Okay, that was ridiculously easy...

After 6 years of expat life, I've finally come to terms with the following:

(1) we aren't going to be moving home anytime soon, despite what I said that one time, and the time after that, and the time after that.
(2) I am incapable of keeping up with e-mail on anything like a regular basis. (see above re: broken promises.)

So I'm taking 3 minutes (while Avery performs her morning ritual of removing everything from the kitchen cabinets and trashing all the dvds) to launch this blog, in the hope that it will at least allow friends and family to get a general sense of what we're up to. In honor of the inaugural post, some footage of Avery's 1st birthday celebration:


Ethan getting in on the act-



(yeah, we're definitely not the Osmonds- huge front teeth notwithstanding- or even the Osbournes. Sorry about the singing.)


Avery and her cake, with my annoying commentary:



I'll try to add some photos of the aftermath a bit later. I've got to get ready to take Ethan to the doctor- he woke up with a fever and can't bend his neck. I'm guessing it's not meningitis*, since he's tearing around the house as usual, albeit with one hand clamped to his cervical vertebrae, but it seems best to have it checked out. (you see the type of thrilling detail you've been missing out on??) Lots more where that came from.

*(Just back from the doctor- the phantom neck pain seems to have dissipated; it's just another cold, plus maybe some muscle strain, no doubt from craning to see the tv from the couch all the way across the room, rather than perched 4 inches in front of it on the ottoman as he prefers.)