The weekend is coming to a close, here in thi...

December 31, 2007 by Adam in Family

The weekend is coming to a close, here in this very quiet house. Jamie took the kids to the beach house. She wanted to check up on things at Judy's request, as well as get out of the house while she's watching the kids. I'll ring in the New Year's alone, which I don't mind terribly. It's been awhile since I've chatted up a cute girl in hopes of getting a midnight kiss, especially as Jamie goes to bed early.

I was under the weather on Friday with the cold that's been going around, finally feeling better tonight. Sam and I went for a long bike ride down the Amazon trail and through the city streets. He was nervous at first, but had a great time after he got into the swing of things.

Today Jamie and I went to the U of O Art Museum while Sierra watched the kids. It was great to get out with Jamie and do grown up things together. It's such a rarity these days, yet so important.

Tomorrow it's off to work, hopefully for a quiet, low-key day. I might take Tuesday off, if only to get paid for being on call during the day.

It's well into my Mocha Friday

December 28, 2007 by Adam in Family

It's well into my Mocha Friday. I've managed to obtain four separate Starbucks gift cards, totalling around $50 worth of coffee. I'm half tempted to slap them down on the counter and tell them to line up shots of espresso, downining them one after the other, cowboy-style. Or maybe not.

Jamie and Emma are sick today. I was really wanting to take the kids swimming after many weeks, but that may just not happen. I'd also like to go bike riding with Sam this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

Josh is with me at work today, learning about being a computer programmer. I don't think I've dissuaded him yet, even after answering various e-mails and supplying running commentary about particular vendors. The fun never stops around here.

Christmas at my mom's house was very nice

December 27, 2007 by Adam in Family

Christmas at my mom's house was very nice. At the end of the engagement, Jenny, Darin, and Robbie were sleeping in the living room among the piles of presents and wrapping paper. It was a typical event at my mother's, with food and conversation non-stop. I had a good time catching up with Seraph in the kitchen and hogging the phone with Sadie. Poor Jenny was sick, so our holiday conversation was reduced to a series of groans.

We briefly returned home before going over to Yayoe's for dinner. There was way too much great food, which was fortunate as we took some home. Yesterday for lunch Emma was eating the rice and tofu wraps with chopsticks at the table.

Yesterday involved us hanging out with our smaller family. While we love all you extended family folks, it's admittedly nice to just have some quiet time at the house. Jamie went briefly to work, and I did a library trip, but otherwise we played with the horde of presents and took it easy.

I got the "Forbidden Lego" book at the library, so Sam and I had to build one of the plans in there. It took way too long and we had to seriously improvise a few pieces, but at the end of the day, it actually worked pretty well. Since we didn't have the multiple Lego motors for the full-auto rubber band shooter, we went with the paper airplane launcher. The trigger is still a bit tricky, but you can wind up the rubber band and launch your plane, usually without putting out an eye. Pretty cool.

Emma and I drew on her aqua doodle a bunch, and she carried around the diary Jenny got her all day long. Since she's been practicing her letters at school, she wants to write whenever she's home too.

At the end of the day, Sam and I took the bike to the park where he proceeded to get way too muddy and practice the new style of brakes. I think the new bike is a hit and we'll try to do a longer trip next weekend.

As for today, I'm back at work, but strangely working at home. I figure I'll take a shower, as Josh is coming to mentor with me as part of his school homework. It seems he wants to go to the U of O and study computer science, and it's up to me to give one last ditch effort to dissuade him. Maybe I can spend the day checking e-mail and playing solitaire.

Merry Christmas, all! We had a great time in...

December 25, 2007 by Adam in Family

Merry Christmas, all! We had a great time in Portland, very low-key. Yesterday Sam and I watched a couple movies while Judy entertained Emma and Jamie went to her dad's house.

This morning the kid's opened Ray's presents that Jamie had picked up while visiting her dad. I made breakfast, pancakes for the kids and blueberries loosely stuck together with pancake batter for myself. Afterwards the kids proceeded to play some elaborate game in the basement, giving Jamie and I a rare chance to chat over coffee. It was quite nice.

Happy Christmas Eve

December 23, 2007 by Adam in Family

Happy Christmas Eve.

We're in Portland, being lazy. Emma's entertaining everyone with questions like "Have you been anywhere, like Africa?" There's a Christmas party later today, which we're leisurely moving towards.

Sam and I started a game of Risk, which he was pretty excited about. Jamie and I went out to a sushi place for dinner. We rented movies, which should fortify us against the dreary weather.

It's Mocha Friday, made even tastier by the f...

December 21, 2007 by Adam in Family

What a weekend

December 17, 2007 by Adam in Family

What a weekend. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Saturday I went to the library and ran errands, took Sam bowling at a friend's birthday party, and in the evening we did our Christmas cocktail party. It ended up being quite fun, with a lot of laughing adults playing Trivial Pursuit. What was amazing is that our neighbors Todd and Victoria knew the diameter of the Alaska pipeline as they were recently discussing it at breakfast.

This morning Jamie went to work and I took the kids out to pick out a Christmas tree. Emma chose one and Sam cut it down with a saw. Then we waited for Jamie to return so we could decorate. I was fairly grumpy, probably because I wasn't feeling very well. I actually took a nap this afternoon, which is pretty unusual.

I did feel more reasonable after my nap and everyone begged to open presents early. Jamie's justification was that we were going to Portland next weekend, but I think she's just impatient.

Sam got a new bike, Emma got a ton of Littlest Petshop goodies, and Jamie got cashmere. Emma seemed to enjoy her mp3 player quite a bit, and Sam and I played games with the big exercise ball in the basement. There were also a couple Wii games in the mix that Sam and I played together for a bit.

Now we have a school and work day ahead. Back to the grindstone.

It's Mocha Friday and it should hopefully be ...

December 14, 2007 by Adam in Family

It's Mocha Friday and it should hopefully be a relatively calm day at work after a week of general nuttiness. I have some server administration and interfaces waiting for me. A little research, a little button clicking, and I'll be earning my keep.

The last of the Christmas presents have arrived, I think. I have some wrapping to do yet. I've spoiled both the kids at this point. We had several long debates about when to have our family Christmas and I think it'll be the Saturday morning before we go to Portland. Mostly I'm looking forward to the kid's faces, not to mention playing with their toys.

Sam was supposed to get his glasses yesterday, so hopefully they'll arrive today. He's been pretty excited about getting them.

Last night Jamie and I had a brief date while the kids were at Dave's house. We played cards at the kitchen table and gabbed. Afterwards we practiced swearing to make sure we remembered how to do it.

In terms of the weekend, Sam has a bowling birthday party tomorrow. There's the cocktail party tomorrow night. Hopefully we can go swimming with the kids sometime too. Life's busy, but fun, as usual.

The weekend has come and gone and we're alrea...

December 11, 2007 by Adam in Family

The weekend has come and gone and we're already well into the week. Not much happened over the weekend. The kids were feeling tired and maybe a little sick, so we didn't go swimming. We rode bikes on Saturday, with Sam going all the way around the park several times. Emma mostly stayed in the tennis courts until it got too cold and she wanted to go home. Jamie went to decorate Christmas trees with Pat and his wife.

Sunday it seemed we all lazed about. I didn't shave or leave the house once. Emma had a friend over for a play date. Sam and I worked on his grand Lego city. I got the kids a Lego advent calendar, which has become this exciting thing for them each morning. I think it has inspired Sam, and even Emma gets into the action on occasion.

We have Fencing tonight. Sam theoretically gets his new glasses in a day or two. We're hosting a Christmas party for assorted friends this Saturday. Fun, fun.

It's Mocha Friday and I just downed the last ...

December 07, 2007 by Adam in Family

It's Mocha Friday and I just downed the last of the delicious elixir moments ago. I think we have a fairly low-key weekend ahead of us. Hopefully I can get the last of my Christmas preparations done, or at least take a big bite out of them.

It's been a pretty uneventful week. Tuesday was Sam's first day of fencing lessons. He was so excited that he made himself a foil out of plastic arrow shafts, duct tape, and part of a plastic pirate hook hand. What's amazing is that it makes a great practice foil, light and generally the right size. I'm somewhat excited about doing some fencing myself, so we were practicing our footwork and stances in the basement. Days later, we were still sore.

Emma's been singing this funny song that mixes Hanukkah and the 12 days of Christmas. She's also been pretty tired this week, probably due to long days at school. She gets pretty tuckered out at the end of the day.

Jamie seems in good spirits, now that everyone's on the mend and the kids are back in school. She's been fixing us great dinners and planning a cocktail party for friends.

As for tonight, I'd like to get back into the swimming routine and visit the library tomorrow. We might take a short Bend trip over the holidays. I'd also like to take time off to hang out with the family. Fun, fun.

We had a great weekend, busy but satisfying

December 03, 2007 by Adam in Family

We had a great weekend, busy but satisfying. Friday night Jamie and I went out on the town, checking out a new, hip restaraunt while Dave and company entertained the kids. On Saturday Sam and I rode bikes along the river path while Emma went to a birthday party. Saturday night we went to Barbara and Zoltan's house, who plied us with amazing food and our kids played together.

Sunday was relatively quiet. I watched the kids while Jamie went hottubbing with Angie. We played all sorts of games and started to decorate the house with Christmas goodies. The afternoon was mostly lazy quiet time, as no one wanted to venture out into the extremely soggy storm outside.

Danica sent along her pictures from Thanksgiving. They made me hungry and miss everyone.