Blueberry shakes

 Portrait of the artist...

 Blueberry shake

 Eva's teachers did up her hair

Father-Daughter

Hats and masks

There didn't appear to be a theme for this at first, but then it appeared. In (dad-made) chicken hats, a poofy hat, transformer and super hero masks, the kids are having fun together.

Here it is beginning to heat up. We are both working hard, trying to grind out pages. We had a fun day at church yesterday, the longest we've had.

Everything is coming along. All things in time... All things in time... All things in time...

Sunny Saturday in the Splash Pool

Novelty is big for keeping little ones entertained. Emily broke out the pool Saturday and the kids had a really wonderful time. They're all happy and healthy lately and things seem to be going along well. They're all making modest language practice. Here you can see them playing, wrestling, and doing "I'm a little teapot."

Day trip

As part of Emily's birthday, we took a trip over the mountain to the coast. It was hot! Basically a very wonderful day with a nice walk on the beach and a great aquarium.

Here are some photos:

 Boardwalk

 Beautiful day

 Father with parisol

 Brothers!

 Moon-walking Eli!

 Eva gets backpacked

 The crew

 Eli likes the dolphins!

 Mother and daughter

 Eli checks in while playing in the bleachers

 Twins!

 Sam is having a great time too!

 Fun places to play

 See and touch

 Dolphins!

Brothers (again)

Summer days

Here are two recent critter episodes. Above is "huge spider" that took four efforts to get rid of. Above is a ghecko hiding behind a cross.

And isn't this a delightful picture of siblings co-play?

 To me Eli looks like he is getting ready to do some sort of Thai-boxing, but what do I know?

Eli as Autobot with superhero cape

Sharing (kind of) chips and guacamole

Working, Decisions, Kids

These have been good but just really intense weeks.

Taxes, sermons, course prep, Emily's started interviews for her diss, kids going hard, vetting housing and education possibilities for the future, finishing up small writing projects, swim lessons, Sunday school, and on and on... It's only been a few months but it feels like forever.

I'm trying to start a basic website to think through projects and post about life here. I think it will be a good thing, but there's still a tech learning curve on it.

On Facebook they just started a group to begin planning our 20th reunion from high school--wow! Hard to believe that high school now falls in the first half of my life, as opposed to the half I'm in now. I'm more shocked by how many people I don't remember at all than those I remember.

We've mostly figured out education for the next year but now we're feeling out what to do on our other items: housing, transportation, etc. It's nice being on a mountain, but also a hassle. Nothing is really convenient for us up here--grocery stores, doctors, schools, parks, other kids, etc. I think we may move off, but it's a large move to anticipate. I still don't really know what to do. We're talking to everyone now. Another possibility is to wait a year and see if Emily finds a place she wants to work and if Sam finds a school he likes. Choices, choices. I know I may this harder than it has to be.

The kids are all very entertaining. Eli's a parrot lately. Eva and Eli both love singing more and often croon along with Emily in the car. Sam is a million questions a minute. He's in love with Angry Birds, and can spend hours a day coloring them if given the chance.

We're glad for all of the things going on, but I hope we can also plan a vacation. Emily's still of the opinion that a vaction with small kids is less relaxing than no vacation, but I'm not entirely sure. The ideal would maybe be some day trips in the area.

We're also coming up on Mother's Day, our anniversary, birthdays... So much lie ahead in the coming months.

Pneumatic Eli

Wrote this earlier, but hadn't posted it...

We're now entering week three of The Cold That Will Not End. For Sam, it was not a big deal at all. For Eva it turned briefly feverish, but then she's been pretty good the last week and is back in school. With Eli it began mildly, but then turned into pneumonia. Emily and I have both gone back and forth. I thought I was through the worst of it and then yesterday was really congested.

(This is the great thing about a blog--you can go on about disease symptoms for as long as you want to.)

Things like this are still rough because they knock out a couple of weeks of our lives. Taxes only got done by staying up late Saturday and working. Emily's gotten no dissertation done and I'm feeling underprepped for class.