Snow Angel

We left Minnesota two days earlier than expected to beat the wild weather pattern that was on its way into the area. We decided spending a few extra days in the home country would be preferable to spending Christmas Eve in a ditch.

While we were away we tracked the local weather as best we could wondering just how thick and high the white stuff on our driveway would be when we returned. It sounded like a substantial wall would await us after finding out the neighbors up the street had shoveled their driveway four times in three days.

The day we were to return to Minneapolis a friend emailed us and said he swung by our house and the driveway looked pretty clean. Later another friend said a man on a John Deere tractor had gone up and down the street clearing driveways that were still piled with snow.

Having arrived home Thursday night at 11:00 I might have shoveled until sunrise had this kind stranger not tackled it for me. I would like to nominate the Good Samaritan (whoever he is) for neighborhood Man of the Year and wish him a blessed and bright 2010. May his little green tractor be forever full of gas!

My Snow Angel might look something like this

Some pictures of the house two days later...

VIDEO: Snow Fu

PHOTOS: Christmas Mix

Christmas Day

Tiny Tannenbaum

Christmas week has arrived but the boys have been proudly showing off this mini Christmas tree for a couple weeks now. It was a gift from Rachel's parents and anyone new who walks into the house immediately gets the one stop tour that begins and ends in their bedroom.

Our Christmas celebrations began this past weekend with my immediate family in town. We had a great time in each other's company and ate way too much. I even laughed so hard once I began to cry making it an officially awesome weekend.

VIDEO: School Christmas Program

Aidan and his fellow kindergärtners performed as part of his school Christmas program yesterday. We were surprised to find out that one of the xylophonists had taken ill and Aidan was his last minute replacement.

PHOTOS: Snow Photo

VIDEOS: Snow Video

Christmas Crafty

Aidan and I spent a little time cutting out festive decorations on Thursday.

100 Things About Us

We've made it to post number 400! This time around we've got a mix of lists and questions for our 100 Things.

In honor of our recently passed 10th anniversary, here are...

10 Things about Travis and Rachel

1. The Set Up: Is there a more romantic place than Hardee's? During our sophomore year of high school my cousin invited me to meet her for dinner there before a high school basketball game. It was not typical of her to do so and the dinner party included her, my ex-girlfriend who was dating my best friend (sounds intense but this was early high school which means that doesn't mean a whole lot), Rachel and an empty seat.

2. First gift from Rachel to Travis: Rachel was handing out candy canes at school and was down to her last one. She asked who wanted it, a fellow male classmate requested it and she gave it to me instead.

3. First gift from Travis to Rachel: While dining as referenced in #1 Rachel mentioned she wanted a Coke Bear that Hardee's was selling. They were sold out but I had one at home that I intended to give to my sister for Christmas. That bear never made it to Allison as I slipped it into Rachel's locker at school.

4. First "date": Shortly after the preceding three occurrences, a large group of classmates went to the local Pizza Hut. My friend and I were the last to arrive and there were two empty seats remaining. One next to his girlfriend, one next to...Rachel.

5. First time a large group of people booed our relationship: At the high school prom after party I was asked to draw a name from a box to see who would win the grand prize (a TV). I drew Rachel's name and was booed heartily. I knew when I saw her name no one was going to believe she had overcome the odds of having her boyfriend draw her name from the 200 in the box.

6. Engagement trip: She knew the ring was ordered but not that I had it. It was given to her in Texas while we were on Spring Break. Technically given in Austin before going down to San Antonio.

7. Wedding weekend: Our large extended families had converged on Iowa for the Thanksgiving holiday and we were married that Saturday...two days later we were back in class. I had the most exciting "what did you do this weekend?" story.

8. Honeymoon week: During our Christmas break we headed to the Caribbean islands for island hopping in tropical temperatures...one day later we were walking to class after coming home to freezing rain. I had the most exciting "what did you do over break?" story.

9. Times I missed PE Volleyball because "the Mrs. was feeling frisky": Once. I lost a contact one morning and knew I could not play volleyball with one eye. I arrived back in class two days later to a rousing ovation. My buddy told the class I was recently married and I was absent for reasons other than impaired vision using the "frisky" line.

10. Number of collective graduate level classes taken in 18 months with a second child as a diversion from our studies: Thirty-two. A good example of our busy post-marriage, introducing children to the family life. We both completed our MBAs in the span of a year and a half...and had Kellen in the middle of it all. Things have slowed down a bit since that crazy work, study, kids and everything else year and a half.

Aidan came up with a the following questionnaire. Twenty questions for the four of us providing numbers 11-90 of our 100 Things. The responses for all of us are listed after each question.

20 Questions

1. What is your favorite color?

T: Blue, R: Green, A: Orange, K: Blue

2. What is your favorite food?

T: Pizza, R: Pizza, A: Ice Cream, K: Fruit

3. What is your favorite animal?

T: Penguins, R: Horse, A: Cheetah, K: Horse

4. What is your favorite drink?

T: Pepsi, R: Mountain Dew, A: Juice, K: Milk

5. What is your favorite instrument?

T: Drums, R: Piano, A: Guitar, K: Tambourine

6. What is your favorite TV show?

T: Wheel of Fortune, R: Top Chef, A: Wonder Pets, K: Cartoons

7. What is your favorite game?

T: Madden football (PS3), R: Cranium, A: LEGO Rock Band (PS3), K: Mario/Sonic Olympics (Wii)

8. What is your favorite team?

T: Bears, R: Cyclones, A: Cyclones, K: Zebras (he likes the referees)

9. What is your favorite restaurant?

T: Culver's, R: Olive Garden, A: Burger King, K: McDonald's

10: What is your favorite movie?

T: Tommy Boy, R: Dirty Dancing, A: Alvin and the Chipmunks, K: Blues Clues

11. What is your favorite season?

T: Spring, R: Fall, A: Winter, K: Fall

12. What is your favorite thing about winter?

T: Sledding, R: Hot chocolate, A: Playing in the snow, K: Snow

13. What is your favorite thing about summer?

T: Swimming, R: Going to the beach, A: Going to the beach, K: Swimming

14. Do you like being hot or cold?

T: Hot, R: Cold, A: Cold, K: Cold

15. Do you like cats or dogs?

T: Big cats (Tigers, lions, etc.), R: Dogs, A: Dogs, K: Cats

16. Do you like taking pictures?

T: Yes, R: Sure...only when Aidan and Kellen are in them too, A: Yes, K: Yes

17. Do you like white milk or chocolate?

T: Chocolate, R: White, A: White, K: Chocolate

18. Do you like drinking hot chocolate?

T: Yes, R: Yes, A: Yes, K: Yes

19. Do you like snowflakes?

T: Yes, unless they're on the roads, R: As long as they're not on the road, A: Yes, K: Yes

20. What is your favorite part about Christmas?

T: Hanging out with family, R: Christmas lights, A: Getting presents, K: The Christmas tree

Five fun things about 2009:

1. The boys' dual birthday bash day

2. Celebrating our 10th anniversary in Hawaii

3. Travelling East to be in Allison's wedding

4. Aidan starts school

5. U2 concert in Chicago

And of course the most exciting thing was finding out that Baby#3 was on his way.

Five things about Baby 3.0.

1. He is due to arrive on February 5

2. We're hoping he is a week early so we've got kid's birthdays in three different months

3. He does not yet have a first name

4. He does not yet have a middle name

5. The boys want to name him Mario

Intersectional Incidents

I am not an angry driver. I’m not prone to rage on the highways but I do shake my head and roll my eyes occasionally. I might even talk to other motorists in a relatively calm voice lending driving tips when it seems they could use a few.

When we moved from Iowa to Chicago I learned you need to drive at least 10 miles an hour over the speed limit or you get run over. Now in Minnesota it’s a complete driving cultural change. In Minnesota if you are driving the speed limit you feel like you might get pulled over for impersonating a rocketship.

It’s not uncommon to get blocked in by a convoy of slow pokes driving three abreast all well under the posted limit. In fact, chances are the one in the left lane is going the slowest. I was once waiting patiently in a super slow right hand lane needing to exit and found out the driver going 50 in a 70 was…a taxi. That’s not going to happen in Chicago! I feel at times I should engage in Buddhist meditation (eyes open of course) or listen to some soothing Kenny G while I travel so the urge to go crazy and drive at the posted speeds does not well up inside of me and power out through my accelerator foot.

My need to vent comes from yesterday’s observation. It certainly was not the first time it happened and it’s not unique to Minnesota. It is happening across the country but I suddenly felt the need to quantify it. In a highly scientific study I determined that one in four people at a four-way stop cannot properly determine when it is their turn to go. There’s always one. That over anxious soul (or the one who can’t count to four) has to mess up the system and wreak havoc on the intersection. Their life and time is obviously much more important than the rest of us and they are hoping you don’t notice they snuck through a spot or three ahead of schedule. Wednesday it happened twice at the same four-way stop in 15 minutes and invariably it’s the offender who throws their hands up in disgust. They have to know they are the problem right?

Upon counseling me through my frustration someone reminded me of the overfriendly motorist who likes to sit in their spot and wave everyone else along in the improper order. We won’t go there today.

The Drama Inside the Drama

Aidan participated in his first church Christmas program this evening as a member of the Heavenly Hosts choir (that's him second from the left in row two).

After observing the rehearsal yesterday I was curious as to which kid would become the unintentional entertainment star of the evening. Aidan was very serious about his singing and focused on his role but I did have my eye on 2-3 kids who seemed most likely to bring a little holiday mischief to the evening's events.

I'm happy to report that Aidan was not the kid shoving people off the risers, wearing his garland halo like Lt. Commander La Forge or the one who exited stage right and deposited his dinner...though I do feel for the little one who got sick.

A few video highlights...

A song with actions is a program must.

Who doesn't love kids enthusiastically belting out a chorus?

Holiday Hats

We did it last year...why not again?

My phone's camera lens was a bit foggy coming in from the not-so-warm outdoors but we've got mini-Santa, an elf, New Year's Eve lids and a random fuzzy hat.

Snowball Fight!

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I'm not sure what's more disturbing...the fact that I used an old picture of Aidan to represent my unborn child or the fact that I hit him in the face with a snowball. Just trying to fill all five spots without resorting to using Mr. T as a stand in!

2 Months 2 Go

Back to School

Today I spent the day with my favorite kindergärtner as part of a dad's program at his school. I did some general work for the school and spent much of the day in and around his classroom doing things specifically with and for them.

Aidan has been talking about it for months and couldn't wait for me to lunch with him and play with him and his friends at recess.

Here's some of my other back to school projects...

I took down the Thanksgiving artwork and replaced it with the new Christmas stuff. I got to use the die-press to create the letters and after seeing my my patterns and layout work they asked if I could come back every season.

This Play-Doh Christmas tree was constructed as I oversaw one of the tables during the afternoon centers. The kids dug my tannenbaum and everyone decided to make their own.

Un-Bear-able

My Bears are not doing so well this season. In fact, it's been downright unbearable (yes, that's intentional) to watch them more often than not but we trekked out to Mall of America Field in the HHH Metrodome brought to you by the Wrangler Jeans Brett Favre Parking Lot (o.k. that part's not true) to see the legendary #4 battle our struggling Bears.

My seats were actually pretty good. Look how close I got to Favre...

Actually we were more like this close to the action (though the camera phone widens things out and makes it look like were are a county away)....

Before it all began the powerful purple men ran out of an inflatable boat...

...and after it all ended we shrugged our shoulders and headed for home.

10 Years

RETRO VIDEO: Newlywed Cribs

Have you seen that show where the big time celebrities show off their amazing Hollywood estates? Here's a couple of newlyweds giving you amazing inside access to their college apartment!

Black (Almost) Friday

I'm not a big shopper. Groceries and essentials...cool. Shopping malls...no way. I need to get in and out efficiently and would prefer not to be fighting a crowd of strangers when I do so.

Then I found out a national clothing chain was handing out free copies of a new edition of Rock Band...a game the boys and I like to play just a little bit. I decided I needed to conquer this Black Friday door buster deal.

Tonight at 7:30 I arrived at the front door of this establishment and was first in line. Thankful for balmy temperatures in the high twenties I sat on my blanket bundled for the adventure. Shortly after, a crowd had descended on the outlet mall. Two and a half hours later I was the first one in the store, out in eight minutes (remember I need efficiency) and home on the couch by 10:30. Mission accomplished...take that Black (Almost) Friday!

Here are a few photos of the winding line of several hundred people behind me.

The outlet mall by our place is very popular on the weekend after Thanksgiving. So popular they have shuttles from a nearby middle school and a full force of patrol men trying to guide the chaos. I was told the interstate that runs by is backed up for miles as everyone fights to get to this shopping mecca. I was very glad to to be away from the shopping craze so soon after the madness began.

Proud Pilgrim

Aidan loved his pilgrim hat so much he wore it to Applebee's last night. The wait staff agreed it was lovely and very festive. He's been wearing it all day today at home.

Classic Bird

Aidan told me he wanted to trace his hand today. I had a feeling this was coming.

Is there anything more classically "grade school Thanksgiving" than the hand print turkey?

Big Boys

Random Memory 6

It was a dark and stormy night…

Actually it was cold. Very cold. We all piled into the family station wagon and headed to Peoria,Iowa for a holiday gathering with extended family. I imagine the dash from the car to the site of our engagement was warmed only by thoughts of recreating with cousins as the Iowa winter chill swirled around us.

What happened between arrival and departure is not irrelevant but not essential to the most memorable part of the evening.

As we travelled home cold had become downright frigid. We sped down the highway hoping to return to the warmth of home quickly before Jack Frost took all feeling from our toes. It was so unimaginably cold in the car that it almost felt as if the winter winds were seeping through cracks in the vehicle and freely attacking us with their bitter chill. The 20 minute ride home was the most uncomfortable journey ever.

This was well before the advent of mobile phones but we were being followed back to Pella by another carload of family members. They seemed to be trying to get our attention. How could we think straight as near hypothermia started setting in? How on earth could it be this cold in the great white wagon?

Dad pulled over to see what they were trying to signal to us…and shut the back window that had been left unlatched. We then discovered that though the weather was still incredibly cold, it was far less body numbing with the vehicle completely sealed and without a mighty jet stream circling uninhibited around all of us.

Aidan Art