A Geographically-Centered Christmas

 Tonight we had the Leach Family Christmas, graciously hosted by Julie and Andrew.  We started off with a great meal that was both tasty AND Benjamin-friendly!

We then went down to the lower level and played, as Kirk was mobbed by his adoring fans.  Joshua's head looks like it's in a very uncomfortable position there, but apparently he was fine, as he later modeled the lasted in fashion-forward headgear.

Benjamin was excited to open gifts and enjoyed his new car that he could disassemble and reassemble with a working drill.

                                                         Hannah, as she often is, was very happy.

                                                Clara got to hang out with Grandma Deb for awhile.

Benjamin chose me to play a game of ball with him, so we kicked the blue ball back and forth for awhile.

We started to get our kids ready to go before we realized we hadn't done a cousins picture, so we quickly took some and ended up with this pretty decent one, despite Joshua's slightly unnatural smile.  Meghan then took our kids home, and I stayed for a late-night game session, in which we played Tri-Bond and also a Telephone-like game that involved alternating drawing and guessing what other people had drawn, and it was really fun.  It was another great Christmas, and as always we were really thankful that Dad and Deb were able to make it down, and that Joanna and Kirk were able to make it up, for us to all have a celebration together.

A Birthday Visit from Grandpa Jim

Grandpa Jim was at our house yesterday evening on Joshua's birthday.  I got so many good pictures, I wanted to put them in their own post.  He spent a lot of time hanging out with the kids, and even little Natalie got some love.  The kids always love seeing him, and everyone had a great time, as you can see from the pictures.

Seeing Family from the North and the South

This actually happened yesterday, but we already had a post for the Valentine's Day party, so in following with our plan to be a little less strict about the blog rules this year, I'm posting this for today's post.  So what would normally have been a pretty standard day of working at my office and then flying to a different city for a business trip ended up working out much better than that.  My dad was on a trip to and from Manhattan to interview a potential new employee, so I was able to meet him for breakfast.  We ate at Waffle House, because as a man who especially appreciates value but also taste, it works well for him, and as a guy who especially appreciates taste but also value, it works well for me.  As you can see, we made sure to get our (well, his) money's worth!  It was great to be able to sit down and talk with him and enjoy a meal together.

My business trip was to Houston, so I wondered if I could make it work to see Joanna and Kirk while I was there.  Fortunately I didn't have anything that prevented me from flying there a little earlier in the day (I left for the airport right after breakfast with Dad), so I was able to arrive in Houston in time to meet them for dinner.  They had prepared a steak, corn on the cob, potato salad, and lettuce salad dinner, which was great.  Afterward we drove around and saw Joanna's school, and some of Sugar Land, including the insane mansions, before returning home to hang out for a little while longer before I had to head back to my hotel.

It was a special day to see both my dad and one of my two sisters on the same day, in different locations, when neither one lives in my same state.