General Update

It's been an exciting few weeks. After a week in Maryland we've spent most of the last two weeks back in the Garden State. It's taken us longer than expected to right ourselves, but we've also really enjoyed buying all the little things that were a hassle to get the last few years. I have an awesome sauce pan and we've got a working printer and a large-capacity coffee maker. We're also grateful to have a baby-sister/nanny/"Manny." This is the son of a friend of the family who graduated from college. He comes on afternoons and with a break each day we are getting more done and have a little more pep in the evenings. It's fun to be in place that is a little more familiar. We like being here and are glad to be somewhere familiar--where we know the grocery stories, libraries, churches, etc. The kids are all coming along. Samuel is watching a fair amount of PBS, but will also still watch dvds we brought back with us in the local language. They all have expanding vocabularies. Eli could always could communicate a lot with just a few words ("uh oh," ok, "eat"). They are both very cute and can say "please" when they ask for things. They have a huge number of duplos now and can build lots of things with them. There book collection is also expanding. Favorite are Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, an animal encyclopedia, and a T-Rex book. We keep looking for little activities for Sam. He likes painting, play-dough, blocks, ball, all the favorites. Emily's trying to sign him up for a session or two of swim lessons. We're excited about that. That's the news from here. I'm going to post some "catch-up" pictures soon.