An open letter to the fat guy in the red suit.

I asked the kids to let me write down their letter to Santa Claus. My best attempt at transcription follows:

12/23/08

Dear Santa Claus,

6 I want number 5.
Kiera wants 5 too.

Evan wants H.
Kiera wants H too.
U 1

Evan says “Merry Christmas”
Kiera says “Merry Christmas” too.
Daddy says “Merry Christmas” too.
Grandma says, “you might think”.
Greg, Merry Christmas.


We will leave you bones.
We will leave you candy.
All that time getting ready before the thunderstorm rain.
Let's go that way & write letters. An 'F'.
A 'P'.
Kiera wants a letter 'P' too. Yipee.
A 'B'.
Santa Claus is going to bring me a 'Q'.

Be Yourself. A 'G'. And get your wife's town a 'V'.
Give him a 'B'. Give him an 'N'. Type an 'O' and 'L'.
Yipee! Yipee!

Evan wants an 'H' and a 'T' and a 'Y-U'.
Evan wants a book.
Kiera wants a book too.

Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

Evan and Kiera

Get all that? Yeah me too. Here's the video (edited for time) in case you're wondering (Merry Christmas!!) -

I love a parade...

We've added some pictures of our 1st family attendance of a parade (Hays High Homecoming) to the 2008 family gallery. For those of you that can't be bothered checking the website, remember you can always get the RSS feed for the photo album.

Pictures of summer added to the gallery.

Took a moment to add a few pictures the the gallery. Enjoy.

Regards to my little sis & her signifcant other.

Wow. It's been one whole year. Y'all have a swell day!!

We're not homeless, just busy.

We're finally getting settled into our home in Hays. Originally, we wanted to get a video walk-thru of the new place to compliment the video of the old place, but we can't seem to keep the house organized long enough and find the time to do it (we'll get it done). There are still a bunch of little things left to do, and it seems like weekends just aren't long enough. We'll get it back to a relative norm eventually, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from the long-overdue 2008 family album. For the lazy, just have a peek @ the slideshow below -

We're officially homeless.

We closed yesterday on our Wichita digs. What a relief. what should have been relatively simple was made not so by disparate people who just happened to be working towards the same goal of complicating our lives.
I'm not in the habit of hatin', but sometimes things have to be said. Kerry Dunn is an agent who works for the sale, keeps you in the loop, and has commission rates that are a steal for the services he provides. Cindy Mavis (the buyer's agent) on the other hand, not only took 3% of my sale price, but made me do work that she should have been doing & doesn't understand the protocol of the business she's in. Caveat emptor. I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, we're 2 weeks out from getting our new place and we've got the closing cash to do it (yay!). We'll let y'all know when we get into our new place, and if anyone wants to move boxes & furniture the weekend of Apr. 12, let me know, 'cuz i'm buyin' the beer.

Transcript from a typical family dinner discusion.

"What's 'family' mean?"

"You tell me, Evan. What does 'family' mean?

"Um,

smiling,

happy,

angry,

frustrated."


Two and a half years on Earth to figure that out, and a lifetime to understand why.

A Christmas card from a family in transit.

With the move and all, we haven't been able to reciprocate any of the many holiday greetings we've received (sorry). We'll be on the road with a truckload of stuff headed North to Hays (weather permitting) during the holiday weekend. Just the same, while we're packing boxes, throwing out junk and cleaning, know that we're thinking of you all. Merry Christmas!

Wagons West!

Two Weeks ago, Anj accepted a position with the Ellis County FSA. It's effectively a transfer, as she'll be working for the the same folks, albeit this location is a bit closer to her family. It'll also give me more contracting opportunity as well, seeing as my primary contractee is based in Hays. Actually if you think about it, I spent 8 years in Hays prior to moving to Wichita after we got married close to 6 years ago, so it certainly makes our stint in South-Central seem a bit less permanent in the 1st place.

Housing is ridiculous in Hays; little supply, high demand and so we gotta milk every last cent outta the sale of our current digs, so we're gonna try to by-owner it. If y'all know anyone looking for a house in Wichita, be sure to send 'em our way!

Autumn Family Photo Album Update.

Though we've been busy with Kiera's birthday, Halloween, and life in general, we've managed to snap a few photos to share.

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

In the interest of equal time among siblings, I figured we'd better get a video of Evan up here too. He loves his Sesame Street. Here's his rendition of his favorite part from his favorite episode of the new season-

Little Girl, Big Steps!

A good two weeks before her 1st birthday, our youngest has taken to to walking. This usually occurs when -

1. She is extremely focused on something.
2. I don't have a camera present.

It's not her best effort by far, but here's what I've managed to capture of Kiera strutting her stuff.

Anyone want to buy a "Major Award"?

Sorry for the lack of updates last month. My business blog has been neglected as well. We've all been pretty busy. I've been working to finish a big project for InfniTec (here's a peek) and the Kansas Association of Mappers conference was in September as well. By proxy, my busy months make Angie busy too, 'cuz someone's gotta watch the kids when I can't.

Amongst the working and chasing kids, Angie managed to win a used car by being caller 10 on b98 fm. She had no idea what the car was when she called in, and now she's the proud owner of a 1996 Mazda 626. The car is in ok shape; I still can't believe that a radio station would give away a used car, but whatever - free is free, though the vehicles we have presently are far & away in better shape. So the title work should be back any day now, and once that's taken care of, hopefully we can find a good home for Angie's "major award" (need a school or work car?).

A toast - to the end of our wedding season!

The journey of scheduling, traveling, spending & tracking down sitters that began way back in March has finally come to a close for this year for us; I'm talking about the wedding season. A half-dozen or so this year, including my lil' sis (shout-out!). This last weekend, we attended the finale, as Angie & me were attendants for Angie's brother Jared and his new bride, Christy.

Here's a link to the gallery with a few photos. (note to self - buy more ibuprofen).