My mother and father have come up for the weekend and will be joining us at Ferry Beach. Nana helps Maya with spelling as she composes a rap about a fat cat.

More goodies that I was not allowed to eat. It should be noted that I am frequently denied food in my own home because it is being saved for someone else. And then, should I be so fortunate as to stumble upon a hidden stash of cookies, for example, it comes as a great shock to the entire family that I feel compelled to eat a great quantity in anticipation of the long period of future deprivation that is sure to follow.

Preparation for a neighborhood coffee. Jeanine hosted an event for the Concord-Carlisle Parenting Initiative to encourage visitors to join. She is a member of the Board of this group which seeks to promote health and well-being and the prevention of risk-taking behaviors among the youth of our community. Nicolai offered interesting ideas on how to extricate this cake from the Pyrex.

Kyle is hard to get a picture of these days. I had to sneak up on him to get this one. Kyle is rapidly approaching his mother in height and his father in strength but because he lacks any wrestling training, we are still able to keep him in line. He continues to enjoy soccer and tennis and is especially devoted to improving his guitar playing skills. There is talk of his first on stage performance with the band at Ferry Beach.

Maya enjoying a little ice cream after dinner. The weather today was cold and rainy with more in store.

This morning we were treated to a wild turkey wandering through the backyard.

Last week we captured everyone’s fingerprints. This week we tried to lift them off common surfaces. Maya is using sandpaper to make a fine graphite powder from a pencil. Kyle is dusting the salt shaker for prints.

Jeanine taking auto safety very seriously.

Family night featured a bike ride around the neighborhood (Nico used his scooter), a friendship circle, a failed attempt at lifting fingerprints, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Kyle won his soccer game, and Carl tied his. The basement is nearing completion, with the painting completed this weekend.

Maya preparing party favors for her upcoming birthday party. She took great pleasure in carefully filling each bag with the same set of goodies and then using a twist tie to secure each bundle. I was offered two small chocolate treats for my photographic services.

Maya scored one goal today as her team, the Panthers, cruised to victory over the Snow Leopards. Kyle scored one goal in his teams 3-2 victory and Nicolai’s team won a loop sided 7-0 match.

Maya’s piano playing skills are increasing dramatically as she learns using the Suzuki method combined with large doses of practice. Looking over my shoulder as I type these words, she informs me that the piano has “very many keys”.

The children insist they have not been using the side of the house as a surrogate soccer goal despite rather compelling evidence to the contrary.

This morning I am the subject, courtesy of this photo taken by Maya. No surprise, I have a camera in hand. Last night I returned to duty on the soccer field (makeup game against Wellesley). The hamstring felt good and I was able to run at full tilt. A disappointing result with a 1-1 tie but not too bad considering we remain undefeated after six games.

Kyle peering out of his bedroom wondering why his father is aiming a camera at him first thing in the morning. Kyle is looking more like a man every day.

Wednesday means soccer practice for Maya and her friend Sarinnagh. Never has so much toughness been packed into two little girls. Maya insisted on demonstrating a proper shoulder charge for the rest of her team. Carl is enjoying coaching the team and likes it when Maya calls him “coach”.

Jeanine has taken the digital leap. She has abandoned her 48 pound paper Day Runner in favor of computer based PIM (personal information manager). Now she is after me to pick up a PDA (personal digital assistant) so she can download and go. With one glance, she now informs me that she is not getting enough exercise (the bars on her weekly calendar view for exercise time are not big enough).

Kyle and Nicolai were bored this afternoon and decided to bake cookies. I must say they have become very skilled at this and the results are second to none. It was with great restraint that I limited my sample size to one and a half.

Jeanine in fine form. This photo is a few weeks old but I thought it might cheer her up while she recuperates from her tendentious.

Last night was family night and Carl did elected fingerprinting as the activity. We captured all five fingers of each family member’s right hand and compared them to each other. It was totally fascinating. Each child has one or two fingers that closely match Carl, one or two that match Jeanine, and one or two that are totally unique.

This group of deer have established their sleeping quarters in our backyard field causing a fair amount of family controversy. Nicolai would like to refine his archery skills by using them for targets. Jeanine supports this notion because they are eating the heads off all of her flowers. Maya simply wants to play with them. Normally they lay down in the tall grass with just their heads showing. Here they are standing to better observe Maya as she approaches.

My injured hamstring prevented me from playing today. On the way home from the game, I stopped at the Wellesley Fish Way, where the most interesting photo opportunity was of these blooms.

Kyle played 90 minutes in his soccer match today. He dominated the midfield, serving up dozens of passes to the front line. Even in defeat, he was courageous to the end and never gave up.

Nicolai was invited to accompany Greg to a friend’s bar mitzvah. Both boys resisted this effort to photograph them dressed in something other than a soccer uniform.

Susan and Rose have come down for the weekend. They are being treated/tortured with a soccer trifecta. Maya scored two goals and was delighted to have her aunts, parents and brothers present.

Nicolai has recently announced that he wishes to take archery lessons and he is practicing in the back yard. Maya willingly retreives the arrows for him.

A little snack before dinner.

Looking back now it is hard to imagine that this initial post would lead to a lifetime daily ritual that has produced a rich family history and kept us connected with loved ones, near and far.