Just to show Kirk is really doing something...

you can take a look at this link:

Cambridge University Press

We guess it is too late to change the title now!

If they sell out all the hard-bound copies quickly, then they will do a more inexpensive paperback version.

December update

Here are some highlights from the past few weeks.

In November, I celebrated my birthday. Kirk was gone on the actual birthday (he was in El Salvador), but the next week he made a wonderful cheesecake and invited some friends over to help us eat it.
For Thanksgiving, we drove to Arizona and spent some nice time with family.
We got to see the Desert Botanical Garden.
We also took a hike in the real desert, i.e. the Superstition Mountains.
One afternoon we got to spend some time with Lamar and we rode the trains at the McCormick Train Park in Scottsdale.
In December, Edward turned 4 years old. He requested a cake shaped like Ft. McHenry (Baltimore, Md.) of Star-Spangled Banner fame. Now, really, how many 4-year-olds want a Ft. McHenry cake? It took a bit of thinking and research, but I managed to get something reasonably close--at least it satisfied him.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the cannons he wanted, but he was sort of content with candles.
Our monthly illnesses continued. We were sick in November and then sick in December. At least we all now have received the H1N1 vaccination and two of the children also had the seasonal flu vaccine.
And finally, this past week I got a new walk-in refrigerator/freezer. Actually, it was a walk-out fridge/freezer combination. I was getting worried about space in our small refrigerator since we had several dinners to host for Kirk's research and teaching assistants, and their families. But then I realized that the high temperature was below freezing. So I just put the food outside on the porch to freeze or cool down or whatever I needed at the time. It was convenient.

Trip to El Salvador

Kirk went to El Salvador this past week for a conference. He had a nice time, though he always misses us when he is away--or wishes I were there with him traveling. He got to see an Anthropology Museum, where they had displays of different artifacts.
This is one of the neat toys he saw in the museum. The boys loved this dog on wheels.
They also had displays about all the various products from El Salvador. This display shows the cacao beans and the various chocolate bars they produced. He brought back some chocolate and it was pretty good--not European chocolate, but better than most of the chocolate candy you get in Latin America.
He visited the main cathedral in San Salvador.
And he also went to the chapel where Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980 while he was celebrating mass.
At home
While Kirk was gone, I took care of sick children and cleaned the house. I also made a dress for Lucy.
The bodice is covered in pintucks.
It took me a very long time to do all the pintucks and then I cut out the bodice and sewed the dress.
We are very glad Kirk is back safely.

Fevers and flu update

According to the doctor, we probably do not have H1N1, though all the symptoms are similar. It is a "para-influenza," which I interpret as "some virus that is like a flu, but the doctor hasn't run a specific test so we don't know which one." Andrew's fever seems to be going down now on Day 5. Edward's fever was near 105 in the night, but today he seems to be doing a bit better (he's on Day 4). Lucy is pretty happy for being a sick girl (Day 3). She threw up all over herself and me this morning, but we managed to keep it all on ourselves and not on the chair. We clean much more easily than an upholstered chair. I started feeling better after the blessing on Monday. So far, Kirk hasn't shown any symptoms of any illness.

I am happy that no one had a croup attack during the night. I was running three humidifiers, one in each room, in an attempt to ward off croup. The one good thing about the trip to the doctor's office was that they, unexpectedly, had some flu vaccines. Andrew got both the seasonal and H1N1, while Edward and Lucy got the H1N1. We will keep checking back at the doctor's office to see when they have more seasonal flu shots.

November (finally!)

October was a hard month. However, we have higher hopes for November. Lucy is a cute girl, even though she is starting her "2s" pretty early, i.e., hysterical screams if she is told "no" or doesn't get her own way.
She likes to play with shoes, though mostly my shoes and those of her brothers.
Edward is busy with Edward things. Right now he is going through his "Peter and the Wolf" stage. This is where he listens to the CD (Prokofiev, not Disney, version) all day every day. I think Andrew did this two or three years ago because they dressed up as Peter and the bird for Halloween. The other day, while we were listening to the CD, Andrew asked, "What's a 'dar force'?" It took me a minute, but then I told him that the narrator, Sean Connery, was from England and was trying to say, "dark forest," as in the wolf comes out of the dark forest.
Andrew made some puppets a while ago. Here he is showing off his Darth Vader and his Obe-Wan Kenobi puppets with their light sabers and everything. He did them all by himself--ideas and execution.
Andrew loves kindergarten. This past week we went to the Halloween Parade at the school. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't 200+ parents and grandparents crammed in a gym to see their children in costume parade past. Andrew is next to his teacher, who is dressed as a witch.
I found out from his teacher that he had been telling everyone at school that he was going as a "map." It was a good thing I figured out a "map" costume for him (pajamas with maps sewed on them).
I even made a cape and put maps on that as well. He was thrilled.
All the children loved their costumes. Edward wanted to be a superhero, so he got, you guessed it, pajamas with an "E" (for Edward) and a cape. I'm glad Becky suggested using a pajama pattern for every possible costume. Lucy was a princess/ballerina/cute baby. The boys were playing one of their games and they made her be the "military princess." I guess they were "military people" fighting some war and she was the princess in the story.
We also carved pumpkins (a mad face, Darth Vader, and a happy face). The boys chose the pumpkins and the faces for them. Kirk and I got to carve them. I even tried making some donuts, and they turned out OK.

A child learning to read

Andrew is reading more and more now. The other day he read the password hint question on my computer. He thought about it and then figured out the password. I heard him yelling and laughing after he typed in the correct password and opened up the computer (got past the screen saver). He was so excited, he showed me how he did it. So, I got to reset my password. Mom suggested writing my password hints in Spanish since he doesn't read that language (yet).

Belated update

I haven't written for a while, but here's a summary of the past month or so. Andrew started kindergarten.
He enjoys his class and his teacher seems really nice and competent. The photo shows the new office space with the carpet we had installed.
Our little tree produced almost a bushel of peaches, which I promptly bottled.
I also bottled and made jam with 1 and 1/2 bushels of nectarines.
Lucy started walking and is still a very cute little girl. We have to keep everything locked, all the doors closed, and the chairs on their sides. She also loves to climb.
The children love playing outside. The weather is nice and so they run out to play whenever possible. I did clean up that patio and put the sand back in the sandbox.

Home remodeling

We've been spending the last few weeks working on parts of our house (hence the lack of posts besides a short email update every week or so). We still aren't done, but we are getting closer. Kirk's parents were here for a lot of that time helping us.

Bathroom
We started this project in April and last week we got to use the bathroom for the first time since then! We almost never used the shower in the seven years we've lived here because we were afraid of water leaks. I don't suppose anyone will cry about seeing this old bathroom ripped apart and redone. Here is a photo before the remodel (well, just starting it).More during the remodel.
During the remodel.
Here is a photo after the bathroom was done. We only have three little things left, one of which is the new bathroom door that is sitting outside being stained and varnished. Kirk's father made that pretty cabinet and we stained and finished it.
Another view of the bathroom.

Sitting Room
We are still working on the sitting room. Here is a photo of the benches (with Kirk's father asleep on the one where the desk now is).
Here is a picture of the new desk and cabinets. Aren't they beautiful?
Today we are having new carpet installed in the sitting room and family (home evening) room. The boys have given that room its complete name. We will put in a couch and finish painting. We thought the original owners might be sentimental about some of the things we ripped out of the house, so when we took out the built-in chessboard from the benches, I saved it and gave it to them. They did get a bit teary-eyed. I don't know if the child who made that board will be thrilled when the parents give it to him or her, but there it is.

Other projects
We redid the entry to the playroom and put in a new cabinet with drawers (that Kirk's father built), as well as a new ladder. It is all painted and patched.
Here is the new set of drawers.
I'm so excited about having some more space to put things in our little house. I asked the carpet guy if he would put the old carpet from our family room into the playroom. He said, no he personally wouldn't, even though he agreed it was a neat playroom. So, I guess that will wait until we can patch the ceiling and do some more fixes--and I find a younger, good humored carpet layer.
We also replaced the back door, redid storage space in the shed, put a lock on the carport storage box, put up an outdoor bike rack on the wall (all Kirk has to do now is get off his bike and put it on the rack and lock it up), and fixed toilets.

Family vacation to Washington

Traveling
We had a fun vacation to Washington state. The first thing we did was drive for two days in our trusty Subaru Forester.
The bikes didn't drag on the road, obviously, but we had to put them down and up every time we needed to get into the back of the car. We got pretty good at doing that, and Andrew even got to help us at times.
Three kids and their carseats made for a tight fit, but we all survived. It helped if everyone had a favorite blanket.
Along the way, we stopped at the Berkeley Pit Mine in Butte, Montana. It is at the site of the original Anaconda mine, the one that was started before they went to Chile and started the famous Anaconda mine in Chile. Right now it is filled with toxic water and they are mining nearby.
Visiting and berries
We had a fun time seeing Kirk's family in Sequim, Washington. The boys loved playing with their cousins. They haven't seen some of these cousins for at least a year or more.
Besides playing and visiting, we also picked blueberries and raspberries. We managed to freeze them and get them back home intact and still frozen.
The blueberries were just starting to ripen, so the fields hadn't been completely been picked over. The children tired quickly of picking, even though they didn't pick very many.
In the end, we had almost 20 lbs. of blueberries and about half that of huge raspberries.

Excursions
We were able to take some fun excursions around the area.
Marymere Falls
We hiked to Marymere Falls, near Lake Crescent, in the Olympic National Park. The falls were lovely, but the photos of them were not.
Instead we have a photo of Andrew near a tree that is becoming a nursery tree and a photo of the family near a very large tree.
It was also nice to go walking in the rain forest when it wasn't raining.
Tide Pools
Another day at low tide we visited Tongue Point and Salt Creek Recreation Area to see the tidal pools.
It is sort of difficult walking, especially with children, but if you can get all the way out to the end of the point, you can see some wonderful creatures and even poke your fingers at some of them if you dare.
Here is a photo of a star fish. A woman had picked it up, and we got to touch it before we put it carefully back in a pool.
The next creature is a "sun" starfish. I almost stepped on it, but then someone else picked it up and we got to hold it. It had 20 legs.
We also put it carefully back into the water so it could survive. This was the first time Andrew and Edward were able to visit the ocean--and remember it.
Neah Bay and Cape Flattery
We drove out to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery, which is the farthest northwestern point in the lower 48 states. We walked through beautiful, foggy rainforest to get out to the observation point.
The scenery was so incredible and beautiful that it looked fake.
We finally got out to the very end of the nice walk and could barely see Tatoosh Point (the island off the coast) in the fog.
On the way back, we enjoyed some fish and chips at the Breakwater Restaurant in Clallam Bay (we've been there several times, now).
Victoria, BC
Our last big excursion was to take the ferry to Victoria, BC. Since we all have passports, this trip was fairly easy.
We walked on the ferry and the children had a fun time on their first boat ride. Thankfully, we had very good weather. On the way back, I asked the captain if Andrew could see the steering wheel and everything (Edward was asleep), so Andrew got to go see all the neat things in the captain's cabin and stand on the captain's chair.
In Victoria, we only had a few hours, so we went to the Royal BC Museum, where, in addition to their regular displays, they had a visiting display of treasures from the British Museum. We had a great time there. Lucy charmed all the security guards. We especially enjoyed the free stroller and the clean bathrooms--we got to take children to the bathrooms on every floor of the museum.
As an added bonus, we got to see my former roommate from Madison, Marianne, who was working in Victoria. We had a quick lunch on Fishermen's Wharf and then ran (literally) to catch the ferry back to Port Angeles.
We had lots of great experiences, as well as the usual difficulties that arise when you travel anywhere or when you travel with children. Thankfully, we listened to promptings and managed to quickly take care of any potential problems quickly. In one case, I packed an extra shirt in the diaper bag (not a customary item for that bag), but we ended up needing it after Andrew leaned over a water fountain and got bird droppings all over himself.
We are glad to be home and now moving into more adventures with some remodeling and school starting in a few weeks.