Alex's 6 Year Checkup

We took Alex to his yearly checkup today and he is doing just fine. He's over his ear infection except for a little bit of fluid behind the eardrum. For those keeping score, he was 48.5 lbs. and 45.5 in. tall - just at the 50th %ile for his age. He's growing up to fast - but at least he's healthy. He was just happy to have a checkup with no shots.

Castaway Bay

We just got back from Castaway Bay in Sandusky, OH. It is a hotel with an indoor waterpark attached. We got their yesterday, checked in and went straight to the waterpark. We broke for dinner and spent some time in the arcade where we won enough tickets to get a toy crab. We crashed in our room and got up the next day, checked out, and did the waterpark again until this evening. We're tired, but we had a lot of fun. For the record, someone else bagged the shark.

Our Year in Pictures 2005

This is a video I made using Photostory 3 for WindowsXP. It is a journey in pictures through 2005. It is about 11.5 minutes long but a lot of fun if you are a fan of our children, which of course are featured prominently throughout as they are what we most often take pictures of. I intentionally did not include pictures from my relief effort in Louisiana in October - I wanted this to be about everything our family did together this year. I may make a separate photostory with those. This video player is courtesy of youtube.com. If you have trouble playing it, make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player installed on your computer. It is free, safe and easy to download from here. If it won't play, follow this link.

Decluttering for 2006

I've recently set some short term goals for myself that I try to look at everyday. A couple of them are centered around decluttering our house and my office. One problem that I have is that I never seem to have enough time. Time spent at the office decluttering is more time away from my family, for example. The problem with this logic trap is that clutter takes time anyway. It takes time on a regular basis to put it away, store it, move it, think about it, etc. not to mention the time it takes to recover after tripping over it. I think about it this time of year as we are giving and receiving presents to/from loved ones. We try not to give people things that would just clutter up their lives. We also try to integrate our new gifts with our current lifestyle and small house. Let me be clear, clutter is not necesarily trash (though trash most assuredly is clutter). Clutter can be old things that you've been packratting for years or a shiny new gift that you have no use for. Decluttering is not an event but an ongoing process. There will be events - like decluttering a particular room or cabinet - but it also involves planning places and uses for the things you do have and thinking about non-cluttering - avoiding clutter before it enters your life. An excellent source for learning about clutter and decluttering is just about any book by Don Aslett.
Starting this week and moving into 2006, I'm going to try to systematically declutter my life. I want my life, home and office filled with things that make me happy, productive, and at peace, that let me interact with my family and friends, that help me remove stress and not add stress. I want to share pictures and videos with those that care to see them, instead of just store them on a hard drive or on a shelf. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Home decluttering will require planning and compromise with Becky. She and I have different perspectives on this sometimes, but we've made it work before. I may describe some of the process here if I think it would be useful. Decluttering pays dividends everyday. Time to get started.

The Wardrobe Beckons

Becky and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe last night and we would strongly recommend this to all. I have always been a fan of the Narnia books. Becky has read this one and seen the animated version as well. This movie version was absolutely the way it should have been done as a live action movie. The performances were excellent by all, especially the children. The digital animation was great. Since several of the characters are animals, they could blend shots of a real pack of wolves running with animated shots of them talking without us being able to tell the difference. This effect was done nicely with horses too. There are some intense scenes and swordfighting violence, but virtually no gore. We didn't feel like we could let our kids see it yet, but at the same time we were eager for the day when we could show it to them because it was a great movie from a great book. I got Alex the book set for Chrstimas and I plan on reading them to him over the next year.

Children's Wonderland

We took this kids back to the Children's Wonderland at the Lucas County Rec Center. It is a large collection of displays of winter and holiday dioramas animated with animatronic figures. The highlights were the Christmas train and the talking tree that enticed us to sing "Rudolph" with him. Alex is still amazed at how the tree knew he was there and would talk to him. Aaron loved a large globe spinning from the ceiling above the Holiday Traditions of the World display.

Alex's Winter Concert 2005

Today was Alex's winter concert at school. THe entire preschool/kindergarten class performed songs they had been working on all semester so there was a mix of general song and rhythm exercises and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course several winter holiday tunes. The biggest hit (and kid favorite) was "All I Want For Chrithmuth Ith My Two Front Teeth". Alex was just getting over a cold but he did a great job. We were all there to see it and Aaron was very tickled to se "Bubba" up on stage. He even danced to many of the songs in front of his auditorium chair when the kids on stage were dancing and clapped when everyone else did. We can't wait for the spring concert.

Putting up the tree

We put up our new artificial tree last week and let the boys put some balls on it. It is 7 1/2 feet tall with lights already attached. The ends of the branches are shaped like spruce leaves which overall makes for a very nice effect. The lights have an attached foot pedal for easy on and off. The kids loved decorating it, though Alex tend to pick a favorite spot and cluster his ornaments. We redistributed them after they went to bed.

Alex's 6th Birthday

We spent Alex's 6th birthday in Oklahoma at Nana and Papa's house. It was also Thanksgiving. He got to have the party with his cousins Marli and Marcus. We had pizza and had a moon rock scavenger hunt to go with his Buzz Lightyear party. Then he opened some presents and had cake and ice cream. Later that evening we had Thanksgiving dinner.

Becky's Jewelry

Becky was introduced to making jewelry several months ago by her mom. She loves putting together earrings, bracelets, and necklaces and her pieces are looking great. She's even been taking some classes at a local college. Here's a few of her recent ones.

Paella

I tried a new recipe for paella last night that was very tasty. I modified it slightly from a recipe in Parade magazine by Paul Angelucci. It is a modification of a traditional Spanish dish. It even came out a little sweet. This recipe serves 8 - the next time I'm going to cut it in half. Prepare as much ahead of time as you can.

For the rice:
2 Tbs olive oil, 2 cups converted rice, 1 large onion - chopped, 2 Tbs chopped garlic, 1 c. salsa, 4 c. hot chicken broth

For the rest:
2 Tbs olive oil, 1 large onion - chopped, 1 lb. smoked sausage - sliced 1/2 in. thick, 2 tsp paprika, 1 lb. chicken breast cut into 1 1/2 in. pieces, 2 carrots - cut into 1/2 inch dice, 1 red bell pepper - seeded and cut into 1/2 in. dice, 2 Tbs. chopped garlic, salt and pepper to taste, 1 lb large peeled shrimp, 2 c. frozen peas - thawed

For the Rice: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the rice and onion: cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice begins to brown lightly - about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the salsa and stir until liquid is absorbed. Stir in the hot chicken broth and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

For the rest: Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and smoked sausage and cook, stirring, until the onion softens. Sprinkle in the paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and salt/pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently until the chicken is cooked through. Add the shrimp and peas and cook until the shrimp turns pink. Mix it with the rice and serve.

Hairspray the Musical

On Sunday we saw the matinee showing of Hairspray the Musical. Neither of us had seen it before, nor the John Waters movie on which it was based. This was a great show - one of the best we have ever seen. The music was very catchy and varied. We really loved the message in the show - you can't always judge a book by its cover. Please try to see this whenever you can. You'll love it.

Alex's Kid Party

Alex's birthday is in less than 2 weeks, but since it is so close to Thanksgiving every year (actually on it this year), it is hard to have a "kid" party without everyone being out of town. So, we had it today at Chuck E. Cheese's. Alex had about 17 of his friends there. They played games, rode rides, ate pizza, danced with Chucky and ate a little cake. Alex had a blast and it seemed like everyone else did too.

Sesame Street Live 2005

Last night we went to the 2005 production of Sesame Street Live when it came to the Seagate Convention Center. The theme was "Super Grover: Ready For Action!" and it was great. The kids got to see their favorite Sesame Street characters dance and sing about getting your superness by getting plenty of sleep, eating good food, keeping clean with good hygiene, and exercising your muscles. Both of them loved it.

Our Sweet Boys

Becky wanted a picture of the boys together for a special project she has planned. We couldn't have asked for sweeter smiles, and a nice hand hold from Aaron.

Alex's Kindergarten Picture

This is Alex's 2005-06 Kindergarten picture. What a great smile!

Surgery in the mobile clinic

On our first day in New Orleans, we set up a clinic from 9 to 5 in an empty hospital parking lot in a part of town that had been flooded. The first day started a little slow, but we got busier as word of our presence spread. Some New Orleans police officers came by and got immunizations that they hadn't had a chance to get yet. A few hours later one of the cops we helped brought in a fellow officer who had been injured in his own home. He had been using a carpet knife to cut out rotted carpet from his own home and had sliced right across his index finger. It missed major vessels and tendons, but needed to be sewn up. The nurses on our team cleaned it out and we quickly assembled a suture kit, sterile gloves, and suture. I was able to close the wound right there in the mobile VA truck that had come down from NY for us to use. He would have to follow up at an area hospital that had re-opened - the closest was 30-45 minutes away - to get the stitches out in a few days. I did 2 other laceration repairs in that location.

Katrina mission pictures are online

I've put pictures from my trip to Louisiana online at http://jevansfp.photosite.com/Katrina/. If you click on a picture on the bottom of the filmstrip, it will pop up to the center picture spot. If you click on the center picture, it will blow up to a larger one with captions and you can then use the arrow keys to move through one at a time. There is also a slideshow button which takes them fullscreen. On each of the single photo pages there is a "Save to my computer" link. If you need a higher quality copy to print, let me know and I'll email it to you. There were several pictures that didn't come out well on the disposable cameras I had - either too dark or out focus. You can use or share these however you wish. Also, please email me with any questions about any of the pictures. I am getting pictures from other people I was there with and will put some of the more interesting ones up on this blog with some more details.

Jason

Primary Care Strike Team 4

This picture was taken after we visited the Baton Rouge warehouse for the 1st time. The warehouse manager came out and took this with each of our cameras - what a great sport.

Top: Jason (me), Rich, Cliff, Rueben, Pam
Bottom: Cindy, Jen, Tracy, Jim, Mehrdad

Halloween 2005 - Buzz & Rex

Alex dressed up as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween this year - costume that he has been talking about for about 11 months now. He's already planning next year's. The goggle have headlamps on either side that turn on by clicking the goggles down over his eyes. This "Buzz pose" shows up so often in our un-costumed family pictures that it has banned from serious photos - this however was the perfect occasion for it. Aaron was about the cutest dinosaur we have ever seen. He even practiced a cute dinosaur stomp and roar.