Thursday, December 31, 2009

BREAKING NEWS: New Baby Nephew!!

We have a new nephew, born at 5:30 this morning (Dec. 31)! Name and other details have yet to be disclosed. But we are THRILLED to be in Sacramento on this beautiful day to welcome him into the world in person! Congratulations Jana, Phillip and Elias - we love you!
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AFB EXCLUSIVE - first cell phone pic from Phillip:

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

End-of-Year Update!

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12/29/09: Regular updates are continuing below. Scroll down for a new post!
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Click to enlarge!

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We'll leave our status letter up top for a couple of weeks... but scroll down for regular AFB updates. And have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2009!

We had a great Christmas Eve in Auburn with Papa and the Coders!
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The kids had piles of presents inside waiting to be opened... so to pass the time, they played in the treehouse!

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Time for presents - at 2:30 in the afternoon. What took so long??

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Chris and Brande, calmly taking it all in.

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Deacon's Most Wanted Christmas present: the Watto action figure!

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Papa gets a book with his picture on the cover!
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In midair with moon boots!

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Actually, 2:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve is a great time to open presents. The kids are thrilled, and parents can actually get to sleep before midnight, even after assisting Santa with his deliveries for the next morning.
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Coming soon: Christmas Day!

Friday, December 18, 2009

St. Paul's Christmas Service 2009

A few pictures from last night's Christmas Service at St. Paul's!
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Dressed up and ready to sing!

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Lots of singing...

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The kids worked hard on their recitations! Here are a couple of movies...

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Back in the classroom - Deacon and his 2nd grade class!

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In the Kindergarten room... Miss Miller and Seth. Of course he gave us a big grin right after I took this!

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D & M by the Kindergarten Christmas tree.

Monday, December 14, 2009

2009 Christmas Card!

A few weeks ago we went out to Vasquez Rocks State Park, location for many westerns and episodes of Star Trek, to take a picture of the kids for our 2009 Christmas card. Here it is!
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Go figure - the picture I liked the best for the back of the card was taken with Derek's cell phone!

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Speaking of Star Trek, here's Mr. Spock from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home standing on the rock formation in the background of our picture (the Star Trek shot was taken from the reverse angle compared to ours - their camera was in the parking lot). Now look to the right of the famous Vulcan, to the upper tip of the rock formation - that's where Deacon and Maren were sitting in the second picture!

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Making of the Santa Picture: 12/5/09

On Saturday, the kids had their official picture taken with Santa at the Burbank Mall!
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Because we were heading to another event later that morning, Derek brought our camera and naturally started snapping away.

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I considered making this our Christmas card picture this year...

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Finally - their turn with the big guy!

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Next Downtown Burbank activity: waiting in a line 4 blocks long to get to play in 15 tons of real snow!

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For 7 minutes.

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7 minutes wasn't nearly long enough.
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A bite to eat afterward cured Maren's cold-weather blues, so all was well.
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Coming soon: our 2009 Christmas card! I hope!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Santa!

Santa was at the Burbank mall yesterday!
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Check back tomorrow for a special bonus post - Behind the Scenes: The Making Of the 2009 Santa Picture!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

This Day In History: December 5, 2004


Attempting a Christmas card photo on December 5, 2004...

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Maren's Kindergarten Journal: Thanksgiving


My grandma and grandpa went to Thanksgiving