Capital J

It’s the beginning of a full week of celebrations in honor of my 3rd birthday.  (All very much deserved, if I do say so myself.)

A few photos from today’s party at school.   You can tell that I do just fine with all the attention (wonder where that comes from?!) and that there’s a serious green, yellow, and horse theme currently going on in my life.

Thanks to all for the great birthday wishes.  And will post more photos as the week of me unfolds!  JPC

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  We celebrated here today – even though the weather doesn’t feel much like the holidays are here.

My brothers went to school and I went to a good, local version of a Turkey Bowl with Dad.  Then we ate turkey with our friends Taymor and Idris.   Here we all are (well, not baby Leighton – he slept a lot).   I need to state for the record that I’m not responsible for those marks on Oliver’s face…  TT’s a different story.

All in all, a very nice day.  Wherever in the world you might be — we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

I’m also proud to note that Mom helped organize another charity fundraiser for the Holy Family Orphanage in Bethlehem.  Earlier this week she went out there with other folks from Dad’s work to deliver milk and formula.  She said it was really good to be able to help — but also a very tough experience.   The orphanage had four newborn babies in just the past week.  Below are two of the Marines from the Consulate that went out with Mom — they were clearly butter in the hands of a four day old baby!  And a couple photos of some of the children there.  Here’s hoping they all have a peaceful and healthy holiday season.

JPC

OK – so I thought I’d post a few photos of the fun I had with my brothers over the past few months…   Nothing fancy – I just slapped a few of my favorites up on a webpage.   You can click here to see them.

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend.   JPC

I know, I know.  I have been a delinquent blogger.  But you now how it is–the summer just whizzes by and then school gets started and the holidays roll around and, really, who has the time?  I won’t try to catch up on everything that’s happened in the past umpteen months since I last blogged – but things are different around here.   I’m at the Anglican school every day.  TT and Oliver are at the YMCA every morning.

And our baby brother Leighton turns out to be the biggest of us all – he just keeps eating.  But he also seems to be happy most of the time too (who wouldn’t be with such cool older brothers?!).

We continue to have fun here in Jerusalem.   We can now go to Jericho on the weekends – which is nice now because the weather is much better down there…  Here TT and I are on a camel just outside the checkpoint going into Jericho.

Oliver wasn’t such a fan.  He now tends to roam the house muttering, “No Camel”.   But at least it seems to have taken his mind off Tree Man — but that’s a story for another time.

My technical support staff is working on a photo gallery of our travels this summer — so hopefully I can put that up next time I blog.  (Hopefully still in 2009! But the rate he’s going, it may be a Christmas posting…)

I’ll leave you for now with a couple photos of the four of us.  I know mom’s already sent the Halloween photo around a fair bit…  And then a short video of my tractor riding skills, if you’re interested.

I’m glad to be back online.   Talk to you all again soon!  JPC

John Deere from James Carpenter on Vimeo.

We’ve been busy since school got out last month.  Click here to see a few photos of our adventures.

JPC

I “graduated” from kindergarten on Saturday.   I don’t know if that’s the right verb — it seemed more like a party.  But it was a good time, and fun to have my brothers at school.   Here’s my class, before we sang a few songs.  Everyone looked good — some looked better than good.  I’m not sure why I don’t yet have a white tux.  Dad?

But there was a mandatory costume change halfway through…  here’s what I had to wear for the interpretative dance part of the program.  I don’t think that Dad will let me soon forget that I got my first diploma wearing what looks like a yellow tutu.  (p.s. I also think I’m lucky that my report card is in Arabic.)

Then it was off to the main event… cookies and juice.  My brothers enjoyed themselves too, while I did the 2 year old version of sitting on the stoop with some ladies.

Dad took some grainy video – if you’d like a closer look at the day…

My First Graduation! from James Carpenter on Vimeo

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Memorial Day.  Hope everyone got to spend it with friends and family and – ideally – a large backyard BBQ.   We spent our weekend at the beach and the zoo. The only drama came when I threw one of my shoes into the rhinoceros pit — and then mom wouldn’t let dad go and get it.   Boring.  That would have spiced up the weekend a bit.

First, for the zoo.   They had a great tractor parked out front.   The way they were yelling at me, I think they thought I might actually drive off with it — I guess they didn’t realize I can’t reach the pedals.   My brothers liked feeding the fish and the duck in the big lagoon, and generally trying to pose for dad and the camera.

Then there was this cool exhibit that had an underground tunnel.  Something about how you could see how moles really live underground.  Whatever.  I just liked making my dad chase me through the tunnels.   You can tell they weren’t built to fit “extra medium” individuals.  He struggled a bit to keep up, but finally made it out…

Then we went to the beach with my good friend, Jane.

I invited her to take a long walk on the beach, but she declined – so I went by myself.   (You can also see that we had the place pretty much to ourselves… nice!)

And did I mention that my brother Tristan just won’t take off his hat?

Anyway, a happy Memorial Day to everyone!   Keep in touch!

JPC

Summer comes early out here in Jerusalem.  Not only has it been hot hot hot, but apparently my school year ends this month.  Surprise, Mom!  So I get some more quality time with my brothers.  My mom’s looking for things to do every day.  The beach is high on our list…

But we’re also big fans of the park.  You can tell who drives (and who’s the backseat driver) in this family.  Tristan won’t wear his hat in the sun at the beach, but then he goes for hours where he won’t take it off — in the car, after dark, etc.  Oh well.

Oliver’s become a little taken by soccer balls – though he’s not so good at kicking them.  He just wants to hold them.  But he’s always interfering in my games.  Luckily, I’m still faster than he is.

There doesn’t seem to be much motivating my parents besides just wearing us out.  Here we are at the end of a long day, back on the couch at home…

Sorry that there are no photos of Leighton in this posting, but he looks just like a month-old baby should…  Maybe next time if I can get my photographer to do the necessary.   JPC

So, Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter came all the way out from California.   Dad says they came because of the new baby.  I’m pretty sure they came to see me.  Here’s green, shiny proof:

I’m now ready to get out and about myself… I even think I look good in the helmet.

Grandma and Grandpa are taking us up to the north today, for some quality time at the horse ranch.  I’ve been practicing locally.  Not to be immodest, but I think I’m quite a showman on the horse…  Otherwise, we’ve just been hanging out a fair bit with our new brother.  He’s alright – and I like the fact that I can palm his head like a basketball.

Mom and Dad say Leighton is doing well.  I think he keeps Mom up a lot, as he’s always hungry – but he seems to be a pretty mellow customer most of the time.  Speaking of mellow brothers — Tristan still has his cast on, but it’s supposed to come off next week.   We’ve had fun while he’s had it though – it’s sort of like having your own personal sketch pad that travels with you wherever you go…

Alright, I have to run.  The car’s loaded and ready to go, and Oliver gets cranky when we make him wait…   Will try to write more when we get back from the dude ranch…  JPC

I got my first chance to hang out with my baby brother Leighton yesterday.   He was alright, but Mom and Dad wouldn’t really let me play with him.   So I mostly got to sit next to him.  He’s pretty mellow.   But he’s doing well and maybe coming home today with Mom.

Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, because I think Dad’s slightly overwhelmed looking after the three of us.  He’s on his blackberry a lot – and he speaks really loudly (to nobody) when he’s driving back and forth to the hospital.  But he does let us watch a lot of TV, which is a good thing.

The other news this week – as you can see in the photo above – is that my little brother Tristan took a digger at the park.  I think the cast is a bit overly dramatic, but Dad says I can go at it with my magic markers tomorrow.  Dad says he’s fine, and will be as good as new in a couple weeks.