Analyze This

A few weeks ago Jarom and Lix were hanging out with the original Richmond Winns and Nate showed them a little thing called Google Analytics, which tracks the people that visit your website. Since February 20th I have had 221 unique visitors from 8 countries (USA, Germany, Russia, Colombia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Turkey, and the British Virgin Islands) and 31 States. It is a very cool little toy that I recommend trying if you have a blog. It will provide hours of wonderment as you try to figure out whom you know in Oregon (or Turkey?!) Speaking of which, please feel free to identify yourself via the comments section if you are a regular reader from an obscure location.

Jenna helps with the organizing in the living room

The lixi-izing of our new home is continuing in the living room. The painting is done, the furniture is all back in its place and now stuff is going up on the walls. Most of it is the same stuff they have had on walls in Utah and Tennessee, but she did add a little color splash by picking out some new art to hang above the mantle. The other big improvement made this week is in the kitchen. The laundry area is just off the kitchen and seems to have been built for a dryer with slightly different dimensions from the one that we have. So the sliding doors where not able to be closed. Alixa nagged Jarom about this non-stop for weeks until he finally got around to taking the doors down and reinstalling them in a way that would allow them to close. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, but it makes the kitchen feel much larger and much cleaner now that you don’t have to look at the laundry room.

Above: Our new art Below: It may look like nothing more than closed doors to you, but to Alixa it is the most beautiful sight in the world.

This week spring arrived in Southern Virginia, with daytime temperatures in the 70’s. This meant that Lix and Jenna spent a lot of time outside at the nearby park, where Jenna learned how to swing and got to meet some of the local wildlife. Her favorite things are dogs (of which there is no shortage at the park), which she greets by growling every time she sees one (this includes her stuffed animal dogs.) One of our new neighbors has a golden retriever named Sadie who Jenna loves to visit, although she is still a little reluctant to pet her. The nice weather also prompted Jarom and Lix to drop Jenna off on her Aunt and Uncle’s doorstep to go play a round of golf on Saturday. They will be hosting Lix’s parents next week, and whenever her dad is around there is golf to be played, so they figured they had better get the rust out of their swings. I don’t know if they succeeded in derusting anything, but they enjoyed themselves.

I'm not sure if this was an attempted hug, pacifier theft, or head butt, but it looks hilarious

Lix also started a new job recently. She has decided to put her mothering skills on the market as a nanny. Kenna’s regular nanny had to miss a day, so Lix stepped in. It was an interesting experience for both little ones, as they had to share a mother for the day. Lix is hoping that she did a good enough job to get a callback, because she thinks it will be good for Jenna to have to deal with other kids a little bit more. Right now she is becoming a little bit needy and doesn’t like having other rats in her personal space, which sometimes leads to crying. And nobody likes a crybaby.