In Memoriam

Yoda Mangan

(1996-2011)

Last weekend, a dear member of the family left us. Yoda was a our family's dog, and we were very fortunate to have spent the last 15 years with him. It's hard to put into words just how special he was to us, though I'm sure others that have lost pets can understand. All I can say is that I will miss him very much. He was a great dog.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

Dan, Kristin, & Norah

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Since it's been a VERY long time since our last post, here's a quick summary of what we've been up to...

Dan ran a half marathon in early November, finishing in 1:30:54, which was 50th place overall (out of over 1200 guys) and 14th place in his age group. He was pretty excited about his time and Norah and I were glad to be able to cheer him on at the finish line!

Good job Daddy!...Happy Birthday!

The next week Dan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary and Dan's 31st birthday. Norah was happy to help her Daddy with his present and candles (and of course, the cake).

We had a very special Thanksgiving this year since Judie and Mike were able to come out for a visit. Norah loved showing them all of her toys and books and enjoyed lots of good play time with Grammy and Grandpa. Dan made a very impressive turkey, and with everyone else helping with the side dishes and appetizers, we ate quite well! Since the weather was pretty rainy for most of Thanksgiving weekend, we had a pretty low-key time (no Black Friday shopping this year), though we did enjoy watching Notre Dame beat USC (finally) in football. It was a great visit and we were so excited to have Judie and Mike make the long trip here!

Giving thanks for all our blessings

Now we're busy getting ready for Christmas. We got our tree a couple of weeks ago and- with Norah's help- put lots of lights and ornaments on it. (Of course, all the fragile ones went on the top half of the tree while the hardier ones went on the bottom.) Both my mom and Judie were nice enough to share our childhood ornaments with us, so our tree tells quite a story of 31 years of Christmases. It's really fun to see all of our handmade ornaments, as well as those that were given to us by grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and friends throughout the years. We look forward to adding all of Norah's ornaments as the years go by!

O Christmas Tree... Hanging the first ornament

Dan is almost done with the fall semester of classes, with just one semester to go before graduation. (Almost means that there is still a final project to turn in, though Dan assures me that he is "nearly" done. It just wouldn't feel like the end of the semester with out some good old fashioned procrastination and stress!) This semester was another busy one, with two regular classes, a final project, and an independent study. I can't say enough how glad he (and all of us) will be when he is done!

Now we're trying to finish our last minute Christmas shopping. I am lucky to have two weeks off work this year, which has given Norah and I some good time to shop, work on projects around the house, and play. Dan still has to work for a few more days before his Christmas vacation (long weekend) starts.

Enjoying the leaves last weekend

The real story of this weekend has been the rain in Fresno. Usually we are thankful for the water, but this weekend's downpours have caused some issues around our house. We have a new indoor water feature- a babbling brook running through the heating ducts in the foundation of our house. I'm sure that the peaceful sound of running water that starts every time our heater kicks on will soon be replaced by the unpleasant reality of a repair bill, but for now Dan and I just put out a tarp and sandbags (thanks to the Army for Dan's sandbagging skills) and are waiting for the rain to stop. Oh the joys of homeownership!

We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing or talking to many of you before the new year!

Halloween!

Finally- the long awaited Halloween pictures! Sorry for the delay- we've been offline the last few days as we switched internet plans.

Halloween 2010: Norah is a little lamb

Norah had a fun Halloween- after some initial skepticism about the costume. I think some of the fuzz from the hood got into her mouth at first. (If you look closely in the pictures, you can see that it got all over Dan and me, too!) We went trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa's (and a few other houses on their block), since most of our neighbors didn't have their lights on. She got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly, and loved looking at all the pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns at everyone's houses. She was even nice enough to give all of her candy to her Daddy! Maybe next year she'll get to try some of it!

Are ewe kidding me?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!



Pictures of Norah in her real costume to follow!

To the Fair

We took Norah to the fair a couple of weekends ago. While she was pretty uninterested in the art and textile displays, she did have a lot of fun seeing all the animals up close. We stayed away from the rides this year, but Dan did get a chance to get his corndog and funnel cake. Lucky him!

Firetrucks and Farm Animals

Norah and I have been going to Mommy and Me gymnastics since August. She really enjoys the class and the chance to play with the other kids who are in it. In the process of taking the class, we have realized that we have a bit of a climber on our hands. Norah gets to try out new things at the gym, but then she practices them on pretty much every piece of furniture at home. There might be a bit of a genetic connection in this trait, since I've heard her Daddy was quite the climber, too. She is turning into quite the independent big girl!

Look what I can do myself!

Norah's Pumpkin

So many to choose from!

To help get ready for Halloween, Dan, Norah, and I headed to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. She got to pick her pumpkin out of the field, so it took us awhile to find the perfect one. Of course, we got a little side-tracked checking out all the dirt clods, pumpkin vines, and various other weeds. (Norah was really interested in all the dirt, but as soon as it got on her hands she would wrinkle up her nose and frantically brush her hands together. Dan blames me for this. I don't know what he's talking about.)

After harvesting our pumpkin, we got to take a hay ride around the farm and see some farm animals. Norah had lots of fun!

We walked way out into the field to find our pumpkin... then Daddy cut it off the vine and we carried it back to the car