At any rate, if there’s one thing we HAVEN’T been so far this summer, it’s bored.  The fun started right after school ended for Steph, who supplemented our income rather nicely on her “girls only” trip to Atlantic City.  Dylan started his swim classes at Tabor right around that time, and has been going three mornings a week all summer.

The second week of July brought a rash of doctor’s appointments (hey, we gotta get them in sometime), including Dylan’s first filling in one of his molars.  After that, we took advantage of the “bye week” in Kiera’s KinderMusic class to take a 3-day jaunt down to Atlantic City (Steph gets free rooms; one of the perks of being a high roller, I guess).  Damian and Dylan went to Storybook Land for the second summer in a row, and by pure coincidence, we even managed to meet up with Uncle Matt, Aunt Annmarie, and the cousins and spend the day with them at the park.  The kids loved the beach and boardwalk (and eating dinner at Johnny Rockets two nights in a row!), but the sleeping arrangements were a bit… not what we’re used to.  If/when we go away next summer, I think it’s safe to say we’re going to try to spring for a suite so we can have at least two sleeping areas.

Damian helped run another successful Tablet Academy for NJ teachers at Hunterdon Central in late July, and we wrapped up the month with a visit to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia and a week-long soccer clinic for Dylan at Washington Crossing State Park.  Steph turns 29 (for the fourth year in a row!) on July 30, and we’ll likely be taking the family out for a fine dining experience that evening to celebrate.

Our August calendar has already started to fill up with playdates and activities, not the least of which is Damian returning to work on the 24th, a full two and a half weeks before Steph.  While it seems like summer has just gotten underway (especially with the weird, wet weather we’ve been having), it’s now just about half over, so we plan on packing a lot of fun into the next month!

We also welcomed two new members of our extended clan to the world in the last few weeks – Lily Mary Elizabeth Bariexca was born to Matt & AnnMarie on April 23, and Elizabeth Madison Rudolph was born to David & Catherine on May 4, bringing Dylan & Kiera’s cousin total to six.

We’re in the process of having our house painted right now, and it’s turning out even better than we’d hoped (especially after our last experience with a painter).  Steph and Damian are also gearing down for the end of the school year and the onset of summer.  With season passes to Dorney Park, membership at the Menlo Aquatics Center in Perkasie, soccer and t-ball (shoulda checked with The Boss before posting –Ed.) league for Dylan, Kids’ Music Round for Kiera, and more Chuck E. Cheese tokens than you can shake a stick at, we are ready for summer vacation – bring it on!

Kiera moved up a room at Tabor Children’s House, and has adapted to playing with the “big kids” quite well.  She just needs to stop putting her fingers in other kids’ mouths (and she wonders why she gets bitten!) and she’ll be golden.  She’s also down to one 2-hour nap a day; not to be outdone, Dylan has decided that he’s done with naps altogether (Mom & Dad disagree, but we’ve managed to come to a compromise by considering nap necessity on a case-by-case basis).

We took a lot of pictures this month; you can check out our Picasa album by clicking on the link on the left-hand side.  The March 2009 album is interesting in that the first pictures of the month show Dylan playing in almost a foot of snow (Dad was playing too, but somehow got left out of the final edits), while the final pictures show us all playing outside without jackets.

Bring on the April showers (and, more importantly, SPRING BREAK)!

We started off the month with the kids’ birthday party at Kidz Rule in Hatfield, PA.  There was a huge turnout of cousins and friends from the neighborhood and Tabor Children’s House, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves (not least of all Dylan and Kiera!).  It was interesting to compare Kiera’s first birthday to Dylan’s – back in 2006, Dylan wanted no part of the small family gathering we had at the Doylestown house, and slept or cried through most of it.  Kiera, on the other hand, did her best to hang with the big kids, and did so admirably (read: with no temper tantrums).

Miss Kim came to babysit on Valentine’s Day, so Dylan and Kiera got to get rid of Mom & Dad for an evening of fun.  They also got to spend some time with Pop-Pop Joe while I played tech support one Saturday afternoon.

I learned earlier this month that a short piece I wrote will be included for publication in a book called The Teachable Moment, to be published in May 2009.  My contribution is about my experiences teaching Shakespeare to high school students and trying to make it relevant and accessible.  Early reviews are favorable (by which I mean “my editor liked it”), but we’ll see how the jackals of the Amazon.com reviews community treat it.

Short month, short blog post.  It was 60 degrees today, but snow and sleet are forecast for Sunday (we’re supposed to visit Grandma Judy & Grandpa Hank that day, weather permitting). Lambs, lions, etc.; bring on Spring already.

January was a busy month for us. I started my new school psychologist position this month; it can be challenging at times, but the best jobs tend to be. I’m lucky in that I have a great support system at work; between my colleagues and my supervisor, everyone’s been very helpful and gracious to the new guy.

With my new job taking me away from Hunterdon Central, Steph has become the sole daycare chauffeur, and I admire the fact that she has handled her new role with dignity and aplomb (by which I mean she is still relatively sane by the time she gets home, which is better than I’d do).  It sounds silly, but in the entire time we’ve known each other, this is the first time Steph and I have not worked at the same place, so we kind of wondered how the logistical stuff was going to pan out.  At the end of our first month apart (during the workday!), we’ve pretty much got it down to a science.

We also celebrated a few birthdays this month; our nephews Kyle and Matthew II both turned 2. Kyle had the (mis?)fortune of having his birthday party coincide with the Eagles’ NFC Championship loss to the Cardinals, but we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt and presume the two were not related (although it’ll be interesting to see how things work out schedule-wise next January!). Although there was a lot of good food at the party, I bet Kyle’s favorite was his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. Matthew had his birthday party at the clubhouse in his Aunt LilyAnn’s development, and despite his leg still being stuck in a cast (and a good amount of soda finding its way down the cast), a fantastic time was had by all – Dylan’s still wearing his Spider-Man mask around the house, and he learned how to play checkers on the Spider-Man/Green Goblin checkers set he won as a prize.

Kiera took her first tentative steps toward the end of December, but January has seen her tearing around the house.  She’s walking all over the place now, and I imagine it’s only a matter of time until she’s fully bipedal and walking becomes running.  We can’t stop her; we can only hope to contain her.

One last note: I’m taking part in something called “365/09″, which means I’m trying to document the entire year 2009 in pictures, one a day (hence the 365).  Each day, I will take one picture and post it to a set on my Flickr account.  It’s challenging, but I’ve been good about sticking to it so far (famous last words!); the set is here if you’d like to bookmark it or subscribe in an RSS reader.

Lots to look forward to next month, including the kids’ birthday party and hopefully getting a nice fat tax refund (and if you don’t think the two are related, you haven’t priced children’s birthday parties lately!).

Til next time!

The blog is only one part of a two-fold project.  While this blog is meant to relay what’s going on with the four of us, I also wanted to document the extensive history of the extended Bariexca family in digital format.  As we get older, my concern is that so much of the family history is oral, and bound to be lost sooner or later.  It’s not up yet, but I plan on setting up a wiki for this purpose in the next few weeks (see the link in the sidebar).  The beauty of wikis is that they can be edited by many people, so I’m hoping that other Bariexcas (by blood or marriage) contact me and are willing to contribute their stories, memories, family information, and documents.

The plan right now is to update the blog once a month, but we’ll have to see how that pans out.  In the meantime, I hope this blog allows you to feel in some way more connected to folks you don’t see often enough – not just us, but other friends and family members who may leave comments on our posts.