16

Here another month has passed.  I really don't mean for there to be such a time gap between posts, but so it goes.

Here's what's been happening: Tristan is spending his first night in his top bunk tonight.  We went out and got him some dino sheets for the occasion, and he's so very excited.  He got upset, though, after a little while, so I went up to check on him, and in the most despairing voice he could possibly muster, he told me, "Papa, Dude is flipping a nut!"  What a nut.  He's quite something.  He and Lucy now sit next to each other at the table, which they both love.  Who would've thought that something so simple would mean so much to them?

Lucy is nodding her head "yes" now, and she's not shy to show off that ability.  She's also becoming quite the little girl.  Last night, I watched 'My Neighbor Totoro' (which I'll gladly recommend), and the main characters are two little girls (they're sisters).  The younger of the two, Mei, is Lucy.  She even looked similar.  Mei is four, however, but it was almost like watching a little preview of our Missy Miss's future self.  She'd chase her big sister around and copy what she was doing and always yell, "wait for me!"  It's exactly like Lu now; if Lu could talk, I think the words, "wait for me" would be generously thrown around.

Julie's been reading and reading and reading.  Amy sent her some books (3 of them... it's a trilogy), and Julie dove right in.  She's reminding me of summers when I was younger, and how I'd just stay up forever to finish a book before I went to sleep.  I may do that again sometime soon, but I haven't been pulled by a book in a while, really.

I'm now more seriously studying for the qualifier.  August 20 and 21.  I discovered today that I may not have as much difficulty with the quantum section as I had been expecting because the research I've been doing is in the more difficult area of the quantum that I need to know for the qualifier.  Translation: what luck!  The kids seem to really benefit from a more regular schedule with me heading out "to work" for a few hours per day.  And the library's nice and cool in this hottest of summers.  Also, it doesn't smell like smoke.

Next item: we're moving.  We had gotten new neighbors, and they're the kindliest old couple, but they smoke and smoke and smoke.  It's awful.  And because they're guaranteed never to see 150 again, they're home all the time, which means they're always home smoking.  It's seeping through our walls.  We wake up with headaches, we're more irritable, heaven knows what it's doing to the kids...  It's hard to realize that people still smoke.  I kind of thought that time had come and gone.  It's just so selfish.  Well, consequently, we're moving to a place that's quite a bit bigger than the place we're in, and it's almost exactly the same price.  The place where we currently live is actually going up in price, too, so this new place, come November, will effectively cost less.  Until November, it'll be something like $10 more per month, so that's not going to break the bank.  I'm very excited to get out of here.  As a kid, I moved around a lot.  I guess that kind of spilled over into my adult life as well.  I know that the thought of moving can be stressful and all, but there's a part of me that always finds it exciting.  And when staying in your own place gives you headaches from your selfish smoker neighbors, the part that finds it exciting is pretty vocal.  

We took the kids to the water park again the other day.  Man, did they enjoy that!  Tristan was so excited even on the way there, that he was literally salivating.  Unbelievable.  

We've been married for four years!  Where did those four years go?  I don't know.  But it's been a wonderful four years.  For our anniversary, we went out for breakfast at a place in Kalamazoo called the Crow's Nest.  The food was great, and the prices weren't bad at all.  Quite the good find, honestly.  I can't believe it's been four years.  I can't believe Tristan's almost 3.  Lucy is pretty close to the right age, but it's starting to slip past, too.  They're so much fun, and they just absorb everything.  It definitely makes you think through everything you say and do before saying or doing it.  I mean, I don't think I say/do inappropriate things, generally, but it's just one small slip of a joke/song/movie reference, and they've picked it up.  We started watching a show called "Suits," which is about a guy who never went to law school, but through a set of circumstances, ended up a lawyer (watch the pilot if you're curious; it's a pretty fun show), and one of the firm's named partners is played by Gina Torres (Zoe from Firefly, of course).  Now, in "Castle," there are tons of little off-hand Firefly references, so of course, I'm waiting for them in "Suits" as well.  Well, whenever Gina Torres says something that starts with, "what does that...", I always (in my head) fill in the rest of the line with, "...make us?".  In Firefly, the answer was, "big damn heroes, sir," so in "Suits," the answer should be, "big damn lawyers, sir."  And it's a joke Julie and I make, but it spills over from time to time.  The other day, Tristan and Lucy elected to go poop at the same time-- one on each potty (it was much more adorable than it sounds), and the first line to pop into my head was, "big damn poopers, sir."  Sponges, though, those two are.  Full circle back to Tristan's "I'm flipping a nut."

I think it's time for me to get back to coding, but I also think I'll write again before another month goes by.  I feel like I've said that before...