Summer in a Flash

This is without a doubt the longest we've gone without blogging so I guess some quick (and not too boring) explaining is due...

1) I (Mike) broke our good camera. It's not as fun posting with a cheap little knock-off, and our picture quality has suffered (content is fine, though).

2) Some of our kids are at a very difficult stage. We will leave out the names so as to protect them, but let's just say most of the fab four have had trying times, and frankly, we didn't want to get on the blog and complain about how difficult life is when (insert child's name here) is at his or her crankiest.

3) There is no spare time. When one must choose between laundry or blogging, laundry wins.

4) Our blog needs a makeover. Pretty soon Lilah's going to notice that Three isn't such a magic number after all.


Today, the kids are back in school (save Casey who starts back in college in 2 weeks) and Dad is having the traditional stay at home for the first day of school. So it's back to the blogosphere.

What's happened since we last left you?

Our puppy Trinka has grown into a giant pony sized dog. She managed to graduate obedience school, but I can't help but think they passed her up so they wouldn't have to deal with here naughtiness. Here she is pretending to behave for the camera at her graduation...

The virtual twins have had a summer full of playing. However, those outside of Atlanta may not realize how oppressive the heat is here, hot and muggy for months at a time with frequent smog alerts, so we have pretty much exhausted all their indoor toys. We spend a lot of time at the pool where Lilah has taken to it like a duck, and Luke has taken to it like a cat. Just this week he has started not to cling to his designated adult like a lemur.

We managed to squeeze in one vacation to a Lake House on Lake Hartwell and to visit my beloved niece. This is my current favorite picture of Ross (at the Lake). Ross managed to get his Learner's permit this summer! He is now 6 feet tall, shaving daily (when told to) and is tolerating his little brother and sister as best he can right now.

Casey tried all summer in vain to get a job to help pay for school but found nothing!!! She did, however, manage to find a way cool boyfriend who gets the parental seal of approval (and Lilah christened him New Michael). He even got to go to the Lake House with us. No idea what their going to do when she has to go back to Illinois. It has been absolutely wonderful having her home and we will just pretend that August 16 is another 3 months away.

Luke's speech has gotten so much better. He talks all the time and is creating new and unexpected sentences alll the time. He will be going to school all day now in an effort to improve speech and increase social interactive skills. He is so much fun! He does have a few personality quirks, including strange obsessions, in this picture he is wearing what he calls the "all clean blue shirt" which (starting the last week of school) he wanted to wear every day and has only recently stopped talking about every minute of the day. I guess any talking should be looked at as a blessing.

And then there's Lilah, the fearless Energizer Bunny. She just turned 4 this week, and has probably been the most challenging. In all fairness, being trapped in the house most of the summer thanks to heat/smog brings boredom, which Lilah will not stand for. She will make her own fun, build wierd contraptions, draw on the TV, terrorize the dog and cat. When she has something to do, she is a go-getter and so much fun to be around. Here she is, at her element, in the water.

This probably won't go down in the books as our favorite summer, but we managed to make some great memories and each of our kids makes us so proud.

Our family may be unusual, uncoventional, and a little goofy (Lilah's birthday party, she wanted everyone to have a beard, Mom obliged) but we love eachother and somehow make 6 different personalities work as one.