family
Playing Games
So I have this sudden inclination to find some new games to play as a family. I don’t have a long history as a gamer or anything; I played a little bit of Risk and Axis and Allies as a high-schooler, but that’s about it. Becky and I play chess every once in a long while, but she’s established a history of being able to beat me in chess at will, so it’s less entertaining (for me, at least) than it could be. There are a few games at which we’re more or less even; Boggle and cribbage come to mind.
So there it is. We’re boring when it comes to games. Our kids aren’t quite old enough to be included in the games yet, so that makes things a bit more of a challenge. But it still seems like we should expand our horizons a little.
I’ve perused the shelves at Walmart and Target, and frankly there’s not much there that interests me. Most of them are either re-releases of Milton Bradley staples (yet another version of Monopoly!) or games that require or encourage vast amounts of pop culture knowledge. Even a game like Apples To Apples (which I’ve played before and enjoyed) requires a level of pop culture knowledge that escapes most kids and some adults.
I’ve heard some of my nerdy friends about other games that might qualify as good strategy games that pique my interest. Settlers of Catan seems to be the archetype; I’ve also heard good things about Carcassonne and Dominion. I’ve got two basic parameters for selecting a new game: it needs to be something that can be played two-player, and it needs to be something that a bright child of 7 or 8 could conceivably learn and enjoy.
So, friends and gamers, what say you? Can you make any game recommendations for a family that needs to move out of the Milton Bradley era?
A day with family
Today we had the chance to enjoy what is an increasingly rare occurrence: all four of my siblings and my parents were here in Hiawatha to visit, giving us the whole family in one place at one time. (Well, almost the whole family: Andrew’s wife Heather had to stay back in Washington and work. We missed her.)
I have such a great bunch of siblings. Three brothers who are godly men, working hard and making their way on both ends of the country and in the middle. (Andrew & Heather are in Washington; Ryan is in Brooklyn, NY; Aaron and Emily are in Wisconsin.) One little sister who is just a shade (OK, maybe a little more than a shade) spoiled by her big brothers but who can keep up with all of us, anytime, anywhere. Mom and Dad came down from Wisconsin for the day, too, so we had lots of fun and frivolity and food. Much Mario Kart was played, many hot dogs were consumed, and much shrieking was heard from the girls as they ran between parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunt.
Clever and cheesy wordplay seems to be a hallmark of our family gatherings. We have a predisposition for puns and a love of mangling phrases. One such highlight from the visit is worth repeating, if only as an illustration.
Andrew, talking to Ryan, mentioned something about a “love cube”. I have no idea what that meant. However, it immediately made me think of the song “Love Shack”, so I started singing a twisted version:
“The love cube is a polygon where… we can get together…”
OK, yeah, cheesy. They indulged me with a chuckle. But then Ryan, per usual, came up with a retort.
“So, if you were involved in that love cube polygon thing, would you be… a… ‘polygonist’?”
Groan.
Anyhow, it was a great blessing to have everybody under one roof, if only for a day. God is good.
Top row, L-R: Andrew, Rebecca, Ryan Middle row, L-R: Dad, Mom, Chris, Katie (being held), Becky, Aaron, Emily Bottom row: Addison, Laura (click to see a bigger image)
Wedding bells, etc
I’ve taken plenty of pictures the past few days, but the dial-up internet connection here at the folks' house isn’t up to uploading them, so they’ll wait until we get home on Sunday. (To be quite fair, my folks aren’t Luddites in the least when it comes to the internet; they simply live so far out that their only options are dial-up or ridiculously-expensive satellite. But I digress.)
It’s such fun to have the whole family together again for a weekend - Andrew and Heather are in from Washington; Ryan is here from Chicago; we’ve come up from Iowa and the rest are, for the moment, locals of Richland Center, WI. I have a feeling these full-family gatherings will be fewer and farther between as the years go on, so we need to enjoy these when we have the chance.
New Years' Eve we celebrated Christmas as a family, exchanging gifts and eating rather too much. I was blessed with a case for my iPod and a copy of N. T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God, a lengthy volume that will likely keep me busy for a long while this upcoming year. (Thanks, Ryan!) New Years' Day was rather uneventful; much decorating was done at the church, and it was concluded by my brother Aaron’s bachelor party - a party much unlike what typically comes to mind when you say “bachelor party”. Let’s just say it was attended by nearly 20 men who carried Bibles and weren’t afraid to use them. :-) It was a good, encouraging time, enjoyed by all.
Yesterday, though, the preparations continued in earnest for Aaron and Emily’s wedding. Final decorations were hung; we walked through the rehearsal; finally, we ate a LOT of tasty catered Mexican food for the rehearsal dinner, and celebrated Aaron’s birthday. Oh, and Rebecca made the cakes, and whipped up a LOT of frosting. (Pictures to follow.)
Now it’s Saturday morning and we’re praying that the freezing rain forecast for late this afternoon holds off for a few extra hours so everyone can make it to the wedding. The big event is at 4:30 this afternoon, with dinner and dancing to follow. Big congratulations go out to Aaron and Emily on this landmark day in their lives. Now if you’ll excuse me… I think I have a shirt to go iron.
Christmas 2008 wrap-up
Nothing like a holiday and a week off work to slow down the blog posting.
We started our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve, attending the service at Stonebridge. While it was a bit longer service than I expected, it was quite good, and the girls managed to sit through it (a whole hour!) without making too much ruckus. Then we made a quick trip down to the Fedex office to pick up the new laptop that had made it as far as the distribution office but not actually delivered.
Christmas morning we opened presents. Highlights for the girls: Addie got a little tent and sleeping bag; Laura got a scooter and a “spotting scope”. (It looks like a pirate spyglass to me, but Diego calls his a “spotting scope” and that’s all that matters to Laura. :-)) The girls also ended up with a multitude of puzzles and DVDs. I got some good stuff, too: some gift cards to my favorite local fast-food places (guilt-free eat outs!), a new fountain pen (OK, I’ve had it for a few weeks, but it’s a Christmas present none the less), and a couple of CDs. I got Becky a new jewelry box and a Baby Blues book; she appears to be enjoying both of them.
More Christmas photos on Flickr
On Wednesday we’re headed up to Wisconsin to see my family; Andrew and Heather are in from Washington; Ryan is in from the other Washington (DC), and Aaron and Emily are getting married on Saturday! Exciting times for the Hubbs family. Then next week “real life” starts again and I have to go back to work. I am thankful, though, for this Christmas break. A week and a half off of work is such a lovely thing this time of year. Happy New Year to you all!
Just Us at Christmas
In the 11 or 12 Christmases Becky and I have spent together, each has been celebrated with one set of parents or the other; most of them with my family, which has always lived closer, but a few Christmases we’ve made the drive to North Carolina to celebrate with Becky’s family. This year, though, a convergence of plans and events has set things up so that we will be spending Christmas day at home, just us and the girls. We’ll get to see my family the following week (for a wedding, no less!) but this week it’ll just be us.
Becky and I now get to start to decide what our family Christmases will look like. There’s a huge amount of latitude, given that there are no expectations from anyone. If we want to make changes, now is the time. If you think about it too long, it becomes a little bit overwhelming. Becky touched on it yesterday when we were discussing our Christmas dinner menu. She said she didn’t plan on making all the usual side dishes to go with the ham, but when I noted this was her chance to start a new tradition, she said she didn’t really know where to start.
It seems to me that part of the reason traditions don’t change too greatly from generation to generation isn’t just the fond memories we have of years gone by, or the actual love of specific foods or songs; it is also the added comfort and ease of just keeping things the same - in other words: change is hard. Now, that’s not a very heartwarming thought for a pre-Christmas afternoon, but it’s what I’ve got for today.
So yeah, I don’t forsee any huge changes for the Hubbs family this Christmas. We might go wild and fix a few different side-dishes to go with the ham. But we’re still having ham. Some things are just too sacred to mess around with.
Happy Birthday, Mom (2008 edition)!
It’s my mother’s birthday today, and out of respect for her (a respect that I wasn’t prone to show in my younger years, but that’s another story) I won’t mention her age.
However, I will mention that she has accomplished much in her years, raising and schooling five children, serving and caring for friends and family, consistently modeling Christ-likeness to those around her, tireless for nearly 37 years as a wife and nearly 32 as a mother.
Today, this son rises to call her blessed.
Happy Birthday, Mom.
Yet another reason I love my brother...
Lately I’ve had a quote from Chuck (a rather fun TV show on NBC Mondays) set as my IM status message. (Oh, it’s also at the top of my blog header.) In the show, Chuck complains that it’d never work to have a relationship with his hot love interest Sarah, because she’s a CIA agent, and he says he’d try calling her, and she wouldn’t be available because she’d be “off somewhere in Paraguay quelling revolution with a fork…” I loved it. What a great line.
So it’s been my IM status for a week or so now. And every time Ryan starts a chat, he starts it out this way: “viva! viva! viva!”. (The first time he followed up with “fork that!” :-) )
For Ryan, I have but three words, and I’ll even make ‘em Spanish: ¡Si se puede!
Happy birthday Laura (2008 edition)!
Our oldest daughter Laura turns 4 today. So far she’s celebrated the morning with a bowl of Rice Krispies and a new Veggie Tales DVD. She’s quite excited about it. :-)
Here’s a little photo retrospective:
Laura at one day old: 
Laura on her first birthday: 
Laura on her second birthday (gotta love the Elton John glasses): 
Laura on her third birthday: 
Laura, almost 4, at Andrew’s wedding a couple weeks ago: 
She is turning into quite a young lady… time just flies. We are so blessed to have a sweet girl who loves her family and loves Jesus. Happy birthday, Laura!
Washington Vacation 2008: The Wedding
After the beach we took a couple of days to travel up from Long Beach to Leavenworth. The stop in Yakima wasn’t really anything to write home about - Yakima is quite different from the other places in Washington we visited - dry, dusty, more desert than anything. But it was a good stopping-off point. Becky shot pictures from the moving van like a wild woman. She did get a rather nice one of Mount Rainier:
Also, on our way up to Leavenworth, the girls had fun throwing rocks into this little mountain stream:
Once we made it to Leavenworth, we had a great time with family and friends at the wedding. We stayed at the Riverdance Lodge, which you really must check out via their website to appreciate. It’s a ridiculously posh vacation home which happens to be right next door to the house that Andrew & Heather were borrowing for the wedding. So, our family rented it to stay for a couple days. Fantastic choice.
I’ve got a whole set of photos on Flickr from the rehearsal and before and after the wedding, and it’s really hard to decide which ones to show here, so I’ll just give you one of them and you can go visit the set. In this particular pic, Andrew and Heather were kinda bored during the photo shoot and gave me this little pose:
Such fun. There’s one more I’d post, but somehow I didn’t get it uploaded to Flickr yet. I’ll make a separate post for that one picture - how often can you say you have a guy relieving himself against a tree in the background of a wedding picture? :-)
The wedding was beautiful and went about as smoothly as any wedding I’ve ever been to. I played the piano, Ryan sang, Laura and Addie were beautiful flower girls. They also had a lot of fun dancing afterwards. What a fantastic time of celebration.
An apology of sorts
I had really intended to keep the blog up-to-date while on this vacation - after all, during the vacation I have even more to write about than I would otherwise. Sadly, though… well, maybe not so sadly, I’ve been vacationing rather than blogging. :-) I have been taking lots of pictures, though, so they’ll show up eventually, along with some thoughts.
Short summary, though: Andrew and Heather were married yesterday evening in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. The weather was fantastic, everything was well-organized and -executed, and the party afterward was a lot of fun. Now it’s Sunday morning and all of us who remain here are more than a little tired… but it was quite worth it.
More later, I promise.
Ten
Ten years ago today, on a sweltering night in Charlotte, NC, friends and family gathered as Becky and I exchanged our vows and became husband and wife. I don’t remember a whole lot about the ceremony itself; the pictures, though, show a geeky boy of 21 looking warm in a basic tuxedo, and a girl looking beautiful if a bit uncomfortable in a white dress and veil. We look so young! Were we really ready to start upon a lifetime together?
Ten years later we have been through much. New places to live, new jobs, new friends; two beautiful little girls added to our family; a lot of what we promised in our vows: sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes richer, sometimes poorer, sometimes sickness, sometimes health. One of the few constants through it all has been my wife Becky by my side, supporting, encouraging, and loving me. While we have our ups and downs, we truly do make a great team.
That night ten years ago my buddy Daniel sang a song that Rich Mullins wrote that included these lines:
If you find a love that’s tender, If you find someone who’s true Then thank the Lord - He’s been doubly good to you.
And truly He has been good. I love you, Becky, and thanks for 10 wonderful years.
Bunk beds
It’s been a couple of weeks now but there was great excitement among the little girls in our house because we bought a nice set of bunk beds at a garage sale and set them up in Laura’s room. Laura is now the proud owner of a “big bed” - a real twin-sized bed with real sheets and pillow. We’ve set up the upper bunk as well (the pictures were taken before it got set up) and while we don’t have any immediate plans to move Addie in with Laura, I imagine it’ll happen eventually.
So it’s time for some before-and-after pictures, well, of a sort. Back in November 2005 when Laura was 16 months old and we knew that Addie was on the way, we set up a new crib for Laura and she wanted to help assemble it. This was the scene:
Fast-forward to May 2008 and Daddy now has two little helpers.
And the finished result:
Muppet Imitations
Apparently this is something that goes by generations, too. I’ve done Kermit (among others) for a long time… (including on YouTube… twice) and now the girls are up to it, too.
Today I decided to wear my Beaker t-shirt. No sooner did I come home this morning (Becky’s not feeling well) than they both pointed at the shirt and asked, “Who’s that guy?” So here they are, doing their best Beaker impressions.
For reference, the t-shirt:
Laura:
Addie:
Starting a new tradition (or, a good excuse for ice cream)
Some weeks ago Becky and I were enjoying a date night with a stop at our local Coldstone ice cream shop when we overheard some college students discussing a plan - a plan we liked so much we decided to turn it into a tradition of our own. It’s really quite simple: the first day in the spring and summer that the high temperature for the day surpasses the next 10-degree mark, we go for ice cream.
It just so happened that our date night weeks ago was on the first 70-degree day of the year. And it just so happened that yesterday was the first 80-degree day of the year. So after getting a bunch of outside work done, we packed the girls up in the van and headed for Coldstone. I figure we have at least two ten-degree trips still coming this season, and if, God forbid, we hit the third (110°F), we’ll at least be happy for the relief!
So here are a few pictures from the night. Oh, and our ice cream flavors:
Addie: Chocolate with sprinkles Laura: Cotton Candy with white chocolate chips Becky: Chocolate & Coffee with cookie dough me: Cake Batter Chocolate with cookie dough
Four
There’s been a running joke at our house for some time now that goes something like this:
Becky: “Who wants some ice cream?” (It doesn’t have to be ice cream, it’s just the request that’s important here. Me: “I do!” Laura: “Me, too!” Me: “Me, three!”
For months, inevitably Laura’s response was to reprove me: “no, Daddy. I’m three!” And I would of course have to agree that yes, she was three years old, and then we would usually go on to remember that Daddy was, in fact, 30 (now 31!) and that Addie was only 1 (but is now 2!).
Finally, one day, Laura got the joke. It’s about counting! So now she looks to make the joke every time she can.
Laura: “I want to go outside.” Me: “Me, too!” Laura: “Me, three!”. (Uncontrollable giggling follows.)
Then came yesterday. We’re in the kitchen, getting ready to head out for a couple of errands.
Becky, at the sink: “OK, I’m ready to go.” Me, at the table: “OK, I am too.” Laura, also at the table: “Me three!” (giggling) Addie, from over in front of the fridge, raising her hand: “FOUR!”
Happy Birthday, Addison Grace!
Two years ago today, about this time early in the morning, I was making phone calls to my parents and Becky’s parents to let them know they had a new granddaughter. What a blessing Addie has been to us in these past two years. Happy Birthday, young lady… can’t wait to celebrate many more with you.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
This morning Laura and Addie and a few of their friends participated in a little fashion show for a Christian women’s group. They got to pick out dresses to borrow from a local store and then strut their stuff. I’m not sure how much Laura slept last night, she was so excited. Becky managed to get a few pictures of the girls and their friends. Enjoy! (You can click on the pics to see the bigger version on Flickr.)
Wait, it's Monday?
Weekends are going to look a little bit different now that we’re having church on Saturday night. Something to get used to. This weekend was actually pretty great; a phone call from my sister saying “hey, we’re bored, can we come visit this afternoon?” changed our direction pretty quickly. So the folks and Rebecca came down in time for church on Saturday night and then hung around on Sunday until late afternoon. It was great to see them and hang out.
Saturday night went well down at Imago Christi - certainly better than the first week. Sermon was tighter, music was more together, adding Dave Paris on the guitar with the worship team was a big plus. Picking a song for the meditation after the sermon continues to be a challenge - it’s just hard to know what the right song will be until I hear the message. Saturday night I wanted to use the song “Jesus, Name above all Names”, but the 70’s style of the original song was turning me off to it. So for the last five minutes of the sermon I worked out a new tune in my head, and then sang it. It actually sounded pretty good. I should go write it down while I still remember it. :-)
Watched a bunch of football yesterday and was surprised and disappointed to see the Colts lose to the Chargers; not so surprised or disappointed to see the Cowboys lose. I’m gonna have to cheer for the Packers from here on out. There has to be somebody who can beat the Patriots.
Well, that’s your weekend update from Iowa. It’s now Monday morning and there’s work to be done.
Home after Christmas
What a great Christmas, and now how good to be home. We spent several days at my parents' place in Wisconsin, though for the first day or so they weren’t there… they had to go to Chicago to pick up my sister, who flew in from Panama, and my brother, who flew in from DC. They made it within about 30 miles of home before the snow storm got so intense that they couldn’t manage to get any further. So they got a room, stayed the night, and waited for the snow plows. By noon the next day they made it home. It was sure good to see everyone.
Christmas was a marvelous time. It’s always such fun with small children, and Laura and Addie just loved opening their presents and playing with their new toys. The carnage comes when we bring them all home and add them to the existing pile of toys. I think it’s time for a garage sale or a large donation to Goodwill.
We did manage to get at least one decent family picture taken, so here we wish you a belated Merry Christmas! (For family and friends: I’ll get a bunch more uploaded to Flickr sometime this week.)
'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous...
Christmas shopping is complete. The Christmas program is over. We’ve received a bunch of Christmas cards already. We still haven’t gotten any sent. Apologies in advance to organized friends like Stephanie and the Hollands. It’s not that we don’t appreciate you thinking of us and sending us the pictures. We do, really. We’re just not organized enough to get our own sent out this year. When I was growing up it was the family joke that we would send out a New Year’s letter, because our Christmas letter always went out really late. I think this Hubbs household might have to do the same thing.
Tasks for this week: baking cookies. Well, that’s mostly Becky. She has baked so many cookies this last week already. Toll House cookies. Chocolate Espresso cookies. O’Henry bars. Chocolate chip cookie dough balls. I know the Chex Mix is coming up yet this week. She has a schedule for every day divided up into morning, afternoon, and evening, with baking tasks laid out appropriately so that she can finish before we head to Wisconsin on Saturday. I am impressed, as usual, with her organizational determination.
Other tasks for this week: Wrapping presents. Just because they’re all bought doesn’t mean they’re ready for Christmas. We’ll load up the coffee table downstairs with all the wrapping implements and then turn something on the TV. I’m thinking it’ll be more Heroes. I never watched Heroes when it started last year on TV, and once I got behind, I knew it was no use trying to start in the middle. So I got Season 1 and we’ve been saving it until we had time. Now with the writer’s strike and no new shows to watch, it’s the perfect time. We watched five episodes over the weekend. Totally hooked. If not Heroes, it’ll be time to break out the Muppet Christmas Carol. It is pretty much a yearly tradition - who can fail to love Kermit as Bob Crachit and Michael Caine as Mr. Scrooge? So much fun.
I’m taking Friday off work to get a head start on the holidays. Then we pack and head off to see the family. Lots to do between now and then, though. After all, it’s only one more week ‘til Christmas.