Henry the Elf

Henry sees the decorations and says they are good.

Don't Worry Jesse!

When we head back to Portland and move in with Jesse and Carly we are going to be splitting up the cooking duties, with each person getting a night and each couple getting a night and then one leftover/take-out night. This ad comes to mind when I think of Jesse cooking!

More Cousins

In the last picture we saw my clear weight advantage at a young age but as we got older Doug grew faster then I did. Here we are boxing, or as I remember it, me getting my ass kicked. I have dropped my guard and it looks like Doug has just missed with his haymaker. The look on my face is classic, he missed but I some how still stunned. I think the wind of it might have hobbled me a little. I wasn't much of a fighter but I can take solace in not being a quitter.

Cousins

A little look back at me and my cousin Doug. We are one week apart in age but apparently I am gaining weight a little quicker. It may be because I have both spoons though. I think those were Doug's smokes, that's how he stayed so thin, his pack a day habit. Thanks for sharing this picture Aunt Jamie!

Henry is crawling now!

We have Lakers in HD

Since Fox Sport West is the closet regional sport stations we have Lakers and Clippers in HD. It is a magical thing to turn on the TV and see the Lakers playing. Hearing Stu bemoan the lack of ball movement is music to my ears. Jake is pretty excited about it too, that little guy just loves him some Lakers!

Fully adjusted

As great as it was to have family around for the last two months there is something to said for routine as well. We have all been sleeping in until 8 AM and getting some good naps in between. The boys seem to be fully adjusted to Hawaiian time again and enjoying having their own space to sleep. We have had some great beach time and Kate has gotten away on her own to read and have coffee with no kids. We are settling back into the day to day but still trying to enjoy each moment in the last three weeks we have here. Scott and I are going to get out for a round of golf next week and we might even make it out to the big island for a weekend exploration. We are having a really great time after some struggles early on and we know we will look back on this time and remember how great it was for us and the boys (Jake and Scott included)

But it wasn't a truck

We were all sitting in our bedroom, Kate on the couch with Henry; Finn, Jake and I on the floor watching a little TV and playing with the cars. Jake was exploring the space trying to see what he wasn't supposed to play with and what was OK. I turned to see what Jake was getting into and when I looked back there was a truck coming at me. It hit me in the lip as I was laying on the ground and there was Finn finishing his follow through. I immediately got up and grabbed Finn to take him to timeout. I told him he does not throw trucks and that hurt Daddy when he hit him with the truck.

"You hit me right in the face with that truck and now I have an owie on my lip!"

I put him in his timeout chair and closed the door. He was crying and calling for me saying

"I'm sorry I hit you in the face with the truck daddy!" "i'm sorry I hit the truck in the face with daddy" "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for trucks!"

I waited for him to calm down a bit and for me to calm down as well after taking a matchbox car to the mouth at 3 feet away. Then I went in and sat on the bed and asked him

"Why did you throw the truck at me Finn?"

Crying almost hysterically he responded

" I'm saw saw sorry daddy for for for......Daddy it wasn't a tr tr truck, it was a semi!"

It was all I could do to keep from laughing. He knew he was in trouble and that throwing the truck was wrong but he couldn't let this go on any longer. It wasn't a truck, it was a semi and if he was going to have to face the punishment he wanted the record to clearly reflect the make and model of the thrown vehicle. He apologized for throwing the Semi and at me and told me that we only throw balls. H asked if he could kiss my owie for me and then grabbed my lips with both hands and pulled them to him still sobbing a little bit. I am amazed at how quickly you can go from having a good time to being so angry with him you could scream to fighting back laughing because they are so freaking cute. It is a rollercoaster ride this parenting.

Best of 2008

It is that time of year when everyone likes to list off their favorites for others to admire and make fun of. I like looking at others so I will throw something out there to be criticized as well:


Favorite Albums of 2008

Ra Ra Riot - Rhumb tree

Santogold - Santogold

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

It was a good year for music for me and the three albums above I really really like. Dying is Fine by Ra Ra Riot is probably the most listened to song for me this year. I found it on a KCRW podcast and for some reason I just gravitated towards it. Finn and I have had a number of living room dance parties to the Santogold album and it got me listening to more R&B. As for Cold Play that is just good times that album. It isn't groundbreaking or new but it is great to listen to and a look at Last.fm on my account shows that I listened to that album more then any other. I really like the new Counting Crows cd and just this last couple of weeks I have been listening to Bon Iver thanks to Ben and Jen. Good call guys.

Books:

I don't really get to read books that come out this year because I usually get them second hand or check them out and there just isn't that great availability for the new stuff. I will list the top three books that I read this year instead of the top three books that came out this year.

Fiction

The Amazing Adventures of Kaviler and Clay - Michael Chabon

The Brother K - David James Duncan

A Million Pieces - James Frey

The top two books were recommendations from John and Matt and so far they have a great track record for books. Both recommended The Road last year and that book is by far the most impactful book I have read. I enjoyed Brothers for the story telling as well as the proximity to where I grew up. While I wasn't ever into comic books the Chabon book made that world come alive and made me want to read comics.

Non-Fiction

Simply Christian - N.T. Wright

Last Season - Phil Jackson

The Struggle for Iran - Christopher De Beguille

An eclectic group of books there but probably captures me pretty well. Faith, basketball, and Culture. It was hard to read about the snake bit Lakers season but really great as well. The N. T. Wright book is simple and profound, laying out what it means when we say Christian in a way reminiscent of C. S. Lewis. The struggle for Iran was an interesting look at a country that I hear about all the time but know little about. The book focused on the transition between a secular Iran into a Religious state.

I don't have any movies that I can think of right now so I will bring this post to an end. Please respond with any of your favorites or give me the link to your own lists.

North East Goodness

Here is the house that we will be living in starting in January. Casa de RitRoh will be lively and spacious with room for visitors to sleep in real beds. No more Blow up mattresses for Mark and Kendra, congratulations kids you get a real room. Please get your reservations in early as we are already starting to get requests for prime spring and summer time spots and we want to make sure that you get the dates your looking for. Can you tell I'm a little excited about the new place, just a little.

This moment, here, now

With all of us up at 5:30 this morning we walked to the beach and watched the sun rise. Finn played int he sand letting the warm water run up to his feat and then running back up to where Kate and I were sitting with Henry. The boys slept great last night and we felt pretty energized to get the most out of these last three weeks together in Hawaii. My brother recently told me about how him and his wife were really content in the moment and that has encouraged me to find that for myself. That sense of being fully engaged in what is happening right here and right now and letting the future live a little out of the spotlight a bit. Like I said we are really keyed for that right now but we will see how long that lasts. Things like this need constant watering to grow.

Transition away from transition

Four more weeks in Hawaii and then Finn and I will be heading back to Portland. It has been a good and tough time in Hawaii. Working from home has been wonderful, seeing Jake grow and being part of this formative time of his life has been and honor but not being able to get away and having 3 kids 2 and under has been tough. We had grand plans of financial gains that have gone largely unrealized but we have had relational gains that more then make up them. It has been harder then we thought it was going to be but we would do it again in a heartbeat. As the time is moving towards our departure though we can't help but look forward to the new, to the horizon. We will be moving in with friends in a 5 bedroom house is trendy North East Portland. A block from the Max and a great park and walking distance to two Breweries, if that isn't heaven I am not sure what is. We are in for tough times working out our lives in the midst of another family. trying to learn the steps to a new dance when we all have different tunes in mind. As usual communication is going to be key, as is thick skin and short memories. For Kate the opportunity to set up house is what she is looking forward to most. To have rooms that she can't arrange and re-arrange is necessary for a sense of home and she is already diagraming our room without seeing the room. For the last couple of transitions we have found that things don't work out the way we think they are going to and we know this next one will follow suit. We want to be more aware of our expectations and how we manage and communicate those. We want to have more contentment in the now even if it doesn't look like what we imagined from farther away. We have found that contentment in Hawaii after some false starts and frustrations and I think we are in a good place going in. I hope more then anything that the transitions are coming to an end for a while. I have a terrible sense of displacement and want to find where I fit now. I'm ready to pause in the stream now, to let the silt settle so i can see the bottom, see where I have been and maybe get a better picture of where we are going. 

Thanksgiving Travels

Thanksgiving this year found us back in Iowa at Aunt Barbs house. We drove through the night to get there and had a wonderful dinner on Thanksgiving day. Naps, Wii, and pinochle were enjoyed and a lively game of spoons let a couple in need of new nails. Friday we got back in the car to head farther West to have Thanksgiving with Grandma Weezie and the McGrail clan. It was another wonderful meal and great chance to catch up with everyone. Finn got to play with some of the same toys that Tom Tom played with when he was Finn's age. Saturday the snow started to fall while we did some antique shopping and it continued through the drive back to Indiana. We are almost back home now, well back to Hawaii anyway, we will be back in Portland at the end of the year. We had a great time seeing everyone and getting some nice fall and winter before heading back to tropics.

Finding Fall

We have left the island to have Thanksgiving in Iowa, catch up with old friends in Ohio, and try and remember why we left Indiana again. We have replaced Tropic breezes with bitter cold and boardies for zipup hoodies. It is really great to experience fall and play in the leaves. To get a Pumpkin Spice Latte and cup it with both hands as the steam warms your face. We went in search of friends and fall and we have found and loved both.

Look at me daddy my daddy

"Look at me, LOOK AT ME HENRY, look at me." Finn says while guiding Henry's face towards his so he can sing to him. Finn likes to look you in the eye when he is talking to you, or singing, or kissing, or doing just about anything with you. He wants to know your listening, know that you can see him and understand him. He seems to be from an earlier time when things like that mattered, when men were judged on the strength of their handshake and the eye contact they maintained. I think Finn would have been as well liked back then as he is now at Aunt Barbs house for Thanksgiving. He is trying to tell the dog something and nose to nose as he looks the dog in the eye. The dog doesn't seem to appreciate the jesture as much as people do. Come to think of it Henry is not such a big fan either. I am a fan though, I love it when he grabs my face and turns me to look at him. Then that little hand lingers on my beard while he explains to me the difference between a tow truck and a tanker truck. I love seeing him try to get eye to eye with another kid to say hi to them or to apologize for taking their toys. I hope that trait sticks with him as he grows. I hope that he can always look people in the eye because he has the confidence and the clean conscience that it takes to do that. We just have to work on firming up that handshake now.