Visiting with an old friend

This weekend, we met with an old friend. We visited with Christy Lawson at my Mom and Dad's after their devotion program on Saturday. Although, this was a short visit, but we really enjoyed spending time with her. Christy teaches in China and this was our first visit with her in two years. I am not sure if Matthew really remembered her, but he was excited also.
I was on-call this weekend and so stayed up late on Sunday performing my duties. Linnet was nice and let me sleep in for few more hours to catch up with my sleep.
Matthew spent the night at my Mom and Dad's. They visited with their friends in Aurora and had lots of fun with Matthew. He did not want to leave their house this morning and kept saying that he wanted to live in their condo for a year. They came over, and we all left for Koorosh and Elham, for their sons' birthday party. Mina was moving to her stuff into her new dormitory, so she did not go with us. Everyone had a blast. I specially enjoyed the great food and fantastic hospitality of our hostesses.

Augst in one picture

August was a busy month for us, Nathan and Maya visited their doctor and received shots. Matthew started his new pre-school in Naperville. Nathan started walking and had his first experience walking in the backyard. This was an special event, since he had to wear shoes to walk in the backyard. Recently, Maya has been sleeping longer than 2 hours at night, that is a big relief for Linnet. Nathan also learned some signs to tell us where he wants to go and whether if he wants more of something. I still think it's adorable when little kids start using sign language.
We visited downtown Geneva and enjoyed our first visit of Sonic (fast food restaurant). I think overall, we were satisfied customers. We had our first picnic with our three children and had a very nice long walk in the park by the river. The picture in the middle of the image above, is taken at this park, where Matthew and Nathan were excited to see so many cargo trains pass by, above the river some few miles to the south. It seems that I had their attention, but really, they were watching the trains pass by. On our return home, we visited the same Sonic restaurant and got some cold beverages. Matthew told us that he really enjoyed his orange slushy shake.
The picture that I am semi visible in, is a courtesy of my boy Matthew. I noticed without any official training, he has a neck for taking pretty darn good pictures. This picture however, is a bit fuzzy due to his little finger slipping over the lens of our camera.

July Summarized

July was a very exciting month for my family and I. This picture probably can summarize most of the events that happened in this month. Nathan's first birthday and Maya's birth, our family has grown and now I enjoy spending time with them more than ever. We were able to visit a few places with Maya and boys are happy about having their new baby sister in the house. Although, she eats and sleeps most of the time; she visited the Brookfield Zoo, Cantigny, Morton Arboretum and her first restaurant Omega. I remember Omega in Downers Grove being the first restaurant Nathan went to as well.

We are grateful for the big hand our family gave us with the kids and are looking forward to spend more time with everyone in the near future. Family in Australia and Iran, as well as the family in the US.