Questions for St. Peter (re: light at the end of the tunnel)

Warning...this is another installment of "Random Thoughts" from the Holt household.

You know, ya hear talk all the time of the "pearly gates" that you have to go through when you die. Something about St. Peter meeting you there, etc.
Well, there is also talk about a light at the end of a tunnel when you die. It is of this tunnel, and the light, that we have some questions. If you are reading this...and you are not St. Peter, but you have ideas, please feel free to chime in.

Question #1:

How large is the tunnel? Is it large enough to walk through? Is it so small that we have to crawl through it? Could you drive a car through it? A bus? A freight liner? Ilene is very claustrophobic, so we are hoping that there is ample space and breathing room inside.

Question #2:

Is passage permitted to only one person at a time? Or will there be several people trying to go through said tunnel at the same time?
This begs another question...if there are multiple tunnel travelers at once, are there multiple people at the other end to greet them? If so, is it hard to find the person you are supposed to run to? I almost kind of picture it like the 4th of July children's races in Enterprise...

Question #3:

Just how bright is this light? Will we need sunglasses? Will we need to cover our eyes? Will it cause us to see those little blue spots if we look directly at it?

Question #4:

Are there bats in the tunnel? Calvin is terrified of bats...so he is hoping very much that the bright light will scare the bats away long before he gets there.

Question #5:

Are there pranksters up there? For instance...would a group of improv comics find some flashlights or spotlights and start shining them...just to trick people into going toward the wrong light?

There are other questions we have, which we will spare you from....at least during this post.
We hope not to offend anyone. We don't mean to be irreverent or sac religious. But, these are the kind of things we think about. Planning for the future...isn't that what we all should be doing?

Going Private, I guess.

I guess we are going to make our blog private. I am not exactly sure why. Everyone else is doing it, and we are usually ones that give in pretty easily to the peer pressure of what everyone else is doing.
I know what some of you are thinking..."if someone else's blog jumped off a cliff...would you?" And the answer is: yes!
If you want to be added to our secret combination of private blog viewers, please give us your e-mail address and we'll be happy to let you join in all the blogging fun. Whether you are a regular that we know about...or one of our secret stalkers...we'd be happy to let you aboard, just let us know. We'll probably go private by Dec. 1. Maybe...if I can figure out how to make this thing go private. If not....oh well.
OK...well thanks, sure 'prishate y'all. God bless America (especially the next 4 years).

Concession

My friends & fellow Americans:

I just got off the phone with Senator Obama. I have conceded the race.
It was a long and hard battle, on which you all were with me the entire time.
However, the American people have spoken loud and clear, and their voice was heard.

I wish to thank all of you for your support during this campaign. You have been very kind
and supportive of us during this cause. We ran a good campaign...for which I am very proud.

I want to thank my vice presidential running mate...Ellis Jepson. He really rallied our base and will be a strong political figure in the months and years to come for our party.

The worst part about this is...in anticipation of winning the White House...our family went out and bought a brand new puppy to be the "first pet". Her name is "Regina". Now, we don't know what to do with it. Anyone want a fluffy toy poodle???

Again...thank you for your support.

Holt/Jepson 2012!!

Deer Season

Many of you that know us, know the location where we built our house. It is in an area that is known to locals as the "north hills". Well, it is the gateway to the north hills. For our purposes we'll call it the "Foothills" because it makes us sound more ritzy than we really are.

Anyway, it is one of the most heavily hunted areas around because it is fairly close to town, easily accessible, and there are quite a few deer.

Well we were excited to enjoy a 4 day weekend this past weekend for the deer hunt. Calvin didn't have school Friday or Monday. We had no specific plans other than one...we wanted to sleep in. It has been forever since we have been able to sleep in & we thought it would be a perfect time to do that since our kids are both sleeping really well these days.

WRONG!!! On Saturday morning at about 7:00 I heard a loud BANG. I was startled because it was still too dark to shoot outside. I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter...and there was a hunter IN OUR BACK YARD shooting a deer...ON OUR PROPERTY. And people call ME a redneck?? :)

First of all...it wasn't even light enough to legally shoot. Secondly, he was in city limits and third he was on private property, right outside our bedroom window.

The whole weekend we felt like we were in a war zone. Every morning about 7:30-9:00 and every evening from about 5:00-7:00 we were dodging bullets.

Needless to say...we didn't get to sleep in this last weekend at all. Oh well. At least we survived "the surge". We did learn (or have reconfirmed to us) that there are some real idiots in the world though.

We're finally in!

We have finally moved into our new house and we LOVE it! Well, we actually moved in a month ago...we're just finally getting around to posting a few pictures. The day we took the pictures, it was cloudy and gloomy outside, so the color is not too great. Also, I haven't taken any interior pictures yet, so there are just a few exterior shots.

Special Announcement

You know, in this election season we get inundated with ads, television programs, news stories and rumors about the presidential candidates and their running mates. We are flooded with terms such as "flip-flop", "maverick", "change", "policy", "I care for the middle class", "my friends", "I come from humble circumstances", "we're gonna change Washington", "Washington is broken", etc. etc. etc. It is unbelievably sad to think that someone would want any job (much less this one) so much that they are willing to stoop to the levels that they do.
And (are ya with me here?) when someone asks you a question Mr. (or Mrs.) Candidate...please just answer the question. Don't try to camouflage your record by using smoke and mirrors. We the People are not as dumb as you think we are...in fact, we are probably not as dumb as YOU are!

Is anyone else as utterly annoyed as we are? In my humble but correct opinion, BOTH presidential candidates are absolute nut jobs. And their vice presidential picks? Wow...if we were to be governed as a country by either of them..a phrase comes to mind "jumping out of the frying pan right into the fire."

And so....it is after much consideration and heartfelt soul searching that I would like to come before you all today on this brisk Autumn day, exactly one day after the historic Columbus day which has such a huge significance in my life and the life of my constituents...and I would like to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

On November 4th, please remember to vote for me....and all of your wildest dreams will come true. I am now accepting applications for my vice presidential running mate.

Vote early, Vote often!

When I grow up, I want to be.....

....a principal?
Well, actually I do. (This is Calvin, not Ilene)
I have finished up the course work for my Master's degree in Educational Leadership. All I lack now is the internship. I have to spend 200 hours at the Elementary, 200 at the high school and 50 at the district office--doing administrative types of assignments. It is a pain trying to work full time, be a husband a father, teach a weekly evening class, and try to find a few extra hours to be an administrative intern. I have to get all 200 hours for elementary between Aug. and Dec. and then the 200 for high school between Jan-April.

I honestly don't know if I can see myself being a principal. But, at least this will open up the doors for the opportunity if it ever arises. You know, in case I just get sick of my current job and need a little change of scenery or a little fattening of the pocketbook.

Hopefully I can rank up there with the ranks of some of the famous principals of our time:

Someone told us that our blog was getting boring because we hadn't added an entry in a while...so that is the reason for this totally pointless post!

Blog

WARNING: Random thoughts!

OK, so this is the kind of stuff we think about. With the whole worlds going crazy in this fad of blogging, we have decided (somewhat against our principles and will) to have a blog as well to keep you all updated about things in our life that you don't really care about.

We know the history of the word blog, and why subsequently it is called a "blog", but here in the Holt household, we think the word "blog" sounds like a euphemism for the word "vomit".

Think of it...it fits with the others: barf, spew, upchuck, hurl, puke and blog.

It can be used as a noun OR a verb.
Examples:
The janitor cleaned up the blog from the floor. (noun)
I ate some bad fish at the restaurant, and now I feel like I am gonna blog. (verb)

See...this is the kind of stuff we think about. There is never a dull moment at the Holt home.

Stay tuned for some more random thoughts!!

Soccer Mom

Well, it has finally happened. I am officially a soccer mom.
I don't know if this comes as a surprise to any of you who know me...but it is quite a surprise to me. It may be somewhat a surprise, because this is Calvin writing this post, not Ilene.
That's right...Enterprise has a youth (elementary school) soccer league now and Ilene has been asked to coach and be involved since she is one of the few people in town that actually knows anything about soccer and has experience playing on a competitive level.
So...that means that each Saturday morning, bright and early, I get to wake up and make the pilgrimage to the elementary with my two daughters in tow and watch 5 and 6 year old kids run around and "play" soccer.
I am not exactly sure how a soccer mom is supposed to act...so if any of you have any ideas, I am open to suggestions. I just want to fit in with all the other soccer moms!

Photo Shoot

This summer, our sister in law (Debbie) took some time to do a photo shoot of our daughters. Now, I have to warn you...if you look at these pictures, you will be jealous of our kids. Just try not to be covetous! :) I'm just kidding...I'm sure your kids are all cute too.

Amelia is so photogenic. (She takes after her father, I guess) :)

Anya is a very happy baby. She is almost always smiling and laughing.

There is probably some cute little poem or saying that could go along with this picture. But, I'm not going to take the time to find it:

Again...probably another poem moment. Oh well.

Anya with her grandpa Bill.

Amelia looks confident enough here, but what about Anya? She doesn't know about this whole idea.

More House Progress

I know you are all probably getting sick up the house updates. But, it's pretty much all that is going on in our lives right now. I guess if you wanna read about something more exciting, you better invite us on a trip to Hawaii or something. OK, I promise, these are the last house pictures until it is finished.

From a distance: (I know the picture is not centered, but I wanted to give you all a look at the porta-potty that graces our property during construction off to the left)

Exterior Frontal View:

Back porch view:

More Milly

We really don't love Amelia more than Anya...we'll have some more pictures of Anya pretty soon. I am sure you are all very excited and cannot wait!

Amelia LOVES to spend time with her cousins. Here she is dancing with Nathan. I know you are wondering why they have to be wearing helmets to dance. Maybe someday we can provide a video clip to show you! Actually, they found the helmets and put them on themselves.
Amelia's aunt Leesa took this shot of Amelia (she has a beautiful smile, but when you actually tell her to smile, and she's trying too hard...this is what you get)

Amelia used to love her mommy the best. Then she loved her daddy the best. But now...she loves the TV the best, and nothing or nobody else even comes close. We discovered that she had not only found this large remote and grandma and grandpa's house, but she actually knows how to use it!

Picnic at Pine Valley

The other day, we decided to take a drive up to Pine Valley and enjoy the cool mountain air for a few hours. We decided to make a picnic out of it. We invited some of our family members, but most were unable to come on such short notice (those darn 9-5, Monday through Friday jobs anyway!).
However, Ellis and Karen and Nathan were able to come. They met us there and Amelia and Nathan got to hang out in the mountains for a while. They had fun. Here are a few of the pictures of them at Pine Valley.

We think they are playing hide and seek here, but we're not sure they have really grasped the concept. Karen and Ellis, you need to teach Nathan that he's supposed to run and hide while she's counting.

In this next picture, we're not sure what it is that she is eating...but judging by the look on her face, and what APPEARS to be in her hand, we're not sure we'd recommend it to you.


You'll notice the look of fear in Amelia's eyes in the next two pictures. If you'll look closely, she has a fly on her left arm, near her elbow. She is definitely a girly-girl and has recently developed a phobia of bugs. Fortunately her uncle Ellis' rescue instincts kicked in, and he came and rescued her while dad took pictures!

House Progress

I don't really even know if anyone ever looks at our blog. We're not the most exciting people to keep tabs on, probably. And this post proves it. We're just including some pictures of the progress of our house while it is in the framing stage.

These are a couple of the "front views" of our house:

This is a side view:

Rear view:

We're not 100% sure why, but we decided to stamp our sidewalks as we poured them....giving them a 2 tone cobblestone kind of a look. Who knows if we'll like it? Here are some pictures of what it looks like now. It has to cure another 2 weeks and then we'll spray it with a sealant that will give it a glossy look:

New Baby

Well, we finally have our new addition. She was born a couple of weeks ago on Monday, May 19th at 1:11 P.M. She was 19 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. Her name is Anya Lynn Holt. Here are a few pictures of her when she was a couple of days old.

Dad is trying to teach me a little karate and kung fu...just so I am able to protect myself against boys later in life. I'm doing pretty well so far, don't ya think?




Photo session #1 is all over now Anya. You can relax...until next time!

Our little porcelain doll

Everywhere we go, people comment on Amelia's red hair and her very fair skin. Many people refer to her as looking like a little perfect porcelain doll. Here are a few more pictures of her.

Just about to pop!

Our new addition should be arriving any day now. Ilene said it can't happen a moment too soon. She is really ready to have this baby. The due date is on May 23rd, so we'll see. We are very excited.

Digging Holes

We finally started construction on our house. Well, we dug the basement. Our basement is going to be about 1300 sq ft. It's about a 3/4 basement. Our main level will be about 1900 sq ft.

Here are some pictures the day we dug the hole.