The kid is in kindergarten. Sheesh!

This is a conversation Ethan and I had while the family was outside weeding the garden.

Ethan - Mom, I'm going to marry Madison (a classmate.)

Me - Why are you going to marry Madison?

Ethan - Because she is my friend and I love her.

Me - Who taught you about getting married?

Ethan - Andre (another classmate.)

Me - Does Madison know you are going to marry her?

Ethan - No.

Me - Well, it helps if she knows about it.

Ethan - Yah.....

a few seconds go by.....

Me - You know when you get married you can't live with Mom and Dad any more.

Ethan - Never mind, I'm not going to marry Madison. I want to be like Uncle Russell and live with you guys when I grow up.

I love that kid so much. I take it that since he wants to be with us when he grows up, that he is enjoying himself now. I'm not sure when to break it to him that whether or not he is married he most likely will not be living with us when he is older. I guess I should just enjoy it before he turns into a teenager and starts yelling at me about "blowing this popsicle stand" as soon as he graduates.

Since visiting Oakland in November of 2008, I have noticed some things about this region that are very unfamiliar (like mowing your lawn in winter. ) I've lived the first 28 years of my life in Utah, so that is a big factor in why I have never seen them before (other than in books or t.v.) or why they just don't seem to be occurring in the right season.

Although I have lived here for nearly a year they still throw me for a loop.

I am going to start a little ongoing series called "I am a foreigner here." I hope to include pictures with each of these entries so that I can better illustrate why.

These weren't the only flowers I got on Valentine's Day, but they were the most unexpected. I wish you could smell them!

Both of these pictures are from our back yard.

Creeeepy!

So...I finally got a new camera and it has some pretty wild features, like "fish eye" and "radial blur" and "happy faces." This last one is just plain creepy, it modifies people's faces to appear as smiling. Just look what it did to my grumpy-but-still-cute son. The modified pic makes him look like he would be a registered offender of some sort.

Darling Delightful Delilah

Thank you all for your subject suggestions. Apparently people want to know about our new baby. I don't know why, she is a bit of a bore really ;)

Delilah (no middle name) Olson was born on December 15th, so that is 4 days after her due date. I was very annoyed about this and at the doctor for not inducing me two weeks early like what happened with my older two. So that meant I had to go into labor on my own, and feel all of the woman-making pain that goes with it. I won't go into the details of the labor, I'll just get to the good part - She was born at 9 lbs. 21 in. and seven weeks later she is over 13 pounds. Delilah is no longer on the growth chart and the pediatrician actually called her a "giant."

Delilah's brothers love her, Ethan a little more so than Vaughn, but that is probably because Vaughn got bumped from baby status and lost the name that goes with the position. We are all enjoying having pink, and dresses, and sugar and spice and everything nice in our house. The teeter-toter of testosterone and estrogen in our house is evening out a bit. Hooray!

I'm being summoned by her little voice, so I must go. But I'll get more pics of her and the boys later.