Christmas!!

Hello again! So it has been another long time since I've posted, but these little rugrats are keeping Tricia and I very occupied. So a quick summary...we have all adjusted well to me working from home. There have been some growing pains but since I started during the holiday season it has been good since work has been a little slow with everyone taking vacation. Around the house we have decided to add a built in desk to the kitchen so that Tricia will stop complaining that I stole hers. Being the master carpenter that I am, I hung them myself (I sure hope nobody is sitting under them when they fall!!), and now we are just waiting to pick out the counter top.


As for Christmas, we had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's up in CT and the girls got to experience their first white Christmas. It was very exciting for them to build a snowman and go sledding. There was one scary moment when Leah went down a hill by herself and Grampa was strategically placed by some trees to protect her from hitting them but Leah's sled then went zooming by heading straight to a 5 ft drop off (steep hill) right in to the woods. Luckily, although it might not have felt lucky to Leah, she ran into some big rocks instead of going down into the woods. Seeing the whole thing unfold from a distance and trying to run after her will go down as the most terrifying thing I've witnessed this year. In the end, Leah had a minor scratch to her nose since she braced herself with her hands. She was also in good spirits afterwards saying, "Mommy, did you see me going fast. I went by Grandpa and he couldn't catch me and then I hit rocks. Next time I'll put my hands out and smash those rocks away!!"


Anyways, here are some pictures from Tricia and my new camera (Thank You Hunts!!!). There was a moment a day into our trip were we looked at the camera and saw we had already taken close to 700 pictures!!

Where did the Fall go?

Living in Charlotte, I often wonder where did the Fall go? With the girls going to school and time flying not only does it seem like it's Thanksgiving when just yesterday was Memerial Day, but Charlotte weather makes the transition from Summer to Winter in a couple of days instead of a whole season.

Anyways, I'll try to write more later but here's a video clip of the girls to last you all a while...

Sshhh...Don't tell the Roadies, but this is what real men do!!

So I won't rat out my accomplice on this because we could be running from the mountain bike police if we are found out, but after two weeks of not riding I was really wanting to go. Unfortunately the rule of the responsible bike rider is to not ride after it rains, at least not till the trails are dry (about 24 hours), and we just had a day and a half of rain. So disregarding that 'law' we snuck out and rode some trails. Now let me just say I thought it would be like any other ride for the most part but what we encountered was one of the best rides I've ever done. It was fun sloshing through puddles and some mud, jumping over fallen trees and trying to avoid 2 inch spiders. It was like we were kids playing in the rain (which I guess we kind of were). So below are some pictures of my new bike looking like it should...used!!

Where Did All the Women Go??

So today marks the departure of all the women from the households of Hope Community Church attenders. This weekend will be filled with single dads trying to hold on to their sanity while managing the children (unless you and your boyfriend plan on camping out at Tsali - not that I'm jealous at all). The weekend will be filled with figuring out how much Benadryl is officially legal for a child to consume (just kidding moms!!). It's always fun heading in to this weekend seeing how the moms worry that the dads won't be able to handle it and how the dads think everything will be fine. I guess it's a good sample for us dads to see what it's like to be a stay at home mom, minus cleaning the house, doing the dishes, and doing the laundry (I mean it's only a couple of days it's not like the house will get dirty and the girls have plenty of clothes). Of course the dual edge sword is when the moms ask how the weekend went if the dads so it was smooth sailing then the moms are mad and then if the dads say it was horrible and hard then the moms say I told you so. In all fairness I think my weekend will be a combination of smooth sailing and hard(hopefully that will dull the sword edges some).

Side note: Don't ever, ever laugh at 3 or 4 guys with 6 to 8 kids in tow, you might just end up adopting one of those rugrats!!

Soccer!!

We'll she's no Mia Hamm, but then again I wouldn't want her to be a Tarheel...