Baby On The Way

(12/27/04) Henry feels Mommy's belly tonight as she tells him about the baby. Her due date is in five weeks, but if she's early like Henry was she could come in 3 to 4 weeks. His emotions run the gamut as he learns about the little girl in Mommy's tummy.

Christmas Day

(12/25/04) We're up at 6:30 and Santa has indeed visited, bringing a jet airplane, a big crane (that was made by Grandpa Dale but delivered by Santa), an abacus, and a camp chair. A camera from Grandma Maxine, "elephun" from Aunt Kim, a great rocket from Grandma and Grandpa Dewey, and ornaments from Aunt Jan.

In the evening we celebrate Jill's birthday, first with a prime rib dinner and then with cake and champagne with friends. The cake is made to look like the Big Island of Hawaii, one of Jill's favorite places, and a place we usually visit this time of year.

Christmas Eve

(12/24/04) The Wenzels join us for a late lunch, and we all pose for some family portraits before leaving for the children's service at Trinity. After the service, they come back to our house for some Christmas cake and champagne.

Henry finishes preparing Santa's Plate - a gingerbread cookie, a glass of milk, and some carrots for the reindeer. It's bedtime now.

Geocaching Again

(12/22/04) I fired up my GPS this morning to find this spot, which is the ruin of a 1905 water tunnel into the Santa Ynez mountains. I could hear the water rushing inside. For the curious, it's at N 34 28.041, W 119 39.763.

Trolley Tour

(12/19/04) Tonight we toured Santa Barbara in an old-fashioned trolley, seeing the best of each neighborhood's Christmas lights. We did this last year with a few friends, who this year booked the whole car. We all donned Elf hats, sang a few carols, and had a lot of fun.

Homemade Goodies

(12/18/04) Jill finishes a week of work in the kitchen, preparing homemade toffee, truffles, and pinwheels for some lucky local friends and neighbors.

Santa at School

(12/17/04) On the last day of the semester at Joyful Noise, Santa appears to hand out candy canes and ask everyone what they want. Henry hops right up on Santa's lap and says he wants "a big jet plane". He also wants "a big crane", which he asked Santa for last month in Virginia.

School Photos

(12/15/04) Henry's first-ever school photos, taken and printed by Teddy Bear Portraits from Gallatin, TN.

Christmas Photo - 2004

(12/9/04) We want to enclose a photo in our Christmas card this year, so our friend Aaron Transki came this morning and took some photos of us in the garden. We like these three the best. We picked the one on the right because it shows the baby, who we have nicknamed "Flower", and because it's the best photo of Henry.

Happy Birthday, Jill!

(12/3/04) Jill's friend Kristin Kirby and I plotted a surprise party for her 36th. Jill thought we were stopping by Kristin and Kevin's house to pick them up for dinner, but she was surprised to see a birthday sign in the front yard and her party underway inside.