Wild-man Sammy...

Hair unkempt and wearing a dirty t-shirt, Sammy went wild a few days before Christmas. One minute he was tearing off his bib (that's where the shirt got dirty) and the next he was all over the house. We were caught off guard when rushed for the stairs and climbed to the top (when/where he learned this we have no idea). Once we caught him and brought him back down, the next thing we knew he was in the kitchen drawers. Didn't he realize Santa was watching?

Sammy knows enough to wait just long enough until he has an audience...

He moves like Seabiscuit up the stairs...

Beating his Mommy (in chase) to the top...

Turn your head for a moment and he's in something else...

Luckily, the sharp instruments are stored higher up...

Good-bye old bed...

We had this bed for a long, long time. Since Sammy was born, we had to change one of our guest rooms into the nursery, so we no longer needed this bed. Paul's sister Diane needed a one for her son Chris when he finishes school in Texas, so it only made sense to give it to her. So tonight Diane, Brian, Chris, and a friend (his name escapes us now) stopped by to pick up the bed.

Years ago, when we were purchasing this bed, Paul wanted a full-size bed instead of a queen size because "it would be cheaper." But the salesman handled it perfectly. He had both Michele and Paul lay down on the full size bed, get comfy, and then said, "Oh, sure a full size is fine. But if you are pregnant it gets awfully small fast." So we got the queen-size.

Chris, Brian, a friend, the bed,
200 square yards of plastic, 100 feet of nylon rope,
and 1 whole role of duct tape...

Notice how Chris has tied the doors shut...

Hanging on for dear life...

Diane Graduates!

A few weeks ago, we made the trek up to Duluth to attend Paul's sister Diane's graduation. She has finished her master's degree. Graduating with Diane was her good friend Chris (who she also graduated with for her bachelors degree). Just like when Diane graduated with her bachelors, we all went up to Duluth for the ceremony and stayed across the bridge in Superior, Wisconsin at the Best Western Bridgeview Motor Inn. The inn is great for a family...it has a neat indoor pool and is a great, affordable place to have a fun time. We can't wait until we can make the trek yet again when Paul's sister Anne graduates from the same school.

Diane & Chris, they look so smart!

Sammy offers encouragement to Aunt Annie who's also working on her degree...

Diane and her son Brian...

Sammy was given an honorary doctorate in cuteness...

Professor Mike...

Chris & Diane wave to their fans...

Chris points the way to the future...
...or he's just testing the direction of the wind...

Chris announces his candidacy for US Senate in 2008...
...he chose a non-controversial platform...
..."Stop continental drift!"

New Doors!

Well, something we've always wanted to do in our house is replace the existing hollow-core doors with solid wood doors. Since we have a 2-story house, we decided to first replace the doors downstairs. Our trim downstairs is painted white, so the doors will be painted white as well...but we wanted to make sure that the paint took well to the wood...so we put in Poplar doors (as opposed to Pine which is less expensive). We had a handy-man we trust do the work (Ron). He recommended just putting in new slabs instead of replacing the entire door frame...to avoid issues with redoing the trim. Ron's price was very reasonable.

We had a doggie-door to the basement for our cat Veto, but it was much too large...we worried Sammy might crawl through it and tumble down the steps. Ron suggested putting an opening in the wall (see the red arrow in the pics below). In all, it looks like a good job, the doors feel much better to open and close now having some substance to them. Also, they look much nicer (just imagine them painted white...we will be painting our kitchen this year).

Now the tough part...

• $474 for the door slabs (Pine would have been oh so cheaper...and looked that way)
• $290 for labor (not a bad deal considering the wall opening he cut and framed out)
• $100 for door knobs and hardware bought at Menards' famous 15% off anything you can fit in a brown paper bag sale
  

Our handy-man Ron looks sorta like Ron Howard...
...we're very pleased with all the work he's done for us...

Look at how thick the layer of plaster is on the gypsum board...
...on the left is part of the wall from the kitchen...
...on the right is part of the wall from the basement stairwell..

The before and after...from left to right..
...our front closet, basement door, bathroom door, pantry...
...click on photo to enlarge...keep in mind we will be painting kitchen...

Christmas Eve...2006

For Christmas eve, Paul's sisters Anne & Diane came down. Also, his two nephews Brian & Chris came (along with Chris' Xbox 360). We opened up most of the presents that night since we were all together. In addition to the usual themes of Moose and Elvis...this year was flavored by Anne's visit to the King Tut exhibit.

Brian models a new sweater...

Nuns on the run...

Chris receives 30lbs of rice to help him through school...

As always, Diane delighted us with vittles...

All hail pharaoh Sammy!!!

The pharaoh and his Aunt Annie...

Sammy chases itty-bitty remote control cars...

A perennial favorite of Paul...
...adding extra characters to the nativity set...
...in the spirit of Yule-tide inclusiveness...

Chris shows us his bedroom eyes...

Sammy's First Christmas...

2006 was Sammy's first Christmas. Keeping with family tradition, we filmed Sammy coming down the stairs to see his Christmas presents left by Santa Claus. (When Paul was a kid, his father used an Super-8 film camera and a spot light which temporarily blinded him and his siblings for several hours afterwards). Click on the image below to see the short film. Please note no Sammys or toys were injured in making this film. Merry Christmas!

Choo Choo Sammy...

A Movie Date...

Well, sort of. While Sammy was in day care today, Michele and Paul took the opportunity to see an afternoon movie together. So off we went to see the latest installment of our favorite Italian pugilist. Actually, the movie was pretty good, much better than the previous movie in the series. It was really something to see this sexagenarian actor who is in better shape than Paul was decades ago (don't even mention now). We were expecting Rocky to be using a walker as Rocky V was made over 15 years ago.

A real conversation whispered between Michele and Paul during the movie:

Michele: Where is Apollo Creed in this movie?
Paul: Dead.
Michele: Carl Weathers is dead?
Paul: No, Apollo Creed died.
Michele: Oh, how sad.
Paul: He was killed in a fight by Captain Drago in Rocky IV.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: And Mickey died in Rocky III.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: Yeah, his ticker gave out while Clubber Lang was beating Rocky.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: And Adrian died sometime between Rocky V and Rocky VI.
Michele: Hush now, Paul, your beginning to scare me.

ROCK-Y....ROCK-Y....ROCK-Y....

Eight (8)...

Veto has been recovering nicely from his 7-tooth extraction a couple of weeks ago. We've been giving him antibiotics and he's eating his normal solid food. We took him back to the vet yesterday for a follow-up. The vet told Paul they somehow had missed one more tooth that needed to be pulled...poor Veto! So they "gassed" him, extracted the tooth, and now Veto is home...recovering yet again. So the current total of teeth lost by Veto in 2006 is eight (8). Poor Veto indeed!

Archive photo of Veto when he had all of his teeth...

Sammy's College Fund...

This past weekend we drove up to Duluth for Paul's sister Diane's graduation ceremony...receiving her master's degree. We'll be posting on that soon. But it got Paul to thinking about Sammy's education, as it is not too far off. Earlier today, Paul's cousin Pete mentioned a school, St John's College, to him where they focused on the Great Books curriculum. It really sounds like an ideal way to develop one's mind. If you get a chance, watch this video they provide. They also address what one can do with an education based on this with another video worth watching. Perhaps Sammy will go someplace like this where he can focus on developing critical reasoning skills.

But sadly, not only is a great education a lot of work, it also takes an increasingly large sum of money. Luckily we have the better part of two decades to save up for it.

Might Sammy go here someday?....

The Repairman Returneth...

Our ongoing appliance woes continue with our built in Kitchen Aid oven. After the repairman last came a few weeks ago and repaired the oven, the next day Paul ran the self-clean again. And the thermostat on it blew again. So after waiting almost a week and a half for the replacement part to arrive, the repairman came to our house again. While at our house, he called Kitchen Aid and the tech guy said to put in a thermostat with a different threshold. He didn't have the part, so he put in the standard replacement part for now and will return in a week or so with the newer part. According to the repair guy, there's another person in town who bought the same oven who experienced the same problem with their exact same model oven. Paul is thinking of starting a support group for Kitchen Aid appliance owners. For now, Paul is under strict orders from Michele not to run the self clean until after the Christmas holiday is over.

Will the neighbors wonder if there is something strange going on...
...with the repair truck infront of our house during the day so often?

March of the Sammies

Inspired by the movie "March of the Penguins" and a fondness for dressing Sammy in costumes he loves, we thought we had an idea for a Christmas picture. Here's some out-takes from the"photo shoot"...

Our little penguin Sammy...

Even without ice he has trouble sitting up in his costume...

Who invited Veto?

Uh...Veto...can you get out of the picture?

Artic friends, penguin and cat...side by side...

Our little Penguin...

"Samousa?"

Sometimes feeding Sammy lately is a challenge. He doesn't always cooperate. But we have found that if we sufficiently "entertain" him he tends to cooperate better. Paul often entertains Sammy by loudly humming John Philip Sousa songs...and Sammy really responds. His favorite song is the "Washington Post." The last few days we noticed that Sammy taps his feet and nods his head to the beat of the song.

Sousa...his true achievement is to be appreciated by little Sammy!

Poor Veto

Veto the cat went into the vet's office this past Tuesday for some dental work. The vet thought he would need to have a tooth or two removed. In the end it was seven (7) teeth! Veto (not the vet) was under anesthesia for several hours. Since it was such an extensive operation they kept Veto at the animal hospital overnight. He's home now where he spends his time taking recuperative naps under our artificial Christmas tree. With the help of our in-house pharmacist, we keep him medicated with pain killers and antibiotics.

Poor Veto...he will never have a Cheshire cat smile...(archive photo)

Gremlins in the machine(s)...

When Sammy's birth neared late last year, we decided it was time to get our first ever dishwasher. So we decided to get a matching Kitchen Aid dishwasher to match the stainless steel refrigerator we bought a couple of years before. Then it was like, uh, the cooktop vent does not match...so we got one from Kitchen Aid. Then it was like, the wall oven did not match...Kitchen Aid yet again. Our house was built in 1960, so the existing cabinet only allowed a 24" wall oven...luckily (so we thought) Kitchen Aid had a matching model. We also bought a new cooktop too...though not Kitchen Aid.

In the past year, we've had the following problems:

• cooktop's ceramic top came chipped. Sears quickly replaced it. Works fine.
  
• dishwasher burnt out while we had 3 children under the age of 2 in the house. Once fixed, has worked fine since.
  
• cooktop vent's "squirrel cage fan" came broken, Sears replaced it. Works fine now.
  
• wall oven keeps burning out a thermostat whenever we run the self clean. This has now happend for a third time. Paul called up Kitchen Aid and they extended the warranty for an additional year to "allow time to fix the problem." We anticipate having to purchase the extended warranty.
  

Here are the lessons we learned:

• A married couple's quality of life improves significantly with the addition of a dishwasher.
  
• Trendy maybe, but stainless steel is a pain. You have to constantly clean it and even then it never really looks clean enough. And if you have kids, get used to the stainless appliances looking like a crime scene from CSI.
  
• Never try to make grilled-cheese sandwiches directly on a ceramic cooktop. (This is an inferred lesson we got from someone else who made toast on a ceramic cooktop)
  
• Buying a decent brand name is no guarantee of trouble-free operation.
• If you buy a self clean oven, make sure you run the self clean multiple times during the warranty period.
  

Paul can hear laughing gremlins inside our wall oven...

Warm and Orange...

Backwards. It seems that every winter cap that Paul puts on Sammy...he puts it on backwards. And Paul doesn't figure it out until he brings Sammy to daycare and they have to tell him...looking at Paul like he is some sort of negligent parent. Anyway, here are some pics Michele took of Sammy (with the backwards hat) today before we had to take him to daycare.

"Someone please stop my parents from dressing me!"

As always, Sammy takes adversity in stride...

Looks are deceiving...

Perhaps the handsomest cat we have ever seen, Veto looks impressive until he moves. He is about as graceful as a...well, let's face it...Veto is not even remotely graceful. But he is a loving, gentle cat who enjoys being around people. Purring all the while, he lets Sammy crawl all over him and pull tufts of fur from his belly.

Veto...the 18 pound wonder cat...