Lots and Lots

Thanksgiving: Lots of family time, also, unfortunately, lots of not feeling so great. Pulled some kind of sinus business Tuesday, and it lasted through Wednesday. Carrie and I both had some stomach bug Wednesday as well. Jon got in that night and I was well enough to have a few beers with him. We forwent Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day and had it Friday instead. Jon was here, Agnes and the kids too, her parents, mom, the Sharons. I found a turkey recipe that knocks out the bird in 2.5 hours. Good food, good company, but with recent sickness and staying up too late (including a perfectly fine time playing MW3 till much too late with Cameron and Derek) I felt worn out all weekend. Saac, Jenni, Sage, and Sarah were in town. Managed to make time to get together a couple of times, including a nice outing to High Desert for both Carrie and I while mom watched the kids. Oh, and we got together a kickball game on Saturday. It was windy and cold, but we ran around and kicked balls with gusto. The past nine months or so of no exercise are readily apparent in the pain in my lower extremities.

Nathan stopped by on his was to Tucson for a quick visit, Sunday. I was feeling poorly most of the day, then contracted a 102F fever in the afternoon. Ended up taking Monday off. Feeling much better, but with the recurrent sinus crap I decided to go ahead and take the antibiotics I picked up the end of last month. Could just be the dry weather but who knows.

No gaming this Friday, again. There supposed to be a RockBand party instead, but I think Conner's 3rd birthday is happening then too, so we'll probably take the babies over to that.

I crammed through Storm of Swords and am on to Feast for Crows. Enjoying it immensely, the story as much as being back in the habit of reading frequently again.

I owe Kenny a callback. My apologies.

Finally, I put up my first Mr. Beer batch weekend before last. Dad sent the kit to me for my birthday. I'll bottle it in the next few days and it should be ready to drink by the time Dad comes in to town next week.

Surprise, Thard!

Regular-type Friday gaming continues to elude. In its place we gamed some 4e with 4e-virgin Nathan, and Bill, with Ben running. I made a minotaur who worshiped a potbellied, tattooed, crocodile helmet-wearing god named Thard Harr. That was as far as I got in the description of the god before deciding it was definitely the god for Bjorkus. This, naturally, drove the game. Turns out Thard Harr is some kind of dwarf jungle god. Still awesome.

Saturday was birthday day. Started with a nice little outing, just me, Carrie, and the kids. We Arby-ed the crap out of lunch. After Paige and Owen settled in for a long nap, which left me time to crack open (Carrie's gift) Modern Warfare 3 for two solid hours of shooting bad guys. After that, High Desert with Alex and Traci. After that, Carrie surprised me by hiring a babysitter so we could go out to dinner. We had a beer at the bar then headed out to Luna Rosa where we were met by Alex, Traci, Joe, and Ben. After that, we stopped briefly at Joe's then went home. That's right, we were home before 9:30. 37 and still rockin.

Cooking chicken and dumplings tomorrow.

Crotchety

Post, dammit!

Last Friday was a lack of gaming, but an abundance of Novembrew. Headed out with Alex and met up with Jason, Lynn, and Steve Nelli. Drank lots of delicious beer in 2 oz portions. Almost didn't finish out all 30 tastings in the allotted 3 hours, but High Desert hooked us up at the end. Of note was the Chocolate Coffee Piñon Stout from Mimbres Brewing out of Deming, and Woodchuck's Summer Cider. Not usually a fan of cider but that stuff was mellow and tasty, without the bite I get from most cider (which reminds me of the ham/cider story from my trip to Seattle...Sage and Sarah had some cider in the fridge at the same time as a ham and complained that the cider tasted too much of ham...maybe you had to be there). After the tasting, we hit up Zeffiro's for some pizza, and Starbucks for some coffee. Made for an satisfyingly inebriated early evening.

Saturday Carrie took the kids to Carlsbad. I jumped on the opportunity of an empty house (coupled with lousy weather) to spend a whole 24 hours eating fast food and playing through all of Gears of War 3, campaign and multiplayer with Cameron. Also spent hours reading more of Storm of Swords. A very quiet weekend. Unfortunately I missed out on both Saac and Renn Faire-ing.

Paige has been tottering all over the place, even going so far as forgoing crawling despite falling on her butt repeatedly in a very short timeframe. Owen is taking his time catching up, but he's getting there. Last night mom had us over for delicious chicken stew and lots of kids exploring mom's house.
Turning 37 on Saturday. Wow.

One Year Later

This time last year I was learning how to change diapers on a couple of newborns. The past year has seen a hell of a lot of challenge and more feelings of confidence than I would have imagined. Can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Yesterday we celebrated Owen and Paige's first birthday. Had a great turnout and passed a good time. Lots of changes with the one year mark. They start in the toddler room at daycare on Tuesday, which cuts a nap and bottles out of their daycare days. I expect we'll have some cranky babies for most of this week. On the plus side, all the other kids in the toddler room are already walking, so that means Paige and Owen will have lots of pressure to get in gear. Not that the haven't been making progress already. Paige tottered halfway across the living room yesterday.

Julie and the kids came out for the birthday. Spent some small part of the weekend shooting up some Gears of War with Ross. We also took them down to the zombie walk at the downtown mall. Tried to build it up before hand, making it sound like there was some kind of weird sickness going on in Cruces, to get the kids freaked out. Ross was unfazed, but Jalie didn't want to get out of the car when we got there. In the end she had a good time taking pictures with the 'pajama zombies'. We were supposed to do up a Halloween party but by the time we got back to the house only Carrie and Jalie really had the energy for it. Ross fell asleep on the couch pretty early, and we tried to gather around him, Carrie and Jalie, costumed, Julie and I with masks or hats to get a sleeping picture to make him think he missed a party. Instead he woke up and was bewildered by all the weirdness around him. They are coming back next week for the Renaissance Faire.

Traci came out too. She took some awesome pictures at the birthday party. Then this morning we got dressed up and she took some family photos. A lot to sift through but on a first pass through there are some pretty good shots. Thanks, Traci!

Gaming continues to not happen. Friday, what with Amy and Kyle being busy, Ben and I played some shoot-em-up xbox (New: Call of Duty Black Ops, and Old: Rainbow Six Vegas 2).

Pushers

In addition to making small strides (ahem) in walking, the kids have started pushing things all over the house and walking behind as they do. They've made their way around the house with their walking toys for a while now, but recently other objects have started enabling their controlled falls across the tiled vastness of our open architecture. Of late these objects include a laundry basket, strollers, and a metal chair.

Bought the first set of our new car seats today. We're getting a 'cheaper' set for everyday use (read: Carrie's car) and a set with more features (cup holders, really) for the longer trip car, or mine. These come in the waning days of their first year of life, and will replace the detachable seat & base version we've used up till now. Having to buy four is not inexpensive, even going with relatively 'inexpensive' seats. But, safety!

Whatever settled upon my sinuses in the early hours of Saturday has continued its colonization attempts since then. Called in sick to work today, although I have high hopes that whatever it is will be successfully repelled in the next little while. Another day of the same may force me to seek outside biological assistance in this battle. For now, chemical warfare (sudafed and ibuprofen) My wife, wonderful lady that she is, has been masterfully handling most of the baby duties through it all.

I read a bunch of Savage Dragon comics whilst recumbent with illness. Weird, the nostalgic relations there; Dark Sun and Rifts, reading the former waiting in a car outside Cody's house, picking him up to got to Ren's to play the latter, springs most readily to mind. I wonder if that timeframe's right. Anyway, it's not a very good comic. Made it through 30-some issues, then decided to get some more recent Marvel stuff, that is from the beginning Heroic Age, or last year this time. Read the 4-issue Heroic Age vignette series, now am looking at the Thanos Imperative. Not sure if I shouldn't rethink that and get at some Avengers or Fantastic Four instead. My recent foray into the DC reboot, and now this, just reaffirm that I fall solidly on the Marvel side of the comic divide. Although, weirdly, I historically tend to like the animated versions of DC characters somewhat better. Young Justice has been pretty cool lately, and I even admire the campiness of Batman: Brave and the Bold, though I have yet to really watch an episode all the way through.

50/50 Weekend

Had a fine Friday off. I slimed the tires of Carrie's new stroller. One had gotten a puncture and that machine is too awesome to be sitting around not strollering. I also got some Corner Deli. That's be becoming a Friday off thing. Also played some Gears of War 3 horde mode with Cameron, and some of the campaign solo. Oh, and they delivered the replacement freezer. Time to fill it up with frozen dinners and pizzas.

In lieu of rpg'ing Friday night (Kyle was out) we played some King of the Elves. I think we were all more in the mood for just hanging out anyway. Made for a laid back evening that we wrapped earlier than usual, so I came home and played some more Gears.

Woke up in the early hours this morning feeling feverish. That started a day of general crappiness; vaguely cold and/or allergy symptoms all day long. I was supposed to take the kids over to mom's this afternoon to get them out of the house for a Rendi thing Carrie was hosting. Instead I holed up in the bedroom and HBO Go'd and Savage Dragon'd on the iPad. Luckily mom was coming over for the party so she helped wrangle the kids, and they mostly napped through it anyway. Even now I still feel wrung out. Hopefully it will fade overnight.

Singleton

Paige took another step last night. I almost caught this one, but I was unfortunately one foot away with my head turned the other direction.

Put in a half day at work today. We kept Owen home with some kind of eye infection and Carrie and I split the day, with me pulling the afternoon shift at home with him. We don't get to spend a whole lot of time with just one of the babies, so that was kind of a treat.

Been on a country/americana kick with music lately. Picked up albums by Will Hoge (Number Seven), James McMurtry (Too Long in the Wasteland), and Old Crow Medicine Show (O.C.M.S.). Great stuff in all of em.

Kickstarted Void Vultures. Looks potentially cool.