Halloween with the Davis Family

Meet the Davis Family. Katie, John and Ava are our friends and next door neighbors, though it is probably more appropriate to call them our roommates. At least twice a week we eat, hang out, or do something together. If you have visited, you have met them, or seen Wrigley, one of their dogs, jump the fence and run into our house. They are new friends, but close ones, and it has been really great to watch them raise Ava. Their advice has been invaluable, and it is exciting to think about our kids playing together in the next few years.

We have a tradition, albeit new, that we spend Halloween in our front yard with a small fire and hand candy to kids as they come to our house. Last night we did this for a second year and everything started out great. Many of our neighbors came by with their kids, some stayed and chatted about what was going on with the election, or our collective lives. Some asked about Teri's pregnancy or our house projects. And others still came by to introduce themselves to our group of 5. It was really a nice evening.

Then the Fire Department came. Some jerk neighbor (I think it is the old hag piano teacher across the street) had apparently called them on us. Our fire, though contained in a Home Depot clay pot, burning clean wood on a ground freshly wet from 2 days of rain, scared some neighbor to the point she called the Fire Department. There was no warning or conversation of "Hey, that tiny safe fire worries me, can you put it out?" Nope, none of that. Instead it was just a chickenshit call to 911. Ahhhh tax dollars. The big truck, with four firefighters in full gear stopped at our house, walked up to where the five of us were sitting, looked puzzled and asked about the pit. Turns out the law is that you need to have food and a metal grate in order to have an open fire pit. So they made us spray it down. You could see the embarrassment in their eyes, as the smoke rose and the fire was put out. We weren't there to cause trouble, and they were just answering a scared bitch neighbor's call.

Luckily, we had reinforcements. Armed by the Davis's fire pit (with a metal grate) we started a fire anew. John and I cut some more wood. Teri and Katie continued to hand out candy, and our neighbor, Jan the mail carrier, brought a pound of frozen ground beef still in a bag and we continue our evening. More neighbors stopped by, asked about the commotion (then laughed at its ridiculousness), our fire continued, and we had a pleasant evening.

In the great words of Chumbawumba "I get knocked down, but I get up again. You ain't ever gonna keep me down."

Especially on Halloween.

The New Basement

So finally, after a couple years we are putting the finishing touches on our basement. This week the trim work and carpet were finished, a new tv and couch arrived and we finally moved Teri down to her new office. My reward? A month to do the nursery.

But seriosuly, we are really happy with how this turned out. We now have added a den, an office, a large storage hall, and an enormous guestroom that sleeps four to go along with the bathroom and laundry room that were already there.

WE have a few things to do like attach the face plates and hang some curtains, but we have enjoyed some movies on the couch and DirecTV comes tomorrow.

On the right in the house projects part of the this website you can see what the basement started out as. Below is a link showing you what it looks like now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattyoder/NewBasement#

Thanks to the following people who helped me out for beer, pizza, and enjoyment.

Tyler Espinoza, Keith Van Essen, Jake Geiger, John Davis, Tim Ramseyer, Shaun Fullmer, Teri Yoder, and my dad, Jim Yoder.

Now it is up to all of you to come visit. See you soon.

Missouri

I'll try to not let this photo hurt my feelings. Matt and I trekked back to Missouri a few weeks ago for a baby shower that my Mother hosted for us. It was a nice afternoon, and great fun as I got to see my two closest friends from highschool, Erin and Adrienne (Erin is the one who looks like she's going to throw up), and my best friend from college, Rachal. Rachal is spending a few months in Missouri with her family before she heads to Argentina to teach for six months. It was so great to spend time with three of my favorite people. It's so fun to get together with old friends when it feels like no time has passed at all.

The shower itself was a great event, held in my parent's brand new house. They moved in just three days before the shower and somehow managed to pull off a party for 35 people. It was a beautiful day spent with family and lots of old friends, who were all very generous to the unborn Yoder. Lucky kid ...

NEW YORK! (written over two days)

The above is supposed to sound like someone screaming, as in "this is NEW YORK!"

Once again Teri and I are seperated for the week and I am in New York while she is in St Louis. I will be meeting her at the end of the week for our baby shower in Missouri. Before that happens though, I have had a perfect, fall, NYC couple of days.

It has been a great week as I was able to catch up with my old freinds Matt Henning, Kim Sall, and Derek Metz. The weather was crisp, the job easy, and the reuniting comforting. I would like to thank Microsoft for the free ticket.

Matt Dellinger(pictured) is the person I stay with each time I come out here. He is currently writing a book. It's about Highway 69, explained thusly: The transformative power of transportation explored through the lens of one controversial project - the extention of the interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Mexico. Look for him on the Daily Show next spring. When I visit, there is always a new adventure.

Though work pushed me through two 15 hour days, I was able to turn it into a boondoggle to visit these friends. (Dellinger just warned me to be careful not to write this because my company may read it, and I've been drinking. whatever. It's after 5pm. I can do what I want. It is not Russia.)

But honestly, I love visiting this town. I really wanted Teri to come this time, but she could not make it. Pregnancy and all. Soon though, she will be coming back and Dellinger has offered to push the stroller. But back to this trip: He and I saw our friend McGrath (who wrote this: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/23/070423fa_fact_mcgrath) on Saturday night in Red Hook. On Sunday, we ate our way from Brooklyn to The Village and back, stopping for a Katz Rueben, Shwarma, Sushi, and some cheese from Murray's. That night we took the cheese to have dinner with Henning and his partner, Dave.

Anyway, after working for two days this week in Midtown, I am back here in Brooklyn, to hang a shelf. We're turning his room into a literary colliseum (see previous blog post).

Tonight I also saw an old friend Kim and her fiance Derek. I haven't seen these two in years, but they are doing great. This is important because in the last two years Kim has surived some serious health problems. It was a relief to see them happy and healthy. They are doing great and I could not be happier for them.

Next I head to Missouri to see Teri, The Hoerstkamps and their new house, and get to hang with some of Teri;'s old friends. Should be fun and look for another post soon.

(oh yeah, the carpet went into the basement while I was gone. More on that later too)

Major Development

We have decided to build the shelf on the east side of the room instead of the west side of the room in Dellinger's house. It will fit perfectly. You can see here.

27 Weeks

I'm starting my 27th week, which means I am one week away from being in my third trimester. I've heard so many people say that their pregnancy felt so long, as if it would never end. I've had the exact opposite experience. It's like I woke up one day and realized that I was 6 months pregnant. And that was quite a surprise.


So, right now this kid weighs about 2lbs and is measuring about 141/2 inches with it's legs extended. I went to the doctor last week, and everything still looks really good. On my last visit, my belly was measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule, which was a bit concerning since we learned that this kid is very tall and in the 96% percentile of weight. But, on this last visit, my belly measured right at 26.5 weeks, which was exactly on target. But the heartbeat remains strong, and this kid remains very active. I'm starting to see my stomach move along with the kicks, which is pretty crazy. It's also responding to Matt's voice pretty regularly, which is pretty cool too.


I am having one pretty serious side effect to this pregnancy ... I've been experiencing terrible pregnancy rage. I can't explain and I can't control it. It's mostly directed at people who are clearly disobeying the standard rules of our society. For example: People who ignore proper airplane etiquette, people who cut in front of me in a bathroom line (seriously, I'm pregnant), and everything related in any way to Sarah Palin. What's worse is that Matt knows about my rage, finds it funny, and totally eggs me on. My face gets all red and I cannot hold my tongue. I guess, thinking of all the side effects I could have to this pregnancy, this isn't too bad. I mean, apparently I know understand fully Matt's world.


Matt and I are heading back to Missouri for a baby shower next week, and after that trip, I am officially grounded. I must admit I'm pretty excited to be forced to stay in Seattle for awhile. I'm excited to spend some time in Missouri, not only to see family, but we'll get to see some great friends who recently moved back to the area. Should be a very good time.

Long Overdue ...

It appears that we are at our best, in terms of updating our blog, when we are on vacation. Needless to say, we made it back to Seattle safe and sound, with a brief stop in Boston. We had just one night in Boston, and thanks to the Schomps, we were able to see the whole SK crowd. It was really great to get a chance to not only catch up with this crew, but to also meet Ms. Evelyn Alida Schomp. I won't lie, it was clearly the highlight of the night. Not only is she a joy to be around, she also apparently likes dried fish. Matt brought this Icelandic treat back for Nate, and Evelyn went to town on it. It's a shame, really, since it smells like fish food.

We ended back to the Seattle early the next morning, and since we've been home it's been crazy busy. Since September 7th, Matt's been to LA, San Francisco two times, and is heading to New York this weekend. I've had an easier run, with just one trip to North Carolina. When we have been home, it's been all basement all the time. There's a bit more urgency now that we have a deadline of January 12th.

Matt separated his shoulder a few weeks ago playing flag football, so we've reached out to our contractor to finish up the trim and other detailed woodwork in the basement. But still, bum shoulder and all, Matt spent this past weekend painting the entire basement and finishing up the last bit of electrical work. Carpet is being installed on Thursday, and we'll be sure to post some photos of the basement after that. It's pretty exciting though - we are really close to being finished and it actually does double the size of our house.

Stay tuned for updates on the status of Baby Yoder ...