Watching Curious George
Here is a picture of the kids watching Curious George before dinner.

Note the drop cloths on the family room floor. The beams aren't quite done yet.

Disneyland 2008
When we planned out trip down to Chula Vista, we purchased our airfare with the express intent of allowing ourselves time to visit Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and the kids (of course) had a blast. We hit Astro Blasters first which, I think, was Livy's favorite ride of the day. Olivia and I went on Astro Blasters a few times by ourselves (there were no lines to speak of) while Kristy took Eliana and Berkeley on Space Mountain. Eliana was crying by the end of the Space Mountain ride and Berkeley said he didn't like it. They did like The Matterhorn though. We hit most of the kiddie rides and all of the bread-and-butter rides (Pirates of the Carribean, The Haunted House, etc). We spent about two hours in Toon Town... here is a picture with Mickey Mouse.

Olivia is absolutely fascinated by Mickey Mouse. Upon seeing Mickey Mouse, she exclaimed "It's Mickey Mouses!" and would not take her eyes off of him the entire time.

Here are some random pics taken throughout the day:

And there are a few more here.

Farewell Chula Vista
We spent the day with Kristy's family. We attended Church and participated in the baby blessing for Jacob, Tom and Amber's youngest son. Afterward was dinner, Bertha-style, with all the trimmings, including her delicious home-baked rolls. We laid low, played games, and said goodbyes as each of Kristy's sibling left down and returned to their respective homes. We said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa as well. We return to Seattle tomorrow... but not before a trip to Disneyland!

This Is Your Life Nana! A Tribute
Kristy's brother Dan and wife Stacy prepared a wonderful video of Nana that was a composite of scanned photos. Stacy narrated the 30-minute long tribute by reading various excerpts from Nana's lifetime journals. It must have been a tremendous amount of work. Great job Dan and Stacy!

Here are a few stills I took from the video. Mouse over each picture to get a description:

Nana's 100th Birthday Party
In the afternoon today we all assembled at the local LDS Church in the gymnasium (one of the few venues around that can hold the Sorenson clan). We had a buffet-style dinner (ham and cheesy potatoes) and enjoyed each other's company. Here are some pictures of various members of the Sorenson family seated at tables and enjoying the meal.

After the meal, there was a musical program which predominantly consisted of Nana's great grandchildren singing and playing various instruments.

Following that, Dan and Stacy presented a wonderful video that celebrated Nana's life. Some stills of the video are available.

Candid Photos
While everyone was milling about waiting for their respective turns to be photographed, I walked around and snapped some candid photos of a few people:

2008 Berrett Family Portrait
We took advantage of the professional photographer today (hired to document Nana and her posterity) and had a family portrait taken (just like everyone else did):

Look for a hard-copy of the photo to be enclosed in an upcoming holiday card mailing.

Sorenson Sibling Family Portraits
As part of Nana's birthday activities today, everyone dressed up for some pictures that document Nana's prodigious posterity. While the photographer was here, we took advantage of the rare opportunity to snap pictures of all of Kristy's siblings and their families. Here is a picture of Kristy with her 5 brothers and 5 sisters (they are standing ordered by birth with the oldest on the left and youngest on the right).

From left to right: Tamra, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen.

Each of the sibling's family portraits (with the exception of Karen... who deferred iirc) are included below. My kids have 36 cousins on Kristy's side and most of them are present here today. The oldest cousin is 23 (David) and the youngest is Jacob (2 months). I have included the ages of each of the cousins:

Kristy's sister Tamra and her husband Windsor and their family. From left to right: Aaron (age 18), Andrew (age 11), Tamra, Kate (age 10), Windsor, Annie (Tim's wife), Tim (age 21), and Ben (age 13). Not pictured: David (age 23), Shellie (David's wife), Richard (age 20 and currently serving an LDS mission in Boston), and "little Tamra" (who died at age 8 of leukemia but would be 17 this year).

Kristy's brother Rick Jr and his wife Jill and their family. From left to right: Andrea (age 20), Korey (age 15), Ally (age 11), Rick, Jill, Darian (age 13), Jonathan (Sarah's husband), Sarah (age 22), Richard III (or "R3", age 18).

Kristy's brother Dan and his wife Stacy and their family. From left to right: Tyler (age 16), Lauren (age 7), Stacy, Spencer (age 9), Dan, Ashley (age 12).

Kristy's sister Tonya and her husband Jim and their family. From left to right: Ammon (age 7), Hyrum (age 2), Rachel (age 9), Tonya, Ben (age 10), Michael (age 4), Jim, Emma (age 11), Jeremiah (age 12), Rebekah (age 6).

Kristy's sister Laura and her daughter Jenna (age 8). Not pictured: Laura's husband... Spencer the slacker.

Kristy's brother Scott and his wife Angela and their family. From left to right: Isabella (age 4), Angela, Andrew (age 1), Nathan (age 3), and Scott.

Kristy's brother Tom and his wife Amber and their family. From left to right: Brandon (age 3), Tom, Madison (age 6), Amber, Jacob (2 months).

Kristy's sister Kathryn and her daughter Hinckley (age 6 months). Not pictured: Matt (slacker numero dos), Elizabeth (age 6), Emily (age 3).

Kristy's youngest brother Robert and his wife Jessica.

Nana's Posterity
Nana (Kristy's paternal grandmother) turned 100 years old today. Here is a picture of her and three generations of her posterity: 1 son (and 1 daughter-in-law), 11 grandkids (10 of which are married), 39 great grandchildren (of which 1 is deceased and 3 are married). And there are 2 great great grandchildren on the way.

Not pictured: Spencer, Matt, Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Nana's Grandchildren

Standing (from left to right): Tami, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen. Sitting (from left to right): Richard, Ardella (Nana), and Bertha.

Note: the grandkids are standing in birth order... from oldest to youngest.

Nana's Great Grandchildren
Nana has 38 living great grandchildren; 39 including Tamra (who died at age 8 of leukemia). Three of Nana's greats are married (David, Tim, and Sarah); David's wife (Shellie) is expecting and so is Sarah... these two babies will be the first two of probably 100 or more of Nana's great great grandchildren.

Not pictured: Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Halloween in Chula Vista
We flew down to the Sorenson ancestral home of Chula Vista last night. (We flew on JetBlue airlines... and loved it! Goodbye Alaska Airlines; we will not miss you!) The primary purpose of our travel is to attend Kristy's grandmother's 100th birthday party tomorrow. Every one of her 10 other siblings will also be here, which is a rare treat. In fact, pretty much everyone is here with the exception of Matt, Spencer, Kathy's two oldest kids (Ebey and Emily) and my oldest nephew David (attending to his pregnant bedridden wife).

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon at La Jolla on the beach, then we returned to Grandma/Grandpa Sorenson's house for some dinner and playtime.

After dinner we went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Many more pictures that I took today are available here.

Welcome Home Daddy
I'm back at home. I arrived late; Berkeley and Olivia were still awake but Eliana was asleep. I was greeted with the following "Welcome Home Daddy" sketches.

Trunk or Treat
Kristy took the kids to the church for the annual "Trunk or Treat" Halloween party. Here are some additional pictures of the kids dressed up in their costumes. I'm home now, but I got in at around 9pm... so I missed the party.

Halloween Costume Trial Run
Kristy did a trial run on the Halloween costumes tonight and snapped some pictures. There is a church Halloween "Trunk or Treat" party tomorrow night that I'm going to miss:

Back in SLC
I drove back to SLC from Cedaredge today after I finished up of the little painting touch ups (and an early dinner). I left at around 5pm and made it back here at just past 11pm. I listened to six more of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater episodes. Fun stuff. I can't wait for the next road trip (from Sammamish to SLC for Thanksgiving) so I can listen to a few more. I'll be working down in Orem for the next couple of days, then I'll back in Washington again on Tuesday night.

Nathan's Birthday Party
Kristy and the kids attended Nathan's birthday party back in Washington today. Here are some pictures:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Second Coat
I spent the morning sanding down the rough spots on the garage siding. Then I put a second coat of paint on the garage and the coal shed. The color of the garage and the coal shed matches that of Grandma's house. After the second coat dried as much as I could wait, I masked around the shop doors and then sprayed them red. The masking around the rear shop door pulled up some paint when I removed it, so I'll have to touch that up tomorrow (I ran out of light today). I painted the coal shed trim white with a brush to match the house as well (all of Grandma's house trim is white); so the coal shed looks like a mini-version of Grandma's house. It was Mom's idea; and it was a good one. The result is, as Mom describes, "very cute". Here are some pictures:

I wasn't able to hang the rain gutter back on the garage. It is a two-person job. Dad/Mark/Brent/Bryan will have to take care of that at a later date.

Sleepover with the Thurmonds
While I'm in Colorado, Kristy invited the Thurmond kids to our place for a sleepover. They pulled out one of the trundles in the attic:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: First Coat
I spent the morning masking off everything and then went over to Ace and renting an airless sprayer. The sprayer isn't quite as nice as the one I have at home... but it got the job done. The siding does not have a smooth finish where it was damaged by the pressure washer. I'll have to sand it down tomorrow in the morning and then try and paint a second coat in the afternoon (the sprayer rental rate is $80/day!). It will be a long day I'm sure.

Eliana at the Harvest Festival
Kristy snapped these pictures of Eliana signing at her preschool's "Harvest Festival" celebration:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Scraping/Caulking
The garage siding was too waterlogged yesterday to work on it. But today I used much of the day to manually scrape down the siding. I also caulked between the siding joints as well as around the doors and the windows (items that have never been done before... but should have been). While I was out working, Mom snapped another picture of the progress I'm making:

Now that I'm just sitting here surfing the net (and managing my recently restarted fantasy basketball leagues), I can feel my leg, arm, and back muscles stiffening up. I'm getting old.

Grandma Kiser After the Stroke
I'm here in Colorado for the week; in part to work on the ranch here, and in part to spend time with my Mom and help her take care of Grandma (my Mom's mom). Grandma had a major stroke back in June; she was 90 at the time (she is now 91). Up until then, she had been an independent, vibrant Grandma... living alone on her 20-acre cattle ranch. Now she is unable to do much of anything without assistance (with the exception of being able to feed herself). She is unable to move her right side and can only feel sharp pains (that she describes as "lighting sparks") when we move her right leg and right arm for her.

She still is a sweet Grandma though. She always says "Thank You" after we help her in and out of a chair, her bed, or the toilet. She enjoys the company she keeps. On both of the days I've been here, she has had at least 5 social visitors each day (but that may be due to the fact that she is leaving for California for the winter next week). Grandma also has professional caregivers that stop by for her physical and speech therapy sessions. She stays quite busy for someone that spends much of the day in one place.

Grandma is optimistic that she'll walk again, but frankly... I don't see it happening. She was given a sling to wear on Monday to keep her right arm tight against her body. The physical therapist did this because the dead weight of her arm has been slowly pulling her arm out of her shoulder socket; her atrophied shoulder muscles are unable to keep it in place. Not a good sign.

Next week my Aunt Anadeane will take Grandma to the SF area for the winter. The climate is much milder there than here. Anadeane's oldest daughter Audrey (Grandma's oldest grandchild) lives with Anadeane. Another two of Anadeane's kids (e.g. my cousins) live in the SF area; so there will be plenty of folks there to wait on Grandma hand and foot and about a dozen great grandkids to keep her on her toes.

Since Grandma is leaving the ranch and may not be coming back (depending on her health). I have been meandering around the ranch as time permits and thinking about all of the time I spent here as a young boy... both by myself, with Grandpa, and with my brothers. This may be one of the last times I spend any length of time here. Frankly, I don't see my parents moving here after Grandma goes the way of the earth. Mom would fit right in here, but Dad is too much of a "city boy" to move to this small town (and I can't say I blame him really). Furthermore, the state of the structures on the ranch are - how should I put this? - not pristine. Maybe ownership of the ranch - if it stays in the family at all - will skip a generation (to, say, Bryan and Jess). Or it may all be a moot point. Health care costs may require Grandma to sell the ranch to pay for her on-going therapy, prescriptions, etc.

In any case, I've been walking around remembering all of the little adventures I've had here... the frog catching, the fishing, the rock jumping, the fantastic (and imaginative) exploring for pirate treasure on this huge private ranch, etc. It wasn't all play. There was also some hard work to do... getting up early with Grandpa to manage the pasture watering, cutting/bailing/loading hay, gardening, etc. All told it was a great place to come and play as a little boy. Great memories. I'll miss it when it's gone.

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Pressure Washing
I'm here in Cedaredge for the rest of this week. Since I'm the last grandchild to visit my Grandma since she had her stroke, I've inherited the assigment of painting Grandma's garage and coal shed (all the other grandchildren deferred I guess). Today I rented a pressure washer from the local Ace hardware and blasted the loose paint off of both structures. The wood on the coal shed is in pretty good shape, even the boards down around the base of the structure that are exposed to rain and snow. There are a few areas that need repair, but I don't have the time to that this week. The siding on the garage is not as sturdy as I had presumed. It is made out of some kind of fiber-based material. It doesn't seem like it would make material to withstand the extreme weather around here, but I guess it has been here for 30+ years. I had to be careful with the pressure washer, if I got the wand too close to the siding it would not only take of the paint, but damage the fiber material as well. If it were up to me, I'd have the siding completely replaced with something like vinyl or the hardiplank they use up in the Northwest so much. But, whatever, a new coat of paint will do for now... it's just a garage/shop right?

While I was working my Mom snapped a few pictures of the progress:

It took about 4 hours to accomplish. I started at about 10am and worked until 2pm. Due to a small leak in the connection between the hose and the wand, the front side of my pants were soaked by the time I was done. Climbing up and down the ladder umpteen times and using my arms so much to push against the backwards force created by the water left my entire body completed exhausted. After I returned the pressure washer to Ace, I drove over to Hwy 65 Burgers and grabbed a bite.

At the Ranch in Colorado
I'm here in Colorado now, I arrived late and everyone is already in bed asleep. I spent the day at work in Orem and then had a nice dinner with Brent (and Brielle) at his home in Provo. I left Brent's place about 5 hours ago and traveled (by car) along the route that I've driven several dozen times in my life through Price, Green River, Grand Junction, Delta, and then finally to Cedaredge.

During the drive I listened to the first 4 aired episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater ("The Old Ones are Hard to Kill", "The Return of the Morsebys", "The Bullet", and "Lost Dog"). All were entertaining. I loved listening to them and can't wait until the next opportunity to listen to more (on the drive back to Utah next week).

The mp3 versions of the episodes that I downloaded included the headline news blurbs and commercials from back in the day (January 1974). It is interesting to note that at the time these episodes original aired, the US Congress was holding hearings about whether or not oil companies were artificially inflating gasoline prices... the parallel to current events was uncanny. It was also interesting to listen to the news summaries of the then ongoing investigation into the Watergate scandal. The old commercials were just as entertaining and included spots for the LDS Church ("The Mormons"), Kellogg's Special K (the "ball and chain" series), and Budweiser ("When you say Budweiser, you've said it all!"). Listening to the old programs made the trip fly by.

Sourdough Pancakes with Bryon!
I'm in Utah now; I flew in this afternoon. Bryan picked me up from the airport and I attended Church with him (and Jess, and Rees, and James). Afterward I had dinner with them and they had quite a spread: sourdough pancakes, scrambled eggs, and hash-browned potatoes. We watched a few TV shows (a couple of old episodes of 30 Rock) that they streamed down using their Netflix on-demand service (which is pretty slick btw... can't wait until Netflix is available via the PS3 dashboard).

Dad stopped by on his way back from Colorado to pick me up and take me to stay at their place for tonight. I'll be heading out to Colorado tomorrow for a week and spend some time with my Mom and my Grandma Kiser. Grandma recently had a stroke and is unable to care for herself. I'll help Mom with Grandma while I'm there and I've been tasked to repaint some structures on Grandma's ranch. More later.

The Possessiveness of Chuck E. Cheese's
When my kids refer to the fine pizza establishment run by a rather large rodent (one Mister Chuck E. Cheese), it is always stated with a possessive apostrophe (Chuck E. Cheese's) but without including any possessive noun.

"Dad, can we go to Chuck E. Cheese's", Berkeley will plead.

"Um, no."

Olivia will join in, "Daddy... go Chuck E. Cheese's... pees."

"Maybe another day."

Well, that "another day" came today. I have three rules about Chuck E. Cheese's:

1. Do not go to Chuck E. Cheese's.
2. If you must go, then do not go on a weekend night.
3. Never go without a fresh copy of Coupons #198 and #347... ever!

Tonight (on a weekend night no less) I took my three kids plus one of Berkeley's friends to Chuck E. Cheese's; breaking the first two of my Chuck E. Cheese's rules. But the coupons softened the blow considerably. And how do I know about the coupons? Because I've been to Chuck E. Cheese's enough times to know that the place is a complete scam without them.

But, you know, the kids love going there and they won't love going there forever. It is enjoyable to watch them have so much fun in a nice confined space where I can keep my eye on all of them at one time... even if we are confined in the same space with about three hundred other persons.

Saturday Morning Cartoons
With school now in session, the kids typically are only allowed the privilege to watch TV in the mornings on Saturday only (exceptions are made for school holidays). They get up at about 7am (Eliana gets up first, then Berkeley, then Olivia) and will make their way either upstairs or downstairs (usually directed by myself) and sit together and watch Tom and Jerry until breakfast is ready.

Sick Kids
The kids are taking turns being sick. Last week it was Eliana, this week it is Livy (and neither Kristy nor myself are immune unfortunately). Livy has been keeping herself up late at night coughing her little lungs out. This morning she was so tired that she just reclined on the couch, listlessly watching the TV until she closed her eyes and fell asleep... at about 9:30am. See below:

Here is another picture of my sick girl.

Primary Music at Conference
It is that time of year for LDS General Conference. We typically will tune-in via the internet video feed offered at BYU Television. The kids loved the Primary choir during the morning afternoon session today. They played while we watched, but during the songs (that were familiar) they stopped what they were doing and sang along to the hymn. I hope that including a Primary choir in the program is done more often in the future; it really seems to draw the kids in and settle them down.

(Update Mon Oct 6 07:32:50 PDT 2008 // morning -> afternoon)

Portrait Photos of Eliana and Olivia
Last week while Berkeley and I attended a Mariners game, Kristy took the girls over to Bellevue Square for a portraiture sitting by Triskele Portrait Photography. We got the resulting photos back today:

Mimi's Office
Kristy works one day a week; every Wednesday, at her private practice. The kids love to visit "Mimi's office" because she has a bunch of toys in her office for the purpose of play therapy. Those office toys have not lost their charm yet (I guess) so they are always begging for a visit. Kristy is switching out her old storage furniture for new stuff, so we used it as an excuse and all went over there this evening and had some dinner in her office. Then the kids played while Kristy and I put the new furniture together.

As I was driving home with the kids in the back seat (quietly dozing off after the long night), I thought of how fortunate they are to have Kristy as their mother. I'm quite proud of Kristy and her accomplishments; she is a great mother and caregiver, she served an LDS mission with honor, has three college degrees hanging on the wall (BS/MS/PhD), and (from what I understand) is an excellent therapist (she is regularly booked out several months in advance). I don't think the kids quite appreciate how respected Kristy is in all spheres of her life: professionally, ecclesiastically, and personally... she is just "Mom" to them for now and that is good enough. But in 10, 15, or perhaps 20 years they'll likely figure it out. Berkeley will probably gauge his expectations for the women he dates and the woman he will eventually marry using the high standard that his mother has set (and he'll be all the better for it), and Eliana and Olivia have an excellent example to emulate. I couldn't ask for much more.

2008 Home Preschool Class Pictures
Kristy, Kathy, and Ang have started up preschool for the younger cousins around here. The class this year includes four outstanding pupils: Emily, Olivia, Nathan, and Isabella.

And here are the four of them together for a class picture:

Class pictures for "cousin preschool" is a yearly tradition, albeit one that was partially interrupted last year because of our attic renovation project. Check out the previous years of "cousin preschool" class pictures here.

Olivia's New Light
For the past six or seven months (or maybe even longer?), the light fixture in Olivia's bedroom has been a $2 porcelain single-bulb incandescent lamp holder. Think the classic pull-chain type of fixtures you'd find in an unfinished basement (minus the pull chain). During these past months we have looked at and hemmed and hawed over probably tens of dozens of light fixtures. We have bought a couple fixtures (one on-line and one at a store) but then returned them after opening the box and discovered either how cheap the fixture looked, or how cheap the fixture was made. Indeed, a quality light fixture is truly hard to find... or least one that I approve of (and yes, I'm the picky one out of the two of us).

About 6 weeks ago (while browsing the inventory at Seattle Lighting in Bellevue) we finally found a light for Olivia's room that we both really liked. It is an authentic colored mini crystal chandelier manufactured by Schonbek - a lighting company owned by Swarovski. The fixture is just about perfect; small, compact, sturdy, and completely configurable. We were able to pick out the finish of the chandelier body that closely matched Livy's furniture, and we were also able to select the color of the crystals to match Livy's wall paint color. Nice options.

The downside: we were told it would take approximately six weeks to fulfill our custom order and, uh, then there was the little thing called the price tag... $550! The dainty 18" chandelier is easily the most expensive fixture in the house. Only the massive (by comparison) 52" ceiling fans that I have installed in Berkeley's bedroom, my office, and out on the patio even come close... and those are fixtures which, you know, include substantial parts like reversible electric motors, RF electronic fan controls, etc. So, anyway, my feeling is that we couldn't win for trying on this one. We looked at so much junk that was half as much in price (but not nearly half as nice) that the decision to indulge in such an expensive light really was a no-brainer.

The light finally arrived... yesterday via UPS.

So, this morning I set to the task of installing and assembling the light for Olivia. I had no shortage of willing assistants eager to hang the crystals on the frame of the fixture... two to be exact:

Eliana helped quite a bit actually. If I recall correctly, she installed pretty much all of the crystal on the chandelier except the crystals hanging from the ceiling medallion. Here are a couple of pictures of the light after installation was complete... with both the lights on and off.

Last Week of Baseball
This is the last week of MLB for the Mariners. Berkeley and I attended the game tonight - our first of the season - with Berkeley's friends Fox and Tucker (and their Dads). The Mariners lost their 100th game of the season tonight and now have the ignominious distinction of being the only team in the history of Major League Baseball to spend $100+ million in payroll and lose 100 games in a season. Ah well.

We carpooled down to stadium with Travis and Tucker and Fox. We met them at the Bellevue Park-n-Ride. While we were there waiting, I snapped a few pictures of my son:

And here are a couple of pictures taken at the game.

Eliana's Soccer Class
We enrolled Eliana in a 4-yr-olds-only soccer class down at Issaquah City Recreation. Her first class (of eight) was today. Kristy snapped a few pictures:

This is her first organized sports activity... looks like she had fun.

Stealing Lollipop Licks
I take Eliana and Olivia for a stroller ride to Eliana's preschool 4 days a week (Mon-Thu). On the way home, I typically give Olivia a Dum-Dum lollipop. Yesterday I forgot to pack a lollipop for the ride home. Today Olivia made sure we had enough:

She had licked each one and made a little lollipop bouquet.

Grandpa Sorenson Birthday
Okay, so technically it isn't my father-in-law's birthday until Wednesday the 24th, but since Grandpa Sorenson is in town we decided to have a small party over at our place tonight. We had a nice simple dinner and then had some of that Costco chocolate cake and homemade Oreo ice cream for dessert.

Here are some pictures of Grandpa Sorenson with the kids:

And here are a couple more (without kids):

There are few more pictures that I took of various members of the Sorenson clan during the party... take a look if interested.

At the Seattle Aquarium with Grandma/Grandpa Sorenson
Kristy took the two girls down to the Seattle Aquarium today and met her Mom, Dad, and Kathy there. Here are a few pics:

Hinckley's Blessing
With Kristy's parents in town, the Sorenson weekend of activities continued today with Hinckley's baby blessing. We all congregated at the Thurmond home for the purpose of the blessing and had a nice dinner too. With an equal number of Thurmonds and Sorensons present, it was quite a group.

	Here are just a few of the Sorenson clan present hanging out in the Thurmond living room. Kristy and her brother (Scott) are in the background, Kristy's mother (Bertha) is sitting on the right, and several of the kids are also present.
	The kids kept busying playing with legos. Or as Olivia calls them... "yegos".

(Update Tue Sep 30 07:32:41 PDT 2008 // left -> right)

Jenna's Baptism
Of the cousins that live around here (my kid's cousins), Jenna is the oldest. Jenna turned 8 last week and is thus eligible to be baptized; her baptism was held today. For the event, Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson flew into town. We congregated down in Gig Harbor for the ceremony and then had some dinner at the Coray's afterward. Here are a few pictures:

Not long after those were taken, power in the battery of the camera ran out. Oops.

"My Mac-mac"
I took the kids to McDonald's this evening for dinner. The family room is a bit torn up - it has OSB laying down on tarps that cover the carpet, oh, and there are a couple of sections of scaffolding erected near the window that take up half the room. Kristy was at the movies, so I decided to do something easy.

On the drive over, I got all the orders squared away: nuggets, apples, juice box (Livy); burger, fries, chocolate milk (Berkeley); burger, apples, regular milk (Eliana). Getting the kids to decide on the compositions of their Kids Meals is literally half the battle. We arrived and I placed the kids order and then put in for a Big Mac and a glass of water for myself. Big Macs are actually the only thing I really like at McDonald's. OK, the Big Macs and the Fruit Turnovers. Now, I must confess that every time I place an order at McDonalds I secretly want to tag on an apple or cherry turnover to the end of my order, but then I think to myself: "One turnover is 89¢, however I could get two for $1.00; on the other hand, I don't want two... two are too many... and I'm not paying 89¢ for one turnover when they should be selling it for something like 60¢ - there's a principle at stake here!" So while I was revisiting this little conversation in my head about adding an apple Fruit Turnover to my order, the clerk interrupted my two-second argument with myself by telling me that Big Macs right now are on sale: 2 for $3.00.

"But I don't want two.", I explained, "Just one please."

"Well, one Big Mac is $3.19, and two Big Macs are $3.00", responded the helpful clerk.

"Alright." I muttered, "I'll take two."

While I was walking away, I imagined that MickeyD's would start selling one turnover for 89¢ and two for 80¢. Ha! I can dream can't I?

I got the food a few minutes later and commenced to dispense it into the three troughs... er, I mean I neatly presented it in front of my three clean eaters. I put the two Big Mac containers and the glass of water in front of myself. Livy was seated to my immediate left.

"My sandwich!", she said while grabbing one of the cartons.

"No Livy, those are Daddy's Big Macs."

"No, my Mac-mac.", Livy insisted.

"Alright, whatever." I shrugged and slid one of my $1.50 Big Macs over to her.

She put her two little hands around the Big Mac and actually managed to take a pretty good size bite... most of the lettuce fell down in her lap, but I was still impressed.

"Mmmmm... good Mac-mac."

She ate a little more than half of the Big Mac... about 8 Livy bites. I wiped the special sauce off her face after each of those bites. She honestly seemed to have enjoyed it. She didn't touch her nuggets (which were vacuumed up by Eliana instead).

(Update Fri Sep 19 08:09:57 PDT 2008 // of -> off)

Olivia's First Day of Co-Op Preschool
Olivia started preschool today. Kristy and Kathy are doing a co-op preschool class once a week on Thursdays. We ship Olivia over to Kathy's one week (e.g. this week), and we host Emily the next week.

Olivia was pretty elated to go to her "school".

Eliana's New Friend "Sarah"
One of Eliana's new classmates, Clara, lives fairly close to us. Clara's Dad called us yesterday to arrange for a play date with Clara today. When I picked up Eliana from preschool today:

"Daddy, I made a new friend today named 'Sarah'."

"You mean 'Clara'?", I asserted.

Eliana looked at me blankly for a moment, then offered: "Yes, 'Clara'."

Later on at our house, I kept hearing her say "Sarah" this and "Sarah" that. I reminded her more than once:

"Eliana, her name is 'Clara'."

"Oh, yeah." she would say with a big smile, "I forgot."

Here they are on the porch eating some pudding just before Clara returned home. (Eliana would not open her eyes for the picture... the little stinker.)

It's Just Another Day
Just another ordinary day with my beautiful wife (shown below making cookies); she's as beautiful today as she was yesterday.

(Update Thu Sep 18 07:40:09 PDT 2008 // corrected link to picture)

The Girls Get New Shirts
Kristy blew the dust off of her sewing machine today to make something for her Grandmother (who turns 100 in about 6 weeks from now). She also made Eliana and Olivia some new shirts. Eliana is modeling hers in the picture below:

Berkeley's First Soccer Practice (and Game)
We enrolled Berkeley in soccer this fall, his first practice and game were held this evening over at the Lake Sammamish State Park soccer fields. The Howeys put the bug in our ear to enroll Berkeley; their oldest son Tucker is also on Berkeley's team.

Tucker, who is already 7 (birthday in August) is nearly one year older than Berkeley, but they play in the same age group because the cutoff is July 31st. So Berkeley (birthday, July 29th) is pretty much guaranteed to always be the youngest player in his soccer age group teams. This is interesting (to me) because until 2006, the cutoff date for Little League baseball was also July 31st... which, of course, would also guarantee that Berkeley would be the youngest player on his baseball teams. However, currently Little League uses a cutoff date of April 30th, which means that Berkeley will always be one of the older players on his baseball teams. Does this matter? I don't know.

Below are two pictures of us standing around waiting for the rest of the team to show up. Berkeley is on the left dressed in his new soccer shoes, socks, and shin guards. He is standing next to his new ball. Our neighbor Jerrod manages one of the local SoccerWest stores and hooked us with all of the gear. Also shown (at right) are two of Berkeley's cheerleaders.

The following pictures were taken of Berkeley while he participated in the soccer practice drills. The team consists of six players. The team name is "Tunisia" (e.g. the country in North Africa). On the picture to the left, Berkeley is the third from the left and his friend Tucker is the little boy at the very left.

After a half-hour of soccer practice, then they have a half-hour soccer game. All of the boys on all of the teams have red t-shirts, so one team is given yellow vests to help bring some semblance of order to the mob following the ball around the field. In the picture at left below, Berkeley had just scored his first goal. He wasn't flagged for excessive celebration, but he came close. He had a lot of fun playing, worked hard, and at the end of the game was literally dripping with sweat.

Eliana's First Day of Preschool
Since last week (specifically since Berkeley started going back to school), Eliana has been getting more and more excited to return to Sammamish Learning Center for preschool. We visited the school yesterday during the morning to allow Eliana to meet her new teachers (she has the same teachers that Berkeley had when he was 4: Miss Katie and Miss Karen). She returned today for her first day of preschool. Here are a couple of pictures: