Not in the clear yet

Today when we woke up the parking lot in our complex was literally one gigantic sheet of ice. The sidewalks were sparkling and glistening and sheer ice. I set out this morning very, very slowly to the bus stop. I thought I would have to wait 10-20 minutes for the bus but to my pleasant surprise the bus arrived in about two minutes. I'm thinking, "Awesome!" this is going to be a breeze. I arrive at the metro station no later than 8:20/8:30am. I got on the metro and it just went down hill from there. I will spare you all the details but I didn't end up getting into work until 10:00am! No exaggeration. But whatever, I was planning to have a good day. The office was pretty empty. I would say only 1/3 or so of the staff made it in and most people got in after 9:30am.

School was cancelled for Aidan because of all of the icy roads which was good because as the title says, we are not in the clear yet. Aidan woke up this morning throwing up. He got what Leo had and spent most of the morning until about noon vomiting. The rest of the day was spent resting in bed or on the couch and watching movies. He took three naps. He has not taken a nap since he was 3 years old! Poor little Aidan. We're hoping school gets cancelled again tomorrow so that he can have another day of rest.

School's Cancelled: Snow Day!

We woke up this morning to a burst of white all over the ground, the trees, the cars and the sidewalks. At 6:15am it was just a dusting and Jason turned on the news to see if school might be delayed an hour or too. He was very surprised to see that school was cancelled. I think he was secretly disappointed because Aidan was home yesterday for teacher in-service day and he was hoping to lounge around and eat bon-bons all day with Leo. Unfortunately the federal government was not cancelled and I had to go to work. They never cancel the federal government. It totally stinks but I bet all of you are thinking...Amy should go to work...I want to see my hard earned tax dollars at work. Well let me tell you...they were hard at work. I had one of the worst mornings I have had in a while but I am getting off point.

It continued to snow off and on for most of the day. In the afternoon the boys geared up and went out to play in the snow. They had a good time taking a walk in the snow. Aidan seemed to spend more time on the ground than actually walking around. They threw snow balls at each other and went down to the little creek to throw snow in the creek.

As you can see Leo is feeling much better. The 24 hour flu bug seemed to have lasted longer than 24 hours and it seemed to affect him at both ends but now he seems to be feeling much better. He played in the snow and was running around the house last night and bit tonight. He still isn't eating very much but it's not exactly clear if it is related to the flu or the fact that he just doesn't like to eat and would prefer to drink his meals instead of eat. He would much rather drink chocolate milk, juice or water than eat anything.

Tuesday swimming classes were cancelled but on Sunday Aidan went to William's birthday party at Chuck's his-house (a.k.a Chuck E. Cheese, Chez Chuck). Here are two pictures of Aidan at William's birthday party. I think the plan was for the parents to drop the kids off at the party but Aidan wasn't having any part of that. He stuck pretty close to Jason until Jason told him he was going to stay for the entire party so Aidan could go run around with his friends. After that Aidan seemed to warm up and feel a bit more comfortable with his surroundings. The place was really packed with kids so it is not a surprise that Aidan felt a little nervous and uncomfortable at the party. Leo and I hung out at home as Leo still was not feeling that great.

William (the Birthday Boy), Aidan and Kentaro

Aidan and Kentaro enjoying their pizza.

It was only a matter of time

Hello everyone. I knew this day would come. The day Amy’s blog about the family would become the family’s blog about the family. It only took a couple of postings for Amy to realize that blogging is fun, and she must share the fun by forcing others to post as well. So when Amy called the family meeting to “ask for volunteers” to help with the blog I wasn’t surprised. What surprised me however, was how quickly Aidan and Leo took a step back. I felt like Cesar standing there with two tiny knives in my back as Amy thanked me and started giving me writing assignments. I don’t know if it was the glassy look in my eyes or the sudden realization of who she was dealing with, but she stopped mid list of writing assignments and said, “how about you just write about the movies you see”. This sounded like the easiest way out of this situation, so here I am.

You’ll notice a new section in the left hand column called “movie reviews by Jason”. That’s where you’ll be able to find my posts. I’ll be writing my thoughts, feelings, and recommendations about the movies I see both in theaters and on DVD.

Happy Birthday Pa!

Happy 60th Birthday Pa!

We hope you have a super awesome Birthday today! We are so sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate your very special day. You still look young and healthy as if you were 30! We love you very much. Have a great day!

Love and Miss You,

Amy, Jason, Aidan and Leo

Long Night

Sorry, these last couple of posts have not been too fun. Last night Leo woke up at about 1:00a.m. crying because he had just thrown up in his bed. It was very sad because he was so tired and he is not used to it. Aidan is the one who throws up. He gets car sick, he throws up when he eats too much, too fast. So we were up off and on all night helping poor little Leo and cleaning throw up off of his sheets, our sheets, his clothes, our clothes and poor little doggy. Doggy has been washed this morning and needs to be washed again. We called the doctor and they said there was a 24 hour bug going around and there was nothing they could really do but they gave us information on what we should do and expect. Leo threw up once this morning but an hour or so later he wanted to eat and he ate a pancake. In fact, Jason had to stop him from eating so much, too fast. I went into work, a little late, and Jason and Leo took it easy and rested most of the day.

Leo seemed to be feeling a lot better when I got home and Aidan was also in a semi-good mood. Jason and Doris went to a movie tonight. I thought Jason could use another night off and Doris was planning to go to the movies by herself. They went to go see Slumdog Millionaire. The boys and I went upstairs. They were watching Garfield and I was changing our bed sheets. After such a night, they really needed to be changed. Aidan went to bed and Leo was laying in our bed watching the movie. While I was trying to help get Aidan to sleep I hear Leo throwing up in our room. Aidan started crying because he didn't want to be alone in his room. It was not good. I got Leo cleaned up and in bed and Aidan was in bed and I stood in the two doorways until they both fell asleep. I came back in our room and changed the sheets for the second time in one hour.

Just as I was sitting in bed typing this post poor little Leo threw up again. This time all over himself and his own bed. It's so sad and he is so tired. He wants to lay down on the bathroom floor. This time I got him changed and now he is sleeping on the floor in our room. He is so cute, sweet and peaceful. Now I am off to clean up his room. We are out of clean sheets. We will be out of clean pillows soon and Leo is running out of clean "friends" (his favorite stuffed animals).

Good Night!

Mad in the Holma Family

So the last couple of days have been tough in the Holma household. I'm not sure what it is but something is in the air. Yesterday, I left work at about 6pm and so didn't get to my metro stop until about 6:45pm. It has been a long couple of weeks for me at work as well. I'm drowning in work but that is for another day. When the boys picked me up I got in the car and the first words spoken to me where from Leo. He said, "Aid mad, Dad mad, me mad". I new when I got in the car it was not going to be a good evening. Even now I am not sure what all went down but after about two minutes of being in the car Jason said, "I'm going to the movies." That's fine, actually most of the time when he is in such a mood its usually better that he is not in the house. When we arrived at home Jason flew out of the car, went inside and got his stuff and was ready to go before the three of us even got in the house! I thought boy this must be really bad. Though when Jason went to get in the car, Aidan grabbed onto to Jason, cried and said, "Don't go Daddy, please...don't go." This continued and finally Jason decided (against my better judgement) to not go.

After being in the house for about 10 minutes, Jason decided it was time for the boys to go to bed. They had already eaten before they picked me up because they were hungry which is fine. It's tough for me because I don't get to eat with them but I totally understand that they might get hungry and I know it is a consequence of being a working parent. The hard part about last night was I then had to choose between eating dinner (which I was starving...did I mention I'm trying to eat better and lose weight...and so I only ate a salad for lunch and salad translates into hungry two hours later) and spending some time with the boys. Of course I chose to lay down with the boys, snuggle, and watch a movie before they went to bed. Jason disappeared downstairs and watched a movie for a few hours. After they fell asleep, I went downstairs and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Does anyone else every eat peanut butter and jelly for dinner?

Being a working parent, especially of two little ones is hard. I think the hard part is trying maintain the balance between family and work so you don't look back on your life and wish you would have done things differently. I'm not sure at this point in time that I won't look back and wish I had done things differently on the work-family life balance. On the other hand, obviously one person has to work away from the home and in our house that is me and we made decisions that have led us down this path. In many ways, if I have to work I think I am very lucky. Thanks to Jason wanting to stay home with the boys, I have it pretty easy in the morning and pretty easy in the evening. I don't have to get my kids out of the house and to day care by 8am or leave work to pick them up by 5pm. Jason takes care of all the little things that I don't know how other people even manage to get done like grocery shop, car emissions tests, oil changes, buying drain cleaner from the hardware store, going to the dry cleaners and the post office, etc. The hard part is feeling like I get to spend time with boys and be a part of their daily lives (really a part), trying to make sure our marriage is strong, and trying to make sure I am mentally stable all the while trying to be proud of the work that I do. I don't know how to do all of this but I am going to keep trying, talking about it, listening to others, and always make it a priority in my life.

Tonight was a similar night, this time Leo said "Aid mad, me mad" and Aidan said "I'm not mad", which was a relief to hear. Jason said things had gone better today. I'm not sure he was better though. He was quiet irritated and grumpy so at 7:30 I asked him to go to the movies and he said it was too late. I asked him to go to the pool and sit in the hot tub and he didn't want to do that and I said..."please, just go somewhere" and so he ended up going to the movies. I'm not sure which one or where but he filled his pockets with candy, smiled and left.

Just to catch up...Tuesday as you all know is Swim Day. Since we all had the day off Aidan and I went to watch Leo and Jason swim which was fun. Leo does great in the pool, he seems very comfortable in the water and really does not seem afraid. He even hangs on to the barbell float and is comfortable using it to float in water that he can't touch the bottom in. Jason is holding on to him but I'm not sure Leo really needs him too. It is great to watch. Aidan also had swimming yesterdan and Doris came to watch too. Aidan did really great. They practiced swimming through a hoola-hoop and the first couple of times Aidan really walked through instead of swam but after the instructor showed Aidan how to swim through he really did it. They also had to swim through the hoop and then grab a toy underwater and Aidan did it!! He was very excited. Aidan also practiced his back float and the instructor really helped him and made him look more at ease doing it. Aidan said his favorite part of the swimming was the hoola-hoop and he asked if

he could go more than just one day.

Unexpected Inaugural Fun

Today, was a morning just like any morning: we woke up with Aidan in our bed and Leo was calling from his room "Da-deeee". At some point in time, I don't know exactly when, Leo stopped getting out of his bed in the morning to run into our room and now when he wakes up he just yells for one of us to come and get him.

Yesterday we decided that Doris and I were going to go to the movies. We were planning to see Slumdog Millionaire at 11:20am in Bethesda. Doris picked me up at 10:30am. On our way to the movies, I asked Doris if she would rather go downtown so that she could buy an inaugural button instead of the movies (she really wanted a button and was disappointed that she did not go down yesterday during the concert). I figured we could see Slumdog anytime but the inauguration festivities would be once in a life time. So we decided to skip the movie and go downtown and check out what all the fuss was about.

Stop 1: Macy's Metro Center - We jumped on the metro and headed into town. On our ride in there was a woman on the Metro selling buttons $5 a button or 5 for $20. We didn't jump thinking we could find something more downtown. So far, so good. It is really cold outside and I was not prepared for such an event so we stopped at the Macy's at Metro Center and bought a pair of Ugg-like shoes to keep my feet warm and a pair of gloves. Since we moved to our new place, I have not been able to find my gloves and I have been without them all winter. I had a gift card from Christmas (thanks Pa and Crow) and now we are all set.

Stop 2: Hay Adams Hotel - Off the Record Bar - "Best place to be seen and not be heard"
Now that our hands are warm and are feet are toasty we set out to satisfy our hunger for both food and movie stars. We walked towards the White House to the Hay Adams Hotel (where the Obama's stayed when they first moved to Washington) and we decided to have lunch at Off the Record. We were hoping to get some lunch and spot some movie stars. We had a great lunch but unfortunately we didn't see any stars.

Stop 3: The White House
We headed over to the White House to see the parade route and where the Obama's would watch the parade. There were lots of people hanging out around there and taking pictures. We think we spotted someone famous. What was the clue? He is super tall, had a camera following him around and at one point he started waving. I made Doris run up in front and take his picture. Here it is: Anyone know who the mystery man is?

Mystery Man. Anyone?

Stop 4: The Official Inauguration Souvenir Store.
Every person that came to the city for the inauguration was in this store. It was crazy. Doris and I got our picture taken with Obama and we bought a few souvenirs. I bought an inaugural poster and a button and pin for each of the boys. Doris bought a button. She got what she was looking for.

Stop 5: The Mall-CNN
We headed down to the Mall to see how many people were out and about and to see if we could find the news broadcasters and their stages. There were so many people all over the Mall and mind you, there really isn't anything going on today. First, we found the setup for CNN and we spotted Soledad O'Brian and Roland Martin. We were actually hoping to see Anderson Cooper but he was not around. While we were here I called Jason and told him to watch on CNN to see if he could see us. He said he couldn't believe I was standing outside waving with a cell phone to my ear. I told him there were a bunch of other idiots like me waving, with a cell phone, trying to see if I'm on TV.

Stop 6: The Mall-MSNBC
We stopped by the MSNBC studios and stood around trying to get on camera again. While we were waiting around we saw Luke Russert (the late Tim Russert's son) coming out of the studio. I'm not sure if you know, but Doris, Jason and I all LOVE Tim Russert and we were so sad when he passed away so by association we love Luke Russert as well. His smile is just like his Dad's. We ran over to try to get a picture with him but he started to walk away. I made Doris follow him and I yelled "Luke! Luke!" and he came over and I got to take a picture of him and Doris. I love this picture!

Stop 7: Gallery Place Metro
After all that we decided it was time to go home. We walked over to Gallery Place to catch the metro home. I could not believe how many people were around there and how many vendors were selling their wares. Gallery Place is really not that close to the Mall. People are making SO much money off of this inauguration it is unbelievable. Everything Obama sells, from T-Shirts, to Dog Tags, to CD's, DVD's, posters, scarves, hats, buttons, lapel pins, reusable grocery bags, you name it they have it with Obama written on it. It is incredible. The Metro ride home was fine. The platforms were super crowded but an empty train picked us up so we had a seat all the way home.

All in all, it was a really fun day and it was fun to be part of the inaugural celebration. I kept thinking while I was out that I wish Aidan could see it (I think Leo is too young to remember) but there were many times when I also thought he would hate it (the crowded stores, the packed metro, the cold, the walking). He would especially hate it because he has a cold and a cough too. I just want them to know what a special day this is and what a big event it is in our history. We are planning to watch the event on TV together as a family. I hope he remembers. I bought Aidan an Obama t-shirt for him to wear to school on Wednesday. For their show and share they have to bring something in about their new President.

It is times like these when it is great to live in our Nation's Capital.

Striker is back and better than ever!

My Wii Mii name is Striker. Yesterday after the boys went to bed Doris, Jason and I played a game of bowling. I set a record for the number of consecutive strikes and the high score! I got eight strikes in a row and my score was 256! Look at all those X's above for proof. Before last night, Rushell had the most strikes in a row at 5 strikes. After I got 5 strikes, every time it was my turn I was SO nervous I could barely stand it. After the game, I finally made it Pro but now that I am a Pro I'm a little nervous because there is a lot of pressure for a Pro. Since Jason made it Pro his skills have kind of gone down hill. Oh the pressure, I'm not sure I can handle it! The second picture is of our final score and Doris' pant leg. She almost beat Jason but on her last frame she swung her arm down and hit the side of her pant leg and she got her first gutter ball. She was very mad!
On another note, Aidan has had a cough for the past two days or so and now Jason doesn't feel well. We were supposed to have friends over for lunch tomorrow who are visiting Washington and have a 7 week old baby and I don't think they will come now.

This is a four day weekend for Aidan and me. It's so great!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow and Stuff

Today we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground. S*N*O*W. It was just a dusting but we were all super excited. Yeah, I know, snow is a regular occurence in Seattle but not here. We want it so bad. It was really light, powdery snow but snow is snow and the boys were excited to see it. Unfortunately with the snow came extremely cold temperatures. It was below freezing here and I think they said it was supposed to be/feel like 12 degrees. That is deep-down, bone-chilling, painful cold. The boys gave me a ride to work before taking Aidan to school so that I didn't have to wait outside in the cold for the bus.

Today was another difficult day at work. I have been in a bit of a bad mood for about a week or so and part (most) of that is work related. It is hard to explain. It's been an extremely busy week in the office and mostly unpleasant.

Jason took the car to the shop because the check engine light has been on. We have a rental (a PT cruiser-weird!) and have to have $1,100 of repairs done. The minivan is sounding better and better. After dropping off the car, Jason and Leo enjoyed a half hour at Chuck E. Cheese.

Furio is visiting DC and we had a meeting from 2-4:30 today which was good (not unpleasant). After work, I went with Furio and Gabriella (Gabriella works with Furio) to pick up their car and they gave me a ride home. They dropped me off at home and went shopping for an hour and then came back for dinner and games. Doris came over too. The boys really like Furio. I told Leo earlier in the week that Furio was coming to DC and he said, "He funny." Furio and Gabriella have not been to our house before so Leo and I showed them around the place. Leo was showing them everything including the bathroom, the sink in the bathroom, the toilet, his bathtub and toys and his towel. It was very cute. After dinner (I made enchiladas again, salad, rice) we played Wii bowling. Furio and I duked it out in tennis. The first shot I missed and he gave me the old thumb to nose na, na, na, na, na, na. As it turned out I creamed him in tennis. Aidan and Furio played tennis and baseball. Gabriella played cars with Leo and he loved the attention.

Average Day

So today was just an average day...nothing exciting to report and nothing out of the ordinary. Sorry family. As I'm writing this post, I'm realizing that most days are probably going to be like this. I don't know what I am going to write about 90 percent of the time. But what I promised was to share our lives with you and this is what our life is like sometimes.

Today was an extremely long day for me at work. I had meetings from morning until afternoon that required me to be "on" most of the time. It is rather exhausting. I was hosting one of the meetings and it was a "quasi" brown-bag presentation that included folks from outside my office. It was "quasi" brown-bag because it was an hour before lunch so no one actually brought their lunch. In any case, I expected the room to be set-up with the furniture arrangement I requested plus all of the technical equipment (i.e. computer and screen). I guess I expected it because I had ordered it and we pay for it. When I got down to the room 10 minutes before the meeting, the room was an utter disaster and nothing was set up and there was no one to be found. Why did I only go down 10 minutes before the meeting was to start you're asking? Well it was because I was in another meeting right before and that I had to cut out early from AND because, well, I expected someone else to do their job so I could do mine. After that I was in a meeting from 3:00 to 5:45pm. In my opinion no one should schedule a meeting after 4pm. I also had to cut out of that meeting early because I am still recovering from a cold and the room was extremely claustrobic with lots of people and really hot and dry so I had a coughing fit which I could not recover from. Yep. Nice.

Doris and I took the metro home (it was extremely crowded and they are doing all these weird things to prepare for inauguration) and the boys picked me up from the metro. Do you know what Aidan requested when I got in the car? Apparently, he did not want the tortillini which Jason had planned for dinner but he wanted sushi. Yep, that's right! Aidan loves sushi. Well, California rolls anyway. So I said to Jason "it's up to you, if you feel like cooking." He replied (as I'm sure you can all guess), "I never like cooking." So Aidan was happy because he got sushi, miso soup and edamame and Jason did not have to cook. Leo does not have refined tastes like Aidan (yet) and does not like sushi so he had leftover meatloaf and miso soup! What a combo!

After that Aidan read a book and earned a family game of bowling on the Wii. Jason beat us all but lost points as a "pro". Aidan and I tied. My bowling skills have really gone down hill since we first got the Wii. My Mii name is "striker" but I don't think I really deserve it any more.

Aidan's contribution to the blog: "I beat Daddy on the first game of tennis."

Time to say Goodnight!

Tuesday is Swimming Day

Tuesdays are now big days around the Holma/Ritualo house. Both of the boys are in swim classes on this day. Leo goes in the morning and Aidan goes in the evening. In Leo's class, both Leo and Dad are in the pool together. Leo's not learning any strokes or swimming techniques but is getting comfortable being in the water. There's a lot of floating around and kicking. This morning Leo wasn't too excited about going but once he got in the water he had a lot of fun. Aidan's class is more of an actual lesson. He's in the water with four other kids, a teacher and an assistant teacher. They work on holding their breath, floating, and kicking while their heads are in the water. Like his younger brother, Aidan wasn't too excited about going today but once he got in the water he had a blast. He can't wait until next week.

Leo's contribution to the blog-I asked Leo what he like most about swimming he said "cars", "polar express", "lightning mcqueen cars." I'm pretty sure he didn't play any of those things in the pool today but that is what is on his mind.

Aidan's contribution to the blog-"I dunked my head and grabbed the dinosaur from the bottom of the pool."

Parenting is the toughtest job

Today I came home from work to a grumpy 6 year old. I'm especially tired from work this week because I was out all last week (in training in West Virginia) and have a lot to catch up on and I have a lingering cold. So the grumpiness started right when they picked me up from the metro. Oh and did I mention that the metro was backed up and delayed my commute an extra 20 minutes? From the car to our front door the grumpy behavior moved from grumpy to plan old bad. Five minutes after taking off our coats, "the incident" occurs...Leo is crying because Aidan hit him. Aidan is yelling "Leo hit me first" and I am yelling "get up to your room." Of course, if you know Aidan he doesn't like going up to his room because he is deathly afraid of being alone but what the heck?! its punishment so I make him go anyway. Finally, I can't take it anymore and tell him he must go to bed (its about 6:05) because not only can I not take it anymore, I think he's really tired. What's the clue that he's tired? He is taking a break from yelling to yawn. Now he is yelling and crying over and over again "just one more chance." I'm ready to loose it by now so Jason takes his turn at it. Leo and I eat dinner and then I go up to take the third shift with Aidan so Jason can eat his dinner. Aidan also tells me he's hungry and I can not make him go to bed without dinner. I'm not that mean, I don't think, or maybe that will come when he's older, in any case, I bring him dinner in bed. Finally, God help me, he falls asleep. He is sleeping soundly.

Parenting is one of the toughest jobs. I'm a planner, direct, organized and like sequence and order and parenting rarely is any of that. If I am going to do something, I want to do it "right" and "well" and mostly parenting is "experimental". It gives you guilt and makes you feel inadequate and unaccomplished especially during these really rough days.

But even with all that, it is the best and most rewarding job I have ever had. Every day I hate to leave in the morning and every day I can't get home fast enough.

Happy Birthday Jason

Today is Jason's 36th Birthday. We celebrated his birthday yesterday. We opened presents in the morning. The boys and I got him a sound dock for his ipod (we put it in on the shelves in our kitchen) and a new game for the Wii (party games 2). It has all kinds of games like skeet ball, lawn darts, shuffle board, trivia and a bunch of others. He also got the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon movie and his brother Marc always gets him a fun gift from the year he was born. This year it was a plate with a calendar from 1973-it is really pretty and from it we noted that Jason was born on a Friday. He also got money which he is saving to buy a new ipod. We went out to lunch--he wanted a gyro--and then Jason went to get his haircut. Later that evening Doris came over for dinner and to celebrate Jason's birthday too. Doris brought a yummy birthday cake and we had cake and ice cream. We also exchanged Christmas gifts since that was the first time we were all able to get together after the holidays. After dinner we played games. Doris took on Aidan in tennis (Doris won) and Aidan, Jason and Doris played bowling and Aidan won! He scored a 204! Since I am trying to get over a cold I skipped out on the bowling and Leo and I played trains. All in all I think it was a great day. I hope Jason did too.

Last night we went to Marcia and Allan's house for dinner. We were celebrating Allan's, Jason's, Sabrina's and Halley's Birthday. The food and the company was amazing. Frank made the most amazing roasted pork leg and these shrimp empanada-like things. Frank is one of the best cooks I know. We all think he should open a restaurant but easier said than done I am sure. I made a carrot salad which was great and a recipe I will definately make again. We also brought sangria for kids which was also a hit among the kids and adults. The adults were even adding wine to their glasses and enjoying it. Leo found Sabrina (soon to be one year) playing in her kitchen cupboard. She was having fun throwing out all of the plastic cups on to the floor. Leo wanted to pick them all up and put them away but everytime Leo would pick them up she would throw them back on the floor. Leo was starting to get angry and he said "This is my job, baby!"

Aidan's contribution to today's blog: We (Aidan and Leo) played a lot with Gracie. We ate cake.

Tomorrow is Jason's birthday (January 12th) but since it is a Monday and I have to go to work we are going to celebrate his birthday today. I have some wrapping to do! Jason requested chicken enchiladas for dinner and Doris is bringing the cake.

We live so far away from the majority of our family (they live in the Seattle area-we live in Maryland) so I thought I would start to keep this blog so that we could keep up with our family. I'm concerned that I won't have enough time to keep it up but I'm going to try. I will try to write at least every other day and let's see how it goes.