First (and Last) Snowfall of Winter 2006

The girls had a ball playing in the three inches of snow.
We waited until the last day of 2006 to finally get some snow. And the girls made the most of it.

Lauren was the first one outside and spent nearly two hours out there, shoveling, playing and running around. Emily joined her, followed by Julia. Although Olivia wasn't feeling well (she threw up at one point), she ventured outside to enjoy it.

It wasn't all fun and games at first, though. We couldn't find the snow pants for everyone. Mom searched everywhere (and prayed to St. Anthony for help) and even called others (Grandma YD and Grandma Bep), then told Dad to go look under the kitchen storage area. Bingo. There they were (even Mom and Dad's snowpants).
Lauren said she loves to shovel.

Emily was well-bundled, except for her face.

Opening the Big Present

This is the big one. The family gift. The present to end all presents. And it lived up to its pre-open billing. Who would have thought it would be a pair of portable DVD players and some new movies? (Listen closely as Lauren initially thinks they are laptop computers - that would have been awesome, too!) The girls will be living it up on the road the next time we venture out on a long trip in the Suburban.

The Loot

We couldn't have asked for more under the tree this Christmas. It seemed that everyone got what they were looking for - and more.

Here's a quick recap (in pictures):

Veronica had fun feeding her new baby.

Olivia will be looking chic with this new beauty set.

Julia got a Superman alarm clock with wall display.

Lauren loved her soft "Mary" pillow.

Emily giggled when she opened the "family ornament of the year" - a leg lamp.

Under the Tree

The presents were piled high under (and next to) the tree.

There was plenty to be found under the Christmas tree this year. A few things expected, a few surprises - and even pictures from Santa.

The girls had asked Santa to take a picture of himself when he made his stop. To help him out, we left our digital camera in front of the fireplace. We got the video evidence, but it wasn't exactly what we had in mind. It's clear the big guy is great at delivering presents, but awful at taking pictures of himself (below).

This is all we got from the picture Santa took of himself.

Tracking Santa - And Getting Good News

When Dad worked at the TV stations, he used to make sure his meteorologists spent a fair amount of time tracking Santa on Christmas Eve. Of course, they couldn't do it by themselves. They always got help from NORAD, which has been tracking the Big Guy for more than 50 years.

(Pictured at right): The girls get ready to spread reindeer food in the front yard.

So this Christmas Eve, Dad pulled out the laptop and dialed up NORAD's website to show the girls where Santa had been and where he still had left to go. At six o'clock, he had only crossed over part of Europe and was heading south toward Africa. As part of their tracking capability, NORAD also has a few "Santa Cams" set up around the globe to actually get video of him making his stops. They also provide a map that shows "Santa Sightings."

What we didn't know, though, is that you could e-mail Santa right from the website - and that he would respond! We sent a message telling him that we had left some food and water out for him and his reindeer and that we anxiously awaited his arrival. Much to our surprise, about an hour later, we received a reply!

Here it is:

Greetings From the North Pole! It's Christmas Eve & my sleigh is loaded and ready and we have prepared the final flight checks with NORAD for our trip around the world! All this running around is helping to keep us warm because we have had some very cold Arctic air come through here lately!

My elves, Chuckles and Buckley, will make sure any last minute requests get sent via email to the sleigh. The reindeer are ready for their Magical flight and have been eating their Magical Corn! Do you remember what makes the corn magical?

I am pleased to see that you are on the NICE list again this year and we are so proud of you! Have you guessed the secret ingredient in the reindeer?s magical corn? It is LOVE! The reindeer enjoy their magical corn, but it is the love of the children and Christmas that keeps them going!

Stay happy and remember to share the magical love that comes from the heart!

You should have heard the cheer and seen the huge grins on the girls' faces when Dad read the part about them being on the "Nice" list. Julia just about jumped out of her pajamas. It was great news and probably explained why they were up at 3:47 the next morning studying everything that Santa had left behind.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

It's easy to forget - with all the excitement - that Santa actually comes to our house a night before the night before Christmas.

That was the case last night. We had just spent several hours at our familiy KK party. When we got home, Emily wasn't tired (lots of Pepsi will do that to you) so she and Dad sat down to watch the Creighton basketball game in Hawaii.

About a half-hour later, it was finally time to go to bed (it was halftime, after all). Emily went to her room and Dad to his. Moments after they turned their lights off and settled into bed, a loud "thump" was heard from the corner of the house. It was the kind of noise you hear when someone falls out of bed.

Dad didn't think much of it - and Emily didn't get up to investigate, either. But when we all woke up this morning, the loud noise made sense. It was Santa. He had stopped by to drop off new pajamas for the girls to wear on Christmas Eve.

We'll be sharing pictures here, of course, just as soon as our camera batteries recharge.

Making Christmas Presents

The girls' teachers are really going to be surprised when they get their presents this year. That's because we spent the night feverishly painting nativity figurines. Each girl painted her own nativity set for their teacher.


From left: Emily, Julia, Olivia. Below: Lauren.



So how did they like them? Here is one of the presentations:

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Emily's Team Remains Undefeated

The season is a third of the way over for Emily and Dad's basketball team and, so far, they are playing well.

They've won all four of their games - by an average score of 27-8 - and lead the league in defense. That's something that particularly pleases Dad. When he went to Mt. Michael, Coach Jim Kane's Knights annually led the state in defense with their 1-3-1 defense. So it's no surprise that Dad's team uses the 1-3-1 exclusively.

Emily has three points in four games so she's not exactly lighting it up on offense. But she does play several positions and has proven to be a valuable role player. One of her primary jobs is to take the ball out after made baskets and on all out-of-bounds plays. This is a tricky job because she has to know what each player will be doing and make the best pass to score.

The team doesn't play another game until mid-January, but they're hoping to use the Christmas break to install a few more offensive plays.

Anatomy of a Family Picture

Our new camera has a delayed timer. It takes not only one picture, but as many as 10 - with a pre-determined delay between each shot.

So to take this year's family picture at Uncle Jack's house, we decided to try the "burst" setting on the timer. Set to take a picture every two seconds for 20 seconds, we hoped that at least one of them would turn out.

As you can see from the first photo (top), it's hard not to capture the photographer (in this case, Dad) in the picture when the shutter opens just two seconds after the timer starts.

We had two (really three) cameras going for this family picture, so there were actually two people who had to get back in the photo after hitting the "start" buttons on their cameras: Dad and Uncle Jack.

You can see Dad (second photo from the bottom) is nearly in place as Uncle Jack hustles to make his way to the spot on the far left of the picture. It's at this point that you're not exactly worrying about what the younger kids look like, only that everyone is in place and in frame.

In the trial run of this picture (not shown), Dad was trying to move in between Uncle Jon (who is holding Lauren) and Grandpa YD. But there was just too much shifting. That's why Dad ended up standing behind Aunt Dee Dee and not Mom.


The final shot (at right) shows everyone smiling and looking good. Now if we had just noticed that treasure hunt envelope (far right near the bottom) hanging on the brick wall.

Now if we could just move the camera closer to make out everyone's faces...

Christmas Cup of Tea

Clockwise from bottom: Veronica, Olivia, Maya,Olivia T. (a school friend of ours), Lauren and Julia.

The Christmas Cup of Tea is (yet) another one of the holiday traditions we partake in - usually at Grandma Bep's house. This year, Tante Angie was kind enough to host the massive females-only event.

If you're not familiar with how the afternoon goes, there is plenty of food and drink (more than just tea). At some point, though, all the chit-chatting stops and Grandma Bep selects a Christmas-themed book, which is read aloud as it is passed around the room. Each year, the list of readers grows longer. This year, Julia was able to read a page.

Meantime, Dad stayed home and tried to clean up the house (sorry, no pictures are available of that BIG event.)

Christmas Program 2006

Emily played a song on the piano prior to the program.
It was quite a change this year when it came to the Christmas program. For starters, we didn't exactly think very highly of the music program at St. Thomas More. Perhaps it was the off-key singing music director. Or maybe the fact that the Christmas program lasted nearly two hours. Or that neither was very impressive at all.

Suffice it to say that the St. Mary's program is a refreshing change. For starters, there's an afternoon and an evening performance. And the entire school does NOT perform all at once. The program is split between the first through fourth grades and the fifth through eighth grades. This means a less crowded church and a much shorter performance, leaving more "goof around" time afterwards for Lauren and her cousin, Maya (pictured above, right).

Emily (seen at right) also got a chance to show off her skills in playing the recorder. Some of her classmates even played the ever-so-challenging "Silent Night" (while Emily followed along).

All in all, it was a much more pleasant experience (at least for Dad) and we look forward to many more Christmas programs like it to come.

Mom's New Favorite Movie

Matthew McConaughey (left) and Matthew Fox star in "We Are Marshall."
Mom and Dad went to see the sneak preview of "We Are Marshall" last night and both came home saying it's the best movie they've seen in a long time. For Mom, it didn't hurt that there was plenty of "eye candy" (see picture above) and that the football part of the movie was only part of the story.

Tonight is the girl's Christmas program at school. Matinee run-through at 2 p.m., feature program at 7.

Emily's team plays twice this weekend - at St. Mary's at 9 a.m. on Saturday and at St. Matthew's at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Another Game, Another Win

Julia shows off her student manager shirt for Emily's games.
Emily's team had its second game of the season last night and the result was the same as the first: a victory.

Dad told Emily and the rest of the girls that it was important to get off to a good start. "Break their spirits," he said. "Don't let them believe from the first minute that they can win this game."

The pre-game pep talk must've worked because they went out and took a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. It is the most points one of Dad's teams has ever scored in a single quarter. They went on to win easily, 24-10.

Emily didn't score any baskets, but she did play great defense and hustled all the time. She must have taken it to heart when Dad told her last weeked that there would be "no loafing" on the court. He even had her shooting baskets with a loaf of bread (pictured at left) to emphasize this point.

The team's next game is Saturday, followed by another one on Sunday.

Lauren's First Reconciliation

Lauren poses in front of the school sign.

Saturday morning was a busy day for us, with Emily's basketball game and Lauren's First Reconciliation (or, as Mom and Dad knew it, "First Confession").

The church was pretty full because the CCD children also participated in this Sacrament with the five-day St. Mary's schoolchildren. There were seven priests in all to hear confessions and Lauren chose Fr. Stanley, a Columban Father who is a friend of the family. Also on hand to hear confessions was Fr. Dan Lenz, a Benedictine monk who knows Dad from way back to his summer at Camp St. John.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice cookies and punch reception in the chuch basement. Dad challenged Lauren's cousin, Maya, to eat 10 cookies for $1 and she managed to eat five before her mom stopped her.

Sleepover Guests

The girls watched "Spy Kids 3-D" for their "movie night."

The girls got a real treat yesterday - three sleepover guests! Emily, Lauren and Olivia all had friends stay the night.

Unfortunately, that meant Mom had her hands full, since Dad had a work event from 9 to midnight. By the time he came home, everyone was fast asleep (Julia pictured at right) - some on beds, others on the floor.

Sunday morning, everyone awoke to one of Dad's famous "BigBreakfasts" - eggs, toast, pancakes, orange juice and milk.

Emily's First Basketball Game

Emily passes the ball to her teammate, Laura.
Saturday morning, Emily, Julia and Dad piled into the car and headed down to Bellevue for their first basketball game.

Dad is coaching Emily this year and Julia is the team's student manager. Julia even has a shirt that says "Student Manager" on the back.

Saturday's game was against Holy Ghost. Emily scored a basket in the 22-6 victory. In fact, all but one girl on the team scored - and she had to leave at halftime. It was a real satisfying performance (for Dad, of course) and hopefully it bodes well for the rest of the season. Their next game is Tuesday night against St. Cecilia's.

St. Nicholas Stops By

Last night, we each set a shoe out for St. Nicholas. With so many shoes in front of the fireplace, Mom and Dad were afraid St. Nicholas might see them and turn around and run. But he didn't.

The girls (sans Veronica) woke up at 5:45 a.m. and ran down to see what he had left behind. There was plenty to see, including candy, clothing, a talking Santa Claus, chocolate letters (from Holland, no less) and countdown to Christmas calendars.


Emily made nice name tags for the shoes.


St. Nicholas must've spent half-an-hour unloading all of our loot.

Dad needs to learn to quit rotating the camera on its side.

More on our Christmas Tree: 'Wide E'

This year's tree, before it took a tumble.
We haven't caught you up on our new Christmas tree yet. In continuing the tradition of naming our Christmas tree, Emily dubbed him "Wide E."

Wide E is truth to his name. Very wide! Dad found that out when he yanked him through the front door. Need more proof? Wide E was tied down in two places - and he still fell over (pictured at right).

Here are some not-so-big trees that didn't make the cut this year:



We had this picture snapped before Wide E was cut down:


We really lucked out on the day, too. The weather was in the mid 40s, with no wind. Plus, everybody went to the bathroom in advance so we didn't have anyone crying to go or wetting their pants.

And if you are wondering where Veronica ended up, she was in the Suburban, with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head. And yes, we were keeping a close eye on the car to make sure nobody stole her. Actually, we probably would have noticed the Suburban was missing and not her. It's hard to keep track of five girls, you know?

Qdoba Night

The new location at 72nd & Giles was packed for its sneak preview VIP party, which benefitted the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. CFF employees Jill (left) and Shannon greeted us.

Julia (left), Olivia and Mom sat at one end of our huge booth.

Lauren (left) and Emily sat at the other end of the booth.

Autumn (from Qdoba) let the girls spin the prize wheel.