Happy Thanksgiving

We at the Yoder household wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Be safe.

Teri and I will be making dinner tomorrow. If you are curious, here is what we are having with Keith, Vanya, Aubrey, Ben, Cherie, Evie, Seth, and maybe Suzanne.

- Deep Fried Turkey (I bought a fryer yesterday)

- Chestnut, sausage and cranberry stuffing

- Warm Autumn Beet Soup

- Mashed Potoates with Celery Root

- Roasted Sweet Potatoes

- Cranberries

- Cranberry Relish

- Green Bean Casserole

- Macarroni and Cheese

- Pies and other provided desserts

Then Teri is allowed to listen to Christmas Carols.

Sasquatch Militia Wins Championship, Defends Cascadia

On Saturday, the great men of the Sasquatch Militia defended Cascadia's honor by capturing the Gentleman's Saturdays Flag Football Championship in a rout, 39-13 over the impossibly matched Throwbackers. QB Scott Baker completed 5 TD passes and ran for one, while Zach Gray was on the receiving end of 3 of those, adding an interception on D as well.

The team made quick work of their semi final match up earlier in the day, housing The Buschmen 33-20, and never letting them in the game. Matt Yoder, Keith Van Essen and Ben Katt each had many key receptions throughout the afternoon, while Tim Ramseyer, Seth Doyle, and Chris Holder were stifling on defense. Jim Curtain, coming back from a broken wrist earlier in the season rounded out the Militia attack.

"Doesn't it feel good, boys?" laughed Gray, a 6 season veteran and the team's senior player. His mood suddenly changing, tears welling up in his eyes, he exclaimed, "I have been waiting for this for so long. You don't know what this means to me; nearing the end of my career. I only wish..." He then fell sobbing into team minister/star flag grabber Katt's arms, unable to finish his sentence.

Katt himself was a monster, preventing any opponent receivers from escaping his patented 'Hand of God" defense Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile on offense, Baker was making quick and easy work of his unworthy opponents. "I can't remember the last time I accounted for 11 touchdowns in consecutive games. Is that a record,"Baker asked? Baker, who's family had made the trip from Bainbridge on a ferry, played inspired, scoring on nearly every drive started. Signing autographs after the game, he winked to his parents and girlfriend, signed the game ball, and chucked it to the adoring crowd.

Next season begins in January, but the team isn't worrying about that just yet. "We have some celebrating to do," Holder told the assembled press after the game. For all our fans who want to come out, we'll be at Floyd's, Saturday. I guarantee bedlam."

The bedlam, perhaps fitting, is something of a tradition for the Militia. It is doubtful that the memories from this fantastic season will fade any faster than their trophy T-shirts, worn proudly as they exited the stadium. "The only thing missing was the championship champagne shower," Yoder mentioned nearing the end of the celebration on the field. "I guess we'll have to do it on Thanksgiving."

Bedlam indeed. As the sun sets in Cascadia this autumn, know that its shores are defended by an elite few; proudly stomping out victims every Saturday, in the dark and rain. They are the Sasquatch Militia, Champions of Seattle. You should be proud.

32 Weeks

Well, I'm deep into my 32nd week and my third trimester. I've been feeling the effects of being uber-pregnant lately - meaning, I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable and awkward. The kid continues to move like crazy. I've started feeling kicks on opposite sides of my stomach at the same time and it's freaking me out a bit. Honestly, though, is anyone really that surprised to learn that this kid is active? Seriously ...

We've been keeping busy getting the nursery together and attending our birthing classes. The classes are six weeks long, and held at the hospital where I'll be giving birth, conveniently located 1 mile from our house. The classes have been really educational and are really helping us understand the whole birthing process. Plus, we've met some really great couples who are in the exact same boat as we are.

We'll post more soon, we promise.

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)