In response to repeated complaints from 2 seperate parties, who are of knowledge and wisdom beyond all others in reference to the visual appearance of my son and my most recent posting of pictures:

It's true Xander does have the appearance of old man. I would like to remind everyone that most infants share an incredible number of similarities to the elderly.

If you think about it your first birthday is, in essence, the same as your last. A close family member gathers a large group of people to celebrate. You sit in a chair and stare around the room blankly unable to truly focus on or understand what you see. Eventually there is a cake with a candle or two and every one is very excited and singing. You proceed to fail miserably in an attempt to blow out the these candles. You receive gifts that you don't understand or have any interest in. Then at the end of the party as everyone leaves someone tells you "These are your friends, thank them for coming." Which is good because you have no idea, up to this point, who all these people are.

Basic humanly functions are beyond the realm of your control in both stages of life.

Finally, I feel it is crucial to point out that all babies have very similar appearance to those of extended years by directing your attention to your own baby pictures:

It has been a long while. Halloween, a baby, thanksgiving, back to work, snow, and now lots of water everywhere. We have managed to stay relatively dry though the commute hasn't been much fun lately with all the road closures. Oh! I got my first cavity :(. Not much happening here just caring for the boy and trying to get as much sleep as possible while still making time for the girl. They are both a lot of fun though Xander isn't much more than larva at this stage: eat, poop, sleep (ha we wish), poop, rinse, repeat. Holly is recovering fast and adapting to her much more difficult life. Work is going well we are starting on some more work for non-profits. With any luck we will be able to make a difference for those who need it most.
I wish I could just spend all my time at home but sadly we must eat. Hope things are well with you all!

For a little fun Holly and I took Madeline out to a pumpkin patch last Saturday (13th, Oct). I'm including a few pictures. Holly is getting really tired of being pregnant - less than 3 weeks left.

This weekend My elder sister Erin came to hang out with us so we went down to Greenlake for some coffee and then out to the Edmond's waterfront/downtown for a walk. Pretty low key stuff just hanging out and getting ready for the arrival of number 2.

Holly's Birthday!

We took off on Saturday morning for the Leavenworth Fall Leaf Festival. On the road by 6am it was still dark Holly and Madeline slept most of the way up so I just enjoyed the soothing sounds of Nickel Creek and the fresh feel of the early morning air. Arriving early was a great idea! There was hardly anyone one there so we were able to enjoy the beauty and quaintnesses of this Bavarian village while sipping our coffee and marching along. The weather was a bit chilly so we had to stop off at the famous hat shop to pick up Madeline a new hat and gloves (her head has surpassed all previously purchased items). We were able to find the coveted "Charlie Brown Christmas ice skating rink" from dept. 56 for which Holly's mother has been searching and with a quick phone call picked up the last one. Over all a very relaxing and enjoyable day. Today? More coffee of course for the birthday woman then to church then dinner! Hope your weekend was fun too!

Today we are heading to my Great Uncle Karl's 95th birthday party!

The Plan:
Wake up 5am - shower; Pack the car with all the baby need items; drag/carry/prod or otherwise entice my wife and daughter into the car; drive to Leavenworth and buy some coffee for my wife and I; walk around perhaps get some breakfast; continue driving to Wenatchee - breakfast here if haven't eaten yet- walk around; drive to Quincy, WA where my great grandparents homesteaded and started a farming community; greet my great uncle (who still drives himself and lives at home) along with the ridiculous number of family and others who have come to witness this minor historic event.

Continue to Yakima to spend some time with my lil bro, sisters, and parents.
Come back home.

A truly inspired and beautiful plan (I do love an early morning drive).
Alas here i sit at nearly 7am because i simply did not have the audacity to interrupt the sleep of the most incredibly beautiful woman on earth. I could not disturb that porcelain face wrought with peace. Plan foiled - i now turn to my computer for entertainment.

Question Everything!

Wow! I really stink at this whole blogging thing. Holly, Madeline and I went to the beach to celebrate our 3rd year of marriage! Seems like it is going really fast.

It isn't long now till we will have 2 little ones running around. CRAZY!! We know it will be a boy and we know what we are going to name him but we are waiting to tell until he is born.

I also passed by my 1 year anniversary at CDI (much better known by their brand name MSR) my current place of employment. I am really enjoying researching water purification - most people don't realize it but as a company CDI also does a lot of work with non-profit organizations like PATH trying to find new cheaper ways to bring clean water to the third world where water-borne disease is still one of the big killers of children.
I also took a little time to hang with my dad and brothers-in-law (Ross and Alex). We went up Mt. Adams again. hopefully it will become a sort of tradition. That is my sister's husband Ross sitting at the summit. A great time - it was good to get to know the extended fam a little better - The wooden building is a hut that they use to use when they were mining sulfur from the summit of Mt. Adams - can you imagine working up there! (cup of noodle time)

Back from the bay area...it was lots of work and a little time to explore. I drove through Napa wine country, out to the view point just north of the golden gate, through china town, past fisherman's wharf, and down lumbard street (the very crooked street in san fran). Sadly I didn't take my camera as it is large. It is very good to be home again with my family and just relax. Tim (the boss) tells me to live it up cause next week is going to be rough.

Hope he's exaggerating.

I just got back from a night in Portland where my insane wife and sister stood in line at Powell's (largest bookstore on earth) until 3am getting the seventh Harry Potter and getting it signed by fake characters. It took us 7 hours (normally 3) just to drive there with all the traffic and rain. We have just enough time do some laundry before taking off tonight for the San Francisco area for work and I won't be back until Saturday. I will miss my family terribly. It is shaping up to be a busy couple of weeks with this harry potter; this work trip; and two trips up Adams planned.

About the title: I have made it my mission in life to continually pursue what I feel is the most rewarding treasure in existence, wisdom. However, it seems the longer I search the more apparent the distance. As the struggle continues only "a fool's hope" remains that God will share a minuscule fraction of his infinite wisdom with his least dedicated child.