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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mean Girl

Today we got pizza for dinner. Not surprisingly to anyone, I am very particular about my pizza orders. From Papa John's I specifically want my pizza with garlic sauce, a small Coke Zero, and plain breadsticks with a side of cheese sauce. I actually was previously boycotting Papa John's because the one by our old house consistently got it wrong. But the one by our new house has been really good. Until now. They actually had only cheese sauce left in the entire store. Obviously inventory management is a real problem for them. It completely ruins my breadstick experience so they gave them to us for free since I didn't want them anymore without the cheese sauce. So this is me with my best irritated face (I have a real problem doing anything but a big smile for photos). I look so mean. I am not boycotting Papa John's for now, but they are definitely on notice.

A Phone of His Own

Joshua has always wanted his own cell phone. I got him one of those Fisher Price ones and he isn't impressed at all. Christine recently upgraded her phone and gave him the old one. He still wants our phones since they have service and apps and things, but he does like this new phone way better than his toy one.

$2 Fleece

I am a big fan of Eddie Bauer down comforters. I am not alone because a few years ago Eddie Bauer stopped selling all homegoods (they formerly had a whole home store) except they still sell down comforters. I have had two, one I got in college and the second I got when Jason and I upsized to a king size bed. Now we are replacing that one because a dog scratched it and it has been losing feathers through the hole. I am totally excited about the new one. I think these comforters are perfect because they are not too hot in the summer, but somehow keep you really warm in the winter too (especially when you haven't lost half the feathers). The downside is I either have to go the mall to buy it (which I have been to the mall maybe twice in the past five years. I hate hate hate the mall and am not a big fan of in-person shopping) or I have to pay shipping, which I also really hate. But Eddie Bauer, besides running a nice down sale, was running free shipping if you bought a fleece. So I bought Joshua the cheapest fleece in the store. It is super adorable and cost $2 more than shipping would have. Here I am with the fleece. I have been working on master bedroom decor so hopefully I will have a picture of the comforter in the near future too, but it hinges on some spray painting and sewing projects I have been dragging my feet on.

Sleeping Cow

Tonight we were going to take Joshua to the "Night of the Living Farm" event at Deanna Rose.  But he didn't end up taking an afternoon nap today, so he was extremely tired.  As we were driving there, he was so tired he cried most of the way and eventually fell asleep.  We decided that maybe tonight wasn't the night to go, so we headed back home.

Tilden Time

Tonight we went over to our friends the Tildens' house. Joshua got to play with his little friend Lexi, and Donna made her delicious lasagna. We had a really fun time with them, as we always do, with lots of laughs. Earlier in the day, K-State smashed KU, so I'm still wearing my gameday shirt.

Cake Stand, That's C-A-K-E

Today I worked on my cake stands. This one is for Joshua's cake and some smaller treats. I bought it for $5 at walmart instead of making it, but I did add decor to make it farmy. And then I also made a larger one for the big cake out of a cake round and a can of beans. I had a really productive night. However, I realized cake sounds a lot like keg when I told Jason I finished my cake stands and he gave me a funny look and said, "What?"