Sydney has now turned 9, Stephan has dyed his hair black and Samuel is still gassy (but heavier). I'd guess he's about 10 pounds now. Here he is with his dad.

I believe everything Sydney got for his birthday involved Star Wars in some aspect. We even did laser tag which could almost be like lightsabers. Sydney has also been doing some basketball skills classes recently and will start playing some league games soon.

Stephan reminded me of Harry Potter with black hair, but he's since gotten it cut also. He seems to be doing OK in high school. We got his midterms yesterday (except math). We also ordered his school ring.

Merrie is still surviving Samuel's "non-stop" fussing and feeding (or it seems that way at least). Her work recently offered her another job which she quickly turned down. It's possible she'll go back part time in some capacity, but not until the new year at least.

Things are going along in a busy fashion again. I just picked up the first batch of Cub Scout popcorn for our pack - so if anyone wants to buy some.... I also built 2 picnic tables and redid the garden walk at Sydney's school as part of our pack projects. I'm working on ripping all my CDs so I can do my radio show solely from my laptop. I've been playing things alphabetically the past several months - I'm midway through S currently. There's a big concert I'm taking the boys to tomorrow, which should be fun.

I'm not sure how much he's gained, but it's clear Samuel is heaver now. He's been doing pretty well though he had a recurrence of an infection in his eye for a couple days. We've already decided he will be a "geek" like his dad. Therefore, I'm getting him as aclimated as possible to being around the computer. This is one of my favorite perches for him.


Everyone else is doing fine. We'll have to learn to fend for ourselves again as my mom left Sunday after staying a week. Stephan has a girlfriend again - they went to the Sadie Hawkins dance Friday. Sydney started a 3-session basketball skills course tonight. Merrie and I started our first Companions in Christ session tonight as well.

Samuel turned 3 weeks today and lost his cord stump. Now he can take a bath!
He really likes being held! As such he doesn't like sleeping long periods yet. His brothers like holding him and are changing diapers as well. My parents also flew in for the weekend and mom will stay the week.

Stephan has a girlfriend again. We got to embarass him on the phone today. :) She seems like a really nice girl. Sydney got in trouble for talking in school this week after an excellent start so we made him write 4 pages of "I will not talk to my friends in class."