Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!

Greeting Everyone!

Well, we are just about to leave for L.A. for five days and we are very excited. This will be the first time Rich's grandparents get to see "little" Willliam. He's not the least bit small. The 90th percentile for weight in his age group. He's already topping 18 lbs. To give some perspective, our friends son (who does not seem small at all) is almost a year old and is 19 lbs! He's moving and trying to crawl. He's doing a fantastic job of sitting up on his own. He seems to be just a bit melower (is that a word?) than Althea. Althea is great, just jabbing up a storm. I've had to explain to her on many occasion (and some of you out there will laugh!) that I just don't know everything, and that we have to look up answers some times. Unfortunately, I'm not the book of answers as toddlers expect you to be. But it's all fun! Will is such an eater, he's working on trying to feed himself!

We are looking forward to the break. We moved about six miles down the road and I think it was the hardest move yet!! But, we are getting things put together finally. The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic, but who's weeks are not!!

We hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Althea really wants to play soccer! She found Rich's old shin guards and bounced around the house for a while!! She really wants a pair of " the really long socks, you know up to here!" pointing to her thighs! Oh, and you have to have a team shirt too, maybe one with the number "5" on it!

School starts tomorrow! Oh joy!!! William is enormous! The 75th percentile for his age in weight! He's trying his hardest to talk, probably be just like his big sister, chatty Cathy!!! Resembles their grandfather!!! Cox, that is!!! He might disagree, but we all know the truth, it runs generations deep!

I thought everyone would enjoy this photo of Althea!! It's a little blury, but she's "trying to pump some milk for William", apparently I needed some help!

Anyways, it's starting to cool down a bit here and there. Cool weather is always welcome! Oh I have to tell everyone that if you have the chance, visit the northern Cascades. They are amazing! Hope all is well with everyone.

If you happen to have a chance, check out a video called Iraq For Sale, or the website, http://www.iraqforsale.com/. I thought this was pretty interesting. If you agree, please write to your senators and representatives to stop these corporations from taking advantage of our government and misusing our tax money. They need to be held accountable and it appears that it's going to have to take a nation of people to stand up and stop these abuses, since certain people in higher places won't stand up for what is right.

Regards, Miranda

Summer's almost over....

Greetings all! Well we had a great time in Portland last week. The traveling and everything went very smoothly. I'm so excited, both Althea and Will did so well. We are counting down the last days until school starts again. Oh, good times. We are all doing really well. William is getting so big, and Althea seems like she's turning 30 some days!!! I guess this is payback for my smarty pants attitude when I was younger! Ha! There's not much to add this week. We are going to be out a few days next week. We're heading over the northern Cascades to Seattle for two or three days. I'm excited to see that part of Washington, should be nice. Hope all is well with everyone out there. Take care.

Hello. Rich here. Here are some more pictures of my 35 pound turkey and her funky artwork. The one that is hard to see is actually a sailboat, and I'm proud/sad to report that her artistic abilities have officially outpaced those of her paternal predecessor. Also, there are some nature pictures from some locations here in ID to create some soulful ambience as you ponder the mysteries of human consciousness, or enjoy some starchy comfort food, or whatever it is you like to do as you comsume pictures of my family like so much cheesecake. Now you know why Miranda does all of the writing. Hope all is well with all our friends and family who read this. Summer's almost over up here, so if you haven't yet, get your flab up here and enjoy one of America's truly great towns and some marginally alright folks as well. Love, Rich.

Another male Kallage to harass the next generation!

Greetings from northern Idaho! Well, I am posting at last for all you who have been so patient with me. We finally have the long awaited little guy at home and we are all doing very well. As for the details...

William Elliott Kallage was born at 7:19 p.m. on June 23rd, 2007. He was 21 inches long, 7 lbs

3 oz. What a beaut! I was in labor for about two days, because of being induced. It was a great time hanging out waiting for this little guy to come on out, but after some long talks, he agreed and here he is!

Althea loves, LOVES her little brother, and has nothing but hugs and kisses for him!

Anyways, here are some shots, and I will post more very soon.

Hope everyone out there is well. We love you.

Warm weather is coming our way!!!

Well, the Kallage family has made it almost to Spring, yeah! It's a little rainy, but the snow has nearly all melted, except in the mountains. The trees are looking pretty bright again. And the lake is almost accessable. I can't wait for the warmer weather and long days to come. Althea is certainly ready to go for a swim, as she was trying to take her clothes of and go for a dip while we were on a walk down by the lake! It's still just a wee bit chilly.

All is well in the Kallage clan. I'm ready for us to be officially four. This little one inside me is just flipping and rolling around! Active is good.....right?! I'm getting pretty big now, although I have to say my weight this pregnancy is going pretty good. I have only gained about 15 lbs. since October, although eight of those were just last month. But you know, I was only gaining about a pound or two a month (since they told me to keep it low!) and then finally the doctor said that I should probably gain just a bit more a month than I was. At this point, that doesn't seem to be a problem since it seems like that's about all I do. I mean I work all day, but somehow food is always right there with me! Aaahhh pregnancy! Althea is very excited also about the arrival. She let me know that the baby's carseat has to go right beside hers so that the baby can sit beside her. She also likes to let everyone know that the picture of the baby from the ultrasound on our fridge is the baby (boy, she says) in Momma's belly. She's going to teach the baby how to splash in the lake this summer too! Oh, boy! I have to say this pregnancy is going pretty smoothly, I'm doing pretty good.

Everybody is doing pretty well. Rich is tying up another quarter with his students and working on some music pieces with the band, which rumor has is sounding pretty good. They're working on some jazz pieces.

Other than that, we're just getting ready for another member to the clan, and trying to relax as much as possible.

I've attached some of Althea's great bathtub moments! Enjoy!