Sunday Mornings

Sometimes Sunday mornings can be really slow. We don't go to church until 3:30 in the afternoon and that leaves a lot of time to fill. Katie and Mason often play with their legos for hours (when all goes well), and this is a picture of Andrew's favorite pastime: playing on the couch with his mom or dad. Or, even better, both of them.

Few things give him more pleasure than jumping on us and having us tickle and kiss him. For as much trouble as he gives me, and as exhausting as it can be to play with him, his sweet little laugh sure melts my heart.

Ryan is Going High-Tech

For the past five years or so (at least), Ryan has always been met with disbelief when someone has asked for his cell phone number. Why? Because he has never owned one. Okay, he owned one once, but no one was allowed to call it because it was for "work only" (and the occassional emergency babysitting call). I was strictly forbidden from ever giving the number out.

It has taken a while, but Ryan has finally come of age and got his own phone for his birthday. Not just any old phone--the iphone. His problem with getting a phone was that he didn't want a phone that wasn't a PDA as well, and the cost of doing data plans just didn't seem worth it. Is it worth it now? I'm not sure. But one thing is for sure--the iphone is easy to love. I am more than a little envious that it will be Ryan carrying it around in his nerdy belt-clip holster instead of me.

Since he wasn't in the office after I picked it up, I brought it home with me. And what's the harm in playing with it a little? I mapped out the drive from me (after all, it knows where I am) to my parents house in Montana. I checked my email. I watched a clip on YouTube. I looked up the weather. I took a couple of pictures. I wrote a few "to do" things on the cute little yellow note paper screen. I turned to from horizontal to vertical multiple times just to see the screen switch. Those people at Apple are seriously amazing. It was definitely worth the wait.

The Office Olympics Promo Dwight's Centathlon

I miss the Olympics. I loved watching them, even if it kept me up too late. At least there's a little something to look forward to--even if the office doesn't start again for another month.

Katie's First Day

Today was Katie's first day of school. This was her expression when we said the bus was coming:
Because we still don't quite have the timing right, we end up hanging out at the bus stop for a while. It gives me plenty of time to take pictures. Some silly...

And some sweet...

And off they go. I love knowing that Mason will be there to take care of her. Of course, I don't know if she really thinks she needs any help.

And now it's just Andrew and I. I let Andrew play in the kitchen sink so that I could post some pictures. Luckily I'm planning on mopping the floor in there today since he's already giving me a headstart.

First Day of School

Today was Mason's first day of school. Since Katie is in kindergarten, they just have her go one day this week, and then do the normal schedule next week. So her first day will be tomorrow.

Mason had his backpack on at least 15 minutes before we needed to leave for the bus, so I guess he was ready to go to school. I don't know anything about his teacher, or who is in his class since we missed the open house, so I'm excited to see how his day goes. I'm sad to not have him (and soon Katie) around all day, but I also know it's time for a little routine in our lives. We've loved all of the travel we've done--but I'm exhausted from it and ready to be settled for a while.

Andrew is excited that he can go to the bus stop everyday. It's the highlight of his morning.

On the Road Again

Since summer vacation was winding down, we decided to pack in one more trip. Ryan had to go to a conference in California, so we decided to drive up to Michigan as a family and have Ryan fly in and out of the Detroit airport.

I seemed like a great idea, until the part we needed to have to fix a little problem in our minivan didn't come in time. Since Ryan had to fly out the next day, we took the only option we had: all pile in to our 1998 Honda Accord. It too has had it's "check engine" light on--in fact it's been on for almost a year I think. But we seemed to remember that the problem it had wasn't serious, where the problem in our minivan could have left us stranded. I called and added towing and rental coverage to our insurance policy on the Honda just in case.

It has been a very long time since the Honda has gone back to it's home in Michigan, so maybe it was happy for the visit. We bought it when we were living in Ann Arbor around 7 years ago, and it has been very good to us. It's about 9 hours of driving from here to there, and we survived better than I though we would. In fact, on the way back we only took one stop for about 40 minutes. I'm kind of a nazi when I drive ("Can't you hold it a little longer?").

But it was all worth it to spend time with family. It was great of Kristin and Abram to take care of us, and I especially appreciated having someone who loves to cook. Shauri, Kristin and Lisa took great care of me on my birthday, especially after a tough morning when Andrew had been awake a lot of the night and the expensive camera I had gotten was completely dead on arrival (not the best way to start a birthday!). I finally did get the replacement, which worked just fine. Too bad I don't know what I'm doing with it.

Andrew doesn't smile on command, so I always have to take what I can get.

Mason is getting better at smiling, and showing off a cute mouthful of future orthodondic work. But I appreciate the fact that he at least tries now.

Katie at least knows how to smile. Her challenge is staying still long enough for me to actually take the picture.

And last of all is a photo just for Delsa (my mother-in-law that is on a mission in Australia). Your geese friends all miss you dearly and wanted to say hello.

Only The Best For Mom

We're about 5 days out from my birthday, and the gifts are already rolling in. And I'm not just talking about the ones I ordered for myself and had shipped to Michigan (that's where I'll be on my birthday). Mason and Katie love birthdays and making presents, so they are getting started early.


I got my first two yesterday. Mason gave me something that wasn't "made of paper" (usually he makes everything from necklaces to jumpropes for me out of paper). It was a Kung Fu Panda snake from McDonalds. I played with it the rest of the day, and slept with it on my pillow.


Katie, not as dedicated to the "no paper gifts", colored a piece of paper, folded the corners and stapled them strategically to make something that had to be identified to me as a hat, because I never would have guessed that's what it was by the look of it. But on my head it went with a big thank you to a sweet girl.

This morning, Katie let me know that she had another gift for me. She ran upstairs and brought down another wrapped treasure, which I immediately opened. It was one of her "Littlest Pet Shop" animals--a siamese cat. Again, I though it was a very sweet guesture, and I can't wait to play with it.



The best, though, was when she asked me, "Do you know why I picked that one?" Of course, I had no idea but couldn't wait to find out. "Well...I looked at all of the ones I had and this is the one that I like the very least of all. It's not really very cute."

I love my Katie 100%, and the ugly animals she gives me as gifts.