Everything New

Update 1/24/08

Care for a little whine with your meal?
How about some cheese?

I just love three-year-olds, I say with just a trace of sarcasm. No, really, I do love my three-year-olds. But, there's just something about the three-year-old whine... And, when there are three of them - all tired, all hungry, all sick - they break out their triple-whine-whammy (mathematically known as whine³). Technically speaking that's three-cubed (three of them - three years old - three independent whines), each feeding off of the others and producing a noise that can only be compared to some of the most covert government interrogation techniques - unspeakable. That said, Ruca, Max and Nadia spend much of their time demonstrating just how precious three-year-olds can be. Compassionate, verbal, independent, sweet. There's a balance. The scales are tipped toward cute and I'm grateful.

Angus is in an awesome stage right now. He's into all of that cheesy humor that's so much fun before the age of self-consciousness. Silly dancing, making up crazy words and holding a conversation using them, cheesy fake teeth and goofy sunglasses. It is with the benefit of hindsight that I know that these are some of the most cherished years. What a gift it is to be reminded how funny the simple things are, when you can be silly with your kids and they think you're cool for acting like a complete dork. I love it!

Kevin and Kelli are doing great. Kevin's working for a pulmonologist and still plugging away at USF. Kelli's working toward taking her SAT and ACT soon, thinking toward college. I don't even want to think about that. Kelli can't be that old!

My Air Force heroine first-born daughter, Kristi, is being deployed to Al-Udeid in Qatar in April. Don't feel bad if you have no idea where that is. Shamefully, I must admit that before Kristi told me she was going there, I couldn't have showed a blind man convincingly that I knew where to find Qatar on a map, thus the tiny visual aid that follows...

Click on it to see it slightly larger.

For all who did know that we had a new Maine Coon kitten, we had to return the sweet little guy to the breeder. He was sickly and had a host of issues. We're hopeful that we'll have a new feline in the next few months. We're on the list for a Bengal kitten when he's born. Here's what he'll look like (more or less).

Here are some recent photos and a cute little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. It's hard to pin down those teenagers or I'd have some updated pix of them, too.

This is an absolutely true account of the incident.
Never put your hand in an airplane barf bag!