So Izzy loves scribbling wee notes.  She gave me two to read.  Not proper words, you understand, so I asked her what they said.  She said that the one for Anne read;
Dear Mummy,
I love you so much.  You are the best Mother in the world,
Love

Izzy

And the one to me?

Dear daddy,
I love you so much.  You are a big, buoffy, fat daddy-man.
Love
Izzy

Kids.  And I have a lost about 15lbs!

Very busy at the moment.  House purchase in Princeton is under attorney review, so assuming nothing goes wrong, we might be the new owners of a house shortly.  In negotiations to buy a small granje near the ranch in Brazil.  Owner has refused our first offer but we will not budge - it is not worth more and we don't want taken for a ride just because we are gringos.  Izzy starts new school, the Waldorf, next week.  Joey back to school as well, and we are hoping that he will be OK.  We are researching homeschooling, just in case!
Deadline for fundraising for the Bioeconomy Institute is 12 April.   Not sure if we will get the matching funds.  Right down to the wire.
And my new sales job with North American Power is starting to take off.  I have enrolled my first customer, have several commitments to do so but, more importantly, have a number of good people and organisations seriously considering it.  If only half of them come through, it will be the basis of a good business - and being able to make a real difference by switching people from fossil fuels to renewables. 

Kids have been in great form.  Off to Ridgewood to spend night with in-laws.

I do enjoy the evening ritual.  Usually.  Anne normally takes Izzy up to bed, between 7:00 and 7:30.  Despite the fact tat she has her own lovely bedroom with Princess bed, she does not use it.  Anne reads to her in our bed and then lets her fall asleep there.  30 minutes later, Joey's turn.  Up he goes and whilst he is brushing his teeth, I pull out the trundle bed from underneath his bunk bed.  I read to him for a while before he is ready to fall asleep. 

Before we go to bed, I will pick up Izzy from our bed, and take her into Joey's room, where she will sleep on the trundle, next to Joey.  Like two little angels.  Hmm.

Izzy is delighted as she has been accepted into the Waldorf School, starting next week.  Strange how she is so excited.  She is not exactly unhappy where she is, although she has been grumbling a bit recently.  We think that it might be the prospect of making bread one a week, which they do at the Waldorf.

Joey has been a bit edgy last couple of days, and a bit teary.  Anne gave him some cough medicine yesterday morning and wonders if that may have triggered it, as it contains sugar.  That would be the first sugar he has consumed in about a month.    Might also be thinking about return to school next week.

On the plus side, even when he has become edgy and teary, it is nothing like it used to be, so there is great progress.

Big week for work coming up soon.  March 31 is the deadline set for getting the matching funds to launch the Bioeconomy Institute.  4-5 companies still considering.

And should hear level of interest in NA Power from the mayor and a few other key figures.  It's all go!

So, a pleasant evening last night with my lovely wife as we made some decisions.  Over a tad too much wine.  First is that we will buy the house that we looked at near Princeton.  Our dream house?  No, but no work needed, good configuration, decent yard (2.5 acres), pool and within easy cycling distance of Princeton - and a longish walk.

Two - we will get an au pair, a Brazilian, a man.  No, this is not Anne not trusting me to be alone with a cute Brazilian.  But we think that an active young man would be really good for the kids.  And ease the pressure on us.

Third - looks as though we will buy some extra land near the ranch.  A small grange, about 26 hectares.  Well watered, Juarez will use it to grow produce and feed for the cattle.  But we also think that it would be a good investment.

I think that we also decided some other stuff.  But I can't remember.