Hello friends and blog-readers,

News of the kids:
May is in kindergarten now and it is going well. She had a rough start in that her teacher yells a lot more than she's used to grownups yelling. I take this as a complement to our parenting style. Still, I can't imagine being the only adult in a room full of five year olds and not screaming my head off all the time. I feel like I do a lot of yelling with only one five-year-old and her little brother around. May likes doing her homework so much we had a quarrel about it the other night. She was doing some workbook pages when I wanted her to do something else (clean up toys, come to dinner, go to bed, I can't remember), and she shouts back to me, "Dad, do you want me to be smart or not? I have to get this done!"

The little brother is also enjoying the pre-school program he goes to in the neighborhood. He's had some adjusting to do, but loves his teacher and her aide. He likes recess the best and his second favorite part is going on field trips (they went to an apple orchard). Last week Ben was at the local nature preserve at a class that Jill signed him up for and they got to do a butterfly hunt. Immediately, he captured a butterfly and shouted, "Teacher! Teacher! Look! I got one!" No one else in the class, adults included, caught a butterfly.

The nature class he goes to is at Palmyra Cove, a preserve beside the Delaware river. We've been there a few times, and in going there, Ben has developed a keen interest in maps. Treking in the preserve, we follow a map. Ben noticed how important the map was and insisted he carry, read, and interpret the map. Whenever he has a chance, he grabs whatever map is at hand and seeks a leadership, or at least a navigational advisory, role.