This morning Will's school, Naumann Elem., had their annual Transportation Parade, where all the kindergartens (read: parents!) make vehicles of one type or another to 'wear' for the parade. In addition, many city and personal vehicles are on display as well, including: Hook and Ladder Fire Truck, Police SWAT armored vehicle, ambulance, monster truck, etc. Will and Cooper had a blast! Hopefully you'll feel like you were there with us!

Note: 2003 albums have now expanded to 2 pages, so click on Page 2 to find these newest pix@

We all had a blast at the opening weekend of TRF! We left EARLY Sat morning to arrive in Plantersville (outside Houston, about 3 hours away) and set up camp and get changed into costumes by opening at 10am. The boys had so much fun watching sword fighting, trying their own jousting, and watching juggling and falconry! We camped that night and all decided we need to camp again soon as well as go to the Faires more often. Both boys got their own wooden swords! (which you can barely see in the last photos of Will with the strange hairy guy.) My only disappointment was that Rand didn't dress up...I think he needs to find a cooler (as in temperature, not hipness!) outfit than his velour tights/black shirt and he might be more comfortable. It's still pretty hot in Texas in Octboer!

Disclaimer: Many of you might be happy looking at only 1 in 4 photos but for the grandparents' sake, we're posting nearly all! :-)

Ok, here's about 7 weeks of photos added. (Sorry for being behind...what's my excuse? hmmm, I'm sure I could come up with quite a few... ;-) )

5 August 03 National Night Out - Oakmont Forest Neighborhood event- part of a national program to strengthen ties between community and police/fire dept. Check out the EMS helicopter landing right at our park!!

17 August 03 - Will Starts Kindergarten! Check out Will's first couple days of school. He LOVES riding the bus. He says he got the BEST teacher, Mrs. Mound, and his classroom mascot is Cows!! :-)

August Days-- new photos here of the boys with waterballoons

14 September 03 - Jen's First Haircutting Attempt! Check out my first attempts at cutting Will and Cooper's hair! Not too bad for a first try but it was pretty stressful. Rand was ready for me to do his too but I said "No Way! I need more practice first!" (Oh, and note: the 2 photos of Will with the nasty-looking leg are bites from kneeling unbeknownst in a fire ant mound!)

September Days - 29 September 03 - Check out the 'Tarantula' that we found on our back porch yesterday. Jen became an instant Tarantula expert, researching online to identify the species. I'm still not sure--might be a Wolf spider, but emailed the last photo to a website that will post/identify your picture. Keep you posted! :-)

That's if for now! Love to all! Jen

We've finally caught up on all the photos since May! Lot's has been happening--

-Janie & Dave's Wedding,
-Painting the boys' room, in addition to modifying their new bunkbeds (so go back there and check the last few photos out!),
-Skylight installed in the foyer and doing all the painting in the foyer ourselves (although it should be pointed out that it was heavily weighted toward the 'all by HIMself'. All the fine-line 2-tone color edging is thanks to Rand!!)
-Will's new glasses (very slight astigmatism in both eyes-might even grow out of it.)
-Start of 'August Days' with Cooper painting on the back porch.

We returned this evening from an awesome trip to Florida, celebrating Dad's 70th Birthday. There are traveling photos, boating, Party pix (including Dad and his barbershop quartet, The Fore [or Four] Fathers), fishing. Note: It is NOT the last in the page of albums because it sorts alphabetically so look back 4 or 5. Enjoy!

We're about to jet set off to Florida for Dad's big 70th birthday bash but I wanted to post our Mother's Day photos as well as Will's Graduation photos from today!!!

There are also a few new, better shots of the Bunk Beds under the Bunk Bed Bonanza!

Love to all! --Jen

Here's what we've got so far w/ the boys' new loft-style bunk beds. We borrowed a friend's truck to go pick up some of the bigger pieces at the warehouse! I know there's not a great distance shot of the entire thing but give me a break...I did ALL of this BY MYSELF WITHOUT HELP FROM MY HUSBAND!!!! ;-) Better overall shot will come soon, I promise! :-)

A few new pix in both April Days and in the new May Days. Photos include:
-Will reading to Cooper
-The Sand Castle!
-Will's '4 Stage Lego Rocket'. (Ask him about it!)
-Rasper sporting his Old Navy outfit! (gift from Kim, our neighbor!)
-Boys eating lunch during our garage sale
-Will playing 'Rush Hour', a totally awesome 1-player game!

Easter pix galore! The first half are of the boys dying the eggs yesterday and putting their eggs in their baskets at bedtime. The rest are of our Easter festivities today!

A few 'train' pix of Cooper, Cooper 'Bunny' from school, the boys w/ their Lego Creations (they want me to mail in the photos for the Lego magazine!!), Sepia pic of Rasper (Digital cameras are WAY COOL!), Rand & boys watching 'Iron Giant'.

Yes, we even took pictures at the hospital this morning while we waited for and recovered from Will's Adenoidectomy/tubes procedure. He did great and was very brave. The last photo, in the wheelchair (which he wanted to try out!), is the only one post-surgery. He's already enjoyed popsicles and rainbow sherbet, courtesy of his surgery! :-)

Also new: April Days - for various photos not specific to any particular group event. One pix so far of Cooper in his 'elephant ears' that he made at school!

If you haven't kept abreast of this monetary saga, Will started getting a $2.00 weekly allowance when he turned 5 this year, on 4 Jan. From that very first week, he's been saving *every* single dollar to save up for the Rescue Heroes robot which is $50. He even took into account the roughly $4.00 in tax (after a brief lesson in state income tax! ;-) ). This weekend marked the $54.00 mark and w/ added change that he's collected over time, he the $54.09 to purchase it. Here's the visual chronology of Will's purchase! (For a time, Will was tempted by some Star Wars Lego sets but in the end, held out for the RH Robot, saying that since it cost more he'd buy it first and then save up for the less expense Legos!)

The boys had a blast at Will's last game of the season yesterday and then celebrated afterward at Peter Piper Pizza. Check out the boys playing games, earning tickets, and trading them in for prizes. Also, the horse and donkey are the YMCA's and they are adjacent to the soccer fields. We usually go visit them after practice and games!

The boys and Rasper and I snuck out before school this morning and took pictures in the bluebonnets. (No Ms. Kim to take super professional ones but these aren't bad! :-) ) Note the one of Jen at the end-- Will was the photographer!!

Also, check out Rodeo Days again-- Some *adorable* ones of Coop, if I do say so myself. His 'official' rodeo days was the week after Will's. (See both page 1 AND 2!)

Finally, a couple more in March Days-- working/playing in the yard. Enjoy!

New 'Rodeo Days' Album of both boys at school. Petting Zoo and Will's Rodeo Days games.

Also, recheck CK's Birthday album-- I've added Sunday morning
pix of him receiving his new 'Big Boy Bike'. (That was our gift to him and it was just too late and too much excitement for us to give it to him on Saturday.)

It's 22 March-- Cooper's 3rd Birthday and his Party Pix are already on the web! Hopefully it's almost like you were here! (and frankly, with 6 other 3 year olds, you'll probably be glad you weren't! ;-) )

Also, new photos include a few miscellaneous March ones as well as our freak snow/ice storms! :-)

Finally, if you haven't been here since Jan, then you'll also see Valentines School Party pix in addition to Will's 5th Birthday!

Enjoy!

Will's birthday, plus a Texas blizzard. ;-)

Long overdue, we know. Sorry!

New Photos! Look for photos of Rand's brand new 2002 VW Jetta GLS TDI, Dita!

Also, March Camping photos, *way* overdue 10/01 California photos, and a few new pix in the Feb 2002 album.

More to come from Cooper's birthday, Easter, and our visit with Suzi Urban...just give me a day or two!

Jen is Large and in Charge now, when it comes to uploading photos! Rand has streamlined our set up and I am now consistently getting new photos published within 24 hours!! So, keep a close eye to this page for the latest and greatest goings on of the Bambergs! :-)

Note: Most photos will be categorized by month/year but special events with a significant number of pictures will be separated out.

New: Will's First Soccer Game!

New pictures, and we're starting to group by topic/occasion
instead of lumping everything into 'birkenpeople'.

The first batch of pix. With very few exceptions all images are 1024x768; if you need a bigger copy let us know (originals are 2048x1536).