The Personality Showcase

Greetings friends and family,

Easton and Layla are glued to their scooters around the house.  I'm concerned they will forget how to walk because they ride their scooters everywhere.  The only good thing is that when we have to give out a bad consequence for a bad choice we put the scooter in time-out!

One thing you probably can't see in the scooter picture is the 8 foot long crack in the tile.  I runs from one wall all the way to the half-wall in our kitchen.  Tile guys say that we have a two year warranty so hopefully this will not cost us anything except time and clean-up from the dust all over our house.

In Layla's room before bed she chose the two bears pictured to snuggle with.  We were having way to much fun before bedtime when she should have been calming down.  She likes to wrestle occasionally and I'm happy to oblige.  She ends up doing a victory walk across my back like a champion.

I shaved my beard because...  I have no idea why.  Maybe just needed a change.  Anyway, a few days went by and Layla put her hands on my face to say something sweet.  After the compliment she said, "you gotta shave, Dad!"  I wondered back to the bathroom and mini-me, Easton, followed me.  I pulled out my electric razor and asked if he wanted to give it a try.  As you can see, he doesn't understand the concept of angle very well, but I give him an "A" for effort!

Kendra went to the library to fuel their love of reading.  The couch doubles as the book shelf until I can convince Kendra to put a real book shelf up in the living room.  Please?  I really, really want a bigger bookshelf that holds all my books.  Maybe I'll beg as it gets closer to my birthday and stock vesting time.  Anyway, I told Easton he can take any book to bed he wants so he'll have one to read in the morning.

He chose this:

Not superheros, not Dr. Seuss, not any fiction at all.  he chose the dictionary of the Earth.  He is utterly in love with science.  Kendra explained the concept of  a hypothesis and theory to the twins.  This provided a bit more structure to Easton's questions.  Every night when I tuck him into bed I sing twinkle, twinkle little star because he requests it.  Then, as I turn for the door I know what's coming.  He asks, "What would happen if we didn't have..." and then throw in some random thing like legs, rockets, lemons, chickens, or eyeballs.  Those are just a few that I can remember.  I go back to his bedside and we have a conversation about divergent thinking.  We talk through what else could be used instead of the thing he mentions.

The twins are becoming more fun and less work with each passing day.  I love this age and look forward to them turning five years old next week.

See you soon!

Missile and New Friends

Greetings friends and family,

We reached another milestone in the Webb house.  One which I've been waiting for since the twins were born.  I asked the question, "when will Kendra and I be able to sleep again?"  The answer I received is proving to be true.  The answer is:  When grandparents are in town or when they turn five years old.  They recently discovered volume control of their voices and understand when we give directives such as, "When you wake up, eat this banana bread and these crackers."  

Easton and Layla are 12 days away from their 5th birthday and today was the first Saturday (with just the 4 Webbs) where Kendra and I both slept in while the twins played quietly.  It's been a long time coming, but I am thrilled to have this stage of independence arrive.  When they obey (most of the time) they get dressed all by themselves, make their bed, clean their room, and brush their teeth.  The relief we feel as parents by not having to do every little thing for them is refreshing. 

Neill and Jenny were with us for a full week, which turned out to be a never-ending parade of people through our house.  Neill and I took one of the few breaks in the action-packed week to visit the Titan Missile Museum in Tucson.  

This is the only in-tact Titan missile out of the 58 built during the cold war.  We walked three stories deep  into the ground on a tour of the facility. These are haz-mat suits the guys wore when working with the highly volatile rocket fuel. 

Here's the control room where the launch would have occurred if we ever fired the "Mutually Assured Destruction" retaliatory missile.  The technology was amazingly advanced for such a long time ago.  Easton and Layla had no idea what the rotary telephone was.  Such a new world we live in compared to before they were born.

Here's the three of us standing in front of the bay window looking down into the silo where the missile hung by springs.

The missile is amazingly huge beyond description.  There are two stories more of depth to this monster.  Looking down into the silo brought the magnitude of the size into perspective.

Top side there were a few rockets to look at.  I'm sure they are not intended as play ground equipment, but I couldn't resist the chance to put my rocket boy on a real rocket.

And here is one of Miss How 'Bout Me.  She enjoyed the tour more than I expected.  I'm impressed by how much they really understand.  Although it was a very tough to explain when they asked, "Why do we have missiles?"

I've been searching for a space shuttle toy for over two years.  Easton has been asking for one "with the fuel tank and solid fuel rocket boosters".  I've searched every brick and mortar store and online retailer with only ONE possible candidate I found on Amazon.  The reviews were very unfavorable and shipping is costly so I've been waiting and hoping.  Well, guess what the missile museum has in the gift shop?  The exact same item.  Easton's eyes lit up and he asked me very kindly to buy it for him.  I agreed and he was ecstatic.  The quality is as bad as the reviews said.  The cargo doors were broken before it even came out of the packaging.  The wheels are cheap plastic and won't last more than 2 gentle landings on the tile.  The connectors between the fuel tank and the space shuttle are flimsy at best because it is a pressure fit between plastic parts.  Even so, Easton is getting some serious astronaut playtime.

On the way home we stopped at Culver's to see if one of our Casa Grande young adult friends was working.  Turns out she wasn't there, but the twins enjoyed their Oreo mint chocolate ice cream mixer just the same.

I took a few days of vacation for Neill and Jenny's visit.  The perfect weather lead to playtime at the Weeeee-bump park because there's no need in wasting entire days inside...  We have all summer to do that.

Our new friends arrived in town from Massachusetts. They are new pastors in our church who have no family in town.  perfect match for us because we're in the same boat.  Their son is very close in age to Easton.  They dove right into the Ninja Turtle roles with nothing more than a mask and weaponry.

Layla doesn't choose to play pirates and war ships with Easton very often.  He took full advantage of a willing swashbuckler like Josiah.

Even though Layla's new friend, Kylie, is a few years older she still sees the fun of princess dress up and tea time.  There is no escape from this playtime scenario when Layla is in charge of the agenda.

Plumbers, Spiders, and Pigeons

Greetings friends and family,

The Webb house is continuing to suck the life out of our savings account, but we are glad to have the "house of healing" being used as we intended.  First, the plumbing news.  Just when we recovered from the cost of replacing the dead convection oven Kendra discovered the garbage disposer broke.  Some things can be broken for a while without impact, but when it comes to maintaining the kitchen capabilities they are "must fix" issues.

I located the local plumbing supply store and shelled out $300 to replace the 18 year old disposer with a like-model so that I didn't have to do a full refitting of the pipes.  I enlisted the help of my trusty side kick who was more than willing to help as long as I explained every detail of how it works.

When the instructions came to the part where the plumbers putty had to be rolled into a snake and wrapped around the drain I thought, "hey, this is just like playdough!"  I gave him the can of putty and instruction on what to do.  Those play time skills are paying off already!

The garbage disposer replacement completed catastrophe-free.

Afterwards Kendra mentioned how attractive it was to watch me tackle the manual labor job.  I foresee a many more DIY jobs in my future because the house is a little in disrepair and Kendra thinks it's sexy for me to fix stuff.  Thank God for Youtube instructional videos.

Meanwhile, Kendra is teaching Easton and Layla through home schooling using various methods recommended by friends and online forums.  Seems to be working, but education is one of those slow-growing seeds where it's hard to tell what the fruit will be until long after the seed is planted.  One such activity is sorting things to improve dexterity, motor skills, and organization.  She dumped puffs into a plate and had the twins sort them by color.

Now we move on to the Spider news.  Layla and Easton requested a superhero dinner and evening of playtime.  Why not?  I continue to encourage them to ask the question, "why not?" and if I don't have a good reason, then let's do it!  The three of us donned our Spidey costumes (Kendra doesn't have one yet).  After dinner we ran around the house saving fake people in distress and battling evil villains.

on scooters.

They are attached to their scooters as the primary form of transportation around the house.  Both are getting a little too adventurous with their one-footed, one-handed tricks.

Easton is dabbling in superhero mash-ups where he takes a few aspects of different superheros like Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, and Bolt.  Quite an imagination, but it works!

We had a pleasant surprise visit from Kendra's uncle Gordon who came through town for the Harley-Davidson dealer conference.  We've been hoping his travels would bring him through our corner of the world and the stars finally aligned.  We had planned for a hike with Neill and Jenny so Gordon joined right in for the adventures.  We climbed a few peaks to get a view of the downtown area and gave Gordon a virtual tour of the city.

Neill and Jenny were troopers about keeping up with the fast-paced dynamic duo who led the way the entire hike.

Easton and Layla climbed all over the rocks and they took a moment from the rock climbing to stand arm in arm for a quick photo.

Easton discovered the joy of throwing rocks off a cliff.  Layla decided she didn't want to miss out on the fun so the two of them bombarded the hillside below with the biggest rocks they could lift.  Gravity is a good lesson to learn through observation rather than experience.

The weather is perfect at 72 degree day-time highs.  Layla found a shady spot and a chair to sit and enjoy our back-yard conversation.  She posed and smiled in a way that caused me to stop and think, "wow, she is no longer just a kid, she is a little girl!"

And now we get to the pigeon section.  Neill joined me and twins for a park outing to give Kendra and Jenny some time to prepare for the Friday night gathering.  We ate lunch near the pond at a peaceful, shaded park table.  Then we brought our bag of stale bread over to the pond to feed the ducks.  Ducks found us along with American Coots, sparrows, and pigeons.  poor pigeons...  I showed the twins how to hold a cracker and let the winged beasts eat right from my hand.  I pulled out my phone to take a picture of them attempting the hand-feeding technique.  Instead I got a candid picture of Layla holding a pigeon by the tail feathers while Easton tries to escape the flapping wings.

She was surprised at how easy it was to nab the pigeon.  Easton was surprised at how erratically the pigeon flopped around.  I was surprised because I didn't even realize she had one in hand until after I looked up from my camera on the phone.  Neill was impressed by her cat-like reflexes and street smarts in catching the bird at exactly the proper location on the tail.

Needless to say, this was one of the most impressive moments of the week.  I couldn't discipline Layla because she didn't know it was inappropriate.  Instead, after calming my laughter, I asked her kindly to put the pigeon down.  She's pure magic.

Easton's favorite park attraction is the tire swing.  Neill spun them up and around and every which way producing many giggles.  We played a game where Neill and I would try to put their hat on their head as they swung by us.  They were begging for more even though we were worn out.  One of the purposes of going to the park is to wear them down and exercise, but Neill and I ended up as tired as the twins.

Friday night we had the privilege of hearing Neill and Jenny speak to the young adults.  22 people in our house fit comfortably in the living room.  We ate dinner beforehand, then the entire group spoke words of encouragement to Rebehka who is leaving for Hillsong in Australia on Tuesday.  We also celebrated Morgan's birthday wrapped the night up with great prayer time.  The party started at 6:30 PM and lasted until Kendra verbally kicked them out at 11:00 PM.

The week with Neill and Jenny is probably not as relaxing as they would like due to the continual stream of opportunities to share with groups and individuals who just seem to find their way into our home and across Neill and Jenny's path.  The experience of being around them as mentors is invaluable for Kendra and me. Only a few more days with them and we plan to make the most of it!

See you soon.

They'll Never Know

Greetings friends and family,

The count down is over. Go-Ma and Go-Pa are here!  We get a full week of uninterrupted personal time with our spiritual mentors.  We look forward to this week each year for the past several years.  Today we watched some videos of Easton and Layla as babies interacting with them.  Watching them make the connection that Go-ma and Go-pa played with them as babies was priceless.

The extreme cold snap is over and we're back to 72 degree highs and sun every day.  That means park time!    As each day goes by I get more and more relaxed on the play ground.  Watching them try to navigate the tunnel rings used to be fearful for me, but now I just run with them through the play ground or sit casually on the parent benches.  Easton is tall enough to hang on to the top as he strolls down through the tube.

Layla prefers to swing around like a gymnast. Her big accomplishment of the day was pulling herself up through the bars and onto the platform.  She's a strong one alright.

i spend most of my days at my desk with a headset on while talking in meetings.  About 5-6 hours per day are meetings.  That's what they pay me to do so I'm happy to do it!  My little corporate cube is not very well decorated, but I have a few works of art on my wall courtesy of Easton.

The past 24 hours was absolutely crazy.  We are in the midst of making the decision regarding Easton and Layla's schooling.  Private school is too expensive even with ACSTO to offset some of the costs.  Home schooling was an option until Obama's tax "cuts" kicked in.  My paycheck was a few hundred dollars less on January 15th thanks to the liar-in-chief.  And I quote "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." and another quote “I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.”

for those who voted for Obama, I have to forgive you daily for believing his lies and forcing Kendra to go back to work.  so no, home schooling is no longer an option because Kendra has to work 15 hours per week just to offset the pay DECREASE our family is taking.  Thanks for nothing.

Anyway, so that leaves us with public school as our best option.  The schools by our house are fantastic according to state standards. We may go ahead and get them into the local school.  However, there is an outstanding traditional academy about 15 minutes away where we can get them into the school as kindergartners.  All I had to do was camp out overnight in the 34 degree weather for 10 hours and hope we are close enough to the front of the line to get one of the few open slots.

I've heard about those crazy parents who camp out to get their kids into a school.  Now I am one!  The line started at 3:15 PM after the bell rang.  I showed up around 11:00 PM and was 11th in line.

Even though I had on several layers of clothes it still wasn't enough to keep me from shivering and my toes from going numb.  I had no where to lay down either.

I called Kendra at about 3:00 AM.  She brought me more blankets, a sleeping bag, and some seat cushions from our patio furniture.  I caught an hour or so of sleep before the other people started lining up and talking.  I didn't eat or drink anything because I was too cold and didn't want to pee because I'd lose my spot in line. Anyway, daylight and warmth was such a relief.  The school administrator passed out the registration forms in order and I got one for each of the twins.

Then I worked through the day as efficiently as possible on such a small amount of sleep and numbed body parts.  Easton and Layla will probably never grasp the sacrifice of what I gave up so they can get into the best school possible.  That's OK though because I don't do what I do for their approval or thankful hearts.  That goes across the full spectrum of parenting.  I want to be as self-LESS as possible and get the twins on the highest ground possible to start their lives.  This school is going to be much more scholastically intense than normal public schools, but I believe in Easton and Layla's intelligence.  The list of what I would NOT do to give the twins a leg up on their generation is very small.  pretty much anything illegal is out of the question.  Other than that, I am willing to do almost anything.  Their education is critically important.  Not as a measure of success, but as a launchpad for them to get a good start in life.

I'm wiped out, but luckily I have a 5-day vacation starting right... now.

See you soon!

Disney Princesses on Ice

Greetings friends and family,

Only two days away from Neill and Jenny's arrival and week of sharing time with them.  I'm happy the extreme cold weather (for Phoenix) is gone and 72 degree daytime highs fill the 10-day forecast.  On Saturday Easton had a play date with his friend Elliot.  He's been asking for a while and we granted the request because the "friend" criteria are met.  Here is how we decide if a play date with a friend is a possibility or not:

1. Do we trust the parents?  If yes then
2. Do we trust the house where they live?  If yes then
3. Do we like the kid enough to be around Easton or Layla?  If yes then
4. Do they live within 20 minutes of our house?  If yes then
5. Is their pool securely gated and all firearms in a locked safe?  If yes then

...  maybe. If all questions above are answered with a "yes" then we will consider possibly, maybe allowing Easton or Layla to spend a few hours at their house without one of us present.  We are not paranoid.  We are extremely cautious about who we allow as influences on Easton and Layla.  I don't care if they are family or church friends or even advisory board members.  Trust must be built over time.  We won't control their friendships in Junior High School or beyond, but until then it's our decision.  I have a past and my family has a past.  There is too much at stake to allow my most precious treasures to be damaged physically or mentally or spiritually.  

After I dropped Easton off at Elliot's house I drove downtown with my lovely Layla and pulled off the best Daddy date ever...  so far.  I made sure she wore the tiara as her hair band before we left.  She had no idea what we were going to do and the surprise alone was worth the (expensive) price of admission.  We arrived and she saw the advertisement sign for the Disney on Ice "Dare to Dream" performance full of princes and princesses.  She said with a sad voice, "I wish we could go to that some day."  I said, "Yes!  How about today...  right now?"  Her eyes lit up as she cheered and wriggled around in her car seat with dancing.

I wanted to get a picture before the show started, but Layla was enthralled by the set and ice.  The look on her face is less-than-happy because she just wanted to look at the ice and wait for the princesses.  

The highlight of the event was when Layla serenaded me with the Tangled theme song as Rapunzel ice-danced with Flynn Rider.  She held my arm tightly and we gazed into each other's eyes as she sang with the best vibrato voice on the planet:


And at last, I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last, I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once
Everything looks different
Now that I see you

She finished by saying, "You're my prince, Daddy."  I was in tears.  If ever there were a moment in my life I wish I had on video, that is the one.  Completely melted my heart and I was a wreck for the next 5 minutes trying to pull it together before the lights came on.  I told her before, "sometimes Daddy cries because I'm so happy to be with you"  so she wasn't worried about me.

The performance was a little disappointing because Mickey and Minnie had about 60 seconds of total time on the ice.  The bulk of the time was spent on telling the movie version of The Prince and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled.  After the three stories were done, all of the princes and princesses came out for a 60 second dance around the ice.  Layla cheered each princess as she skated onto the ice.  The costumes were outstanding and the set was well designed.

We exited promptly after the closing curtain and picked up Easton from his play date.  He had a great time playing with Elliot's toys and his new playground equipment in the back yard.  Elliot's parents said Easton is great at T-ball.  I hadn't thought of getting Easton into T-ball, but I watched him smack the ball off the T.  He his with precision and strength.  Guess he'll be making some choices coming up soon about which sports he will play.  The rest of the day was consumed with errands and housework.  We finally started to hang some pictures and interior design items on the extremely bare walls.  It's been over a year since we moved in here and it's time we start adding some personal touches to the place.

I came home from work to find Easton and Layla waiting with surprise drawings.  Layla drew herself (note the big smile and over-sized boots).  Easton drew me a spider.

The two of them are sweet in their own creative way.  I'm glad they are able to express themselves as individuals yet still be so close.  They are self-admitted best friends and I have a video to upload where Layla describes how when she grows up that Easton will be her kid.  We have some serious explaining to do.

For snack time I gave them orange juice, two apricots and four prunes.  They arranged the plates and cups to resemble Mickey Mouse.  Think they are ready for Disneyland in four months?  Oh yeah.

See you soon!

Pajama Irony

Greetings friends and family,

The 4 Webbs are deep into the three-week-long Daniel fast, a Biblically-based diet where we eat only what comes from the ground for 21 days.  We do this each January with our church corporately to get the year started off right.  We are taking it a step further this year and trying out a full glutton-free diet to see if Easton or Layla get any benefits.  I hear going glutton-free takes 21 days before any change is noticed.  There isn't anything specific either of them are suffering from that would lead us to remove glutton from our diet.  it just seems like a good idea and good timing to give it a try.

We opened our house and invited a few friends over for Sunday lunch.  We had church Sunday morning, then people came over and stayed at our house until 11:00 PM.  So much for taking a Sabbath!  We were exhausted, but enjoyed reconnecting with our friends after being away for a month.  Chris blew Easton and Layla's minds with a tower of playing cards.  They kept saying, "How do you DO that!"

After dinner we gathered the troops and drove to Culver's for ice cream.  Most of us were in our pajamas (like my Space Angry Birds?) and went just the way were were.  Easton was not interested in wearing his pjs into public so we let him stay in his outfit.

 We had our last egregious sugar rush prior to the Daniel fast.  Easton had his chocolate scoop as expected and Layla ventured out to the flavor of the month with a vanilla, cherry, fudge scoop.    Kendra bakes so often that we rarely go out for dessert, but this was a special occasion with the crew.

The ironic part of the pajama ice cream story is how Easton refused to go into public with pajamas on, but just one day earlier he forgot to change his pajama top for our hike.

Yeah, that's Easton in his Cars 2 pajama top hiking the mountain with us.  He wasn't embarrassed and we didn't make a big deal about it.  I just think it's extra humorous how he was happily passing hikers for an hour on the trail, but couldn't bear the thought of going into public like this for ice cream.  to each his (or her) own!  We made it to the top of the first peak, but quickly ran out of steam.  They are always up for a hike, but they aren't interested in hiking new places.  We'll have to branch out soon and get some spontaneity back.

For Easton's Daddy dates he just wants to stay home and play.  I say, "What would you like to do for our Daddy date?"  He immediately responds with, "Play Star Wars!" so off we go flying the Jedi fighter, X-wing, and X-1.  He always makes me be the bad guy when we play because he prefers to be the good guys.  I'm happy with that.  I expect he will always represent good and not turn to the dark side.  My Darth Vader impersonation can use some serious work though.   We were sitting around the other day resting and I asked Easton what I can do to be a better Daddy for him.  He said, "Play more with me."  Seems like an easy enough request to me!

Layla usually wants to go somewhere for our Daddy dates.  We went for a slice of pizza and sat outside on the patio to enjoy the nice weather.  When I asked Layla what I can do to be a better Daddy she said, "more hugs and kisses".  No one besides Kendra has any idea how much I show affection to Layla.  She could be seen as a bottomless well of insatiable needs, but I know better than that.  When Layla is getting her needs met and able to receive it, then she is receptive to even more.  The opposite can occur too where if needs are not met, then a person develops negative expectations as a result of not getting the affection he or she desires.   As long as she is willing to receive my hugs and kisses I'll continue to give them!  She's a Daddy's girl, for sure.

The teacher (Kendra) is building Easton and Layla's reading skills daily.  Now that we have the fundamental skills in place it's time to learn how to use it.  Kendra went to Zumba class and I spent the evening with Uno and Dos.  After a few rounds of hide-n-seek and various play time activities we approached 7:00 PM.  Every night we have the hour-long ritual of preparing for bed time.  I wrote it out on paper as Easton and Layla participated (and agreed to) the list and the order.  Brush is the teeth brushing line item and water is the final sip of water they get since we don't leave them with a sippy cup by their bed any more.  Here's Layla reading the list:

Lists are and calendars are the beginning stages of creating a successful individual.  If you write down a list of what will be accomplished and have a calendar to think longer term than the next meal, then you're almost guaranteed to avoid poverty.  These are the basics and teaching them principles and guidelines is one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced.

See you soon!

New Year Started

Happy New Year friends and family,

Guess who is the secretary of our HOA?  This guy.  I know... It's not glamorous or even desirable for most, but I decided to join the HOA advisory board.  My neighbor asked me to and I want to keep our greenbelt green so why not?  If nothing else, the experience will be good for my own business if/when I ever start one.

Easton and Layla finally transitioned from greeting people with a "Merry Christmas!" to using an ecstatic "Happy New Year!"  We went for a hike and they greeted each group of hikers in stereo.  Each time, the hikers would light up with smiles and respond with an equally cheerful Happy New Year in return.  Then, like clockwork, they would look at me with an approving look and sometime verbal compliments about their friendly demeanor.  I just smiled and said, "They're awesome and friendly!"

The home front is going well, especially since we installed the new convection oven / microwave.  The one that came with the house died.  You never know how much life revolves around the microwave until you don't have one.  Kendra was  perfectly fine with heating things up on the stove, but it got old quickly for me and my lack of cooking skills.

The trees are blossoming with fruit including our lemon tree and the neighbors grapefruit and pomegranate trees.  We took a couple of the ripe pomegranates and showed the twins what fresh fruit tastes like.

Easton did not like the taste of the pomegranate seeds so I gave him the DSLR to try his hand at camera man instead.  He took this picture of Layla and I digging into the seeds.  Pretty good shot!

Of course Miss "How 'bout me" had to get in on the action so I let her take a few pictures with the camera as I gave Big Time a big hug.  Now I see where he gets his cheesy camera grin from...  I gotta fix that.

The other thing we were excited to get home for is the Christmas package from my family in Missouri.  It was so big it didn't fit in our Pilot for the trip so the twins (unknowingly) waited until we returned to open their gifts.  I got a Lowe's and BestBuy gift card, which are the best gifts anyone could give me.  The twins unwrapped their scooters and haven't stopped riding them around the house except to sleep.

Easton is wearing only one sock because he recognized how little traction he gets on the tile when wearing a sock on the foot he uses to scoot with.  Smart boy, but I told him to put a sock on and he disobeyed.  The result was a cut on the top of his foot as he sat on the tile because he caught a sharp edge.  Doctor Layla jumped into action and applied the medical treatment like a war veteran while Easton cried at the sight of the blood drop forming on the top of his foot.  Such different personalities makes parenting them such a fun challenge.

We went for a hike with Jacob prior to our Sacramento trip and I saved this picture for a time like this.  He's been a good friend for many months now and as you can tell Easton and Layla like him too.  

There's a chance Kendra may take on a side-job to build the college and auto savings funds.  We're still in the consideration stages, but if it happens then Kendra can work a flexible schedule how ever many hours per week she chooses.

I'm excited about the next 4 months of stability and routine as I do my normal work and kids do school.  All of our travels and adventures are wonderful, but it's nice to have some consistency of life for a change.

See you soon!