in the good old summertime

It's been awhile since I updated, so, you know, about time.  Things here are going right along.  At the end of June we found out that Al got to keep his funding, so we decided to stay put for another year.  I'm searching for a job (still), and I've branched out from just looking in classrooms, so we'll see.  I've applied for a couple of jobs with the Y, PBS, and some other various education-field jobs that aren't teaching.

In Rhia news, she's doing great.  She was pretty sick for a week or two with a nasty bug, but is doing much better now.  She's growing like a weed--she can't just walk under the table anymore--it now involves ducking.  She loves water and playing with her water table outside, she's getting pretty good at "coloring" (a.k.a. scribbling all over with whatever writing utensil she can find), and she is picking up new words left and right.  I can't even keep up with the new words she has anymore.  She loves to help around the house--when I clean I giver her the duster and she walks around "dusting" everything.  She's getting good at feeding herself with utensils--she gets to feed herself the last half of her yogurt every morning, and not all of it winds up in her hair.  She loves to play chase and watch Elmo with us.  She helps water the flowers on the porch now, and she is getting really good at animal noises.

A couple of weeks ago Rhia and I went out to Long Beach with Auntie Amanda....this is about when Rhia got sick, so we had to come home early, but she loooooved the beach and the ocean.

In a Beatles dress and a Paul McCartney vest.  Hip.

She loves this chair, and will actually sit in it and read now, not just crawl all over it.

Yesterday we went to Ellensburg for my friend Michelle's wedding.  We sat with the Sander crew, and Rhia and Elke had a great time chasing each other around the reception.  They were very cute, even if Elke thought Rhia was a pet.  :-)  (see below)

A fashionable lunch in the U-District.