"Ms. Snowball" Fan Club

Alright Kiddos, I will probably not be as good about doing this regularly as your mom is, but here goes (This is your dad in case that isn't clear). Sam, you are about to start "pre-school school" next week, and today your new teacher called and left you a voicemail on your phone. We are pretty sure her name is Ms. Stovall, but you have already christened her "Ms. Snowball," and you are very excited. Somehow you taught yourself how to rewind and reply the message, and I think you have listened to it about 100 times so far. Every time, you holler at us across the house that you are listening to Ms. Snowball. I hope you always stay this excited about school (although I don't really recommend staying in school for as long as Daddy has). You are a cool kid.

Ruthie, you aren't quite as animated as Sam yet, but I'll share a school-related story about you too (You are going to find that school is a running theme in this family so get used to it). You are only 8 weeks old, but you have probably spent more than half of your nights so far reading with me after Mom and Sam go to sleep. This is my year of graduate school to take a test on a bunch of books, and you and I have cranked through about 40 of them together in the past two months. You are mostly sleeping through the nights now, and so I am back on my own again, but if you ever find that you know random facts about Central America and the Cold War this will explain it. And as a parenting tip to you when you have your own kids: If they can't fall to sleep, just read a few pages of sociology books to them (not history books obviously, those are too exciting).

I love you both,

Daddy