Same Old Song Again

We thought a lot about how we wanted to continue this photo project. We considered going to more of a weekly summary format like our friends Ryan and Rachel. Sometimes we are really challenged to come up with a photo of the day. And sometimes we feel we would like to add more, for example some of the birthday party projects we did or things like that, than a photo-of-the-day format really allows. However, we find that some of our really fun pictures come unexpectedly from days where we have to work to find something, and we don't want to miss out on those great pictures. So we have decided to stick with the same format, but we may have some longer posts if we feel we want to record certain special events. We have taken a picture for the last 730 days in a row, and it is amazing how much our life has changed and the unexpected turns God had in store for us. We are excited to continue this project for 2012 and we hope you will join us over at http://thousandwords2012.blogspot.com/ This will be the last post on this blog, so we'll see you over in the new one!

Our Top 5 Posts: The Year in Review

From Meghan:

I set out to make my list of top five posts and I just couldn't. This has probably been the biggest year of my life. So much happened that I can hardly believe it. But I narrowed it down to seven and that's the best I could do. In chronological order:

1) Happy New Year's! (1/1/11): I like this post because it was my first new year's as a mom and it was a fun night. And I think Joshua looks darn cute in a party hat. But also because sometimes it's hard to remember how fast he's grown. I am not a baby person. I don't particularly enjoy the newborn phase. So sometimes it feels like Clara will be a newborn forever and it's hard. But looking at how Joshua went from a baby to a real kid in just one year makes me realize how fast it really does go and makes me feel more patient about dealing with the new baby part of life because I realize how awesome it gets just around the corner.

2) Very Grand Indeed (6/3/11): We had a lot of really fun travels this summer and I pretty much loved it all. My favorite destination was definitely Hawaii, but we had a great time on our road trip to the Grand Canyon and, probably moreso than the other places we went, it was a great place to take a kid. Thinking back to the fun time we had makes me feel excited about going other places as a family. I also love this picture because it shows the canyon probably as much as a snapshot can (which in no way does it justice) and Joshua is just sitting there going, "Hey guys, I'm here too".

3) Finally Final (6/13/11): Adoption can be a stressful process. Not only is it hard to get paperwork ready, find an agency, and wait forever for a child, but then when you get your child, you know it's not really final yet. So it's hard to completely relax. Finalizing Joshua's adoption forever was a great feeling and an emotional day.

4) The Suite Life (7/29/11): Our trip to Vegas at Red Rock with Jason's company was a fun one. I am not a huge fan of Vegas so I appreciated being off-strip and, for Vegas, it was a pretty kid-friendly hotel. This is a great picture of Jason and I, and we were in the most amazing hotel suite I have ever seen and probably will ever see, with great food and drink, and it was a fun time to enjoy as adults without Joshua there since we were able to use the hotel child care. With kids, our date nights are very precious. I really enjoyed all of the ones we had this year, but this one was especially fun.

5) Closing (9/9/11): I never really wanted to leave our old house. I mean, I was okay with it or we wouldn't have done it, but I was quite content there. So closing on our new house was a very bittersweet day for me as I was happy to be moving to a house that better met our needs, but very sad to leave the home we had been in since we got married. And I really like Joshua sitting in his own seat in this picture.

6) Joshua Sandwich (9/22/11): I love being a stay-at-home mom. It can be tiring, but a lot of times it's really fun. It's hard to explain why because nothing I do is really terribly exciting, but this picture is the best one for encapsulating why: For all the little moments that aren't anything special, but are so much fun and to be treasured because they are all so brief before that type of fun is outgrown.

7) Party of Four (11/26/11): We had no idea how long our second adoption would take, but for whatever reason I really thought it would take 8 times as long as our first one, which would be 48 days. I felt really convinced of that. 48 days was Thanksgiving day so I was pretty bummed on the night before Thanksgiving when no one had called because all my strong feelings in adoption with Joshua had been really accurate. I was a little discouraged about it. So when the agency called on Thanksgiving night I really could not believe it and meeting Clara was a really wonderful and special way to spend Thanksgiving.


From Jason:

Meghan told me she couldn't narrow it down beyond seven, so I decided to do the same amount. It worked out really well, because I had a hard enough time getting down to seven, so I'm not sure how I could have pared it down to five. So here are my top seven favorite posts, in chronological order:

1) Some Tired Guys (2/22/11): Although many of our photos are for events we knew would happen ahead of time, sometimes the best photos are things that unexpectedly happen, which was the case with this one. I was trying to feed Joshua his bottle, but we were both exhausted, so we didn’t make it to the end. I’m so glad Meghan noticed us and thought to take the picture, because it’s one of my all-time favorites.

2) First Father’s Day (6/19/11): I knew I would like being a father, but I really didn’t know how much I’d like it. I just have so much love for Joshua and feel such a strong bond with him. I love spending time with him, and I can tell that he loves spending time with me, which is very gratifying. Of course Father’s Day wasn’t the first time I had noticed that feeling, but I did spend quite a bit of time reflecting on it, and it just made me so happy.

3) Rehearsing (8/26/11): Having children requires reducing the amount of time you spend with outside interests and with other people. I have a few friends in the local area whom I really enjoy spending time with, but we just don’t get to hang out very often. But when I do, I really cherish those times. This picture was from one of those occasions where Jason, Nick, Tony (not pictured), and I got to spend a lot of time together at Jason’s wedding. I love how happy we all look in this picture, as it really represents the joy I get from spending time with some of my best friends in the world.

4) Happy Cowloween (10/31/11): Some of my favorite posts are because they represent a particular event that was significant, but this one is one of my favorites simply because of the picture. How is that not one of the cutest pictures ever? I love it, as it captures his extreme adorableness and shows his happy, shining little personality all in a single picture.

5) Leaf Wranglers (11/20/11): I love this picture not only because Joshua is so ridiculously and unbelievably cute, but also because I’m really excited about doing father/son things with him. Not only will these be traditional things like going to baseball games, but also smaller mundane things like working together to get the leaves raked. This particular time was special, because he wanted to be outside with me working on whatever we were doing. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but he knew he wanted to be with me doing it.

6) Party of Four (11/26/11): This picture is really special to me because it was the very first picture of our new family. I asked the nurse to take it, and it’s sort of a chaotic picture, but that’s appropriate given that our life is suddenly a little more chaotic overall. But we’re so happy, and we love our little family of a mom, a dad, a son, and a daughter (and our dogs and a cat). We feel so blessed by God that all of this has come together so smoothly. So many things have fallen into place so perfectly, that we know God has had a hand in making it all happen.

7) An Evening with Talking Vegetables (12/10/11): This picture was from the first real family activity that we’ve done as a family of four. I’m really excited about all the things we’ll do together as a family over the upcoming years. Some will be big things like Disneyland, but some of the best will just be small family events at home with just us, such as family movie nights like this one.

Jason's Awards and Stats for 2011 In Pictures

Much like I did last year, here are some awards that I made up and some stats about the 365 daily posts for 2011 in Pictures.

Best Write-Up:

My Team Won, Apparently (8/31/11)

Top 5 Best Titles (in chronological order): 

1. What’chu Talkin’ ‘Bout? (1/18/11)
2. Snowpocalypse Now (2/1/11)
3. Our Wills Be Done (8/15/11)
4. Boxing Day (9/8/11)
5. Cake Stand, That’s C-A-K-E (10/13/11)

Top 5 Best Photography (in chronological order):  

1. Rolling (1/4/11): Meghan did a great job here of capturing four different phases of the rolling-over process.
2. Birmingham or Bust (2/18/11): This is about as photographically artistic as I get.
3. A Good Day (8/25/11): Who took this picture of Meghan reading? Amazingly, she did, thanks to an extension stick that she’s holding in combination with the timer function on the camera.li>
4. When Pigs Fly (11/1/11): I timed it perfectly and managed to capture the poor little piggy in mid-flight as he is about to begin his painful journey bouncing down the stairs.
5. Looking at Lights (12/23/11): I really wanted the picture of the day to be of us looking at lights, but I realized that would be quite a challenge to show us and show some lights. Eventually I was able to get this shot.

Top 5 Coolest Visuals (in chronological order):

1. Take this chore and shovel it (1/10/11): The flash captured the snow falling at night.
2. The type of file format, not the motel (6/11/11): The photo wasn’t supposed to turn out like that, but I really liked the weird effect, so I kept it.
3. Tunneling (6/22/11): The bright circles of color make for an almost psychedelic effect.
4. On Mauna Kea (7/26/11): The sunset in the background is beautiful, and the effect of the sun splashing over our near-silhouettes is very cool.
5. Happy Thanksgiving (11/24/11): This tree in front of our house has amazing color on it.

Best Where’s Waldo Game:

Climbing Trees (8/7/11) 

Weirdest Facial Expression (in chronological order): 

1. Me: Bowing to Wall Street’s Demands (3/30/11)
2. Dylan: Racking Up the Miles (10/19/11)
3. Meghan: Blackout (12/16/11) 

 

Most Meta:

The Cat’s in the Cradle (1/2/11)  (a blog post about creating a blog post!)

Most Subtle Photo Editing:

Just a Number (10/6/11)  (I had to blur out our last name and address on Joshua’s name tag)

Worst Technology:

Cell Phone Cameras.  Several times we didn’t have a real camera available and had to use a cell phone.  Even though it’s 2011, cell phone cameras are still seriously substandard.  A few examples (in chronological order):

1.       A Shelf of His Own (5/10/11)

2.       Weary Travelers (5/17/11)

3.       Shapes with Grandma (10/16/11) 

Most Links:

Christmas Rock (12/18/11)

Most People (not including concert crowds):

The Whole Family (6/5/11)

Least Amount of the Subject Shown:

The Cat in the Closet (9/26/11)

Most Words:

$2  Fleece (11/10/11)

Fewest Words:

Lunch with Donna (3/1/11)

Musical References:

Did a post title not make sense to you?  It might have been one of the many musical references we tend to use in our post titles.  Here is a list of the post titles that were references to either a song title or a lyric, with some verbatim and some modified to fit the subject matter of the post.  The link takes you to the song that is being referenced.  You’ll see there’s a wide variety of genres and generations among them.

1/2/11	The Cat’s in the Cradle
1/8/11	Ain’t No Party Like a 1-Year-Old’s Party
1/13/11	Should We Stay or Should We Go
1/15/11	Over Hill, Over Dale
1/25/11	I’m Gonna Work the Straw
2/9/11	Oh Canada, I Did Not Mean to Almost Enter Thee
3/9/11	In Da Club
5/11/11	Like the Rain?
6/4/11	On Top of the World Looking Down on Creation
6/20/11	A Whole New World
6/21/11	Up on the Housetop
10/26/11	These Boots Are Made For Walking (Indoors)
12/30/11	It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…
12/5/11	Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
12/17/11	We Wish You a Nicholl Christmas

Some Nerdy Stats:

Posts by Jason:	198
Posts by Meghan:	167

In each post we tag the people in it, as well as our own pets. Here’s the breakdown on the number of posts in which each person or furry friend appeared, among those who made at least two appearances. Ties are broken by the alphabet, not by how much we love you.

Joshua	205
Jason	167
Meghan	92
Natalie	30
Terrence	26
Clara	20
Julie	11
Peg	11
Christine	10
Ron	10
Andrew	8
Barb	8
Jason K.	8
Joanna	8
Nick	7
Jim	7
Alex	6
Tony	6
Mark	5
David	4
Lexi	4
Macyn	4
Abby	3
Callie	3
Grandpa Hall	3
Hadley	3
Jeff	3
Matt	3
Nathan	3
Brent	2
Carla	2
Deb	2
Donna	2
Grandma Hall	2
Hunter	2
Jason H.	2
Jeremy	2
Michelle	2

As you may have noticed, this year we tagged each post with the state (or in one case, country) where the picture was taken if it was somewhere other than Kansas, solely so I could do this exact list, because I’m curious about dumb things like this. Here’s the breakdown:

Kansas	305
Illinois	14
Hawaii	9
Nevada	8
Missouri	6
California	5
Michigan	3
Alabama	2
Arkansas	2
Indiana	2
Ohio	2
Wisconsin	2
Arizona	1
Georgia	1
Iowa	1
Kentucky	1
Canada	1

And there you have it. I hope you found these to be as nerdy and fun as I did.

On the Eve of 2012

Although it's been a mini-tradition for Meghan and I to go out somewhere for New Year's Eve, we thought this year might be the first one in a long time where we stayed home, but yesterday Mom and Ron offered to keep the kids at their house so we could go out for the evening. So Meghan and I went out to eat at Pachamama's and then went out on Mass. Street to celebrate the new year. We had a lot of fun, and it was really great for us to have a night out together on New Year's Eve again.


Editor's Note (1/4/11): Haha, that's makes me sound way more official and important than I am. But "Author's Note" or "Note From The Guy Who Writes Stuff On This Blog" didn't seem to work either. Anyway, stay tuned for our end-of-year posts which will be up in the next couple days.

Play Time

We try to give Clara tummy time everyday. She isn't a huge fan so we also give her playtime on her back. She is really interested in toys and has started to do occasional grabbing. This is her grabbing her winkel, which is really my favorite toy for tiny babies since they can grab it so early.

Vehicular Decision

I love my RX-8.  Love it.  Love love love it.  But for as fun as it is to drive, it's not so great as a family car, as we now have two children who are in rear-facing car seats.  If it's just me in my car, and if there's only one car seat, I can make it work.  But if someone needs to ride in the passenger seat, or if I need to have both car seats with me, it won't work.  Granted, that shouldn't happen very often, but the point is that my car isn't part of our family's long-term plans, and at some point in the near future we're going to have to replace it.  We don't have to do it immediately, but since the end of the year is a great time to buy a car, I've done some research and am in the process of test driving some cars.  I'll be sad to give up my car, but I know it's for the benefit of our family, so I'm okay with it.

Clara's First Bath

Clara's umbilical cord fell off awhile ago, but it was only today that we decided she really needed a real bath. She wasn't a fan. I think part of the problem was I followed the advice about making the water as warm as what feels comfortable on your wrist/elbow. Which to an adult or even a toddler, is cold/luke warm water. Clara seems more a fan of the warmer water. I used something that felt more comfortable to me to rinse her hair and, though the word happy would definitely be a stretch, she seemed less miserable. Joshua watched and didn't seem sure why Clara wasn't recognizing the awesome that is water playtime.

Natalie Checks Her E-Mail

Natalie is a very technologically-savvy pug, although she doesn't like people to know it.  She tries to maintain this image of a sweet girl who may not be the brightest but whose heart is always in the right place.  In reality, she is indeed very sweet, but she's actually somewhat of a pug prodigy.  She loves computers and technology.  As evidence of this, while she was unaware that I was around, I managed to get this picture of her checking her e-mail. She later admitted that she checks her e-mail regularly but that no one really sends her any e-mail at her e-mail address, nataliethepug@gmail.com.  Regardless, she indicated that it gives her satisfaction to know she's the smartest pug, as Terrence is still confused as to where the "Any" key is. 

An Offer We Couldn't Refuse

Meghan and I hadn't been out on a date night since we got Clara, but tonight my mom volunteered to come over and watch Joshua and Clara so we could go out.  We went to Jazz, which is one of our favorite restaurants.  She also offered to stay over and take care of Clara through the night and then get up with Joshua in the morning, which was an amazingly generous offer that we couldn't turn down, as that meant for the first time in a long time, we will be able to sleep through the night, and perhaps more importantly, not have to get up early.  We're really looking forward to it.  But first, we're off to enjoy some delicious Cajun food. 

Merry Christmas!

Today most people in our house woke up early. Not Jason since he normally stays up with Clara so I can go to bed early and get up with Joshua. Both Terrence and Joshua were a little bit impatient with him, but Terrence more so than Joshua. We'll see if next year is the year someone in our house is more excited about presents than Terrence.

After Jason woke up, we had a great Christmas morning of unwrapping and playing followed by a Christmas dinner of Sauerbraten.

Merry Christmas Eve, Happy One Month Birthday

Today we had a nice and relaxing Christmas Eve. During the day we just hung out at home. Today is Clara's one month birthday. Last week at the doctor she was 6 lbs, 4 oz, which is a full pound heavier than she was when she was born.



This evening we had our traditional Christmas Eve meal of Shrimp Bisque (Joshua doesn't eat soup and doesn't like shrimp so he had the less traditional baked ziti) and, at 11pm, we went to Christmas Eve service at Church of the Resurrection. We go every year and debated going to an earlier service this year, but we like going late. Both kids did pretty well. Joshua did have a brief tantrum over not being allowed to crawl under the seats, but he and Jason were able to come back into the service later and participate in the candelight part. Here is our family with our candles at the end of the service.

Looking at Lights

 

Meghan and I want one of our family traditions to be a drive around town in the days leading up to Christmas to look at Christmas lights.  Tonight we started that tradition.  It'll be better when Joshua and Clara are older and can better appreciate it, but we still had fun tonight.

Lunch with Donna and Lexi

Today Joshua and Clara and I went to lunch with Donna and Lexi. Donna hadn't yet met Clara, though unfortunately Clara slept the entire time (or maybe it's fortunately since I am glad she didn't cry) so they didn't really get to interact much. It was great to catch up.

Full of Pride

Joshua is getting bigger all the time. He recently realized that he could move a throw pillow to the base of our chair and climb up in it. He thinks this is the best thing he has done in awhile and is really proud every time.

Meeting Carla

Today our friend Carla came over to meet Clara and bring a meal, which was super nice of her, especially since she could have her baby any day now. It was nice to chat since I hadn't seen her since before Clara and we will definitely enjoy the casserole and cookies (and the broccoli too. I love it, but Jason and Joshua not as much).

Meeting Callie

Our friend Callie may be our busiest friend at the moment because she was in school full-time this semester and also has four foster kids plus her son Vincent right now. So it has been awhile since we have seen her, but now that finals are over she was able to stop by and meet Clara and chat for awhile.

Christmas Rock

My favorite Christmas music is Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  I love their combination of classical and orchestral music with hard-driving rock, which when it all comes together is both awesome and beautiful.  I also really love going to concerts.  Meghan likes TSO quite a bit, but she's not really a fan of going to concerts, as they tend to be too loud for her.  I've seen TSO in the past, but I didn't get to go last year, so I decided this year I definitely wanted to go.  Both of my sisters like the band, so I decided to invite them in hopes we could make it a fun siblings outing.  It worked out with everyone's schedules, so tonight Julie, Joanna, and I had a siblings night of Chinese buffet followed by a trip to the Sprint Center to see some rockin' Christmas music.  We had a lot of fun and decided we definitely need to have siblings events more often.

We Wish You a Nicholl Christmas

Since it'd be nearly impossible to get all of us together on Christmas day or Christmas Eve, we tend to have the Christmas on my mom's side of the family a week or so before Christmas.  This has worked really well, as pretty much every year we have everyone, including Uncle Brent and my grandparents, in attendance.  This year was no different, and it was great to have everyone there to celebrate Christmas as a family.  Every year we take a photo identical to this one, except for adding in any new spouses or babies.  This year Clara joined the party.  Fortunately, she doesn't take up a lot of space, because as you can see, we're nearly out of it.

Blackout

When we moved to our new house, we were surprised that Comcast was the only internet provider.  SureWest had infiltrated much of Kansas City, but not where we lived.  Apparently they're rectifying that now, as they're in the neighborhood installing and digging.  However, perhaps not coincidentally, our power (and the power of many of our neighbors) went out tonight.  It was out for about an hour, came back on, and was then out for another half hour.  Power outages were fun when I was a kid in Alaska, but now that I have to ensure my wife and children stay warm and safe and I have to think about a house with freezers and refrigerators, the outages don't seem quite as fun as they did in the past.

Plan B: Wings

Here's a quiz.  What am I doing in this photo?

A) Standing in front of Buffalo Wild Wings
B) Half-heartedly smiling
C) Taking a picture of myself
D) Wearing a hoodie branded with my company's name

Answer: All of the above, I suppose, but there's a much more important one: Not playing bocce.

Jeremy, Jason H., Nathan, and I were able to meet tonight, and I suggested we do something different and meet at Bocce Basement in Olathe to play some bocce and eat some food.  I had never been there but wanted to go since I saw that it opened.  To my extreme disappointment, it was closed.  I love playing bocce but hardly ever have the opportunity, and this was going to be the perfect time.  I don't know if it was closed permanently or just for the night.  BWW, our backup plan, was good, but it's no bocce.  Hopefully they'll reopen and we can go sometime soon.

Happy Birthday Christine

Christine's birthday was last week, but it wasn't until tonight that we were able to get together and celebrate. We went out to dinner at Mi Ranchito to commemorate her 30th.

Sharing a Snack

Joshua likes most of the food that he's given.  But he also likes whatever food someone else happens to have.  Recently I bought some apples, and Joshua saw me eating one, and he wanted some.  So I let him take a bite out of it.  He's still learning how to take bites off of food, but he did it, and he liked it a lot.  Since then, every time I'm eating an apple, he really wants it.  As I was on my way out the door to work today, I was eating an apple but was carrying it in my mouth since my hands were full.  Joshua saw it and really wanted it, so I knelt down and let him take a bite out of the opposite side.  He loved it and was happy to get a small bite of apple as a bonus morning snack.  Natalie, who also likes apples, looked on enviously.

Shooting Some Hoops

Last time we had an older toddler over, he made baskets in our basketball hoop. Joshua had never shown much interest in this before, but he is getting taller and apparently learned by example. He recently started putting the basketball in the hoop. He is still a little short so he has to reach pretty far to be able to do it, but he seems to enjoy it.

Meeting Grandma

Today my mom was in town on her way home from Nebraska. While she was here, she got to meet Clara and spend some time at our house. It was nice to see her and great for her to get the chance to meet Clara while she is still so young.

An Evening With Talking Vegetables

Tonight we decided to have a family movie night. The ones we tried in Colombia didn't go all that great (partly due to us thinking it would be reasonable to give those kids pop in the evening. Lesson learned.).  Joshua is old enough now that he can watch things on TV if we choose to let him.  Because it's the Christmas season, Meghan ordered Veggie Tales: The Little Drummer Boy for us to watch as our family movie.  It was actually pretty good, and it was long enough to be a movie, but not so long that Joshua quit paying attention.  He especially enjoyed the separate song they did in the middle of the movie, which caused him to break out his little baby dance moves.  Clara didn't seem to get as much out of it, due to her being sound asleep the entire time, but we didn't blame her.  The pugs had the same plan, though Terrence woke up briefly to pose for this picture.

Weight Check

Because Clara weighed so little when she was born, we have to periodically go to the pediatrician to get her weighed to make sure she's on track.  Today I took her for her appointment, and fortunately the doctor determined that she is gaining weight appropriately.

Two Guys and Two Babies

We invited our friends Tony and Christa over tonight to eat dinner and watch the K-State game.  They have a new baby, Hunter, who's a little more than a month old.  So while Tony's brother Jason and I have children who are very similar in age (Joshua and Hadley), now Tony and I have children who are very close in age (Hunter and Clara).  And Nick and Cassie's kid Macyn is only about 10 months older than Joshua.  I'm really excited that my friends and I have kids that are really close in age.  

Iguana Winter Olympics

I still go to a dentist in Lawrence, and when I go, I try to find time to hang out with my mom.  Usually we try to go to lunch together, and today we decided to go to Salty Iguana.  Meghan and I have been to the locations in Prairie Village and Olathe, but this was my first time at the Lawrence location.  The restaurants are known for their iguana murals, and this one was no exception.  The one near our table had the iguanas doing winter-related activities.  I was amused that while most of the iguanas were successfully carrying out their activities, the one who was having problems (the ice skater who was in the process of falling flat on his back) was the one in KU garb.  Maybe it was a metaphor for their football team...

A Tale of Two Hodies

I watched a lot of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood when I was a kid.  One of the puppet characters in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe was named to sound nearly identical to Don Quixote: Donkey Hodie, who was of course, a donkey.  One of the first Christmas ornaments I had as a kid was a blue and white rocking horse.  Being a big fan of the show, and knowing of Donkey Hodie, I apparently decided the ornament should be named Horsey Hodie since he was a horse, not a donkey.  I wasn't exactly aware of the literary context of the puppet's name, so it seemed to me like it was just a simple switch of animal types. 

Regardless, Horsey Hodie became an important ornament in our family growing up, as he was always the first one on the tree.  I don't know that we will necessarily always continue that with my new immediate family, but for this year anyway, Horsey Hodie was the first one on the tree.  Here Joshua helps me begin the process or decorating our tree for this year.   

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

A few years ago, the Halls got us this little thing from Hallmark that has 2 penguins and a snowman play "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". We got some of our Christmas things out today and that was one and it is definitely a favorite of Joshua's. It took him awhile to figure out how to make it sing, but now that he has it figured it out, he loves to push the button and dance to the song, as you can see here.

Playtime with Grandpa

Joshua did not get a chance to see Jim last night since he arrived after his bedtime, but the two had a lot of fun this morning playing with toys and especially building and demolishing towers (one of them was doing a lot more building and one was doing a lot more demolition).

Meeting Grandpa Jim

My dad was already planning to come into town this weekend, so it was a perfect opportunity for him to meet Clara.  Unfortunately Deb wasn't with him on this trip, so we will have to wait to see her until our family Christmas.  Clara has only has a few faces right now:

1) I'm sleeping. 
2) I'm so tired that I can't stay awake and am about to fall asleep (often humorously accompanied by one eye being more open than the other).
3) I'm really unhappy with my current situation, and I suggest you feed me before it gets ugly in here.
4) Whoa, check out this new world I'm in!  I've never seen anything like you/this/that/it.

I happened to capture this picture right as Dad is the recipient of Facial Expression #4.

Meeting Aunt Josie and Aunt Julie

Earlier this week Joanna told me that she and Kirk wanted to stop by our house on their way to downtown KC.  We hadn't yet been able to tell people about Clara, so I didn't say anything at the time.  But by the time they got here, we were able to tell people, so they had a big surprise when they saw we had a little baby in our house.  I also invited Julie and Andrew over, and they were able to make it too.  So here are the two proud aunts with their new little niece.

Finally Back Home

I had an unavoidable business trip this week that unfortunately caused me to have to leave town the same day we all arrived home from the hospital.  I was originally supposed to be gone one more day, but I was able to trim one day off the trip and get home tonight.  With Joshua, I had a lot of work travel build up while I was doing the adoption, so I had to be gone a lot in the weeks after we got home, but it was really great to finally come home and see him, and the same situation is happening now.  I miss everyone when I travel, but it makes me really happy to be able to see them when I get home.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

We've been just a tiny bit busy over the past few days since Thanksgiving, so haven't decorated for Christmas yet.  I'd sort of almost forgotten that the Christmas season is fully underway, but I was reminded for sure by my travels yesterday and today, as the airports are all decked out, and now tonight here in Chicago, many of the streets have the trees lit up.  Here are some of the many trees I passed on my way to dinner that proved that the city of Chicago is not afraid of paying a hefty electrical bill in the name of keeping everyone in the Christmas spirit.

Meeting Aunt Christine

Today Christine came over to meet Clara. She also brought us (well me) dinner from Chili's and ate with us, so Joshua got a lot of Aunt Christine time too. We had fun and appreciated the meal.

A Doorstep Surprise

Today we finally were released from the hospital.  We didn't want to share the news with anyone until we were on our way home and sure that there were not going to be any major medical worries.  After we left the hospital, we needed to get home quickly so Jason could still make his flight to Chicago, but we had just enough time to surprise Ron and Peg by showing up on their doorstep with a new baby.

Big Brother

We had hoped we would get released from the hospital today, but they wanted to keep her one more night. Jason and Joshua used that time to go shopping for a few things so Clara would have something to wear home tomorrow. Here Joshua is in Babies"R"Us holding a new outfit that he sort of picked out for his sister.

Party of Four

We have big news! Last night we got a call about a newborn baby in Wichita who needed a family. We decided to adopt her and drove down today to meet her. This is our first picture as a family of four with Clara Madelyn.

Having Fun and Learning

Our friends, the Hansons, are foster parents and they were away today. One of the kids who they are fostering came over to play until they came back. He and Joshua had a lot of fun playing together both inside and out. He looks really big because he's very tall for his age, but he's only two years old. He showed Joshua some new things like how to make engine noises when you push a toy truck.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very good Thanksgiving this year. My parents (and later Christine, who wasn't able to make it for picture time) came and we had a lot of fun spending time together and had a great meal.

Mesa Por Seis

Since my parents are in town for Thanksgiving we decided to go out to dinner. We decided to go to Chapala and had a fun time eating good food and catching up.

First Haircut

We love the little curls in Joshua's hair, so we've continued to let his hair grow.  But finally it got to the point where it was a little out of control.  Meghan did some research and found a barbershop, Purple Label, that specializes in multicultural haircuts.  They are sort of famous in KC for being the go-to barbershop for many of the city's professional athletes.  So today I took Joshua to Purple Label for his first haircut.  He was very calm, possibly due to being a little tired, and he did really well.  His barber said that out of all the first haircuts he's even done, Joshua was the best behaved.  I was so proud of him, and I'm looking forward to me taking him to his barber as being a fun father/son activity for years to come.   

Corn Carrier

Today Joshua and I went out to run some errands.  One of our stops was at the grocery store.  We only needed one thing, a bag of corn, and Joshua really wanted to contribute to the shopping process by carrying it around the store for me.  He can walk just well enough to stumble around as he follows me, so he carried the corn all the way to the checkout.  He's a big helper.

Leaf Wranglers

We don't have that many trees in our new yard, but we have enough that plenty of leaves have fallen in the yard, so today was raking day.  I brought Joshua out to help me.  He got to wear his sweater from the Becks for the first time.  He looked super cute in it, and we had a fun time making and ruining piles of leaves.

Family Football Day

Today we had family over to hang out during the day and watch the K-State/Texas game (which, of course, K-State won by beating the fourth of the four Texas teams we play this year).  Ron and Joshua had a lot of fun together.  Here they engage in one of their favorite activities: blowing raspberries.

Mini Mariachi

Tonight we went out to dinner at a new restaurant we hadn't been to before.  They had a 3-man mariachi band which moved about the restaurant.playing for the patrons.  Joshua was very interested in them.  They noticed, and between songs they gave him a small maraca.  Here Joshua and I play the maraca with the band.