I have been sharing a lot about what’s been on my mind, so I want to share more about the rest of the family!

Lewis just turned 10 this week! When I mention milestones, Stewart reminds me that it’s kilometer stones here in Australia. I think Lewis is pretty excited to be entering the double digits. He wanted to invite a couple friends to play tiggy (Australian for tag) in the park for his party. He made the invitations himself and drew mazes and puzzles on them. His best friend here, Sonny, came and they had a blast all morning. Sonny is in the grade above Lewis, but they have bonded over handball at recess. Sonny gave Lewis 5 handballs as a birthday gift and totally made his day, as you can see below.

Lewis’ other passion, besides handball, is chess, at the moment. He and Stewart have been making their own boards and pieces out of paper and playing nonstop. The danger in paper pieces is that if you breathe on the game, it’s over. So Chris got him a magnetic travel chess set for his birthday and he’s had it with him ever since.

Yesterday we took the chess set on the train to see the ocean for the first time. First time for the kids, that is, but I don’t think Chris and I have been to the ocean since our honeymoon 15 years ago either! It was such a perfect day. I felt like a kid again, enjoying their wonder, and the waves. I have a picture here that captures a bit of Stewart’s excitement.

Chris and Twill were more into the sand than the water, the perfect pair. And their enthusiasm attracted a crowd.

When we asked Twill if the waves were scary he said, “No, they were wet.” He sounds confident that he will like it when he gets bigger.

Twill is often obsessed with the idea of getting bigger. Today at lunch he told me that he wants to be a teacher when he gets bigger, so that he can stay at school all the time. He was talking a lot today about his desires to be out in the world on his own. He likes people and talking to them, but not when I am around, as he says. Hopefully we can get him in some sort of preschool a few days a week in New Zealand. I told him not to wish away these last four months that he is not in school, because if he becomes a teacher he will be in school for most of his life. He was by far the easiest to potty train, because we told him it was a prerequisite for school. He’s given up diapers for good and already wants to sleep in underpants all night.

Wesley is thriving on all this adventure to be sure. Here’s my little mountain goat in heaven at the beach yesterday.

This week the kids have been on holiday from school and it has been fun to have them home again. One quiet day Wesley lost his marble (that he found at church) under the fridge. Before I knew it he had taped together 6 pencils into a contraption to fish it out. Another day he found a kangaroo drawing I had done and spent a full hour of concentration drawing his own kangaroo from mine. He is Mr. Can Do. I told him that when he grows up he’s going to be that guy that everyone wants around, and we’re glad he’s in our family!

Wesley is loving school and wasn’t exactly excited to get a holiday already. After 4 weeks, he was just settling in. A lot of days he reminds us that he needs to do his daily reading practice. According to his teacher everyone adores him since he’s new, and he’s got a few budding friendships.

I find it both sad and comical how concerned I was about the kids starting in the middle of the school year. We had parent teacher interviews recently and it sounds like all the boys have “slipped in as though they’ve been here all along.” All of their teachers said something to that effect.

Stewart is the one who was most concerned about starting school, but he is thriving, whether he will admit it or not. He does a lot of comparing and missing home and his kitties. But he is also thankful to be here. His sense of humor has been a real treat. His jokes have improved 100%. That might sound harsh, but it’s a growth mindset. He has been trying to make jokes for years and his determination and perseverance have paid off.

Speaking of perseverance, at Lewis’ birthday party Stewart was proud that he had conquered the monkey bars. He wanted me to get a video. It only took about 31 tries, but he did it on the 32nd! He is quite the chess master too and can beat me rather quickly.

Stewart asks me to take a picture of him and his personified food pretty often. Here’s a little Tim Tam character.

Monday we took the free boat ferry down the river for the morning. It was another first. They’ve only ever been in a canoe before. I had no idea how long it would be, because just as we got down to the river it was arriving. So we hopped on and didn’t get back for a couple hours. They all did very well with it, but we slowed down and had some good home time before Lewis’ birthday excitement.

Today a friend from church took Chris and the older three boys for a hike in the mountains with caves and waterfalls and a view all the way out to the ocean where we were yesterday. Twill and I stayed home and went to the farmers market. Then tonight we walked downtown after dinner to see the huge fireworks show on the river.

It was the tipping point, not surprisingly. As we were walking home tonight Lewis said that was too much birthday fun! Ironically, that’s exactly what he said two years ago, when we just had a couple friends over to our house. Chris suggested laser tag with his friends here in Brisbane, but Lewis said he just wanted to play tiggy in the park. He loved the ocean, but he is really so easily pleased and prefers simply making his own fun out of nothing. I absolutely love this about him.

All of them are very happy just to have each other. When Lewis was making his birthday invitations Stewart made one for Wesley, to invite him to a kitty party at Lewis’ birthday party. That day I told them I wanted to make a post about why everyone should have four kids. It’s such a treat to see them love each other.

So that’s a bit about how the kids are doing.

Chris has been working as hard as ever, but the game he’s been working on since April ships this coming week. He has picked up another one that should be completed in November, but it’s not as intense. He’s also giving some talks on campus here in Brisbane about the things he’s been making. Just in the last few weeks he’s created a new language for making musical notation called Deltaphone. If you take the “/cedar” off this blog you can see his website. It’s pretty incredible how capable and creative he is.

I am enjoying the sunshine so much, as you can see by my tan lines.