we have moved

Some of you may already know this, but for those who don't: we have moved to PA. Ryan is starting at St Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in a couple of weeks. We have also created a new blog that you may want to check for updates on our new adventure. It can be found at http://birchpost.wordpress.com/. There may still be occasional updates to this blog, but it is likely that the new one will be more active for a little bit.

gregory at almost 25 months old

Weight: 24 lbs 7.5 oz
Height: 2' 8.75"

Ephrem playing soccer

slide

gregory at 18 mo

Weight: 23 lbs 13 oz
Height: 30.95 inches

gregory at 15 mo

Height: 30.71" (78 cm)
Weight: 23 lb 9.4 oz (10.7 kg)

gregory's first year pictures

1 month

2 months


3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

gregory is one!

 

on kings

Elijah's heard quite a few fairytales about kings.  He also would really like to be a prince, and for that reason likes to pretend that his parents are a king and a queen, especially since his dad's name means "little king."  The following conversation will make more sense in this context.

Elijah: If you are in a country where there is a king and you don't obey the king, do they kill you like they used to, or do they now just punish you?
Daddy: Depends on the king.
Mommy: In some countries there's a king but you don't have to do anything he tells you.
Daddy: That's true.
Elijah (after a pause): Daddy is that kind of a king...

gregory at nine months

Weight: 19 lb 9.4 oz
Height: 27.1"

gregory at six months

Weight: 18 lb 12.5 oz
Height: 26.54"

missing front tooth

 

halloween 2012

Captain Hook, Frog and Cowboy

gregory at four months

Height: 25.25"
Weight: 16 lbs 4 oz

latin alphabet

Daddy (during a Latin lesson with Elijah): We borrowed our alphabet from Latin.
Elijah: When are we going to give it back?

lights 2.0

 Ephrem discovered that he can reach the light switches, so he is now a travelling light show.

curious ephrem

This is Ephrem checking out Gregory our first day at home.

cookie monsters

This is Elijah's composition.  He wanted to take a picture like this.

 

gregory owen

Born: May 31, 2012 at 5:17 am
Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
Height: 21 inches

Gregory came a week early.  We were almost ready for him.  We still needed to buy a pack and play for him to sleep in until Ephrem would vacate the crib, and pack a hospital bag.  Fortunately, we have a bassinet that he will fit in for a few weeks, and the hospital bag was frantically packed at 2 am as we were rushing out of the door to the hospital.  We brought all the things we ended up not needing (like a heating pad and a water bottle) but forgot clothes for the baby.  He came home wrapped in mommy's sweatshirt.

master bullfrog on the phone

Elijah copies two lines of text every day for his school work.  Whenever he finishes a poem, he gets to draw a picture of what the poem was about.  Today he copied the last two lines of the following:

Twenty froggies went to school,
Down beside the rushy pool.
Twenty little coats of green,
Twenty vests all white and clean.

"We must be on time," said they,

"First we study, then we play.
This is how we keep the rule,
When we froggies go to school."

Master bullfrog grave and stern,

Called his classes in their turn.
Taught them how to nobly strive,
Likewise how to leap and dive.

Taught them how to dodge a blow,

From the sticks that bad boys throw.
Twenty froggies grew up fast,
Bullfrogs they became at last.

Polished in a high degree,

As each froggy ought to be.
Now they sit on other logs,
Teaching other little frogs.

Daddy: "You can draw a picture of the froggies today."
Elijah: "Hm, twenty frogs is a lot to draw.  I'll draw the bullfrog, too!  He'll be on the phone."
Daddy: "Why does he need a phone?"
Elijah: "Because it says, 'Master bullfrog grave and stern, called his classes in their turn'."
Daddy: "I don't think that's what it means."
Elijah: "No, I think he called the froggies while they were at home."

Here's the final result: