WINTER 2007

November 22 ~ Thanksgiving
Happy holiday! We celebrated this one quietly with just the immediate family and a 12 pound victim. We are having Turkey Day on our own this year. Valerie pre-made a cherry pie a month or two ago, when we had fresh cherries. She also made stuffing for the first time… the other years the Mom’s have made it. I stuffed the turkey.
~Brett

November 22 ~ Of dog shows and beauty contests
I don’t understand dog shows. The dogs are cute but how do you judge a boxer next to a poodle? It seems kinda arbitrary to me. Same for the beauty contests. How do you judge a Latino next to an Asian? Or are we suppose to be considering their nationality? Mexican vs. Korean? Or political views? Or wardrobe choices? What are the guidelines? No wonder pageants are on the decline, there isn’t a point.
~Brett

November 20 ~ Shelves finally done
After hours and hours and hours of …slacking off, the second bookcase is done. So now the books will go on the shelves and the floor will be cleaned up more so we can put a crib in the office. We, I, have been working really hard over the last year to clean it up to be a functional space. We are going to make it a temporary baby room for Lucius. I am actually really looking forward to it. So when he naps or plays then I can work on the scrap book stuff on the art desk.
We are lucky not to have to purchase another crib, I have a friend that loaned us her crib for Lucius to use until Jack decides to switch to the toddler bed. At this point, Jack is quite content in his crib and has no notion to get out of it or move to the toddler bed. And he SLEEPS so well that I do not want to mess that up. Then in about a year we will move Lucius and Jack in together. Tristan will rank his own room as the older brother, since he is 3 years older than Jack.
~Brett & Valerie

November 12 ~ Bee movie
We took Tristan to his first premiere movie (he went this summer with daycare for last year‘s features). He LOVED the experience. It was very special. Tristan might have enjoyed the popcorn and sprite more than the movie, or at least as much as the movie. He ate probably half of the large popcorn. So much for dinner that night… It was great fun.
(Brett) I didn’t care for the movie too much. There were funny parts but the overall story was iffy. I found it awkward as it seemed to push for some animal rights slash civil rights slash environmental point. If it was, it didn’t do a very good job. I‘m not saying a movie shouldn’t have such a point, but it didn‘t drive it through. Are bees people too, what about bears? Is it saying that we shouldn’t take advantage of our environment? Are we suppose to eat honey or not? The love story thing was strange too. I also didn’t like the stereotyped characters playing on current political events - an evil southern lawyer representing Honron and honey-burton. Perhaps I’m digging too deep.
I think Ratatouille did a much better job of streaming a story and a point… which was a present from Lucius to Tristan and Jack.
~Brett

November 10 ~ Safety Festival
Oakleaf hosted a festival focused on safety. The Police and Fire Departments were center stage giving lessons and demonstrations. I think the inflatables and animals were most popular. We went with 3 boys, Tristan, Ryan and Jack and came home with two Spiderman characters. The boys had a great time bouncing and running all over the bouncy houses. Jack was unsure of the large bouncy things. He liked looking at the animals but did not want to touch them. Mostly Jack just liked to run back and forth across the park. Mom was having non-productive contractions while walking around. Still waiting the arrival. At the end of the event, they had a K9 demonstration were the “officer” took down a padded man.
~Brett & Valerie

November 8 ~ Mom Vento Arrives
Mom’s are awesome. Mom came and got the house cleaned up and things ready for the new arrival. She was great with the boys. Played a lot of ball and trains with Jack. We caught a movie, The Martian Child on Thursday.
~Valerie

November 4 ~ False Labor
Valerie had some contractions that we got the neighbor over for so we could go to the hospital. But they never got close enough together to actually go. She is very disappointed…no kid yet.
~Brett

November 1 ~ Halloween
Spiderman and I walked half the neighborhood. That was enough to fill his plastic pumpkin bucket. I think that people brought in friends to our haven. Freaking trespassers! There were gremlins everywhere. We had to borrow candy from neighbors. It all hit hard at 6:30 and abruptly ended at about 9. I’m surprised I saw a lot of younger people (our age-ish) answering doors. We never see these people. What’s the point of living in such a neighborhood if you never come out?
Here is Jack.
~Brett

October 30 ~ Harry Potter
I finished it. Shakespeare would have done a better job.
~Brett

October 29 ~ Pumpkin Carving
Two pumpkins this year. I was going to go fancy and use the rotary drill for some top notch work this year. But, Tristan was dead set on doing both. Actually they are pretty good. Check out this sketch he did for warm up, he did it can you believe it, its really good.
~Brett

October 26 ~ Hitch
$600 bucks later we have a class 3 hitch on the van. Its funny because a class 3 can pull 5000 lbs but the van can only do 3500. We got the thing from Kia to so I would figure for legal reasons they would only put the class 2 on because that pulls 3500 like the van. I am pleased though, as my coworker says there are more accessories when you have a 2 inch hitch. Now we can get the Pop-up tent trailer here. Camping this Spring!!!
~Brett

October 26 ~ Castle – Brickwork, Sanding
The brickwork is done! Now for the sanding, which is much harder than I anticipated. Like everything else on this project.
~Brett

October 21 ~ Adult Halloween Party
The Adult Party is always more fun than the family party, maybe it’s the lack of screaming. Valerie was a “pregnant” nun and I went as a lesser demon from hell standing in for Satan because he was busy in DC - campaign season and all. We are trying to get pictures of us.
This is our anniversary #7. Valerie let me sleep in , I gave her a kid. We love each other. We keep talking about doing some travel for our anniversary. We were suppose to go to NY on our fifth. Now it’s the tenth. I’m mixed on NY though. Sounds great but there are so many other places that I could spend the money on. Traveling abroad, Caribbean, Yellowstone…
~Brett

October 17th ~ Castle Work continues
I’ve almost got the brickwork finished. Then the shingles, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, then painting.
~Brett

October 17th ~ Costume party
Our first costume party of the year - the family one. We went to Party city to get Tristan an outfit. He selected spiderman (amazingly one that was on sale). We have virtually had to pry it out of his hands to wash it and get him off to school.
~Brett

October 5th ~ Ultimate Frisbee
We picked up Mom and Dad this weekend and went out to see Ashton play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Apparently, he’s not too shabby. The Hammerheads didn’t win but they made a great showing with some really close exciting games. It was muddy and wet so we didn’t stay for a lot of it on account of the kids.
~Brett

October 5th ~ Valerie’s Halloween Bunco
So for the first time I hosted Bunco and it was a Halloween custom bunco. Bunco is a game that you play rolling dice. It is basically a game that doesn’t take a lot of thought so you can do something and hang out. My group is 12 women and we play the first Friday of the month. No kids or husbands, just the women having a little fun. So we prepped the house. Brett helped a lot in the clean up since I am not doing a lot.
~Valerie

October 5 ~ Jack loves the train
Well one would think that after weeks and weeks of play with the same thing a little one would become board. Not our Jack. The choo-choo train is still the most played with toy. Now we have variations of the train play. Rotating between Thomas the Train Set and Lincoln Log Train in the living room. Then in big brother Tristan’s room we have an electric train set that Daddy made us. Mom verified that it would tuc under the bed when not in play (see sept 16 post). This is played with EVERYDAY.
~Valerie


Valerie seems to think that I need to post more Pics of the Kids: Random Picture.


October 3 ~ New Van
We have completed our vehicle purchases for this…decade, hopefully. We picked up a used 06 Kia Sedona with 14K miles. Great deal. You know, I like minivans. There is a lot of animosity towards minivans. Many of my neighbors and coworkers can’t stand the idea of “giving in” to that “lifestyle” !? So instead they spend thousands more, that they can’t afford, to get an SUV, which doesn’t actually hold any more than the minivan. Truthfully, it’s the perfect mix of price, passenger room, convenience, mpg, and towing.
Really unless you NEED the off-roading or heavy towing then purchasing an SUV is just a fashion statement. Even the safety excuse doesn’t hold up because the extra “armor” in a crash is canceled out by the high center of gravity leading to increased rollovers in both multiple and single car accidents. Don’t even get me started on the faux SUVs - the compact ones - no towing, poor economy, just hatchbacks with raised suspension.
~Brett

September 30 ~ Geekin
I’ve been geekin out a bit lately with building a few models. Tanks! I’ve never built a tank before. Yes, I feel that syrup is an important part of the process.
~Brett

September 24 ~ Smoked Ham
Spent some time this weekend smoking a ham - butter in the mouth.
~Brett

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