It should be noted, that Nico is no less thrilled to play with Sophia or Rose although the bulk of his time is spent with Rory and Mario. 

 
Maya seeks every opportunity to cradle Rose or to play with Sophia. She is positively enthralled with her two new girl cousins.

 
Marie has to attend church this morning so the pleasure of feeding baby Rose is mine. Armed with a bottle of freshly squeezed breast milk, I enjoyed watching her snarf down all but the last few drops before the shear effort of doing so rendered her unconscious.

 
Mark about to subject his daughter to that barbarous thing he calls a face.

 
Marie with Rosie in tow manages her job, the household, and her five children (I include Mark in this count) without skipping a beat.

 
Cousin Mario has grown into a very handsome young man. He is only one day older than Nicolai, but his height suggests a much greater difference.

 
Three shifts of flapjack flippers were required to produce the 25 pancakes needed to feed the troops.

 
Rosie is wide awake and looking for food. You are well advised to keep all valued digits far from this child when she is ready to eat.

 
Here she tests her big blue eyes on Uncle Carl. I have no immunity to her spells.

 
My brother, Mark, helps daughter Sophia clean up to begin the day. Even though she has a cold, Sophia is the sweetest little girl you can imagine.

 
Nico was thrilled to meet his newest cousin as was Maya. A crow bar was required to pry Maya from Rosie.

 
I met my niece, Rose, for the first time today. Nico, Maya and I are visiting my brother and his family in Minnesota. Jeanine had to stay back to care for Kyle who was in no condition to travel.

I hit my target weight today after losing 16 pounds since mid January. I think I will try for another four pounds to make it an even twenty. This should help my soccer speed significantly. This will be my last post for about ten days while we are in Minnesota visiting my brother and dogsledding 

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Kyle was diagnosed with mononucleosis on Monday and he is really suffering quite badly. His throat and glands are so swollen that he can not swallow nor can he sleep at night. It is so difficult for him to speak that we can hardly understand his speach. We are scheduled to leave for vacation on Friday, but he is in no shape to travel. Jeanine will stay behind to care for him and should his condition improve they may try to join up with us on Sunday.