And Now For Something Completely Different

Most of you know that I am an attorney. This has been a good job financially, but I never felt I would be doing this the rest of my life. So the time has come to move on. So I wanted to announce to my blog community (and I learn that there are more and more of you out there everyday that aren't leaving comments!) that I have accepted a job with the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer, specifically in the Economic Officer track. I will start in early May. The training is in DC and then I will be off somewhere in the world (assignment to be determined) to be a diplomat representing the US abroad in one of our many embassies.

We are sad to be leaving behind many good friends in Houston. We have enjoyed our four years here. We hope to keep in touch and maybe you might find our blog more worthwhile reading if the setting is someplace more exotic (can you get more exotic and exciting than Houston, TX?). We are particularly sad to be moving away from family, who have been a great support to our young kids. However, for the summer at least, the locus of the Broadbent family will switch to DC.

Thanks to all the folks at V&E as well (there is at least one that reads this blog). As big law firms go, I think V&E is easily the best and if I was going to pursue law to retirement, I would probably stay there.

We are excited for this new opportunity and will definitely keep you up to date on new developments.


New boss (for now)

Easter in Houston

Some photo highlights of the week:


Jeffrey's Tinker Toy Monster/Robot


Manning the guns on the USS Texas Battleship

On Good Friday (widely observed here in the Bible Belt), we visited the USS Texas, which was commissioned in 1914 and saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters in World War II. At its height, it had 1600 crew members, crammed together in sleeping quarters like these:




Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Why does Easter revolve so heavily around candy? Kids get on sugar highs like nothing else.

Video of Lucy

Let's see if this works. We have enjoyed videos on other websites. We figured we could also figure out how the video function works on our camera. Jeffrey and Sheralie entertain Lucy.

Summer is here

We have not officially hit spring, but summer is here - 90+ degrees today. Here are some of the happenings of the week:


The rodeo is in town, and the Grandparents were nice enough to take Laird (Jeffrey was under the weather)


Laird loved the big tractors


The pony ride was a big hit too. He also cannot stop talking about the pig races.


Lucy rode the swing for the first time


Jeffrey's school had an open house (pictured with his teacher)

Special Thanks

To Natalie for her extensive help in reformatting our blog. Even though the old green did remind me of my beloved Oakland A's, we felt it was time to upgrade to something a little classier. Thanks!

Fire Truck Birthday

Jeffrey and Laird were recently invited to a birthday party (for my boss's son) for which the main draw was a real live fire truck. Why do kids (at least boys) love fire trucks so much? Let this be a tip for future party planners - they apparently will come for free. Things are sometimes pretty slow down at the fire station, so it might be worth an ask to get them to come out for a party. Why not? It's your tax dollars at work.


The truck pulls up


The kids climb on


Laird is tickled pink.


Yee haw

Just a reminder - March Madness is now upon us. Teams are playing right now to figure out who will be seeded where. A month long basketball binge is upon us. Perfect timing - I have just recovered from college football. Don't forget to get your brackets in.



Lucy is ready

Jeffrey turns 6

Jeffrey turned 6 on the 6th. He has been counting down the days for a while.


With the present stash


Legos anyone?


Sheralie gives instruction on the new bike


Jeffrey learns quickly


The Lego Cake