Annalie & Bug improvising songs from bethany actually on Vimeo.

I love how they work out between themselves that they’re going to take turns, without any input from me. Brenda and I have been marveling lately at how GREAT these two have been getting along and playing together. Now that I’ve written that down I expect that they’ll do nothing but fight next time they’re together.

Not a lot has been going on around here lately. Sure, we met friends for lunch and discovered a new park when some other friends invited us to join their playgroup for a birthday party, but mostly we’ve been having a lot of stay-at-home kind of days. That leads to something of a conundrum for me. Being boring does not make for good blog posts.

But the main reason I blog is so friends and family who are far away can stay caught up on our lives, and right now one very important person is far away from us: Troy.

I thank God every day that I am married to a sailor at a time when things like email and cell phones and the internet exist. I have a soft spot in my heart for snail mail, and when Troy is gone on long deployments I do send him tons of postcards and letters and care packages. But the immediacy and instant gratification of email is such a blessing when I don’t know exactly where Troy is or how long a letter will take to get to him.

Troy will only be gone a few more days, and then he’ll be home again. It’s not like a few days without talking to each other will kill us, or that he’s going to forget what his child looks like if he doesn’t see photos of her for a week. And as I said, it’s not like we’re doing anything all that exciting around here.

But I want to be in the habit of documenting small moments. When Troy’s ship deploys this summer, they’ll be gone much longer than a few weeks. When people are gone that long from home, working in a place so far removed from their normal way of life, I think the “boring” moments are the ones they want to hear about the most. Like, say, that Annalie asked to water the plants all by herself and then proceeded to do: finding the watering can, turning on the water, filling the can with the hose, carrying it up the stairs and watering all the pots.

Or about how Annalie, who usually has to be bribed to wear so much as a clip in her hair, requested ponytails the other day and then told me while admiring herself in the mirror, “You know, I used to not like ponytails. But now I think I’ll wear them every day. They’re so FASHIONABLE!” (She has only permitted ponytails once since that announcement, though.)

Or maybe it would be nice to tell the story behind this photo Annalie took of me. By herself. With the heavy, expensive D40. I could tell about how she bossed me around, telling me, “Mom, I want to take a picture of you by the lemon tree. Go stand over there!” And how when I placed the camera strap over her head and tried to remind her how to take a photo, she impatiently waved me away saying, ” know, I know! Turn this thingy to zoom, and push the silver button!”

Or I could simply let the world know how our child-labor program is coming along (nicely).

Or maybe just a photo of Annalie pretending a stick is a flute is enough.

I sometimes feel like I must be overloading you guys with information and photos. It’s like I’m the annoying person at the party, blabbing on and on about how great my kid is and showing you zillions of photos that—oh! I just happen to have in a mini-album in my purse! I worry that even the real-life friends and relatives who read this site will get sick of it.

Here, once again, I must proclaim the beauty of the internet. Those of you who are getting sick of it can just click away when you don’t feel like reading without fear of hurting my feelings. (Honestly, even if I knew you were clicking away I doubt my feelings would be hurt. Why would I want you to read something you don’t want to read!?) And those of you who can’t get enough (Hi Mom! Hi Carol!) can keep reading. And if you do, you’ll be rewarded sometimes with photos like this one.

Troy emailed me this photo yesterday of him and some of the other Supply leadership on board his ship. Pictured left to right are the Readiness Officer, Troy (he’s the Assistant Supply Officer), the head of the Supply Department, and the Services Officer.

Even though we miss Troy and would much rather have him at home, it helps immensely to know he actually likes his job and the people he works with.