Four cents cost us $11 in service charges, and 3 days shy of $50 in late charges on our first mortgage payment. CTX was kind enough to return one with a priority class stamp after they refused to accept the $0.04 insufficient postage charge.

I know, business is business ... and pennies do add up. But dang, didn't even realize that postage had gone up since the last time I bought at book of stamps.

SURPRISE ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY

It was Back to the Future for Christopher as he came home Sunday night. I must say that 40 does not look as bad when you compare it to the years past.

Jae breaks it down for us

Oh memories of the lunch time sock-hops

Jordan says hi

It was quite the PARTY! I remember some of these outfits from school, but man, and I glad I can blame it on being young and stupid. What do you remember of the 80's?

We tried ...

Take Joe ... a boy doing what little boys do; playing. Take Melissa, mother of Joe and relaxing in the middle of the day. Take Joe's hammer ... in Joe's hand ...

* TAP * - * TAP * on mom's leg

"Owe!, Joe that hurts", Joe sits back looks at her, grits his teeth and

* WACK * - * WACK * once more on mom's leg

"Owe!, Joe that hurts ... do you need a time-out?"

Joe sits back and gazes at her, "Yes" comes the reply as he turns and slowly strolls to his "time-out" corner. He sits down and calmly accepts his self-accessed punishment.

Leaving Melissa to wonder, trying to hold back laughter while she lets out a very proud smile, what? ... is this real? ... what have we done? ... will it continue? ... and ... can we do it again?

It was a weekend of relaxing, taking some time for some good old family fun. That it not to say that we did not do anything, we finished washing and sealing the floors as well as emptied numerous other boxes. We also managed to get the old washer-dryer set up for sale.

Yet, in emptying the boxes we found the PS2 ... and well, decided to have a little fun. We snagged a couple games from Jeff as he cleaned out his shelves this year. Joe really enjoyed the ATV racing game, ATV Offroad Fury. He particularly enjoy it when dad went over the handle bars and head first into the walls ... hmmmmm.

By the end of the day we sat back and relaxed with a classic and one of Joe's favorites ... Toy Story.

This morning Joe and our newest "little pea" were introduced.

The walls may have been symbolistic, but we needed a change ... and Joe was more than happy to oblige. Truth be told, we ended up doing it mostly at night while he was in bed since the ground we were covering occupies our main living space -- and mixing a toddler and paint can get ... ahh ... "exciting". Though it could be worse, eh Amanda?

Bringing the vineyard home

We started in the kitchen/family room with a touch of the wine country. The green really looks sharp against our cabinets and you get an instant calming feel. It is also our brightest room with all the natural light of the afternoon sun, so a deeper color helps counter act some of that.

Adding a little spice to our life

The living room got a splash of color ... Autumn Gourd to be exact. Initial impressions had us scared as it was brighter than we were expecting (thinking more brownish than goldish). However, it is starting to look better and with a second coat, furniture arrangement, and an accent wall it we are expecting great things.

Our goal was to be done before work started again, however, it was not to be. Taping and cutting take a lot of time, second coats are required, and our "working" hours went into the early hours of the morning - which made things fun. Big thank-you goes out to Kari for our christmas gift of Tim's and Dad who gave us several tips before heading home - they saved our butts, honest. We expect to finish off this latest project soon ... which means pictures, organization, and a sense that we have finally "moved in".

Take a tour of our new place
(5:53 minutes, 8.2MB)

This past year had its shares of ups and downs. We saw Joe move from being our little baby to toddler -- seemingly overnight, though months in the making. He moved from a crib to a bed, from our room to his room. And we too grew up a little, moving from our apartment to a home which we will "move into" slowly over 2007. However, work was probably its most stressful since moving down here ending the year in complete exhaustion. The year also remembers Grandpa Hemphill as he passed away just before the holiday season.

This next year I look to continue our growth as a family. Joe will undoubtedly start chatting up a storm, go for his first ice skating experience, and I look forward to our first bike ride. Melissa is looking forward to completely moving into our house including a full paint job while I look forward to getting pictures on the walls. Simple goals right. With the move we are also going to rework our budget and get ourselves back on track - this last year was fun and now it is time refocus and plan for the future.

At work, I hope to bring a couple solid projects to completion and work on better managing my time and energy. I would like to regain control of my non-work time to spend both helping out Melissa at home and enjoying quality times with Joe. Daddy day is coming back ... right after March ;) I also look to bring "Little Joe" to market with an enhanced version 2.0 of the Screen Saver Menu.

And always remember, even though it may be raining in your life ... it does not mean you can't have fun!