Traveling with my family was wonderful!  The wee ones were perfectly well-behaved, and Lena's papa and oma seemed very happy to see us all.  Still, it is nice to be home, to be back to our regular routine.  All is well, in the Wood household.

[Ward: Lena]
Thank you- again, again- for last night.  Have I mentioned how completely perfect you are?  Or how lucky I am to have you?
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Is it strange that my older brother getting married makes me feel very, very old?

I mean, I suppose I have no room to talk, seeing as Lena and I got married six years ago (six years, one month, three weeks, and five days ago, if you want to be specific), but still.  Old.

I bought tickets to take Lena and the kids to the Montrose-Holyhead game this weekend.  It'll be the first match we've seen this season!

Though- and Oliver, Regan, you must know how much it pains me to admit this- when I told Alyth that Holyhead was an all-girls team, she seemed rather fascinated and asked if she could wear green on Saturday.  Given her normal penchant for pink, I may have some cause to worry.

[Ward: Lena]
Not really, of course- it just surprised me when she asked!

I'm so excited to be traveling with you soon!
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We have a calendar in the kitchen here, and it seems like we're always counting down to one birthday or anniversary or another, especially at the beginning of the year, with four of them in January and February.  Normally we'd be off now until June, but today I marked down Oliver and Sally's wedding for next month.  The wee ones seemed excited, especially when I had to pull out a map to show them where Greece was.  ("That's far!")

[Ward: Lena]
I was looking at the map with them, and I couldn't help but think- well, it's been a while since we traveled, hasn't it?  I mean, I know you went back home in October when your oma was sick, but- before that?  It's three years, really, since we were in Austria together, before Alyth and Logan were even around, and Ellon was even too young then to remember it.

Anyway, I'm rambling.  Point is, I was thinking, since we're going all the way to Greece, and we'll have them all with us, it would be a waste not to go somewhere else, before or afterward!  Whether that's Austria, or somewhere else entirely, I think it would be brilliant to travel with them.  If you'd like to, of course.
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The day has come and gone (with much celebration, of course), but I suppose I failed to mention it here- last Friday was our sixth wedding anniversary.  Six years doesn't seem like very long, overall- at least, perhaps not in comparison to my parents (thirty years), or my grandparents (fifty-one years!)- but it's still a milestone that, selfishly or not, I'm very proud to have shared with Lena.

Six years ago I think I might have laughed if someone had told me that we'd have four kids already- but now, today, I can't imagine not having Ried, or Ellon, or Alyth, or wee Logan.  They are, undoubtedly, the greatest thing I've ever done- and I know that they're half me and half Lena, but they're each so much better than I could ever even imagine being, myself.  (Sometimes I wonder if they only inherited my goofy looks, and got all of their goodness from Lena.)

The shop is going well, especially in this last week since the quidditch season has started up again.  I know that I worried, when I first really took over the business from da, if it would be enough- granted, he raised five kids while working at the shop, but still.  It's different when it's yours.  With Ried and Ellon off to preschool, I'm back to working full time- I miss them all during the day, especially knowing that Lena and Alyth and Logan are home- but I know it's for the best, that I'm making a living to support them, so they won't ever have to worry about having enough.  (Not that we ever had those worries, growing up, but- all the same, I still want to make sure that they are all well provided for.)

Six years doesn't seem like a very long time- I was at Hogwarts for longer than that- but these past six years have defined me as a person more than I think Hogwarts ever could have.  I've become someone I'm proud to be- a husband, a da, a shop owner- and I've done it all for the love of my beautiful, perfect wife.  Lena makes me want to be a better person- though I know I'll never come close to being even half so incredible as she is, it doesn't stop me from trying.  Six years ago, I knew I was the luckiest bloke around to have her, to hear her promising to be with me through everything- and I know that I'm even luckier today that she's kept true to her vow.  Not that I didn't expect her to, of course, but I am lucky every day that I wake up next to her or fall asleep with her in my arms.  I want to be that lucky for as long as I can manage it.

And I suppose I have rambled on enough about all this, especially when I don't expect most anyone wants to read the ramblings of a man in love.  I should go back to work.

I'M A DA!

Well, of course, I already was- but now I am, again!  Logan James Wood, born yesterday- 21 January, at 11:22am, after twelve hours of labor.  Lena is- as if I didn't already know it- an absolute wonder who never ceases to amaze me.  Mum and son are both doing brilliantly, and we'll hopefully be home tomorrow or the day afterward, depending on how long it takes me to bribe Healer Jones.

Merlin.  Four kids.  This is brilliant!  I'll have to update my family crest tattoo!