catching up

i know, it has been ages since i last updated... i got spoiled by facebook. and addicted. here i was, spending precious moments at a time reading updates about people i've chosen NOT to keep in contact with and finding myself sucked in! it was general hospital all over again. only this time, at least they were real people who i had (at some point in my life) a relationship with. but still, do i need 450+ friends?! nah. too many to keep tabs on about stuff i don't care about.

anyway, my true friends (& family) are people i'll keep in touch with without any social network and i think i like that better.

so, i'm back to try to make up for lost time on the blog. quick update:

drew - still rowing, taking AP classes and thinking about college, dating his girlfriend for a year and worked 3 jobs over the summer (cashier at local grocery, sound for weddings & mowing lawns). brought in a good chunk of money, which he then spent on the girlfriend. clearly, he didn't learn that from his father's example... ;)

taylor - gearing up for the homecoming dance this weekend (taking last year's date... he's seen her once since last year's dance!) and looking for a job... hopefully turning 16 in december will help with the employment options. and he's excited about getting his license all of a sudden (he used to say he didn't want a license... he also used to say he would live at home indefinitely...). he's a little challenged at school with interest (questioning when he will need math in his adult life... i struggle with an answer) but loves his speech class, which i think is cool. and marching band (doesn't love it as much as last year, but its still a good thing in his world)

noah - also doing crew again, but this year he's a coxswain and loves it. he's doing great in high school - like, all A's and a B+ in the first report card! - and even grounding doesn't seem to have diminished his social life (??). he's also started learning to be a back up for Drew with sound at weddings and always anxious to do any work and make money. yeah!!

evan - also having a great school year so far. and reading books!! on his own!! (sorta. sometimes with a little proding) we're working on encouraging some activity other than roaming through town with a swarm of friends after school (sport, job, club, anything!) but he's got a good bunch of friends and we're just relieved that he's not walking through town as the only guy in a group of 10 girls!

rachel - she's fantastic. seriously, the doctor just said so today. :) she's a little on the small side, but it's not like she has big parents, so we're not worried. she's developing well - crawls everywhere, walking while holding onto things or people and is a total chatterbox (but not saying any words yet... not even mama). we've started going to the library story hour on tuesdays and she loves it. this week, she opted not to sit with mommy. she sat a few feet ahead of me (checking to be sure i was still there) and just observed everything. when our pediatrician commented on how wonderful she is in church i laughed and told him that his wife had failed to mention that she got kicked out of the nursery on her first week there (his wife was working the nursery that week)... yeah, she couldn't handle it and screamed so much that they brought her back to me! the doc dismissed it and says she does great. we agree.

here are some pics to share (yes, of rachel... i'll get some of the boys this weekend when we go to a regatta in pittsburgh and then homecoming!)