We Love Aaron, Yes We Do! We Love Aaron, How 'Bout You?!?

Okay, we confess...we Becca (one of our babysitters) told us she had a boyfriend, we were 100% against it. Primarily, no one is good enough for "our Becca", and secondly, nobody is scooping Becca up and moving her away from here. Well, on January 28th, I fell and injured my shoulder while playing in the snow with the kids. Karen has just started a fire in the fireplace, because it was quite chilly and school for both kids was canceled. We were all looking forward to a much needed "snow day"! Soon after my fall, it became apparent that I needed to have a doctor check it out, so we called Becca to see if she could come watch the kids. Becca was in clinic that morning, and never even got our message until late that afternoon. We called Lindsey (other babysitter extraordinaire), and she was already at work and couldn't leave. On a whim, or strange wife/mother intuition, Karen called Aaron, Becca's boyfriend. Aaron had been over for dinner, gone with us to the Liberty Bowl game, and seemingly enjoyed playing with the kids (if not, he's a good faker). Karen called Aaron (woke him up even) and in true Becca-fashion, and he came and played with the kids while Karen took me to the doctor's office (see "Snow Day 2009" in an earlier post). Wow...that's just about all I have to say about that...Wow.

And then there were 6...

'Nuff said...
62 Scat Flasher, on 2…or Scramble right, Scramble left, Get Open…
Ben Roethlisberger

All I did was stood up on my toes and extended my hands...
Santonio Holmes


Favorite moment from the Super Bowl: Nicholas stayed up and watched the end of the game with me. After the game-winning catch, he ran and hugged me and said, "Dad, I'm changing...I'm a Steelers fan!"

Now, I'd like the young man to make his own choices and stand up for what he believes in, but he is/was a Colts fan, and that just won't do...

Rockin' Out...

One of my favorite gifts ever is a family present to our bunch from our babysitters Lindsey and Becca. They bought us the full set of Rock Band 2 for Christmas, and I'm entirely addicted! Caroline, Nicholas, and I have a band called "Ved's Bombshells" and we've played gigs in New York, Boston, Chicago, Austin TX, Montreal, and San Francisco. We've won a deluxe tour bus, and are sponsored by Hot Topic. We even have a street team to get the word out...HOOKED!

We further celebrated Caroline's baptism day by playing ROCK BAND with Becca, Lindsey, and special friends Sassy (Ashley), Wes, and their bambino Ethan. Check out these awesome shots of Ved's Bombshells and their guest artists!

Caroline's Bap-a-tism

Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven to Caroline Georgia Holland! Caroline asked Jesus into her heart on Christmas eve (see earlier post), and today was baptized at Forest Hill Community Church. I had the incredible honor to be the one baptizing her, and I can say that baptizing your own children is one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences that I think a father can have. Tremendous! We had a special day, and celebrated at one of her favorite restaurants, Red Robin. Here are some recent shots of Caroline, after her recent haircut and straightening from Gypsyville. She's so grown! You can see her new "Mia" American Girl doll in the background...her favorite Christmas present.

Carole and Tom

We enjoyed a very special treat this Thursday through Saturday; One of Karen's absolute best friends in the world was in town for a wedding and to visit. Carole Kenney has been a missionary in East Asia for many years, and has moved home to find work in Chicago, near her precious beau, Tom. We had an incredibly special time together, and welcomed several friends into our home that worked with Carole when she was serving in Vienna, Austria. Our former pastor Danny Hall and his wife Ginger, as well as Stuart and Elsie from Northern Ireland, all sharing funny (and embarrassing) stories about Carole. Simply a treat...Here are the two precious ones!

Too Bad We Lost?

Nicholas' basketball team, the Hope Tigers, are off to a 4-1 start to their season. Their most recent game was Saturday 1/17/09. They played the Central Church Thunder, and won the game 19-12. They got off to a slow start, but steadily caught the Thunder, and passed them easily. Nicholas' coach, Coach Greg, told Nicholas that he was an absolute monster on defense, rebounding, boxing out, chasing down loose balls, coming up with steals. We were so proud! He had several great drives to the basket, but couldn't finish at the rim - we'll work on that. The best part of the game was in the car afterwards, Karen and I were congratulating Nicholas on playing such a great game, to which he replied..."yeah, too bad we lost...". We'll work on scoreboard reading too...

No more baseball....

I just can't do it anymore. I have given up on baseball. I really do want to continue to enjoy the game but I just can't. I am so done with all of the players leaving a team to go to the highest bidder. How can you let John Smoltz go? First Glavine, then Maddox and now Smoltzy..... I am done.