Christmas 2008 - End of Day

Sammy finished off Christmas day by snuggling with his Aunt Annie and watching Ratatouille streamed over the Internet from NetFlix.

Note that Anne's eyes are closed...
...and the wine glass on the table is empty...
(so is the bottle!)

Christmas trains and lights...

Michele had to work Christmas day, so Sammy insisted we swing by the hospital to say "Hi" to her. While we were there, Michele demonstrated the little "train" that they use to send drugs from place to place within the hospital. Sammy seemed as if he got some good ideas for his Thomas wooden trains at home. Then, Aunt Annie drove us around town to look at the lit up homes.

Sammy learns the ins-and-outs of pharmaceutical rail transportation...

A Griswold-esque decorated home...

The only restaurant we saw with the "Open" sign lit...
...though we did not see anyone in there...

Christmas 2008 With Sammy...

Twas the night before Christmas...Sammy woke us up promptly at 5:30am.

Luckily we were able to coax him back to sleep until 8am. By that time, Sammy had a renewed urgency to go downstairs and see what Santa had left him. Sammy was really excited about the white horse he had been expecting from the merry old elf.

The loot just before Sammy came down stairs...
...if you look very closely...
...you can find King Tut in the nativity scene on the mantle...

Sammy and Michele at the top of the stairs...
...it's a family tradition for the kids to come down the stairs as we photograph them...
...notice Aunt Annie's reluctance to be photographed...

Sammy was all excited...

Sammy with his white horse...
...Michele and Veto...

Aunt Annie helping Sammy with his white horse and cowboy...

Who's idea was it to give Sammy a noise making...er...musical instrument?

Veto the cat in a sea of wrapping paper...

Sammy and Michele, inspecting the snowman on the front steps...

Santa was here...

Shh...Sammy is still asleep...

Santa was here...
...Sammy's "big" present is in the bag with all the snowmen on it...
...as Sammy's trains rumble by...

Patiently Waiting...

Earlier today, Veto set up vigil by the fireplace waiting for Santa Claus to arrive later tonight.

The table Veto is on is roughly 22" wide...
...note that our lovable--if somewhat non-genius cat--is pointed the wrong way...

Merry Christmas!

It's that time of year...

Just taking a quick moment to wish everyone Merry Christmas. Best wishes for health, happiness, and prosperity (yes, prosperity) in the New Year.

A Uke Christmas...

For some of us, Christmas comes early...

A couple of years before Sammy was born, Paul saw a ukulele for sale at Wal-Mart. It was a cheap, $20 toy/instrument, but he bought it anyway. He occasionally tinkered with it but never made much progress learning it. When Sammy came along, our little boy used the ukulele as his guitar--so we purchased a couple more to have around the house. Through our blog there have been occasional postings related to the ukulele. Earlier this year, Paul started trying to play the ukulele (a bit more earnestly) and Michele decided to buy him a decent quality instrument for this Christmas.

Michele did some research and decided to buy Paul a Ko'olau Pono PSO (soprano) ukulele. She told him before she bought it to make sure it would be one he'd like (hence Christmas coming early). We eagerly awaited its arrival this past Tuesday. It's a very nice instrument and you can tell the difference immediately between that and a cheap ukulele. Thanks Michele!

As it turns out, the ukulele is experiencing a bit of a resurgence in the last couple of years. It turns out, the New York Times is good for more than just telling you how to think politically. Take a look here. The ukulele is fun because it's small, easy to learn (2/3 the number of strings to worry about versus the guitar), and has an uplifting sound to it.

Paul's Ko'olau Pono PSO (soprano) ukulele...
...as Sammy's trains rumble by...

Sammy the Snowboy...

Today we got dumped on with 6" of snow. Word has it we will get some more. So Michele and Sammy decided to go out and make a snowman. As it turns out, this is the first snowman we've ever made with Sammy. Last year, we just let Sammy do snow chores.

Now, to the tune of "Frosty"...

Sammy the snowboy, is a happy jolly soul,
with a knitted cap, in ins'lated pants,
he is all set for the snow...

Sammy and his Mommy...

Sammy showing off his artwork...

The snowman, Sammy, and Michele...

The snowman with a button face....

The Challenged Ballot...

When Paul participated in the Great Minnesota 2008 Recount for the US Senate race between Coleman/Franken, he was in the position to challenge one ballot. This ballot had the ovals for both Franken and Coleman filled in...and it looked like it might get rejected as an over-vote (voting for more than one candidate). But there was a line through the Franken oval. At the Olmsted county recount, the Franken representative was content to let it get discarded. But Paul felt it was worth a shot contesting it--under the argument of "voter intent"--since seemingly the voter got cold feet about Franken and then switched to Coleman. The worst that could happen -- or so he thought -- was that the contested ballot would be discarded by the state canvassing board.

Today the canvassing board met...and video was streamed over the Internet by a Twin Cities newspaper. Paul watched/listened in, and started getting a bit concerned. The judges were somewhat liberal in dismissing Coleman contests of ballots (or so it would seem) and suddenly was worried that the ballot he had contested could somehow be contorted into a vote for Franken. Around 5pm the canvassing board started reviewing Olmsted county contested ballots. And there it was...the ballot Paul had contested. (Paul was partially concerned that it might be one of the ballots withdrawn by the candidates...to reduce the overall volume of contested ballots). But there it was being reviewed by the canvassing board. The board upheld the challenge, and Coleman picked up a vote!

Then the board adjourned for the day with Coleman ahead by a handful of votes. It will continue to see-saw for a while...but it was funny to see them quit for the day w/Coleman still ahead (Franken must be somewhere in Minnesota tonight angry about being denied the opportunity to claim having the lead for once in the ongoing recount).

We plan on giving a full account of Paul's recount experience--after all is said and done, but since this particular ballot was already decided by the state canvassing board, we thought it would be OK to post it now...given Paul's excitement.

Oh...and how might you ask does Paul know this was the ballot out of thousands of challenged ballots? Easy. There were only 22 ballots contested by Coleman in Olmsted county.

A screen-grab of the vote Paul contested...
...from the streaming video of the state canvassing board...
...click on it to enlarge...

In my yard, I don't care...

We seem to be accumulating a lot of stuff. Hmmm..here's an idea we stumbled across...

Recalled for the Recount...

After having volunteered for the Great Minnesota Recount of 2008 (see here), Paul was called back. Local election officials were recently directed to sort rejected absentee ballots, placing them into piles among which were those rejected for reasons not covered in state law, or in error. So this past Thursday he was an observer at the Olmsted county sorting process. We'll give a more detailed posting after the recount is done and over...but for now you can follow this link to the local newspaper and see how Paul made the paper (though not credited) in the photo -- see red arrow in image immediately below.

A screen grab of the local news paper website...
...scaled down to protect intellectual property...
...note the red arrow to point out Paul...

Sammy and Santa 2008

Christmas is near and thus it became time for Sammy's yearly photo-op with Santa. This is the third year he's been photographed with the same Santa (there is only one Santa, isn't there?). Click here to see Sammy with Santa in 2006 and here to see him in 2007. Click here to see all the Sammy/Santa photos on one page. Note that in all the photos Santa has the same socks on ...let's hope Mrs. Claus is washing them between years.

Christmas Train...

Tonight we took Sammy to see the "Christmas Train." It was a DM&E train decorated for Christmas with Santa and live music over by the Hy-Vee at Barlow Plaza. It was exceptionally cold, but Sammy braved the elements like a trooper. Afterward, we had hot chocolate (though Sammy opted for "cold chocolate milk").

The Christmas train...

Parking was an Arctic zoo...
...luckily we found a great spot nearby...

Michele and Sammy wait for Paul to catch up...

Sammy donates some canned goods for the less fortunate...

Sammy pulled his hat way down to keep warm...

Michele and Sammy...

Conversations with Sammy about families...

Sammy's Aunt Annie wrote this guest blog entry...

Before my parents returned to Texas, after two months in Minnesota since Mom's back surgery at the Mayo Clinic, we all sat around my brother's dining room table and had a conversation with Sammy...twice.

Conversation #1 (Prompted by Sammy's comment that I was Diane's "friend.")

Aunt Annie: Where's Daddy's mom?
Sammy : Right there. (as he pointed his finger to Grandma)
Aunt Annie: Where's my mom?
Sammy: Home. (laughter all around the table)
Aunt Annie: Where's Diane's mom?
Sammy: Home. (laughter again.)
Aunt Annie: Grandma is my mom.
Sammy: No, she's Daddy's mom.
Aunt Annie: Grandma is Diane's Mom, too.
Sammy: NO! She's Daddy's mom!

Aunt Diane enters the conversation.

Diane (while holding up 4 fingers): Grandma had 4 babies. Baby Annie (she points at me), Baby Diane (pointing to herself), Baby David and Baby Paul (she points to Sammy's daddy). So, she is Annie's mom, my mom, David's mom and Daddy's mom.
Sammy: No. Grandma is Daddy's mom.

Grandma, with her hand on Aunt Diane's shoulder, speaks...

Grandma: Diane is my daughter.
Diane: Grandma is my mom, Sammy!
Sammy: No, Grandma is Daddy's mom.
Grandma: Daddy is my son and Diane is my daughter.
Sammy: No. Daddy's my son and Diane's my daughter.
Grandma (with a laugh) : Aunt Diane is my daughter.
Sammy (about to cry and with his bottom lip sticking out like a bird perch): NO! SHE'S MY DAUGHTER! (Imagine...all adults in the room, trying to keep from roaring with laughter.)

So, ended lesson 101 on moms, dads and children.

Conversation #2 (one week later)

Aunt Annie: Where's Daddy's mom?
Sammy: Right there. (finger pointing at Grandma)
Aunt Annie: Where's my mom?
Sammy: Your mom is at home. ("at home" was said with emphasis!)
Aunt Annie: Where's Diane's mom?
Sammy: Diane's mom is at home. (strong emphasis again on the same phrase)
Aunt Annie (pointing at Grandma): My mom is right there.
Sammy: No, that's Daddy's mom.
Aunt Annie: And, right next to my mom is my dad.
Sammy: No, that's Daddy's dad.

Sammy wasn't buying any of it. Grandma and Grandpa belonged to Daddy, only Daddy, and that was that. They could only have one kid and that was Daddy.

We decided to wait until he believes us about moms and dads before we teach him about brothers and sisters.

Squanderville and Thriftville

We have a subscription to Fortune magazine. In 2003, we came across an article by Warren Buffett where he issued a warning about our continuing trade imbalance. We recalled the article lately, as the federal government seems to be "printing money" to get out of the current financial crisis. It's worth reading the article.

"Sooner or later the Squanderville government, facing ever greater payments to service debt, would decide to embrace highly inflationary policies -- that is, issue more Squanderbucks to dilute the value of each. After all, the government would reason, those irritating Squanderbonds are simply claims on specific numbers of Squanderbucks, not on bucks of specific value. In short, making Squanderbucks less valuable would ease the island's fiscal pain."

The question we seem to be asking ourselves is, "How do we plan to protect our Squanderbucks against inflation?" Personally, we tried to decide between US Savings bonds, gold, stocks, a combination thereof, or McDonald's gift certificates. The winner you might ask? Sammy voted for the most reliable way to continue buying Happy Meals. On that we have to agree... if we had the choice from living Squanderville, Thriftville, or McDonald's PlayLand...we'd choose the land with the clown...oh, we mean Ronald McDonald.

Cowboys, Mommies, and Ice Cream

Back in October, Cowboy Sam had some ice cream with his Mommy.

Samzelles...

While Paul's parents were here (for his Mom's surgery and Thanksgiving), his Dad made dozens upon dozens of pizzelles:

A pizzelle (pronounced with ts sound, like "pizza") is a traditional Italian waffle cookie made from flour, eggs, sugar, butter or vegetable oil, and flavoring (often vanilla, anise, or lemon zest). Pizzelle can be hard and crisp or soft and chewy depending on the ingredients and method of preparation, although the traditional pizzelles are hard and crisp.

Pizzelle were originally made in the Abruzzo region of south-central Italy. The name comes from the Italian word for "round" and "flat" (pizze); this is also the meaning of the word pizza. Many other cultures have developed a pizzelle-type cookie as part of their culture. It is known to be one of the oldest cookies. Pizzelle are known as ferratelle in the Lazio and Molise regions of Italy.

The cookie dough or batter is put into a pizzelle iron, which resembles a waffle iron. The pizzelle iron is held by hand over a hot burner on the stovetop, although some models are electric and require no stove. Typically, the iron stamps a snowflake pattern onto both sides of this thin golden-brown cookie, which has a crisp texture once it is cooled. There are also several brands of ready-made pizzelle available in stores.

Pizzelle are popular during Christmas and Easter. They are often found at Italian weddings, alongside other traditional pastries such as cannoli.

It is also common for two pizzelle to be sandwiched with cannoli cream or hazelnut spread.

Our family makes the pizzelles more on the "crisply" side. Sammy loves them.

As Grandpa D makes pizzelles in the background...
...Sammy shows his mother how to make a pie...

A man of uncommon taste...
...Sammy with a pizzelle and a Happy Meal...

First real snow of the year...

We've had snow already this year, but today's snow was the first decent accumulation we've had so far. Decent in the sense that it was something we could take Sammy outside to play with. So without further introduction, Sammy in the snow...

Sammy was all smiles as we pulled him around in his sled...

Mommy's turn to pull Sammy...

Sammy's first snow angel...

Dancin' Johanna...

Johanna has been taking dancing lessons. Back in September she took part in a performance. We look forward to her next one!

Front Row: Johanna
Second Row: Steve, Hewan, Jessica, Kathleen, Maggie, Paul, Mary

Pumpkin hunting 2008...

Back in September we went pumpkin hunting. Here are a few snapshots...

Sammy shows his super-human strength...
...he was juggling those three pumpkins...
...but we didn't get the camera out in time...

So many to choose from...

Sammy posing on a saddle...
...which he was very reluctant to get off of...
...very...

We took a tour of the apple orchard...

Yes, it is what it looks like...
...so far as we could tell...
...a large tree growing out of an old silo...

Serendipitously, there was this sign at the orchard...

Trip to Guadalupe Shrine

Almost two years ago, when Anne/Diane/Paul went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (in La Crosse, Wi.) to see their brother who happened to be there. At the time, the shrine was still being built.

The the shrine is now completed--and Paul's parents wanted to visit it as well. This past October (just before Paul's mother's surgery at the Mayo Clinic) we took them there. Along with us came Anne, Diane, Sonny, and Barb. And of course, no trip to Southwest Wisconsin is complete without visiting our favorite Italian-American restaurant--DiSciascio's Restaurant.

The finished Shrine from the front view...

A view of Annie on the long walk up the hill to the shrine...

A side entrance to the shrine...

Interior of the shrine...

Sammy outside the visitors' center...

Enjoying dessert at DiScascios...

Sonny and Barb...

Paul's parents...