Wow, what a year huh? When I look back on all the photos from this year its hard to think about all that has gone on this year without wondering how we did it; funny how time slows down when you stop to take a look at all that has been accomplished. Click on the photo to see the 239 photos in this months gallery. I hope you all had a happy holiday and new year, thanks for being there when we needed you.

For many of you this card is on it’s way, but for those we missed here it is. Happy Holidays!

Its been an up and down this holiday. Dealing with the madness of Thanksgiving into Christmas then first night. Its mayhem. The kids have really enjoyed themselves and they have definitely been taking advantage of daddy being home for the last two weeks. What I have learned this xmas is that with four kids its only going to get more insane as the years go on Somehow with enough love (and wine) we will make it. I hope you enjoy the photos from this round. Sorry there are so many, I really did try and trim the size down but with two months of photos its tough. There are 217 photos to gaze at in the gallery. I hope your holidays went well. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We sent out a few hard copies this year, but I would like to be as environmentally friendly as possible and send you this holiday note.

So here is what’s happening:

We were all sick the last few weeks with the girls getting the worst of it (RSV).   We had close to 20″ of the snow the last few days which made shoveling our 20 degree pitch driveway a whole lot of fun.  Hampton ended the first half of his preschool year with a very 4 year old skit which included the teacher singing and the kids wondering why they were not able to eat cookies until she was done   Gavin is coming into his own and is a very talkative 2 year old (though he takes a bit of time to warm up to people unlike his brother).  Work is going very well for me at MathWorks and Carrie is meeting lots of new moms here in Milford. We are looking forward to having Dolly and Rick for our first ever Christmas at home.  We are also expecting some old friends to join us at New Years.  All in all this has been an exciting and busy year for our family and with a new house and two new children it has been nothing short of eventful.  I will get plenty of pictures up by the new year, but until then have a very happy and safe holiday.  I wish you all the best! You deserve it.

Well sort of. For Christmas I requested my mother-in-law purchase an exotic ~500 dollar a pound coffee (I only got 4oz) which is made from the droppings of an animal called the Luwak. It sounds disgusting but here is an explanation from the site:

There are both technical and practical reasons for the superior taste of Kopi Luwak. Luwak use their keen sense of smell to select the very best ripe coffee beans. A Luwak will visit a plantation and eat only a fraction of the available beans, leaving any that are inferior or not quite ready on the tree. This means that the beans are individually selected by an animal that is specially adapted for this purpose and is far superior to humans at doing this. Laboratory tests have demonstrated that there is also a qualitative reason why kopi luwak beans taste better than other coffee. As the beans pass through the digestive tract of the Luwak, the acids in the stomach of the Luwak permeate the bean and leach out some of the proteins in the bean responsible for its bitterness resulting in a sweeter coffee bean.

So what did I think? I enjoyed it very much. It was smooth like a Kona but also earthy. I would not buy it again unless for a gift because I can’t justify its cost and I feel my Keurig makes some pretty darn good coffee. However I am glad to have tried it and if you get the chance you should too, because hey, when are you going to get a chance to drink a coffee that once resided in the digestive track of an Indonesian tree dweller?