The Narrative of Kurt & Becky

We gather together….

I really wanted to find the clip of the crazy Aunt singing this hymn in the 1995 film, “Home For the Holidays” but I couldn’t find it.

But I did find their prayer. Yikes.

So here is the song being sung.

It turns out that this a truly beautiful VERY old hymn… 1597. Um, woah.

Text: Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck; trans. by Theodore Baker
Music: 1597 – 16th cent. Dutch melody; arr. by Edward Kremser (1838-1914)
Tune: KREMSER, Meter: Irr.

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

This is EVERYTHING to be thankful for, “So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!”

Thanksgiving. We had an awesome champagne brunch and great Thanksgiving food. It was delightful to have a break from the big, giant cooking session this year. (Especially since Christmas is a month away and that will provide another cooking fest.) It was a delicious meal and, of course, no dishes. The server brought Peter a balloon and we tied it on his wrist with a slipknot. We walked all around the Orange circle… One of the two Starbucks-es on the circle were open.. so we enjoyed Starbucks beverages on our lovely walk. He did eventually lose the balloon. It flew up into the under branches of a very old, very tall tree.

Here is the progression in photos.

Peter and his balloon.

Here it is up in the tree.

Here are the tall guys trying to reach it. A little absurd comedy.

This balloon became “a new balloon for the birds to play with.” We left it and said, “bye balloon!”

No, not Bread.

No, not bread. (But he does make that too.)

You know, BREAD.

Delicious. SO delicious.

We had these as Halloween treats (along with candy) and we got to keep a slew. They’ve been fun to play with for us all.

SCARY!!!

Here is a little bit more of Halloween 2011.

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year it meant that Peter was able to enjoy it at playschool. They have an annual costume parade. They walk in a line across the street over to the building I work in (luckily since the campus is large!) and trick or treat HR and IT.

Due to the nature of his blue monster costume (plush is heat inducing); Peter was a cowboy on Monday the 31st at playschool.

There were some cute costumes. A dad was a milkman and the daughter was an ice cream cone (I hope the mom wasn’t a cow or an ice cream truck!). There was a little Dutch girl. There was a pink horse. There were princesses, fairies, super heroes, your standard costumes..

Here is the cowboy after saying, “Howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy.” This is howdy-face.

Here he is on the Halloween parade.

Here’s a picture of a picture.

Here he is… our cute, little, wonderful, best, guy.

I know that there is an INSANE amount of red-eye but I don’t care at the moment. Our retinas just happen to photograph beautifully. Perhaps I will fix it eventually.
EDITED: I did FIX (crudely) the red-eyes.

Ta-da! Guess who’s pumpkin is whose?

As we were scooping out the guts, Peter asked for a flashlight. So I came up with this. He loved it.

Don’t underestimate the value of a finely cleaned gourd.

Hey guys, it is October so naturally it is time for stories of the old pumpkin farm.

Well. This year was even more fun than the last two years. First, we had legit cowboy boots so we dressed Peter up as a real farmer (or Cowboy). Second, Peter is a year older. Third, it was not as hot as last year.

Kurt took this photo using the “tilt shift” mode. Pretty fancy, looks neato.

Many more pictures on the Flickr page.

We went and took a look at the HBFD open house. It included two demonstrations: the jaws of life and a fire. It was amazing.

They ripped the top off of a jetta and showed how quickly they can rescue an injured person.
Then they set a tanker on fire and showed how they can rescue the injured people and put the fire out safely.

It made me very thankful for the work they do. They are absolutely wonderful.

I suppose I didn’t take a picture of the topless jetta. This is the tanker. We were really far away but still the heat was intense.

Then we got a balloon.

We got to take a look at where they keep their jackets and hats.

Then the kids got to sit in the fire truck!

They let the kids turn on the hose and spray water!

Mom and Sally in front of a 1960′s fire truck. Pretty neat.