So as you all can tell, it’s been a while since we posted anything here on the blog.  However, this weekend we created Facebook accounts, so we’ve been inspired to carry on the work of digitizing our lives…  

Aubrey has just finished up first grade and is excited about turning 7 in August.  She has found a particular love for reading (yeah!) which is balanced for her excellent aptitude in mathematics.  She’s almost done with her summer math packet that her teacher gave her (she’s been out of school 1 day!), so we’re gonna have to find a good math site to get her hooked on.  Aubrey always can tell when I am teasing her and it has become a sort of game to outwit each other.

Emma turned 5 in April and is very excited to have graduated from pre-school and to start Kindergarten next year.  Emma has a good sense of humor and it is really starting to show.  Emma is (so far) the computer whiz of the four and is often found teach Aubrey and the others how to navigate PBSkids.com, or another similar website, to find the games.

Kirsten is enjoying her new-found 3-ness and loves to torment her siblings endlessly.  Fortunately, Miles is pretty good about keeping her in check, but sometimes we do have to get involved.  Kirsten loves to dump out the toy bucket when Aubrey and Emma go to get us in order to show how well they just had cleaned up; has started hiding everything she can find under couch pillows, the dog’s crate, and anything else larger than a breadbox; and has the cutest, most guilty-looking, butter-em-up look I have ever seen.

Miles is doing great!  He turned 1 in February and over the past few months he had a lift added to his shoe and his brace made to allow him to walk well.  And boy does he walk; and run; and tackle; and body slam; and anything else it takes to defend himself from his older sisters.  We still see a noticeable limp, so we may need to increase the height of the lift, but we’ll find all the details out about that in July.

One of our family’s most enjoyable pastimes has been reading together.  Aubrey and I finished all 14 of Frank Baum’s Oz books, plus a couple of other of Baum’s books (Aubrey loves to hear about Trot and Cap’n Bill).  We’ve just started reading the Harry Potter books together a couple of weeks ago.  We’re on book three and the kids love it.  I’ve already read the entire series but it is nice to read it with the kids.

And I can’t forget about Jan…  Well, Jan is our new dog.  The dog in the last post (Belle) had a particularly annoying hobby of attacking Aubrey and me.  When Belle ended up biting a neighbor, she lost her bed in the house.  Luckily, the next Monday, Jan came to live with us.  Her name is Jan because the adoption agency found her in January.  Of course we all got together to try and decide a new name.  Kirsten suggested Januberry, Aubrey liked Janabelle, Emma liked “qwlnskld” (or something just an unpopular), and we didn’t make a decision.  Now we all call her something different (although all the names do have “Jan” in them) and it seems to suit her just fine.  She’s starting to be very good about coming when called and obeying commands, but still has troubles when she gets excited. 

Over the summer we’ll be traveling up to MN and spending some time with Kathy’s parents.  We expect it to be a brilliant time and we’ll probably stop off in Oklahoma City, Far West, Liberty Jail, and Independence on the way. 

Anyway, that’s a pretty good update… here are some pictures…