I was rocking out to the second set of 4/21/86 when Melanie came upstairs to do a couple of things, and I caught this quick video of Alaina grooving out a little to Touch of Grey. Figures you never quite get the best video, but you get the idea.

I've added a bunch of photos to the photo gallery:
http://www.killerb.com/photos.do?id=61
http://www.killerb.com/photos.do?id=62
http://www.killerb.com/photos.do?id=63
and some pictures from when Beau, Joe and I went to the new Yankee Stadium in April: http://www.killerb.com/photos.do?id=64
 

Got our first big snow out here of the year, actually first big one in a couple of years. Granted, for us, a foot is big. We’re used to just a dusting or a couple of inches. This involved actual shoveling. But more snow equals more fun, especially for Kylie, who after first not liking the big snow banks she couldn’t run through, found that running around in the cold wasn’t so bad after all.

Pictures and all that will be put up at some point. Got some other wintery stuff to post.  Been slacking off, but I’ll get to it. Eventually.

"Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special!  How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer.... Who’d have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?"
       ~Bill Watterson, author of Calvin & Hobbes

As Calvin utters so matter of factly, "Getting loads of loot is a very spiratual experience for me", so goes the desire to pile loads of goodies on the kids. In this respect, we’re no different than any other parent.

To accomplish this feat, however, requires a visit to Santa. Santa listens patiently while Hailey and Alaina profess their utmost desire to have a Dora Snow Princess, whatever that is.

On Christmas Eve, we have our folks over for dinner, and the kids get a delicious cake.

Next, Santa comes and puts the pile of loot under the tree. It’s the one day of the year the family room actually looks kind of neat. Easy to bribe children to put away their toys when you tell them that Santa can’t leave as much loot if there’s toys all over the floor.

At 7am, we’re adamantly instructed by Hailey to come see if Santa came. The only delaying tactic that works is the demand for coffee for Daddy. But no worries, by 7:20am the floor is ankle deep in wrapping paper and kids toys.

And lastly, the Christmas Mass is quickly forgotten when Grandma and Grandpa come over with more goodies.

Happy Holidays, everyone, hope yours was as filled with as much joy as ours!

The full December photo album (including loads of Christmas pictures, and Elias Machado’s 2nd birthday), can be found here.

I’m a pretty big gamer, have been pretty much since my adolescence. Like everyone else, I started pumping quarters into games in arcades and playing the home Atari systems when they came out, and migrated to computer games on Apples, copying floppies with games such as Loderunner and Choplifter amongst friends.

I still play, nearly daily, everything from combat flight sims, first person shooters, even sailing, and currently Eve Online (which is sucking up entirely too much of my evenings now). I find it fascinating that Hailey is already intriguied, and how quickly a four year old can pick up and learn. I bought her Finding Nemo’s Underwater World of Fun a couple of years ago because she saw it in CompUSA when I took her there so I could get some supplies, and she said she wanted it. I’m a sucker for games.

I was undaunted by the 4+ on the box, even though she was only 2 at the time. I knew she wouldn’t be able to control the mouse with her little hands, but I figured she’d probably like the pictures and the characters talking to her. At the time, I got her to understand how the match game worked and one of the other games (I simply had her point at the things she wanted me to click, and I clicked it for her).

However, last week, after a fairly long haitus involving Barbie, little people, princess dresses, Dora, and so on, Hailey came upstairs one day and said she wanted to play the Nemo game. No problem, I thought. So I installed it again. This time, she works the mouse herself and figured out the interface in a grand total of about 5 minutes. It’s on Melanie’s PC now so she can play and I can keep working. I’m gonna have to get her some more games for Christmas I think.

O hushed October morning mild, 
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; 
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all. 
The crows above the forest call; 
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild, 
Begin the hours of this day slow. 
Make the day seem to us less brief. 
Hearts not averse to being beguiled, 
Beguile us in the way you know. 
Release one leaf at break of day; 
At noon release another leaf; 
One from our trees, one far away."
-   Robert Frost, October

Another October has come and gone. Fall is definitely here, the neighbor’s leaves have blown onto my lawn as it happens every year, and we’ve had to turn the heat on a couple of times. But we’ve experienced some nice warm spells, such as when Ty, Robin and Coltrane came into town. Got a chance to get to the beach and grab a couple of shots.

Halloween was entertaining once again, especially since Hailey and Alaina decided they wanted to wear the same costumes as last year. Maybe they’re paying attention to the economy, I don’t know, but even still, they looked great in their costumes.

Fall equals fun!. See the full October album here