Deacon's 8th Birthday!

The face of a new 8 year-old on the morning of his birthday, Friday, 1/22. And the thing he wore on his head ALL DAY.
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We had fun celebrating with his 2nd grade class in the afternoon! Here's a cookie cake decorated for the occasion...

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Deacon finishes his work and gets ready to party!

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Time for cookie cake.

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Maren was thrilled to be an honorary 2nd grader for the afternoon!

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Vincent and Deacon.

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Deacon, Liam and... a plate.

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Coming home... SURPRISE!!

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Move over, Avatar -- Deacon's tablecloth and plates were 3-D!

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I think Derek took this pic through the lens of the 3-D glasses.

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Maren supervises the gift opening.

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Coming soon: a birthday trip to the observatory!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEACON!!!

Deacon, 1 hour old, January 22, 2002
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Happy 8th birthday Deacon!! We love you!

Ethan Is Born!!!

We woke up on the morning of December 31st to some thrilling news: our nephew Ethan Isaac Oyog had been born at 5:30 a.m.! Here he is!

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Maren discusses the big news with cousin (and new big brother) Elias.

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Grandma and Grandpa see their new grandson for the first time in a cell phone pic!

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We would have been to the hospital sooner, but Derek had to eat his Del Taco lunch in the precise, sequential way only Derek can do.

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Finally at the hospital... Ethan takes a look at us!

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Jana and Ethan!

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Ethan. Awwww.

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Grandpa and Ethan, the birthday boys!

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Phillip documents the big event.

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Phillip, Ethan and Jana

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Keeping an eye on all of us.

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Back to sleep.

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Aunt Candace arrives to meet her new nephew!

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Meeting the whole family is hard work!

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Did I mention that December 31st is also Grandpa's birthday? We couldn't top the gift of a new grandson, but we gave him a little party anyway.

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The perfect ending to a perfect day!

Christmas Day: Part 2

Finally getting the chance to wrap up our coverage of Christmas Day!

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Grandma and Grandpa's house, Sacramento. Deacon shows a very patient Aunt Jean his Wildlife of Star Wars book. Did you know that a Gundark is native to Yavin 4, and that its multiple sets of eyes allow simultaneous vision above and below the water? I didn't. But Deacon does, and he'll tell you all about it.

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Maren gives Aunt Jean a few piano pointers.

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Time to open presents - Deacon is thrilled to get his own Snuggie!

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Derek, Camilla and Grandma enjoy a rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

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Maren got a Snuggie, too...

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After all the gifts are opened... it's back to the basics for the kids.

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And finally, no coverage of Christmas Day 2009 would be complete without this:

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I can't remember what this feature is called - "Sure Smile" or something like that - but we discovered that with Grandma's brand new digital camera, you can take a picture of frowning people...

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...and with the push of a button, the camera will turn their frowns upside down.

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We'll let that kind of creepy image sum up Christmas 2009.

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Next: the birth of ETHAN!

Molly's Bat Mitzvah

Head on over to the Ribniks R Us Blog for coverage of Molly's Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, December 19th, 2009!
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Christmas Morning!

There's so much to catch up on!!
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After what was by far our most eventful trip to Sacramento ever, I'm taking a minute to post some pics of Christmas Morning. We'll have a full report on the birth of little Ethan Isaac Oyog in a bit. For now...
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Santa Claus is surely sitting at his desk up at the North Pole stressing over how he's going to top himself in 2010, at least when it comes to the Alff kids...
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...who deducted that he was pleased with the milk and cookies they left out for him, judging by the mostly-consumed items on the plate.

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But before we reveal Santa's presents, we must first review a memorable scene from The Empire Strikes Back (cue film projector motor sound effect).
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Near the beginning of the movie, the Rebels are concerned about Luke Skywalker, who hasn't reported in from his patrol on the remote ice planet of Hoth. Han Solo finds a Tauntaun to ride into the snow to search for him and is told, "Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker."

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Han rides the tauntaun into the blizzard anyway and finds Luke clinging to life. He looks up to see...

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His tauntaun, dead.

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So he uses Luke's lightsaber to cut open the carcass...

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...and stuffs Luke inside to warm him up.

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Nearly 30 years after that defining moment in film history, somebody had the brilliant idea to create tauntaun sleeping bags!! Complete with lightsaber zipper and a lining with a "tauntaun entrails" pattern. They were presented as an April Fool's Day joke on a geeky-gift website, but Star Wars fans demanded they be made available for real, and by December Santa was able to aquire one for each of the kids!

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As that guy said, those tauntauns just won't make it past the first marker.

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The kids were SOOOOO happy!

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Intestines!!

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Ah, there's no chance of frostbite now.

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For some reason, Gramps wasn't disappointed that he didn't receive a dead tauntaun. In fact, he seemed fairly pleased with his present - a case of soup!

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Ready for a Hoth blizzard - Maren tries on her new hat, gloves and scarf!

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Check back soon for full coverage of the rest of Christmas Day!