Christmas Eve 2006

One of the hardest things about being out here is spending the holidays without our extended family. We miss you guys all so much.

Topher, who works for Pat, and his wife, Lisa, and their girls invited us to spend Christmas Eve with them... little did we know what an adventure it would be!

It seems that they get together with a whole circle of extended family and friends (some of whom Topher and Lisa didn't even know) so we didn't end up feeling out of place at all.


One of the neat things they had set up was a table with a whole bunch of craft projects for the kids to tinker with. It really gave them not only something to do, but something to visit with each other about and break the ice, which was very nice.


Autumn is a bit older than Topher and Lisa's girls. Marissa is 9, Anne Marie is 7ish and Lily must be around 5.

This is Lilly, Autumn and Anne Marie.














The girls hard at work crafting... something.















Autumn as a Christmas cat












I kept trying to catch Autumn unaware, as her clown nature comes out as soon as she realizes the camera is on her. Proof below...

Before she notices the camera.















Oooh, there's the camera!














Clown!















Lisa and I commiserated about our girls' hair issues. Marissa's is longer and more wavy than Autumn's but they both have that very very thick hair that makes brushing a hassle, and both want to wear it long.









I took a lot of pictures... I mean... a lot... I think this was well into the evening, and Topher was incredulous that I was /still/ shooting pictures.











It was a really fun afternoon/evening. We laughed a lot. Especially Pat.












Along with her own three girls, Lisa babysits James, who is just adorable.




Lisa and James say "Are you /still/ taking pictures?"







I don't know why, but inevitably when we are somewhere with a group of people with silverware, spoons must be hung on noses.



I think Pat starts it.











Skye, a friend of Topher and Lisa's is a very good nose-spoon hanger.









We may very well be a bad influence on James...















Did I mention the food was incredible? Topher's brother is a chef down in Hartford. We had brisket to die for, two kinds of stuffing, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes... and way more stuff that I can't even remember. It was amazing.







Topher's Mom brought out her laptop so that the kids could track Santa's progress across the night sky on Santa Radar.














We had a Yankee Gift Exchange (which is apparently like a Chinese Gift Exchange except... New Englandish.)

Note in the background how Shana is contemplating bonking Topher on the head and stealing his gift...




I'd seen one of these at the store last summer and thought it was really cool. I traded something for it (movies, cocoa and popcorn, I think...)

It's a head massager!










It was a big hit with folks at the party.

Topher watches as his best friend, Jenn, tries it out.












All in all, it was a really nice Christmas eve!


Wish y'all would have been there!

Jonathan Coulton Concert 12/12/06

For my birthday, Pat sent me with some friends out to Boston to see Jonathan Coulton in concert... twice! He was doing a small mini-concert in the basement of Pandemonium Books, and then a larger concert at Johnny D's (a restaurant/night club).

Robert was kind enough to drive us, as he'd just gotten his new car. It was nice to be able to just enjoy the scenery and company for the 2 hour drive to Boston, rather than have to worry about traffic.

It was really interesting going on a trip with people who actually knew the area, since Pat and I are totally unfamiliar with it.





Mike rode up front to give "directions" to Robert. This was, we discovered later, not necessarily the wisest idea, as Mike hadn't navigated around Boston in quite some time, and apparently the roads had been moved around quite a bit since his heyday.

Smile, Mike! :)






Lisa and I rode in the back seat, which was cool, because I /never/ get to ride in the back. I'm always either driving or navigating.
Lisa is a sweetheart. She's bold and outspoken and I adore her to bits. She's Mike's significant other, and mom to not only only her own kids, but to many of the strays who end up hanging out or even living with her and Mike at their place in Chicopee.








The first concert was held at Pandemonium Books, a book and game store in Cambridge (which is kind of a suburb of Boston, kind of in the same fashion that Tacoma is a suburb of Seattle.)
The mini-concert was short and small, but fun. And since Pandemonium stocks my books, it was neat to go in and talk with the owner about game stuff as well.




Jonathan sings.

I realized that, unlike a rock show, taking pictures of an acoustic guitar player singing gets a bit tedious at times. No matter how interesting the music, photos pretty much all look like some guy standing there with his mouth open and a guitar in his hands. So, while I took hundreds (literally) pictures of the two concerts, I'll only be posting a few.








Jonathan's compatriots for the event were Paul and Storm. They were his opening act at Johnny D's, but also came out to do a number or two with him at Pandemonium.







Storm, Jonathan and Paul sing Code Monkey.








Jonathan sings some more.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, Jonathan is the creator of such fun songs as Code Monkey and re: your brains (aka All We Want To Do Is Eat Your Brains.)

Both were written as a part of "A Thing A Week," where Jonathan wrote... 52 songs... in the course of the year. You can listen to all of them for free (and buy his albums, when you fall in love with them like I did) here.




Jonathan proves that not only can he walk and play guitar at the same time, but that it's /fun/!












Me and Jonathan!

Family Blog

I realized I was juggling too many needs on my LiveJournal Account, using it for friends, work, family, etc. So I've created this blog just for family and close personal friends with whom I don't need to hide names or worry about posting pictures of the kids or personal information.

It'll be a way for me to share pictures of our family and daily news with those who care more about that than my work announcements and the like.

That being said, here are some pictures from my birthday dinner last month. Pat and Autumn took me out to a lovely Italian restaurant where they had pasta and I had gorgonzola encrusted steak. It was a lovely evening.
Autumn, being charming. I love her hair back like this, with the long tendrils. I wish I could convince her to wear it like this more often!
















Pat looking very serious (boy, that's unusual!)

and then pointing to... something... What can I say, the camera was new and I was still getting used to it.


Autumn and I. Doesn't she look sweet? Pay no attention to the spaghetti sauce on her shirt. That's why /I/ wore red to the Italian restaurant!


Apparently the picture on the wall may be what Pat was pointing at in the earlier photo. Autumn couldn't resist mugging for the camera here.


That's my girl! What a grin!