Christmas Past and Present

It is amazing how much change one year can bring to a family. Merry Christmas!

Dinner time

Elizabeth and I had a discussion about whether me contributing 23 chromosomes makes Megan half mine. I said it is like I provided half the blueprints for a building and Elizabeth provided the other half, the labor, materials, and all other construction costs. Plus since birth, she has provided the lion's share of the child rearing. So I maintain she is more responsible for Megan's behavior than I.

What, pray tell, precipitated this conversation?

We were sitting down to a lovely dinner Elizabeth fixed--marinated chicken, peas, and baked potatoes. Elizabeth dutifully made Megan a peanut butter sandwich, gave her her some peas, a glass of water, and at Megan's insistence, some pickles. It seems, though, that what Megan really wanted was soup. She smushed the peas between her fingers and threw them into her water, smiling with delight each time. Pea soup, I thought. Then she smashed the peanut butter sandwich in her face, leaving a dignified peanut butter mustache, and submerged it into the soup. Peanut butter and pea soup? No, she can't be hungry; She is just playing, we thought. At last, Megan Triumphantly raises her pickle high into the air. Like a graceful cliff-diver, the pickle plunges into the soup. Megan repeats this process several times, but each time she raises the pickle offering to the gods she decides that they want her to have it instead. So one bite at a time she finishes her peanut butter sandwich and pea soup soaked pickle.

That is what started the discussion. Which one of us is responsible for this little mess. What ended the conversation is when Megan picked up the cup and downed about half of the concoction. Elizabeth and I both almost puked. Megan on the other hand thought it was just fine and took another swig.

Mozart

Megan and her cousin Lily had a great time playing piano together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Megan likes pumpkin pie. She must have got it from her dad.

The 3 Musketeers being spun by Grandpa.

We got to go to Evansville for Thanksgiving this year. It was my first time since 2001. It was so fun. We had a blast and really enjoyed being able to hang out with family again. We can't wait until Christmas to see all of the family. We love the holiday season.

Albany, here we come!

Russ has accepted a position with Boies, Schiller, and Flexnor. They are a big litigation firm located in Albany NY. We are really excited and can't wait for the summer to go check it out.

Downtown Albany
Where Albany is in the grand scheme of things.

This may or may not be the firm's building. This was on their website for the Albany contact information.

Halloween Festivities

We had so much fun on Halloween. Enjoy!

Megan had the ward party. There was so many balloons, the kids had a blast. Megan didn't stop all night.

Megan with Ruth (Roo from Winnie the Poo). Megan kept calling her a puppy.

Whitehall Halloween parade.

Grouchy puppy. Got to keep the tradition going.

We went to a Halloween presentation at the Peabody. It was fun, and then we decided to go to a puppet show. It was so weird. Something about aliens and space gravity paint. The lady was a hippie and we think that she wrote the story herself. She would have looooong scene changes where she would play a kazoo. After 45 mins, we couldn't handle it anymore so we left.

18 months strong!

Megan had her 18 month checkup on Wednesday. She is 33 inches tall (82th), which is a 3 1/2 inch growth from her 15 month height. She weighs 23.7 lb (39th). She had noticed that the jar of honey looks like a bear, so every time we are eating, she flips out and starts yelling "Teddy, Teddy, Teddy!!!" Her"Teddy" sounds a lot like "Daddy" so it is hard to tell what one she wants at times.