Isabelle's Lagoon Party

Isabelle had her birthday party today. We had 16 children running screaming through our house for two hours. It was fun. Or exhausting. One of the two! Special prize for anyone who can guess what the theme was.

She also opened her present from Grandma Mary... It was beautiful!!!



Lexie, of course, had to try it on too, and then see how pretty SHE looked. [Just look at the wonderful wallpaper too!]



Now, we just need a special place for her (Isabelle, Lexie will have to wait a few years) to wear it -- maybe to the Nutcracker next weekend?

It's Halloween, so it must be time for a new post...

OK - it has been too long. So much has been happening, I don't know where to start (which is why I need to do this more often!).

Lets see, where to start?

Callum has been doing pretty good at school. He made Principal's List for the first six weeks! That means all subject grades above 93%, and no N (Needs Improvement) or U (Unsatisfactory). Conduct is where he has a little bit of trouble. Apparently, his teacher gave
him an S (satisfactory) minus as she was being kind. He isn't bad - he just talks! We are working with him on this, having the teacher sign a book every day to let us know how he is doing. He is not going to get an E (Exceptional) this next report period (which ends in a week or two), but if he keeps it up, he might get an S...

Belle is still loving her school. I don't know if the boyfriend is still on - we don't hear so much about him anymore. But she does practice weddings... maybe just because Sarah is about to get married?

Lexie is growing so fast! She is 21 months now, going on 7 years. She races around after Callum - she just adores him! Belle she is not so sure of, but then Belle is not quite as good at sharing.

Since I mentioned Halloween, lets see if Grandma Mary recognizes the clown suit Callum is wearing as part of his "Jack In the Box"! I should say that we are Halloweened out already, and the main event is two days away. We did Zoo Boo last night at the Zoo, and a party in our old neighbourhood today. At least we get use out of the costumes...



Belle and Lexie were two beautiful Princesses!




Oh yeah - and check out the new link on the left there, to The Lockett Center!

Callum gets a CLUE, Belle gets a boyfriend

We found out last night that Callum got into the CLUE (Creative Learning in a Unique Environment) program! Six kids (we think) from his class made the cut. His friend Theo did, but we don't know who else. They get taken out of regular class on Wednesday afternoon and Monday morning for the CLUE program. We are so proud of him!

Meanwhile, Isabelle is back in Highland for three days a week preschool. She is loving it there, back with her friends Sarah and Wren. She has a boyfriend already (after just one week), although she can't remember his name. Given that there are only about 4 boys in the class with 12 girls, this is especially good (is "good" really the right word?) going.

Lexie continues to be Lexie...

First Day Picture

Forgot to upload this earlier. This was Callum on day one. Now he looks lots more frazzled!

Shock and Awe!

Poor Callum!

He wouldn't talk much last night about school. But he did ask "How long will this thing called school last, anyway?" He was mainly in shock we think. It was a long day for him, 8:15 till 3:15. Lunch was at 12:45. Apparently they mainly did art, except when they did math (like instead of going outside at playtime, but then it was over 100F with a heat advisory).

Pennie and I both went to drop him off. It was chaotic! There are 5 optional first grade classes and 4 regular 1st grade classes. We had to walk through the kindergarteners to get to first grade. We go in the back door - the older kids are round the corner, so we didn't run into them on the first day. Grahamwood goes through to 6th grade (I think) and there are about 1200 students there total.

His teacher is Ms Taylor. She seems very nice and is "firm but fair" we have heard. There are 24 kids slated to be in Cal's class, but only 18 showed up on the first day. Theo, who we have known since he and Cal were two, and Ricky, who is one of Callum's friends from kindergarten, are in Callum's class.

Lunch time in the cafeteria was somewhat traumatic, I think. Callum took his lunch, but one can buy food there too. He said there were "maybe 90 children" in there when he ate, which we take to mean a lot! They have a red light system for when it gets too noisy - if the red light comes on, they have to be absolutely silent. I don't think they used it on the first day.

Pick up was even more chaotic than drop off. We got to the school about 5 minutes before the final bell. There was a long line of cars waiting already, snaking through the parking lot, out onto the street and round the corner. We (Pennie and I, and Sarah, so she could see what the process is, and therefore also Lexie and Belle) sat in this line for a while without it moving. Then Pennie decided to just get out and go get him. The line slowly moved, and Pennie and Callum showed up when we about half way to the door. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights!

When he got home, he went straight to the computer and played some games. We let him just decompress! As I said, he could hardly even talk! We are glad that we held him back, as this might have pushed him over the edge a year ago. We have been hearing stories from some other kids about his age who did go on last year, some of whom had to get transferred part way through the year, and some of whom just cried everyday (along with their parents) until after a semester or so they caught up. Hopefully, in the long run, we have done the right thing.

This morning, we dropped him off again at 8:15. We took him in again (when he gets used to it, he can go in by himself) and to the classroom. Ms Taylor had them line up outside, then they all went in quietly to their seats. She has them trained already...

So there we are. We are now the proud parents of a first grader. And, to answer Callum's question, this lasts for the rest of your life!

Countdown to first grade!

Callum starts school on Monday! I think Pennie and I are more worried about it than Callum is, but then the poor guy has no idea of what he is getting into! He has to wear a uniform (basically kakhi, black or blue trousers; white or grey shirt with collar but no logo). He has a new book bag (a huge backpack, at least it seems huge to me), plus a ton of supplies (we had to get two reams of copier paper!). He has to be there at 8:15 to 8:30 on Monday... I'll try and get a picture of him all dressed up.

Belle is doing good. Her break is a thing of the past now. She will be going to pre-school 3 days a week, in the 4-year old class. She'll be going back to Highland, not Evergreen where there have been this last year. She still has two more weeks before that starts though.

Lexie is getting so big. She has been potty by herself 4 times today! We had to get a new potty for her, so we can have one upstairs and one down. Belle was trained by the time we moved in here, when she was just over 2. We also got Lexie a toddler bed today. She has been co-sleeping with us, but it is time to start moving her. Anyone big enough to go potty by themself is big enough to go sleep by themself, I say ;-) We put a "Princess" bedding set on it, and told her it is "Lella". She loves Lella (Cinderella). When it is time to get out of the bath she shouts "LELLA!", asking for her Cinderella nightgown. Nothing else will do nowadays. Of course, she is not actually in her bed now (at 10 pm). I'll go up in a minute and try to move her over...

Ears tubes

Just got back from the Doctor with Lexie and her ear tubes. They had a mix up with scheduling and had us show up at 6:30 am, but the Doc didn't get there til 9. He was very appologetic, but we are exhausted! Lexie woke up at 4 and wouldn't go back to sleep, then the alarm went off at 5:30. Cal and Belle had a sleep over at Gammy's Memphis house. Anyway - they took Lexie back at 9:20 for the surgery, and called us in about 15 minutes later when she was waking up from the general anaesthetic. She was tired and groggy and starving, as she hadn't eaten since the night before. We go home about 10:45 and I put here to bed, where she is right now. Hopefully, when she wakes up she will be fine!

Shoulders, Teeth and Ears

Isabelle's clavicle is all healed now! She went to the Drs a few days ago, and was pronounced re-joined.



Callum lost two more teeth this week. The bottom one cam out a few days ago, and the top one tonight. I may have helped both in their final stages... Lets see what the tooth fairy brings this time! Going rate seems to be $2! (You can see his metal spacers nicely in this picture too!) School starts in about 3 weeks now, so he is getting ready. Uniform has been purchased, new back-pack. He is so big!



And Lexie needs ear tubes :-( She has had another round of otitis media, her 6th in about 10 months. We go on Aug 1st. Should be a quick operation (5 mins). She will need an anesthetic, but the Doc said she will be up and running around a few hours after. He said everything probably sounds to her like she is underwater now, which could affect speech development etc later.

Zoo Camp and Belle's arm

Callum had zoo camp this week. Seemed to go well - each day, they got to tour a different part of the zoo, and a keeper would bring an animal into their classroom. One day they had a ball python, another, a tiger salamander. Right up Cal's street.



One day, I took the girls to try and find him. We didn't see him, but we did get to ride the little train. Belle's clavicle is doing so much better now. She isn't wearing the brace at all.

Happy Birthday Callum!

Happy 7th birthday, Callum!



Callum's main present was a new bike. He had totally outgrown his old one, so he got a new 20-inch BMX-style one. A Huffy Phazer. He can only just touch the ground when the saddle is all the way down, but he should grow into it! Its been too hot to ride it though, so we have been doing lots of swimming instead.



His party was a blast. We had four of his closest friends over for a sleep-over. They did pretty well actually, and we all got some sleep. Presents, of course, we greatly appreciated!

Quick Belle Update

Just got back from the Doctor. After sitting in the waiting room for ages because they forgot to sign us in, we finally got to have another X-ray of Belle's clavicle. It is healing nicely, and she can start to do some stuff again, like riding her bike and swimming (although she has to pretend she is an old lady). He wasn't very happy at the idea of trampolining though, so I guess that will have to wait a while longer. We go back in a month, when hopefully it will be all healed, and she can climb again (like she has actually stopped doing that now!).

Belle and Playmobil

Grandma Mary sent Belle some Fantasy Land Playmobil as a little happy to help her shoulder heal. It seemed to do the trick, as Belle jumped up and down repeatedly when she opened the package! She has loved playing with it all week. Gotta love Playmobil for making pink unicorns too.

On the whole, Belle seems to be mending great. She is using her arm a lot, and only very rarely complaining. We go to the Drs on Monday, and hope to see good recovery.

In other news, we finally got our trees trimmed (I was looking for tree guys when Dad was here). Next, we planned on doing the roof, but that may get delayed as we have to have a new air conditioner. Ah! The joys of home ownership!

Isabelle Update

We went to an orthopedic doctor in Memphis this morning. Belle is in a "figure 8" sling now, that gives her slightly more use of her arm, while holding the shoulder still. She needs to keep it on 23 hours a day. Luckily (if you can call it that) it is a clean break, and will not need surgery. We go back for a check-up in 3 weeks, when it should have started healing… Its going to be a bad summer for Belle :-(

A week in St Augustine

We just got back from a week on the beach. I had no internet there, so I'll try and remember the details...

First, we left Memphis after Callum and Isabelle's graduation ceremonies. That means we left at 8 pm at night. Callum was feeling sick by 10 miles from our house, and had thrown up before we had gone 50 miles. By about 51 miles, he was fine. From Memphis, we went to Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida and finally St Augustine. The drive was 800.2 miles door-to-door. A long way! The kids actually went to sleep at about 10, and at 2 we pulled into a motel in Forsyth (south of Atlanta, and just over half way). We finished the journey after a few hours sleep. The kids were great, and so was the DVD player.



The beach was amazing! Everyone loved it. And our friends house was great too - about 300 meters from the beach, and very comfortable. And you could drive on the beach! That surprised us, especially the first time we went, when we all almost got run over. At high tide, it actually left very little room for playing in, but we decided it was a convenient way of getting 3 sets of buckets and spades around. The sand was hard (hence you could drive on it), but did make pretty good sand castles. It was a long, long way from Eccles on Sea! [For non-Heaths, that is an in-joke.]

Lexie loved the beach too, of course. We'd go in the morning and leave at about lunch time so she could have her nap, and we could all avoid the midday sun. Well, try to. Callum and I would stay down there for a little while, and play a bit longer. I am now peeling.



St Augustine area was great for a vacation too. This picture of Isabelle was taken just outside of Marineland - a dolphin conservation oceanarium, where we saw a 5 day old dolphin nursing its mother. The observant amongst you will notice that Isabelle is wearing a sling, which was obtained at the very nice Flagler Hospital Emergency Room on Tuesday. The reason for the trip to the ER was due to the fact that she fell out of bed the preceeding night and landed on the tile floor and broke her clavicle (collar bone). The poor darling has been a real trooper, but it certainly put a downer on the vacation. She is in a lot of pain even still, especially if she bumps her right arm. We are going to an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow now that we are back, but Belle is going to have a very quiet summer: no trampolining; no swimming lessons; no bike riding. She is really being very brave.



As you can see, Callum's favorite thing to do was jump through the surf. He also loved the boogie board and even tried a skim board (I tried it too, and almost broke my wrist falling off again). He also loved the Alligator Farm, which had all 23 species of crocodillians on display. But mainly alligators. Lots of American alligators! [Bonus points for whoever can tell me the other species of alligator extant today without going to Google.] No pictures though, as Pennie has now officially seen enough alligators to last her for the rest of her life.

We also rode the Red Train around the city, and walked down George street, but didn't have too much time to explore the City. The fort, the lighthouse and the foutain of Youth will have to wait til next time. We did go to Ripley's Believe it or Not, but that was a wash out. Not for small children. And we met up with Kevin and Theresa and Zoe, who drove in from Gainsville for a couple of days. That was good!

Finally, we had to leave. Again, we broke the trip into two. We left at 4 pm on Sunday, and stopped in Jasper, Alabama, at about midnight having driven 600 miles. This morning, we had only 200 miles to go! Total mileage for the trip was about 1,760. That is a lot of driving. So, to finish off, here is a picture of our driver. Well done, Lexie!



Edited to add link to Eccles on MapQuest for Mum!

In Honour of Grandad

See! We do have tomatoes! It could have done with another day or two on the vine, but it was still pretty good. Lots more on the way!

Two more pictures

Here is the deck Dad stained when he was here. The water is beading nicely! And Lexie loves to jump on the trampoline. She is going to be a gymnast, just like her big sister. And a Doctor, or CEO of a mega corporation...

Another "Sorry I'm so bad" post

Well - its been a few weeks now since Grandpa left. Things have carried on as normal. Lexie has another ear infection, this one has led to a perforated ear drum. She is also a climber, and got herself into our bathroom sink for this totally unposed photo. We are totally outnumbered, outgunned and outwitted. How do people survive with so many children???

Callum and Isabelle have a week left of school. After graduation, we go on vacation. I'm not looking forward to the 12 hour drive, but I'm sure it will be fun once we get there. We got the pool out this weekend so they could get ready! It was about 90F out, but the water hadn't had any time to warm up. Brrr - I stayed out. Notice though the tomato plants in the background. I haven't killed them yet. Some of them have fruit, but its not quite ripe yet.

Fly high, Grandpa!

OK - here is Grandpa Martin/Dad on his last day, looking much more relaxed than in the other picture. See - we didn't work him too hard!

We had a great visit though. Thanks, Dad, for all the hard work. There is still more to do though, so come back anytime you want/can.

Easter Picture

Meant to post this earlier. Children all dressed up to go to Vida and Bennie's for Easter. They don't get dressed up often, and they don't stand still for long either...

Snaggletooth

Callum's tooth finally fell out, and the tooth fairy came last night. Current going rate seems to be $2.00.

Actually, the top tooth was the first one loose, and it is still there. Sort of wiggly, but nowhere near falling out.

Dad and I are still decorating. We have about finished the bathroom - just clear up to do now. It took longer than we thought - matching that pattern was hard! We got some of the deck done, then it rained. Maybe it will dry out over the weekend, and we can finish it on Sunday.

Also went to see The Wild tonight (Dad stayed and did a last piece of paper). Pretty good - better story than Madagascar, although somewhat similar.

Wallpapering

Wallpapering is hard work! This corner in particular killed us. We had to take this piece all the way down and start again. Matching patterns is no fun. And we are not even half done yet.

Tomorrow we are going to stain the deck.

It might rain later in the week, so we'll finish the papering then. Unless it finishes us.

Oh yeah - that is me in that picture. My best side?

Grandpa Martin

Grandpa Martin got in late last night. Here he is from this morning, looking tired! Lexie had kept all of us most of the night, so we were all tired!

When he has rested up a bit, we will start working...

The rap was a hit!

Quick update. Pennie presented the video of the kid's rap at the Gala dinner last night. It was a hit! It was certainly the only presentation of the night that got not just one standing ovation, but two!!

Bike Riding

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!!!

It is in a 3gp format, which opened on my PC in real player after it automatically downloaded an update. We'll see... Remember, this if from my phone, so it is very small and low quality. But who was it who said "the best camera is the one you have with you"?

Callum did come a cropper on Saturday (this video was from Friday). He hit some pea gravel around a climing frame and went flying. Got a nasty scrape and bruise on his elbow. He got back on and rode home and was OK again by Sunday. He'll live. But - elbow pads next time!

Another week

Hmmm - lets see. What happened this week?

Had some bad weather today and a couple of days ago. We had to get in the hall closet when there was a tornado warning for our street. We were OK, but that was the day 27 people died in the MidWest. 10 people killed near Nashville today I think. There was going to be a picnic at the kids school today, but it was cancelled due to the inclement weather. The storms blow over so fast though - strong winds and heavy rain one minute, then calm and bright sunshine again the next.

Callum has ridden his bike a few more times and is getting quite good now! We had a short ride tonight and I caught a little of it on video on my cells phone's camera. The quality will probably be awful, but hopefully that means I'll be able to host it without having to shrink it! Trouble is, the data cable to get stuff off my camera is at work, so it'll have to wait til next week.

We also called Grahamwood this week, and it looks like Callum has got in. Hurray! We were also told (not by the school) that if he is reading at 3rd grade level, he has a chance to get into the CLUE program, which is an invitation only club.They are taken out of the optional program for a few hours a week for extra "enrichment". The cream of the cream. Anyway, he is currently reading grade 2 books with no problem. Grade 3 have harder words, but he can get some of them already. With a little bit of practice, he should be able to read them. No pressure now - no pressure! Actually, we are really proud of him, whever he gets into CLUE or not.

Isabelle dropped out of her Gymnastics, Ballet and Tap class. She wasn't really very interested in the dancing, so we switched her to just gymnastics. She loves the gymnastics!

Lexie is just as cute as can be, of course.

Pennie is getting ready for the Sickle Cell conference. The video of her rap song will premiere at the Gala dinner at the Peabody Hotel on our anniversary night - and she will get to introduce it. I'm proud of you, Pennie!

As to my grant - the Director of the whole thing for St Jude is trying to get the National Cancer Institute (NCI, part of the NIH) to reverse its decision. Apparently, it is not set in stone yet and there is still a hope. Probably a very very faint one, but a hope nonetheless. Of course, it seems crazy of them to pull the plug on this funding: the whole point was to get industry to work on "orphan" diseases (diseases with a patient population too small for them to normally bother). We have spent a year getting these companies to commit to giving matching dollars, now the whole thing is dead. We are talking start-up biotech firms, not big pharma, so these guys don't have the money to pay for all of it themselves (the profits in these types of diseases/drugs are too small for big pharma to be interested in). Trouble is, it is a new program, so last in first out in a funding crisis. Bitter, me? I'll get over it. We are trying to figure out other ways to do it. We still need the drugs, after all.

Callum's Bike

Forgot to mention that Callum started to ride his bike without his stabilizers/training wheels yesterday! He is so big. Video at eleven (or at least when he doen't need me to run along side him).

This week...

So, what happened this week? Pennie has a copy of her music video - it looks great! (Too big to host right now though.) I think I am going to get some bad news re: my grant - looks like the NIH won't get enough money this year to fund any of these AP4s. So back to the drawing board on that one.

The girls are, of course, princesses. This picture makes us smile: Lexie is pulling a funny face and Belle is running! Callum is still waiting to hear from Grahamwood.

Allergy season is on us in Memphis. The trees are full of pollen and the grass needs cutting. Ahhh - I love spring!

The list of jobs for Dad is getting longer too. Can he stay a month? We are looking forward to him coming. Oh yeah - and seeing him too!

Weekend at the Lake

Went to Pickwick to see Poppy and Dee/Gammy this weekend. The sun was out, but it was a wee bit nippy. I'm itching to get the Snipe out, but the water is too cold for that still (and I don't have a wet suit). We did get the WaveRunners going, and had a quick zip on them, but the wind was biting above about 30 mph. Poppy got his bass boat out too for the first time this year.

The photo here is Lexie and Poppy on the deck. It's from my camera phone, so quality is not great, sorry.

Pennie's Rap

OK! I re-ripped it from the disk at lower bitrate, and here it is! It lost some obvious quality at this rate, but its OK. This started as a project in Pennie's teen group. This teens wrote the words then George took it and made the rap, with the help of Sheba, who happens to work in Pennie's office as well as being an award-winning blues singer. This is going to be big. St Jude are going to run with this. (At least, that is my prediction).

You heard it here first!


[Just in case there are any legal types out there - copyright belongs to St Jude. ]

Updated other web site

I have posted a few recent images at my other website. This one is my favourite! I guess I need to put some more on Ofoto or Shutterfly too.

I was going to put the rap up, but it is too big (I only have 5 MB, and the track is about 4.7 MB). So, if anyone wants it, email me or Pennie, and we'll get it to you (but remember, it is 4.7 MB!). If anyone knows how I can shrink it without loosing too much quality, let me know and I'll try again.

Sorry for the delay!

I'm obviously as good at blogging as I am at telephoning and emailing. i.e. not very. So, sorry. I'll try to do better.

Anyway - a few updates from the last couple of weeks. The main thing for Callum was taking his test for the Optional Program at Grahamwood Elementary. He came out saying it was easy (of course)! Theo took it at the same time. I'm sure they will both get in! He and Isabelle have been on Spring Break this week, and so are getting a wee bit of cabin fever. Grandma has been asking for a better picture of Callum to be posted, so here you go! This was taken at the zoo a week or two ago.

Isabelle has had strep throat, but seems over it now. She hardly slowed down, even when she was burning up with fever. She moves so fast, she is a blur. She does have a few problems with gravity, but nothing she can't handle.

Lexie is doing great. She loves to climb, and is into everything. But she is so sweet and good natured. She had another double ear infection, but the doctors aren't talking tubes anymore. Hopefully, the cold season is over, and everyone can be well for a while.

Pennie has been working hard on her rap. Yes - you heard right - Pennie has been producing a rap with her sickle cell teen group. It really sounds good! Thats a picture of George. He wrote the rap based on what the other kids had said about their disease. They did it for Pennie's upcoming National Conference, which is being held here in Memphis, but don't be surprised to see it on MTV or Top of the Pops soon. The video is in production. Seriously. I'll try and upload some of the rap later.

As for me - I am still waiting to hear about my grant. We think that we are going to get funded, but the US Congress has not set the budget for the NIH yet (it was due last October). I think they have been in meetings this week, so hopefully once the budget is set, they will be able to let us know how much we will get (if any...).

OK - that will do for now. I'd better post this before anything else distracts me. More soon (he he).

Nothing

Nothing really happened this week.

Valentines day came and went. Hallmark got richer. We exchanged chocolate, and decided that the car should take the place of flowers. So I didn't get into trouble or nothing.

Had a parent-teacher conference with Cal's teachers. Nothing new there: he's a genius. He has been sick today though, which is nothing good.

Belle and Lexie are also both a touch under the weather still. We are all going to have a quiet weekend and just do nothing.

Other than that, nothing to report.

Teeth and snow

Here are Lexie's teeth. She really does have some. And a picture of snow in Memphis - Callum and Isabelle even made a snowman. 24 hours later and the snow has virtually all gone, and the snowman has fallen over.

And the newest family member is...

A 2001 Mercedes Benz E320! We decided our 13 year old Camry was getting on in the teeth a bit, so we opted for something a bit newer. It has 50K miles on the clock, so its not that new, but hopefuly it will last. This picture is not our one, but very similar.

Driving it back from the dealer was fun: we had the first snow Memphis has seen this year (and I'm not sure we had any last year).
Not that much snow, but no-one around here knows how to drive in the rain, let alone snow. Still, we made it back in one piece, so it was worth it.

Belle has just now gone to sleep, and Lexie is blowing raspberries on Pennie's tummy. Goodnight!

And Lexie too!!!

The smallest Heath, but by no means the least. Alexandra Anne certainly makes her presence known to all. Lexie starting walking just before her first birthday, and now just wanders the halls, walking and talking! She is a sight to see. Like Callum and Belle before her, she is a happy child, with a great big three-toothed grin. We come in from work, and she waddles up saying (her version of) "Hello" over and over, waving and kicking her feet when she gets picked up. SHe is the greetingest of babies! She also loves to pick up a phone (or remote control in a pinch) and say "hello" to it. She got my cell phone today, and started making calls. She was very upset when I tried to take it back!

The picture here was taken on her first birthday. One of Pennie's friends is making a version of it in oil for us. Pennie brought it home today, and it's looking very good, although needs some final details.



By the way - can you tell we love our kids so much? We have three very wonderful kids. They are all our hearts, and mean everything to us.

Today, we will introduce Isabelle.

Isabelle often goes by the name Cinderella. Because she is, as she will no doubt tell you, a princess. When she grows up, she wants to be a Princess Doctor. We are not sure if that means a princess who is a doctor, or a doctor who only sees princesses. Any way, we know she will be wonderful at it. She certainly loves medicine, and any cut scrape or bruise needs a band-aid. Previously, Isabelle has wished to be the snack person at a Circus, and a kitty cat. I think I’m going to go for the doctor one, if I have any say in the matter.

When she is not being a princess, Belle loves to mimic a giant sloth (hmmm - thought I had a picture of this, but can't find it now. I'll post it later if I find it again). She has a weekly ballet/tap/gymnastics class, but gymnastics is her favo(u)rite (especially if it means hanging upside down from a parallel bar). Her teacher said it helps to strengthen them up, so doesn’t discourage her.

Belle goes to school two days a week. She didn’t like it so much earlier this year as her teacher changed early on, but she and the new one have warmed up to each other, and now she loves it again.

Welcome!

This is going to be a family blog. Any Heath, Smith, Harris, Carroll or any other relative (and friends too) is more than welcome to comment, email us or whatever. Well, within reason ;)

This is going to be a journey of life through Memphis, TN, USA and where ever else we go. So hang on to your diapers/nappies, we're going in...

Richard

Hi Callum!

A family trip to the zoo. Callum loves the zoo. He is going to work there when he grows up, and we can go have lunch with him in the Cat Country Cafe if we are still alive then! We are trying to convince him that he needs a degree in zoology before he can become a zookeeper. One day, he will be head of the zoo. ;-)

The pictures are of our new Northwest Passage that is almost finished. We went a couple of weeks ago, and had great weather [Memphis has very mild winters. A light jacket or sweater is usually all that is needed.] The new polar bear exhibit was marvelous, and Cranbeary gave us a great performace!

Currently, Callum is in Kindergarten and loving it. He reads like a champ, can do some addition and subtraction, and makes animal dioramas. He has a rash right now on his abdomen which we are afraid is the result of a Streptococcus infection: some strains of strep secrete a toxin that people can be highly allerge to. It has been going around his school, with two confirmed cases so far. He also has a loose tooth - his first loose tooth ever! [Although he has had a couple pulled already due to fillings gone bad. Grrrrr.] He is very excited, and can't wait for it to fall out. I just hope it doesn't hurt - he doesn't like pain.