20 October 2009

Happy Birthday Sis

Today, my 'baby' sister Jeannine turned... no, I can't give the number. But we wish her a graceful transition to her new milestone.
Ugh...hard to believe, really. Not so long ago I was making her stuffed animals talk (esp. a Pekingese named Sam), getting Jeannine to laugh uncontrollably. Now, fast forward a few decades later, we're all grown up and laughing at life.
Jeannine's a pro expat, finishing some 8 years between Scotland and Saudi Arabia, as well as a personal heroine of ours.
Happy Birthday, Jeannine - we love you and wish you & Kari all the best for the move home.

-jeff & parkers

10 October 2009

Dad & Gang Doing Fine

Maylia's away in Lisbon, Portugal with friends from back home Michelle and Erin for 4 days.

I would write "While the cat's away, ..." but the mice play fine even with the cat here.
Before she left, Maylia wasn't worried about dad and kids having plenty of play time. That part, Daddy does real good at. No, it was everything else, like planning meals and getting from commitment to commitment. Maylia is the more organized parent, so she, bless her heart, wrote out for Daddy a cheat-sheet and got all groceries ahead of time for meals planned out. But the real help was the schedule list complete with transportation tips. For example, Fridays are Ella's Palechek days. Palechek is Ella's get-together/drama class/puppet-show place. My Friday cheat-sheet starts with "Start leaving by 9am; hit sidewalk by 9:15am." Maylia even gives 3 alternate times for the wheelchair trams back home. (Wheelchair trams have big access doors for strollers). Cool.

May's gone from Thursday night to Monday night. I took Friday off from work, of course. Couldn't have Ella and Mattias fend for themselves, right? Right? We have hired help coming in for all day Monday, though I'll come home early.
Today we have a birthday party to go to. Tomorrow's open, so perhaps the aquarium
In short, we're doing okay.

Just before May left, she and Ella were treated to a ballet. Our friend Karen gave Maylia and Ella tickets to Swan Lake at the National Theater for their birthday. Last week, Maylia, Karen, Ella and her friend Sasha all went to beautiful National Theater. Talk about an experience for a couple 4 year olds, let alone adults. Sounds like Ella and Sasha really enjoyed themselves. Here are some pictures from that night.