We had some family over and somehow it became a thing that we wore a cloth bag over our heads… Little did we know, we would need face masks just a few months later…
OK, just kidding, we were playing a game. They brought over a bag of Skittles. The test was to see if you could guess the flavor/color by taste and not site. Nobody got them all correct, but it was fun guessing.
Hogan Haake
Kelly came over to watch the St. Louis Blues play the Dallas Stars with Danelle. These ladies have been hockey fans for a long time. The Blues were playoff bound and they were excited about hockey. We didn’t have much around the house before the game, so I went to the grocery store to get some supplies.
Like the maniac that I am, I came back with lots of stuff that will break any diet. Additionally, I shopped the leftover Easter stuff and found a true prize.
We decided that the chocolate easter bunny would represent the Dallas Stars on this night. I took the bunny away to prepare it. Before I came in, I explained that the bunny represented the Dallas Stars team. Then I brought this in…
I captured Kelly’s initial reaction to this tray of doom.
The ladies got into full destruction mode on the chocolate voodoo bunny to help the Blues Win. 
While it didn’t help the Blues win the game that night, it was entertaining to see them breaking apart the bunny! Nothing quite like a fun and silly night!
Hogan Haake
Hannah came in for a few days during her spring break to hang out with us. Here are some highlights of her visit.
Danelle picked her up from the Amtrak bus (as the tracks were flooded out). From there, they went straight downtown to get photos.
With pictures and food out of the way, there was no time to waste, they were off to a St. Louis Blues game!
Kelly, Hannah, and Danelle at the game.
Hannah and Danelle getting ready!
Danelle and Kelly. Dinner and drinks before the game.
The next day, Hannah, Danelle, and I went out to Venice Cafe for drinks before going to Frazer’s for dinner. The ladies loved Venice Cafe.
After our fancy dinner, we all went home satisfied. Of course, this is a weekend with Hannah, so there was more fun to be had! We also took her to the Mauhaus Cat Cafe to see more cats.
It never seems to be enough time, but it was better than none. We’re looking forward to the next visit already!
Hogan Haake
Christmas in St. Louis started the day before. We thought the kids would be surprised with a transformation, so we worked to paint and prepare the basement for them. They were not as surprised as we had hoped, but having a new space for them to hang out is good.
Painting the wall white is the first step of this transformation.
And its getting closer.
Surprise!
Enjoying presents from Santa!
With our warm new “fireplace”
Preparing dessert at Henry and Carols.
Carol is a perfect host and you can tell she enjoys it!
Mom and daughter.
3 generations of sons enjoying time together.
Kelly and Sonora enjoying electronics.
Some evil memory game. With all those brains, I chose to sit out so I wouldn’t feel dumb.
This was the perfect way to end our holiday season by seeing all (most, some of my siblings were not around) of our close family in a short amount of time.
Hogan Haake
Holidays are what you make of them. We were all busy, so we decided to have our family Thanksgiving late. We all met at Henry and Carol’s house. The plan was an evening to eat and hang out. Of course, its a tradition that we play board games.
I learned something interesting today. There is something called “Internet Points”. The idea of Internet Points is that a particular website that you may visit offers points or reputation for contributions that you make from the site. Some of the points are in form of praise for the actual contribution. Many have points that are given from other users of the same site that agree or disagree with your contribution. You can see a person’s points for a site and get a feel if they are a regular contributor and if the community values their contributions. These points can be hard to come by on some sites. But more importantly, they provide no actual value in a person’s regular life…
Why an I talking about Internet Points on a Thanksgiving post? Because I began to better understand them today. I wanted to play the games with the family, but Mark, Brian and Kelly’s youngest, wanted to play with me. I sat out while the others played games. During the games, scores were kept. As the scores were closer together, the competition got a bit heated at times. We’re family fighting over fake points for games.
It seems that the origin of points goes back way before the Internet for people to just find more value in their activities. Why play a game if you don’t know who the winner is and by how much.
Whether any of that makes sense or not, I got some real quality time with my nephew. I think I got the most points today 🙂
Hogan Haake