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Paris Good, Jetlag Bad

We survived the flight and our first day in Paris, but now at 5:00 in the morning and having been awake since 1:30am I have a feeling tomorrow is going to really test our limits!

Au Revoir!

We're off to France today with the Lumpkin family (14 in all!). We'll be gone until August 25th. Could be some updates from the road, but no promises. Wish us sleepy kids... :) We are heading to celebrate a good family friend's birthday in the south of France near Toulouse, and we'll spend time in Paris and the Bordeaux wine region on the way.

Frickin'

So last night, I was alone with the boys while Anna was at her knitting group. We went to the park, which has become a bit of a nightly ritual. After about an hour at the park we come home at which point it's time to get the kids ready for bed. Well, Nick and Will weren't much interested in coming in the house, which was a bit frustrating. My temper flared a little and I said in a stern (and exasperated) tone "Will *get* in the *house*". Will finally complied and very matter-of-factly states "I'm in the frickin' house."

Will continued the frickin's today by (again matter-of-factly) stating "I'm in the frickin' bath."

Perhaps it's time that Anna and I watch our language (even if it is G-rated).

Cord Blood

When I was preparing to deliver Nick 17 months ago I made the decision to donate the cord blood to Puget Sound Blood Bank. We didn't think there was a need to store it for our own future use, but I really liked the idea of donating it for what I figured was a research purpose. Today I got a call from PSBC that there is a 6 year old little girl who is battling an auto-immune disorder and she is going to get Nick's cord blood. I think it's so incredible that this is happening, and also that they called to let us know. The procedure was nothing to me, and is now truly helping a little girl. If you know of anyone who is pregnant, please let her know of the program - we live in such a forward thinking part of the country. Puget Sound Blood Center Cord Blood Program

June/July updates

A few new June and July photos added as well.

May

May photos

Backlog... LaQuinta Trip in April

Photos Do you expect me to get text accomplished too? After the photos are up I'll work on text...

Link Dump

How to get a pivot table in Excel to update automatically

Haircuts!

More...

4th of July

All the usual suspects (and one new one) were on hand for July 4th at "the Jetson's" lake house. Pictures can be found here

Raising kids is like golf

Raising kids is a lot like golf. Most of the time you're just trying to survive, but once every 18 holes you have that one perfect shot that lifts your spirits and keeps you coming back.

Will and Nick are great kids, but having a 3 year old and a 16 month old has it's challenges. There are times that we want to scream, cry, or tear our hair out. Then there are times with the kids sit down and play together or run up and just give you a hug.

If it weren't so hard, the good times wouldn't feel so good!

We're very behind and we know it, but here are June's photos.

Will is Three!

OK, we'll catch up on the last 6 weeks soon, but here are the photos from Will's snowy, cold third birthday. The previous weekend Seattle had a 78 degree day, so it seemed we could start bringing out the shorts and tshirts. Then, we were slammed back into winter with a weekend of many many hailstorms, snow, and just cold bleak weather. Wow. Will's 1st birthday party here was 75 and hot!!

Nick is ONE!

It really is amazing how fast this year seems to have flown by us. How can our little baby Nicholas now be a one year old? Friday the 15th it happened. While Nick started taking steps on January 11th and tried here and there to build the skill, on his birthday he just got it. That's not to say he's running - that'll be next week. But he's walking and trying to carry rather heavy toys at the same time. Stay clear!

February

February started out in a similar fashion to most of this winter: the boys were sick. The first weekend both boys came down with the nasty stomach virus that has really been going around. Somehow, luckily, Scott and I did not fall to it. The 2nd weekend Scott and Will hopped on Amtrak for a train ride to Portland where they visited the handmade bike show. The had a great day together. Nick and I enjoyed a quiet day of bonding as well. We didn't do anything to exciting, but Nick is a lot of fun to be around these days. We also went to a fun event at UW, in the Physical Therapy department where the current class was ready to study babies and their development. There were babies as young as 3 weeks, up to Will, who is just 2 months shy of 3. Nick was a fun model, making eyes at students all over the room and performing his sweet magic. Will and the older kids (Claire and Kyle) came in to show their running, jumping and kicking skills at the end. It was a lot of fun!

Trip to Lazy River Vineyard

Scott and I realized it has been a very long time since the two of us were in Oregon together and we very much miss it. Things are pretty quiet in January but that suited us just fine. We made plans to meet with Morgan (Scott's brother) and his girlfriend Natalie who lives in Portland. We had a nice mellow weekend together, cooking at home, playing Scene It, goofing around with the boys and taking a walk up on the foggy hill. Photos here.