09/18/05

Welcome to our Web site

Andrew (aka "AJ") turned 10 this year and started at the Elementary II campus. He plays baseball, soccer, piano, chess and dodge ball.  He is now a Weeblo Cub scout.  He continues to dissect many things under his microscope.  He takes great care of his cat (Checkers), collects rocks and stamps and had a leading role in his class play.  He has discovered that he has a real love of and talent for taking photographs.  Check out his pictures from our camping trip in May this year.  He got a new digital camera for his birthday.  Check back for more of those photos on his very own website.  His next goal is to make a documentary, as he found Mom's video camera recently.

Checkers, our new cat was adopted by AJ for his birthday last year.  The rest of us have claimed to be avid dog-lovers and yet we've all taken to our newest member of the family.  He spends most of his days chasing invisible flies and sliding across the tile floors.  He once tormented a scorpion in our house and won. 

David and Kate tied the knot on February 19.   David keeps busy with research at ASU, cooking amazing dishes, collecting wine, hiking and assisting with science experiments around the house.  His non-American friends are giving him a hard time for his recent purchase of an double cab, 4X4 Toyota Tacoma.  (He is still determined to hang on to his trusty Dodge Colt to atone with those Eastern Europeans.)  We have been doing some back-country camping and rock-hunting.  He always carries a bird book and knows nearly every species of bugs, it seems.  He is officially the head chef of our cub scout pack. 

Jack (age 8) enjoys science projects, is a Bear in the cub scout pack, collects puppies (stuffed) and ninjas, loves skateboarding, plays soccer, piano and video games.  He has a real love of making beautiful ceramics and started taking private lessons this year with Mom to learn how to use the wheel.  He has been whipping through his collection of Magic Treehouse books and has begun reading Frankenstein.  Jack and AJ totally redesigned their bedroom and thanks to Ikea and some creative ideas, they have a tie-dyed bedroom. They somehow convinced Mom to even tie-dye one of the walls. 

Mom (aka Kate), gave up her position as a den leader and became the pack committee chair (so much for less work).  She's a homeroom mom and maintains the class website (old dogs occasionally learn new tricks).  She finds a lot of satisfaction with her service on the board of a community development program.  She enjoys consulting and being on the adjunct faculty for both the community college and ASU.  She is gearing up to chair the annual peer mediation conference for the third year.  After the magic of falling in love with her former neighbor and good friend -- married David February 19.  Mama's happy, the boys are happy, and everyone loves David! 

Robert (age 11), aka "Boby," is BMOC as a sixth grader.  He loves skateboarding, traveled to Catalina Island with his classmates the past two years, joined the Boy Scouts, loves to read sci-fi, mythical and historical novels, collects pigs, plays tennis, piano and soccer.  He participated in two community theater productions outlined on the activities page.  His bedroom got a recent makeover and has become his real pride and joy, next to his hair.  Stay tuned for pictures of his techno-retro themed bedroom.  His hair -- another source of pride for Boby -- is getting longer by the day.  Bedhead is in.

Stinky and Tokolosh are our turtle and betta fish, respectively.  They are low-maintenance and friendly.

Last, but not least, Zoe, David's daughter, is the Pom-Pom captain at her high school, has a fantastic smile, cracks great jokes, is acing chemistry, and is an awesome big sister.  The boys look up to her.  She went to Hawaii last year for Christmas and bought her first car.