Farewell 2010

We are looking forward to a new year. It always feels good to have a clean slate again, set some new goals, and simply move forward. This year has not been easy, but it has been filled with the joy of our children, who we adore. And no matter what life brings, we have learned again and again that we have each other and that is what matters most.

(photos courtesy of LIGHT fantastik Photography)

Some funny things that the boys have said recently that I want to remember:

Sam:
When I try to do something that he wants to do by himself he says, "No help!"
When he is finished eating he says, "I done" or "All done."
At bath time, when he wants me to come in there (instead of Doug) he says, "Mama, I want you sit down!"

Lucas:
He was calling out to Doug from another room, "Hey, hun!"
When I was putting the boys to bed on Christmas Day night, Lucas and I had this conversation:
Me: Wow, wasn't that a great Christmas?!
Lucas: Yes, it was. (long pause) But we still only have four people in our family.
Me (surprised and speechless at first): Well, how many people did you want to have in our family?
Lucas: We need another girl. Two girls. At the same time.
Me: Usually babies come one at a time.
Lucas: I know, but sometimes two come at once. They are called twins.
Me: Well, what if we had two babies at one time and they were boys.
Lucas: (long pause) Well, we could just get more. We can have ten people in our family!

How did we spend New Year's Eve (and the day before that)?







FAREWELL 2010!

Broken Monitor

Doug here, with a super geeky post. Feel free to skip it.

A couple weeks ago our computer monitor died. One day it just wouldn't wake from sleep mode. I checked all the connections and tried connecting it to my laptop, but no dice, it was dead. Even though we bought a replacement, I wasn't ready to let the old one go. I read about how one of the most common problems with Samsung LCDs is that certain capacitors go bad after a while. I opened up the monitor and quickly saw that this was exactly what happened with our monitor.

You can see in this picture that the tops of the three circled capacitors are slightly bulging, unlike the three beneath them. This is the tell-tale sign of the Samsung Bad Caps problem.



I had previously done some geeky stuff (like rebuilding our computer and installing hard drives) but I had never done any serious electronic repairs, and my only soldering experience was with stained glass back in high school. Nevertheless I decided to attempt the repair.

My $7.99 replacement capacitors arrived today. I'm happy to report that the repair was successful and the monitor is good as new. The repair turned out to be fairly easy - only took me one hour and 10 minutes.

Here are a couple pictures from the work:

Opening the case and removing the bad capacitors:



Installing, soldering, and trimming the new capacitors:



Reassembly and testing:


Here is a time lapse I took of the repair:

Lucas is 5

Happy 5th birthday, Lucas!

Today Lucas had a bowling party with some friends. We had a great day. He is thrilled to be 5 "finally!" (Just after this picture was taken, Sam pushed all of the shoes that he could reach through the back of the rectangles onto the floor behind the shoe display.)

Lucas, you are an amazing boy, full of wonder and curiosity. You have so many things to say about the world and so many questions to ask. I love to watch you with Sam. He is a lucky boy to have such a wonderful big brother. And you are lucky as well, to have a younger brother who loves to be with you every minute and constantly looks up to you. I hope you two will always be close friends and look out for each other. You are a giggly boy who loves to have fun. You are a joker and loud and funny. You are also serious, smart, and you ask a lot of questions. You love to learn. Right now you love Toy Story (the movies and toys), board games (Sorry! and Candy Land), trains of all kinds, and Kevin Henkes books. Also, you are learning to play T-ball after school with a few friends from your class.

Some of the funny things you say a lot right now are:
"Mom, that's true. It's real life."
"Hey Mom, did you know that _____?" (filled with a fact learned at school)
The word you use the most right now is "actually."

When your dad tells the story of your birth, he always says that you were born with a serious expression on your face and that your brow was furrowed as if deep in thought. You are still like that in many ways. You are thoughtful and you notice things. Though you are silly and wild, your sensitivity to others' feelings is beyond your years. This year you started kindergarten and you love school. I miss you during the day, as does Sam, and the highlight of our day is picking you up from school. When I see you with your classmates I know you are happy spending time with other kids your age and learning about the world. This year you have learned to write in sentences and read. You love to read the advertisements on the subway train and that has led to some interesting discussions (several about what it means to "not let the bed bugs bite"). You are also learning Spanish (you know your colors, numbers, and several songs), chess (I am amazed that you can remember all of the moves that each piece can make), and you love music and art as well. But your favorite part of school is "centers" where you get to choose what "center" you would like to do. Sometimes you choose the computer so you can play on Starfall and other times you choose blocks. Your teacher, Ms. K., says you are a good student and you always listen.

I am proud of you for so many reasons and I am grateful that you are part of our family. I love to snuggle with you, play games with you, cook with you, play Moon Dough, play "I spy" on the way to school, jump on the bed, read stories, and so many other things. The past five years have been so wonderful. You truly are a "bringer of light" as the meaning of your name suggests.

I love you. I cannot believe you are 5 today!

A Snow Day

We awoke to 2 feet of snow this morning. Doug had to work, so I took the boys sledding. We spent about 10 minutes getting well-layered. However, once outside, they did not last long. In fact, we did not even make it to the hill. They were predicting 50 mph gusts of wind and blizzard conditions. I don't think it was quite that, but it was certainly windy and about 20 degrees, not to mention that much of the snow was not plowed and what was plowed had been piled up taller than me. So, after about 10 minutes, I could tell the boys could not take it. I pulled them around for a few blocks on the sled and we came back inside. I consider myself to be pretty tough, I tote these boys all over city by myself regularly, but it was just too much for me to take them both sledding by myself. Doug will have to take Lucas another day. But the good news is that there's no rush, I think the snow will be around for awhile.



We enjoyed the rest of the day inside, sledding in the living room (without 3 three layers of clothes on) and watching Toy Story.

*Merry Christmas*

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Lucas is old enough to really get into it and that really made it more magical for all of us. The boys woke early and we had a nice leisurely Christmas morning. We took turns opening gifts and stopped to play between each one. The boys loved the gifts they received (thank you, everyone) and had fun playing together and being excited for each other's gifts. It was a day full of joy and happiness.











Our friends, Boyd and Emily, invited us over for brunch. We had a great time, though all of the parents were tired. The boys had fun watching the Polar Express train go around the track.



After brunch, we went back home for naps and more play time.




Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. Our lives are richly blessed thanks to all of you. We are grateful for this time of year that incorporates so many elements of life into a time of celebration and gratitude.