?

Fern, The Green Fairy

It was hard to miss Lauren's visual aid for her book report.

Lauren spent parts of last night and this morning getting ready for her book report. She read "Fern, The Green Fairy" and was instructed to have a visual aid to accompany her report.

As you can see from the picture above, she got a little help on the visual aid. Mom joked that her teacher would take one look at it and say, "That's a nice puppet your mom made, Lauren."

Let It Snow...

Olivia (left) and Julia alternated between shoveling the patio and catching snowflakes in their mouths.

It's been a long time since we've had snow. How long? Olivia (who turned three in August) said she doesn't remember it from last year. And what does she think of it now?

"It's cold," she said.

All the girls chipped in to shovel the driveway, though Mom did the brunt of the work. It didn't quite snow enough to get the snowblower out.

The First Snowfall

The girls woke up to quite a sight this morning. With snowflakes falling, it wasn't long before the two girls who were up for school (Emily and Lauren) woke up their sisters to share the excitement.

For Olivia, this will be her first winter of enjoying snow with her three older sisters. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it this morning, other than to say, "I'm cold."

What A Week!

This picture of Olivia represents how busy a week it has been.

So what's been going on in the YD house the past week. Suffice it to say: a lot. Emily lost a tooth and started basketball practice. Lauren passed more of her mathematical time tests. And Veronica's constipation problems seem to have subsided, then returned.

Stringing up the Lights

Emily finally built up enough courage to join Mom on the roof.

This has to be a record: The YDs get their Christmas lights up before Thanksgiving. Not only that, but two weeks before Thanksgiving. Mom put it on the calendar and, taking advantage of some unseasonably warm weather, we got them all up in just a few hours. Julia and Olivia bundled up under a blanket as the sun went down and Lauren also watched from below.

Emily's Movie Review: Zathura

The following is Emily's review of the new movie "Zathura," which opens in theaters this Friday.

They found this game called Zathura. When they played it, they went to outer space. When they would draw a game card, whatever was on the card always happened. Bad things, usually.

On one of the cards, it said that their robot was malfunctioning. He came out as a little robot, but then he started getting really, really big. He started going around the house and chasing everybody.

The funny part was how their bike followed them all around, because it was floating in outer space. At the end of the story, when they came back home, the bike landed on their front yard.

It was pretty cute and kind of scary.

Old people might not understand this movie. Grown-ups and children, but not children under the age of three, should go see this. Children under the age of three will never listen and they might be scared so they shouldn¹t go see it.

Lauren's contribution:
It was scary because there were little Zorgons on big huge ships. It was funny because the little boy, Danny, was watching Spongebob on TV.

Read All About It: Bath Night

Emily reads Shark Tale to Julia (left) and Olivia.

Bedtime on a “Bath Night” can be an excruciating experience in the YD household. Running four (or sometimes five) girls through the bathtub sometimes turns into a two-hour excursion complete with a floor covered in water, six or seven towels strewn about on bedroom floors and enough combing to find a needle in a haystack. It’s not just getting everyone clean that’s the problem. There’s usually a matter of having the favorite toys in the tub or the water being just the right temperature.

If it takes 90 minutes to get four girls clean (with mom’s help), I shudder at the thought of the situation 10 years from now when we have an 18, 16, 15 and 13-year-old vying for tub time on a Saturday afternoon. Boys beware: the younger YD girls might be a little feisty because the two older girls used up all the hot water.

Doing Much Better, Thank You

Olivia plays the proud big sister to a much-happier Veronica.

The smile says it all.

Veronica’s bout with constipation appears to be a thing of the past (knock on wood, fingers and toes crossed, throws salt over shoulder). Getting the plumbing cleaned out has appeared to have done the trick.

We'll see how things play out over the next 24-48 hours. But for now, we'll get the rubber gloves, goggles, sanitary wipes and fresh diapers on deck.

A Trip To The ER

A rare night out away from the girls (except for Veronica) was in store for mom and dad Friday night. It was the “Omaha’s Finest” appreciation dinner at the Champions Club. However, on the way there, we decided Veronica was in no shape to quietly make it through the event.

So we made a detour to the Children’s Hospital emergency room to get the lowdown on what had Veronica screaming like a banshee. It didn’t take long – and more than an X-ray to determine our little bundle of joy was full of — GAS! At least there was an explanation for that ear-splitting cry we’ve grown accustomed to at all hours of the day and night.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time one of the girls has had a little bowel trouble. When Emily was about a month old, she had to go to the ER for an enima. Dad remembers it well. It was the night Michael Jordan played his final game — before retiring for the second time. Instead of watching the game, we were watching Emily “explode.”

And just like that memorable incident with Emily, Veronica came through No. 1 with the No. 2. Now we’re hopeful that she can get a little regularity going.

Don't Cry Out Loud

There’s a lot to be said about a crying baby. It can be hungry, wet, irritated, in need of attention or just plain tired. But there is also “The Cry” that every parent recognizes. The one where you just know something is wrong.

In our case, Veronica has had “The Cry” for quite some time. Our only clue to her discomfort was the fact that she hadn’t had a bowel movement in five days. Previous to that one, it had been two weeks between dirty diapers. Though the doctor said there is no cause for concern, it is hard not to be concerned when a six-week-old is crying and uncomfortable virtually the entire time she is not eating or sleeping.

The Sky Is Falling

Emily and Mom got to attend a sneak preview showing of "Chicken Little" Wednesday night. Both of them highly recommend it, with Mom saying that it was "very funny."

Emily remarked that she enjoyed the part where they showed an "Indiana Jones"-type scene of people rushing to get out of the way of a huge rolling ball, complete with the theme song of the famous adventurer movie series. Mom believes Emily was the only child in the theater who "got" the joke, since few kids these days have seen the hit 80s movies featuring Harrison Ford.

Plenty of Helpers

With so many helpers, Dad had no trouble cleaning up the yard.

With the unseasonably warm weather we've been having, doing yard work has been much easier. So tearing out a few trees and shrubs in the back yard was not only a simple task, but it was also a fast one, since the girls chipped in to help.

'I Really Like Halloween'

The girls got a special treat from "Auntie Mo" at Envoy, Inc.

About halfway up the driveway to our third house on Halloween night, Julia skipped ahead of the family, then turned around with candy bucket in hand and said:

"I really like Halloween."

And so it went last night. House to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, the YD girls gathered more candy than they could possibly imagine eating. (Fortunately, they — and their cousins who accompanied them in Bellevue — did not take Dad up on his offer to pay $5 to anyone who could eat their entire bag of candy.)

Veronica, now six weeks old, seemed to enjoy the festivities as well. Dressed as a flower, she made the rounds in the early afternoon, then sat out the hardcore trick-or-treating with her Grandma Bep.

For the record, the YD girls were a hodgepodge of characters this Halloween: Olivia and Julia were elephants, Emily was a witch and Lauren was a princess riding a unicorn. Emily's witch costume on Halloween night included some very bizarre green face paint that did not come off easily.

Mom took the opportunity to dress up, too. This time, she surprised Dad by wearing his United States Cycling Federation uniform, complete with stopwatch and whistle. He told her that she better not let the cyclists get a look at her or they'll want her to officiate the races instead of him.

Dad went as the "Rainbow Man" from the 70s and 80s who attended major sporting events and held up a "John 3:16" sign whenever he was shown on camera.