J. Michael Andresen

We wanted to take some simple video of Max being cute, but then he decided to stage an entire drama in three acts:

Max had his first snow in early October. We bought him a snowsuit that we thought he would grow into. He still has some growing to do. Max absolutely loved the snow! He kept smiling and laughing and looking straight up at the sky, for some reason. Usually he likes looking at the camera, but not that day! You can see the sad snow-covered mums we brought to brighten up our fall doorstep and the orange pumpkin we'll carve for Halloween is peeking out from behind Max. The snow caught us a little by surprise, but what fun!

We are officially halfway through Max's first year. He had his six-month checkup yesterday and is hale and hearty aside from the vaccination shots he received. Most impressively, Max now has (a) amazing manual dexterity along with (b) astounding physical strength. Watch him demonstrate this as he (a) plays with his pacifier and (b) rolls over onto his stomach! (He had already mastered rolling over from his stomach onto his back.) He also flashes some of his winning smiles.

Obama Wins! In an unexpected move, Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He won "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." No "development of nuclear democracy rights in the Middle East" means that the answer to Question 10 of the 2009 Prognostication Quiz is F. None of the above. Five people suspected that A through E had already been overemphasized by the committee in the past and guessed that the Nobel committee would break ties with the past: Ted Matthew Larry Ana Missy These five may have figured that answer F was the smart bet because this is the fourth year in a row now where "none of the above" is correct for this set of buzz words. (Stay tuned for the 2010 Quiz, which will have an updated set of buzz words.) Eliminations This was a brutal round for eliminations. Sixteen people (37% of the field) were eliminated with question 10: Katie Ben Liz Heather Michael Peter M. Glori...

To celebrate our two-year, four-month anniversary, here is a series of clips from our wedding. All the work that went into the video was a wonderful wedding gift from my aunt and uncle, Jay and Diane. (My cousin Lara helped with some camera work, too.) It was a very special gift and Katie and I are very grateful! I've broken it into 26 clips: Prelude We had a lot of fun picking the readings and the song. A huge thanks to our readers and singers and officiant! Procession and Introduction First Reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls Second Reading: I Do I Will I Have Song: Love Changes Everything Third Reading: The Velveteen Rabbit Vows We each wrote our own vows, and we didn't share them until we were standing together in front of our friends and family. We did, however, give each other very general descriptions of the tone we were going for. That let us figure out that Katie should start and I should finish. Introduction to Vows Katie's Vows Michael's Vows Mutual Vows Exchang...