Photo op

I tried to get a shot of Keira's cow lick this morning, but just ended up with some cute pictures instead.

An after supper swim

It used to be that when I came through the front door my children would run down the stairs, scream "Daddy!", and give me lots of hugs.

Now it seems like they're in the pool every night. The hugs have gotten a lot wetter...

Dancing Doeschers

Here are some planned and spontaneous recitals that went down over the past week.

Tuesday Part II and Slip 'N Slide

A pool in a pool

frosting and eating cupcakes

The kids are quite accomplished at slipping and sliding.

Keira was more interested in the slip 'n slide than her little baby pool.

I'm back...

Well I've actually been back since last night, but I was too tired to post when I got home.

Anyways, Iria kept everyone pretty much up to date about how my trip to Europe was going. I was over there conducting research for a new project at Gearbox.

I saw lots of farms, chateaus, forests, medieval cities, and museums. I got chased out of backyards but also met some amazing new people. I was driven around everywhere, I ate out every night, I stayed in a beautiful hilltop hotel for the last half of the trip. I got sunburned, I got drenched, I got exercise and I got blisters :)

And I probably took over 4,000 pictures.

Here are two of them.

The first picture is me in Jacques Forest. The 506th were dug in here during the winter of 44, and today you can still find their foxholes. They took a brutal beating by both artillery and the elements- you might remember this scene from Band of Brothers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9F1szmKOa8

The last picture is of our group, just outside of Bastogne. It was a great trip, but I'm glad to be home.

Tuesday with the Martels

Tuesday was a GREAT day. We spent all day with Liam, Aiden, Nolan and Meghan. At 10 am we met at Legacy Books for a little story time. Nolan was a delight to watch. He was so excited to see everybody! "Does this kid ever get to go out?" Listening to a story and then browsing books and buying books made us all hungry. So we all walked over to Taco Diner and had a wonderful lunch of tortillas, beans, rice, chips, dips, fish tacos and avocado salad. The brood of 7 children got fed. Next activity: walking back to the cars, packing everybody up and heading for our house to swim. We bought a new big inflatable pool that morning after finding out that the other one had a huge whole in it. Somehow, we ended up with a small slip 'n slide, too. So while I was busy inflating the pool, Meghan set up the slip 'n slide for the kids. FUN! Pool of air and water, Liam and Katharine, creative little people that they are, picked up the smaller pool and put that inside the big pool and had a raft! Even more fun! A little while later, they came in and were ready to make butterfly cupcakes. Meanwhile Aiden and Lukas had the pool to themselves. Cupcakes are done, snack time! And upstairs they all went, including Nolan and Lennon. The bunk bed got converted into something you can play safari on and the disappointment was big when they all got asked for dinner, during which we heard frequent begs of "can we please have a sleep over?" in many variations that could possibly get Meghan and me to say yes, which, unfortunately did not happen that night. We said our good-byes after dinner, I sent the kids off to take a bath and as soon as their heads hit the pillows that evening, they were asleep. Hope that was the case at the Martel house, too. Thank you Meghan and boys for an awesome day! We love you, frousins!

Oops, forgot...

Last night I took Katharine to see "The Wizard of Oz." It was a fabulous show.

We splurged and bought Toto.

Last Day with Grandma and Grandpa

Sunday, yesterday, was our last full day with Grandma and Grandpa. After church we headed to Roti Grill for an early lunch. The best place to go with a crowd of kids. They actually really like us there! Given the mess some of the little ones make... Katharine seems to be thinking or dreaming of more Naan.

It was Keira's first time eating Indian Cuisine. She enjoyed it tremendously. She also decided the most comfortable way to sit was with one foot propped up on the side of the high-chair.

Keira ate: Honey Graham crackers, Naan, Malai Kofta, Masala sauce, rice, watermelon and mango pudding. She loved everything and was the last one to finish lunch.

Lennon let Grandpa feed him. He liked some kind of veggie fritters, chocolate pudding (his favorite today, but he will eat just about anything chocolate), rice, Naan, Masala sauce and sweet stuffed plums. Katharine and Lukas stuck to Naan and rice.

After lunch we got back into the hot car and went to Legacy Books. Grandpa had to read a lot of books. Lennon literally did not move from Grandpa's side to make sure he would get read to. Grandpa was able to sneak away for a few minutes, however, Lennon immediately noticed and ask "Baba, are you?"

The giant bean bags were a favorite.

Lukas decided it would be fun to try to stack as many bean bags as possible, though he preferred the orange ones, orange being one of his favorite colors.

"Sisters"

The bean bag tower was turned into a bean bag wall.

Last, but not least, Erik is back in Germany until Wednesday. Only 3 more days until he's back home!!!!!!!!!! However, he seems to like Germany a lot and I hope he doesn't decide to move there at some point. They are staying at some swanky hotel, but who wouldn't like that, especially if you don't have to pay for it!? This picture shows typical German old town charm. Lots of cobblestone! He took 1500 pictures on Sunday.

Dress Rehearsal and Recital, Part II & Erik

Erik sends his love to everyone. They finished up in Belgium and headed back to Germany today where they will stay until Wednesday. It looks like Erik got promoted to "assistant driver of the colonel". He is a REAL colonel (John Antol) who used to run Ft. something or other. After he retired from the army, he started working for Gearbox as a consultant.

Lukas, Gwen, Katharine and Trinity after the recital today. Again, I can't say often enough how proud I am of those kids, not just my own, but Julie's, too. Lukas was all "super-smiles" after his dance when I picked him up backstage and he got an extra hug and squeeze from Ms. Angie. Ms. Ann, co-owner of Sheena's, was also very proud of her little "turkey", which is what she calls Lukas lovingly. Katharine and Lukas were mesmerized. Lukas especially enjoyed counting all the teenage boys, which there were 5 of and 4 pre-teen boy dancers, too. What a great thing for a little boy to see. Yes, dancing is a cool thing to do for boys and it's not just for girls. Katharine liked all the dances, but did enjoy the "Boys Are Back", a hip hop dance the 4 pre-teen boys performed. Erik and I have an ongoing argument about how well these student recitals are and if you can enjoy them. I enjoyed every dance and think everybody did a great job. For a student recital it was a very good production. Erik, you missed out on something! One more thing: Our girls got to see older girls of all body shapes dance without putting a label on them. Some of them are members of the Frisco Ballet. What a great thing for them to see that you can do something well, no matter what you look. I am glad that Sheena's sets an example in the world of dancing in that regard. 

"Cool Dude"

Pretty Ballerina Girls

Grandpa and Lukas

We went to "On The Border" for lunch.

So today was the actual recital. We were not allowed to take video or pictures during the show, but we took some pictures of very happy dancers afterwards. I could not have enjoyed the recital as much as I did without the help of Ms. Angi from church who came to baby-sit Lennon and Keira. Knowing they were in loving and good hands helped a lot and was so worth the money. I am sure there will be a third installment of rehearsal/ recital pictures coming soon, so bear with me.