Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Winter's here
Last week was an ugly one for the Midwest (you may have seen it on the National news). We got an ice storm on Wednesday and a snowstorm on Thursday. The Kansas City area didn't get the kind of weather that St. Louis did, but we all attempted to leave work early to avoid the weather, but only succeeded in creating a massive traffic jam.
Despite that, we had a very nice weekend. Nora and Anna made a nice little snowman in the front yard (complete with hat), and I made a penguin (Mumbles from the movie Happy Feet) in the back (complete with scarf). I started to make a snow train for Pierce, but he got tired of being outside in the cold, so it didn't get finished. We also did some sledding in our front yard. We don't have much of a slope, but its perfect for Pierce and Anna.
Saturday evening was our neighborhood's annual progressive dinner. Nora volunteered to host the dessert portion of the meal. We spent a lot of late evenings last week getting ready. Lots of cleaning up, rearranging of toys, shopping and cooking. We had a great time and the "course" was a success. Lots of delicious food. The arcade machine I built awhile ago was a big hit, with lots of our neighbors asking how they could make one (or could I make them one)? I told them for $2500 and a handshake I'd be happy to build one to specifications -so far I haven't had any takers.
Also, in preparation of the dinner, I built a digital picture frame from an old PC. It came out surprisingly well (considering I had no plans to go from). Its fun because it has all our pictures from the last several years (I'm guessing over a thousand of them) that it displays randomly. Each picture displays for about 45 seconds, and with the computer hidden and the monitor disguised behind a custom bevel (picture frame), if you're not paying attention it just looks like an ordinary picture.
Sunday was a blast. After sleeping in (as a family) we went to go see Santa at the local mall. We thought we would beat the crowd by getting there early, but no such luck. Pierce and Anna were very excited to see Santa and both did very well when we got there (I think we waited in line for about 40 minutes). Anna was a little reluctant to get face-to-face with Santa (she's still a little shy), but warmed up quickly and both kids told him what they wanted (Pierce: a Leggo train and a Leggo plane, and Anna: A Wilbur stuffed animal and a toy snowman). Because Anna was reluctant, we took a family picture with Santa instead of one with just Pierce and Anna. It came out as if we planned it and I'm sure we'll be sharing the picture with friends and family.
We finished the weekend by celebrating Nora's parent's 42nd wedding anniversary. Nora and Billy (Nora's brother) treated them to a nice dinner at a local tavern (of course the rest of the family joined in) then came back to our house for dessert (we had lots of leftovers from the progressive dinner).
-Eric (Dad)
Despite that, we had a very nice weekend. Nora and Anna made a nice little snowman in the front yard (complete with hat), and I made a penguin (Mumbles from the movie Happy Feet) in the back (complete with scarf). I started to make a snow train for Pierce, but he got tired of being outside in the cold, so it didn't get finished. We also did some sledding in our front yard. We don't have much of a slope, but its perfect for Pierce and Anna.
Saturday evening was our neighborhood's annual progressive dinner. Nora volunteered to host the dessert portion of the meal. We spent a lot of late evenings last week getting ready. Lots of cleaning up, rearranging of toys, shopping and cooking. We had a great time and the "course" was a success. Lots of delicious food. The arcade machine I built awhile ago was a big hit, with lots of our neighbors asking how they could make one (or could I make them one)? I told them for $2500 and a handshake I'd be happy to build one to specifications -so far I haven't had any takers.
Also, in preparation of the dinner, I built a digital picture frame from an old PC. It came out surprisingly well (considering I had no plans to go from). Its fun because it has all our pictures from the last several years (I'm guessing over a thousand of them) that it displays randomly. Each picture displays for about 45 seconds, and with the computer hidden and the monitor disguised behind a custom bevel (picture frame), if you're not paying attention it just looks like an ordinary picture.
Sunday was a blast. After sleeping in (as a family) we went to go see Santa at the local mall. We thought we would beat the crowd by getting there early, but no such luck. Pierce and Anna were very excited to see Santa and both did very well when we got there (I think we waited in line for about 40 minutes). Anna was a little reluctant to get face-to-face with Santa (she's still a little shy), but warmed up quickly and both kids told him what they wanted (Pierce: a Leggo train and a Leggo plane, and Anna: A Wilbur stuffed animal and a toy snowman). Because Anna was reluctant, we took a family picture with Santa instead of one with just Pierce and Anna. It came out as if we planned it and I'm sure we'll be sharing the picture with friends and family.
We finished the weekend by celebrating Nora's parent's 42nd wedding anniversary. Nora and Billy (Nora's brother) treated them to a nice dinner at a local tavern (of course the rest of the family joined in) then came back to our house for dessert (we had lots of leftovers from the progressive dinner).
-Eric (Dad)
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