Six Years Plus Five Kids

The last time my college pals, Rebecca, Angela, and Hannah and I were all together one of us wasn't even married. We said goodbye to Hannah in '05 then started scattering around three different continents and four different countries. Although several of us have individually had opportunities to see each other over the last six years, this was the first time we all four shared together. It was so great for everybody to reunite (minus one husband).

Girls and kids. Archie's the oldest and baby Conner wins the youngest prize.With Hannah headed back home overseas and another reunion looking like it will be at least two more years away, we have a bet going on. Next time we're guessing we'll have NINE kids between us (one more for everybody).

Just the girls.
We loved having the reunion on a farm. Hope to post some pics of farm life soon.

One Year

Yesterday marked one year since we left China. It really doesn't seem like it could be possible but it was. I marked the anniversary by creating a photo memory book of our three years in China on Snapfish. I'll celebrate/remember our one year on our blog by posting pics of the kids then and now.

Plane ride home:


Grace's pre-2nd birthday party with Memaw and Papa:

Archie and his new guitar:

Family Portraits

The Kiss

Grace's big cousin, Jacob, caught her off guard in the parking garage of the Children's Museum of Norfolk. LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic (minus, of course, that grainy quality from shooting with a point-n-click in a dark garage).

Archie is standing over my shoulder and begged for this pic of him driving the bus to be posted :)

Archie Sings the Presidents

After much work, Archie has finally mastered the U.S. Presidents. He was so proud of himself when I made the recording this morning. Afterward, we took a trip to Target to buy his long awaited first guitar. He has wanted it so badly to take to all the free kids' concerts here, and I hope that someday he can learn to really play it.

Pool Fun 2011

One of the pluses of staying in a hotel all summer is the pool. We greet Daddy at the door and rush down to the pool as soon as he comes home from work each day.

The Daddy toss is by far the kids' favorite activity.

Hanging out in the water is pretty fun, too. Archie still hasn't taken a big interest in swimming and doesn't like getting his hair wet. Doesn't keep him out of the pool, though.

Mi espanol es very bad

You don't need a Ph.D. in Spanish to read that, right?

Life without a computer is interesting in our modern era. It's been 1.5 weeks since a certain still beloved person under 3.5 feet dropped a chair on my computer abruptly ending it's life. Since the computer still turns on with the message "no operating system found", we're hopeful it's only the hard drive. Hunt's ordered some software to diagnose the problem, I occasionally use his computer in the meantime and read (novel idea?)

During the crash process I was in the process of downloading, yep, Spanish listening materials. I don't have a really good reason for deciding to re-take up Spanish. No travel plans, no Hispanic BFFs. I think I just need a new hobby here in Chantilly. Surely if I've learned Chinese, I can beef up my two year basics from high school...I don't know. I've been talking to our hotel maids in Spanish and sounding pretty dumb. I tell them "Yo (I) necesito practicar" then do a lot of pantomime. They get really excited and start jabbering faster than any human could possibly comprehend (with the exceptions of humans from Spain and Latin American countries, I guess).

No pics to post since I, well, lost the recent ones. (Everything through last month was, thankfully, backed up at Hunt's parents.) I think the newer ones are on my camera if I can motivate myself to go through them again without Photoshop to spruce them up. What did I do before that program?