So this happened...

Davis, Paul, Amanda, and Jimmy were all baptized Sunday in the Irish Sea! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!

Swim Caps: The Great Equalizer

Although we don't have any pictures of the five of us in swim caps (no cameras allowed), Bailey, Karolina, Billy, Davis, and I went to the National Aquatic Center yesterday for Bailey's 12th birthday. Word to the wise: Whatever you do, don't let Davis and Billy talk you into going down The Black Hole waterslide. Terrifying. The Master Blaster, however, is a great inner-tube slide.

Afterwards, we came back to the house for pizza, cake, and presents with a few more friends and our team. We were able to Skype Uncle Steven and the grandparents, too. I think Bailey had a great day and was completely worn out as well. Happy Birthday Bailey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott's brilliant(?) idea to have a leg wrestling competition.

Spoons and goofy boys.

What Lies Beneath...

So, the front green might possibly have a trench buried beneath it, that was connected to a moat that surrounded a couple of buildings, from a long, long, time ago. A young man from this neighborhood got permission from the county council to explore the possibility of digging an excavation trench to see if there are any artifacts buried there. Exciting! Davis and Billy are going to charge 2 Euro per look-see. They'll make a killing! grassrootsarchaeology.ie

All Cats Go to Heaven?

This isn't meant to be a discussion about pet theology, but we wanted to make our readers (all 18 of you) aware that Davis's beloved cat, Strider, died last Saturday morning after surgery due to an infection caused by a ruptured bladder. Davis handled it with maturity mixed with sadness. Unfortunately, there was a mixup about what to do with the body, which we planned to bury at our friend Chris's land, and Strider was cremated instead. Fortunately, that made the vet feel sorry for us and he didn't charge us the cremation fee of 190 Euro. In the meantime, Tiger Lily has decided that Davis's bed is the best place to sleep at night. Maybe it's comforting for the both of them now that Strider is gone.

We plan to find a cool rock for our front garden in memory of the coolest cat in the world.

Team Fun Night

It's true, our team does have fun together! Even though it was super windy, cold, sleeting, snowing, hailing, and partly sunny all day, we ventured out to ALSAA Bowling for a little R & R. It's too bad for Jo that bowling is not her sport. It's the only sport in which I can beat her. Like a yard dog, beat her.  Maybe she loses in order to boost my self-esteem. Oh well, I'll take it. After bowling we gathered at the Smiths' for fondue fun and board games. Run to your nearest store, buy Telestrations, grab 7 of your friends, and prepare for a good time.

We're Still Here Chugging Along

It snowed...for about 5 minutes.

Sofia Lane Beall's quilt

Disecting an owl pellet--yum.

We eventually found 3 skulls, but we were past the 'this-is-cool' phase and didn't take a picture.

Nothing says Valentine's Day like going to the Immigration Office to renew your visa and that's exactly what Scott and I did today. We passed with flying colors, although I did have minor trouble with the electronic finger-printing machine. Here are a few pics I've neglected to post since December:

It's a Brand New Car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, new to us anyway. Thanks to generous donations from Those-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named we were able to purchase a more fuel-efficient(50m/gal) car when we got back from furlough. Say hello to Henry, our Diesel Ford Focus.