Let it Snow

I was talking with Dan last week about all the snow we have seen this year. With another large storm predicted for tomorrow, I thought I would take advantage of the sunny weather to get some nice pictures of our street.

This year is the most snow I remember in many years. It almost reminds me of the lake effect snow that the U.P. gets. With our next storm we could push over the 100 inch mark for the year!!!

Congratulations Dan

Dan and Rosey just had their first child Sara Belle Christensen the other day. I say the other day because he mentioned Rosey going into surgery late Wednesday but didn't post the follow up until Thursday Morning :)

Shannon and I wanted to say congratulations to becoming new parents to both of them. Being one of our best friends we definitely wanted to send something to them in the hospital. My first thought of course was flowers. However after a half hour shopping I couldn't find a decent bouquet of flowers for under $60. Not that I mind spending that on them, but I just couldn't justify it for something that won't even last but a few days.

So with a bit of quick thinking we came up with the idea to get Sara a Vermont teddy bear. Both Jasmine and Kai have been given one as gifts and both love them. I generally am not attached to brand names and really don't feel like most brands warrant much extra attention, however Vermont stands out in one way for me. They guarantee their bears for life. So Sara I say to you, "love the heck out of that bear, and feel free to be as rough to it as your little heart desires".

The best part about a Vermont teddy bear is that whenever it has a problem either wear and tear or complete neglect you can simply send it to the bear hospital to be patched up and sent home fully recovered.

It's Mii Mario

I figured in light of Dan and Rosey's recent posts about the weather I should add my own. Yesterday was an all out snowfest here, I think the report is the Madison area got hit with 13.3 inches while south of Madison was closer to 20.

I decided to head into work yesterday but thought better of it after a few miles and turned around. It ended up being a good idea, by the afternoon they had already shut down the hwy 12 and interstate 90/94.

The day off left me around home to play with the kids. They of course wanted to play the wii with mii :) So we decided to put in wii sports game and play through a few of the games. Eventually we came to baseball and I was playing against Jasmine. Before I get to far into the story let me give you some background.

For those who are not familiar with the Nintendo Wii, they allow you to create little personalized characters called Miis. Most people of course try to make one that looks like them. The other neat thing is that you can share your Miis with other friends who have a Nintendo as well. In my case my friend Owen has a number of personal Miis who have made there way to my machine.

Alright back to the story... So I pitched a ball to Jasmine who connected to drive it deep to right field. Who happens to be in right field but my friend Dan (Mii). He was directly under the ball and goes to catch it, only to drop it allowing a two base hit. Doh. I have a neat little tradition which apparently my kids have noticed :( I like to yell at my game and say something to the effect of "You are so Fired!" Before I could even say anything Jasmine pipes in with a lot of worry in her voice saying "You are not going to fire Dan are you?"

No worries Dan I told her I would keep you around ;) I thought this was funny for two reasons, one I never realized how much she paid attention to what I was saying to the game, oops better watch it elsewhere I guess. Second I was quite surprised that she recognized Dan's Mii, especially since at her age having only seen Dan a few times here and there through the last few years.

I guess the moral of the story here is beware of Jasmine's memory, she seems to keep both a great visual and audio catalog in her head. Only to be used against you later!