In the last couple of weeks, we have been busy looking at new houses. Yes, we are finally thinking about giving in and selling our home in Louisiana and living permanently where Mark's job takes us. It's hard not knowing how long a job will last, but he has been in South Carolina for 4 1/2 years now and we are sick of the traveling ( especially "weekend mark"). We have looked at over 30 houses and looked inside 15 of them. The houses are pricier than back home and needless to say they are not home. It's hard to think about leaving our family and Friends, but maybe we will return one day. Who knows where this might take us. We haven't done anything yet, because home is home and we have put a lot of work into it and enjoy it when we are there. we have been home maybe 2 or 3 months this entire year, at most. the only time we go back home is to take care of mail and take ethan to the doctor for his monthly shots.
NEW NEW NEW ! As you probably already know, the staff members at the demarche press have been working overtime to bring you the finest in internet entertainment. Our latest creation is The Pumpkin Patch - a comic style presentation of some of our funniest moments and some original stories from our contributing writers Colbysaurus Rex and Beetlejuice (aka Colby and Noah). The first installment showcases a storyline written by Colby (although we suspect he plagiarized it from a Bazooka bubble gum wrapper) and animation by Mark. This issue's Pumpkin Patch is called Finger in Soup. We hope you enjoy it!!!
Speedbump Updates
Little speedy is growing fast. Can you believe he is now almost seven months old? Last time we reported that his first two teeth came in. We finally got the inside scoop on his teeth here. He had his first taste of rice cereal (mixed with mom's best), sitting in a big highchair that looks way too big for him. Daddy had the honors of feeding him his first solid food, but Ethan still prefers to eat at mom's. As we go to press, Speedy is eating carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and of course peas (Visualize whirled peas! - Go ahead, say it 3 times fast!)
Ethan went to his first IMax movie at the Charlotte Discovery Place Museum, "Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag" on August 26th . He seemed to enjoy it at first - watching the planes fly overhead and following them as they sped off the screen. But then, just as he was about to fall asleep (hey, it's hard work being cute all day), a plane roared by with a huge, earth shaking boom, and he was startled awake and began screaming. Mom volunteered to take him out to the lobby. Since it was a school day and not many people were there, the usher left the door open for her so she got to see the rest of the movie!
Something else that Ethan is doing that we find amusing is squealing at his pictures. Dad will take a picture and then show it to him and he will squeal at the top of his lungs.
Every time we show him a new picture he squeals like crazy!
Believe it or not he is now saying momma, dada, baba, and mmm (that's when he is hungry). He also went for his first hiking trip to Little Bradley Waterfall on September 10th. See story this page for details!!!
Shout Outs
Colby would like to say "I really miss Walker, it's no fun without you dude!"
Noah says he doesn't miss anyone! (he's been a little grumpy lately) :( Actually he says he misses Cole.
Stuff
PLEASE check out the what's new page. Some page changes are minor (such as the addition of one or two pictures) and could be easily overlooked.
Also, we have been adding more and more email addresses to our ever growing list. So if you're new to the site, please see the archive section for complete past editions!!!
Foto reduction
To reduce storage space and page sizes, we will be removing some of the pictures we have on various web pages. So if you'd like to download copies of your favorite images, do so now before they're gone!!!
Phone number nightmare CONTINUES
Not only did our phone number in SC used to belong to a Cottman's Transmission that went out of business, apparently it's very close to the number of a local bank. So now, in addition to repairing transmissions and teaching the boys during the day, Tina is also offering financial planning advice! She got a call the other day from a drunk guy. It took 3 explanations before he got it into his head that we were not Cottman's but he asked Tina if she would come and tow his truck anyway!!! However, relief may be in sight. We just got our new phone book and Cottman's is NOT LISTED!!!
Hiking Trip to Little Bradley Falls - Saturday, 9 .10 .05
 Speedbump has finally joined in his dada's favorite hobbies -- hiking and photography. We recently took him on a hiking trip to Little Bradley Falls. The hike back to the falls took about an hour and mom packed our little monster baby all the way in his snuggly (like a backpack but you wear it in front and use it to lug babies around, another great loan from auntie sarah). Even though he took the easy route and didn't have to walk, he was decked out in his finest hiking gear, including little hiking boots that were loaned to him by Jacob W. The waterfall must have had a calming effect on him because shortly after we got there he fell fast asleep in mom's arms. Colby and Noah really had a great time also. All we heard all the way there was "We're gonna go swimmin', we're gonna go swimmin', we're gonna go swimmin!". They love to swim in the pool of water in front of waterfalls. Of course when we got there, they started singing a different tune. The first thing Colby saw when he walked up was a snake sunbathing on a rock in front of the pool. Papa would have been disappointed because neither one of them would go near the water! However, they redeemed themselves after we climbed up to the middle level of the falls. There was a small pool up there and they jumped right in. Colby said that he was pretty sure that snakes couldn't climb up the falls. What he didn't realize was that snakes could have taken the same path that we took! Oh well! They had a great time splashing around but both admitted the water was COLD COLD COLD!!! We have picked out a few choice pictures for your viewing pleasure and posted them here. Dad has taken 1000s of waterfall pictures in the SC area and ONE day when he gets a few spare minutes he's going to finally complete his fotosaurus.com web site. Look for a press release soon!!!
Quetz's Great Adventure 
On Friday, August 26th, Quetz decided that he would go for a little run on his own. One of the little people who lives in the house with us left the door open because he was worried about getting his ball out of the neighbor's yard. That's when Quetz saw his opportunity to run and took it. He ran across a major four lane highway (without looking both ways like he's been told) not once, but twice. By using two of his lives that day and still living to tell his story, Quetz proves once again that he is more like a cat than a dog. Dad and Colby chased him down in the car but he refused to get in. The old and out of shape dog was dragging his tongue on the pavement when they herded him by car back into the neighborhood where we are staying. A nice lady decided she would help us capture the escaped beast. She pulled ahead of our car and stopped at the next street of our subdivision. She opened her van door and Quetz crawled right in with her. Of course, dad went down and thanked her about a million times for saving our million dollar dog, but Quetz did not want to get out of her van!!! She couldn't keep him because she has six dogs already. So needless to say, Quetz is in solitary confinement for weeks to come.
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