Hello, May!

We are engaged in the happy work of wrapping up another semester at Virginia Tech. I have turned in all my work my one monster paper (and presented it successfully!), and I believe Jon's finished his spring assignments too. Hoorah!

Here, the kids hold some of the toys Grandma sent them in their Easter package. Animals that light up and vibrate! They're thrilled, naturally.

And thank you, Grandma, for sending us one of each! Whenever possible, we try to get them things in twos. They just... don't always share as one might wish.

Check the matching Blacksburg Steppin' Out Festival t-shirts they "won" playing games at the International Street Fair! They were so pumped. Adele will grow into hers one day.

Among the booty in the Easter boxes were a pair of kids' learn-to-use chopsticks! There are little spaces for little fingers to learn the positions:

Finding out he's gonna have to share. 

 Miles managed to hold onto his temper as Adele took an extended turn with the chopstocks. She was successful, too! We've since bought a second pair.

Who knew Adele would be so adept?

This morning the kids were watching a documentary on China (a reward for getting ready quickly). Miles was so dreamy. When I joined them he said, "Mum, I want to swim in the Yangtze River. I want to go to China. But I don't speak Chinese." He looked glum.

So, obviously, I'm now looking for books and programs to help him learn some Mandarin. Let me know if you know of any good ones!

I'm helping out in the office and preparing for the GREs these days. I hope to send in my scores next week, along with my application to grad school. Wish me luck on May 10.

Heading downtown for a farewell lunch with "our" student, I ran into a Blacksburg favorite: Dr. Moon! He's a kind of hippie drifter street artist, and you just never know where he's going to pop up.

 He was playing Cat Stevens and just generally making everyone around him smile.

This was our last day with our student, who graduates this semester! She'll be heading off to her first job in GHANA this summer, and we thought it was so cool the tile above her head in the restaurant just happened to be colors of the Ghanaian flag.

Sunny endings make for sunny new beginnings. There is just so much, this summer and beyond, to look forward to.