A Family Adventure

About a month ago Pat received an offer from Yale to work as a research scientist. They offered an April 1st starting date -- which seemed like a crazy idea for a family with three little ones and another one due in a month. But we did it -- we packed up our apartment in one week and headed east for Connecticut. We found housing, unpacked and are feeling pretty settled after only living here for 2 weeks!

Here is a picture of our new house (we're renting a house in a town north of New Haven called Hamden). We're enjoying the house -- having space to play, to cook, to run (the house has a circle -- a necessity with kids!) and our own little backyard. The house is about 100 years old -- and has the character and charm of an older home -- arched doorways, hardwood floors, etc.

Jacob is attending the neighborhood school - which has an all-day kindergarten program. He has adjusted well to a full day of school and loves his new friends and new school. Hannah and Luke are staying busy with Nana and the dogs. She arrived last week to help with the arrival of the new baby.

Pat is enjoying his position at Yale -- his boss has even granted him permission to do work from home as we await the arrival of the baby. He can bike into work and seems to prefer that over the bus.

The baby is healthy -- due to arrive April 14th. But it looks like it might decide to hang around a little longer. No contractions or signs of labor to report yet.

I will try to go back and post some pictures from the last 2 months -- It's been so long since I've had time to write.

Scooters and Ride-on toys

Nana H. came for a visit on Tuesday and brought early Easter presents for the kids. Jacob and Hannah got scooters and Luke got a ride-on toy. They had fun trying out their new toys. Jacob was able to whiz around on his scooter pretty quickly. Hannah is still learning but she is a determined little girl. Tuesday and Wednesday were nice days to be outside. And then we got 3" of snow yesterday so the scooters will have a rest for a few days. Outdoor toys are great for our living situation. As soon as it warms up for good we will be spending a lot of time outside.

Preparing for 4

Yesterday we made a step towards preparing for baby #4 -- we bought a minivan! The kids had fun checking out the new van. I can't believe we're going to be a mini-van family and soon it will be filled with 4 kids!!! Luke was a little scared to sit in the van -- as you can probably tell in the pictures. Hopefully he'll be comfortable on our first ride tomorrow. Jacob - on the other hand -- had fun sitting behind the wheel! We're taking it up to the mountains this weekend. It will be nice to have a spacious vehicle for a longer trip.