Weekend Update

James at the aquarium in January with a friendly frog


Sue and Molly Fitts, Will and James on a lovely Sunday afternoon in Awendaw a few weeks ago.


Baby Will with Uncle Jesse over Christmas, as Dad and James relax nearby



Well- the week has been good. Busy as always, but nice. James loved his first full week of school, but was more tired by the end of the week. We will need to adjust his sleeping to make up for the increase in activity.
Our first official school Valentines day is this week. At the Island School they do it both on Wednesday and Thursday, I guess so the 2-days a week or 3-days a week kids aren't left out. We didn't want to go with any candy-- they are still a little young for all of that. We checked out the Family Fun website at the suggestion of Aunt Lizzie. I had James help me make little cards that say

"You are DINO-mite"
and each is tied to a little plastic dinosaur. That is for Wednesday

For Thursday we found little plastic shovels at Target, and attached a homemade card that says:
"I DIG You"

We had fun, but with about 5 to go James piped up with "I finished" and he bolted. Mom had to sprinkle glitter on the last ones alone. I was glad it held his attention for as long as it did.

We spent about an hour hanging out in the bathroom today. I sat him on the toilet and gave him juice and we read stories until eventually he felt the need to go. He was thrilled to actually go in the potty-- but we're not there quite yet. We will keep trying. Our "potty training" book is in the shipment from the Netherlands. It has apparently arrived in Charleston but the company (surprise!) says there will be an additional $250 charge. We are with a new company-- the American connection that works with the Dutch group we had so much trouble with before. Our contact Martijn says that $100 is because our goods were subjected to a special inspection in New York (you are obligated to pay for customs inspecting your goods if for any reason they see fit to do this). He says the other $150 is from Transpack, the original company from the Netherlands, and that they told him it was for "warehouse fees". I told him I would need to see a copy of the bill from customs that they "paid on our behalf" and also that we are unwilling to give Transpack any more money. I told this gentleman that they have been trying to change our quote for over a month. I also asked how it is possible to accrue "warehouse fees" for items that have been in transit, or suffering delays that originated with Transpack. Uugh. We are SO tired of dealing with it, and so ready to get our stuff. I literally WORE OUT my only pair of pajamas as I've been in them every night for over 6 weeks. God Bless my friend Julie in Tennessee-- she sent a big care package to us this week including two sets of new PJs, and lots of other clothes. What a lifesaver.

In other news on Saturday our car started making funny sounds and feeling strange when making turns, but Mike figured out it was just that we were low on Power Steering Fluid. It is all better now, and we are happy that is wasn't any more serious than that.

I have continued with the running. Now I split the dogs up, taking Ghost for a short jaunt then switching off and grabbing keska for a longer trip. Both at once is ridiculous-- with Keska trying to chase all woodland creatures and Ghost getting freaked out by the occasional fire hydrant. My next race will be the MESSA 8K for H20 on 23 February. This is sponsored by the master of environmental studies student association. I am hoping it will get me ready for the Bridge Run in early April.

Mike interviewed last week with a company called handyman connection and will start getting sent out on jobs by them next week we think. He has to go through a process, including getting a state construction license and some other paperwork. It is flexible, not necessarily full time (necessary because of the car-sharing), and pays well-- so we are thrilled.