I guess we'll give this blogging thing a try. I know I'm late to the game, but better late than never? I don't really have much to say, but maybe I can post pictures here and the family will stop bugging me to send them...

About us: we're a family of five living in central Virginia. Daddy grew up in Pittsburgh, Mom grew up in Seattle, we met in D.C. and settled in Virginia. Hmm... Do we use names? Nicknames? For now, we'll just say S is 10 and in 5th grade, W is (almost) 7 and in 1st grade, and M is (almost) 4 and in preschool.

We're a (relatively) unplugged family. We don't have cable or satellite, not even an antennae. We do have a DVD player (and *gasp* a VCR), so the kids watch movies. I've got a cell phone, but it's a prepaid deal with a 5-year-old phone. It still works, so why waste the money on a new one if I don't have to? Daddy completely refuses to carry a cell phone. Not sure when the kids might get a phone, but I like what my sister did for a while. They had a family prepaid phone, and the kids could take it with them when they were going out sans parents. Texting and going over minute limits weren't a problem since it could very well be a sibling carrying the phone that day. That's probably plenty for my two boys and they won't even need that for a while. Gives us plenty of time to decided how to deal with M when she gets to that point!

The boys are both in Cub Scouts: S is a Webelos, and W is a Tiger. W takes Suzuki violin, although he's got a bit of a hiatus right now due to his teacher having her first child and taking a few months off. Daddy plays cello. He's got an electric one, which means he's also got amps and some other fun toys like a looping pedal. He'd like to start a quartet that plays rock arrangements, but is having trouble finding locals who are interested. M says she wants to start lessons, but I think that's mostly because she's jealous of the one-on-one time W has with Daddy during "violin games".

Not very exciting, I know. Eventually, I'll get better at this.