This Year's Christmas Tree

Not exactly the greatest video, but you get the idea.

Getting it off the Suburban was a little tougher.

Sticker Shock

Ouch. Filling up the new Suburban is tough on the wallet.

The Twins' Baptism

Dad's brother, Paul, and his wife, Mara ("M"), are in Omaha with their twin boys. Today was their baptismal day. For Fr. Paul, it marked the first time he has ever baptized a set of twins.

Veronica and Sophia were wearing matching dresses, even though they got dressed miles apart (by different moms). Julia and Dad didn't make it because Julia was sick (see other entry). Emily was a no-show too, because she had a sleepover with her friend, Rachel.

Nebraska 37, Colorado 14

Some observations from Mom and Dad's trip to the Nebraska-Colorado game Friday:

The traffic heading to the stadium wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Taking 27th Street to Vine was a good route.

Where else can you pay $5 to park and get a copy of the World-Herald AND a loaf of fresh-baked bread?

The tunnel walk (with no animated video) isn't as exciting as it was in the 90s, but the pre-game flyover was awesome.

The girls would love the "Blackshirt" video snippets that include a helmeted skull spitting out the words "De" and "Fense."

Dad is all for instant reply - especially when they play "Living on a Prayer" and "Working for the Weekend" as the referees do the review (He dubbed it "Big 80s Night at Memorial Stadium).

The Wave got going in the fourth quarter and made it around the stadium about a half dozen times.

Mom guessed we would see four people we knew. Dad said 27. Mom saw four. Dad saw five. He was hoping he'd spot more of his media buddies on the field in the fourth quarter.

The video screen in the north stadium (directly behind us) is HUGE. It has a lot of pixels (which you see when you sit as close to it was we were).

Who needs a ticket to the game when you can watch it on the big screen on the track adjacent to the stadium? There's a live band, plus FOUR bounce houses.

We Got A New Camera!

Razor-thin and ready to roll.

The Big Game Just Got Bigger

Nebraska's showdown against Colorado in Lincoln on Friday is going to be a real treat.

That's because Mom and Dad have tickets to the game. Anyone want to watch five girls for the afternoon?

Bike Racing - Not Always Boring

Somewhere under that pile of coats is a sleeping Julia.

Dad had to officiate bicycle races in Lincoln this weekend so he decided to take the four oldest girls along. The races are cyclocross, where racers ride on the grass and carry their bikes over obstacles.

We parked by a 180-degree turn around some trees, which later became known as the "YD Roundabout" on the course. The girls thought it was hilarious at the start of each race (when the field was together) and laughed at the competitors as they huffed and puffed their way by the van.

They also liked giving nicknames to the riders. There was the "Jelly Bean Guy" (see photo above, right), a guy who looked like Santa Claus, the "Orange Crush" guy and one female rider even had a blue boa on her bike (they were too stunned by that to come up with a nickname).

Julia brought her bike along on the second day, which made for a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, it also wore her out (see photo above). That let Emily and Lauren enjoy some time on it, though. (Olivia stayed home with Grandma YD on Sunday.)

Another fun part of each day was taking a trek over to "Hooligan Hill" to watch the racers run their bikes up a steep hill (see photo below). They also liked when Dad ran over an orange cone that was in the middle of the road. Uncle Neil was also with us (officiating), so they had fun with him, too.


Editor's Note: Special thanks to John Peterson for taking the picture of Julia fast asleep. (Other photos by David Story.)

Is This Our Next Vehicle?

Ok, not exactly this Suburban. (The one shown above is a picture culled from the Internet). But the vehicle we are considering purchasing is a 1996 Green Suburban.

We already own a green van, so the color wouldn't take any getting used to. But we would have to adjust to having more room. Right now, Emily is squished in the back seat between two car seats.

We'll know more about whether we'll have a new "YDMOBIL" later today.

All I Want For Christmas...

The Tooth Fairy always leaves her bear, some money and a note.
Julia's snaggle-tooth grin is gone.

She lost her only remaining front tooth yesterday afternoon when she pulled it out. (Some pain is her gain.)

So this morning, she awoke to find a note from "Lu" (our personal tooth fairy), six quarters, the Tooth Fairy bear and a book titled, "Thanks for Thanksgiving."

Here is Lu's note to Julia:

Wow, Julia:

Congratulations on losing another tooth! That is quite a hole in your smile. I hope you continue to smile as your big girl teeth grow in.

The other fairies and I are very busy building a new waterslide park for all of the fairies in Fairyland. Yout tooth will be at the very top of the highest water slide. I can’t wait until it is complete so I can try it out. Should be fun!

I love you sweetie and be good for your Mom, Dad, and sisters. Enjoy your new book and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lu Lu

Dear Diary

Last night, the girls got an extra special treat at story time. Instead of reading a book, Dad chose a diary out of his drawer and read a few pages here and there.

The diary was from the summer of 2002 - when Olivia was yet to be born and Emily was five, Lauren was three and Julia was two.

The girls thought the funny parts were passages that detailed who wet their pants or a fun excursion they still recall. There are even some newspaper clippings included within (the front page of the Omaha World-Herald on Sept. 11, 2002). References to sports are aplenty - Nebraska in the College World Series, Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France - and it seems like we spent an awful lot of time at the swimming pool that summer.

Mom made a comment that she wished Dad was still writing diary entries today. Ahem. Isn't this the same thing?

Destructor v2.0

We used to refer to Julia as "Destructor" when she was little. Like a whirlwind tornado, she could destroy anything in her path in mere seconds. The picture that best illustrates this (not shown here, unfortunately) is the one where she was caught unspooling an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet. The priceless side of it is the devilish grin on her face.

Along comes Veronica... also referred to as "Girder" or "Vergon" by Olivia. Veronica is just as lethal when it comes to making a mess out of the house.

As fast as we can clean it up, she turns order into chaos. And wouldn't you know, she followed in her older sister's footsteps around the toilet Sunday night. But Veronica took it a step further, sinking both hands into the bowl that was full of, well, (used) toilet paper and water that wasn't exactly clear.

Her sisters thought it was funny. Mom and Dad did not.

Hoop-It-Up (Not in the Sand)

This picture has nothing to do with the story but it does feature four of the five girls.
So our camera is broken.
Priority No. 1 for the weekend: get a new one.

We have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather this week. So last night, Dad rounded up the girls and got them outside after dinner for some hoops. (Picture this:) Every girl had their own basketball and the opportunity to shoot on the regulation hoop at one end of the patio or the lower basket on the other end.

It was quite a scene under the lights. Basketballs were flying everywhere, Emily was making layups at both ends of the court and Dad was right there in the middle of it all. Yes, he finally has his basketball team.

So who had the most impressive performance? Each one of the girls had their moment to shine. Lauren was making all kinds of free throws, Emily showed off her dribbling and layup skills all night, Julia was leading one game of "Horse" and Olivia actually played for awhile before going back to her "girly girly" play with dolls and dress up. Even Veronica was out there with a ball, trying to avoid being hit in the head.

After an hour-and-a-half of playing (yes, bedtime gets postponed when it's 60 degrees in November), Mom joined us. She still has her free-throw shooting prowess and she was wowing the girls with her ability to sink threes. In fact, she got in a shootoff with Emily, who was also draining some long-range shots of own.

A Vote For Lauren ... Is A Vote For Lauren

The girls got to tag along last night when Mom and Dad went to vote. It turned out to be a lot of fun for them because our polling place has changed from a church to St. Thomas More School's gymnasium.

This meant more room to move around (notice I didn't say "run around") and see their old school.

Emily was put on "Veronica Duty" so she didn't get to be as curious as Lauren and Julia, who were very interested in seeing the voting process take place. Dad got to complete his ballot in one of those portable "suitcase" type booths they set up. What made that interesting to the girls was the sample ballot they had posted. It used flavors of ice cream, rather than candidates' names, to explain how to properly complete a ballot.

The highlight of the night (for Lauren at least) was when Dad wrote her name in (and filled in the oval by it) for a seat on the Omaha Public School board. The candidate, Mark Martinez, was running unopposed. This morning, we checked the results and discovered that 82 write-in votes were cast - one of them for Lauren.

The Spirit of St. Mary

Friday was an all-school assembly to recognize outstanding students in grades 4-12 and their accomplishments during the first quarter.

We were very pleased when Emily's name was called for second honors. Lauren would have been recognized (for first honors) but second graders are not part of the awards ceremony.

But even more amazing than those two accomplishments was a new honor bestowed on one member of each grade. The "Spirit of St. Mary" award recognizes students who set an example of the life the Virgin Mary led. In the fourth grade, none other than Miss Emily was honored. She received a certificate, a statue of Mary and gift certificates to Blockbuster and Burger King.

Olivia Calls Veronica What She Wants

Olivia is a very independent spirit. She's been that way for as along as we can remember. She'd rather play with her dolls and dress up in frilly dresses than play with her sisters. And when it comes to Dad, well, she's that sorority girl from college who never gave him the time of day. (That is, until she gets tired and wants him to carry her to bed.)

With that in mind, Olivia has come up with her very own nicknames for her younger sister. Known to everyone else as "Veronica," Olivia took to calling her "Veron" (pronounced VER'-own). Sure, it was cute and all, and we put up with it. But when everyone else started using the "Veron" nickname, Olivia decided it was time to come up with a new one.

So now, Veronica is known by Olivia as "Girder." How do you get "Girder" out of "Veronica" you ask? We do not know. But Olivia uses it and, so far, no one else is picking up on it.

Surprisingly, Veronica responds to it. That may be because Olivia has taken to caring for her little sister since her early days (see picture at left). We'll have to see if that continues as the two get older.