JAMIE MAE!!!

This year we found it a little difficult to separate Birthday and Christmas for Jamie...I mean it wasn't real bad, but we find that the two could merge very easily if we are not careful. We want to always have her birthday be special aside from the special season of Christmas. With everything going on for the season, we forgot to even get her a balloon. She didn't seem too hurt about that:
Cards sometimes get thrown aside during the initial opening of a gift, but Jamie repeatedly went back and looked at it afterward. She has really enjoyed the cards she's received in the mail! (Thanks everyone!)
Not to let Jamie have all the fun, Caitin was quick to help out. By the way, who ever said dolls weren't dangerous? Jamie was OK, and Sarah's quick distraction technique quelled any tears.



Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Knaab for this puzzle that Jamie LOVES!

Happy Birthday to you...Jamie: (Are you done singing yet, 'cause I've got some cake-eating to do!)
And with a little help from mom, the candles were no problem! We made this little butterfly cake for her, and she seemed to like it, but we almost scrapped it to make one shaped like a goldfish cracker...that she would have gone Bonkers for!

PE

I finally received my results from the Professional Engineering exam. I passed! What a relief! Wow, now I'm an engineer. What shall I do first...? :P That's right, my first act is to stick out my tongue.

To all of you who helped and encouraged in some way or another...Thank You!

Weather 1 - Brandon 0

It snowed last night. We had a generous 4 to 5 inches on the ground this morning. I shoveled and then I geared up for the ride to work. Sarah indicated several times that I was crazy. OK, well just once using so many words.

The ride began just fine. Then I left my shoveled driveway.

Did you know that car tires leave compacted snow behind? Did you also know that the compacted snow trail is thick in the center and tapers on the edges. Have you ever driven down a rutted road and felt your car being pushed from side to side as you cross the ruts? That is what occured when I left the driveway. Only I was on my BIcycle. BI...meaning two wheels.

I impressed myself with an ability to recover from sideways slides. In less than a second, the skills I acquired dirtbiking kicked in. I straightened out and got moving.

In the more traveled wheelpath the going was easy, but when I pulled off to let cars pass I had to cross the compacted "ruts". This required attention to verticality and it also required down-shifting to account for the deep snow I was entering. This was manageable, and even a bit fun.

I forged ahead breaking snakelike trails when cars were passing and enjoying the wheelpath when the going was slow between lights. I worried a little going down the big hill of my commute, but I was cheered to see a familiar runner giving the thumbs up as we crossed paths. I made it down the hill with no incident.

With the most dangerous parts behind me, I pulled up to a red light and moved over into the deep stuff. I down-shifted while pedaling, but something went wrong. The chain wrapped up around the small front chainring and then slipped down between the ring and the frame. Remember that I was pedaling? I was also pedaling fast. When the chain slipped down, it lodged itself tightly in that little gap.

Really? A stuck chain? Today? I pulled and yanked and cranked on it until finally it came loose. Unfortunately it suffered a separated link in the process. That link made it twice through the rear derailleur before it gave up completely. A broken chain...on my first snow day.

You win, Weather, but I'll be back tomorrow.

Holidays Bring Out the Best

First of all, the best warm clothes: The stocking caps...

...and the nice warm gloves.
Then come the decorations: The Christmas lights...

...and the Christmas tree. Sarah commandeered tree decorating rights after the year I used all red lights. Fine by me. I'll just take pictures.

Jamie couldn't figure out how to get the stockings to stay on the tree.

The final product:

A close up of the angel on our tree...here's to hoping! I love all the projects Caitin does in her preschool. This is just one fine example.

Somewhere in my childhood I found the time to do tedius little projects during the holidays. I'm not sure I'd call it tradition, but after Thanksgiving I get a hankering for such things. This year I tried a new kind of snowflake. Apparently there's a whole style of art based around rolled paper. I saw some pictures online and decided to try it out. This little guy brought on a whole new level of tedius for me. I'm not likely to repeat this venture, but it was pretty cool how it turned out.

Before the Snow Comes...

Way back in the days of October, Caitin's preschool class took a field trip to Greenbluff to visit the pumpkin patch. Parents were invited, if they so desired, to meet them up there and watch the fun. Sarah so desired. She and Jamie joined the small crowd, and Sarah snapped these very cute pictures of our girls and their chosen pumpkins:

I love these pictures. I laugh at these pictures for two reasons:

1. Jamie and Caitin are cute little girls, and a smile or a chuckle can easily be evoked from me when looking at their poses.

2. The boots. Seriously, check out the boots ladies wear to the punkin patch. I suppose I'm a bit too practicle, because those boots REALLY make me laugh! I mean no offense, but I just don't get it.

Open Letter to The Weather

Dear Weather,

I've been rather enjoying the temperatures and precipitation levels of the fall season. As a first-year "true" (majority) bicycle commuter I was certainly worried about what it would be like when the temperatures dropped below 50F. Yeah, I know I kinda' wimped out when you broke out the rain in early November, but to my defense I had other priorities that had sucked me away from riding about a month earlier than you brought on the wet. Now, though, I have found a balance of clothing and speed that have been quite pleasant. I'm quite happy to be back in the saddle.

You know, you help create some great sunrises and sunsets. I've seen each one this week. Funny how the earth's tilt allows me to catch you at your best at the beginning and end of an 8-hour day. On that note, I'll miss those daylight moments in the coming winter months. This morning it was on the early side of dark when I started my ride. That's why I'm writing. I'd like to ask a favor.

Bring on the snow.

Yup, I'm asking for the white stuff. The fluffy stuff. The melty, makes a road dirty and dangerous stuff. You see, if I don't get daylight then I'm ready for that quiet and serene orange glow of the city blanketed in snow. The skiff by the river this morning doesn't cut it either. I'm hoping for a solid blanket. Would you do that for me?

Last year was superb. You brought it all at once. 40 inches in three days. I'm not sure I can ride that, but I would really, really enjoy it! OK, so shovelling was a challenge, I'll give you that. You almost had a couple of my neighbors beat. I've gotta thank you, though, because now we are more like family than simply neighbors.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the challenge of the winter commute. Please don't let me down.

Sincerely,

Brandon

P.S. Please don't tell Sarah about this request.

Hot or Cold?

Do you sleep hot or cold? Do you prefer getting into a warm bed or a cool bed? I guess it depends on the season, but generally I like getting into a cool bed and then staying partly cool and mostly warm. Sarah is the opposite. Make sense? Let me illustrate:

First of all, here is Sarah (seriously, she is in there). She likes it warm when she gets in. Please note that my side of the bed is open to the air, and is cool. Also, note that the foot-end of the bed is un-tucked. This is very important for the following reason:

I can't fall asleep if my feet are constricted and hot. I also can't sleep if my mid-section is cool. Like I said, partially cool and mostly warm. In the winter the covers are right up to my neck. In the summer they only cover from knees to mid-chest.

Also note, that once I have fallen asleep all these rules go out the window, and I just like to be warm...but not hot.

By the way, these photos also illustrate the new bedding that Tracy procured for us. (Thanks Tracy!) Becuase of that bedding we re-decorated the room (Thanks again, Tracy!):

PIE!

This year Thanksgiving was about a lot of things, but it was nice to focus some activities on the proper activity of...eating pie.

I have not always been a fan of pie. As a youngin' I didn't like pie at all. I could not fathom how anyone could like pie, in fact. The salty, dry, bland crust did not appeal to me, and the only pies I really ate were those that had sufficient moisture and flavor to overcome that terribly necessary crust. Pumpkin pie was out of the question. For a long while, pecan was out too. Lemon maringue was my choice, but a deep cream pie would do. Apple...well, I'm still not fond of it, but with enough ice cream it's edible.

I can't say when it happened, but I've come to enjoy GOOD pie. I suppose the criticisms I placed on it as a youth have helped me respect pie. And since most people love pie, particularly around this holiday, I figured we would make the most of it. I found myself completely out of my league!

You see, in the above picture are 8 pies. Exactly 2 of these pies were baked and partially eaten in my house. One of the pies was bought and partially eaten in my house. The remaining 5 pies were made by the people with whom we shared our Thanksgiving Feast. Each of those people make GREAT pies. They come from families who love pies, and who have always loved pies.

Did I mention that there was only one other family at our Thanksgiving Feast? That's right, the pie selection pictured above was prepared for 4 adults and 5 children (under the age of 4). You are looking at Dutch Apple, Pecan, Chilled Pumkin, Lemon Maringue, Banana Cream, Pumpkin, Toll House (a chocolate chip cookie pie that was the Grand Champion, as decided be me...and the kids), and Apple. Uhhmmm...we didn't quite finish them off...

Fingernails

"Dad, can I paint my fingernails with fingernail polish?" Caitin asked this evening.
I stammered, "Uhmmm, ask your mother."
"Mom, can I paint my fingernails with fingernail polish?"
Without hesitation, Sarah said, "Yes, at the kitchen table."
I could hardly believe my ears. Sarah is more careful than anyone I know about keeping things clean, and here she is giving our 4-year-old free reign with a bottle of red fingernail polish. WOW! She won't even let ME use the fingernail polish. Hmmmm...

She actually did a pretty good job. I mean, one time Sarah did let me use the polish to paint Caitin's nails and they didn't turn out this good. So I let her do her toes too. And of course, anything Caitin does... Jamie does too.

Nice color choice, don't you think?

The Spokenagel Girls

Lately the girls have had a lot of time to do things together, which seems to have bonded them ever closer. Sarah is such a wonderful mother to these two - even when they don't deserve it (which I don't think really happens very often). Jamie has been on a steep learning curve lately, while Caitin has been on a steep growing curve. Jamie tries to do everything the big people in the house do. Caitin sometimes grows weary of this, but she is a wonderful big sister. Sometimes we grow weary of Caitin's habit of eating VERY SLOWLY, but with the growth spurt we're glad she's been completely cleaning her plate. We've had to buy new clothes again, even though we bought some for school just a month ago. Anyway, here's a few pictures to catch up for the slacking I've done lately:

Here with Sarah's close moderation the girls were able to work in the SAME activity book.


On a walk between conference sessions a couple of weeks ago we had to accept that the warm weather of summer was coming to a close. These pictures were taken at the Finch Arboretum.

We only go there once or twice a year, and every time we have to visit the big canopy tree, whose branches touch the ground all around it. So cool!

Cheeze! Caitin has little projects to bring home from school all the time. She seems to do really well. She has been singing new songs at the dinner table and teaching them to us...or at least trying. "You can sing the 'Slippery Fish' song, Dad, cause I taught you the words", she'll say. (I've heard it once through, and she expects me to remember?)

Jamie has graduated to the 'Big Girl Bed' now and has an occasional partner in sleep. She has always been easy to get to bed, and has not had much trouble with this transition. She's been saying lots of words lately. She catches on to new words every day, but seems to gravitate to repeating "Mom, mom, mom, Mom, MOM, MOM!!!" until she gets a response. Then does it again. Grandpa says she's just testing the word to see if it still works. I think he's right. She does it with Dad too.
I feel blessed to come home to these girls every day!

Aaaawwwwwww...

Happy Halloween!

Fireplace

Sarah is amazing! Here's the before picture of our fireplace:

First she painted the base coat of brown on the mantle.

Then used a darker brown to pho (fough, fo, fho?) the rest.

Finally another coat of glaze the color of the walls to tie it all together.

It never quite felt finished until the diapers were back up.

What's for Dinner?

Hey Jamie, what's for dinner? Are you ready?

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Big Happenings

Guess who's going to school now!? Holy-moly, Caitin is getting big. The local high school has a program where the students run a preschool for one of their college-credit courses. The kids will attend 3 to 4 times per week and will each be assigned a high-school buddy. That comes out to a 1:1 student:teacher ratio.
Caitin has been excited about this for a long time. She has several friends from church in her class, so she is completely comfortable. Her first week went very well, but she was very disappointed to find out that she doesn't get to go EVERY day!
In other news, a bed-time story character came to visit us last weekend. Star the horse has been a friend of ours for over a year now, and finally made an appearance...

...so we promptly shoved birthday candles in her belly and had a party!

Happy Birthday Caitin!

Birthday Chatter

Caitin's been anticipating her birthday now for more than a month. The excitement began to build when she went to a friend's birthday party earlier this summer. She has been pretending to wrap presents for about three weeks. She'll put some of her toys in a box and bring them to us so we can give them to her as presents. It has been the focus of almost every conversation she has for the past two weeks. Last night Aunt Tracy called and talked to Caitin, and here is a little snippet (with liberty, cause we were laughing too much to hear all of Tracy's words):

T: "Happy Birthday!"
C: "Thanks"
T: "Did you have a good birthday?"
C: "Yes, we went out for dinner. We went to Red Robin! I'm going to have a party. We'd like to invite you to my party on Saturday. Will you come to my party?"
T: "It's a long ways...I can't..."
C: "I'm sure you can make it. I'm sure you can make it to my party."
T: "Maybe you could come to my house. Why don't you ask your parents if you can come to my house and visit?"
C: "Yeah, but it would be a looooong drive in the car!"

Thanks for calling Tracy!

After the phone call, Caitin told us we need to drive to Aunt Tracy's house to give her an invitation. Well, better get moving...

A Dollar-Store Special

Who would dare wrestle those things off of her for bed-time?

Face Painting

At a block party on our street last month, some girls were doing face paintings, and Caitin wanted one. After all we do to tell them not to get paint or markers or anything on them, we allowed this, and look how Jamie reacted...

But everything Caitin does, Jamie does too! She sat sooooo still and just looked straight forward the whole time.
After the party Sarah gave them a quick moment to admire the artwork before she gave each a thorough scrubbing with a washcloth. But don't think Sarah's mean. It was bed time. I mean, what would you do?

6:26:26

The Tour des Lacs was this weekend. It was a sweet ride. Ryan drove up from Boise to do it with me. Good company.

About 10 minutes into the ride I thought to myself, "I should tell Ryan I plan to complete this 100 mile ride under 6 hours and 30 minutes." But alas he was nowhere to be seen, let alone talked to, as we climbed Spokane's 'South Hill'. So I kept climbing. I passed no less than 50 people up that hill. I wasn't racing...I just felt great! (Although I did receive insidious pleasure in overtaking each and every person who appeared to be suffering). I waited for Ryan at the top and we rode on. That became the pattern for the day.

You see, Ryan started training in July. I started training in February. It makes a difference. Two years ago we did this ride together, and he was in better fitness than I was. He dropped me on the hills. I never felt anymosity...I promise!

Did I ever tell him I wanted to finish in less than 6 1/2 hours? Not until about mile 60. What I DID tell him (more than once) was, "Sorry about pushing the pace there. We'll take it easy on the next leg." It seemed like every time we slowed to what felt reasonable I would slowly (and unintentionally) bring the pace back up.

At least one time I could blame Ryan, though, because he was telling a story about how much he loves his boss...and his emotions played into his legs pushing those pedals. We were really cruising over that section!

After mile 60 I felt fatigued, but certainly not cooked. It's a good thing, because that is where the biggest climb is. We hit the bottom of that hill with some trepidation but Ryan said, "See you at the top," and off I went without him...in my lowest gear. Holding 10 mph I looked back once to see Ryan about 50 yards back and about 3 other riders in various stages of passing him. I expected to be overtaken at any moment. I pedaled sitting for as long as I could stand it, then standing for as long as I could handle it, and then sitting for as long as I could push it...back and forth. About 150 yards from the top a fellow finally passed me and said "Way to go!" He pulled in front of me and let me hang in his slipstream until I cracked. I slogged the last bit to the top and barely caught my breath before Ryan pulled up.

As we came into Couer d'Alene I was watching my odometer waiting for it to roll over to 100 miles and fretting that I might have to ride a little farther. (There is no way I was going to ride ALMOST 100 miles.) Sarah and the girls drove over to pick us up, and she couldn't have planned it better...as I pulled into the parking lot I was at 99.95 miles. I watched it tick up until I reached the truck where it hit 100.00 exactly. My saddle time was 6 hours 26 minutes and 26 seconds. Sweet!

The girls were all cheering as we pulled in and it was a glorious moment! Seriously, what a great feeling! We loaded the bikes and got in the truck just as it started to downpour. Like I said, good planning. When I put my helment and shoes in the back of the truck, Sarah pointed out that they would get wet. I said, "That doesn't matter, I'm done for the year." Which is mostly true, but not really.

Movin' up!

Alright, since we've successfully made the cousins want one soooooo bad...here's some pics/vids of Caitin's early B-day present:
Jamie isn't the biggest fan, but she had to try it out:



And here's one of Caitin.

(I don't know why my archiving site doesn't give the emedment code sometimes.)