As I mentioned before I had mixed feelings about leaving D.C. My family was certainly in need of a break from the big city, but we also had to part from many good friends. It is my hope that we will get to see all those great people again soon.

The guys had a roast to attend on my birthday, so Janet and Trang took me out to Guapo’s to celebrate. I had a wonderful time and indulged in good eats. The girls were giddy to get the opportunity to put on the big hat one more time (the grownups, not so much). It was the last hurrah for just the ladies to get together:(

Christopher wanted his turn with the hat, too (or not so much).

Could this mean that Annie will be a good babysitter one day?

The guys then felt left out that they didn’t get to attend the above dinner date. What better way to make that up to them by going to Red Hot & Blue. We met up with the Cheslers and Parks for a feast of ribs. Everyone had a thoroughly good time.

Stay tuned. I’ve got some pictures from Mike’s graduation. Who can resist a man in uniform?

I almost forgot about this video until Mike’s mom reminded me of the fun the girls had when they were hunting for Easter eggs.

Holy buckets, I’ve got a lot to post about here, but I’m a little overwhelmed to get it all done in one sitting. For now, I’ll give a rundown of last week. Most of you already know this, but we drove to Minnesota for Easter weekend to see Mike’s ma, pa, brothers, one sister, 2 step-sisters, and a whole heck of a lot of cousins. Then we headed down to Wisconsin to do our house-hunting.

First up is Easter. It was our initial plan to arrive mid-afternoon on the Saturday before Easter because it was cousin Owen’s birthday party. However, lots o’ snow and traffic made it so we didn’t arrive until well into the evening. Fortunately, we got to see most of the crucial people on Easter day. We started out the day with the girls discovering the Easter Bunny’s tracks leading to their baskets full of goodies. Annie later confessed to Aunt Marissa that she thought the tracks were only made of chalk (ha…she was wrong…they were made of cornstarch). After all the excitement of the morning we attended church with Mike’s mom. For some reason Annie got shy and made a huge stink about attending primary by herself. She attended the same primary classes in August and immediately fit right in. Mimi was actually quite brave and went right into nursery.

Later that day extended family began to arrive, and the girls were just giddy to have so many kids to play with. It had snowed 8-10 inches on Friday/Saturday, so the Easter egg hunt made for an interesting adventure. Of course, us southerners weren’t equipped with snow gear and had to borrow from cousins Dylan and Maya. The girls really enjoyed the opportunity to frolic in the snow. The collected eggs had numerous treats and even lip gloss. We had a marvelous feast after all the activity died down, and everyone was stuffed beyond comfort. The next night we dropped the girls off to hang out with Dylan and Maya while we went to eat a wonderful dinner at Dave’s restaurant, Edina Grill. Num, num! Earlier that day Kathy and I went to some yarn shops, and I fell in love with a sweater on display. So I bought up all the materials to make it, and Kathy taught me how to knit. Of course, I’m nowhere near knitting that sweater yet. I need to practice, practice, practice before I have the nerve to try my hand at making a garment to wear.

On Tuesday morning we headed out and made our way to Wisconsin for our anticipated hunt for the home we’ll be living in for the next 3 years. Several houses were viewed, an offer was made and rejected, another offer was made on a second home, and we’re still waiting to finalize the deal between us and the sellers. The town we’ll be living in certainly isn’t as grand and full of activity as D.C., but I think we’ll be quite pleased with the slower pace and nicer folks. The schools seem to rate well, and there’s plenty to do in town. Shopping at the Prime Outlets, ice-skating or watersliding at the RecPlex, touring the Jelly Belly factory are just some of the things available in the flat quaint town. Only a couple of more months, and we’ll be cheeseheads.

Poor Lucy rarely gets the attention she needs. Surely, putting a
heart around her neck and forcing her to stay still long enough
to take a picture is exactly what she had in mind. Happy V-Day!

These are Annie’s Valentines’s that she handed out at school today…heart-shaped lollies
with adorable covers. I’ve had that stamp set since Annie was a wee one, and I couldn’t
wait to get the chance to finally use them for this exact purpose. The best part is that
she’ll be in a new school next year (all different kids). We’re so doing this again in 2009

Last night Mimi took a huge step and tinkled a teensy bit on the big potty. We were out for dinner, and I was taking Annie to the potty. Mimi declared that she, too, had to go potty. Of course, I was willing to let her have a go at it. She and I were very excited about her accomplishment. However, today she’s not as gung ho about doing it again. Maybe I need to take her to another public restroom. I’ll keep you posted. On a different note, Mimi and Annie received princess dresses from Grandma Indiana for Christmas. If we are at home, then Mimi is in her Snow “Whipe” dress, high heels, “princess” necklace (which is just an elastic headband with a barrette clipped to it), and “veil” (which is just another elastic headband with a bandana tucked into it). Each morning I’m greeted by her request to close up her dress in back with the velcro squares. It’s really very darling! And, yet another quick gem about Mimi. She LOVES her baby cradle. It has to be where ever she is in the house. If Mimi is in the living room, then baby is in her cradle in the living room. When it’s naptime, then baby has to sleep in her cradle in the room with Mimi. Many times Mike or I have tripped over it when it’s placed in odd spot such as the doorway to our bedroom, in the bathroom, or in the middle of the kitchen. Mimi has even demanded that we take it along with us on car rides. That’s where I have to put my foot down. I mean, seriously, would Mimi hold that big thing in her lap?!? Too cute! Boy, that was a great $20 spent on an eBay purchase.

>Like I said before, I was planning on giving updates on past events. Let’s see, the last update was on Christmas, so that brings me to Annie’s Christmas program at school. Each class had a theme and dressed up and sang a song to go with that theme. Annie’s class had the Nativity as their theme, and Annie was an angel (a very sweet one, I might add). The program took place in the church’s chapel, and I was surprised to see how many parents/relatives ended up coming to watch. The pastor from the church was the guitarist and also sang along for each song. All the kids from the school sang a few songs together and then broke up into their class groups. I videotaped most of the show with my handy, dandy point and shoot. I realized about halfway through that I didn’t need to document the classes other than Annie’s. So right as I finishing up videotaping Annie’s class the battery went dead in the camera. If I had continued filming everything before, then I wouldn’t have been able to capture Annie singing with her classmates. Sorry, but I’m not going to post any of the videos because I want to respect that parents of the other children in the videos may not want their children posted on my website:( Annie was awfully cute though singing her little hear out. Have I mentioned before how much she loves to sing? A lot. Like several times a day. And she makes Mike and I get tickets to watch her “shows”.