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Christmas Time in The OC

Todd — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:57:16 +0000

You’ve never seen happier children than Emma and Henry at Christmas this year. Emma, in particular, was thrilled as she received a new baby doll, replacing one that she’d inexplicably lost while playing in our yard.

Read more on Christmas Time in The OC…

Here We Go A-Wassailing

Todd — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:21:32 +0000

Marla used to have caroling parties when she was in high school so when we got an invite from a friend to go this year with the kids, she jumped at the chance to introduce Emma and Henry.

The night we went went caroling (wassailing, if you want to kick it old school) was clear and cool and the kids were so excited. We started out with a bit of pizza and cookies, practiced a few carols in the house and then departed.

It was funny to see the reaction on different faces when we rang the doorbell. I suppose it is a sign of the times that no one gets random visitors – even if they are neighbors – after supper. But, despite the initial surprise, everyone enjoyed the show.

And with these four children smiling and singing for you, how could you not?

Christmas Time

Todd — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:43:51 +0000

We tried hard this year to have a very small-scale Christmas. Henry and Emma, who have no shortage of “stuff” already, don’t necessarily need a whole bunch more so we limited our gift giving and tried to focus a bit more on the “spirit” than the “stuff.”

I admit, though, that it took me a little more effort to get into the mood than the rest of the household. Just a week before Christmas I still hadn’t gotten a tree. I think with Christmas promotion starting in October now I was done with trees by December :)

Marla, Emma and Henry gave me a kick in the pants, though, and got a late season deal on a tree at Lowes. Just $5! You can’t beat that.

Our focus on small worked! The kids had a blast and we weren’t overwhelmed with new junk but rather things the kids were genuinely interested in or needed (clothes). Enjoy the pictures – we had fun taking them.

Christmas Festival

Todd — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:59:21 +0000

Get ready for an onslaught of holiday-themed posts. I’m getting ready to blow through our December photos, which include Christmas, Hanukkah and Henry’s birthday party. Hope you’re not sick of the holidays yet!

These photos are from the “Christmas Festival” the city of Rancho Santa Margarita held this year. The kids were able to entertain themselves with some cookie decorating, a few craft projects, face painting and other standard festival fare.

Emma and Henry, as you can see, really got into the cookie decorating. We decided to let Henry have at it all by himself. The result was a wonderful icing mustache along with a mountain of sprinkles… with a tiny little cookie somewhere underneath. (Emma didn’t let a sprinkle go to waste, of course.)

After making some paper snowflakes with The Engles and getting our face painted we called it a night. A good time was had by all.

GameSpy Holiday Rock Fest

Todd — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:40:36 +0000

GameSpy has always put on a great ~~Christmas~~ holiday party. (“It’s a lonely time of the year for the Jews,” says Mark Surfas.) See 2003 at seven degrees for proof.

This year was no different and, in fact, may have trumped all previous parties. The party was held at The Shark Club in Costa Mesa, where we had the 2006 party. In a first for GameSpy we were invited back to a venue for a second time!

Our holiday party is typically the one time of year when our mostly t-shirt and jeans crowd actually puts on collared shirts or – gasp – a dress. In addition to the “adult” dress-up we also did a little make believe dress-up for our Rock Band competition.

Few games have captured the office’s attention and passion like Rock Band. (See our Rock Band index for proof.) To quench our desire we held a Rock Off, with an esteemed panel of judges and seven band battling for the crown.

The photos speak for themselves.

Day 4: Ke’ei Beach

Todd — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 04:17:19 +0000

Looking out the back windows of the house you can see what looks like a fantastic surfing spot just to the south of Kealakekua Bay. There are three long breaks a few hundred yards off shore and I’ve watched a dozen folks surfing through the binoculars in the mornings.

The problem was that I couldn’t figure out how to get there.

None of the marked roads seem to lead to it and it would be a long hike over rough rocks to go by foot along the coast. So, while Emma and Henry were napping, I took set out in the car to do a little exploring.

As it turned out there was a little unmarked dirt/lava road I was missing that lead to quiet Ke’ei Village.

The houses in the village are run down, dogs lie in the middle of the road and the parking area was packed with the pick-ups of locals there for the surf. I have to admit that I felt a bit intimidated as I bounced along the unpaved road and got the stare-down from the tanned Hawaiian teenagers.

At any rate, the beach turned out to be perfect for the kids and we’ve been back the past two days. The sand is a coarse “salt and pepper” sand. Not so good for making sand castles but great for running and playing. The bottom is fairly rocky but there’s a path cleared that the surfers use to get out to the breaks and the locals have built a small “pool” perfect for kids. (Our “Happy Holidays” picture was taken here.)

We spotted a number of turtles swimming near the shore. I took Emma and Henry out into the water on my shoulders for a closer look and we were surprised when a turtle swam within three feet of us from behind. What a way to spend Christmas day!

You can find a lot more of Ke’ei Beach towards the end of yesterday’s posting about The Painted Church.

Happy Holidays from Hawaii

Todd — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 18:56:42 +0000

Happy holidays from the Northcutt family. We’ll see you next year!

northcutt christmas 2005

Todd — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 05:50:42 +0000

Christmas this year was quite different than last year. If you recall we’d been home with Henry for, oh, 2 days or so. He was sound asleep in his science fiction outfit and Mommy was sound asleep in the chair next to him. This year he was a bundle of energy and enjoyed ripping into the presents as much as Emma did.

The Christmas haul for 2005 was enourmous. As you can see in this shot one pile of presents was nearly as tall as Emma. Yes, one pile. There were plenty more stacked under the tree. I must admit that I’m a little embarassed by just how much stuff there was there.

Anyway, highlights included: a bulldozer for Henry, books and t-shirts galore for Emma, nice new sweaters for Mommy and an 9′ high stack of Good Eats DVDs for me.

The last few pictures show Emma proudly (and exuberently!) singing into her microphone. It was a lot of fun for a few days… until the thing broke. We returned it and I’ve made a few trips to Guitar Center for replacement parts. Wait ’til you see what I’ve cooked up!